Mission: STS-116 - 20th International Space Station Flight (12A.1) - P5 Truss Segment
Vehicle: Discovery (OV-103)
Location: Launch Pad 39B
Launch Date: No earlier than Dec. 7, 2006
Launch Pad: 39B
Crew: Polansky, Oefelein, Curbeam, Higginbotham, Patrick, Fuglesang and Williams
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Following Space Shuttle Discovery's arrival at Launch Pad 39B on Nov. 9, technicians began final preparations for the STS-116 launch to the International Space Station set for no earlier than Dec. 7. At the pad, the payload was installed into the payload bay on Nov. 11, and the payload/orbiter interface test was completed this week. On Thursday, the remote manipulator system and orbiter boom sensor system were stowed and the payload bay doors were closed for flight late that night.This week, the seven-member crew of STS-116 took part in the terminal countdown demonstration test activities at Kennedy Space Center. The astronauts arrived on Monday and returned to Johnson Space Center in Houston on Thursday afternoon. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the crew practiced driving in the M113 armored personnel carrier, and participated in fire suppression training and flight crew equipment fit checks.
The crew also had the opportunity to go to the pad for the emergency egress and payload bay "walkdowns." On Thursday, the astronauts donned their launch and entry suits and entered the vehicle for a simulated countdown.Today, technicians are beginning preparations for the prelaunch propellant servicing scheduled to begin this weekend. This process includes loading the fuel (monomethyl hydrazine) and oxidizer (nitrogen tetroxide) into the orbiter maneuvering system and the forward reaction control system. It also includes the loading of hydrazine in the auxiliary power units on the orbiter and the solid rocket boosters.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Political power shift could cost Space Coast
FLORIDA TODAY
Less power, less money.
That equation for Congressional funding could mean the new Democratic majority in the House will harm the Space Coast's interests in Congress.
U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, a Brevard County Republican, will likely retain his seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, but he will be less able to use that position to steer federal dollars to regional projects.
"Recently I got funding for extending the Pineda Causeway out to Interstate-95, and getting things like that in the future is probably going to be more difficult," said Weldon in an interview with FLORIDA TODAY. "Typically, with items like highway projects, majority members get more of them than minority members."
Weldon took office when Republicans took over Congress in 1994 with their "Contract with America" and has operated as part of the majority ever since. He doesn't think Tuesday's power shift mirrors the 1994 turnover.
"I wouldn't call it a sweep," he said. "The main parallel, both in '94 and in '06, is the change was driven by the low approval ratings of the incumbent president.
"Some of the differences, though, I think in '94 it was pretty intense dissatisfaction with a number of the administration's policies, specifically some of the failures of the administration to follow through on campaign promises, like middle-class tax cuts. Bush's biggest problem is the war, which is a different kind of issue."
Tom Feeney, an Oviedo Republican whose congressional district includes northern Brevard County and Kennedy Space Center, believes the switch to a Democratic majority will hurt the state and region's clout in Congress.
"You have to argue it's a net loss. Florida will have less clout in Washington on Jan. 4, 2007," Feeney said. "But that doesn't mean we can't get things done."
Feeney, the former speaker of the Florida House, said he and many of the Florida Democrats served together in Tallahassee and will be able to work together to advance Florida interests.
On Wednesday, Weldon held conference calls with GOP leaders, discussing how the new power structure could affect them, particularly on the powerful appropriations committee, where Republicans will be less able to guide appropriations.
"There are three Republicans (from Florida) on the Appropriations Committee right now," Weldon said. "And there may be Republicans from other states who will argue that there are too many Republicans from Florida on the committee and one should be taken off."
With less influence on the committee, Weldon worries about funding for projects that are crucial to Brevard County's economy.
"I was hoping to get more funding for NASA, to see if we could get the shuttle replacement online sooner than 2014," he said. "It's Orion, similar to the Apollo capsule. But in an environment where Nancy Pelosi is the speaker -- and she has never been a particular proponent of the space program -- I don't know if that will be feasible."
California has its own space industry, which Pelosi might favor.
As the present Republican leadership is replaced, Weldon said that for personal reasons he is unlikely to seek a leadership role in the minority government.
"I have an 8-year-old son at home, and being in leadership keeps you away from your family even more," he said.
Eight Florida Republicans will step down as subcommittee chairmen next year. Some of the senior Florida Democrats will move into committee leadership roles, including Alcee Hastings of Fort Lauderdale, Corrine Brown of Jacksonville and Robert Wexler of Boca Raton.
The freshmen Democrats -- Ron Klein and Tim Mahoney of Palm Beach County -- are likely to get plum committee assignments, perhaps on Appropriations or Ways and Means, to bolster their chances of re-election in two years, party officials said.
Pembroke Pines Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a close ally of Nancy Pelosi, the current Democratic leader who is expected to become the first woman Speaker of the House in 2007.
Wasserman Schultz frequently is mentioned as a rising star in her party's hierarchy.
"We (Democrats) have increased our numbers in the (Florida) delegation," she said. "We have a real opportunity to play a pivotal role in helping to move this country in a new direction."
Florida Democrats believe they can be just as effective advancing the state's common interests like the Everglades, offshore drilling, beach replenishment, hurricane insurance and space.
"In the past, when we had something that was important to the state, our delegation worked together and did the best we could to come to a common position and advance that among the leaders of the House," said Rep. Allen Boyd, Jr., a conservative Democrat who represents a congressional district in the Panhandle. "I know we will continue to do that."
Less power, less money.
That equation for Congressional funding could mean the new Democratic majority in the House will harm the Space Coast's interests in Congress.
U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, a Brevard County Republican, will likely retain his seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, but he will be less able to use that position to steer federal dollars to regional projects.
"Recently I got funding for extending the Pineda Causeway out to Interstate-95, and getting things like that in the future is probably going to be more difficult," said Weldon in an interview with FLORIDA TODAY. "Typically, with items like highway projects, majority members get more of them than minority members."
Weldon took office when Republicans took over Congress in 1994 with their "Contract with America" and has operated as part of the majority ever since. He doesn't think Tuesday's power shift mirrors the 1994 turnover.
"I wouldn't call it a sweep," he said. "The main parallel, both in '94 and in '06, is the change was driven by the low approval ratings of the incumbent president.
"Some of the differences, though, I think in '94 it was pretty intense dissatisfaction with a number of the administration's policies, specifically some of the failures of the administration to follow through on campaign promises, like middle-class tax cuts. Bush's biggest problem is the war, which is a different kind of issue."
Tom Feeney, an Oviedo Republican whose congressional district includes northern Brevard County and Kennedy Space Center, believes the switch to a Democratic majority will hurt the state and region's clout in Congress.
"You have to argue it's a net loss. Florida will have less clout in Washington on Jan. 4, 2007," Feeney said. "But that doesn't mean we can't get things done."
Feeney, the former speaker of the Florida House, said he and many of the Florida Democrats served together in Tallahassee and will be able to work together to advance Florida interests.
On Wednesday, Weldon held conference calls with GOP leaders, discussing how the new power structure could affect them, particularly on the powerful appropriations committee, where Republicans will be less able to guide appropriations.
"There are three Republicans (from Florida) on the Appropriations Committee right now," Weldon said. "And there may be Republicans from other states who will argue that there are too many Republicans from Florida on the committee and one should be taken off."
With less influence on the committee, Weldon worries about funding for projects that are crucial to Brevard County's economy.
"I was hoping to get more funding for NASA, to see if we could get the shuttle replacement online sooner than 2014," he said. "It's Orion, similar to the Apollo capsule. But in an environment where Nancy Pelosi is the speaker -- and she has never been a particular proponent of the space program -- I don't know if that will be feasible."
California has its own space industry, which Pelosi might favor.
As the present Republican leadership is replaced, Weldon said that for personal reasons he is unlikely to seek a leadership role in the minority government.
"I have an 8-year-old son at home, and being in leadership keeps you away from your family even more," he said.
Eight Florida Republicans will step down as subcommittee chairmen next year. Some of the senior Florida Democrats will move into committee leadership roles, including Alcee Hastings of Fort Lauderdale, Corrine Brown of Jacksonville and Robert Wexler of Boca Raton.
The freshmen Democrats -- Ron Klein and Tim Mahoney of Palm Beach County -- are likely to get plum committee assignments, perhaps on Appropriations or Ways and Means, to bolster their chances of re-election in two years, party officials said.
Pembroke Pines Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a close ally of Nancy Pelosi, the current Democratic leader who is expected to become the first woman Speaker of the House in 2007.
Wasserman Schultz frequently is mentioned as a rising star in her party's hierarchy.
"We (Democrats) have increased our numbers in the (Florida) delegation," she said. "We have a real opportunity to play a pivotal role in helping to move this country in a new direction."
Florida Democrats believe they can be just as effective advancing the state's common interests like the Everglades, offshore drilling, beach replenishment, hurricane insurance and space.
"In the past, when we had something that was important to the state, our delegation worked together and did the best we could to come to a common position and advance that among the leaders of the House," said Rep. Allen Boyd, Jr., a conservative Democrat who represents a congressional district in the Panhandle. "I know we will continue to do that."
Dangerous Fumes Leak At Kennedy Space Center
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Some dangerous fumes leaked early Monday in the orbiter processing facility at the Kennedy Space Center.
The space shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour were in the hangars at the time of the leak, WESH 2 space expert Dan Billow reported.
Hydrazine fuel, which forms a vapor when it is released, leaked in the building. Since the fumes can be fatal when inhaled, 150 workers were immediately evacuated from the orbiter processing facility.
A NASA spokeswoman said everyone is OK.
"We wanted to make sure to take the employees who were around that area, make sure they were OK and there was no exposure to the hydrazine," said spokeswoman Jessica Rye. "Then what they'll do is make sure the bay is ready for people to go back, and I would anticipate if people aren't already back they will be shortly."
There are three orbiter processing facilities at Kennedy Space Center. Engineers use the areas to prepare the shuttles for flight.
Over the weekend, workers in special protective suits were working with the hydrazine fuel. Hydrazine fuel is used in space.
In addition to forming a potentially fatal fume cloud, hydrazine fuel explodes when it is mixed with the other kind of propellant used in the space shuttle.
Billow said that is why NASA uses hydrazine fuel as rocket fuel -- all workers have to do is mix the two and it always explodes.
The space shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour were in the hangars at the time of the leak, WESH 2 space expert Dan Billow reported.
Hydrazine fuel, which forms a vapor when it is released, leaked in the building. Since the fumes can be fatal when inhaled, 150 workers were immediately evacuated from the orbiter processing facility.
A NASA spokeswoman said everyone is OK.
"We wanted to make sure to take the employees who were around that area, make sure they were OK and there was no exposure to the hydrazine," said spokeswoman Jessica Rye. "Then what they'll do is make sure the bay is ready for people to go back, and I would anticipate if people aren't already back they will be shortly."
There are three orbiter processing facilities at Kennedy Space Center. Engineers use the areas to prepare the shuttles for flight.
Over the weekend, workers in special protective suits were working with the hydrazine fuel. Hydrazine fuel is used in space.
In addition to forming a potentially fatal fume cloud, hydrazine fuel explodes when it is mixed with the other kind of propellant used in the space shuttle.
Billow said that is why NASA uses hydrazine fuel as rocket fuel -- all workers have to do is mix the two and it always explodes.
Year-End Computer Glitch Worries NASA
The Associated PressThursday, November 9,
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Discovery was moved to the launch pad Thursday to await a launch that could be as early as Dec. 6 _ an effort to avoid potential New Year's Eve computer glitches.
The worry is that shuttle computers aren't designed to make the change from the 365th day of the old year to the first day of the new year while in flight. NASA has never had a shuttle in space Dec. 31 or Jan. 1.
"We've just never had the computers up and going when we've transitioned from one year to another," said Discovery astronaut Joan Higginbotham. "We're not really sure how they're going to operate."
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Discovery was moved to the launch pad Thursday to await a launch that could be as early as Dec. 6 _ an effort to avoid potential New Year's Eve computer glitches.
The worry is that shuttle computers aren't designed to make the change from the 365th day of the old year to the first day of the new year while in flight. NASA has never had a shuttle in space Dec. 31 or Jan. 1.
"We've just never had the computers up and going when we've transitioned from one year to another," said Discovery astronaut Joan Higginbotham. "We're not really sure how they're going to operate."
Starting Dec. 6, launch opportunities would be available as late as Dec. 17 or 18. With a 12-day mission, that would mean the shuttle is back on Earth before New Year's Eve.
However, NASA was quick to say that even if the shuttle crew finds itself still in space on Jan. 1, procedures could be devised to make a transition if necessary.
"Under some weird circumstance ... if we have an 'Oh my god,' and we have to be up there, I am sure we would figure out a way to operate the vehicle safely," said Steve Oswald, a vice president for Boeing Co., the parent company of the builders and designers of NASA's shuttles. "It just wouldn't be flying in the normal certified mode that we are used to flying."
If Discovery gets off the ground next month, it will be the third shuttle flight of the year, and only the fourth since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
It also will be the first night launch in four years. NASA required daylight launches after Columbia to make sure engineers had clear photos of the shuttle's external fuel tank; falling foam from Columbia's tank damaged its wing, dooming the shuttle and its seven astronauts.
NASA managers believe illumination from the space shuttle's booster rockets should allow for photos at night during the first two minutes, and radar should be able to detect any falling debris. Astronauts also are able to inspect the shuttle for damage while in flight.
During the 12-day mission, the astronauts will take three spacewalks to add an $11 million addition to the international space station and rewire the space lab's electrical system. The shuttle will also drop off U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams and bring home German astronaut Thomas Reiter, who has been at the space station since July.
NASA lunar mission gets off the ground
Chicago Tribune
CLEVELAND — With its heavy cranes, arc welders and steel rolling machines, the nondescript metalworking shop in a hangar hard by the runways at Cleveland's Hopkins Airport looks like countless other industrial factories in this rustiest of Rust Belt cities.
But there's no mistaking the distinctive, white-painted, 5-ton steel cylinder, 6 feet high and 18 feet across, that rests in the center of the shop floor. It's a segment of a rocket, the first piece of a prototype for America's newest launch vehicle — a rocket that is to take astronauts back to the moon.
Swiftly, aggressively and largely unnoticed by the rest of the nation, NASA has begun its next great manned spaceflight mission, the one that is scheduled to revisit the moon by 2020 and establish a long-term outpost there to serve as a stepping stone for an even bolder human journey to Mars.
At NASA's Glenn Research Center and others across the country, a new crew capsule is under development, new rocket engines are being designed and new moon rovers are being created. The first test flight of the new rocket is set to launch in just 30 months.
It has been more than a generation since America first lofted humans to the moon and the nation's space agency had a mission capable of capturing the public's imagination as the Apollo program did. But for most Americans younger than 35, NASA has stood for little more than a balky and dangerous space truck flying back and forth to a half-built space station that methodically circles Earth every 90 minutes.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is still committed to flying the aging shuttles until their scheduled retirement in 2010 so that construction on the long-delayed international space station can be completed. But the real passion at the agency these days is the Constellation program to return astronauts to the moon, a goal set by President Bush in 2004 and given its initial funding by Congress a year later. About 10 percent of the space agency's current budget, or $1.7 billion, and an estimated 20 percent of its brainpower are now devoted to the Constellation program.
"This is where the excitement is," said Tony Lavoie, manager of the Lunar Precursor and Robotic Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. "This is where the best minds in NASA want to be."
The project is moving remarkably fast, in part because it borrows from designs and concepts proven during the Apollo and space shuttle programs.
NASA has already determined, for example, that the new Orion crew capsule, due to be flown for the first time by around 2012, will look a lot like its Apollo predecessor, although it will be larger to accommodate as many as six astronauts instead of three. The Ares rocket that will launch it resembles one of the solid rocket boosters used to launch the shuttle.
A second, larger cargo launch rocket, which will take aloft a new lunar lander that will mate with the Orion capsule in Earth orbit before heading on to the moon, is about the size of the Saturn V rockets of the Apollo era but will make use of two shuttle-type solid rocket boosters strapped on either side.
The main contract to build the crew capsule was awarded in August to Lockheed Martin Corp., and astronauts are working with prototypes at Houston's Johnson Space Center.
But despite the resemblance of some components to earlier missions, Constellation is something very new — a program not merely to revisit the moon but to establish a long-term, self-sustaining base there where NASA can learn what it will take to send humans on even more dangerous, years-long missions to Mars.
"We're not going to the moon just to do footprints again," said Tom Sutliff, a manager at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. "We're going to live off the land. It's much, much more than Apollo."
CLEVELAND — With its heavy cranes, arc welders and steel rolling machines, the nondescript metalworking shop in a hangar hard by the runways at Cleveland's Hopkins Airport looks like countless other industrial factories in this rustiest of Rust Belt cities.
But there's no mistaking the distinctive, white-painted, 5-ton steel cylinder, 6 feet high and 18 feet across, that rests in the center of the shop floor. It's a segment of a rocket, the first piece of a prototype for America's newest launch vehicle — a rocket that is to take astronauts back to the moon.
Swiftly, aggressively and largely unnoticed by the rest of the nation, NASA has begun its next great manned spaceflight mission, the one that is scheduled to revisit the moon by 2020 and establish a long-term outpost there to serve as a stepping stone for an even bolder human journey to Mars.
At NASA's Glenn Research Center and others across the country, a new crew capsule is under development, new rocket engines are being designed and new moon rovers are being created. The first test flight of the new rocket is set to launch in just 30 months.
It has been more than a generation since America first lofted humans to the moon and the nation's space agency had a mission capable of capturing the public's imagination as the Apollo program did. But for most Americans younger than 35, NASA has stood for little more than a balky and dangerous space truck flying back and forth to a half-built space station that methodically circles Earth every 90 minutes.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is still committed to flying the aging shuttles until their scheduled retirement in 2010 so that construction on the long-delayed international space station can be completed. But the real passion at the agency these days is the Constellation program to return astronauts to the moon, a goal set by President Bush in 2004 and given its initial funding by Congress a year later. About 10 percent of the space agency's current budget, or $1.7 billion, and an estimated 20 percent of its brainpower are now devoted to the Constellation program.
"This is where the excitement is," said Tony Lavoie, manager of the Lunar Precursor and Robotic Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. "This is where the best minds in NASA want to be."
The project is moving remarkably fast, in part because it borrows from designs and concepts proven during the Apollo and space shuttle programs.
NASA has already determined, for example, that the new Orion crew capsule, due to be flown for the first time by around 2012, will look a lot like its Apollo predecessor, although it will be larger to accommodate as many as six astronauts instead of three. The Ares rocket that will launch it resembles one of the solid rocket boosters used to launch the shuttle.
A second, larger cargo launch rocket, which will take aloft a new lunar lander that will mate with the Orion capsule in Earth orbit before heading on to the moon, is about the size of the Saturn V rockets of the Apollo era but will make use of two shuttle-type solid rocket boosters strapped on either side.
The main contract to build the crew capsule was awarded in August to Lockheed Martin Corp., and astronauts are working with prototypes at Houston's Johnson Space Center.
But despite the resemblance of some components to earlier missions, Constellation is something very new — a program not merely to revisit the moon but to establish a long-term, self-sustaining base there where NASA can learn what it will take to send humans on even more dangerous, years-long missions to Mars.
"We're not going to the moon just to do footprints again," said Tom Sutliff, a manager at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. "We're going to live off the land. It's much, much more than Apollo."
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