Endeavor's Crew Returns to KSC

All Systems Go for Monday’s launch!

The countdown has resumed for the shuttle launch on Monday, May 16, 2011 at 0856 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39A at KSC in Florida. Technicians will begin loading Endeavour’s external fuel tank today.
Endeavour’s crew returned to Florida yesterday and will practice shuttle landings and review the shuttle’s ingress plan with the Vehicle Integration Test Team this morning.
This is the Shuttle’s 36th tour of duty to the ISS during which Endeavour will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, spare parts, two S-band communications antennas, a high pressure gas tank, and micrometeoroid debris shields. All is functioning smoothly for Monday’s launch.

Crew of Endeavor

Endeavour’s earliest possible launch date may be Monday, May 16, 2011, 8:56 a.m. EDT. Technicians will spend this weekend repairing and re-testing Endeavour’s electrical circuitry. The cause of the failure has yet to be determined however it was located “inside an aft load control assembly, which is a switchbox in the shuttle’s aft compartment, and possibly its associated electrical wiring”. The power switching box has been replaced and the wiring between the box and the heaters are to be replaced.
The STS-134 mission will be extended from fourteen to sixteen days.

(My friend at the launch site was hoping to see the ATLAS V Launch this afternoon, but that was delayed until tomorrow due to weather.)

SPACE TRIVIA:

Do You Know?

How many Voyager probes are there?

When were they launched?

What is the GOLDEN RECORD located on each craft?

Voyager has shone us three objects in the solar system comprised of a nitrogen dominated atmosphere.

What are they?

UPDATE: Wednesday, May 4, 2011 0800 hours, Houston TX USA:

The following update is from my friend at the launch site in Florida:

“National Aeronautics and Space Administration – NASA
To prevent a conflict with a possible STS-134 launch next week, NASA managers have moved space shuttle Atlantis’ rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building to May 16 & roll out to the launch pad to May 23. STS-135 launch remains targeted for June 28.”

…..

UPDATE: Tuesday, May 3, Houston, TX , USA, 0700 hours:

NASA has determined May 10th as the earliest launch date for Endeavor.

The following statement is from my friend in Florida, located at the launch site:

” The latest that I’ve heard: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center:
NASA managers met Monday and determined that Tuesday, May 10 is the earliest Endeavour could be launched on the STS-134 mission. Plans are for managers to reconvene Friday to determine a more definite launch date after the box is removed and replaced and the retest of systems has been completed. ”
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Have you ever wondered where the world’s largest vacuum is located and what it could be used for? Well, fear not, and wonder no more as here is the answer to all your persistent questions!

If you ever find yourself near NASA’s Glenn Research Center’s Space Power Facility located at Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, you would be within shouting distance of this grandiose marvel. Constructed of Type 5083 grade aluminum and at one hundred feet in diameter and one hundred twenty two feet in height, with flooring able to support three hundred tons in weight, the Space Power Facility’s (SPF) Aluminium Vacuum Chamber was built to simulate the vacuum of space and to test space flight vehicles. It was also been used to test “non-nuclear space hardware in a low earth orbiting environment”. Although the building is designed to test nuclear hardware as well, this type of testing has not been carried out. Some of the hardware tested at this site include those required for the Mars Lander systems, deployable Solar Sails, many types of hardware used on the International Space Station, and other high-energy experiments and rocket-fairing separation tests.
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These launches always bring tears to my eyes.

I contemplate the beauty of the launch, the marvel of scientific advances, the physical and mental strength of all astronauts to handle such a strenuous ride into space aboard such a powerful machine; the TRUST we all have in science and the men and women of all entities involved in getting our astronauts safely to their destination and home again; the memorable experiences that are relayed by the space travelers, to us who remained at home on our Blue Planet and peered into space every day and night thinking about the ISS and  all who have made it their temporary home. I contemplate the future of the space program and ask: “What is next?”

No doubt about it: It was a spectacular launch.
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Understanding the science of solar and lunar eclipses is important. However, it is also worthwhile to look at the significant roles played by these impressive natural phenomena in the development of human culture generally and at crucial moments in human history specifically. This series of ten articles, written by Norma Reis, describes a wide variety of historical eclipses (both solar/lunar and full/partial) across a wide span of history (from ancient to modern times) and tells the stories associated with them. You can read these articles here: Astronomy Today’s History of Famous Eclipses.

While images of space have always dazzled us, Spacelog aims to bring space exploration to life through words. This new project presents the Apollo 13 and Mercury 6 mission transcripts in a highly readable form. Images from the missions are interspersed throughout the dialogue between the astronauts and mission control. The transcripts are easily navigable: you can dip in and out of them or indeed just jump directly to, for example, a most dramatic moment, a lighter moment or the sentence encapsulating John Glenn’s orbit.

Spending some time on this website demonstrates that when it comes to these missions, particularly Apollo 13, the detail and the broader context are inseparable. Well done to Spacelog’s designers who built the whole website from scratch in under a week! They have plans to extend it to cover Gemini 7, Apollo 8 and Apollo 11. We’re looking forward to these additions.