[Space] NASA - STS-115 - ISS 12A (Atlantis)

[GioFX]

NASA STS-115 - International Space Station

STS Program Mission: STS-115 (116th flight, 27th OV-104 flight)

ISS Program Assembly Flight: 12A

Orbiter: Atlantis (OV-104)

Launch Pad: 39B

Mission duration: 10 days, 20 hours 16 min

Landing site: KSC

Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

Payload:

• 2nd Port Truss segment (P3/P4)
• 2nd set of solar arrays

Crew:

• Commander Brent Jett
• Pilot Chris Ferguson
• Mission Specialist Mike Fossum
• Mission Specialist Joe Tanner
• Mission Specialist Dan Burbank
• Mission Specialist Steve MacLean
• Mission Specialist Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper

Live Coverage:

NASA TV - Real Media: http://www.nasa.gov/ram/35037main_portal.ram

NASA TV - Windows Media: http://www.nasa.gov/55644main_NASATV_Windows.asx

NASA TV - Real Audio:
http://www.nasa.gov/ram/55643main_NASATV_Audio_Only.ram

[GioFX]

[Octane]

L'Atlantis e' entrato stamattina nel Veichle Assembly Building:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttl...15/status.html

[GioFX]

Giusto, questa mattina hanno fatto il rollover dal OPF alla HighBay2 del VAB.

Atlantis arrives in the VAB

By Chris Bergin, 7/24/2006 11:27:00 AM

Shuttle orbiter Atlantis has made her short trip to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in preparation for STS-115. NASA and United Space Alliance workers are now preparing her to be lifted over the high bay for mating with the External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters.

The NET (No Earlier Than) launch date of August 27 will see Atlantis carry the P3/P4 truss section to the ISS - the first post-Columbia assembly mission.

Atlantis left OPF-1 (Orbiter Processing Facility) this morning with a procession of engineers and technicians that have been making her ready for the first launch in four years of OV-104.

Tagged by Shuttle manager Wayne Hale as the 'most complicated assembly mission in the history of human space flight,' STS-115's payload consists of a huge structure that will expand when attached to the ISS. Large solar panels will deploy on the truss, providing power for future modules that will join the ISS on later missions.

The 12 day mission will also carry the P4 Photovoltaic (PV) Module (PVM), containing two beta gimbal/PV array assemblies, two Beta Gimbal Transition Structures (BGTSs), one Integrated Equipment Assembly (IEA) - Type I, and associated cabling, according to the STS-115 Flight Plan.

The cargo element includes six battery sets, PV radiator, two Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Attach Systems (UCCAS), Solar Array Rotating Joint (SARJ) and preintegrated Orbiter Space Vision System (OSVS) targets. The CE occupies the majority of the payload bay and is attached in the payload bay by four active longeron trunnion latches and two active keel trunnion latches, plus six unpowered and three powered experiments.

During the second half of STS-121, Atlantis was taken off LON (Launch On Need) readiness, which was to support her sister Discovery. STS-121 mission was deemed a huge success, standing down Atlantis when OV-103 was cleared for re-entry.

The processing of Atlantis didn't suffer any major setbacks, with the launch date only becoming endangered when ET-118 arrived at the Kennedy Space Center with a large amount of work required before being mated with the twin solid rocket boosters.

However, a speedy changeout of ET-118's ECO (Engine Cut Off) sensors reduced the schedule pressure on preparing the stack to be rolled out of the VAB, with Atlantis set to head to the launch pad ahead of schedule.

[razziadacqua]

quanto cazzo è bello!!!! Voglio andare il quel posto!!!

E sappiate che a riguardo a breve(questione di mesi) ci lavorerò sopra su come arrivarci

Voi forse non lo sapete ma pure la NASA ha bisogno di fisioterapisti riabilitatori/ricercatori e magari specialisti di missione...specie se le ricerche sono interessanti...Eh mi consola il fatto che la rete è incredibilmente piena di articoli e varie sulla medicina spaziale e affini...eccellente

Un ma mi spiegate come mai si chiama STS 115 ISS 12A..

ma l ultima missione non era STS121?

[albertoz85]

Originariamente inviato da razziadacqua

quanto cazzo è bello!!!! Voglio andare il quel posto!!!

E sappiate che a riguardo a breve(questione di mesi) ci lavorerò sopra su come arrivarci

Voi forse non lo sapete ma pure la NASA ha bisogno di fisioterapisti riabilitatori/ricercatori e magari specialisti di missione...specie se le ricerche sono interessanti...Eh mi consola il fatto che la rete è incredibilmente piena di articoli e varie sulla medicina spaziale e affini...eccellente

Un ma mi spiegate come mai si chiama STS 115 ISS 12A..

ma l ultima missione non era STS121?

La numerazione progressiva è stabilita in base al momento della creazione della missione e non in base alla data del lancio, ISS 12A è la fase di costruzione della ISS.

[Octane]

Pur restando una fantastica macchina volante, l'orbiter visto da vicino sembra veramente un collage stile "carri di viareggio"

[Legolas84]

Rimane comunque una delle macchine più belle e straordinarie mai costruite dall'uomo...

[GioFX]

Beh, è dovuto alle particolari trame del TPS, che lo fanno sembrare appunto fatto di cartapesta.

[Octane]

Certo, e non potrebbe essere altrimenti, visto il range di temperature di esercizio. Nessun materiale potrebbe sopportare, come elemento monolitico, dilatazioni, sollecitazioni termiche e meccaniche come quelle. Le parti piu' grandi sono forse il pannelli RCC..

Cmq, fa un po' strano vedere l'orbiter in questa configurazione, con tutti i "remove before flight" che coprono ogni ugello o accesso a componenti sensibili (dall'RCS ai finestrini, al portello).
Di solito li si vede piu' spesso messi in verticale pronti per il lancio

Una domanda:
il payload viene installato ora nel VAB o alla piattaforma di lancio?

[albertoz85]

Originariamente inviato da Octane

Una domanda:
il payload viene installato ora nel VAB o alla piattaforma di lancio?

Sulla rampa, mi sembra la settimana prossima arriverà la stiva sulla 39B e lo shuttle arriverà in rampa lunedì prossimo.
Una volta installate entrambi sulla struttura della rampa verranno aperte le porte della stiva e sarà inserita la cargo bay con tutto il payload.

[adsasdhaasddeasdd]

ma quando cazo pate l'atlantis?? la missione è del tutto simile a quella del discovery no??

[albertoz85]

Originariamente inviato da PhantomReloaded

ma quando cazo pate l'atlantis?? la missione è del tutto simile a quella del discovery no??

Per la prima domanda... c'è scritto nel secondo e nel terzo post... comunque la finestra si apre il 28/07
per la seconda...beh se intendi che è c'è un countdown, un lancio, un docking, uno sgancio e un rientro... si è identica... altrimenti no!
Questa è una missione di assemblaggio della ISS, la 121 era una missione del Return to Flight... con questa si ricomincia con l'assemblaggio...

[adsasdhaasddeasdd]

quanto manca a completare la iss??

[albertoz85]

Originariamente inviato da PhantomReloaded

quanto manca a completare la iss??

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/st..._manifest.html

[GioFX]

Atlantis' launch opportunity moves a day earlier

THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2006

Space shuttle program officials today formally changed the opening of Atlantis' launch window to Sunday, August 27 based on projected lighting conditions for photographing the ship's fuel tank. The window had been targeted to open August 28.

NASA has required the first three shuttle flights after Columbia be launched in daylight to allow cameras good visibility for snapping imagery of the redesigned external fuel tanks. The pictures are critical in determining how the tanks' foam insulation perform during ascent.

Engineers recently completed an analysis that showed if the launch occurred August 27 the orbital lighting would be sufficient to photograph the tank in space after its separation from Atlantis.

By moving up the launch a day, the liftoff time actually shifted later in the afternoon -- changing from 4:04 p.m. on August 28 to 4:30 p.m. on August 27.

There will be just 12 days available to launch Atlantis. The usable portion of the daylight window extends through September 7. A liftoff after that isn't believed possible due to scheduling conflicts with the Russian Soyuz mission to ferry the next Expedition resident crew to the space station.

Assuming Atlantis launches by September 3, the Soyuz with Expedition 14 commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin and Japanese space tourist Daisuke Enomoto would blast off at 1:44 a.m. EDT September 14 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

A scenario in which Atlantis' launch is delayed to the final days of the window would result in the Soyuz rescheduling to September 18.

Russian officials want the Soyuz off the ground by September 18 to start the change of command aboard the space station. The departing Expedition 13 crew will return to Earth about 10 days after Expedition 14 is launched, and beginning the handover sequence any later than September 18 would put the homeward-bound capsule's landing in darkness. The Russians are using a recovery team with new personnel and want to avoid nighttime landing activities.

If Atlantis misses the August-September opportunity for some reason, the next window would come at the end of October.

Atlantis has been attached to its fuel tank and boosters inside the Vehicle Assembly Building in preparation for Monday's early morning roll to launch pad 39B. The four-mile trek is set to begin at midnight.

The solar array truss the shuttle will launch to the station was delivered to the pad Wednesday as planned.

[GioFX]

speriamo riescano a lanciarlo il 27, dato che io dovrei partire per le ferie il 28...

Octane, tu ci sei in quei giorni? spero di si.... in questo caso mi farebbe molto piacere se potessi seguire tu le fasi salienti della missione con i dovuti updates! Mi spiace perdermi la più importante e difficile missione di costruzione dell'ISS.

[Octane]

Originariamente inviato da GioFX

speriamo riescano a lanciarlo il 27, dato che io dovrei partire per le ferie il 28...

Octane, tu ci sei in quei giorni? spero di si.... in questo caso mi farebbe molto piacere se potessi seguire tu le fasi salienti della missione con i dovuti updates! Mi spiace perdermi la più importante e difficile missione di costruzione dell'ISS.

Io saro' a in ufficio, qualche aggiornamento dovrei riuscire a metterlo
Se poi dovessero partire all'ora prevista magari stavolta riesco anche a vedere il lancio! (connessione permettendo! )

[GioFX]

Grazie caro!

e, nel mentre...

Da SpaceFlightNow.com:

Shuttle Atlantis rolls to the launch pad

BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: August 2, 2006

Finally catching a break from the weather, the shuttle Atlantis was hauled to its ocean-side launch pad early today for final preparations before blastoff at the end of the month on a space station assembly mission.



The 4.2-mile move from the Vehicle Assembly Building began at 1:05 a.m., two days late because of showers and thunderstorms that pounded Cape Canaveral Sunday night and Monday. The shuttle's mobile launch platform was "hard down" at the pad by 8:54 a.m.

Atlantis' crew - commander Brent Jett, pilot Chris Ferguson, flight engineer Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Steve MacLean and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper - will fly to the Kennedy Space Center next week to participate in a dress-rehearsal countdown Aug. 10.

Launch currently is targeted for Aug. 27, but NASA managers are considering the possibility of moving the flight up one day to Aug. 26.

Atlantis' launch window is based on the international space station's orbit, the angle between the sun and the plane of the station's orbit and lighting conditions for photo documentation of the ship's external tank and heat shield. Based on those factors, the launch window extends from Aug. 27 through Sept. 13.

But any launch past Sept. 7 would put the shuttle in conflict with launch of a Russian Soyuz capsule carrying the station's next full-time crew. NASA managers and their Russian counterparts want to ensure at least one day between undocking of Atlantis and arrival of the Soyuz. As a result, if Atlantis launches between Aug. 27 and Sept. 3, the Soyuz will take off Sept. 14. A shuttle launch between Sept. 4 and Sept. 7 would result in a Soyuz launch Sept. 18.

A Soyuz launch later than Sept. 18 would result in a dead-of-night landing for the returning station crew, a scenario the Russians want to avoid. That means Atlantis must get off the ground by Sept. 7 at the latest unless the Russians change their launch strategy.

To ensure as many launch attempts as possible, NASA engineers are assessing whether orbital lighting would be sufficient for a shuttle launch as early as Aug. 26. At issue is whether critical areas of the external tank would be illuminated sufficiently for photo documentation after separation from the shuttle.

But Aug. 26 will be a challenge regardless of orbital lighting. Given Atlantis' delayed move to the pad, the launch team only has two days of contingency time left in the pad processing schedule to handle unexpected problems.

The goal of the 116th shuttle mission is to install two new truss segments - port 3 and port 4 - on the left end of the station's main power and cooling truss. The port 3 truss segment features a complex rotary joint that will enable two huge solar panels making up the port 4 segment to track the sun as required to provide maximum power.

Earlier today, the station's mobile transporter, used to carry the lab's robot arm from point to point along the main truss, was moved from work site 4 to work site 7 on the end of the port 1 truss segment to await Atlantis' arrival. The station arm, mounted on the transporter, will be used to move the new truss segments brought up by Atlantis into position for attachment to P1 (there is no P2 segment).

The STS-115 flight plan is being revised to reflect recent changes. But here are two timelines, based on the latest rendezvous projections and a recent decision to move up undocking one day, for launch attempts Aug. 26 and Aug. 27 (in EDT and mission elapsed time):

DAY/EDT DD HH MM EVENT
______________________________________________

08/26/06
Sat 04:52 PM 00 00 00 STS-115 Launch

08/28/06
Mon 12:13 PM 01 19 21 Atlantis docks with space station

08/29/06
Tue 10:52 AM 02 18 00 EVA-1 begins
Tue 05:17 PM 03 00 25 EVA-1 ends

08/30/06
Wed 10:52 AM 03 18 00 EVA-2 begins
Wed 05:22 PM 04 00 30 EVA-2 ends

08/31/06
Thu 08:12 AM 04 15 20 4A solar array mast deploy to 100 percent
Thu 09:42 AM 04 16 50 2A solar array mast deploy to 100 percent

09/01/06
Fri 10:52 AM 05 18 00 EVA-3 begins
Fri 05:17 PM 06 00 25 EVA-3 ends

09/03/06
Sun 02:06 PM 07 21 14 Undocking

09/06/06
Wed 10:36 AM 10 17 44 Deorbit ignition (orbit 170)
Wed 11:38 AM 10 18 46 Landing

--------------------------------------

08/27/06
Sun 04:30 PM 00 00 00 STS-115 Launch

08/29/06
Tue 12:38 PM 01 20 08 Atlantis docks with space station

08/30/06
Wed 10:30 AM 02 18 00 EVA-1 begins
Wed 04:55 PM 03 00 25 EVA-1 ends

08/31/06
Thu 10:30 AM 03 18 00 EVA-2 begins
Thu 05:00 PM 04 00 30 EVA-2 ends

09/01/06
Fri 07:50 AM 04 15 20 4A solar array mast deploy to 100 percent
Fri 09:20 AM 04 16 50 2A solar array mast deploy to 100 percent

09/02/06
Sat 10:30 AM 05 18 00 EVA-3 begins
Sat 04:55 PM 06 00 25 EVA-3 ends

09/04/06
Mon 02:29 PM 07 21 59 Undocking

09/07/06
Thu 11:00 AM 10 18 30 Deorbit ignition (orbit 171)
Thu 12:02 PM 10 19 32 Landing

NASA managers are expected to discuss launch date targets later this week at a program requirements change board - PRCB - meeting. An official launch date will be announced Aug. 16 at the conclusion of a two-day flight readiness review.

If NASA can get Atlantis off within the available window, and if the shuttle's external tank doesn't shed any significant amounts of foam insulation, the space agency will remove a self-imposed restriction to only launch in daylight, greatly expanding the available launch windows for subsequent flights.

But if Atlantis fails to get off in the August/September window, the agency will face the prospect of just three useable launch days - Oct. 26, 27 and Dec. 23 - before the end of the year because of lighting and temperature constraints based on the station's orbit.

[Octane]

Un'altra foto dell'arrivo dell'Atlantis alla piattaforma di lancio: