Next ISS/Shuttle mission cleared for launch..

[Waterbuffalo]

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-12-01-0036.html

[Chief]

NASA managers announced the 4:31 p.m. liftoff time yesterday after a final review of flight readiness.

"We're all on track for the launch on Thursday," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for space operations.

The shuttle is scheduled to return to Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 17. If the shuttle can't lift off in its seven-day window, the STS-122 mission would be rescheduled for sometime after Jan. 2.


This is going to be another major construction addition to the ISS. Over the past couple of weeks since the last mission ended, the crew of the ISS has relocated the module that was just delivered, and permanently installed it on the station. That move required temorarily removing the Shuttle docking module, and is why there has been so much spacewalk activity recently on the Station.

Interestingly, 4:30 PM is when the launch window opens, and if it's delayed a bit, as the shuttle launches on it's Eastern trajectory into orbit, it will do so in a developing "nautical twilight" along the Eastern Seabord and out over the Atlantic Ocean. That should significantly improve to visibility of the shuttle all the way up to orbit, and it should be visible with long range cameras almost all of the way up to MEC (Main Engine Cutoff)...

I need to drop my friend Duane in Palm Beach Florida a note, so he's aware of another good photo opportunity from his backyard. He has a fantastic view of the Kennedy Space center's launch corridor and routinely sips a beer in his backyard to watch the launches. He's taken a number of good pics of shuttle launches, so many that it's routine to him any more...

;D

[Waterbuffalo]

Sounds like you get free photos of said launches? :-)

[Chief]

If he gets a good one, he'll send it along, yes. The last good one was a night launch a few years ago, and that was a couple of crashed hard-drives ago and my copys didn't survive.

[Waterbuffalo]

oh crap.. Crashed hd's? Don't you keep a good backing up HD like I do? Looks at his pile of 20-40 gig hds..

[Chief]

That was part of the reason why we bought a brand new computer that someone who guarantees their work built for us, and why my wife rins backups of her Quickbooks data. Last time the system crashed we ended up reentering three years worth of client records and checking account data. It took months to reconstruct two clients...

[Waterbuffalo]

Did you do an online backup system or ? How did you backup the data?

[Chief]

She had a revolving set of Zip disks for the enormous Quickbooks backups, and smaller data on CDs.

[Waterbuffalo]

Have we not discussed this before? :-)
kicks his memory bin..

I do remember discussing this with you before..

[Chief]

bttt....

Atlantis is scheduled to launch to the ISS this morning, and I'm waiting for the 7:30 briefing from NASA...

[Chief]

T-Minus 3 hours and holding.

The launch team experienced a major failure of 2 liquid hydrogen sensors in the external tank, 15 minutes into fueling this morning. At this point there is no idea when they may resume fueling, or the countdown. There is an engineering investigation underway right now, that should culminate in a conference at around 2:00 EDT (11 AM PST), and there may be an indication then on whether they can do a 24 hour scrub turnaround, or not.

This is not a new problem. This happened a few missions ago and is another long term problem with the external tanks that NASA has been monitoring all along. Not sure what this could result in for sure; in the worst case scenario, it could require rolling the shuttle back to the VAB. At best, the problem is a loose connector, and they could go again tomorrow.

The next Press Conference on this will be at 4:00 EST (1:00 PST) today.

Developing....

[Chief]

Updating....NASA is now saying that the earliest they can attempt a relaunch is Saturday, and it is far from clear if they have identified the problem (or a solution) yet.

We'll see what the regular press conference later today turns up...

[Waterbuffalo]

Chief: Do you know what time it will go? Have to have my popcorn and internet connection ready for the "Ultimate Viewing" position.. 8-)

[Waterbuffalo]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
Dec. 7 - 8:45 a.m. EST
The launch of NASA's space shuttle Atlantis will take place no earlier than Saturday, Dec. 8, at 3:43 p.m. EST.

[Waterbuffalo]

Fuel Guage problems is making the Shuttle delayed again until Sunday..

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-shuttle8dec08,1,3226564.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

[Chief]

I just watched an informal briefing on the NASA channel. The number 3 LH2 (Liquid Hydrogen) sensor in the external tank failed again this morning during "fast fueling" on the pad. The clock is stopped again at the 3 hour mark, and defueling is underway right now.

There is a Mission Management meeting scheduled for an hour from now, and a decision on what comes next will likely be made then.

As I understand it, there are 4 sensors in the LH2 sensors inside of the hydrogen tank section of the ET; as the fuel is depleted during ascent, these sensors tell the flight comupter how much fuel is left when they switch from "wet" (indicating the presence of fuel) to "dry" indicating that that section of the tank is empty. Sensors three and four are the most critical ones. Sensor three goes dry and tells the computer there's 20% fuel remaining, and to prepare for shutdown; sensor four goes dry and tells the flight computer there's 5% fuel remaining and to initiate the controlled shutdown of the three SMEs. Those engines cannot simply run until starved of fuel and shut down of their own accord (the Apollo program's Saturn V first stage engines did exactly that, but they burned kerosene and O2, not Hydrogen...).

In any case, mission parameters require all four sensors to be working at liftoff, or they cannot launch. There is no way to test these damned things without filling the tank with liquid hydrogen, which is why this problem didn't present itself before now. Now it's a question of how to fiix this. These sensors are mounted inside of the hydrogen tank, and are installed when the tank is built. They are not acceccable on the launch pad, and I'm pretty sure that if they have to be replaced, it would require unstacking the shuttle to replace the entire External Tank...I think that's what they are struggling with right now, and looking for any possible engineering solution that might offer a glimmer of hope, before they makde the decision to roll Atlantis back inside. If that happens, it would be an unhappy first for the shuttle program...

Still developing...

[Waterbuffalo]

Last I heard that Sunday's launch was scrubbed for what you were saying?

[Chief]

I saw a bullet in the morning paper that NASA did another tanking test yesterday, and finally narrowed the problem with the fuel sensors on the ET to a bad connector. No details provided, so there's no telling where that connector is, or how long it will take to change it out.

In any case, NASA does not plan another launch attempt until January 10th at the earliest.

[Waterbuffalo]

I think I remember reading some where about a week back that they weren't planning to start a new launch sequence until near mid January. Sounds like this is the same article or news source that I read.