Hubble Repair (STS-125) Mission Thread

[3488]

As expected, they have waved off any landing attempts today.

Tomorrow they will try In Florida at 9:16 AM, but will be prepared to possibly land at Edwards in California as well.

Thanks Wayne, thought this would happen.

From Spaceflight now.com. Justin Ray.

1215 GMT (8:15 a.m. EDT)
Here's an updated look at the opportunities to bring the shuttle home this weekend at Kennedy Space Center, Edwards Air Force Base in California and White Sands, New Mexico (all times Eastern):

ORBIT...SITE...LANDING

Saturday, May 23:

180.....KSC....09:16 AM
181.....EDW....10:46 AM
181.....KSC....10:54 AM
182.....EDW....12:24 PM

Sunday, May 24:

196.....EDW....10:01 AM
196.....NOR....10:04 AM
196.....KSC....10:10 AM
197.....EDW....11:39 AM
197.....NOR....11:42 AM
197.....KSC....11:48 AM
1200 GMT (8:00 a.m. EDT)
The first Kennedy Space Center landing opportunity on Saturday will be 9:16 a.m. EDT.

1148 GMT (7:48 a.m. EDT)
AN EXTRA DAY IN SPACE. Faced with bleak odds that unfavorable weather at the Kennedy Space Center would improve for a safe landing of the space shuttle later this morning, Mission Control has decided to cancel the day's only remaining deorbit opportunity and keep Atlantis in orbit. The astronauts will get a bonus day in space and target a landing on Saturday.

1130 GMT (7:30 a.m. EDT)
Mission Control just told commander Scott Altman that officials continue to evaluate the weather and no decision has been made one way or the other about resuming deorbit preparations and closing the payload bay doors.

1105 GMT (7:05 a.m. EDT)
All remains in a holding pattern while flight controllers watch to see if the weather clears up enough for Atlantis to land in Florida later this morning. The next window for the shuttle perform a deorbit burn is 10:33 a.m. EDT, leading to a touchdown at Kennedy Space Center around 11:39 a.m. EDT.
Meteorologists are worried about thunderstorms, low clouds and crosswinds at the Cape today.

The official weather forecast for Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center from the Spaceflight Meteorology Group is calling for scattered clouds at 4,000 feet, another level of scattered clouds at 7,000 feet, a broken deck of clouds at 15,000 feet, seven miles of visibility, a southeasterly wind from 130 degrees of 10 peaking to 16 knots.

The concerns will be the chance of rainshowers or thunderstorms within 30 miles of the Florida spaceport and the cloud deck at 7,000 becoming more widespread and forming a ceiling that violates the shuttle landing weather rules.

If the landing is delayed to Sunday, the Kennedy Space Center forecast improves a bit to include scattered clouds at 3,000 feet, a broken deck of clouds at 15,000 feet, seven miles of visibility, a southeasterly wind from 130 degrees of 7 peaking to 12 knots, only a chance of showers within 30 miles but no concerns about a ceiling.

NASA could opt to activate the backup landing facility at Edwards Air Force Base in California either Saturday or Sunday. The alternate site has a "go" weather forecast both days this weekend.

Based on the amount of consumables and supplies left aboard Atlantis, NASA wants to have the shuttle safely back on Earth no later than Sunday.

1030 GMT (6:30 a.m. EDT)
Looking ahead to the second and final landing opportunity of the day, assuming the weather does improve, the shuttle's 60-foot-long payload bay doors are scheduled to be closed at 7:53 a.m., followed by the transition of onboard computers to the software for entry and the crew donning its spacesuits.
A final decision whether to perform the deorbit burn would come from Houston around 10:15 a.m., leading to ignition of Atlantis' braking rockets at 10:33 a.m. to start the trek home. The shuttle would hit the upper atmosphere at 11:07 a.m.

Touchdown on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center is targeted for 11:39 a.m. EDT.

From Spaceflight now.com. Justin Ray.

Wonderful view of the Payload Bay of Atlantis.

Andrew Brown.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Here's an updated look at the opportunities to bring the shuttle home this weekend at Kennedy Space Center, Edwards Air Force Base in California and White Sands, New Mexico (all times Eastern):

ORBIT...SITE...LANDING

Saturday, May 23:

180.....KSC....09:16 AM
181.....EDW....10:46 AM
181.....KSC....10:54 AM
182.....EDW....12:24 PM

Sunday, May 24:

196.....EDW....10:01 AM
196.....NOR....10:04 AM
196.....KSC....10:10 AM
197.....EDW....11:39 AM
197.....NOR....11:42 AM
197.....KSC....11:48 AM

Thanx for the list Andrew, that will help me plan out activities for the Holiday weekend!

 

[3488]

You're very welcome Wayne.

If I'm home, I'll hopefully be watching. If not I'll catch up with the landing of Atlantis later.

Looks like the heat shield is in good shape, aside from a few minor abrasions at launch.

I assume that STS 400 Endeavour has been stood down, as it looks as though Endeavour is not required?

Andrew Brown.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Not sure about that. Last I heard, the intention was to keep it in reserve until the deorbit burn, but that may have changed.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Here's the Florida Radar:

http://www.intellicast.com/national/rad ... imate=true

The Cape is just east of "TIX" on the east coast.

 

[Zipi]

Here's an updated look at the opportunities to bring the shuttle home this weekend at Kennedy Space Center, Edwards Air Force Base in California and White Sands, New Mexico (all times Eastern):

ORBIT...SITE...LANDING

I had to update this table to EET time zone for Nordic watchers:

Saturday, May 23:

180.....KSC....16:16
181.....EDW....17:46
181.....KSC....17:54
182.....EDW....19:24

Sunday, May 24:

196.....EDW....17:01
196.....NOR....17:04
196.....KSC....17:10
197.....EDW....18:39
197.....NOR....18:42
197.....KSC....18:48
1200 GMT (15:00 EET)

 

[centsworth_II]

....Well, if you think about it, the mirrors are part of the outside....

Sure, in the same sense that the interior of our gut is outside of our body. However the mirror is still out of sight of essentially all orbital debris and solar wind particles. Only micro meteorites remain as candidates for impact.

...I just find it incredible that no major impact has occurred on the mirror in almost 20 years in space. It's pretty amazing, don't you think.

Even a meteor "shower" typically shows fewer than one strike per minute over an entire hemisphere. Think what small percentage of a hemisphere with a radius the size of Hubble's orbit the 10 foot aperture represents. Still, even that small chance of impact can be all but eliminated:

NASA spacecraft take cover from the Leonids
"Like many other spacecraft, he Hubble Space Telescope (HST) will point away from the Leonids to avoid damage, but it won't stop observing. For a 10-hour period around the peak of the storm the telescope will be oriented with its aft bulkhead facing into the direction of the meteoroid stream. Hubble's solar panels will lay flat, or parallel to the meteoroid flow."

 

[aphh]

Sure, in the same sense that the interior of our gut is outside of our body.

You always look at stars with mouth wide open? Sorry, couldn't resist. :lol: But thanks for the info, interesting about the Leonids and Hubble.

 

[Larryman]

As expected, they have waved off any landing attempts today.

Tomorrow they will try In Florida at 9:16 AM, but will be prepared to possibly land at Edwards in California as well.

An anti-gravity flying saucer could have landed, despite: "Meteorologists are worried about thunderstorms, low clouds and crosswinds at the Cape today.".

 

[earth_bound_misfit]

As expected, they have waved off any landing attempts today.

Tomorrow they will try In Florida at 9:16 AM, but will be prepared to possibly land at Edwards in California as well.

An anti-gravity flying saucer could have landed, despite: "Meteorologists are worried about thunderstorms, low clouds and crosswinds at the Cape today.".

I'm sure any descent Alien saucer pilot would be worried about cross winds too :lol:

 

[Larryman]

As expected, they have waved off any landing attempts today.

Tomorrow they will try In Florida at 9:16 AM, but will be prepared to possibly land at Edwards in California as well.

An anti-gravity flying saucer could have landed, despite: "Meteorologists are worried about thunderstorms, low clouds and crosswinds at the Cape today.".

I'm sure any descent Alien saucer pilot would be worried about cross winds too :lol:

I don't think typical storm-level crosswinds are a significant factor to a non-aerodynamic, high-mass vehicle, using a vertical descent. I think maneuvering thrusters could compensate for the minimal side-direction air pressure of the storm's crosswind.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Back here in the real world, the payload bay doors have been closed, and the astronauts have been given a go to suit up for reenty.

 

[MeteorWayne]

They have waved off the first opportunity on orbit 180 for a 9:16 Am EDT landing.

There is 1 more landing chance at KSC, and 2 more at Edwards for today.

KSC at 10:54 AM EDT, and EDW at 10:46 AM and 12:24 PM EDT.

 

[Zipi]

First Saturday's landing opportunity waved off due bad weather at KSC.

[MW were faster to announce this...]

 

[MeteorWayne]

Based on the upstream batch of showers on the radar:

http://www.intellicast.com/national/rad ... imate=true

Once again, the cape is just east of "TIX" and the landing time would be 02:54 UTC (The time on the radar display upper left)

I think there's no chance to make the other KSC attempt today either.

So then it's a choice between landing at Edwards today, or hoping for improvement at KSC for tomorrow.

 

[Zipi]

Now it's official: Atlantis won't land today.

 

[MeteorWayne]

They have waved off all landing attempts today in the hopes that Florida weather will improve tomorrow.

Edwards is OK today thru Monday. Northrup is currently unavaliable due to a wet lakebed.

 

[astronaut23]

This is ignorant. They are worried about the shuttles heat shield getting damage but thy are going to leave it on orbit day after day instead of land at the backup landing sited?

 

[Zipi]

This is ignorant. They are worried about the shuttles heat shield getting damage but thy are going to leave it on orbit day after day instead of land at the backup landing sited?

They want to get Atlantis at KSC if possible. It will generate significant cost to transport the shuttle with 747 carrier aircraft. It will also stip away needed days to refurbish Atlantis for STS-129 launch at November.

Current orbit is lower than the Hubble servicing orbit and therefore the micro meteoroid risk is lower.

 

[MeteorWayne]

From what I understand, the more important reason to try and land at KSC is the time involved. Landing at Edwards adds at least 2 weeks, and maybe more to the turnaround time for the shuttle. Therefore, if there's a reasonable chance to get it in at KSC, it's worth the effort.

 

[astronaut23]

Well I would think from a purely safety standpoint of view you'd want to get it down ASAP if the backup site is got good weather. Extra time on oribit is extra time for something to go wrong. What if there was a major mechanical failure between now and tommorow's attamts at landing. Then no landing at Edwards when they had the chance would be stupid.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Believe me, all that is taken into account when these decisions are made.

I'm sure the astronauts have input on the decision as well.

 

[astronaut23]

Where does the shuttle land if KSC, Edwards, and White Sands are all unacceptable.

 

[3488]

Latest updates from Spaceflightnow.com. Justin Ray.

1320 GMT (9:20 a.m. EDT)
Faced with dismal weather in Florida but a chance for improvement Sunday, the Atlantis astronauts were ordered to back out of landing preparations and to stay in orbit a second extra day in a row in hopes of getting back to Florida Sunday.

1309 GMT (9:09 a.m. EDT)
The payload bay doors have swung open again and the crew received approval from Mission Control to get out of the re-entry spacesuits.

1259 GMT (8:59 a.m. EDT)
"We are confident we are in a good config," CAPCOM just told commander Scott Altman about the earlier cooling system concern. And with that, the crew is "go" to proceed with steps to back out of the deorbit preparations and reopen the payload bay doors.

1257 GMT (8:57 a.m. EDT)
Flight controllers believe there's probably ice in the cooling lines and the issue will be cleared once the shuttle radiators are reactivated and the orbiter is reoriented to the normal attitude in space.

1253 GMT (8:53 a.m. EDT)
If the cooling situation turns into a real problem, NASA could still have the crew deorbit and land at Edwards Air Force Base today where the weather is fine.

1251 GMT (8:51 a.m. EDT)
The astronauts have reported a issue in reconfiguring the orbiter cooling system. Mission Control just told the crew to keep the payload bay doors closed and remain suited up.

1245 GMT (8:45 a.m. EDT)
Here's an updated look at the opportunities to land the space shuttle on Sunday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Edwards Air Force Base in California (all times Eastern):

ORBIT...SITE...LANDING

Sunday, May 24:

196.....EDW....10:02 AM
196.....KSC....10:11 AM
197.....EDW....11:40 AM
197.....KSC....11:49 AM
1234 GMT (8:34 a.m. EDT)

From Spaceflightnow.com. Justin Ray.

Andrew Brown.

 

[Larryman]

"Based on the upstream batch of showers on the radar..."

"They have waved off all landing attempts today in the hopes that Florida weather will improve tomorrow."

:lol: