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STS-123: Shuttle Endeavour

Wolverine

Centered and One
Wolverine
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Jun 18, 2002
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Just a reminder: the Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to launch from the Cape tonight at 2:28 AM EDT (06:28 GMT). Night launches make for spectacular viewing -- if you haven't seen one before, here's your opportunity.

No problems or technical issues are being reported at this time, and the weather forecast currently indicates a 90% probability of a green light for liftoff.

As always, you can catch the festivities on NASA TV; live coverage is scheduled to begin at 9:30 PM EDT (01:30 GMT). For those with HDNet, their hi-def launch coverage begins at 2:00 AM EDT.

This mission will also make for some great geek time on NASA TV in coming days as the mission specialists install new additions to the International Space Station.

NASA said:
Space shuttle Endeavour’s upcoming STS-123 mission will carry two new components to the International Space Station: the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system, known as Dextre. The Japanese Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section, or ELM-PS, will hold experiment samples, maintenance tools and other spare items. Dextre can be attached to the station’s robotic arm to handle smaller components typically requiring a spacewalking astronaut. At the tip of each arm is a "hand" that consists of retractable jaws used to grip objects. Endeavour's 16-day flight is the longest shuttle mission to the station and will include five spacewalks. The shuttle also will deliver a new crew member and bring back another one after a seven-week mission.
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» NASA TV
» Mission timeline
 
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According to this article, the Sushi Bar and Hockey Rink are ready to be installed on the ISS :)

NASA managers completed a two-day flight readiness review today and formally cleared the shuttle Endeavour for blastoff March 11 on a 16-day space station assembly mission featuring five spacewalks, delivery of a new Japanese module and assembly of a complex Canadian hand-like attachment for the station's robot arm.

God's speed - Some of us still believe
 
The ISS & STS missions are exciting enough without all the stupid hype such as Fox News "Monster" and "Frankenstein" story tags wrt Dextre. Hopefully STS-123 goes well.

I was lucky enough to work with TK Mattingly when he returned to the Navy...amazing guy.
 
Wolverine said:
Glad to help.

Yep, and as usual the RP streaming video is about 30 seconds ahead of the WMP feed. Some things never change. :)
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Well, just don't you with Real go screaming about a t-1.5 second shutdown before it happens, damn it. I hate spoilers.
 
shadron said:
Well, just don't you with Real go screaming about a t-1.5 second shutdown before it happens, damn it. I hate spoilers.
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Heh. I'll be watching the live video on HDNet by then (only with the sound muted due to Greg Dobbs's ongoing incompetence).
 
Wolverine said:
Ugh. A friend sent me that article after it was posted Saturday. It's a very poorly written AP story, and FOX equipped it with a ridiculous headline. Both made me cringe.
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Yeah...I cringed quite a bit as well from their ridiculous headlines. (something a 3rd grader might come up with).

STS-123 is on its way, though I noticed they had reported some alarms (cooling and stearing); hopefully nothing serious.
 
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Locknar said:
STS-123 is on its way, though I noticed they had reported some alarms (cooling and stearing); hopefully nothing serious.
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Doesn't look like it:

LeRoy Cain, chairing NASA's Mission Management Team, described the problems as "minor" and said neither was expected to have any impact on Endeavour's mission.

"It's a fully redundant system," he said. "It's the kind of thing we have seen fail in this way during powered flight a number of times. ... I fully expect we'll be able to resolve it. It's a loss of redundancy in the very worst case."
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The news is reporting that the nose of Endeavour was hit by foam about 10 seconds after launch, but a "significant" piece of foam missed the right wing later in flight.
 
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Locknar said:
The news is reporting that the nose of Endeavour was hit by foam about 10 seconds after launch, but a "significant" piece of foam missed the right wing later in flight.
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Sigh.

ABC said:
Just what hit the Space Shuttle Endeavour 10 seconds into its Tuesday predawn launch is still a mystery.

NASA flight director Mike Moses says it is difficult to tell from the video just what hit Endeavour. Is it a bird, foam or ice from the external tank?
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Were they not paying attention during the MMT briefing, or are they trying to manufacture a story?

Meanwhile:

Flight Director Mike Moses said early today it's too soon to say what, if anything, might have struck the shuttle.

"I took a look at the video before I came over here," he told reporters during a mission status briefing. "It's really hard to tell. It looks like it's not coming from the orbiter and you can't really tell if it strikes the orbiter or not. You could go either way. You could say it hits somewhere on the nose or it passes behind the SRB and doesn't actually come anywhere near us."
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Well the good news, they will be able to give her a good visual while docking with the ISS

A question though? - If say she is damaged, can the ISS offer any support if work needs to be done?
 
MG1962 said:
Well the good news, they will be able to give her a good visual while docking with the ISS

A question though? - If say she is damaged, can the ISS offer any support if work needs to be done?
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I don't think they'd need to. The shuttle crew has the ability to do minor repairs, and they're usually the go-to guys in such instances.

They've already performed a thorough exterior scan, including the nose. Even without the benefit of the ISS photography the sensors packed on the shuttle's orbital boom can detect damage or dings as small as 1/10" (~2.5mm).

On the fourth spacewalk, one of the mission objectives is to test the T-RAD system they developed a while back, in advance of the final Hubble servicing mission.

NASA said:
The primary purpose of the detailed test objective is to evaluate the Shuttle Tile Ablator‐54 (STA‐54) material and a tile repair ablator dispenser in a microgravity and vacuum environment for their use as a space shuttle thermalprotection system repair technique. Spacewalkers Robert Behnken and Mike Foreman on flight day 11 will set up for the test on the outside of the Destiny lab. The Tile Repair Ablator Dispenser (T‐RAD) is similar to a caulk‐gun. Both spacewalkers will use the T‐RAD to mix and extrude the STA‐54 material into holes in several demonstration tiles. The spacewalkers will watch for swelling of the material and work it in until it is smooth by tamping the material with foam‐tipped tools. The repaired samples and tools will be stowed in Endeavour’s cargo bay for return to Earth. The samples will undergo extensive testing on the ground.
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Locknar said:
With all the "Monster" hype that Fox News was doing, maybe the folks at ABC were feeling left out *lol*
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Heh.

The press tends to circle like vultures over the first two or three briefings looking for problems to report, and if there aren't any it seems like they ignore the bulk of the mission.

On the last flight, ABC posted a pair of stories early on about Hans Schlegel taking ill and the minor thermal blanket tear -- when neither became an issue, they didn't write anything further for the rest of the mission. Instead they ran syndicated blurbs from Reuters, AP, and USA Today. Par for the course I guess.
 
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