Crew Rehearsal For Flight Delayed Two Days; Weather Might Mandate One-Month Delay In Endeavour Launch From Kennedy
Space Shuttle Endeavour yesterday rolled from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center to Launch Pad 39A, where it is to lift off for a grueling, marathon 16-day STS-127 Mission carrying a Japanese component to be attached to the International Space Station.
That Endeavour rollover yesterday was a day later than planned, thanks to the sort of fickle Florida weather which earlier had forced Space Shuttle Atlantis to land on the West Coast at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., instead of the planned touchdown at Kennedy. (Please see separate story in this issue.)
As well, the Endeavour crew launch dress rehearsal, known as the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, has been delayed from June 2 to June 4 at Kennedy. The later date will allow engineers and technicians to rearrange remaining processing work because of recent weather delays.
A further hurdle for getting Endeavour off the ground in the June 13-15 window is a question about its wiring. While there has been no wiring malfunction found on Endeavour, NASA officials want to check it, because Atlantis experienced a glitch in its wiring on the just-ended STS-125 Mission to repair and refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope. Also, continued bad weather in Florida could hamper the Endeavour launch beyond that June 13-15 window, delaying liftoff by roughly a month.
To perform that wiring check on Endeavour, the space shuttle first had to move over to Pad 39A, freeing up Pad 39B so the Constellation Program developing the next-generation Orion-Ares U.S. spaceship system can take over that pad for rocket testing.
The tight gap between Atlantis landing on May 24, and Endeavour taking off on June 13, not quite three weeks for the turnaround from one shuttle mission to the next, shows that NASA still is a first-rate space agency, the largest of all, able to demonstrate formidable expertise.
“We’re really operating at peak performance right now,” said John Shannon, space shuttle program manager, speaking to space journalists in a briefing.
Most of the limits on what the agency can accomplish are those beyond its control, mainly stemming from a lack of sufficient funding.
The space agency will have to move at warp speed if it is to complete the eight remaining space shuttle flights on the manifest before the shuttle fleet retirement deadline on Sept. 30 next year.
Even if all goes well on every shuttle flight for more than a year, the last mission on the manifest won’t lift off until Sept. 16 next year, just two weeks before the shuttle program is to end.
That is when Space Shuttle Discovery will make its last trip aloft from Kennedy. The spacecraft will deliver a logistics carrier with spare parts to the space station, and the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) will be attached to the station. The AMS is a $1.5 billion multi-national experiment that until recently seemed doomed to sit uselessly on Earth for lack of a shuttle mission to carry it to orbit.
Technically, the money for the AMS flight isn’t there yet, awaiting congressional action on the fiscal 2010 NASA budget.
But NASA officials are expecting the money will be provided, said Kirk Shireman, deputy space station manager.
“We’re treating it like” a regular funded mission, he said.
A Crowded Ship
The space station is undergoing a population explosion.
Until now, the station normally has had just three Expedition crew members aboard most of the time.
But now, a Russian Soyuz vehicle has brought an added three travelers to the station, in a docking Friday, so for the first time its crew complement will double to six people. No one needs to get lonely.
But wait — there’s more.
When Endeavour arrives with its crew of seven people, there will be an unprecedented total of 13 people on board, NASA briefers said.
This may mean each crew member will have to be especially accommodating of others aboard.
And one hopes the air purification system is up to the task of providing oxygen to all those pumping lungs, and that the purification system that turns urine and other human bodily fluids into pure drinking water works well.
Further, while equality is very important to Americans, not all sleeping facilities aloft will be equal. But accommodations will be worked out before any shuttle heads aloft, so there won’t be any headlong rush when a shuttle arrives, with crew members elbowing each other to grab the best bunk.
While the Endeavour crew members are visiting, they will conduct one of the longest space shuttle missions ever at 16 days, plus two extra spare days on orbit that could be used to await proper weather to land, much as Atlantis just did on its return to Earth.
During the long trip, the crew will perform five spacewalks involving activities ranging from attaching TV cameras to a stanchion on the station, to working with the Japanese exposed facility that goes with the already installed Japanese Kibo laboratory.
Eventually, one of the most popular places on the space station will be a cupola, a multi-faceted glass structure where astronauts will be able to enjoy sweeping panoramic views of their home planet 230 miles below, while looking across the station. Endeavour will blast off Feb. 4 to take Node 3 with its cupola to the station.
But right now, Endeavour is poised on the pad for the STS-127 Mission that begins in less than two weeks.
The STS-127 crew’s launch dress rehearsal, known as the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, has changed from June 2 to June 4 at Kennedy. The delay will allow engineers and technicians to rearrange remaining processing work because of recent weather delays.
Endeavour’s astronauts and ground crews will participate in the practice countdown. The Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test provides each shuttle crew with an opportunity to participate in various simulated countdown activities, including equipment familiarization and emergency training.