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NASA's Space Shuttle Processing Status Report: S05-015

Posted on: Friday, 22 April 2005, 18:00 CDT

WASHINGTON, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA's Space Shuttle fleet is housed and processed at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla.

Discovery (OV-103)

Mission: STS-114 -- 17th ISS Flight (LF1) -- Multi-Purpose Logistics

Module

Vehicle: Discovery (OV-103)

Location: Launch Pad 39B

Launch Date: Launch Planning Window: May 15-June 3, 2005

Launch Pad: 39B

Crew: Collins, Kelly, Noguchi, Robinson, Thomas, Lawrence and Camarda

Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

Following the Space Shuttle Program's Design Certification Review (DCR), senior management identified May 22 as the target launch date for STS-114. This will allow additional time to complete the required engineering analysis, validation and verification testing of the Shuttle for a safe Return to Flight.

Work continues at Launch Pad 39B for Discovery's launch to the International Space Station (ISS). The payload bay doors were opened Tuesday. The Remote Manipulator System (Shuttle arm) and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System clearance checks were completed. Flight readiness tests have been successfully performed on all three Shuttle Main Engines.

This weekend, technicians will finalize work to prepare for loading the hypergolic propellants for flight. This process includes loading the propellants, monomethyl hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, into the Orbiter Maneuvering System and the Forward Reaction Control System. On April 28, the Rotating Service Structure will be rotated away from the vehicle in preparation for hot-fire tests of the Auxiliary Power Units on Discovery and the right-hand Solid Rocket Booster Hydraulic Power Unit.

Two of the mission payloads were installed into the Payload Transportation Canister in preparation for their move to Launch Pad 39B. The External Stowage Platform-2 (ESP-2) was installed on Tuesday and the Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier (LMC) on Wednesday. The ESP-2 will carry replacement parts to the Station. It will be deployed and attached to the Station's airlock as a permanent spare-parts facility. The LMC will carry a replacement Control Moment Gyroscope and a tile-repair sample test kit. The Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Raffaello is scheduled for installation into its payload canister on Monday. It will be transferred to the pad next week.

Mission: STS-121 -- 18th ISS Flight (ULF1) -- Multi-Purpose Logistics

Module

Vehicle: Atlantis (OV-104)

Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1

Launch Date: Launch Planning Window: July 12-31, 2005

Launch Pad: 39B

Crew: Lindsey, Kelly, Sellers, Fossum, Nowak and Wilson

Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

Technicians continue processing Atlantis in Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 for its mission to the ISS. On Thursday, the STS-121 crew arrived at KSC for the Crew Equipment Interface Test. The test provides the crew an opportunity for a hands-on look at the orbiter and equipment they will be working with during the mission.

Orbiter system testing is nearly 60 percent complete. Technicians finished installing the engines' dome-mounted heat shields, the two semicircular sections of Thermal Protection System tile that fit around the engine interfaces. The interface verification test continues on the right-hand Orbiter Maneuvering System pod. Following the installation of the new landing- gear door thermal-barrier seal, the nose landing gear was retracted for seal compression checks.

Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) stacking for Atlantis' launch continues in the VAB high bay 3. The External Tank remains in the checkout cell for final testing. Following the completion of SRB stacking, the tank will be moved and attached to the SRBs on May 6.

Endeavour (OV-105)

Endeavour is in its Orbiter Major Modification period, which began in December 2003.

Previous Space Shuttle processing status reports are available on the Internet at:

http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight

NASA

CONTACT: Allard Beutel, Headquarters, Washington, +1-202-358-4769, orJessica Rye, Kennedy Space Center, Fla., +1-321-867-2468, both of NASA

Web site: http://www.nasa.gov/

Source: PRNewswire

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