Re: Bill 117......... Good News!!!!! now official!!!
Posted by Visitor on 2010/5/8 3:33:39
NASA managers Wednesday cleared the shuttle Atlantis for launch May 14 on its 32nd and final planned flight, a three-spacewalk mission to the International Space Station. The primary goals of the 132nd shuttle flight are to replace aging solar array batteries, install a backup KU-band antenna and attach a new Russian module loaded with supplies and equipment.
"We had a very thorough review today, we went through all the things that have happened on the vehicle, both the shuttle and also the station," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's chief of space operations. "We're ready to go fly."
Launch is targeted for 2:20:08 p.m. EDT on May 14, roughly the moment when Earth's rotation carries launch complex 39A into the plane of the space station's orbit.
NASA's processing team at the Kennedy Space Center has one day of contingency time left in the current schedule and can make four launch attempts through May 18. If Atlantis isn't off the ground by then, the flight likely will slip to late June because of conflicts with other launches and periodic temperature issues related to the space station's orbit.
"It was a very smooth flight readiness review," said shuttle Program Manager John Shannon. "I am amazed at this team because (the shuttle) Discovery did just land 15 days ago. We're the beneficiaries of its very trouble-free mission. Atlantis has had a very trouble-free processing flow."
But Shannon said NASA managers attending an executive-level flight readiness review did go over two issues related to Discovery's flight.
Discovery's Ku-band antenna system failed shortly after launch, limiting data relay, radar operations and live video from the orbiter. After landing, the problem was traced to a specific transistor and while the same components are in place in Atlantis' Ku-band system, the odds of a similar failure two flights in a row are considered remote.
Engineers also reviewed work to better secure ceramic inserts, or plugs, that are threaded into place over bolts used to hold specific heat shield panels, window frames and other components in place. An insert worked its way loose during Discovery's re-entry, posing a potential impact threat.
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"We had a very thorough review today, we went through all the things that have happened on the vehicle, both the shuttle and also the station," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's chief of space operations. "We're ready to go fly."
Launch is targeted for 2:20:08 p.m. EDT on May 14, roughly the moment when Earth's rotation carries launch complex 39A into the plane of the space station's orbit.
NASA's processing team at the Kennedy Space Center has one day of contingency time left in the current schedule and can make four launch attempts through May 18. If Atlantis isn't off the ground by then, the flight likely will slip to late June because of conflicts with other launches and periodic temperature issues related to the space station's orbit.
"It was a very smooth flight readiness review," said shuttle Program Manager John Shannon. "I am amazed at this team because (the shuttle) Discovery did just land 15 days ago. We're the beneficiaries of its very trouble-free mission. Atlantis has had a very trouble-free processing flow."
But Shannon said NASA managers attending an executive-level flight readiness review did go over two issues related to Discovery's flight.
Discovery's Ku-band antenna system failed shortly after launch, limiting data relay, radar operations and live video from the orbiter. After landing, the problem was traced to a specific transistor and while the same components are in place in Atlantis' Ku-band system, the odds of a similar failure two flights in a row are considered remote.
Engineers also reviewed work to better secure ceramic inserts, or plugs, that are threaded into place over bolts used to hold specific heat shield panels, window frames and other components in place. An insert worked its way loose during Discovery's re-entry, posing a potential impact threat.
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