Space shuttle Discovery undocked from the International Space Station on Monday morning at 5:32 a.m. EST after completing a mission to install a new station module and repair a damaged solar panel. After undocking, Discovery flew around the station, performing a photographic survey, before departing the station’s vicinity. The shuttle crew also spends time checking the leading edges of the orbiter’s wings for any damage in advance of their reentry and landing, currently scheduled for 1:02 p.m. Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Source: NASA
Kategorie: Space Shuttle & ISS
Solar panel tears during redeployment
A newly-relocated solar panel on the International Space Station ripped during its redeployment on Tuesday, and NASA is considering a further extension of the shuttle’s stay at the ISS to deal with the problem. The rip took place as one of the panels on the P6 truss segment was extended following a seven-hour spacewalk by Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock, who completed the installation of the panels in their permanent location at the end of the port side of the truss. The gash is clearly visible in images, although the panel is still producing 97 percent of its normal power.
Images from the STS-120 Mission Status Briefing showing solar array damage
Harmony module added to ISS
The crews of the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Discovery added a new node module to the station as part of a six-hour spacewalk. The Harmony module was moved from the cargo bay of Discovery to its temporary position on the port side of the Unity module by the station’s robotic arm during a spacewalk by astronauts Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock that started at 5:02 a.m. EDT Friday. Harmony will be moved to its permanent location at the end of the Destiny module after Discovery leaves the station.
Space Station commander Peggy Whitson and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli opened the hatch to the newly installed module at 8:24 a.m. EDT today and floated into the brightly lighted room that will serve as the gateway to European and Japanese research modules scheduled for launch late this year and early next year.
STS-120 Status Report
Discovery lifts off
Space shuttle Discovery lifted off Tuesday morning on a mission to the International Space Station. Discovery launched on schedule at 11:38 a.m. EDT, having dodged poor weather that had been forecast, as well as a last-minute concern about ice buildup on a liquid hydrogen line. The 14-day mission to the station features the delivery of „Harmony“, a new docking node for the station, and the move of a solar panel to its permanent location on the station’s port-side truss.
NASA – Space Shuttle Section
Astronaut Trio Rockets Toward Space Station
A Russian Soyuz rocket roared into orbit yesterday carrying Malaysia’s first spaceflyer and a veteran astronaut team to the International Space Station.
Space station commander Peggy Whitson, the first woman ever to lead an ISS mission, launched into space alongside veteran cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Malaysian astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. Their Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft rocketed into orbit at 9:22 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site on the steppes of Kazakhstan.
Space shuttle Discovery moved to launch pad
Space shuttle Discovery arrived at Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle began its slow 3,4-mile journey to the pad atop a powerful Apollo-era crawler-transporter on Sunday at 6:47 a.m. Discovery is scheduled to launch October 23, 2007, on a complex space station assembly mission.
Source: NASA
Space Shuttle Endeavour has landed !
The space shuttle Endeavour landed safely in Florida, ending a nearly two-week mission to the International Space Station. Endeavour touched town at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:32 p.m. EDT after an uneventful reentry. The landing completed a mission to the ISS that saw the installation of a new truss segment to the outpost, as well as the replacement of a station gyroscope and other work. Tiles on the underside of the shuttle were gouged by foam debris during launch, but NASA elected not to repair the damage in orbit, and that damage had no obvious adverse effect on the shuttle during reentry and landing.
NASA – Space Shuttle
Shuttle leaves ISS for Tuesday landing
The space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station Sunday morning at 7:56 a.m. EDT, one day earlier than previously planned to allow the shuttle to return home in advance of threatening Hurricane Dean. The shuttle is now scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday.
Crewmembers on the Space Shuttle Endeavour captured this image of Hurricane Dean in the Caribbean.
External cameras on the International Space Station capture this video of Hurricane Dean passing over the Caribbean.
A video camera on the International Space Station provides this view of Hurricane Dean.
NASA decides against shuttle repairs
Shuttle managers decided late Thursday not to repair damaged tiles on the underside of the shuttle Endeavour because the damage does not pose a risk to the safety of the crew. Engineers spent the last several days studying what effect the gouge would have on the shuttle during reentry, as well as the risks involved with any repair efforts, which would involve an additional spacewalk. Managers concluded any additional heating of the orbiter in the vicinity of the gouge would not exceed safety margins. One engineering group at the Johnson Space Center did recommend that the repair be carried out, not because of safety issues but in order to limit any damage that would have to be repaired after landing.
Source: NASA
NASA weighing shuttle tile repair
Shuttle managers are considering whether to have astronauts repair a damaged tile on the underside of the shuttle Endeavour after images taken on Sunday revealed the gash to be deeper than previously thought. The focused inspection of the damage, performed Sunday, revealed that the gouge goes almost all the way through the tile, about three centimeters thick. Officials don’t believe that the damage poses a risk to the safety of the shuttle crew upon reentry, but are considering options to repair the gash by adding a spacewalk later in the mission.
NASA extended the shuttle’s stay at the ISS by three days, to August 20; the additional time was made possible by a station-to-shuttle power transfer system that allows the shuttle to conserve the use of its own fuel cells to power the orbiter. The two-week flight now targets a landing at Kennedy Space Center on August 22.
NASA – Space Shuttle