STS-130/(20A) Mission Thread

[Zipi]

OBX_NC : that is a nice photo, just low res ..

You can find "proper one" from: http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/

It was under hot pics gallery if I remember correctly... But I have to warn you that above address might cause you to spend plenty of time browsing and saving different images...

And you were asking slow motion video of STS-130 SSME startup... Well, there probably is such thing but I guess it is not publicly available. Best bet to get that is to join nasaspaceflight's L2 area, but it is not free.

 

[EarthlingX]

OBX_NC : that is a nice photo, just low res ..

You can find "proper one" from: http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/

It was under hot pics gallery if I remember correctly... But I have to warn you that above address might cause you to spend plenty of time browsing and saving different images...

And you were asking slow motion video of STS-130 SSME startup... Well, there probably is such thing but I guess it is not publicly available. Best bet to get that is to join nasaspaceflight's L2 area, but it is not free.

Roger. I will see what i can do with what i have.

Crew Completes Heat Shield Inspections
Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:29:25 AM GMT+0000

The survey of the shuttle’s heat shield has been completed. The photos of the heat shield captured during the inspection, as well as others taken during various points in the mission, will be used to ensure that the shuttle did not sustain any damage during its launch on Monday.

non-related pictures of mysterious cloud shapes ..

 

[EarthlingX]

OBX_NC : that is a nice photo, just low res ..

You can find "proper one" from: http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/

It was under hot pics gallery if I remember correctly... But I have to warn you that above address might cause you to spend plenty of time browsing and saving different images...

Darn, i should start reading things much more carefully ..

 

[EarthlingX]

Crew Wraps Up First Full Day in Space
Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:02:59 PM GMT+0000

The STS-130 astronauts are scheduled to begin their sleep period at 9:14 a.m. EST, following a busy day devoted to an inspection of space shuttle Endeavour’s thermal protection system, a checkout of spacesuits and preparations for docking with the International Space Station. The crew is scheduled to wake up at 5:14 p.m. and begin rendezvous operations to dock with the station shortly after midnight Wednesday.

 

[nimbus]

non-related pictures of mysterious cloud shapes ..

http://www.outersystem.us/creationism/ancientproof/Manicouagan3.jpg ?

 

[EarthlingX]

non-related pictures of mysterious cloud shapes ..

http://www.outersystem.us/creationism/ancientproof/Manicouagan3.jpg ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manicouagan_impact_crater
Location

Very close That's where they were at the time, or very close, khm, higher .. :roll:

 

[bushwhacker]

great shot , obx. i dont mind the res. its on my desk top now :lol:

 

[nimbus]

EarthlingX - I thought you mistook that for clouds. Which clouds did you mean?

 

[EarthlingX]

That ring above the arm on the right picture.

It looks like that crater, just rotated .. or not ? I will have to check it again.

They were also coming down from the Canada at that time, might have been close to Quebec ..

Those numbers in the picture are the mission time from the NASA webpage : 01:03:18 min ..

Ah, silly me, not clouds, water

 

[OBX_NC]

great shot , obx. i dont mind the res. its on my desk top now :lol:

wow! thank you bushwhacker that's quite a compliment!

sorry for the low res folks... i had a higher res one to post but when i hit "preview" it looked funky...

 

[EarthlingX]

great shot , obx. i dont mind the res. its on my desk top now :lol:

wow! thank you bushwhacker that's quite a compliment!

sorry for the low res folks... i had a higher res one to post but when i hit "preview" it looked funky...

No biggie, we live to learn :roll:

This site might help you :
http://photobucket.com/

You get the links for thumbs, copy/paste , so you can put high-res on-line and still have small pictures in the post.
It is not the only one, just where i quit searching

Endeavour to Dock with Station Early Wednesday
Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:38:42 PM GMT

The STS-130 crew spent its first full day in space inspecting space shuttle Endeavour’s thermal protection system, checking out spacesuits and making preparations for docking with the International Space Station. The crew is scheduled to wake up at 5:14 p.m. and begin rendezvous operations to dock with the station shortly after midnight Wednesday.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Ah, silly me, not clouds, water

Not water my friend, you're thinking of the wrong country. It's snow covered ice :lol:

Jusr for reference at's about 100 km (60 miles) across.

 

[EarthlingX]

Ah, silly me, not clouds, water

Not water my friend, you're thinking of the wrong country. It's snow covered ice :lol:

Aaaa...

I will just post pictures, and report, and do my very best not to ask too silly questions ..
if i can avoid it ...
hm .. :roll:

 

[EarthlingX]

Docking Day for Shuttle and Station
Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:24:38 PM GMT

The crew of space shuttle Endeavour awoke at 5:14 p.m. EST to the song “Katmandu” by Bob Seger, played for shuttle Commander George Zamka.

Today is docking day in space, as shuttle Endeavour closes the gap to the International Space Station and links up at about 12:06 a.m. Endeavour will be flown by Zamka and Pilot Terry Virts on its approach for docking to the station. After a series of jet firings to fine-tune Endeavour’s path to the complex, the shuttle will arrive at a point about 600 feet directly below the station about an hour before docking. At that time, Zamka will execute the rendezvous pitch maneuver, a one-degree-per-second rotational “backflip” to enable station crew members to snap hundreds of detailed photos of the shuttle’s heat shield and other areas of potential interest – another data point for imagery analysts to pore over in determining the health of the shuttle’s thermal protection system.

Once the rotation is completed, Zamka will fly Endeavour in front of the station before slowly closing in for a linkup to the forward docking port on the Harmony module. Less than two hours later, hatches will be opened between the two spacecraft and a combined crew of 11 will begin eight days of work.

 

[3488]

Thanks for the updates. Great to see that all is proceeding smoothly. The RPM manaeuver is always amazing to watch. I may try & be back early to watch it live.

Does anyone know where over the Earth the RPM is expected to pass over? Last year the Shuttle & ISS passed over the Canary Islands just prior to RPM & I flipping well missed it (cannot remember which mission though). :shock:

A view of the launch of STS 130 Endeavour from the Firing Room @ KSC.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

Thanks for the updates. Great to see that all is proceeding smoothly. The RPM manaeuver is always amazing to watch. I may try & be back early to watch it live.

Thanks for the tip, and yea, more the merrier

Does anyone know where over the Earth the RPM is expected to pass over? Last year the Shuttle & ISS passed over the Canary Islands just prior to RPM & I flipping well missed it (cannot remember which mission though). :shock:

 

[3488]

I will try & be here in time for the RPM.

I am hoping to come over to KSC to watch the launch of STS 132 Atlantis in May, that will be an afternoon launch, but it is great to be able to share this mission with you all.

I agree, the more the merrier EarthlingX. :mrgreen:

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

I will try & be here in time for the RPM.

Roger.

I am hoping to come over to KSC to watch the launch of STS 132 Atlantis in May, that will be an afternoon launch, but it is great to be able to share this mission with you all.

Doesn't matter afternoon launch, especially when watching it close in live

It is nice, and thank you for bearing with me ..

I agree, the more the merrier EarthlingX. :mrgreen:

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

STS-130:01:15:27:00
... 15 min remaining to orbital burn for 45 sec ..
.. 4h remaining to docking ..

..

..
.. 5 min to orbital maneuver ..
.. orbital maneuver engines firing ..
.. orbital maneuver complete ..
STS-130:01:15:48:00
... over the Pacific Ocean ..
.. systems set-up for docking ..
..

...
STS-130:01:15:55:00
...

...

...
STS-130:01:16:13:00
..

...
STS-130:01:16:27:00
.. 3.5h from docking
...

..
STS-130:01:16:46:00
...

13 miles from ISS ..
.. over Mediterranean ..
...
STS-130:01:16:53:00
..
another burn coming up over the Pacific Ocean ..
... 9.5 miles behind the station .
..
STS-130:01:17:01:00..

.. maneuvering for terminal initiation burn ..
.. 8 min to burn ...
.. 2 h from the docking ..

..
.. 1 min to burn ..
.. burn ..


..2h30 min to docking ..
..
..

 

[EarthlingX]

..

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:33:17 AM GMT

Commander George Zamka and the crew of Endeavour performed the Terminal Initiation burn at 9:28 p.m. EST, firing the left Orbital Maneuvering System engine for nine seconds to place the shuttle on the final path for its 12:06 a.m. docking to the International Space Station. When Endeavour is about 600 feet from the station, Zamka will maneuver Endeavour through a backflip rotation to expose the heat shield to station crew members Jeff Williams and Oleg Kotov, who will use digital cameras with 800mm and 400mm lenses, respectively, to photograph Endeavour’s upper and bottom surfaces through windows of the Zvezda Service Module. The photos will be transmitted to Mission Control for evaluation by imagery experts and mission managers to determine whether the heat shield sustained any damaged during launch.

...
8.5 miles away from the station ..
..
STS-130:01:17:28:00
..
.. 5 min to course correction ..
..
STS-130:01:17:33:00
.. course correction ..
..

..
another burning in 28 min ..
.. 2:16 h to docking ..
..
STS-130:01:17:35:00
..
.. 7 miles ..
..

..
STS-130:01:17:40:00
.. 2:10 h to docking ..
..
STS-130:01:17:47:00
.. 6 miles
.. 2 h from the docking ..
..

..
.. over South America ..
STS-130:01:17:52:00
..

..
STS-130:01:18:02:00
..
.. orbital correction ..
..

..
STS-130:01:18:12:00
..
..

..
30 min from RPM, it will be 10 past hour ..
..
STS-130:01:18:17:00
.. 1.5h from docking ..
..

..
STS-130:01:18:24:00
.. 3000 ft away ..

.. 2000 ft away ...



STS-130:01:18:31:00
..
20 min from RPM ..
..
.. 1400 ft ..

.. 1000 ft ..
...
RPM ..
..

Endeavour Performs Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver
Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:16:13 AM GMT

At 11 p.m. EST, space shuttle Endeavour began the nine-minute R-Bar pitch maneuver, also known as the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver, or “backflip.” With Commander George Zamka at the controls, Endeavour is rotating backwards to enable space station astronauts Jeff Williams and Oleg Kotov to take high resolution pictures of the shuttle’s heat shield.

Docking is scheduled for 12:06 a.m.

..
over China ..
..

 

[EarthlingX]

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:20:19 AM GMT

Space shuttle Endeavour has completed the nine-minute R-Bar pitch maneuver, also known as the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver.

..
STS-130:01:19:08:00
..

..
.. go for docking ..

..
STS-130:01:19:18:00
..

..

25 min to docking ..
..
STS-130:01:19:36:00
..

.. shuttle at 40 ft ..
STS-130:01:19:42:00
..

 

[Testing]

40 feet

 

[Testing]

K with the hand held laser approach. 0.8 FPS

 

[EarthlingX]

STS-130:01:19:46:00


.. initiating final approach ..

 

[Testing]

Correction, 0.08 FPS, now less, and less than four minutes.