STS-127 launch window question

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rtphokie

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I've got launch tickets for STS-127 and am making hotel reservations and am trying to determine how many days I should book. If the launch is scrubbed on 6/13 when would they likely try again? The next day?

I see on the NASA website that the launch window is 10 minutes, where can I find what the next launch window is? This would help me make my hotel decisions.
 
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Zipi

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rtphokie":2b7vmv5u said:
I've got launch tickets for STS-127 and am making hotel reservations and am trying to determine how many days I should book. If the launch is scrubbed on 6/13 when would they likely try again? The next day?

I see on the NASA website that the launch window is 10 minutes, where can I find what the next launch window is? This would help me make my hotel decisions.

The next lauch attempt will depend the reason of possible scrub. If it is a weather issue it can be the next day, but if it is a hardware issue then it could be days or weeks. I guess it also affects at which point the scrub occurs if it is a weather issue... I don't know are they able to empty liquid hydrogen and oxygen tanks and refill those for next day launch attempt.

The launch window itself will move some ten minutes from day to day, but unfortunately I cannot recall which direction.
 
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MeteorWayne

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It's too early to say. The final launch date has not even been officially selected yet, since that is the shuttle on Pad B right now. It still need to be moved to Pad A after any necessary reprs to the pad are completed.

Everything depends on how that is resolved, and how the processing goes. There's a lot of work to be done.

As far as the launch window, it moves up about 25 minutes earlier each day. They generally try 2 days in a row before taking a 1 day break, but it depends on the Mission and the weather.
 
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rtphokie

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MeteorWayne":3eqsi150 said:
It's too early to say. The final launch date has not even been officially selected yet, since that is the shuttle on Pad B right now. It still need to be moved to Pad A after any necessary reprs to the pad are completed.
Everything depends on how that is resolved, and how the processing goes. There's a lot of work to be done.

Isn't it on pad A now, ready to launch, as a rescue option for STS-125? Why would it need to be moved from pad B to pad A to fullfill it's original mission intent?

MeteorWayne":3eqsi150 said:
As far as the launch window, it moves up about 25 minutes earlier each day. They generally try 2 days in a row before taking a 1 day break, but it depends on the Mission and the weather.

Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for.
 
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MeteorWayne

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No, STS-127 (which is currently called STS-400 for the potential rescue mission) is on pad B. It will remain there until the STS-125 deorbit burn. Then they will prepare for the move to pad A. Then they have to remove the rescue mission payload, and install the STS-127 mission payload. So there's a lot to be done before they finalize the launch date.
 
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Zipi

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rtphokie":1t0ibvaf said:
Isn't it on pad A now, ready to launch, as a rescue option for STS-125? Why would it need to be moved from pad B to pad A to fullfill it's original mission intent?

They have to move it because the current pad hasn't been maintained for regular launches. It's payload management facilities cannot support other than rescue missions if I remember correctly. After Endeavour has been moved the pad will be given to the constellation program for modifications to support Ares 1.
 
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roocnu

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Add a buffer of a few days following the launch date- there might be delays for all number of reasons. If there's a forced delay, spend some time at the Kennedy Space Centre. I was there for the launch of 122, and we had 3 days at the KSC - so much to see, interesting tours, lunch with the astronaut, Astronaut Hall of fame (Included with your admission to the KSC), simulation ride, etc. We were very lucky for that launch - it was 80 or 90% chance it would be a no-go the morning I woke up for that launch, but all of a sudden, weather was no constraint, and up she went. You just never know....

It is hard to plan a trip around seeing a launch. As MeteorWayne mentioned, there's so much yet to do, and they might find problems along the way.....and the date is not finalised, even though the tickets have been sold and the date is on the NASA website.

A group of us are coming down from Toronto to see the launch of 127 also (there's a Canadian astronaut, Julie Payette, going up), and we're just planning things the best we can, around the date as it is right now.

It might change, and then we'll just have to adapt to that. That's the way these things go. Fingers crossed!
 
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TariqJMalik

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rtphokie":230aq350 said:
I've got launch tickets for STS-127 and am making hotel reservations and am trying to determine how many days I should book. If the launch is scrubbed on 6/13 when would they likely try again? The next day?

I see on the NASA website that the launch window is 10 minutes, where can I find what the next launch window is? This would help me make my hotel decisions.

Hi Rtphokie,

Here is the rundown on the launch window for STS-127 as NASA currently plans:

The window in June is fairly slim, only 3 days, from June 13 to June 15. If the shuttle doesn't launch by then, NASA currently plans to stand down until July 12 because another NASA mission - the moon-bound LRO/LCROSS flight - is slated to launch on June 17 from the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an unmanned rocket.

NASA's Kennedy Space Center and the Air Force Station share the same Eastern Launch Range over the Atlantic Ocean, and the LRO mission has the range throughout the bulk of late July. There may be some wiggle room, but not much, NASA says.

Everything for Endeavour (the shuttle to fly) must also go near perfect to make June 13. The shuttle was slated to move to Pad 39A on Saturday, but bad weather in Florida has pushed that to Sunday at the earliest.

NASA is hopeful technicians can make up the lost time and still target June 13, but more delays may begin to endanger the June 13 target.

Muddying the water is the planned return of the shuttle Atlantis from California atop its jumbo jet carrier craft. That flight could return Atlantis to the Kennedy Space Center as early as Monday, and NASA wants to study a wiring problem on Atlantis to make sure Endeavour doesn't have the same problem. It is likely not a major concern, so may not affect anything, but it is something NASA is watching, per the agency's shuttle chief John Shannon yesterday.

This is probably a lot more info than you wanted to know.

Suffice to say, the window to launch Endeavour on STS-127 runs from June 13 to June 15, with the potential to slip to July 12. If you want to book a hotel, booking it for the June days is smart and you can always leave early (hopefully without a penalty).

NOTE: If NASA does try to to launch in June and can't, you might have to buy new tickets in July should you try to attend then too at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex.

Hope that helps and happy launch viewing!

Cheers,

Tariq Malik
SPACE.com Senior Editor
 
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MeteorWayne

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Tariq,
That's not more information than most of us wanted to know. Thanx very much for your update!
It's nice to see you here once in a while.
MW (whose birthday is June 17, BTW) :)
 
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TariqJMalik

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MW,

Happy coming birthday!

Some food for thought for the coming STS-127 mission:

If Endeavour launches on June 13, it will be on the anniversary of the founding of the National Space Society (1974). On June 14, that's Flag Day here in the U.S., but also the same day Russia launched Venera 10 to Venus (1975) and landed Vega 2 on Venus (1985) which also deployed a balloon. According to my nifty calendar, June 15 is the anniversary of the first Titan 3D rocket launch in 1971, which is somewhat less intriguing.

A June launch would put the astronauts in orbit over Father's Day, and nearly all 6 of the men on Endeavour's crew have children (Mike Barratt on the space station has 5!). They may also be in space during NASA chief nominee Charlie Bolden's confirmation hearings, depending on how fast they go.

A delay to July 12 would certainly put all 7 Endeavour astronauts in space with the station's 6-man crew during the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing (July 20, 1969).

So there's some food for thought.
 
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MeteorWayne

Guest
You're probably too young to remember where you were on July 20, 1969 as they landed Tariq, but I know exactly where I was....cleaning off the table at Mr Bees right in front of the artificial orange drink dispenser... It is an anniversery I will savor this year.

It is really a shame we have not been back since 1972.

Wayne
 
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MeteorWayne

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NASA has not posted this yet even after a few hours, so spaceflightnow is the source:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/s ... 529status/


NASA managers met Friday and decided to continue processing the shuttle Endeavour for launch June 13 on a five-spacewalk space station assembly mission while continuing an analysis of a short circuit that knocked an avionics unit off line during the shuttle Atlantis' liftoff May 11.

................

An executive-level flight readiness review is planned for next Wednesday to assess the status of launch processing and to set an official launch date. While the short circuit analysis is not complete, engineers are optimistic it will have no impact on Endeavour's launch.

The weather, however, is another matter. To make the June 13 target, Endeavour must be moved from pad 39B, where it was on stand-by for emergency rescue duty during Atlantis' Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, to pad 39A on Sunday.

Rollover had been targeted for Friday, but it has now slipped to Sunday, primarily because of stormy weather that delayed rollover preparations. With no contingency time left in the processing schedule to handle unexpected problems, another rollover delay - or any other significant issue - likely would delay launch.

As it now stands, NASA only has three days to get Endeavour off the ground in June or the flight will be delayed one month. The short window is the result of a conflict with another high-priority mission - launch of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on June 17 - and temperature constraints due to the space station's orbit.

If Endeavour misses the three-day June launch window, the flight will slip to around July 11, based on the most recent analysis of the station's trajectory.
 
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Zipi

Guest
Seems that the launch schedule still holds since Endeavour is now at 39A:

www.nasa.gov/shuttle":x6eoh285 said:
Endeavour Completes Move To Launch Pad 39A
Sun, 31 May 2009 06:58:15 PM UTC+0300

Space shuttle Endeavour completed its 3.4 mile trek from NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39B to Launch Pad 39A and was secured to the pad at 11:42 a.m. Sunday, May 31. First motion was at 3:16 a.m. The STS-125 ferry flight departure is currently planned for 8:20 a.m. EDT (5:20 a.m. PDT) Monday, June 1. There will be a weather briefing at 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT) Sunday. Flight managers are looking at various options for the best route to the Kennedy Space Center. Weather remains very dynamic. The mate of Atlantis to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft was completed at 7:55 a.m. EDT (4:55 a.m. PDT).
 
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