STS 131 Discovery, March 18, 2010.

ynotdu

Beeker wrote: »

Jeez Beeker the baldy guy looks like captain Picard and the woman to the left looks like Uhura...........the Space time continuam in full cooling flow;)..............Now all we need i s a 'Prime directive', too late now though that the USA has waved a white flag!:p:p:p

lord lucan

New No Earlier Than date of April 5th for launch,Easter monday.

ynotdu

lord lucan wrote: »

New No Earlier Than date of April 5th for launch,Easter monday.

Hey LL were is Your sense of fun and humour gone that served the previous STS threads so well ?
We have lost so many OF the STS.s threads contributors input since the first one i found........................They always had the important facts but were inclusive to all,the Craic is a sad loss:(

The facts can be found on so many sites,the little community We had built on boards just added to the enjoyment of what deep down we all feel passionate about!

lord lucan

ynotdu wrote: »

Hey LL were is Your sense of fun and humour gone that served the previous STS threads so well ?
We have lost so many OF the STS.s threads contributors input since the first one i found........................They always had the important facts but were inclusive to all,the Craic is a sad loss:(

The facts can be found on so many sites,the little community We had built on boards just added to the enjoyment of what deep down we all feel passionate about!

I think the realisation that we're witnessing the end of an era is contributing to an almost Wake-like feel to the STS programme. I'll be wearing a black armband for the last launch.:(

ynotdu

lord lucan wrote: »

I think the realisation that we're witnessing the end of an era is contributing to an almost Wake-like feel to the STS programme. I'll be wearing a black armband for the last launch.:(

Lol LL Ya i know what You mean,its all been a shock to those who care:)

It IS difficult to stay lighearted about it,so long as You keep stuffing that lady with food She may be fat enough to sing at wheelstop on 133:D

lord lucan

ynotdu wrote: »

Lol LL Ya i know what You mean,its all been a shock to those who care:)

It IS difficult to stay lighearted about it,so long as You keep stuffing that lady with food She may be fat enough to sing at wheelstop on 133:D

I was just thinking today how we,as fans of spaceflight,are gutted about the end of the STS programme. It got me thinking about what all the thousands who work at KSC/JSC must feel about losing their jobs but having to maintain their motivation to see each remaining flight off safely.

And the Astronaut office where there'll be feck all else to do for the foreseeable future,only a handful going up on Soyuz to the ISS,the rest will become glorified guest speakers.

ynotdu

lord lucan wrote: »

I was just thinking today how we,as fans of spaceflight,are gutted about the end of the STS programme. It got me thinking about what all the thousands who work at KSC/JSC must feel about losing their jobs but having to maintain their motivation to see each remaining flight off safely.

And the Astronaut office where there'll be feck all else to do for the foreseeable future,only a handful going up on Soyuz to the ISS,the rest will become glorified guest speakers.

and the humiliation of having no choice but Soyuz:(
Beeker suggested a while ago that due to loss of morale the STS- staff might take safety less seriously.Personally i dont believe they will,I hope they will leave with their head held high after knowing they were there to the end for the Astronauts.

Not so sure about 133 though as it is just a lap of honor who even the loyalist NASA emplyee will have to have found a new job beforehand.

It would be stupid of the private companies not to interview these experianced people,and i would guess they know that!:cool:

lord lucan

ynotdu wrote: »

and the humiliation of having no choice but Soyuz:(
Beeker suggested a while ago that due to loss of morale the STS- staff might take safety less seriously.Personally i dont believe they will,I hope they will leave with their head held high after knowing they were there to the end for the Astronauts.

Not so sure about 133 though as it is just a lap of honor who even the loyalist NASA emplyee will have to have found a new job beforehand.

It would be stupid of the private companies not to interview these experianced people,and i would guess they know that!:cool:

I don't think that safety will be an issue,the guys there know what needs to be done and as a matter of personal pride too. STS-133 will effectively be the last Trash collection for a while on the ISS. It'll also be the last large delivery of supplies to the ISS. Neither Soyuz or Progress have the upmass or downmass capabilities of the Shuttle.

ynotdu

lord lucan wrote: »

I don't think that safety will be an issue,the guys there know what needs to be done and as a matter of personal pride too. STS-133 will effectively be the last Trash collection for a while on the ISS. It'll also be the last large delivery of supplies to the ISS. Neither Soyuz or Progress have the upmass or downmass capabilities of the Shuttle.

nor the HTV and the ATV as well as progress as You know.{even combigned}
I do not believe the Heavy launch Vehicle will ever become a reality for NASA unless the Military have a big say in it!

Reality check in obama's mind,end of the road for those of us that loved the 'innocence'of NASA.

lord lucan

ynotdu wrote: »

nor the HTV and the ATV as well as progress as You know.{even combigned}
I do not believe the Heavy launch Vehicle will ever become a reality for NASA unless the Military have a big say in it!

Reality check in obama's mind,end of the road for those of us that loved the 'innocence'of NASA.

I hope that the military don't get involved! NASA went after the military,effectively selling the Shuttle to the military in order to get funding for the STS programme. In the end it's design was heavily influenced by the military but they effectively abandoned it leaving NASA with a vehicle with an over-sized cargo bay. A smaller Shuttle would've been cheaper to fly.

lord lucan

Oh and STS-131 technically becomes a night launch as it launches just before sunrise at 06.27 EDT(11.27 Irish time).

ynotdu

lord lucan wrote: »

I hope that the military don't get involved! NASA went after the military,effectively selling the Shuttle to the military in order to get funding for the STS programme. In the end it's design was heavily influenced by the military but they effectively abandoned it leaving NASA with a vehicle with an over-sized cargo bay. A smaller Shuttle would've been cheaper to fly.

Well i hope so too,but think it is inevitable.off the top of my head i think no more than 3 military flights happened {that we know of:D}
There was a lot of opposistion to it from many quaters in more innocent times and the idea was dropped.

even with the size of the cargo bay Cupola had to be put at the 'wrong end' of Node3 and relocated in Space because that was the only way to fit them into the cargo bay!

not trying to argue or split hairs with you just hope at the end of it all We will all know the true facts with certainty.A smaller Cargo bay could not have even came close to where 130 has brought the ISS IMO.

lord lucan

The bigger cargo bay has been brilliant for ISS construction,it was just in the early years of the STS programme when NASA were trying to figure out what to do with the Shuttle that they had a great big empty space with nothing to put in it except for a few science experiments. All academic now but i hope they don't make the same mistake further down the line.:cool:

ynotdu

lord lucan wrote: »

The bigger cargo bay has been brilliant for ISS construction,it was just in the early years of the STS programme when NASA were trying to figure out what to do with the Shuttle that they had a great big empty space with nothing to put in it except for a few science experiments. All academic now but i hope they don't make the same mistake further down the line.:cool:

and Hubble and Spacelab before the Challenger...................Spacelab done some good science although spacelab is almost forgotten now it sure filled the cargo bay.:)

Not to be confused with skylab:o

ynotdu

The Spacelab Module consists of a cylindrical main laboratory configurable as Short or Long Module flown in the rear of the Space Shuttle cargo bay, connected to the crew compartment by a tunnel. The laboratory had an outer diameter of 4.12 m, and each segment a length of 2.7 m. Most of the time two segments were used in forming the Long Module configuration.
The Spacelab Pallet is a U-shaped platform for mounting instrumentation, large instruments, experiments requiring exposure to space, and instruments requiring a large field of view, such as telescopes. The pallet has several hard points for mounting heavy equipment. The pallet can be used in single configuration or stacked end to end in double or triple configurations. Up to five pallets can be configured in the Space Shuttle cargo bay by using a double plus triple pallet.
Other Spacelab elements include the tunnel, Igloo, and the Instrument Pointing System (IPS) tailored to the pallet interfaces for precise pointing to space or earth targets.


Spacelab: being prepared for STS-45 Atlantis,whom a certain Mr Bolden was flying:)



and skylab the little bits that worked:o

Beeker

As a matter of interest the very first Spacelab flight was STS-9 in 1983 {Skipped school to watch launch on BBC}:D It was commanded by John Young, a legend of an astronaut, he few on the first Mercury flight, flew twice to the moon including landing as the 9th man to walk on the moon on Apollo 16 in 1972 and then went on to command STS-1 in 1981. I had the privilage of meeting him about 10 years ago.:)
Anyway STS-9 came very close to being the first shuttle disaster.
During orbiter orientation, four hours before re-entry, one of the guidance computers crashed when the thrusters were fired. A few minutes later, a second crashed in a similar fashion, but was successfully rebooted. Young delayed the landing, letting the orbiter drift. He later testified: "Had we then activated the Backup Flight Software, loss of vehicle and crew would have resulted." Post-flight analysis revealed the GPCs failed when the RCS thruster motion knocked a piece of solder loose and shorted out the CPU board.
Columbia landed on 8 December 1983 at Edwards AFB completing 166 orbits and traveling 4.3 million miles. Right before landing, two of the orbiter's three APU's caught fire due to a hydrazine leak, but the orbiter still landed successfully. The leak was later discovered after it burned itself out and caused major damage to the compartment.

Kevster

God you guys write a lot... ...! Looks like it's been pushed forward (or back...?) to 5th April now. I assume this has already been mentioned but I don't have time to read the whole thread!

Hard to believe these launches will come to an end relatively soon, but life must move forward. What'll we talk about then here...!

:rolleyes:

Kevin

PS - Just to confirm: 0627EDT is 1127GMT?

ynotdu

Kevster wrote: »

God you guys write a lot... ...! Looks like it's been pushed forward (or back...?) to 5th April now. I assume this has already been mentioned but I don't have time to read the whole thread!

Hard to believe these launches will come to an end relatively soon, but life must move forward. What'll we talk about then here...!

:rolleyes:

Kevin

PS - Just to confirm: 0627EDT is 1127GMT?

Kevin! We will play catch-up on Cassini,Mariner.the Voyagers,the Vikings and all the other great work done by NASA/JPL! :).and yeah apart from clock changing times of the year. EST/EDT is five hours behind GMT/BST.

or CST/CDT {NASA have an annoying habit of using EST OR CST depending on who is writing the updates or doing live commentry for NASA site/TV:(} is six hours behind GMT/BST.

lord lucan

ynotdu wrote: »

Kevin! We will play catch-up on Cassini,Mariner.the Voyagers,the Vikings and all the other great work done by NASA/JPL! :).and yeah apart from clock changing times of the year. EST/EDT is five hours behind GMT/BST.

or CST/CDT {NASA have an annoying habit of using EST OR CST depending on who is writing the updates or doing live commentry for NASA site/TV:(} is six hours behind GMT/BST.

Oh No,not the time zones again?!!:eek::eek::eek:

Beeker

Rollover to the VAB due on Tuesday. Tank and boosters stacked and ready for Discovery.

ynotdu

Beeker wrote: »

Rollover to the VAB due on Tuesday. Tank and boosters stacked and ready for Discovery.

My goodness Beaky,eaten bread is soon forgotten!:D
Talk about being only a number?
130 still looking for attn after less than eight hours back on terra firma:(
Oh well guess it's used to being back down to Earth with a bump!:)
it's a cold harsh world:(:eek::pac::) ya know!;)

Beeker

ynotdu wrote: »

My goodness Beaky,eaten bread is soon forgotten!:D
Talk about being only a number?
130 still looking for attn after less than eight hours back on terra firma:(
Oh well guess it's used to being back down to Earth with a bump!:)
it's a cold harsh world:(:eek::pac::) ya know!;)

Now you know they are far more than just numbers to me:)
But with 131 coming down the line so fast its time to shift attention!

ynotdu

Beeker wrote: »

Now you know they are far more than just numbers to me:)
But with 131 coming down the line so fast its time to shift attention!

Lol Beeker Yeah i know,and We are complaining of a sense of loss and doom,must be in the minor leauge compared to what You feel!

So ok ynotdu agrees to be dragged kickin&screamin to 131!:)

Beeker

• 162nd American manned space flight
• 131st shuttle mission
• 38th flight of Discovery
• 33rd shuttle mission to the ISS

lord lucan

ynotdu wrote: »

My goodness Beaky,eaten bread is soon forgotten!:D
Talk about being only a number?
130 still looking for attn after less than eight hours back on terra firma:(
Oh well guess it's used to being back down to Earth with a bump!:)
it's a cold harsh world:(:eek::pac::) ya know!;)

True but even Endeavour is already starting her processing flow for her final flight.:(

lord lucan

Discovery has arrived at the VAB.

lord lucan

Note some of the STS-131 crew on the left observing the Orbiters arrival.

Wibbs

Beeker wrote: »

As a matter of interest the very first Spacelab flight was STS-9 in 1983 {Skipped school to watch launch on BBC}:D It was commanded by John Young, a legend of an astronaut, he few on the first Mercury flight, flew twice to the moon including landing as the 9th man to walk on the moon on Apollo 16 in 1972 and then went on to command STS-1 in 1981.

Legend indeed. Unlike most of the Apollo guys he stuck around and stayed at the top of his game. Whoever picked him in the first place made one helluva good choice.

I was watching some of the lunar EVA footage recently. Him and Charlie Duke are good to watch and listen to. They're a great double act Doing great science while clearly enjoying every moment of it. Except when John young tripped over and broke a cable on one of the experiments. You can hear the very human disappointment in his voice.

One bit stood out. Houston call up to tell the guys that congress just approved the shuttle and John is very pleased to hear this. He rode the first one into orbit and now he gets to see the last one be put in a museum. Must be a real let down for someone like him who was there pretty much at the start of the lot of it.

lord lucan

Kevster

Needs a scrub of Jif or Mr. Muscle, don't you think? Great pictures though