Progress Docking At Space Station Delayed As Hurricane Ike Closes Johnson
Russia launched a Progress freighter spaceship as scheduled, but then found it couldn’t dock the Progress with the International Space Station because Hurricane Ike forced NASA to close the Johnson Space Center and its mission control room.
Docking now is expected Wednesday, unless the Johnson control room isn’t operational by then.
The storm, whipping winds of more than 100 miles an hour, caused thousands to flee, or rather to inch along in miles of gridlock, on Interstate highways leading out of Houston.
The space station Flight Control Room at Mission Control in Houston closed Thursday morning.
Russia responded to the problem by parking the Progress in an orbit a safe distance from the space station
Control of the space station was handed to flight controllers at backup facilities near Austin, Texas, and Huntsville, Ala.
Because Mission Control commands many of the station systems, U.S. and Russian officials agreed to delay the docking.
If Mission Control isn’t restored to full capability for docking, one of the backup facilities may be used to command station systems.
Station Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineers Oleg Kononenko, both cosmonauts, and Greg Chamitoff, a U.S. astronaut, are awaiting the arrival of the cargo ship carrying more than two tons of supplies, including food and fuel.
NASA announced Johnson Space Center couldn’t reopen until the hurricane threat passed.
A category 2 hurricane in the western Gulf of Mexico, Ike bulldozed into the Texas coast early Saturday, with authorities warning that some residents in Galveston would either evacuate or die. By comparison, Hurricane Katrina in 2003 was a category 5 storm. But Ike was a huge 240 miles wide, creating a 20-foot-high storm surge of waters pounding the Texas coast, and it passed almost directly over Houston, in what Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff termed “pretty much a worst-case scenario.”
Most NASA aircraft at Ellington Field, located just north of Johnson, have been flown to a facility in El Paso, Texas. That includes 19 of 26 T-38s, a WB-57 and three of four shuttle training aircraft. Nine other aircraft are undergoing maintenance and have been secured in hangars at Ellington.
Space Shuttle Endeavour Mated To Fuel Tank, Set For Rollout To Pad Thursday
Space Shuttle Endeavour was mated to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, prior to a planned rollout Thursday to Launch Pad 39B, NASA announced.
There, the giant spacecraft will sit in readiness, prepared to serve as a life raft if something goes wrong when its sister ship, Space Shuttle Atlantis, blasts off from Pad 39A on the STS-125 Mission to rescue and refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope. Atlantis already is at the pad, undergoing preparations before liftoff.
Ordinarily, shuttles go to the International Space Station, which will be the destination for Endeavour on its STS-126 Mission. If something goes awry on such a trip, the stricken shuttle can use the space station for crew shelter.
But Atlantis will be going to the Hubble, and thus will have no life raft for the crew in an emergency. That’s why Endeavour will be poised on Launch Pad 39B, to rush to aid Atlantis and its crew members, if need be.
Otherwise, after Atlantis returns safely to Earth, Endeavour will move from Launch Pad 39B to Launch Pad 39A, where it will lift off to the space station Nov. 12.
These dates assume that reports of Hurricane Ike causing light damage at Johnson Space Center are correct, and that the damage won’t cause launch delays.
Tiger Helicopter Fires Spike Missiles In Test In Spain
A H�licoptere d’Appui Destruction (Support Destruction Helicopter), or HAD, version of the Tiger helicopter fired Spike missiles during testing in Spain, according to Eurocopter, a unit of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.
The fiber-optic guided Spike air-to-ground missile was developed by the Israeli company Rafael.
Of the seven missiles fired by the HAD helicopter, five were launched without their main propulsion units to prove the helicopter/missile integration worked, ensuring that the weapon separated cleanly from the helicopter during firing.
Then two Spikes were fired with propulsion units, hitting targets six to eight kilometers (3.7 to 5 miles) distant.
Tests were conducted at the El Arenosillo firing range of the Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology.
Spain currently is one of two customers for the HAD version of the Tiger: Spain ordered 24, and France ordered 40 HAD version Tigers.
For air-to-ground missions, the Spanish helicopters will be equipped with the fiber-optic guided Spike missile developed by Rafael.
The first missile was fired in the lock on before launch (LOBL) mode and the second in the lock on after launch (LOAL) mode. Six of the missiles were fired by an all-Eurocopter crew, and the seventh (fired in LOBL launch) by a Eurocopter pilot in the front seat and a Spanish gunner-commander in the rear.
NASA’s Shuttle and Rocket Missions
Updated — September 11 – 11:50 a.m. EDT
Legend: + Targeted For | *No Earlier Than (Tentative) | **To Be Determined
2008 Launches
Date: October +
Mission: TacSat-3
Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Minotaur Rocket
Launch Site: Wallops Flight Facility – Goddard Space Flight Center
Description: NASA will support the Air Force launch of the TacSat-3 satellite, managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate. TacSat-3 will demonstrate the capability to furnish real-time data to the combatant commander. NASA Ames will fly a microsat and NASA Wallops will fly the CubeSats on this flight in addition to providing the launch range.
Date: Oct. 5
Mission: IBEX
Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL Rocket
Launch Site: Reagan Test Site, Kwajalein Atoll
Launch Window: 12:41 to 12:48 p.m. EDT
Description: IBEX’s science objective is to discover the global interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium and will achieve this objective by taking a set of global energetic neutral atom images that will answer four fundamental science questions.
Date: Oct. 10 +
Mission: STS-125
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 12:43 a.m. EDT
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility
Landing Date and Time: Oct. 20 +
Description: Space Shuttle Atlantis will fly seven astronauts into space for the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. During the 11-day flight, the crew will repair and improve the observatory’s capabilities through 2013.
Date: Nov. 12 +
Mission: STS-126
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 8:43 p.m. EST
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility
Landing Date and Time: Nov. 27 +
Description: Space Shuttle Endeavour launching on assembly flight ULF2, will deliver a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the International Space Station.
2009 Launches
Date: 2009
Mission: Ares I-X Test Flight
Launch Vehicle: Ares I-X
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39B
Description: The Ares I-X test flight is NASA’s first test flight for the Agency’s new Constellation launch vehicle — Ares I. The Ares I-X flight will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I.
Date: Jan. 15
Mission: OCO
Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Taurus Rocket
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base – Launch Pad SLC 576-E
Description: The Orbiting Carbon Observatory is a new Earth orbiting mission sponsored by NASA’s Earth System Science Pathfinder Program.
Date: Jan. 23 *
Mission: STSS Demonstrators Program – Missile Defense Agency
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 17, Pad A
Description: STSS Demonstrators Program is a midcourse tracking technology demonstrator and is part of an evolving ballistic missile defense system. STSS is capable of tracking objects after boost phase and provides trajectory information to other sensors and interceptors. To be launched by NASA for the Missile Defense Agency.
Date: Feb. 4
Mission: NOAA-N Prime
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base – Launch Pad SLC-2
Description: NOAA-N Prime is the latest polar-orbiting satellite developed by NASA/Goddard Spaceflight Center for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA uses two satellites, a morning and afternoon satellite, to ensure every part of the Earth is observed at least twice every 12 hours. NOAA-N will collect information about Earth’s atmosphere and environment to improve weather prediction and climate research across the globe.
Date: Feb. 10 *
Mission: GOES-O
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta IV
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 37
Description: NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are actively engaged in a cooperative program, the multi-mission Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series N-P. This series will be a vital contributor to weather, solar and space operations, and science.
Date: Feb. 12 +
Mission: STS-119
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Discovery launching on assembly flight 15A, will deliver the fourth starboard truss segment to the International Space Station.
Date: March 2 *
Mission: LRO/LCROSS
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 41
Description: LRO will launch with the objectives to finding safe landing sites, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment and test new technology. The Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite mission is seeking a definitive answer about the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at either the Moon’s North or South Pole.
Date: April 10
Mission: Kepler
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 17 – Pad 17-B
Description: The Kepler Mission, a NASA Discovery mission, is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to detect and characterize hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone.
Date: April 30
Mission: STSS ATRR – Missile Defense Agency
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base – Launch Pad SLC-2
Description: STSS ATRR serves as a pathfinder for future launch and mission technology for the Missile Defense Agency. To be launched by NASA for the MDA.
Date: May 15 +
Mission: STS-127
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver the exposed facility of Japan’s Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station.
Date: June 15
Mission: Glory
Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Taurus Rocket
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base – Launch Pad SLC 576-E
Description: The Glory Mission will help increase our understanding of the Earth’s energy balance by collecting data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon in the Earth’s atmosphere and how the Sun’s irradiance affects the Earth’s climate.
Date: July 30 +
Mission: STS-128
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Atlantis will use a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to carry experiment and storage racks to the International Space Station.
Date: Sept. 15 *
Mission: Mars Science Laboratory
Description: The Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess whether Mars ever was, or is still today, an environment able to support microbial life and to determine the planet’s habitability.
Date: Oct. 15 +
Mission: STS-129
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Discovery will deliver components including two spare gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly and a spare latching end effector for the station’s robotic arm to the International Space Station.
Date: November +
Mission: WISE
Description: The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) will survey the entire sky in the mid-infrared with far greater sensitivity than any previous mission or program ever has. The WISE survey will consist of over a million images, from which hundreds of millions of astronomical objects will be catalogued.
Date: Dec. 10 +
Mission: STS-130
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver the final connecting node, Node 3, and the Cupola, a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center that provides a 360-degree view around the International Space Station.
2010 Launches
Date: < 26 Jan.>
Mission: SDO
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 41
Description: The first Space Weather Research Network mission in the Living With a Star (LWS) Program of NASA.
Date: Feb. 11 +
Mission: STS-131
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Atlantis will carry a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled with science racks that will be transferred to laboratories of the International Space Station.
Date: April 8 +
Mission: STS-132
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Discovery mission will carry an integrated cargo carrier to deliver maintenance and assembly hardware, including spare parts for space station systems. In addition, the second in a series of new pressurized components for Russia, a Mini Research Module, will be permanently attached to the bottom port of the Zarya module.
Date: May 31 +
Mission: STS-133
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver critical spare components including antennas and gas tanks to the International Space Station.
For NASA’s Space Shuttle Flights and International Space Station Assembly Sequence, visit:
� Shuttle Consolidated Launch Manifest
Source: NASA