STS-123 Shuttle Endeavour Night Launch

March 11, 2008

Space shuttle Endeavour thundered into orbit early Tuesday morning carrying seven astronauts and Japan's dreams for a space-based laboratory at the International Space Station.

STS-123 MISSION SUMMARY
The STS-123 mission will carry two new components to the
International Space Station: the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system, known as Dextre.
The Japanese Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section, or ELM-PS, will hold experiment samples, maintenance tools and other spare items. Dextre can be attached to the station’s robotic arm to handle smaller components typically requiring a spacewalking astronaut. At the tip of each arm is a "hand" that consists of retractable jaws used to grip objects.
Endeavour's 16-day flight is the longest shuttle mission to the station and will include five spacewalks. The shuttle also will deliver a new crew member and bring back another one after a seven-week mission.

Atlantis Returns

8:07:20 Central, Atlantis, STS-122 touchdown.

Shuttle Atlantis touches down in Florida

NASA Celebrates 'Super' Mission

Ares Exploration Architecture Video

This is a new video animation of the Ares launch and exploration architecture of NASA's Constellation program. Shows the Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle and the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle working in tandem in a lunar expedition scenario and the return to Earth.

Atlantis Delivering Columbus Lab to ISS

Atlantis is safely on it's way to the International Space Station to deliver and attach the Columbus module.

During the 11-day mission, the crew's prime objective is to attach the European Space Agency's Columbus Laboratory to the International Space Station, adding to the station's size and capabilities.

STS-122 Launch!

STS-122 ready for launch

"Liftoff is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. EST, which is the middle of the 10-minute launch window. The timing is precise so Atlantis can catch up and dock with the International Space Station.
Forecasters expect a cold front to move over Kennedy around launch time, bringing with it clouds and storms, resulting in only a 30-percent chance of good weather for liftoff. Further, there is a possibility that the front may stall over Central Florida, providing only slightly better chances for acceptable weather for launch attempts on Friday or Saturday."
more at NASA.gov

Columbus Lab in the Shuttle Payload Bay

Marshall work clears Atlantis

Space Shuttle Atlantis Set for Launch Today

STS-122 launch set for February 7

NASA - 1/11/08

NASA Friday announced Feb. 7 as the target launch date for shuttle Atlantis' STS-122 mission to the International Space Station and mid-March for the launch of Endeavour on STS-123. Liftoff of Atlantis from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., will be at 2:47 p.m. EST.

STS-120 Launch - Discovery in orbit

NASA has successfully launched STS-120, and Discovery is now in orbit.

Countdown Under Way for STS-120

"As the countdown clock continues ticking down toward space shuttle Discovery's 11:38 a.m. lift off on Tuesday, NASA managers overseeing the launch preparations at Kennedy Space Center in Florida said this morning that space shuttle Discovery and its payload are ready. The only problem on the horizon could be the launch-day weather, which still remains at 60 percent "go" for launch time Tuesday.

Discovery is scheduled to return to Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility at 4:47 a.m. Nov. 6."

More at NASA.

Global Warming Assumptions

The Administrator for NASA, Michael Griffin, recently was interviewed by NPR. The following quote makes more sense than all of the hot air spewed by the self ordained high priest of the new religion of Global Warming, AlGore, about and around this subject in the last 2 years. Go to the NPR website to listen to the whole interview.
Griffin tells it like it is in a non-political way.

Steve Inskeep (NPR):
Do you have any doubt that this is a problem that mankind has to wrestle with?

NASA administrator Michael Griffin:
I have no doubt that … a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with. To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth's climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn't change. First of all, I don't think it's within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown. And second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings — where and when — are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take.

Atlantis' Launch Set For June 8th

"We're good to go," says Wayne Hale, Space Shuttle Program manager.

Launch Target: June 8

Launch Time: 7:38 p.m. EDT

The Moon, Mars, and Beyond

This video from NASA explains the exploration architecture of the many parts of the Constellation Program and shows the direction our country has chosen for the foreseeable future exploration of space.
Enjoy!


The Moon, Mars, and Beyond

NASA

Return to the Moon

This new movie style trailer is as well done as any Hollywood trailer. The promotional piece for NASA and probably more to follow should help excite and interest the younger generation who will actually be financially supporting and contributing to the the exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Originally released only to NASA employees and contractors in 2006, as a cheerleading tool, it apparently has been released (or leaked) to the public just recently. This version seems a bit shorter than the original employee/contractor release.
Enjoy!



Movie trailer - Return to the Moon

ISS Expedition 15 Launch

Balkonur Cosmodrome.
Less than 5 minutes to launch.
12:31 CDT: Liftoff. All launch systems operated perfectly, and about 10 minutes later, the Soyuz TMA 10 had safely reached preliminary orbit. More Expedition 15 info.

Ares I–1 Flight Test set for 2009

The Constellation project is starting to roll along, but NASA will face delays if Congress doesn't follow through with funding. I'll have more information about this issue later.

Ares I–1 Flight Test
"Scheduled for 2009, Ares I–1 is planned to be the first test flight of the Ares I vehicle. The test flight objectives are focused on first-stage flight dynamics, controllability, and separation of the first and upper stages. The Ares I–1 flight will consist of a functional booster stage and an upper stage mass simulator, which has the same mass as the actual upper stage. By flying the vehicle through the first stage, the test flight will also verify the performance and dynamics of the shuttle’s solid rocket booster in “single stick” arrangement. (The usual shuttle configuration is two rocket boosters with one external fuel tank.)..."

Hail Damage causes delay of STS-117 launch

Hail Damage on
external fuel tank

Houston Chronicle
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL
Golf ball-size hail that pelted space shuttle Atlantis earlier this week, dimpling its fuel tank, did enough damage that NASA has decided to cancel its March launch plans and send the shuttle back inside for repairs.
The launch, planned for March 15, was pushed back to at least late April.

More info at NASA.gov

Illinois Company wins NASA contract

NASA Awards Turbine Pump Assembly Contract for Ares I
"CLEVELAND - NASA has selected Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International Inc. of Rockford, Ill., to design, develop, fabricate, test and deliver engineering models of a turbine pump assembly for the Ares I upper stage thrust vector control subsystem. The cost-plus-fixed-fee contract - a competitive award - has a two-year period of performance with a maximum value of $5,009,388.
NASA's Glenn Research Center is the agency's lead for the Ares I upper stage thrust vector control subsystem, part of NASA's Constellation Program...."

Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE)

Here are some NASA screen shots showing today's deployment of the tiny spherical satellites.



A third small satellite was deployed from Discovery’s payload bay today at 12:23 Central. The Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE)
..."consists of two spherical microsatellites that will measure the density and composition of the low-Earth orbit atmosphere while being tracked from the ground. The data will be used to better predict the movement of objects in orbit. The other two satellites were deployed Wednesday night."
NASA Shuttle page

STS-116 Launch - Discovery on the way to ISS

Weather Forces Launch Delay for STS-116

NASA.gov
"Earlier in the day a cold front moved in over the spaceport, bringing clouds and winds into the area. The cloud ceiling proved to be too low for a safe launch, prompting NASA to postpone Discovery's flight."
Watch NASA-TV

The Mission Management Team has decided that due to windy conditions predicted for Friday, they will go with a 48 hour turnaround, making the next launch attempt no earlier than Saturday. A Saturday morning meeting during refueling will take another look at the weather conditions and trends predicted to determine if Saturday at 8:47 PM EST is a go.