{"id":42246,"date":"2005-10-28T00:33:28","date_gmt":"2005-10-27T16:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-still-aiming-for-19-flights\/"},"modified":"2005-10-28T00:33:28","modified_gmt":"2005-10-27T16:33:28","slug":"nasa-still-aiming-for-19-flights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-still-aiming-for-19-flights\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA still aiming for 19 flights"},"content":{"rendered":"

A document acquired by this site has given revised details on the remaining flights of the Space Shuttle, with changes to the target launch dates and confirmation that Atlantis will be the first Orbiter to be retired in 2008. <\/p>\n

Running through to 2009 \u2013 to give the STS (Space Transportation System) program a buffer zone to the targeted retirement in 2010 \u2013 the October 19th Flight Assignment Working Group (FAWG) Planning Manifest 05D-12 points to four flights in 2006.\n<\/p>\n

Discovery\u2019s Return to Flight 3 mission STS-121 has been forwarded to earlier in the re-start of Shuttle operations to May 3, 2006, with Atlantis on her STS-300 stand-by rescue mission \u2013 if required \u2013 for June 15. This mission is at the mercy of testing and re-engineering work on External Tanks ET-119 and ET-120 \u2013 both currently at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans. <\/font><\/p>\n

Atlantis\u2019 primary launch processing is for STS-115, which is now due to launch on July 1. Atlantis\u2019 launch will see the re-start to ISS (International Space Station) assembly missions, adding the P3\/P4 Truss to the outpost. <\/font><\/p>\n

The youngest Orbiter in the fleet, Endeavour, joins the fleet in active flight operations on October 1 on STS-116, carrying SpaceHab and the P5 ISS element. This will be the first Shuttle mission to incorporate SSPTS (Station\/Shuttle Power Transfer System) capability, allowing for flight duration to last 15 days. <\/font><\/p>\n

A fourth mission is planned for 2006, with Atlantis once again in action on STS-117 with a target launch date of December 7. Atlantis will be carrying the S3\/S4 ISS element. <\/font><\/p>\n

On the manifest is six 2007 missions, starting with Endeavour on March 15 on STS-118, and ending with Atlantis on STS-124 on November 29. Atlantis\u2019 14th of June STS-120 will mark the completion of the US Core of the ISS. <\/font><\/p>\n

2008 sees another six launches, starting and ending with Endeavour\u2019s STS-125 on February 7 \u2013 ending with her STS-130 mission on December 4. This year will also mark the retirement of Atlantis. OV-104 would have been due for her Orbiter Major Maintenance (OMM) period in 2008, thus deciding her own retirement automatically, given the two years it takes to re-fit the Orbiters \u2013 a pointless exercise given the 2010 retirement target. <\/font><\/p>\n

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Three missions follow STS-130, with Discovery launching on STS-131 (March 19), Endeavour on STS-132 (May 14), and the final ever Space Shuttle mission coming with Discovery\u2019s STS-133 on August 20, 2009. <\/font><\/p>\n

However, it needs to be stressed that all dates are flexible and open to changes, with the 2009 end date on the manifest more likely to give some breathing space should any delays during previous missions begin to accumulate over the years post STS-121. <\/font><\/p>\n

Also worth noting is the current funding questions that have been raised of late. <\/font><\/p>\n

NASA appears to have several options open to themselves, with a possibility of only flying missions that complete the US Core section of the ISS. That would bring the manifest down to eight flights, likely over the same time period to relax funding concerns. <\/font><\/p>\n

What is expected to remain \u2013 although not listed on the manifest with a specific mission \u2013 is the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. That will not be part of the ISS assembly missions, given the different orbits of the ISS and Hubble. Sources note that mission will involve Endeavour, sometime in 2007\/08. <\/font><\/p>\n

Below is the list of launches noted on the latest manifest. <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

2006
STS-121 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Discovery \u00e2\u20ac\u201c May 3
[STS-300 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Atlantis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c June 15]
STS-115 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Atlantis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c July 1
STS-116 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Endeavour \u00e2\u20ac\u201c October 1
STS-117 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Atlantis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c December 7 <\/p>\n

2007
STS-118 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Endeavour \u00e2\u20ac\u201c March 15
STS-119 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Discovery \u00e2\u20ac\u201c May 3
STS-120 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Atlantis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c June 14
STS-122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Endeavour \u00e2\u20ac\u201c August 23
STS-123 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Discovery \u00e2\u20ac\u201c October 11
STS-124 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Atlantis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c November 29 <\/p>\n

2008
STS-125 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Endeavour \u00e2\u20ac\u201c February 7
STS-126 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Discovery \u00e2\u20ac\u201c April 3
STS-127 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Atlantis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c May 22
STS-128 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Endeavour \u00e2\u20ac\u201c July 3
STS-129 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Discovery \u00e2\u20ac\u201c October 2
STS-130 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Endeavour \u00e2\u20ac\u201c December 4 <\/p>\n

2009
STS-131 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Discovery \u00e2\u20ac\u201c March 19
STS-132 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Endeavour \u00e2\u20ac\u201c May 14
STS-133 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Discovery \u00e2\u20ac\u201c August 20<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

Specific Forum Thread:
<\/font>http:\/\/forum.nasaspaceflight.com\/forums\/thread-view.asp?tid=676&start=1<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A document acquired by this site has given revised details on the remaining flights of the Space Shuttle, with changes to the target launch dates and confirmation that Atlantis will be the first Orbiter to be retired in 2008. Running through to 2009 \u2013 to give the STS (Space Transportation System) program a buffer zone […]<\/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-42246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42246"}],"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=42246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}