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\u201cAn option to perform an un-instrumented tanking test is (was) being considered. CTS (Call To Stations) NET Monday, 12\/6, and tanking NET Wednesday, 12\/8. The plan is to go down to T-31 seconds and secure,\u201d noted the NASA Test Director on Friday morning (L2).<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the team prepares for a tanking test, the PRCB (Program Requirements Control Board) yesterday did not provide direction as to when the tanking test would occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
Space Shuttle Program (SSP) manager John Shannon addressed the media on Friday, noting that on consideration a non-instrumented Tanking Test would be \u201ctoo gross\u201d.<\/p>\n
Discussions over the coming days will decide on the forward plan for setting up ET-137\u2019s flange regions with instrumentation \u2013 which will include the removal and replacement of BX-265 Thermal Protection System foam from the tank \u2013 along with a pad flow schedule to refine the date the of the test.<\/p>\n
This effort will be the major focus of Discovery\u2019s flow for the interim, with ordnance disconnects \u2013 originally scheduled for the weekend \u2013 cancelled, while Backscatter imaging of the ET LH2 flange is continuing.<\/p>\n
Spaceflight
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STS-133 Specific \u2013 Includes all ET issue content \u2013 Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/sts-133\/<\/p>\n
Several in-depth articles will follow in the coming days on the continuing root cause evaluations.<\/p>\n
ISS Fallout:<\/p>\n
The STS-133 delay will have major impacts on Japan\u2019s H-II Transfer Vehicle-2 (HTV-2) \u201cKounotori\u201d, that is scheduled to launch to the ISS on 20th January 2011.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/A31.jpg\" "\\"A3\\"")
Inside HTV-2\u2019s Unpressurised Logistics Carrier (ULC) will be an Exposed Pallet (EP), which will be carrying two Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) for the US segment of the station. The first ORU is the Flex Hose Rotary Coupler (FHRC), and the second is the Cargo Transportation Container-4 (CTC-4).<\/p>\nThe FHRC and CTC-4 will be installed onto the ISS\u2019s ExPrESS Logistics Carrier-4 (ELC-4), which currently resides in the Payload Bay of Space Shuttle Discovery on LC-39A at KSC. Under original plans, ELC-4 was set to arrive at the ISS months ahead of HTV-2, when Discovery was planned to visit in late 2010. However, now that STS-133 has been pushed into February 2011, HTV-2 will arrive at the ISS before ELC-4.<\/p>\n
As such, ISS Program Managers have devised a plan that enables the FHRC and CTC-4 to be installed directly onto ELC-4, without having to adjust the launch date of HTV-2.<\/p>\n
Following HTV-2\u2019s launch on 20th January and a seven day free flight, HTV-2 will be captured by the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) and berthed to the Nadir port of Node 2 on 27th January. Node 2 Nadir is currently the primary port for all Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) compatible Visiting Vehicles (VVs).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/A4.jpg\" "\\"A4\\"")
In the days following the HTV-2 berthing, the ORU-laden EP will be extracted from HTV-2\u2019s ULC with the SSRMS, and attached to the Japanese Exposed Facility (JEF) on the Port side of the station. Following the completion of this procedure, the SSRMS will un-berth HTV-2 from the Node 2 Nadir port, and transfer it to the Node 2 Zenith port directly above the Nadir port.<\/p>\nThe Node 2 Zenith port is currently reserved as a back-up port in case the primary VV port is unusable.<\/p>\n
The reason for re-locating HTV-2 to the Node 2 Zenith port is to provide clearance for Space Shuttle Discovery when it docks to the ISS on 5th February. If HTV-2 were berthed to the Node 2 Nadir port during the STS-133 mission, it would preclude payloads from being removed from Discovery\u2019s Payload Bay by the SSRMS.<\/p>\n
Following Discovery\u2019s visit and the installation of ELC-4 onto the Nadir side of the Starboard 3 (S3) Truss, the two ORUs will be removed from the EP, still attached to the JEF, with the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) RMS.<\/p>\n
They will then be handed off to the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator (SPDM) \u201cDextre\u201d on the end of the SSRMS, and installed onto ELC-4. HTV-2 will then be relocated back to Node 2 Nadir, and the EP removed from the JEF and reinserted into the ULC.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/A8.jpg\" "\\"A8\\"")
In the midst of all these external activities, an intense period of reconfiguration will also be taking place inside the ISS.<\/p>\nThe Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) being launched on STS-133 contains many racks used to retain cargo during launch, but that are useless on-orbit. The Expedition 26 crew will be working hard to unload these racks quickly, so that they can be transferred to HTV-2 for disposal before it is un-berthed from the ISS in mid-March.<\/p>\n
We may also see Robonaut 2 (R2), being launched in the PMM on STS-133, being unpacked soon after launch, as its Structural Launch Enclosure to Effectively Protect Robonaut (SLEEPR) is planned to be disposed of on HTV-2.<\/p>\n
In order to accomplish all these extra objectives, the HTV-2 mission will be extended to 60 days. This busy period of work aboard the ISS will be further complicated by the arrival of Europe\u2019s Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 (ATV-2) on 27th February, two Russian Progress undockings, one Progress docking, and two Russian Orlan spacewalks.<\/p>\n
ISS Specific Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/iss\/<\/p>\n
On 20th December, a test of the SPDM will be conducted in order to verify that it is ready to perform ORU ops. during HTV-2. For this test, the SPDM will pick up a CTC, and manoeuvre it around in order to test its dexterity.<\/p>\n
Endeavour\u2019s STS-134 mission has also been slipped from its February launch date, moving to a placeholder of April 1 \u2013 a date which will continue to be refined based on the status of her older sister\u2019s successful completion of her mission.<\/p>\n
(Further updates and articles will follow. Refer to live coverage threads linked above. L2 members refer to STS-133 live coverage sections for internal coverage, presentations, images and and updates from engineers and managers. Images used, Lead: NASA.gov. Within the article: via L2 acquired presentations and NASA.gov).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following the decision to move Discovery\u2019s STS-133 launch date target to No Earlier Than (NET) February 3, NASA managers have begun realigning the International Space Station (ISS) manifest. An April 1 placeholder has been selected for Endeavour\u2019s STS-134 mission, while Japan\u2019s HTV resupply vehicle is also involved in supporting the manifest changes. STS-133 Delay: With […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[1839,233,9051],"class_list":["post-40584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-htv","tag-iss","tag-sts-133"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40584"}],"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=40584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}