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The hardware\u2019s continued role with the SLS makes sense, allowing them to live on as part of the Integrated MLS with the monster rocket, which \u2013 with the orbiter \u2013 consisted of the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs), an external propellant tank (ET), a propellant management system used to transport fuel and oxidizer from the tank to the engines, and a multipurpose helium system.<\/p>\n
SLS will be utilizing the remaining stock of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-25Ds from the Space Shuttle Program (SSP), engines which are no strangers to the MPS components the orbiters are donating.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Z615.jpg\" "\\"Z615\\"")
This could lead to a potential reunion between hardware from \u2013 for example \u2013 Atlantis MPS components and the three engines \u2013 ME-1 (2047), ME-2 (2060) and ME-3 (2045) \u2013 she last flew with during STS-135. While these donations will save money for the SLS program, the flight-proven hardware will provide confidence for the development of the new vehicle.<\/p>\nA total of 15 RS-25Ds are currently being transported \u2013 one at a time by truck \u2013 to NASA\u2019s Stennis Space Center (SSC). Some will return in a few year\u2019s time as part of a Battleship core for testing at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), while some will fly on the opening couple of SLS missions \u2013 the first of which is scheduled for 2017, for an uncrewed test mission around the Moon \u2013 know as Exploration Missionm -1 (EM-1).<\/p>\n
SLS will eventually move on to a cheaper, expendable version of the engine, known as the RS-25E.<\/p>\n
Space Shuttle
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Z310.jpg\" "\\"Z3\\"")
During the PRCB deliberations, the requirements relating to how much hardware could be removed from the fleet \u2013 without heavily delaying their Transition and Retirement (T&R) flows \u2013 saw Discovery removed from the equation, leaving just Atlantis and Endeavour as the main SLS donors.<\/p>\nHowever, thanks to procedures that allowed for the effort to be conducted during the nominal T&R flow \u2013 and in some cases even during the orbiter\u2019s vacation inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) \u2013 all three orbiters have been confirmed as donors.<\/p>\n
During the recent dual rollover of Discovery and Atlantis, Orbiter Flow manager Stephanie Stilson revealed some extra details on the MPS donation effort, in an interview with NASASpaceflight.com\u2019s Philip Sloss, including how Discovery has managed to keep a lot of the major MPS components \u2013 when compared to her sisters \u2013 allowing for her to retire as the \u201cvehicle of record\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Z49.jpg\" "\\"Z4\\"")
\u201cIn some cases (on Discovery), they were valves, certain smaller components, as opposed to with Endeavour and Atlantis, it\u2019ll be the larger components \u2013 the prevalves, the 17-inch lines, and so forth,\u201d noted Ms Stilson.<\/p>\n\u201c(There is) a lot more coming out of Endeavour and Atlantis than coming out of Discovery; when you look in the aft of Discovery, it still looks congested, there\u2019s a lot of hardware in there, whereas when we finish with Atlantis and Endeavour, it\u2019ll be pretty empty in there, (although) there will be some hardware still remaining.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no secret how much the KSC workforce love the orbiters, vehicles that were treated as living machines, allowing the teams to provide the care and attention that played no small part in the ability to safely complete their missions.<\/p>\n
As such, seeing their \u201cguts\u201d pulled out of their afts is a bitter pill for the teams, as much as they understand the benefits for the future program.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Z361.jpg\" "\\"Z36\\"")
Ms Stilson was quick to note she was happy \u201cher baby\u201d managed to hold on to more MPS hardware than had been initially expected.<\/p>\n\u201cI was little bit torn, because like Smithsonian (Discovery\u2019s retirement home) I wanted to see Discovery kept intact. Discovery is my baby (and) I didn\u2019t want to see anything happen to her, but I\u2019m also torn because I do want us to have the ability to launch that next vehicle as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf using components off of the orbiters can help that happen, then we\u2019re all for that, so I think we came to a good compromise in the sense of pretty much leaving Discovery as the vehicle of record. We didn\u2019t take as much out of Discovery, but then we are taking out of Endeavour and Atlantis those components so that we can help SLS, so I think it was a good compromise between the programs.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Z57.jpg\" "\\"Z5\\"")
Discovery\u2019s T&R flow is now complete, as she waits patiently inside the VAB, proudly waving her own flag from her nose gear, ahead of one final flight, this time atop of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) for the trip to the Smithsonian.<\/p>\nThis is her final month in Florida, ahead of being rolled out to the Mate-Demate Device (MDD) at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), prior to being mated atop of the SCA for the flight north. <\/p>\n
Endeavour \u2013 preparing for a trip to California, and Atlantis \u2013 which will remain at KSC at a specially constructed facility, are seeing their removed MPS hardware stored at the Assembly & Refurbishment Facility (ARF).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/A107.jpg\" "\\"A107\\"")
The large GSE (Ground Support Equipment) used on the orbiter MPS \u2013 currently located in the NSLD (NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot) at KSC \u2013 will also be preserved.<\/p>\nThe ARF is under the control of the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), while some hardware will also take up residency at KSC\u2019s Logistics Warehouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will remain here in our logistics area until they get shipped to where the SLS program wants them,\u201d added Ms Stilson. \u201cI\u2019m guessing it\u2019ll go to Marshall, because it\u2019s managed out of Marshall, but not exactly sure where they\u2019re going to take them.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Z74.jpg\" "\\"Z7\\"")
\u201cWe got started on some of the SLS components out of the aft (on Atlantis) \u2013 the smaller ones. The big ones have to be done here (in the Orbiter Processing Facility). So brackets (were) being removed, some of the valves and some of the smaller lines to get [those] out of the way so we can then get to the bigger components.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s like working on your car \u2013 you\u2019re doing something on your engine, you\u2019ve got to get some of the littler things out of the way to get to the big things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Planning on the removal procedures for major parts of Endeavour\u2019s MPS is being worked at this time, although initial removal work has already begun.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been writing paper, (but) actually we\u2019re starting some of the SLS work on Endeavour \u2013 that\u2019s just been in the past week. (We\u2019re) doing that work somewhat in parallel \u2013 we weren\u2019t intending to do it in parallel, but it just kind of worked out that way,\u201d noted Ms Stilson.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019re kind of having folks bounce back and forth between the two vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n
To read about the orbiters \u2013 from birth, processing, every single mission, through to retirement, click here for the links:
\nhttp:\/\/forum.nasaspaceflight.com\/index.php?topic=25837.0<\/p>\n(Images: Via L2 and NASA. Special photography provided by Brian Papke, MaxQ\/NASASpaceflight.com (Lead image, and MPS photos), plus Philip Sloss (Ms Stilson photo). Many thousands of super hi-res image stock available on L2\u2019s new Photo Section \u2013 around 750 gbs in size.<\/p>\n
(To join L2, click here: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/l2\/)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As engineers finalize the removal of Main Propulsion System (MPS) hardware from the retired Space Shuttle fleet \u2013 comprising of large elements of the orbiter\u2019s \u201cguts\u201d that are being donated to the Space Launch System (SLS) program \u2013 Orbiter Flow manager Stephanie Stilson revealed that \u201cher baby\u201d, Discovery, has held on to most of her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9034,8959,624,9022],"class_list":["post-40177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-hlv","tag-mps","tag-sls","tag-tr"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40177"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}