STS-132 Pre Launch Discussion (Target date May 14)

[3488]

It's a good point bobblebob.

Mind you Atlantis has no intakes & also she will be descending very quickly & at 12 KM altitude sort of the altitude of most cruising commercial jets I think the shuttle is travelling at a slower forward speed than a Boeing 747 at the same altitude.

Don't see it as being a huge problem.

On a side note, it is strange not seeing planes passing over at altitude over here. My home town is under several approach paths to both London Gatwick & London Heathrow, the busiest airports in Britain.

My main concern is whether or not flights will be resumed before STS 132 Atlantis, My health may stop me from travelling, but it look like Volcanic Ash may scupper my trip. Perhaps STS 133 Discovery in September instead.

Andrew Brown.

 

[MeteorWayne]

It really is an interesting question...probably not one discussed too often prior to this.

I'm sure they are examining the risk as we speak (or more properly type )

Still, it's almost 4 weeks away from the target date, so it's hard to say what the picture will be in mid May.

I'm sure it would be abrasive, but the fact is if you have to do a TAL abort, the whole program will be shut down until the problem is resolved so if some tiles get scrubbed, that will be the least of the worries.

 

[bobble_bob]

Looking forward to this mission, mainly as ive met Ken Ham and shuck his hand

 

[shuttle_guy]

The flight crew completed their practice countdown today. We are less than 3 weeks to launch. With all the delays due to weather we only have one contingency day in the schedule but we are not looking at any technical issues.

 

[EarthlingX]

from http://www.nasa.gov : NASA - Space Shuttle

Atlantis Astronauts Enjoy Slow Ride to Pad with Shuttle

The astronauts who will fly space shuttle Atlantis into orbit next month got a rare chance Thursday morning as they rode along with their spacecraft on its slow trip from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Image above: The crew of STS-132 discusses the upcoming mission with space shuttle Atlantis standing behind them. The crew, led by Commander Ken Ham, left, will carry the Russian-built Mini-Research Module-1, or MRM-1, to the International Space Station. Atlantis is targeted for launch May 14 at 2:19 p.m. EDT. Image credit: NASA TV

"Riding the crawler last night was absolutely fantastic," Ham said. He said the crawler, powered by destroyer engines, reminded him of a Navy ship even though it moves across gravel instead of rolling waves. "It is incredible to see that battleship on the ground."

Because of time constraints, few crews arrive at Kennedy in time to watch the shuttle rollout, but in this case the rollout had been postponed a few nights because of poor weather at Kennedy. The STS-132 astronauts are at Kennedy for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, a training exercise that offers the crew and launch teams a full-up simulation of launch day.

"I don't think we're getting too many things that are brand new, but we are getting a refresher," Pilot Tony Antonelli said.

Mission Specialist Michael Good, whose call sign is "Bueno," said TCDT gives the crew a chance to appreciate how close liftoff is.

"It brings it home that, hey, you're going into space in a couple weeks," Good said.

The crew will return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston following Saturday's launch dress rehearsal. The real liftoff is targeted for May 14 at 2:19 p.m. EDT.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSB7mydiD3U[/youtube]

 

[3488]

My mother is making sure that I can come to the launch of this. Hopefully, dependent on my health I will be over on approx Wednesday 12th May 2010. Need somewhere to stay though.

Two people, Mum & myself (Mum has always wanted to see a launch too).

Are any SDCr's be there. I hope to meet shuttle_guy & Ben Cooper. Would be nice if others were there too.

Andrew Brown.

 

[Zipi]

Energia's photoreport: http://www.energia.ru/en/iss/mim1/photo_04-22.html

 

[3488]

Hi everyone,

Just to say that I AM coming over for the launch. Travel Insurance was an issue but have got it, with strings attached, but I am deemed fit to travel.

Return flights to Orlando from London Gatwick (outgoing Wednesday 12th, return Wednesday 19th May 2010) & hotel in Orlando are all booked, my mother has done all of that (booked hire car too,as we are both coming over & I am not allowed to drive due to health issues) & get to see exactly was was booked tomorrow, when I fill in the US immigration papers tomorrow.

Not allowed to do the online one as I have certain mental health issues & my input needs to be witnessed, but the travel agents here in Ashford have agreed for me to do that there.

I've not been at all well lately, have doctoor's appointment nerxt Tuesday, but have been given the all clear to travel to the USA, for my very first time, by my insurers.

Hopefully there will be no delays.

Hopefully will get to meet some SDCr's there.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

I'm happy to hear that

 

[3488]

Thanks EarthlingX.

Trip booked.

Flying from London Gatwick to Orlando International on Wednesday 12th May 2010.

Staying @ Quality Inn Plaza, International Drive, Orlando for 7 nights.

My mother is coming too, as she too has always wanted to see a launch.

Need some advice though for viewing the launch. Best locations??????

Andrew Brown.

 

[vulture4]

These wonderful pictures bring home the utter idiocy of shutting down the shuttle program. It is running so smoothly and productively that it seems almost routine. But soon the thousands of contractors who are the only people in the world with the skill and experience to maintain reusable launch vehicles will be fired, and even though the NASA budget will be increased, th money will go into a mishmash of programs run by civil servants without any meaningful and practical objective. Twenty years of experience will go out the window. Decades from now people will look back on this as a decision much more damaging than the end of Apollo, because it will actually be a step backward.

 

[EarthlingX]

Vulture, please ..

SDC : List of Multiple Threads on the Same Topic

 

[MeteorWayne]

Shuttle Managers Target May 14 for STS-132 Launch
Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:06:34 AM EDT


Space Shuttle Program managers wrapped up their Flight Readiness Review on Wednesday afternoon at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Teams preparing space shuttle Atlantis for its STS-132 mission are not working any significant issues, and the May 14 target launch date will be recommended at next week's agency-level review.

Today at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A, technicians are servicing Atlantis' prelaunch hypergolic propellant systems. In Houston, the astronauts will perform flight training in T-38 jets and take care of administrative duties.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Kennedy Preps for Cryo Loading as Crew Rehearses MRM-1 Work
Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:28:53 AM EDT


Technicians working at Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center will simulate loading space shuttle Atlantis with cryogenic propellants as they continue preparations for the launch of the shuttle on STS-132. Liftoff is targeted for May 14 at 2:20 p.m. EDT.
Atlantis' payload is the focus of the crew today as they ready themselves for their role. The six astronauts who will fly the shuttle to the International Space Station are running through the steps they will take during the mission's second flight day involving the Russian-built Mini Research Module-1. The module will be connected to the space station during the mission

 

[shuttle_guy]

Hypergolic propellant loading is going fairly well. We should finish up around 3:00 am Saturday.

 

[EarthlingX]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNi0sDkx1qw[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJororoKuls[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bNcVUOniDU[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR6zecKg6_I[/youtube]

 

[EarthlingX]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RMPxt-R_XU[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1wwzwvfsC0[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6aQ64Mn96Q[/youtube]

 

[shuttle_guy]

All is still going well. Sunday we will clear the pad of all personnel and pressurize all of the helium and nitrogen tanks in the OMS/RCS, MPS, and SSME systems. This pressurization is to flight pressure. We have to clear the pad since these tanks have a titanium inner shell and are over wrapped with composit fibers for strength. The tanks are getting old and there is a concern that some could rupture when being pressurized. (there have been failures of the tanks during testing at White Sands but not in the Orbiter.)

The launch count down starts Tuesday.

 

[trailrider]

Good luck, and Godspeed, Atlantis!

 

[3488]

I will be there. Collected the flight tickets & have US $s now as well.

Lets hope she's not delayed.

Andrew Brown.

 

[Testing]

Safe trip Andrew. Aside from the launch I hope you get a chance to hoist an Ale with SG.

 

[3488]

Safe trip Andrew. Aside from the launch I hope you get a chance to hoist an Ale with SG.

Thanks Testing,

I am really looking forward to his trip. :mrgreen:

Hopefully I will meet shuttle_guy & also Ben Cooper, as well as other SDCer's who are there.

Atlantis in many ways is my favourite orbiter as Atlantis launched some of my very favourite missions, particularly the Jupiter Galileo Orbiter on Mission STS 34 way, way back in October 1989, so somehow it seems conspired somehow that Atlantis is the orbiter I am going to see.

Hope I'm not being too off topic with this (as the other mods chase me with flaming torches & pitchforks, etc) :mrgreen:
STS 34 Mission patch.

Galileo Spacecraft begins the long journey to Jupiter after released from the payload bay of Atlantis on STS 34. Journey involved one Venus encounter, two Earth encountours & close approaches to main belt asteroids 951 Gaspra & 243 Ida, the first ever encounters, let alone close high resolution views of any asteroids.

Also STS 30 even further back in May 1989 to launch Magellen Venus Orbiter.

Magellan begins the journey to the Second Rock from the Sun after being released from the payload bay of Atlantis on STS 30 Atlantis in May 1989.

Section of SRB on STS 132 was used on Atlantis's maiden mission on STS 51 J in October 1985 on a DOD classified mission.

It is very strange that it is Atlantis, meant to be perhaps. :mrgreen:

Andrew Brown.

 

[rocketman32]

I was watching NASA TV today and they were replaying all of the Astronaut interviews of the STS-132 crew. I could not help myself in nicknaming this flight. What did I nickname it? "The Frat Flight" ! Do these guys not remind you of a bunch of fraternity brothers. Its awesome that they have that kind of bond. Gonna be a great flight; one for the books.

 

[shuttle_guy]

From the The Daily Telegraph (London) 05/10/2010 :

A British astronaut is planning a unique test of Sir Isaac Newton's theory of gravity - by taking an original piece of the scientist's famous apple tree on a 5m-mile journey into space.
Piers Sellers plans to release the 10cm fragment in zero gravity during his 12-day mission at the international space station, as a tribute to Newton's discovery in 1666, when the scientist watched an apple fall to the ground in his garden.
"I'll take it up and let it float around for a bit, which will confuse Isaac," said the 55-year-old Nasa astronaut, a veteran of two previous shuttle missions and a graduate of the University of Edinburgh.
"While it's up there, it will be experiencing no gravity, so if it had an apple on it, the apple wouldn't fall . . . Sir Isaac would have loved to see this, assuming he wasn't spacesick, as it would have proved his first law of motion to be correct."
The tree fragment, engraved with the scientist's name, is stowed aboard the shuttle Atlantis at Cape Canaveral, Florida, awaiting Friday's blast-off.
The stunt is part of the 350th anniversary celebrations of the Royal Society, of which Newton was president. The society hopes to display the fragment at its festival of science and arts at the Southbank Centre, London, next month, and later at its HQ in Carlton House Terrace, London, where it will join exhibits including Newton's first telescope and his death mask.
Several sections stripped from the tree, which still stands at Woolsthorpe Manor, in Lincolnshire, are stored in the society's vaults as part of a huge collection of Newton memorabilia.
Sellers was born in Crowborough, East Sussex, but assumed dual UK-US nationality in 1991 to join Nasa.

 

[3488]

Hi shuttle_guy

Just thought I would throw this in.

Piers Sellers comes from not too far from me. I know that area quite well. Only about 60 KM / 40 miles from my home town, Ashford, Kent, UK. Crowborough is near Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent & East Grinstead in East Sussex. Crowborough is only just over the county border in East Sussex.

Apart from Royal Tunbridge Wells , which is a large town on the Kent / East Sussex border & East Grinstead, that area is very rural, lots of small villages some of which have been continually inhabited for about 1,200 years. The nearest other large towns would the coastal towns of Eastbourne & Brighton (Brighton is actually a city).

Crowborough, East Sussex, UK

Location using Google Earth.

Seeing a fellow Brit & one who comes from a local area is also another boon with this launch.

Really looking forward to coming over.

Virgin Atlantic Flights appear to be operationg normally & the one we are on appears to be on time (no anticipated delays). I should be in Orlando tomorrow afternoon. Flight due to arrive 15:25 your time.

Andrew Brown.