{"id":38034,"date":"2019-05-20T00:29:50","date_gmt":"2019-05-19T16:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/sts-400-remembering-endeavours-first-responder-role-during-atlantis-hubble-mission\/"},"modified":"2019-05-20T00:29:50","modified_gmt":"2019-05-19T16:29:50","slug":"sts-400-remembering-endeavours-first-responder-role-during-atlantis-hubble-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/sts-400-remembering-endeavours-first-responder-role-during-atlantis-hubble-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"STS-400 \u2013 Remembering Endeavour\u2019s first responder role during Atlantis\u2019 Hubble Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago, the crew of Shuttle Atlantis was in the final phase of their Servicing Mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. STS-125 was proceeding to plan and their vehicle was deemed to be in excellent condition for the return trip. However, had Atlantis suffered major damage during her launch to the telescope, Endeavour was sat on Pad 39B, ready to launch at short notice on an ambitious rescue mission. This rescue mission was called STS-400.\n<\/p>\n

When the Space Shuttle fleet returned to action after the loss of Columbia, major alternations were made both to the vehicle and to the procedures \u2013 all aimed at mitigating the threats of damage to the Thermal Protection System (TPS) on the orbiter.<\/p>\n

While engineers successfully reduced most of the foam liberations from the External Tank \u2013 the cause of the damage that mortally wounded Columbia \u2013 it was decided that an additional back-up option would become the norm \u2013 using the International Space Station (ISS) as a \u201cSafe Haven\u201d if inspections shown major damage to the heat shield of the orbiter.<\/p>\n

That was the pattern for all RTF (Return To Flight) missions, with on-orbit inspections of Flight Day 2 involving the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) checking over every inch of the orbiter TPS to send huge amounts of photo and video to the Damage Assessment Team (DAT) on the ground.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The OBSS and a slide of detailed chip damage \u2013 via L2<\/p>\n

*L2 Members: Click here for hundreds of DAT\/TPS Presentations from Shuttle Mission Inspections*<\/p>\n

All the OBSS imagery from its suite of sensors would then be followed up by the stunning RPM (R-bar Pitch Maneuver, popularly called the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver) that put the orbiter into a black flip under the Station while ISS crewmembers took high-quality photos of the TPS.<\/p>\n

This maneuver was also a new inclusion for Return To Flight and also required the mission to be to the ISS.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n