Space Flight | Universe Today

Liftoff! A patient launch control team waited out stormy weather on Thursday, and finally were able to give a green light for the last launch opportunity of the day for the Atlas rocket carrying the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). The duo lifted off at 21:42 pm GMT (5:32 pm EDT), climbing through some impressive looking clouds and quickly heading to space. For more information about the missions, see our LRO/LCROSS preview article. View the video of the launch, above, and using the wonders of NASA TV on the web and my image clipping tool here are more pictures from the launch:
Read more…

Filed under: Space Flight | 7 Comments »

An historic milestone will be reached during the STS-127 space shuttle mission to the International Space Station, which will hopefully launch on Wednesday. The crew will include the 500th person ever to fly in space. Since there are four rookie astronauts on the mission, it's a bit of a coin toss as to who is actually the 500th, but seemingly the crew has agreed that former naval commander Chris Cassidy, 39, who has led combat missions in Afghanistan, will take the honor.

A few notables of the 499 who have gone before, below, and a quick report that things look good so far for Endeavour's second launch attempt. NASA is shooting for 5:40:52 a.m. Wednesday (9:40 GMT) on Wednesday June 17.
Read more…

Filed under: Space Flight | 3 Comments »

It's a crowded dance floor and someone had to step aside. Because of Saturday's launch delay for STS-127, the shuttle and the upcoming dual mission to the moon — the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) — were both vying to launch from Kennedy Space Center on the same day, which is not a possibility (usually there needs to be at least 48 hours between launches as the Air Force's Eastern Range that monitors needs that amount of time to reconfigure the systems.) At a press conference today, NASA launch manager at KSC, Chuck Dovale announced LRO/LRCROSS will give up their originally schedule launch date of June 17 so that the shuttle can go. "We are relinquishing the June 17 date to the shuttle," he said. "However, we will maintain June 18 as the earliest possible date for LRO/LCROSS. We will monitor the shuttle's progress, and if they were to scrub the launch for any reason before midnight on the 16th, we can still maintain launch on the 18th." But there's a lot that has to go right for the optimum and hoped for launch schedules to happen.
Read more…

Filed under: Missions, Moon, NASA, Space Flight, Space Shuttle | 3 Comments »

Holy Moly! Not to wish anything like this for Saturday's launch, but I came across this video of the STS-68 launch attempt in 1994 that was aborted at the very last second. Watching it is enough to make your heart stop. Everyone involved must have experienced a tremendous rush followed by extreme let-down! The main engines had lit, but were shut down 1.9 seconds before liftoff when on-board computers detected higher than acceptable readings in a sensor monitoring the discharge temperature of the high pressure oxidizer turbopump in main engine #3. In the history of the shuttle program, five launch attempts were aborted under five seconds from the planned launch. STS-68 came the closest to hauling the mail before being aborted.
Read more…

Filed under: Space Flight, Space Shuttle | 8 Comments »

UPDATE: 6/13
Endeavour's launch has been postponed because of a leak associated with the gaseous hydrogen venting system outside the shuttle's external fuel tank. The system is used to carry excess hydrogen safely away from the launch pad. Managers scrubbed the launch for at least 96 hours. The earliest the shuttle could be ready to launch is June 17. However, there is a conflict on the Eastern Range that date with the scheduled
launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. We'll keep you posted on when a launch date is set.

Original article:
Space shuttle Endeavour is all set to blast off Saturday morning, June 13 at 7:17 am EDT, heading to the International Space Station. The mission will be jam-packed with five spacewalks for station construction, and Endeavour is bringing up a "front porch" for the ISS. Is adding a porch an attempt to make our orbiting home in space just a little more "homey?" Actually, the porch is a key piece of the Japanese laboratory, Kibo. And the ISS itself will be jam-packed, too as the newly expanded six-member ISS crew will welcome the seven-member shuttle crew – a record number of astronauts to be on board the station at one time.
Read more…

Filed under: Space Flight, Space Shuttle, Space Station | 10 Comments »

It's the end of an era, as Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center has been officially handed over to the Constellation Program. The handover took place Sunday after space shuttle Endeavour was moved to Launch Pad 39A. The ground operations team will finish modifying pad B for in time for first flight test of the Ares I-X rocket, currently scheduled for around August 30 of this year. Modifications will include removing the orbiter access arm and a section of the gaseous oxygen vent arm and installing access platforms and a vehicle stabilization system.
Read more…

Filed under: Constellation, Space Flight, Space Shuttle | 1 Comment »

Perusing You Tube, there are lots of UFO videos, which are usually grainy, shaky videos showing nothing that can be proved definitively. But there are a couple of videos that are different — and have generated a lot of interest — because they were filmed by NASA astronauts during space missions. I'd like to recommend everyone read an article published today by Popular Mechanics where the astronauts who were behind the camera for two of these videos speak out about what is actually in the videos, and NASA's supposed "cover-up." The two astronauts, Tom Jones and Mario Runco "reveal" what the videos are really showing. "There's no way to keep people from using public domain footage for silly purposes," former astronaut Tom Jones says in the article. "If a shuttle beams back 10 hours of Earth views each day, there are bound to be images and scenes that are misunderstood or taken out of context."
Read more…

Filed under: Space Flight | 31 Comments »

Atlantis has begun her journey back home to the Kennedy Space Center, hitching a ride on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747. The flight took off at about 11:05 EDT on Monday morning from Edwards Air Force Base, and the duo will fly to Biggs Army Air Field in El Paso, Texas and spend the night there before resuming the cross-country trip on Tuesday. Of course, Atlantis just returned from space, landing at Edwards on May 24, concluding the STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope for the last time. Track the flight here.

But Atlantis isn't the only spacecraft on the move. The shuttle Endeavour just rolled around to launchpad 39A, after standing down from its potential rescue mission, (STS-400) in case Atlantis was unable to return home, and now is preparing for the STS-127, which will hopefully launch around June 13. Watch the video of the rollaround below. And the next missions to the Moon are now poised for launch.

Read more…

Filed under: Space Flight, Space Shuttle | 3 Comments »

The image to the left is not a primate astronaut from "Planet of the Apes." It is, in fact, a real space monkey. Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first flight into space of a living being that survived the expedition. On May 28th, 1959, one rhesus monkey, named Able, and one squirrel monkey named Miss Baker became the first "astronauts" to survive a return flight into space. Read more…

Filed under: Space Flight | 1 Comment »

I came across a new website, and it has an interesting purpose: the website proposes to create a Space Exploration Day national holiday in the US, and fittingly, suggests July 20 as the date. July 20, of course, is the date that the Apollo 11 mission landed on the Moon, and this year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of that historic mission.

The official website for the Space Exploration Day invites US citizens to sign a petition to create this new holiday, which they suggest could be on the order of Flag Day. Additionally, the website advocates July 16 – 24 be designated as a period of U.S. Space Observance, in commemoration of the nine day Apollo 11 Mission.

From the website:
Read more…

Filed under: Space Flight | 5 Comments »

About the same time space shuttle Atlantis' landing was waved off today due to continued rainy weather in Florida, the White House announced that former shuttle commander Charles Bolden Jr. will be nominated as NASA's next administrator. President Obama also chose Lori Garver to be Bolden's deputy administrator. Obama said, "These talented individuals will help put NASA on course to boldly push the boundaries of science, aeronautics and exploration in the 21st century and ensure the long-term vibrancy of America's space program."
Read more…

Filed under: NASA, Space Flight, Space Shuttle | 8 Comments »

In our last installment of images from the STS-125 mission, we left off with third EVA of the mission. Since then, as I'm sure you know, the astronauts have completed two more EVAs, released Hubble and are waiting for the weather to improve in Florida so they can land. So, let's get caught up with the latest images released by NASA. I love the image above, as it has everything in it about the mission: two spacewalking astronauts from EVA #4 (Mike Massimino and Mike Good), the shuttle Atlantis, Hubble, and a beautiful view of Earth.
Read more…

Filed under: Hubble, Space Flight, Space Shuttle | 7 Comments »

It has been a busy day in space and here are a few jottings about what all has been going on. Above, you can watch the spectacular videos taken by cameras mounted on the shuttle's solid rocket boosters, taken during the launch of Atlantis on the current Hubble Servicing Mission. It's a crazy ride, tagging along on the outside of the shuttle going up, and spinning dizzily on the way down until splashing in the ocean. Not for the faint of heart! But seeing the SRB videos means only one thing: Atlantis and the STS-125 crew have been cleared to land. NASA has carefully reviewed the videos and the data from the crew's scan of the shuttle's thermal protection system, saying there are absolutely no issues that would preclude the shuttle from landing. Weather, however could be another matter, which is why NASA ordered the shuttle to power down for awhile today to save on consumables. Predicted weather does not look good for landing on Friday, so the crew will make sure they have enough power to stay in orbit for a few more days.

Now about that toast…
Read more…

Filed under: Hubble, Space Flight, Space Shuttle, Space Station | 6 Comments »

ESA proudly presented today six new astronauts from five different European countries who will soon begin training for missions to the International Space Station. The last time ESA selected astronauts, back in the early 1990's, those astronauts were not guaranteed to have any actual flights in space. But the astronauts introduced today, which include three military pilots, two engineers, and one scientist, are slated to be part of at least seven opportunities to fly on a 6-month increment on the ISS. Additionally, an ESA official said he also hopes they can be part of an international lunar exploration program.
Read more…

Filed under: Space Flight | Comments Off

While mission specialists John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel successfully accomplished all their tasks for the first EVA of the Hubble servicing mission, it didn't come without a little drama. A stubborn bolt threatened to thwart one of the spacewalk's main goals, replacing the venerable space telescope's workhorse optical camera with a new and improved instrument. But after a fair amount of old fashioned elbow grease, the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 was able to be removed. The camera was originally installed in the first Hubble servicing mission in 1993, and was nicknamed "the camera that saved Hubble" because its special optics were able to overcome the spherical aberration in the telescope's main mirror.

The astronauts also replaced Hubble's data handling computer – the system that relays data to Earth which gave out last September, delaying this servicing mission, (scheduled to launch last October) until a replacement would be ready.
Read more…

Filed under: Hubble, Space Flight, Space Shuttle | 7 Comments »