**The most comprehensive collection of Shuttle, Ares, Orion and ISS related presentations and mission documentation, plus expansive daily processing documentation and updates are <\/em>available to download on L2<\/em><\/font> **<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n **<\/font>STS-124 L2 Sub Section (over 3400mb) \u2013 Continuing through post flight and post mission IFA\/Mission reviews.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n **STS-125\/LON-400 L2 Sub Section Special already over 1650mb in size \u2013 special section Now Live, with over 40 superb mission presentations. STS-125 Flight Plan (newly created) and Flight Data Files now uploaded. Mission Overview in CGI videos building up \u2013 starting with payload overviews. Daily extensive processing latest.<\/font><\/p>\n **STS-124 Post Flight \u2013 STS-119 Processing Latest**<\/em><\/font> \u2014 **STS-124 News Articles**<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n **LIVE updates: Endeavour Dual LON and STS-126 Processing**<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n Technology News (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n **LIVE updates on Atlantis STS-125 Processing Flow**<\/em><\/font> \u2014 **STS-125 News Articles**<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Superb External Tank Effort:<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Four tanks are deep in production at MAF, namely ET-127 (STS-125), ET-129 (LON\/STS-400\/STS-126), ET-130 (STS-119) and ET-131 (STS-127). It was delays to ET-127 and ET-129 that originally pushed STS-125 out to October 8 back in April. <\/p>\n Both tanks are required at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to support the dual processing flows that center around Atlantis launching from Pad 39A, at the same time Endeavour is sat on Pad 39B \u2013 ready to launch within days on a rescue mission, in the unlikely event Atlantis was seriously damaged during ascent.<\/p>\n A massive effort was carried out by MAF \u2013 not for the first time since Return To Flight \u2013 to find get-wells in the production schedules of the two tanks, no easy task due to restraints with the amount of workers at their disposal, and the fact the two tanks are only the second and third tanks to be built with new modifications that debuted with STS-124\u2019s ET-128.<\/p>\n A TIM (Technical Interchange Meeting) resulted in an opening plan to improve the construction schedule, along with a seven days a week production plan that utilized \u2018prudent\u2019 overtime payments for the workforce. <\/p>\n \u201cET project has been closely coordinating with the SSP (Space Shuttle Program) Manifest and Scheduling office,\u201d noted an overview presentation on making the October date for STS-125. \u201cET-127(STS-125) and ET-129(STS-400,STS-126) are currently under-supporting the current need-to-ship dates by 5 days and 13 days respectively. <\/p>\n \u201cProduction enhancement initiatives are being implemented with anticipation of bridging the delta between the current projected tank ship dates and the SSP desired ship date. Tanks are currently under 7 day\/week production schedules, overtime will also be used as prudent and beneficial in order to improve on current ship commitments. <\/p>\n \u201cIn addition Lockheed (Martin \u2013 who build the tanks at MAF) has implemented collaborative work cells which will provide dedicated, experienced personnel supporting the manufacturing shop teams on a step to step\/day to day basis, reduced the demand on technician resources via; revised Engineering acceptance criteria (primer\/conathane application).<\/p>\n \u201cEngineering drawing trim tolerances revision and reductions in test article processing. <\/b>Current ship commitments are ET-127 \u2013 7\/15\/08 and ET-129 \u2013 8\/9\/08.\u201d<\/p>\n Those dates have since improved by a number of vital days, courtesy of a smooth flow over the past month on the tanks \u2013 which has been key, given fears the effort would still be extremely tight to support October 8 for STS-125.<\/p>\n This concern could be seen via KSC\u2019s response to the mitigation effort, which involved refining the processing schedule once the two tanks had arrived in Florida \u2013 a refinement that would have removed all contingency days from the flow involving the checks on the ETs in the Checkout Cell and through mating ahead of rollout.<\/p>\n \u201cTo take maximum advantage of improved ET deliveries and achieve the earliest launch dates possible, all critical path contingency has been removed from KSC processing schedules,\u201d noted KSC as part of their efforts to keep to October 8 for STS-125.<\/p>\n \u201cET-129 delivery and processing for HST LON capability is the critical path for STS-125 HST. MAF deliveries of ET-127 and ET-129 under support KSC need dates by 4 days (each). <\/b>STS-125\/HST Launch to STS-126\/ULF-2. Launch is a \u201claunch to launch\u201d duration of 33 days.<\/p>\n \u201cGround OPS has removed all contingency from their VAB, PAD, ET flows in a effort to minimize the potential launch slips. The KSC processing flows will be at \u201cred\u201d scheduling risk. MAF should try and ship ET-127 on 7\/11 (O\/D=7\/18) and ET-129 on 8\/5 (O\/D=8\/12) additional improvement could be used to restore pad contingency time.\u201d<\/p>\n With these schedules showing that MAF had to improve their shipping dates yet further to support October 8 for STS-125, managers at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) set a goal to move the shipping dates further to the left.<\/p>\n \u201cCurrently there is a around a one week disconnect supporting the proposed launch dates. MSFC-ET will continue to try and improve the delivery dates, some more improvements may be possible. A new planning date is needed for the other project elements or negative work will occur.<\/p>\n \u201cApprove these dates (Oct 8 for STS-125 etc.) as a interim step and continue to review the schedules and monitor planning versus execution of work.\u201d<\/p>\n Indications that the effort had proved to be a success were first hinted by Shuttle manager John Shannon a few days ago, when he noted: \u201cGot a report at the schedules telecon that the ET team is back on track and appears can support the manifest with some margin. That was a great story.\u201d<\/p>\n This is backed up by the latest report on the processing of the tanks at MAF, via Lockheed Martin on the Shuttle Stand-up\/Integration report.<\/p>\n \u201cET-127: Tank is in final assembly. On track with all test and checkout activities. On TPS (Thermal Protection System), poured +Y LOX clam shell. Doing press and trims for aft manhole cover closeout. Continue to work LO2 feedline yoke closeouts. Prepped to do LH2 outboard support arm application. <\/p>\n \u201cContinuing with final cable tray cover installations and closeouts of +\/-Y vertical struts. Showing a July 14 versus July 11 need. If continue to show progress on test activity, which is primary critical path, expect date to continue migrating back to the left.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cET-129: Tank is in final assembly. Did sprays on both +\/-Y longerons for re-design closeout activities. Will continue with those spray activities. Installed last LOX feedline section (elbow section going down into intertank), and struts were attached. This puts them into all the PDL closeout prep activities. Sprayed +Y bipod; will do trims on this. Will go into -Y bipod spray going forward.<\/p>\n ET-130 \u2013 in Cell A at MAF, and ET-131 \u2013 in the High Bay of the facility, are both proceeding through their various stages of construction without any schedule concerns. ET-130 had suffered a hit of several weeks earlier in the year, but this has been more than mitigated, indirectly, by the delay of STS-119 to February, 2009.<\/p>\n However, should there are any further delays to the tank\u2019s shipping dates, a back-up plan is in place for additional work to be carried out after they have been delivered to Florida is available. The plan, added to the \u201czero contingency\u201d days at KSC, practically ensure STS-125 can launch on schedule, bar a major delay in the flow.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom Ground Operations: ET deliveries have improved by the combination of several successful initiatives by MAF and KSC. <\/p>\n \u201cKSC personnel are being trained and certified so several task usually performed at MAF can be done for the most part in parallel with ET stand alone work at KSC. That along with resource augmentation and process improvements resulted in a much shorter ET on dock to launch template.<\/p>\n \u201cAdvance planning for this parallel activity required careful task scheduling to manage resource limitations (availability of resources and specific skill requirements). It was also necessary to avoid facility, vehicle power\/test, and flight hardware milestone movement conflicts.<\/p>\n \u201cTo take maximum advantage of improved ET deliveries and achieve the earliest launch dates possible, all critical path contingency (remains) removed from KSC processing schedules.\u201d<\/p>\n With the launch dates now appearing solid for October 8 and November 10 for STS-125 and STS-126 respectively, managers have been able to assess various changes to the missions. <\/p>\n This includes a target of launching STS-126 prior to November 28, due to the beta angle cut-off.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom Flight Operations: For STS 125 launch date change results in 550 lbs ascent performance gain. For STS 126 launch date change results in 230 lbs ascent performance loss,\u201d noted associated information. <\/p>\n \u201cThis new launch date satisfies the mated beta angle constraint, however launch dates from approximately 11\/28 through 12\/16 will violate the mated beta angle constraint.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the October 8th HST launch, Pad A post launch turn around activities and STS-126 Payload (ULF-2) delivery to Pad A will be performed in parallel with STS-400 LON standby at Pad B. <\/p>\n \u201cOnce released from HST LON support, the STS-126 SSV (Space Shuttle Vehicle) will roll to Pad A for Payload installation and vehicle preparations for the STS-126 launch on November 10th.\u201d<\/p>\n This fine cross-center effort, which usually goes unreported, also protects the 2009 missions, which is currently scheduling five missions that will see the completion of the ISS\u2019 assembly.<\/p>\n L2 members<\/em><\/font>: 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 **BRAND NEW STS-124 MISSION OVERVIEW MUSIC VIDEO \u2013 AVAILABLE HERE** (Free Video Section \u2013 Only requires to be logged into the forum) Shuttle managers have been informed that the refined delivery dates for External Tanks ET-127 and ET-129 will support the October launch target of STS-125. Another delay was feared last month when the shipping dates were still not within the timelines for STS-125 and the supporting Launch On Need (STS-400), but a superb effort at the […]<\/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":[],"class_list":["post-41367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41367"}],"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=41367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/em><\/font>**Click here for sample of L2 menu and content**<\/font><\/em><\/font><\/em><\/font><\/p>\n
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\u201cSTS-125 (HST) and STS-400 (LON) \/126 (ULF-2) will be parallel VAB\/Pad processing to provide LON capability for HST SM4. <\/p>\n
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Click here for a range of superb STS mission specific music videos created by Max Q videos<\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"