astronomy & space stuff
- Thread starter linuxgeek
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Something odd
Virgin
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Saint Boner said:
Actually that star is Eta Carinae which is 7,500 light years away. We should be safe here on Earth when it blows.
linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/06/01/space.shuttle.ap/index.html
Shuttle 'go' for launch next week
June 1, 2007
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- NASA managers announced Thursday that they would press ahead with the first space shuttle launch of the year next week, three months later than originally planned because of a hail storm that pockmarked the spacecraft's external tank.
After a two-day meeting at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA officials agreed to launch Atlantis at 7:38 p.m. ET June 8 on a mission to deliver a new pair of solar arrays to the international space station.
"The team is really pumped to get this done this time," said Mike Leinbach, NASA launch director. "We've been doing three months of down time due to the hail storm."
The launch had been set for mid-March, but the storm dropped golf-ball sized hail on the launch pad and damaged insulating foam on the external tank. (Watch Kelly Beck, lead flight director for Atlantis, talk about the upcoming launch )
NASA managers are especially cautious when it comes to the external tank since a piece of foam fell off Columbia's tank in 2003 and hit the spacecraft's wing. Damage from the impact allowed fiery gases to penetrate Columbia during descent, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
After the hail storm, Atlantis was rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where technicians painstakingly repaired thousands of gashes in the tank's foam.
"We are extremely confident that we have done perfectly good repairs and have a tank that is safe to fly," said space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale.
Engineers have put the probability of foam coming off a failed repair area and causing critical damage to the shuttle at 1 in 650, Hale said, but "probability numbers I would take with a good grain of salt."
"All of that is good as a management tool," he said. "But I wouldn't take any of those numbers to the bank as a real indication of where you would put your money on the roulette wheel in Las Vegas."
Although a final polling of managers was unanimous to go ahead with a launch attempt, managers initially argued over whether bolt parts that hold in place pumps in the shuttle's main engines should be replaced because there was evidence that they could corrode with age. They eventually concluded that the pumps on Atlantis weren't old enough to have that problem and that an inspection of Atlantis' pumps had turned up nothing.
The postponement of Atlantis' launch forced NASA to cut the expected number of shuttle flights this year from five to four and pushed back the flight schedule for the rest of the year.
Astronaut Clayton Anderson was added to the previously six-person Atlantis crew so he can replace U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams on the space station. Otherwise, Williams would have spent eight months at the station, instead of the more typical six months.
Her original return trip to Earth aboard shuttle Endeavour was pushed back from early July to late August.
Shuttle 'go' for launch next week
June 1, 2007
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- NASA managers announced Thursday that they would press ahead with the first space shuttle launch of the year next week, three months later than originally planned because of a hail storm that pockmarked the spacecraft's external tank.
After a two-day meeting at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA officials agreed to launch Atlantis at 7:38 p.m. ET June 8 on a mission to deliver a new pair of solar arrays to the international space station.
"The team is really pumped to get this done this time," said Mike Leinbach, NASA launch director. "We've been doing three months of down time due to the hail storm."
The launch had been set for mid-March, but the storm dropped golf-ball sized hail on the launch pad and damaged insulating foam on the external tank. (Watch Kelly Beck, lead flight director for Atlantis, talk about the upcoming launch )
NASA managers are especially cautious when it comes to the external tank since a piece of foam fell off Columbia's tank in 2003 and hit the spacecraft's wing. Damage from the impact allowed fiery gases to penetrate Columbia during descent, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
After the hail storm, Atlantis was rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where technicians painstakingly repaired thousands of gashes in the tank's foam.
"We are extremely confident that we have done perfectly good repairs and have a tank that is safe to fly," said space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale.
Engineers have put the probability of foam coming off a failed repair area and causing critical damage to the shuttle at 1 in 650, Hale said, but "probability numbers I would take with a good grain of salt."
"All of that is good as a management tool," he said. "But I wouldn't take any of those numbers to the bank as a real indication of where you would put your money on the roulette wheel in Las Vegas."
Although a final polling of managers was unanimous to go ahead with a launch attempt, managers initially argued over whether bolt parts that hold in place pumps in the shuttle's main engines should be replaced because there was evidence that they could corrode with age. They eventually concluded that the pumps on Atlantis weren't old enough to have that problem and that an inspection of Atlantis' pumps had turned up nothing.
The postponement of Atlantis' launch forced NASA to cut the expected number of shuttle flights this year from five to four and pushed back the flight schedule for the rest of the year.
Astronaut Clayton Anderson was added to the previously six-person Atlantis crew so he can replace U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams on the space station. Otherwise, Williams would have spent eight months at the station, instead of the more typical six months.
Her original return trip to Earth aboard shuttle Endeavour was pushed back from early July to late August.
Fagin
little fishie
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Big star
Most Massive Star Discovered
By Andrea Thompson
Staff Writer
posted: 07 June 2007
12:59 pm ET
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/070607_massive_star_01.jpg
The most massive star known in the universe has been discovered and "weighed," astronomers announced today.
The star, part of a binary system, topped the scales at 114 times the mass of the sun.
Though astronomers suspected that stars with masses up to 150 times the mass of the sun must exist, this discovery marks the first time a star has broken the 100-solar-mass barrier. The previous record holder was only a measly 83 solar masses.
The newly weighed star, known simply as A1, is the brightest hot star at the heart of a giant, but dense, young star cluster called NGC 3603, which lies 20,000 light-years from Earth. The star's companion has a mass 84 times that of the sun.
These massive stars were "weighed" by inspecting their orbits with the Very Large Telescope and combining that data with eclipses observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Stars have a mass limit of 150 solar masses because above that, the pressure pushing outward from the star overwhelms the inward pull of gravity and causes the star to become unstable.
In the early universe, however, stars with masses up to several hundred times that of the sun are believed to have existed because the pressure in the stars was not as high because the heavier elements had not yet been "cooked" by the nuclear fusion taking place in the cores of stars.
The discovery was announced at the annual meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society.
source
Most Massive Star Discovered
By Andrea Thompson
Staff Writer
posted: 07 June 2007
12:59 pm ET
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/070607_massive_star_01.jpg
The most massive star known in the universe has been discovered and "weighed," astronomers announced today.
The star, part of a binary system, topped the scales at 114 times the mass of the sun.
Though astronomers suspected that stars with masses up to 150 times the mass of the sun must exist, this discovery marks the first time a star has broken the 100-solar-mass barrier. The previous record holder was only a measly 83 solar masses.
The newly weighed star, known simply as A1, is the brightest hot star at the heart of a giant, but dense, young star cluster called NGC 3603, which lies 20,000 light-years from Earth. The star's companion has a mass 84 times that of the sun.
These massive stars were "weighed" by inspecting their orbits with the Very Large Telescope and combining that data with eclipses observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Stars have a mass limit of 150 solar masses because above that, the pressure pushing outward from the star overwhelms the inward pull of gravity and causes the star to become unstable.
In the early universe, however, stars with masses up to several hundred times that of the sun are believed to have existed because the pressure in the stars was not as high because the heavier elements had not yet been "cooked" by the nuclear fusion taking place in the cores of stars.
The discovery was announced at the annual meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society.
source
Fagin
little fishie
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About time.
NASA Sets Launch Date to Overhaul Hubble Space Telescope
By Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
posted: 7 June 2007
4:04 p.m. ET
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/hf_hubbleyes_061031_01.jpg
NASA's final shuttle mission to overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope has a firm September 2008 launch date, the space agency announced Thursday.
A seven-astronaut crew and the shuttle Atlantis, which currently stands poised for a Friday launch to the International Space Station (ISS), will rocket towards Hubble on Sept. 10, 2008 to give the orbital telescope its fifth and final makeover.
Squeezed in between NASA's remaining shuttle flights to complete space station construction, the STS-125 mission to Hubble will extend the orbital observatory's lifetime through 2013. Without the vital servicing mission, Hubble's major science activities would likely end around 2009, with only basic functions remaining through 2011, Hubble managers have said.
"This is the one mission not going to the space station, so it has to be accommodated on the fitness of Hubble," NASA spokesperson Allard Beutel told SPACE.com of the September 2008 launch date. "This gives us the time to be able to do that while at the same time fitting it into the space station construction schedule."
NASA plans to complete assembly of the ISS by September 2010, when its aging three-orbiter shuttle fleet is due to retire. The space agency initially canceled the final $900 million Hubble servicing mission in 2004, finding the flight too risky after the 2003 Columbia accident.
But wide disapproval of that decision, coupled with support from NASA chief Michael Griffin, led NASA to first study a robotic mission to Hubble before finally returning to the astronaut-based servicing flight aboard Atlantis last October.
As a safety measure, the space shuttle Endeavour is expected to serve as a possible rescue ship should Atlantis suffer critical heat shield damage during launch, Beutel said. Unlike ISS construction flights, in which shuttle astronauts can stay aboard the space station if their orbiter is damaged, the STS-125 crew will not have that safe haven option, NASA officials added.
Commanded by veteran shuttle flyer Scott Altman, the planned 11-day Hubble flight -- known as Servicing Mission-4 -- will feature five spacewalks to refit the orbital telescope.
The STS-125 crew is expected to: repair one of Hubble's spectrographs and install another; boost the space telescope's orbit; overhaul its attitude control system, replace batteries, thermal insulation and a broken guidance sensor; and install the Wide Field Camera-3 to enhance the observatory's vision.
Hubble researchers have said that they hope the addition of Wide Field Camera-3 will make up for the loss of the observatory's primary camera -- the Advanced Camera for Surveys -- which went offline earlier this year.
The September 2008 servicing mission will be the fifth shuttle flight to overhaul Hubble since the space observatory's April 1990 launch aboard the Discovery orbiter.
source
NASA Sets Launch Date to Overhaul Hubble Space Telescope
By Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
posted: 7 June 2007
4:04 p.m. ET
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/hf_hubbleyes_061031_01.jpg
NASA's final shuttle mission to overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope has a firm September 2008 launch date, the space agency announced Thursday.
A seven-astronaut crew and the shuttle Atlantis, which currently stands poised for a Friday launch to the International Space Station (ISS), will rocket towards Hubble on Sept. 10, 2008 to give the orbital telescope its fifth and final makeover.
Squeezed in between NASA's remaining shuttle flights to complete space station construction, the STS-125 mission to Hubble will extend the orbital observatory's lifetime through 2013. Without the vital servicing mission, Hubble's major science activities would likely end around 2009, with only basic functions remaining through 2011, Hubble managers have said.
"This is the one mission not going to the space station, so it has to be accommodated on the fitness of Hubble," NASA spokesperson Allard Beutel told SPACE.com of the September 2008 launch date. "This gives us the time to be able to do that while at the same time fitting it into the space station construction schedule."
NASA plans to complete assembly of the ISS by September 2010, when its aging three-orbiter shuttle fleet is due to retire. The space agency initially canceled the final $900 million Hubble servicing mission in 2004, finding the flight too risky after the 2003 Columbia accident.
But wide disapproval of that decision, coupled with support from NASA chief Michael Griffin, led NASA to first study a robotic mission to Hubble before finally returning to the astronaut-based servicing flight aboard Atlantis last October.
As a safety measure, the space shuttle Endeavour is expected to serve as a possible rescue ship should Atlantis suffer critical heat shield damage during launch, Beutel said. Unlike ISS construction flights, in which shuttle astronauts can stay aboard the space station if their orbiter is damaged, the STS-125 crew will not have that safe haven option, NASA officials added.
Commanded by veteran shuttle flyer Scott Altman, the planned 11-day Hubble flight -- known as Servicing Mission-4 -- will feature five spacewalks to refit the orbital telescope.
The STS-125 crew is expected to: repair one of Hubble's spectrographs and install another; boost the space telescope's orbit; overhaul its attitude control system, replace batteries, thermal insulation and a broken guidance sensor; and install the Wide Field Camera-3 to enhance the observatory's vision.
Hubble researchers have said that they hope the addition of Wide Field Camera-3 will make up for the loss of the observatory's primary camera -- the Advanced Camera for Surveys -- which went offline earlier this year.
The September 2008 servicing mission will be the fifth shuttle flight to overhaul Hubble since the space observatory's April 1990 launch aboard the Discovery orbiter.
source
linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/06/08/space.shuttle/index.html
Atlantis rockets to space
June 8, 2007
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (CNN) -- Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off from Kennedy Space Center Friday evening on an 11-day mission to the international space station.
"And liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis to assemble the framework for the science laboratories of tomorrow," said NASA spokesman George Diller as the orbiter raced to space.
The mission was originally scheduled for mid-March but a hailstorm damaged the shuttle's fuel tank and the launch was pushed back to June to allow time for needed repairs.
"We can point to a couple of little problems we had today, but gosh, we shouldn't do that," said Mike Leinbach, NASA launch director. "We should point to the thousands and thousands that go right to allow this masterful event to happen." (Watch the launch )
A couple of chunks of foam did come off Atlantis during launch, but Wayne Hale, shuttle program manager, said in a post-launch news conference that it was after the critical period when serious damage can occur.
"I spent a few minutes with the imagery team reviewing the images after launch, and the preliminary word is that we lost no foam off that tank prior to solid rocket motor separation," he said.
"We did see some things come off late, as we have come to expect from all our tanks," he said. "So the tank performed in a magnificent way despite having thousands of repairs done on it."
In command of this mission is Rick Sturckow. Along with Sturckow are pilot Lee Archambault, mission specialists Patrick Forrester, James Reilly, Steven Swanson and John Olivas and flight engineer Clayton Anderson.
Anderson will replace Sunita Williams on the international space station and Williams will return to Earth aboard Atlantis.
Atlantis is carrying a metal cargo tag from historic Jamestown, Virginia. The tag is almost 400 years old and reads "Yames Towne." Its space voyage is meant to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Jamestown settlement in 1607.
During their time at the orbiting outpost, the Atlantis crew will deliver a new segment to the station known as a truss and install solar panels, or arrays, that help generate power for the station. The arrays are similar to those installed in September by the STS-115 Discovery crew.
Each solar array is about 115 feet long, with a total wingspan of more than 240 feet. The arrays will provide power equivalent to the power used by 40 typical U.S. homes, according to NASA.
Three spacewalks are planned, with room for an additional walk if spacewalkers run into difficulties.
Reilly and Olivas will perform the first Extra Vehicular Activity or EVA. Forrester and Swanson will do the second spacewalk and Reilly and Olivas will complete the third.
STS-117 is the 118th space shuttle flight, the 21st flight to the station, the 28th flight for Atlantis and the first of four flights planned for 2007.
NASA plans at least 13 more missions to the space station before retiring the shuttle fleet in 2010. A mission in September 2008 is planned to repair the aging Hubble Space Telescope.
Atlantis rockets to space
June 8, 2007
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (CNN) -- Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off from Kennedy Space Center Friday evening on an 11-day mission to the international space station.
"And liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis to assemble the framework for the science laboratories of tomorrow," said NASA spokesman George Diller as the orbiter raced to space.
The mission was originally scheduled for mid-March but a hailstorm damaged the shuttle's fuel tank and the launch was pushed back to June to allow time for needed repairs.
"We can point to a couple of little problems we had today, but gosh, we shouldn't do that," said Mike Leinbach, NASA launch director. "We should point to the thousands and thousands that go right to allow this masterful event to happen." (Watch the launch )
A couple of chunks of foam did come off Atlantis during launch, but Wayne Hale, shuttle program manager, said in a post-launch news conference that it was after the critical period when serious damage can occur.
"I spent a few minutes with the imagery team reviewing the images after launch, and the preliminary word is that we lost no foam off that tank prior to solid rocket motor separation," he said.
"We did see some things come off late, as we have come to expect from all our tanks," he said. "So the tank performed in a magnificent way despite having thousands of repairs done on it."
In command of this mission is Rick Sturckow. Along with Sturckow are pilot Lee Archambault, mission specialists Patrick Forrester, James Reilly, Steven Swanson and John Olivas and flight engineer Clayton Anderson.
Anderson will replace Sunita Williams on the international space station and Williams will return to Earth aboard Atlantis.
Atlantis is carrying a metal cargo tag from historic Jamestown, Virginia. The tag is almost 400 years old and reads "Yames Towne." Its space voyage is meant to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Jamestown settlement in 1607.
During their time at the orbiting outpost, the Atlantis crew will deliver a new segment to the station known as a truss and install solar panels, or arrays, that help generate power for the station. The arrays are similar to those installed in September by the STS-115 Discovery crew.
Each solar array is about 115 feet long, with a total wingspan of more than 240 feet. The arrays will provide power equivalent to the power used by 40 typical U.S. homes, according to NASA.
Three spacewalks are planned, with room for an additional walk if spacewalkers run into difficulties.
Reilly and Olivas will perform the first Extra Vehicular Activity or EVA. Forrester and Swanson will do the second spacewalk and Reilly and Olivas will complete the third.
STS-117 is the 118th space shuttle flight, the 21st flight to the station, the 28th flight for Atlantis and the first of four flights planned for 2007.
NASA plans at least 13 more missions to the space station before retiring the shuttle fleet in 2010. A mission in September 2008 is planned to repair the aging Hubble Space Telescope.
Saint Boner
perfectly balanced
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NASA is screwing up going retro in the future. Going to be hard fitting a Canadian Arm in a capsule. Bye bye Hubble. I hope commercial space ships take a giant leap soon.
linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2004
- Posts
- 32,719
http://www.arrl.org/?artid=7508
It's KD5PLA in for KD5PLB on ISS (Jun 1, 2007) -- NASA has given the go-ahead for the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis Friday, June 8. The STS-117 mission will carry US astronaut Clay Anderson, KD5PLA , to the International Space Station to succeed Suni Williams, KD5PLB, as ISS Expedition 15 Flight Engineer. Anderson will join Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI, and Flight Engineer Dr Oleg Kotov. Williams will return to Earth aboard the Atlantis. She arrived on the ISS last December and has been among the most active ISS crew members on Amateur Radio. NASA originally planned the astro-swap for the STS-118 shuttle mission, now targeted for an August launch. Atlantis Commander Rick Sturckow and his six crewmates will spend 11 days in space and take part in three spacewalks. Work planned for this mission will increase the ISS's power capability in preparation for the arrival of new science modules from the European and Japanese space agencies. Joining Sturckow and Anderson on STS-117 will be Pilot Lee Archambault and mission specialists Patrick Forrester, Steven Swanson, John "Danny" Olivas and Jim Reilly. -- NASA
It's KD5PLA in for KD5PLB on ISS (Jun 1, 2007) -- NASA has given the go-ahead for the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis Friday, June 8. The STS-117 mission will carry US astronaut Clay Anderson, KD5PLA , to the International Space Station to succeed Suni Williams, KD5PLB, as ISS Expedition 15 Flight Engineer. Anderson will join Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI, and Flight Engineer Dr Oleg Kotov. Williams will return to Earth aboard the Atlantis. She arrived on the ISS last December and has been among the most active ISS crew members on Amateur Radio. NASA originally planned the astro-swap for the STS-118 shuttle mission, now targeted for an August launch. Atlantis Commander Rick Sturckow and his six crewmates will spend 11 days in space and take part in three spacewalks. Work planned for this mission will increase the ISS's power capability in preparation for the arrival of new science modules from the European and Japanese space agencies. Joining Sturckow and Anderson on STS-117 will be Pilot Lee Archambault and mission specialists Patrick Forrester, Steven Swanson, John "Danny" Olivas and Jim Reilly. -- NASA
Fagin
little fishie
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2004
- Posts
- 101,650
If I'm recalling right, it takes about five years to certify a processor. That would put the Pentium chip in the active range.linuxgeek said:
The laptops may be used to test them. At least one.
added: One would wonder why they'd use MicroShit rather than something they'd write themself.
linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2004
- Posts
- 32,719
Fagin said:
I know it takes a while. Think it also depends on the condition the processor will be working in. Something like hubble will likely have the extreme heat & cold issues besides not being as well shielded from radiation as a structure or vessel they are having human inhabit.
likely cheaper than doign the R&D to make something propriatary. I've seen NASA is also a unix/linux shop too at least on the ground. Likely depends on who the particular contractor is as to what OS they use.
Fagin
little fishie
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linuxgeek
Rogue Scholar
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/06/09/space.shuttle.ap/index.html
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/TECH/space/06/09/space.shuttle.ap/story.vert.thermal.blanket..jpg
Shuttle docking a 'go' despite gap in heat blanket
June 9, 2007
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- The space shuttle Atlantis is charging toward its Sunday rendezvous with the international space station, apparently unaffected by a small gap in its heat-protecting blanket.
Atlantis' seven astronauts spent much of Saturday on a mandatory inspection of the shuttle's delicate heat tiles, outer edges and blankets for problems similar to the kind that caused the fatal Columbia accident in 2003. As of Saturday afternoon, no glaring problems were reported.
But late Friday and early Saturday, the crew spent extra time using a robot arm to look at a gap in a thermal blanket on the left side of the shuttle.
The gap, about 4 inches by 6 inches, appears to have been caused by air lifting the corner of the blanket up, John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team, said at a news conference.
"It's not a great deal of concern right now, but there's a lot of work to be done," Shannon said. "Other than that, the vehicle is very clean." (Watch thermal blanket concerns explained )
The area does not get hotter than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit during the shuttle's return to Earth and is not a place where NASA is usually concerned about potentially fatal problems, NASA spokeswoman Lynette Madison said. Still, engineers were using photos to create a three-dimensional model of the gap just in case.
"They don't think it's much of a concern," Madison said.
As part of the normal day-after-launch tile inspections, astronaut Patrick Forrester used the shuttle's robot arm and a boom extension to examine its wings and outer edges.
Atlantis' crew was given an extra half-hour to sleep Saturday morning, then awoke to the song "Big Boy Toys" by Aaron Tippin.
Atlantis' seven-man crew was closing the gap between it and the space station by about 800 miles every 90-minute orbit. By 2 p.m. EDT, the shuttle was about 4,000 miles away from its destination. Atlantis is scheduled to dock with the space station at 3:38 p.m. EDT Sunday.
Before the docking comes maneuvering that NASA officials often call a delicate ballet, a procedure that has appeared effortless in 20 previous tries, even though it is risky.
"Two vehicles weighing 230,000 pounds going 17,500 mph, it's tough stuff," Mission Management Team leader John Shannon said.
Atlantis commander Rick Sturckow will move the shuttle until it is 600 feet below the station and then make the shuttle turn a backflip in just nine minutes. The last few feet of the docking occur so slowly that Atlantis will get only an inch closer to the station every second.
Once the shuttle and station connect, they will stay locked until June 17.
During the 11-day flight, the astronauts will deliver a new segment and a pair of solar panels to the orbiting outpost. They plan three spacewalks -- on Monday, Wednesday and Friday -- to install the new equipment and retract an old solar panel.
On Sunday, astronaut Clayton Anderson will replace astronaut Sunita Williams as the U.S. representative aboard the space station, and Williams will return to Earth aboard Atlantis. She has spent the past six months in orbit.
About an hour after launch Saturday, NASA managers said initial checks found nothing to worry about. One piece of foam that appeared to come off the shuttle's fuel tank -- which bore white patches from repaired hail damage that had delayed the flight by three months -- about 135 seconds after launch did not seem to hit the shuttle, said shuttle program manager Wayne Hale.
"The tank performed in a magnificent way, despite having several thousand repairs to it," Hale said at a news conference. "(The debris) should not be a hazard that late in the flight."
The first shuttle launch of the year helped put NASA back on track after a run of bad luck and scandal on the ground during the first half of the year.
In the past few months, NASA has seen the arrest of astronaut Lisa Nowak in an alleged plot to kidnap her rival for a shuttle pilot's affections; a murder-suicide at the Johnson Space Center in Houston; and the derailment of a train carrying rocket-booster segments for future shuttle launches.
More recently, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has come under fire for suggesting that global warming may not be a problem worth wrestling with. And the agency's inspector general was lambasted at a congressional hearing Thursday by former staff members, representatives and senators for the way he managed his office, treated his employees and investigated complaints.
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/TECH/space/06/09/space.shuttle.ap/story.vert.thermal.blanket..jpg
Shuttle docking a 'go' despite gap in heat blanket
June 9, 2007
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- The space shuttle Atlantis is charging toward its Sunday rendezvous with the international space station, apparently unaffected by a small gap in its heat-protecting blanket.
Atlantis' seven astronauts spent much of Saturday on a mandatory inspection of the shuttle's delicate heat tiles, outer edges and blankets for problems similar to the kind that caused the fatal Columbia accident in 2003. As of Saturday afternoon, no glaring problems were reported.
But late Friday and early Saturday, the crew spent extra time using a robot arm to look at a gap in a thermal blanket on the left side of the shuttle.
The gap, about 4 inches by 6 inches, appears to have been caused by air lifting the corner of the blanket up, John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team, said at a news conference.
"It's not a great deal of concern right now, but there's a lot of work to be done," Shannon said. "Other than that, the vehicle is very clean." (Watch thermal blanket concerns explained )
The area does not get hotter than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit during the shuttle's return to Earth and is not a place where NASA is usually concerned about potentially fatal problems, NASA spokeswoman Lynette Madison said. Still, engineers were using photos to create a three-dimensional model of the gap just in case.
"They don't think it's much of a concern," Madison said.
As part of the normal day-after-launch tile inspections, astronaut Patrick Forrester used the shuttle's robot arm and a boom extension to examine its wings and outer edges.
Atlantis' crew was given an extra half-hour to sleep Saturday morning, then awoke to the song "Big Boy Toys" by Aaron Tippin.
Atlantis' seven-man crew was closing the gap between it and the space station by about 800 miles every 90-minute orbit. By 2 p.m. EDT, the shuttle was about 4,000 miles away from its destination. Atlantis is scheduled to dock with the space station at 3:38 p.m. EDT Sunday.
Before the docking comes maneuvering that NASA officials often call a delicate ballet, a procedure that has appeared effortless in 20 previous tries, even though it is risky.
"Two vehicles weighing 230,000 pounds going 17,500 mph, it's tough stuff," Mission Management Team leader John Shannon said.
Atlantis commander Rick Sturckow will move the shuttle until it is 600 feet below the station and then make the shuttle turn a backflip in just nine minutes. The last few feet of the docking occur so slowly that Atlantis will get only an inch closer to the station every second.
Once the shuttle and station connect, they will stay locked until June 17.
During the 11-day flight, the astronauts will deliver a new segment and a pair of solar panels to the orbiting outpost. They plan three spacewalks -- on Monday, Wednesday and Friday -- to install the new equipment and retract an old solar panel.
On Sunday, astronaut Clayton Anderson will replace astronaut Sunita Williams as the U.S. representative aboard the space station, and Williams will return to Earth aboard Atlantis. She has spent the past six months in orbit.
About an hour after launch Saturday, NASA managers said initial checks found nothing to worry about. One piece of foam that appeared to come off the shuttle's fuel tank -- which bore white patches from repaired hail damage that had delayed the flight by three months -- about 135 seconds after launch did not seem to hit the shuttle, said shuttle program manager Wayne Hale.
"The tank performed in a magnificent way, despite having several thousand repairs to it," Hale said at a news conference. "(The debris) should not be a hazard that late in the flight."
The first shuttle launch of the year helped put NASA back on track after a run of bad luck and scandal on the ground during the first half of the year.
In the past few months, NASA has seen the arrest of astronaut Lisa Nowak in an alleged plot to kidnap her rival for a shuttle pilot's affections; a murder-suicide at the Johnson Space Center in Houston; and the derailment of a train carrying rocket-booster segments for future shuttle launches.
More recently, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has come under fire for suggesting that global warming may not be a problem worth wrestling with. And the agency's inspector general was lambasted at a congressional hearing Thursday by former staff members, representatives and senators for the way he managed his office, treated his employees and investigated complaints.
Worm
Literotica Guru
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I'm sure it has been posted here but I saw the ISS and the space shuttle tonight!!! Pretty cool. I used this link http://esa.heavens-above.com/countries.aspx#U It told me at 9:31 I would see them both and sure as shit seconds after my cell phone read 9:31 there they were. Not much to see except two bright lights traveling fast across the sky but cool to see it!
NoLeafClover7
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2006
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- 1,190
Thanks for the link! That's pretty awesome. I never even knew such a site existed, but I'll keep an eye on it now!Worm said:
