Tag: STS-130
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Endeavour readied for trip to VAB, sporting new MEI instrumentation
STS-130 is set to achieve its latest milestone, as Endeavour prepares to rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on Friday. The youngest orbiter in the fleet will be sporting a full set of instrumentation, which will gain additional data on Main Engine Ignition (MEI) Acoustic and SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine) Ignition Overpressure (IOP)…
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STS-130: Endeavour set for Christmas stay in VAB for Feb 6 mission
Shuttle managers have decided to delay rollout of Endeavour to Pad 39A until January 6 for her STS-130 mission. With rollover of the orbiter remaining on target for December 12, Endeavour will spend three weeks – and the Christmas holidays – in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The launch date has also slipped two days…
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STS-129 concludes final EVA – STS-130 ET/SRB mate on Monday
Randy Bresnik and Robert Satcher have compelted the third and final EVA of STS-129’s mission, as work is already ramping up on the next mission to launch out of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) – as STS-130 hits the milestone of mating the External Tank (ET-134) and Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). Endeavour is set to…
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STS-129 aims for three day launch window – ET-134 arrives for STS-130
Space Shuttle Program (SSP) manager John Shannon expects STS-129 to enjoy a three day launch window, as Atlantis finds some elbow room between two satellite launches from the Cape. Meanwhile, as Endeavour receives her three Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) ahead of the 2010-opening STS-130 flight, her External Tank (ET-134) has arrived at the Kennedy…
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Atlantis tracking Tuesday rollover – Two more ETs due at KSC this year
STS-129 is pressing ahead with the next processing milestone, with Atlantis preparing to roll over from her Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF-1) for the short journey to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the shipping dates have been set for the next two External Tanks (ETs) – both scheduled to arrive at the Kennedy Space…
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Adhesive tape caused STS-127 SSME nozzle leaks – STS-130 SSME milestone
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engineers have found the application of “tacky tape” – used to seal the throat plugs on the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) since the 1990s – was the initial root cause of 340 leaks on Endeavour’s number one engine during STS-127’s ascent. Meanwhile, three SSMEs are scheduled to be installed on…
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Shuttle fleet in smooth processing on both sides of the United States
Discovery is on track for her weekend cross country trip back to the Kennedy Space Center, whereboth her sisters are deep in processing for their upcoming missions. Post flight evaluations into Discovery’s STS-128 mission will converge at the In Flight Anomaly Review (IFA) at the end of the month, though initial findings continue to point…
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NASA updates Endeavour’s 2010 opening STS-130 mission carrying Node 3
With engineers working hard on processing Endeavour (STS-127) and Discovery (STS-128), while at the same time preparing for the arrival of Atlantis from the Dryden Flight Research Center sometime early next week, NASA mission managers are looking ahead on the Shuttle manifest – conducting the Launch Site Flow Requirements (LSFR) review for Endeavour’s early 2010…
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Downstream processing and planning – preparing the fleet through to STS-135
Even though shuttle managers are preparing for two missions in the space of a month, efforts on the downstream flights are at various stages of processing and planning, all the way through to STS-135 – which is currently the LON (Launch On Need) placeholder for what is currently the last shuttle mission – STS-134 –…
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STS-130: Endeavour’s Early 2010 Mission to Deliver Node-3
With Endeavour now pulling triple duty for her Launch on Need (LON) flight for STS-119, her Hubble rescue mission STS-400, and her primary mission STS-127 (which is currently targeting launch in May or June or next year), the Program Requirements Control Board (PRCB) has baselined Endeavour’s second to last mission – based on the current…