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Space Roundup: Progress Docks, Endeavour Stalled, Hubble Trouble on the Ground
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In the space biz, sometimes you're up, and sometimes you're down--and sometimes within the same 24 hours. And especially so when you're putting two shuttles on launch pads at the same time, while dodging tropical storms.
On the up side, a Russian Progress cargo ship docked at the International Space Station, bringing with it more than two tons of supplies, including food and fuel. The docking had been delayed by Hurricane Ike, which forced Houston mission controllers to work out of Austin with backup from Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. Johnson Space Center re-opens Monday.
On the down side, space shuttle Endeavour's rollout to the Kennedy Space Center launch pad in Florida has been delayed by bad weather. The spaceship is now scheduled to be moved Friday morning beginning at 12:01 a.m.
And, more Hubble trouble--this time on the ground. KSC technicians found contamination on one component that will be ferried to the Hubble Space Telescope aboard Atlantis on the STS-125 mission. Whether or not time for additional clean-up will delay Atlantis' Oct. 10 launch isn't yet known.
Up above our heads, Hubble is experiencing equipment problems with a cooling system for one camera, the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). Engineers have turned off the cooling system to allow it to gradually heat back up over the next few weeks.
Whether or not the cooling system can be recycled before the crew of STS-125 works on Hubble in October isn't yet known. The team already has a full schedule that includes five spacewalks in 11 days.
The STS-125 launch date, now set for Oct. 10, will be finalized during the upcoming Flight Readiness Review (FRR), now set for Oct. 2-3. The Atlantis astronauts will participate in the standard Terminal Countdown Demonstration (TCDT) at KSC next week. The TCDT is a dry run of launch operations.
At Launch Pad 39A, technicians are replacing a pressure sensor on Atlantis's right-hand solid rocket booster (SRB).. The sensor is being replaced after routine calibration tests found some glitchy electrical readings. The work is not expected to impact the launch date, NASA officials said.
When Endeavour rolls out to Launch Pad 39B for its STS-126 mission, a historic milestone will be reached. This will be the first time that two space shuttles have been poised for flight at the launch pads since the summer of 2001 --and probably will be the last time in the shuttle era.
Endeavour's launch date on a mission to the space station is planned for Nov. 12, pending later review. However, in case of emergency during the Atlantis Hubble repairs, Endeavour must be ready to fly a stripped-down, no-payload mission to a rendezvous and rescue for the Atlantis crew.
Shown above: Space Shuttles Discovery (STS-105) and Atlantis (STS-104) on their launch pads in 2001. Discovery is in the front; Atlantis in the back.
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