STS-125 Shuttle Mission: Hubble Servicing Mission 4 - Page 19

NEOWatcher · #**541** (**permalink**) 21-May-2009, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

One cool difference might be which direction the nose points at entry interface. According to the remote-control article above, for disposal, they would fly tail first.

Might be noisy.

Larry Jacks · #**542** (**permalink**) 21-May-2009, 07:15 PM

Given that Buran flew unmanned many many years ago, I assume that it wouldn't be a problem for the Shuttle.

That isn't necessarily a safe assumption. Buran was designed for unmanned operations on the first flight. All of the hardware and software supported that. The Shuttle never was designed for unmanned operations, so the degree of control possible may not be sufficient to bring one down all the way to landing. For example, there are switches (e.g. landing gear) that may not be controlled by the flight computers. If that's the case, then you might be able to do a deorbit burn and even fly the Shuttle down to the runway but not be able to lower the landing gear. There are still a lot of switches in a Shuttle cockpit. It's possible they can't be bypassed.

NASA's earlier manned spacecraft faced a similar situation. They were designed to have humans throwing the switches so control from the ground was limited. Some special exceptions occurred, such as control of the Lunar Module in Earth orbit on Apollo 9 after the crew returned to the CM. However, that wasn't the normal mode of operations.

PraedSt · #**543** (**permalink**) 21-May-2009, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

Found in another thread:
NASASpaceflight.com: NASA enhancing unmanned orbiter capability

Missed this edit. Wow. Now there's a movie.

DonM435 · #**544** (**permalink**) 21-May-2009, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

CBS News Space Place

(Edit: Saturday forecast doesn't look much better to my unprofessional eye.)

NASA STS-125 Landing Tracks

Other landing links:
NASA Shuttle Landing Blog (active about 2 hours before touchdown)
National Weather Service, Southeast Sector, Base Reflectivity
National Weather Service, Melbourne Florida, Hourly Weather Forecast Graph
NASA TV (or NASA TV Yahoo! source or high-resolution)

Landing target:
0700 PDT, Friday
1000 EDT, Friday
1400 UTC, Friday

21 hours to landing

Ironically, this is the first decent rainfall this area has had in months. (I live in Merritt Island and work at Cape Canaveral.)

Nicolas · #**545** (**permalink**) 21-May-2009, 08:18 PM

Quote:

One cool difference might be which direction the nose points at entry interface.

Some parts of the orbiter might think of this as a mightily hot difference rather than a cool difference.

I didn't read the article as I've got a Guinnes book of records worthy headache, but wouldn't they try to just fly the thing back and land it on autopilot? Would they really just go back first and let it burn?

Nicolas · #**546** (**permalink**) 21-May-2009, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry Jacks

Given that Buran flew unmanned many many years ago, I assume that it wouldn't be a problem for the Shuttle.

That isn't necessarily a safe assumption. Buran was designed for unmanned operations on the first flight. All of the hardware and software supported that. The Shuttle never was designed for unmanned operations, so the degree of control possible may not be sufficient to bring one down all the way to landing. For example, there are switches (e.g. landing gear) that may not be controlled by the flight computers. If that's the case, then you might be able to do a deorbit burn and even fly the Shuttle down to the runway but not be able to lower the landing gear. There are still a lot of switches in a Shuttle cockpit. It's possible they can't be bypassed.

NASA's earlier manned spacecraft faced a similar situation. They were designed to have humans throwing the switches so control from the ground was limited. Some special exceptions occurred, such as control of the Lunar Module in Earth orbit on Apollo 9 after the crew returned to the CM. However, that wasn't the normal mode of operations.

If they're working on robotic control of the shuttle, it's a rather easy adaptation to make those switches bypassable by the autopilot. Of course, you'd need to make those changes before you need it, obviously.

01101001 · #**547** (**permalink**) 21-May-2009, 10:39 PM

BA Blog: More incredible Hubble pictures recommends:

Geenstijl in Dutch, but the large-format Hubble-servicing images are universal.

===

Meanwhile, CBS News Space Place:

Quote:

03:45 PM, 5/21/09, Update: Endeavour released from rescue duty; flight director outlines Atlantis landing strategy

With the shuttle Atlantis in good shape and no problems with its protective heat shield, NASA managers today released the shuttle Endeavour from stand-by duty for a possible launch on an emergency rescue mission.

===

Link farm:

NASA Space Shuttle Mission Pages
NASA STS-125 Mission Status Updates
NASA STS-125 Mission Information
NASA STS-125 Mission Overview
NASA Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4 Overview
NASA News Twitter
Wikipedia: STS-125
NASA Launch Schedule
NASA Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Countdown Status
NASA Shuttle Launch and Landing
NASA Shuttle Launch Blog (active about 6 hours before liftoff)
NASA Shuttle Landing Blog (active about 2 hours before touchdown)
National Weather Service, Southeast Sector, Base Reflectivity
National Weather Service, Melbourne Florida, Hourly Weather Forecast Graph
CBS News Space Place
Spaceflight Now STS-125 Mission Coverage
Spaceflight Now STS-125 Mission Status Center
BANews Twitter
BAUT Forum topic STS-119 Space Shuttle Mission (previous mission)
NASA TV (or NASA TV Yahoo! source or high-resolution)

slang · #**548** (**permalink**) 21-May-2009, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

Geenstijl in Dutch, but the large-format Hubble-servicing images are universal.

Careful perusing that blog. The name means "no class", and many of the topics and or pictures might be considered distasteful by many. Not these pictures, though. Gorgeous!

edit: the pics come with this commentary:

Quote:

Originally Posted by geenstijl

Het klussen aan Hubble zit erop. De ruimtetelescoop heeft voor de laatste keer een grote beurt gekregen en begint nu aan de laatste jaren van zijn leven. Ergens na 2020 zal de NASA het gevaarte in de oceaan laten neerplonzen. De enige telescoop in een baan om de Aarde is dan nog de Herschel van ESA. Fotos: NASA

Loose translation: "The fixing of Hubble is done. The space telescope has had its last big tune-up, and is now starting the last years of its life. Sometime after 2020 NASA will let the big thing splash down in the ocean. The only telescope left in Earth orbit then will be ESA's Herschel".

Which of course is not exactly fully 100% correct. What is Spitzer, chopped liver?

djellison · #**549** (**permalink**) 21-May-2009, 11:35 PM

Spitzer's not in Earth Orbit. But then, neither is Herschel

There are several other telescopes in orbit, however. Galex, Integral, XMM-Newton, Chandra, Swift etc etc

slang · #**550** (**permalink**) 21-May-2009, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djellison

Spitzer's not in Earth Orbit. But then, neither is Herschel

Ouch! *slaps own wrist* (it still isn't chopped liver! *pouts*)

01101001 · #**551** (**permalink**) 22-May-2009, 04:00 AM

Coming up (times EDT):

05/22/09:
02:01 AM: Crew wakeup
04:51 AM: Deorbit prep
06:10 AM: Cargo doors closed
08:50 AM: Deorbit burn
10:00 AM: Landing

11 hours to landing (or more, depending on Florida weather)

schlaugh · #**552** (**permalink**) 22-May-2009, 04:59 AM

Current NOAA forecast for Cocoa Beach:

Friday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 79. East southeast wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.

Friday Night: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 71. East southeast wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Saturday: Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 81. East southeast wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Edwards AFB on the other hand:

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 91. West southwest wind 7 to 10 mph increasing to between 18 and 21 mph. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 60. Breezy, with a west southwest wind between 20 and 23 mph becoming light. Winds could gust as high as 32 mph.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 91. Breezy, with a calm wind becoming southwest between 22 and 25 mph. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph.

01101001 · #**553** (**permalink**) 22-May-2009, 08:59 AM

NASA Hubble Servicing Mission Update:

Quote:

Space shuttle Atlantis' crew awoke at 2:01 a.m. EDT to “The Galaxy Song” from “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life.” It was played for the entire crew.

Excellent.

mahesh · #**554** (**permalink**) 22-May-2009, 01:48 PM

Weathering the weather ............

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sh...ding_blog.html

Atlantis arriving Saturday, May 23 @ 09.16 EDT / 13.16 GMT

Have a nice day Atlantis!
See you tomorrow

edit:
sorry zero one..., can't do neat link like yours

KaiYeves · #**555** (**permalink**) 22-May-2009, 02:10 PM

According to our old friend Google Trends, even with the postponement, "Shuttle Landing" is already at #35 on the Top Searches List.

01101001 · #**556** (**permalink**) 22-May-2009, 02:16 PM

More landing times:

CBS News Space Place

Quote:

The Florida forecast calls for a chance of showers Saturday and possibly low ceilings, If that holds up, and if conditions Sunday look promising, the shuttle mission could be extended one more day in hopes of getting Atlantis back to Kennedy. Otherwise, the crew likely would head for Edwards on Saturday. But as of this writing, no decisions have been made.

Here are all the deorbit and landing times for Saturday (in EDT):

ORBIT...SITE...DEORBIT BURN...LANDING

180.....KSC....08:02 AM.......09:16 AM
181.....EDW....09:29 AM.......10:46 AM
181.....KSC....09:46 AM.......10:54 AM
182.....EDW....11:12 AM.......12:24 PM

24 hours to landing (or 25-1/2 or more)

01101001 · #**557** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 03:16 AM

Planetary Society Blog: "My First Reaction Was to Look Away From It....It Was Too Beautiful" (guest blogger Alan Stern)

On what it is like to see Earth from space:

Quote:

[Astronaut Mike Massimino's] words were reported in Space.com. I can't get them out of my mind. So I thought I'd share them with you here, because I finally found in them some solace as to why it's been so hard for astronauts to capture the scope of what they have seen for the rest of us. Here's what Massimino said:

"I felt like I was almost looking at a secret… that humans weren't supposed to see this.…It's too beautiful. …It was like looking into absolute paradise. My first reaction was to look away from it. ….I actually turned my head. I thought, I'm not supposed to be looking at this. This was too much to see."

In those sentences, I came to understand the magnitude of how simply beyond normal human experience, how beyond words, how much larger than life, the vast panorama of Earth from low Earth orbit must be.

Swift · #**558** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 04:55 AM

Nicolas · #**559** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 10:29 AM

What this description of the view of earth from space does show, is that no matter how nice camera images are, no matter how good and large the screen on which you view it, nothing beats seeing it with your own eyes. It's like having seen hundreds of elephants on TV and then seeing one for real, only a bit more extreme.

IMO, the fact that we can see this, means we're allowed to see this. In a blink of an eye one species went from climbing in trees to shooting themselves into the cosmos, but we can do it so we're allowed to do it. Allowed as in "according to the larger laws of the Universe".

BetaDust · #**560** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 10:38 AM

From Space.com

Quote:

Atlantis Astronauts ‘Go’ to Close Payload Bay Doors.

23 May 2009 5:00 a.m. EDT
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Mission Control has given the astronaut crew of Atlantis the go-ahead to close the shuttle’s clamshell-like payload bay doors, a sign that entry flight director Norm Knight is confident in today’s landing attempts despite bad weather in Florida. More...

-- Dennis

Polyrealastic Observer · #**561** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 01:50 PM

Thinking about an Edward's contingency landing, has anyone seen anything on the 747 taxi plane and what if any use it will have in the constellation program? seems awful big to haul a CRV. Will it be decomissioned? Hmm.

KaiYeves · #**562** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 01:57 PM

Amazing.

01101001 · #**563** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 02:10 PM

NASA STS-125 Mission Status Updates

Quote:

Saturday Landing Opportunities Waved Off
Today, 5:44 AM
STS-125 Entry Flight Director Norm Knight has waved off today's landing opportunities. Capcom Greg Johnson explained to the crew the weather did not permit a Kennedy landing today. Johnson said, "There's a chance for a landing at Kennedy tomorrow, and we're going to keep that option open. Edwards remains good for tomorrow and Monday, if needed."

Tomorrow, the first landing opportunity at Kennedy Space Center is at 10:11 a.m. EDT.

Landing target:
0711 PDT, Sunday
1011 EDT, Sunday
1411 UTC, Sunday

About 25 hours to landing

mahesh · #**564** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 02:39 PM

I was just going to post to that effect...hit the 'escape' key in error....

Thanks zero one.... Atlantis, could have landed in London.

An honour beyond words.

We have glorious blue skies. Cloudless all morning and just now. Hardly any breeze, lovely and warm.
So that means no international cricket. It's only played in rain.

01101001 · #**565** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 03:03 PM

Somewhere in this morning's wandering, I read they will almost certainly return Sunday, to Kennedy preferably, or to Edwards AFB, California.

Sunday still looks marginal for Kennedy. Edwards looks ready.

National Weather Service, Southeast Sector, Base Reflectivity
National Weather Service, Melbourne Florida, Hourly Weather Forecast Graph

National Weather Service, Pacific Southwest Sector, Base Reflectivity
National Weather Service, Hanford California (Edwards AFB), Hourly Weather Forecast Graph

KaiYeves · #**566** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 03:56 PM

Florida and New York have inverse weather, I swear.

Hey, since we already figured out in another thread that JFK airport has a long enough landing strip...

Extravoice · #**567** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KaiYeves

Florida and New York have inverse weather, I swear.

Hey, since we already figured out in another thread that JFK airport has a long enough landing strip...

"We told you to land at Kennedy SPACE Port, not Kennedy AIR port!"

01101001 · #**568** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 05:46 PM

NASA STS-125 Landing Ground Tracks

Not available as of this posting, but they will show up.

Landing targets (times EDT):

ORBIT...SITE...LANDING
Sunday, May 24:
196.....KSC....10:09 AM
197.....EDW....11:40 AM
197.....KSC....11:48 AM
198.....EDW....01:17 PM

slang · #**569** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 06:30 PM

If only they'd stashed some more consumables, they could wait for the weather at KSC to clear! I wonder if anyone thought of that... *runs, ducks and hides*

novaderrik · #**570** (**permalink**) 23-May-2009, 06:41 PM

i bet they'll find a reason to keep them up there until Monday- you know, so they can put on a patriotic show for Memorial Day..

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