STS-134 Endeavour

Beeker

This flight has just passed so quickly, they are now in the final days of the mission. Undocking is due at 04:53 Monday morning May 30th, followed by the flyaround of the ISS. Landing at KSC due on Wednesday morning June 1st at 07:32 Irish time. looks like an early start on Wednesday:)

lord lucan

I'm in work for 08.00 on Wednesday. Think i'll head in early and see if i can catch it on Sky News provided they show it. Not missing it for anything.

Beeker

lord lucan wrote: »

I'm in work for 08.00 on Wednesday. Think i'll head in early and see if i can catch it on Sky News provided they show it. Not missing it for anything.

I'm in at 14:30 but will get my ass out of the bed for about 6 to catch the deorbit burn and landing.
Only hope the times work out for the 135 flight. I don't want to miss any of that. Fingers crossed:)

lord lucan

Beeker wrote: »

I'm in at 14:30 but will get my ass out of the bed for about 6 to catch the deorbit burn and landing.
Only hope the times work out for the 135 flight. I don't want to miss any of that. Fingers crossed:)

Think i might break a leg or something that'll let me off work for a couple of weeks in July.:D

Beeker

lord lucan wrote: »

Think i might break a leg or something that'll let me off work for a couple of weeks in July.:D

Sounds like my plan:D:D:D

clln

lord lucan wrote: »

Think i might break a leg or something

Tim Kopra tried that did'nt he?did'nt go to plan for him though!:p

Beeker

clln wrote: »

Tim Kopra tried that did'nt he?did'nt go to plan for him though!:p

:eek::D:D:D

lord lucan

clln wrote: »

Tim Kopra tried that did'nt he?did'nt go to plan for him though!:p

He still got to watch!:p

Beeker

Nice photo!:)

Beeker

Some incredible phots from the last spacewalk. I love it!!!!!:)

Beeker

shedweller

Nasa is playing a sort of Endeavour tribute video on their website now. Very emotional stuff.:(

-Trek-

Anyone have an idea how much longer we must wait to see the epic fly around photos. Suspense is starting to get to me

clln

Had a quick check on Saturdays events after my 2011 one day holiday at Slane!:)
Savage,Awesome,beautiful video below;

shedweller

clln, thats the video i was watching. Heart wrenching.

clln

shedweller wrote: »

clln, thats the video i was watching. Heart wrenching.

It is So beautiful as well as heart wrenching shedweller!:)

lord lucan

Hatches were closed and locked earlier. Endeavour will undock from the ISS tomorrow morning at 04.53 and begin readying herself for her final journey home.

On the Ascent highlights,they've gotten better and better as the programme draws to a close. NASA should really push them to mainstream media outlets and not just stick them up on Youtube were they get lost in a sea of mediocrity. Ascent highlights may get a few thousand views whilst some cat screeching to the latest justin bieber song gets millions.

The general public love flash,glossy stuff. Show that ascent video on sky news for example and you'd get a whole lot more people gushing about it and maybe more would take an interest in it. For example,Last Monday AF1 arrived and the terminal building practically came to a standstill as passengers and staff rushed to the windows to get a look at her. An AF 744 arrives with cargo every saturday yet barely gets noticed except by the spotters. Micro-organisms on other planets and Exoplanets don't grab the non-astronomy & space publics attention,but a video like that would. NASA should box clever if they want to keep the American public interested in what they do(and what their $$$$'s are spent on).

tricky D

lord lucan wrote: »

An AF 744 arrives with cargo every saturday yet barely gets noticed except by the spotters.

Sunday this week, 45 mins ago, for some reason, possibly US weather.

clln

The traditional farewell ceremoney took place a few hours ago.
Hatch's were closed at 12.23.
Station crew are now down to three,we have seen during this mission the number onboard the ISS drop from 12 down to 9 now 3.
at least delivered via the Space Shuttle we will never see more than ten on it ever again(final shuttle mission 135 will only have crew of four)

Some Stats;

hatch's between Endeavour were open for:10 Days~23 hours~45 minutes.
Total Spacewalking time in construction of Station was: 1002~37 minutes=to 41 days and eight hours.
on the fourth and final Spacewalk crew reported to mission control "Assembly of the ISS complete" after they had stowed the OBSS on it.
(bit devilish of them as Russia plans to add a new module in a few years:))
Monday mornings undocking will be another first!
after undocking there will be the usual flyaround followed by a seperation burn and then another burn to Re-Rendezvous with station to a distance of six hundred feet.this will be to test out a new way to approach for dockings,its acronym is STORMM and stands for(read dis very carefuly i shall type dis only vunce!)

Sensor Test for Orion Relnav Risk Mitigation!

Farewell Ceremoney


Group hugs!:)

Sealed hatch from the ISS side:(

Sorry for some overlap with LL's post above,i had to answer phone half way through this post!:)

lord lucan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32zm5J5NkTc

eilejh

I love how Mark Kelly spoke about tomorrow being Memorial Day, and how he also mentioned the troops currently serving.

clln

eilejh wrote: »

I love how Mark Kelly spoke about tomorrow being Memorial Day, and how he also mentioned the troops currently serving.

Hi eilejh,i agree with You and fitting that Memorial day is already here in Ireland,won't be quite Monday in Your time zone when Endeavour undocks.
He got very Patriotic in his parting words but who could blame him?(We like to think that the Shuttle belongs to all of us!:))

Mike Leinbach got all Patriotic on launch day,but who could blame him?

NASA described the Hubble Space Telescope as "America's gift to the World" they were not wrong!,it surely is!!!!!.

need my Caffeine fix now just being a fool to myself again and set alarm to wake Me up for undocking:)
hope to see you later!

clln

Good Morning All and welcome to Boards.TV Coverage of the final undocking ever by Endeavour from the ISS.
i get the Graveyard shift from Beeker and Lord Lucan all the time and looks like i will be Your PAO for this event,sorry about that i am in training to be Space-x's PAO.......... and well You get what You pay for!:pac:
Endeavour has been given a "GO" for undocking due at 04.55.


Stunning view of Endeavours payload bay now empty from ISS Camera's.
as i am typing "GO" has also been given for fly-around!

@ 04.55 Shuttle undocked bang on time while flying over Bolivia.
Ron Garan the only US Astronaut now on the Station rang the bell that said farewell to Endeavour,he is the only member of the ISS Crew who has been woken up throughout the mission at the same time as the crew of Shuttle,he will also be 50 years of age later this year,born in the year Mankind first entered Space.
very poor live TV coverage again during this event.

@ 05.20 Pilot Greg Johnson began the flyaround,glad to see the pilot get to do a bit of flying!
flyaround began at a distance of 400 feet from Station.



a brief view of station from Shuttle before signal was lost again.



Europe's ATV can be clearly seen here at top with its X factor,all the best imaging is being held back for STORMM test.



View of Endeavour from station before 134 switched its KU to Radar mode.

clln

Finally some color pics of the flyaround from ISS,Shuttle at distance of 650 feet during these.

clln

The STORMM test is coming up but the HD Vid will not be available for viewing for some time yet i am hearing;
in the meantime 150 Seconds of color from the flyaround of planet Earth:

lord lucan

Great work on the coverage Clln. Great bit of flying and now Endeavour is set for her final journey home.:)

eilejh

NASA TV currently showing re-play right now if anyone is up.....Wonderful coverage you did Clln!

lord lucan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oONBgUozbY0

Beeker

Nice job clln. I missed the undocking due to being away but i knew you would keep the thread alive and up to date:)
Landing planned for Wednesday morning, nice early start, Beeker planning a 6am start for that one:)

Beeker

-Trek- wrote: »

Anyone have an idea how much longer we must wait to see the epic fly around photos. Suspense is starting to get to me

Waiting for them myself. We have been promised that they will be released this week!:)

lord lucan

Beeker wrote: »

Waiting for them myself. We have been promised that they will be released this week!:)

Thursday would be a good day. Let Endeavour have her last hurrah on Wednesday and then release the pics on Thursday whilst we're mourning Endeavours final flight.:)

Jimmy444

lord lucan wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32zm5J5NkTc

Geez, is that Leo Varadkar on the right in the black jumper? How did he get up there? I know he's Minister for Transport but I didn't think space exploration was in his brief!

JustAddWater

Jimmy444 wrote: »

Geez, is that Leo Varadkar on the right in the black jumper? How did he get up there? I know he's Minister for Transport but I didn't think space exploration was in his brief!

he's hiding up there after his bailout comments... ssssssssssssh!

Beeker

Deorbit burn scheduled for 06:29 Wednesday morning Irish time. Endeavour will be travelling at 17500 mph over the Indian Ocean at the time. It will start to decend into the Earths atmosphere and shed all the speed and energy it gained on launch over the next hour leading to a touchdown at Kennedy Space Center at 07:35 Irish time at a speed of just over 200 mph.
And so will end the second last and 134th Space Shuttle flight.

Beeker

For anyone interested the ISS and Endeavour will be visible crossing the sky tomorrow morning from southwest to east.
Endeavour will be visible from 04:26 to 04:30 and the ISS one minute behind from 04:27 to 04:31.

Beeker

This is a great photo taken during the docked flight last week:)

clln

JustAddWater wrote: »

he's hiding up there after his bailout comments... ssssssssssssh!

Good for You JustAddWater, and Jimmy444,let us hope the Irish art of Slagging(for International Audience Slagging is a bit of leg pulling that does not mean to offend but hopes for a witty retort)

I have to say there are some very very sharp witty people on Boards who are Culchies/Rednecks(that would be Hillbillies to You eilijh:p)

this msg is from a Superior type Jackeen (that would be City Slicker to You eilijh:D )

Beeker

clln wrote: »

Good for You JustAddWater,let us hope the Irish art of Slagging(for International Audience Slagging is a bit of leg pulling that does not mean to offend but hopes for a witty retort)

I have to say there are some very very sharp witty people on Boards who are Culchies/Rednecks(that would be Hillbillies to You eilijh:p)

this msg is from a Superior type Jackeen (that would be City Slicker to You eilijh:D )

Culchies rule:P:P:D:D

lord lucan

Beeker wrote: »

Culchies rule live in Dublins shadow:P:P:D:D

:pac::pac:

Turtwig

Culchies are best for astronomy. Artificial light from urban areas can be detrimental to top quality observations.:cool:

Beeker

STS-134 Tribute to Endeavour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qOENXuZiTs

Stargate

Beeker wrote: »

STS-134 Tribute to Endeavour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qOENXuZiTs

Tnx Beeker 8:05 into the clip , what a beautiful comment
What a beautiful pic !!!

Thank you so much Endeavour , you did so much for the ISS and mankind

clln

assuming Endeavour gets the Weather for landing this was its and the Crews final wake up call,not a cover but an original song written for the occasion after a contest.

@04.05 Endeavours payload bay doors closed,Weather is currently go for first landing opportunity but Weather airplanes not yet in the air.
If No go for landing at KSC at 07.35,next landing time would be 09.11.

clln

eilejh wrote: »

You have to watch 'Swamp People' lol
http://www.history.com/shows/swamp-people
http://www.history.com/shows/swamp-people/videos#swamp-people-full-moon-fever

These guys are like Astronauts on Ground Zero.....

Tried to watch it eilejh got msg "Not available in Your area".
i suppose that's what Space-X TV will be like! PPV only!:).

Things still looking good for first landing chance;

"It's a beautiful evening here in Florida," weather pilot Rick Sturckow says.

This is the plane he is on,it is called 'Shuttle Training Aircraft'(STA)

lord lucan

An early go for de-orbit burn. Weather looks pretty decent at KSC.

clln

lord lucan wrote: »

An early go for de-orbit burn. Weather looks pretty decent at KSC.

Ah good mornin LL, how ya doin? all set for the big Splashdown?:)

lord lucan

clln wrote: »

Ah good mornin LL, how ya doin? all set for the big Splashdown?:)

I'll be here until just after the de-orbit burn begins. Then a period of ratty comm from me as i head to work a bit early to catch landing on sky news. They've already mentioned it on their bulletins so should show it live.

lord lucan

And she's on her way home. De-orbit burn underway.

lord lucan

De-orbit burn complete,next stop planet Earth.:)

lord lucan

Time to go. See you on the other side Endeavour.:)