![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/a2.jpg\")
Should those milestones remain unchanged, the HST payload will be removed from Atlantis next Tuesday (October 7), with the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) retracted to its parked position on Friday (October 10).<\/p>\nPreliminary milestone schedules have been created for the complex dual processing flows of Atlantis and Endeavour \u2013 which will hopefully result in the latter launching in just under six weeks time.<\/p>\n
While plans are now solidifying for the short term, evaluations are continuing on whether Atlantis will need to be de-stacked over the New Year.<\/p>\n
As previously reported, this weekend will kick-off operations to remove Atlantis\u2019 Hubble servicing payload, before a large quantity of her hypergolics will be offloaded prior to rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on either October 19 or 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill pick up this weekend with payload de-mates. Will get the payload to the canister around October 13. Once that is completed, will go into fuel offload,\u201d noted KSC Ground Operations. \u201cTarget is to move STS-125 stack from Pad A to High Bay 3 around October 20.\u201d<\/p>\n
While they are subject to refinement, preliminary orbiter specific and integrated schedules \u2013 available to download on L2 \u2013 have been created for the upcoming processing milestones, which focus initially on Atlantis\u2019 eventual move back to the VAB.<\/p>\n
Should those milestones remain unchanged, the HST payload will be removed from Atlantis next Tuesday (October 7), with the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) retracted to its parked position on Friday (October 10).<\/p>\n
The payload canister containing the HST servicing hardware will then be lowered from the pad the following Monday (October 13), before the RSS is moved back to the mate position later that day, in preparation for the offloading of the hypergolics from the OMS tanks \u2013 scheduled for the end of that week (by October 17).<\/p>\n
Preparations for rollback to the VAB are tracking RSS retract on Saturday evening (October 18), ahead of first motion off the pad at 4am Sunday (October 19) \u2013 although this date is likely to be a NET (No Earlier Than) \u2013 given October 20 remains pencilled in for the trip back to the VAB.<\/p>\n
NASA mission patches (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n Still under evaluation for Atlantis is whether she\u2019ll need to be de-stacked and sent back to her Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF). A list of issues relating to staying stacked in the vertical for a few months inside the VAB are being balanced against the benefits of sending the orbiter back to the home comforts of the OPF.<\/p>\n Some required operations can take place whilst inside the VAB, such as the potential changeout of the range safety batteries on the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) and ET cameras. However, structure engineers are continuing evaluations on ensuring Atlantis\u2019 Payload Bay doors won\u2019t soak up too much moisture \u2013 which would be aided by the environmentally controlled OPF.<\/p>\n Other factors include the possibility Wing Leading Edge (WLE) inspections may be required, along with Main Landing Gear (MLG) door seal compression measurements and tire pressures \u2013 the latter currently certified for a landing as late as April 15, 2009.<\/p>\n \u201cThe one issue that we couldn\u2019t quite close out is the MLG door pressure seal,\u201d noted the Orbiter Project on the latest Shuttle Stand-up\/Integration report (L2).<\/p>\n \u201cHad good rationale if we had flown this month, but given that it will be down some number of months and the seal is going to stay in compressed state longer, that requires a little more work. Are off doing that, and we will have further discussion before we fly.\u201d<\/p>\n Atlantis may also require her General Purpose Computer (GPC) and GPS batteries changing out \u2013 the latter certified only until January 20. The Modular Auxiliary Data (MAD) System and Microwave Scan Beam Landing System (MSBLS) magnetron also require testing, among other items.<\/p>\n \u201cRelative to time and lifecycle requirements, the two that we must look at include the WLE corrosion exception,\u201d added the Orbiter Project.<\/p>\n \u201cThough we wrote exception to say \u2018out of OPF by October 31\u2019, we will make sure we are good there, given that we will be sitting out at pad and VAB a little longer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe team also identified Window Contamination Control System (WCCS) conditioning valves that time-out around March 11. That is the one we will have to work on a little bit more.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking at the various manifest options, and what time and cycle requirements might come due depending on how the launch sequence plays out. Also looking at any analyses that must be redone, or done for the first time because the order of flights has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n Over on Pad 39B, Endeavour \u2013 now stood down from her STS-400 role \u2013 is patiently waiting for Atlantis to vacate Pad 39A. Operations are closing in on the completion of hypergolic loading on Endeavour, which will cut down on the amount of processing time once she swaps pads.<\/p>\n \u201cS0024, Hyper Propellant Load: SCAPE operations at Pad B resumed Thursday morning at 0700 EDT. Right OMS\/Left OMS Oxidizer load is complete. Left RCS (Reaction Control System)\/Right RCS Ox load is complete. FRCS (Forward Reaction Control System) Ox load is complete,\u201d noted end of week processing information on L2.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pad was opened for controlled work at 0451 hours Friday to repair an FSS (Fixed Service Structure) elevator and one comm box. Fuel loading operations for the FRCS, APS, and APU\u2019s are scheduled to begin at 0600 Friday morning and continue through 2nd shift tonight.<\/p>\n \u201cWeekend work: S0024 completion activities on Saturday if required. We\u2019ll then be waiting to roll the STS-126 stack off of Pad B and over to Pad A. That will happen on October 25.\u201d<\/p>\n Expanded milestone charts \u2013 again preliminary \u2013 show STS-126\u2019s \u201cLeonardo\u201d Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) payload is due to arrive at 39A on October 23, just prior to Endeavour\u2019s mini-rollout from 39B.<\/p>\n The November 14 NET (No Earlier Than) launch date \u2013 as previously reported and now classed as official \u2013 remains fluid, with the smooth operation between removing Atlantis from 39A, and the timely arrival of Endeavour, part of the key milestones, along with the added factor of \u201ccrew loading\u201d \u2013 which remains on a tight timeline.<\/p>\n Flight Readiness Review (FRR) meetings also need to be conducted, where all relevant departments will discuss their status ahead of launch. So far, no departments have raised any major concerns with the November 14 NET.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking assessments related to the launch date change for STS-126,\u201d noted EVA as one example. \u201cDon\u2019t see any significant pokeouts.<\/p>\n \u201cWaiting for additional input next week. The bigger impact will be the number of suits in flow. There were some limited life components with the suits scheduled to fly on STS-125 that will require some additional maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n A special STS-126 L2 Section is now live, with several expansive mission baseline presentations, PRCB (Program Requirements Control Board) presentations and live USA\/NASA\/NTD processing reports available in the run up to Flight Data File and Flight Readiness Review (FRR) coverage.<\/em><\/p>\n Engineers are closing in on next Wednesday for the switchover from Side A to Side B of Hubble\u2019s SIC&DH (Science Instrument Command and Data Handling) system.<\/p>\n Due to the complexity of the operation, engineers carried out a \u201cdry run\u201d on paper of procedures on Friday. \u201cOn Monday, HST will brief results and plans to Goddard Center Director. Tuesday, HST will take it to HQ. Wednesday, plan is to have them press on with commanding over to side B. When complete VEST work to take the side B routine over, will start flight qualification work on the new SICBH boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n The results of Wednesday\u2019s switchover will play a major role in the requirements Atlantis will be tasked with, when she eventually launches to service Hubble, next February or April.<\/p>\n L2 members<\/em>: All documentation \u2013 from which the above article has quoted snippets \u2013 is available in full in the related L2 sections, updated live.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Preliminary milestone schedules have been created for the complex dual processing flows of Atlantis and Endeavour \u2013 which will hopefully result in the latter launching in just under six weeks time. While plans are now solidifying for the short term, evaluations are continuing on whether Atlantis will need to be de-stacked over the New Year. […]<\/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":[3660,1445,4259,8290,9219],"class_list":["post-41298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-atlantis","tag-endeavour","tag-hubble","tag-sts-125","tag-sts-126"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41298"}],"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=41298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Endeavour\/STS-126 Latest:<\/h3>\n
Hubble Status:<\/h3>\n
\n\u201cHST team is moving forward with plans to take telescope to side B. Campbell independent review (gave) a \u201cgo\u201d to dry-run this activity on VEST (their version of SAIL \u2013 Shuttle Avionics Integration Lab),\u201d noted Flight Operations and Integration.<\/p>\n