\n
**Up-to-the-second Shuttle Program memos and presentations (VAST) are <\/em>available on L2<\/em>**<\/em><\/p>\n **LIVE news updates on Atlantis STS-117 (STS-317) Processsing Flow**<\/em><\/p>\n **Ride home through the fire and plasma of re-entry with Atlantis \u2013 Stunning 2hr, 355mb video**<\/p>\n <\/font><\/font> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The amount of planning that has taken place ahead of Tuesday\u2019s announcement of STS-125 has been huge, especially on the LON (Launch On Need) rescue requirement. Had the LON plan failed to prove its viability, the Hubble mission would not of been approved \u2013 sources insist. <\/font><\/p>\n While Constellation will suffer around a one year hit to their Pad 39B modification plans for the Ares I-1 test flight, the dual pad approach also allayed fears that the single pad (l-t-l) possibility was simply too ambitious.<\/p>\n The official announcement of the Hubble mission also followed with near perfect synergy in the details acquired by this site of the meeting that took place last week. However, it would appear NASA is looking to change one of the factors that Administrator Mike Griffin relayed to workers and followers of the program on Tuesday \u2013 namely the orbiter that would be tasked with the final mission to Hubble.<\/p>\n Currently \u2013 and as announced \u2013 Discovery will fly on STS-125, but NASA are looking at the possibility of moving the mission to Atlantis, in what would be her first ever flight to Hubble \u2013 but also her final trip to space.<\/p>\n \u2018Working hard to get data on potential sixth flight of Atlantis to use for possible Hubble mission,\u2019 noted a NASA memo acquired by this site, giving the first indication that Discovery might not get STS-125 after all.<\/p>\n Atlantis is due to retire in 2008, given she would be due to enter a Major Modification Period \u2013 a pointless two year exercise, given the Shuttle fleet\u2019s retirement date is 2010. However, stretching Atlantis\u2019 operation lifetime is under evaluation \u2013 with the below points listed as \u2018in need\u2019 of rationale:<\/p>\n \u2018There are 3 main items from the Orbiter side. 1. RSB (Rudder Speed Brake) which we had a 5 flight limit on the actuators due to inspection and corrosion that was found. We are looking at that for possibility to stretch our rationale for 6 flights and will give more time to look at it and my need more testing and inspection. <\/p>\n \u20182. Wiring on 104 is the only vehicle that did not have a complete vehicle wire inspection after the STS-93 incident. Looked at as much as possible during turnarounds but it never had the inspections the other vehicles got and we need to determine what is left there to be done. <\/p>\n \u20183. Have been working on OMDP (Orbiter Maintenance Down Period) Reset and some requirements that would not have to be done again given there were no more OMDP\u2019s if 104 were to fly longer. May have to go look at some of the requirements again. Think (we) have a good pitch for Orbiter Project to present.\u2019<\/p>\n Why NASA would wish to move the flight to Atlantis is unclear, although it could relate to aiding the required manifest alignment, which will involve taking a current International Space Station (ISS) assembly flight as the standby LON rescue mission, in standby support of STS-125, before being cleared to carry out its primary mission.<\/p>\n As is always the case with NASA flight manifests, changes are common place, although \u2013 from a sentimental viewpoint \u2013 handing the Hubble mission to Atlantis would be fitting send-off for the first orbiter to retire from the fleet. **INFINITY: 10 minute STS-115 MUSIC VIDEO**<\/font><\/em> \u2013 **NASASpaceflight.com Job Opportunities**<\/em><\/font> <\/p>\n <\/font> Following the confirmation that NASA will undertake one final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, work continues to move at full pace to confirm the launch slot for STS-125. One major element of those evaluations includes the possibility of moving the flight to Atlantis, handing her a star role send-off, prior to her subsequent […]<\/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-41896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41896"}],"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=41896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}**LIVE news updates on Discovery STS-116 Processing Flow**<\/em><\/p>\n
**Full replay of the Hubble servicing mission announcement<\/em><\/font>**<\/font><\/em> \u2013
<\/em><\/font>(Video section is FREE, but you need to sign up as a member of the forum to enter the video section of the site. We only use your e-mail to send you your password. It will not be used for spam etc.)<\/em> <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<\/font><\/em>In the end, the LON plan\u2019s 15 percent reduction in overall mission risk proved to be enough. <\/p>\n
<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n
<\/em>(Video section is FREE, but you need to sign up as a member of the forum to enter the video section of the site. We only use your e-mail to send you your password. It will not be used for spam etc.)<\/em><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<\/font><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"