**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 Sub Section Build-Up \u2013 special section Now Live. Now includes over 100mb of Flight Plans, EVA, RNDZ, Ascent etc. Checklists. Mission Overview CGI Videos. Plus 25 Flight Readiness Review (FRR) Presentations. S0007 Operation Documents and extensive processing flashes and updates.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n **STS-125\/LON-400 Sub Section Special already over 1500mb in size \u2013 special section Now Live, with over 40 superb mission presentations.<\/p>\n **LIVE updates on Atlantis STS-125 Processing Flow**<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n **LIVE updates on Discovery STS-124 Processing (PAD FLOW)**<\/em><\/font> SpaceX launch tickets (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n Discovery Incident:<\/em><\/u> <\/p>\n The ELSA unit is a high pressure cylinder of air with a hose attached to a plastic mask (head gear), used by engineers working in confined spaces on the vehicle inside the Orbiter Processing Facilities (OPFs). It weighs around five pounds. <\/p>\n The unit was spotted inside Discovery during aft closeouts at Pad 39A, leading to an engineering evaluation that initially found some damage via borescope checks. <\/p>\n \u2018Orbiter aft closeout operations continue. Emergency Life Support Apparatus (ELSA) unit, was found behind Avionics Bay 6. ELSA units are installed in the aft as a safety measure, whenever personnel are actively working in the confined space,\u2019 noted Wednesday processing information. <\/p>\n \u2018The ELSA found behind AV Bay 6 was installed during OPF operations. Thorough inspections are being performed to ensure no damage to the flight hardware occurred during the transitioning of the vehicle from the horizontal to the vertical position. A team has been formed to conduct a full investigation. <\/p>\n \u2018Borescope inspections were conducted in possible areas the ELSA could have travelled to, and found some small tears in a TCS blanket \u2013 no other damage noted. ELSA bottle removed from AFT compartment.\u2019<\/p>\n Those tears in the Thermal Control System (TCS) blankets \u2013 silver and goal mylar material that provides passive thermal control in various areas of the vehicle \u2013 are now classed as unrelated to the ELSA incident. It is not believed that any repairs need to be carried out on the blankets. <\/p>\n Due to where the ELSAs are located in the aft during OPF processing, the unit would not of travelled down the aft at any great speed, when the vehicle was moved into the vertical position. <\/p>\n Numerous elements of hardware lie in its path, meaning it would have likely bounced off various hardware and blankets before lodging behind Avionics Bay 6. Thankfully, inspections show that it failed to damage any of that flight hardware during its fall. <\/p>\n Though such incidents are rare, it doesn\u2019t come close to what occurred in October, 1990, when a 9 foot long support beam audibly fell inside Atlantis\u2019s aft compartment during her mating operations in the VAB. <\/p>\n \u2018While Atlantis was being hoisted to the vertical position, several employees involved in the operation heard several sounds which appeared to be coming from the orbiter,\u2019 noted a status report from the time. \u2018Officials were concerned and decided to proceed with the mating operation without detaching the sling upon its conclusion.\u2019<\/p>\n However, the orbiter only suffered a broken purge duct and a requirement to replace a small portion of a manifold relief line in her Main Propulsion System (MPS). Minor abrasions to the surface coating of a strut and scuff marks on freon lines were also noted. <\/p>\n Clearing Discovery from any repairs, Thursday\u2019s processing report confirmed aft closeouts continued last night, though part of the process had to be carried out again this morning \u2013 due to an issue with the photography of the closeouts. <\/p>\n \u2018ELSA in the aft: Following data review, the Safety Investigation Board (SIB) released the constraint to S1287 allowing platform removal,\u2019 added the processing information.<\/p>\n \u2018Orbiter aft closeouts (S1287): The 50-1 and 50-2 door was installed at 21:28 EDT. Aft closeout photos were accidentally deleted by Quality personnel. The 50-1 and 50-2 doors were removed in order to re-take photos. The doors were re-installed this morning and aft confidence check is planned for today on 1st shift.\u2019 <\/p>\n STS-124\u2019s pad flow continues to proceed on the timeline for the May 31 launch attempt, with final ordnance installation\/connection operations completed this week. <\/p>\n Upcoming flow milestones include APU (Auxiliary Power Units) cart lowering, which has been rescheduled to Friday, late 3rd shift. While preparations for S0071, Hyper\/MPS pressurization and closeouts \u2018call to stations for final operations\u2019 is scheduled for midnight (EDT) on Tuesday, May 27.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/u><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n International Space Station (ISS) Status Update:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the International Space Station (ISS) has been busily preparing for the arrival of Discovery next month, ready for the two week, three EVA mission that will see the installation of the giant Pressurized Module of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Kibo Laboratory.<\/p>\n \u20181J\/STS-124 Prep: A number of activities took place in preparation for the historic Kibo install mission. These activities included translating and checking out the Mobile Transporter at Worksite 6,\u2019 noted an internal update this week. <\/p>\n \u2018(Also includes) adjusting the flow of the Medium Temperature Loop in the US Lab to ensure there is sufficient cooling flow for the new ECLSS rack, multiple crew conferences with both the Shuttle crew and the rotating crewmember Greg Chamitoff (Garrett Reismann will be returning), prepacking of return items, and R-bar Pitch Maneuver (RPM) training.<\/p>\n The Space Station Program Control Board (SSPCB) also approved several hardware enhancement CRs (Change Requests), specifically relating to replacements of Orbital Communications Adapters (OCA) and Orbital Replacement Units (ORU). <\/p>\n \u2018The first (CR) will replace the current OCA equipment. The OCA enables uplink and downlink of large files, video, and voice with the SSC Laptops (these laptops are not used for commanding). The new design will interface with the SSC\u2019s via USB 2 connection vs PCI connection which required a docking port. <\/p>\n \u2018The board also approved the CR to replace 5 avionics Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) with a single piece of equipment called the ICU (Integrated Communication Unit). <\/p>\n \u2018The 5 ORUs replaced are the baseband signal processor for Sband, the high rate frame multiplexer, the high rate payload data recorder, the high rate modem, and the video tape recorders. <\/p>\n \u2018Another very welcome enhancement as part of this change is the addition of two new voice loops, Space to Ground 3 and 4 (S\/G) which will be transmitted via Kuband (S\/G 1 and 2 are transmitted via Sband). <\/p>\n \u2018This provides 2 new abilities. First, we can now transmit synced audio with video (used to transmit video down Ku, audio down Sband, and then ground processing would be required to combine them). Second, we now have a backup method to talk to the crew if the Sband system is failed by using S\/G 3 or 4, or in a loss of signal situation with the TDRS satellite network.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Discovery has avoided damage, following a rare incident that occurred during her transition from horizontal to vertical in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Engineers this week found an Emergency Life Support Apparatus (ELSA) unit had accidentally been left inside Discovery\u2019s aft, which had fallen a short distance to a location behind Avionics Bay 6 during […]<\/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-41404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41404"}],"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=41404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41404"}],"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
**LIVE updates: Endeavour Dual LON and STS-126 Processing**<\/font><\/em><\/font><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
**Ride home through the fire, sparks and plasma of re-entry with Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour. FIVE Stunning high quality 2hr, 355-400mb Camcorder and HUD videos \u2013 from payload bay closure \u2013 through re-entry with an astronaut held camcorder video \u2013 to post landing \u2013 several more videos showing landing from 90,000 ft also available and HUD videos from STA landings. Includes HALO II Re-entry video, and re-entry videos from Gemini and Apollo (converted from 8mm)**<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n