NASA managers met Friday to discuss the status of space shuttle Endeavour's launch to the International Space Station.
While the low pressure area known as System 95B is struggling to get organized into a tropical cyclone NASA infrared satellite data is showing some signs of strong convection within.
Shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach stated that Endeavour's launch will be no earlier than Monday at 2:33 p.m. EDT. Engineers need that time to troubleshoot an issue that resulted in today's launch scrub.
During today's countdown, engineers detected a failure in one of two heater circuits associated with Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) 1. Heaters are required to keep the APUs' hydrazine from freezing on orbit. Attempts to activate the heater were not successful and engineers now believe the problem might be associated with a Load Control Assembly, which is a switchbox, located in the aft end of Endeavour, or an electrical short in the wires leading into or out of the switchbox.
Endeavour's external tank will be drained, technicians will enter Endeavour's aft compartment overnight and by tomorrow afternoon, will put in a platform to gain access to the avionics bay where the Load Control Assembly is located. Once there, they will assess whether they need to remove and replace the switchbox, or fix an electrical wiring short.
Because of this, Leinbach said there will be a minimum 72-hour scrub turnaround.
Engineers and managers will meet this afternoon to further refine their troubleshooting plan. NASA has scheduled a news conference at 4 p.m. to discuss today's scrub and the plan.
Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach has scrubbed today's STS-134 launch attempt because of an issue associated with Auxiliary Power Unit 1 heaters. There will be at least a 72-hour scrub turnaround while engineers assess the issue.
NASA Television will air a news conference 4 p.m. EDT.
Clocks in the Kennedy Space Center Launch Control Center have resumed counting down from T-3 hours. The astronauts are boarding the Astrovan and make their way to Launch Pad 39A.
Weather remains favorable, with a 70 percent chance of good conditions at launch time.
Managers and engineers are discussing an issue with two heaters associated with shuttle Endeavour's Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) 1. The three APUs provide hydraulic power to steer the shuttle's aerosurfaces during ascent and entry.
Space shuttle Endeavour's external tank is fully loaded with more than 500,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in preparation for today's 3:47 p.m. EDT launch. Tanking operations began at 6:22 a.m. and concluded at 9:24 a.m.
The countdown has entered a planned 2.5-hour hold at T-3 hours, during which the tank will remain in "stable replenish" mode, the Close Out Crew will prepare the White Room for astronaut arrival, and the Final Inspection Team will conduct its inspections.
Forecasters continue to predict a 70 percent chance of favorable weather for today's launch. The only concerns are low cloud ceilings and high crosswinds at the Shuttle Landing Facility at time of liftoff.
Teams at Launch Pad 39A began moving the rotating service structure (RSS) away from space shuttle Endeavour at 11:58 p.m., April 28 in preparation for today's launch attempt. Completion of RSS retraction occurred at 12:32 a.m. this morning. The launch team is currently working no technical issues and there is a 70 percent chance of acceptable weather at launch time. Live commentary of the external tank fueling coverage will begin at 6:15 a.m. and continuous launch commentary will begin at 10:30 a.m. Endeavour is scheduled to launch at 3:47:55 p.m. EDT on its final mission.
Late last year, astronomers noticed an asteroid named Scheila had unexpectedly brightened, and it was sporting short-lived plumes. Data from NASA's Swift satellite and Hubble Space Telescope showed these changes likely occurred after Scheila was struck by a much smaller asteroid.
Teams at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A now expect to begin moving the rotating service structure away from space shuttle Endeavour at 11:45 p.m. EDT, which still would support a launch attempt tomorrow at 3:47 p.m. EDT. Preparations to move the RSS will begin immediately following the end of the Phase II lightning warning, which is expect to be lifted at approximately 10:15 p.m.
Preliminary data indicates no lightning strikes within half a mile of the pad and no obvious damage to the pad or spacecraft.
Launch team members are closely monitoring weather conditions at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A. There are no obvious indications of any damage at this time as thunderstorms pass through the area. Engineers will do a thorough evaluation of data after the storm passes to confirm there were no issues.
Teams now are targeting 10 - 10:30 p.m. EDT to begin moving the rotating service structure away from space shuttle Endeavour, weather permitting.
If no issues are found during the data review, launch still will be on track for tomorrow at 3:47 p.m.
This animation depicts year-to-year variability in sea surface height, and chronicles two decades of El Nino and La Nina events.
Preparations for space shuttle Endeavour's launch are continuing as planned at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A. STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly and his crew also are continuing their prelaunch activities. Liftoff to the International Space Station is scheduled for 3:47 p.m. EDT Friday.
The weather forecast calls for a 70 percent chance of favorable conditions at launch time, according to Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters. The only concerns for launch may be the crosswinds at the Shuttle Landing Facility and a low cloud ceiling associated with a front moving into Central Florida.
The rotating service structure (RSS) is scheduled to be retracted at 7 p.m. today but may be delayed because of possible storm activity over the center. Teams will have about a four-hour leeway for the storms to clear out with no affect on Friday morning's external tank fueling, now planned for 6:22 a.m.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in the process of performing an aerial survey of yesterday's brush fire, which was southeast of the Turn Basin and about three miles from the launch pad. The brush fire now is fully contained, and the plan is to burn off the remaining fuel within the fire area to help eliminate any smoke on launch day.
Late last year, astronomers noticed an asteroid named Scheila had unexpectedly brightened, and it was sporting short-lived plumes. Data from NASA's Swift satellite and Hubble Space Telescope showed these changes likely occurred after Scheila was struck by a much smaller asteroid.
Preparations for space shuttle Endeavour's launch are continuing as planned at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A. STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly and his crew also are continuing their prelaunch activities. Liftoff to the International Space Station is scheduled for 3:47 p.m. EDT Friday.
The weather forecast calls for a 70 percent chance of favorable conditions at launch time, according to Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters. The only concerns for launch may be the crosswinds at the Shuttle Landing Facility and a low cloud ceiling associated with a front moving into Central Florida.
The rotating service structure (RSS) is scheduled to be retracted at 7 p.m. today but may be delayed because of possible storm activity over the center. Teams will have about a four-hour leeway for the storms to clear out with no affect on Friday morning's external tank fueling, now planned for 6:22 a.m.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is in the process of performing an aerial survey of yesterday's brush fire, which was southeast of the Turn Basin and about three miles from the launch pad. The brush fire now is fully contained, and the plan is to burn off the remaining fuel within the fire area to help eliminate any smoke on launch day.
Technicians at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A continue preparing space shuttle Endeavour for launch. Final preparations for the space shuttle main engines are progressing well with pneumatic and gaseous nitrogen purge check outs complete The pad's sound suppression tank has been filled with water.
A brush fire was reported southeast of the turn basin, approximately three miles from the launch pad, yesterday shortly after noon. Fish and Wildlife officials reported that the brush fire is now fully contained, but still smoldering and smoking. There were no reports of personnel injuries and no impact to operations at the launch pad.
STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly and his crew awoke at 6 a.m. EDT to continue their prelaunch activities.
A Countdown Status Briefing at 10 a.m., live on NASA TV, to provide an update on the countdown and weather forecast.
NASA selected InuTeq, LLC in Greenbelt, Md., for a follow-on contract award for support services for the agency's Office of the Chief Engineer's Academy of Program/Project and Engineering Leadership (APPEL).
NASA will host a media briefing at 11 a.m. EDT Thursday, April 28, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to highlight the four companies selected for the second round of the agency's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev2) efforts.
The Mission Management Team concluded its L-2 meeting with a unanimous "Go" for space shuttle Endeavour's launch attempt on Friday, April 29 at 3:47 p.m. EDT.
The STS-134 prelaunch news conference will be held live at 11 a.m. on NASA TV (above).
The Multilateral Coordination Board (MCB) for the International Space Station partner agencies met Wednesday, April 27, to discuss increased efforts to use the station as a test-bed for exploration.
The Mission Management Team is meeting today at NASA's Kennedy Space Center this morning to discuss space shuttle Endeavour's readiness for its launch on Friday. The MMT will conduct a prelaunch news conference this morning at 11 a.m. which will be aired on NASA TV (above).
Technicians at Kennedy's Launch Pad 39A will fill Endeavour's three power-producing fuel cells with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen today.
Also, engineers will evaluate data following a storm which passed over Kennedy late yesterday afternoon. Preliminary results indicate there was no damage and there were no recorded lightning strikes within a half mile of the pad.
STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly and Pilot Greg H. Johnson conducted an unsuited training flight in the Shuttle Training Aircraft today.
News media and the public are invited to observe a live televised broadcast of space shuttle Endeavour's launch to the International Space Station at 12:47 p.m. PDT on Friday, April 29, in the Exploration Center at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Space shuttle Endeavour will carry NASA Glenn-developed experiments to the International Space Station.
Space shuttle Commander Mark Kelly and his five crewmates are scheduled to begin a 14-day mission to the International Space Station with a launch at 3:47 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 29, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
News media and the public are invited to observe a live televised broadcast of space shuttle Endeavour's launch to the International Space Station at 12:47 p.m. PDT on Friday, April 29, in the Exploration Center at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
NASA Hosts Conrad Foundation's 2011 Spirit of Innovation Awards
Sun, 24 Apr 2011 23:00:00 -0500
Young innovators from across America are invited to solve the challenges of the 21st century by creating breakthrough technologies at the Conrad Foundation's 2011 Innovation Summit.
Countdown preparations for space shuttle Endeavour's launch on Friday at 3:47 p.m. EDT are in process throughout NASA's Kennedy Space Center today.
Technicians at Launch Pad 39A will close Endeavour's payload bay doors today and workers at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) prepare for the STS-134 crew's arrival this afternoon.
Teams in the Launch Control Center's Firing 4 will officially begin the countdown at 2 p.m.
Endeavour's six astronauts are expected to arrive at the SLF at approximately 12:15 p.m. in T-38 training jets. The arrival will be shown live on NASA TV (above).
This morning, a pre-countdown status briefing also will be held live on NASA TV at 10 a.m.
NASA invited 150 lucky people to a behind-the-scenes perspective from the press site at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the final launch of space shuttle Endeavour on Friday, April 29. The launch is scheduled for 3:47 p.m. EDT.
NASA's Office of Education will kick off a new campaign on Thursday, April 28, focused on reaching out to America's military families and engaging them in agency activities to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have agreed to expand their joint efforts to overcome international development challenges such as food security, climate change, and energy and environmental management.
That low pressure system known as System 91L that caught a lot of attention in the North Atlantic last week is now history.
Pressurization of Endeavour's various propulsion systems was completed yesterday and its aft 50 1/2 foot doors were installed for flight last night. Technicians are scheduled to get the weekend off before beginning prelaunch countdown preparations on Monday.
At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Endeavour's six astronauts have administrative work to do today before going into quarantine tonight. They fly to Kennedy Tuesday morning for their final prelaunch preps.
NASA will hold a special Science Update at 1 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 28, to discuss the unprecedented journey of NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft to the edge of our solar system.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has discovered the total amount of atmosphere on Mars changes dramatically as the tilt of the planet's axis varies.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., will host a Tweetup for approximately 120 Twitter followers on Monday, June 6.
Australia has been hit with a number of cyclones this season, and some of them left behind a legacy of extraordinary amounts of rainfall.
To celebrate the 21st anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope's deployment into space, astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore pointed Hubble's eye at an especially photogenic pair of interacting galaxies called Arp 273. The new image is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/hubble
NASA is releasing the first images and sounds of an electrical connection between Saturn and one of its moons. The data collected by the agency's Cassini spacecraft enable scientists to improve their understanding of the complex web of interaction between the planet and its numerous moons.
Reporters are invited to the signing of a formal agreement between NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to promote collaboration on scientific and technological solutions to worldwide problems.
NASA is celebrating the 41st anniversary of Earth Day this week with several online activities to engage the public in the agency's mission to use the vantage point of space to explore and protect our home planet.
NASA's History Program Office and the National Air and Space Museum's Division of Space History are hosting a joint symposium entitled "1961/1981: Key Moments in Human Spaceflight."
Hurricane season doesn't start in the Northern Atlantic Ocean until June 1, but a low pressure system in doesn't seem to want to follow the calendar.
Yesterday, NASA managers announced that space shuttle Endeavour is ready to launch next week on its final flight to the International Space Station following a daylong Flight Readiness Review.
Technicians at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A will continue preparations for space shuttle Endeavour's launch countdown, which will begin Tuesday at 2 p.m. EDT.
Today, pad crews will perform preparations to pressurize space shuttle Endeavour's main propulsion system.
At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the STS-134 astronauts will perform ascent integration simulations today.
Endeavour's six crew members are scheduled to arrive at Kennedy on Tuesday, April 26, for final launch preparations.
Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:00:00 -0500
News conferences, events and operating hours for the news center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., are set for the final scheduled launch of space shuttle Endeavour.
NASA managers announced that space shuttle Endeavour is ready to launch next week on its final flight to the International Space Station following a daylong Flight Readiness Review on Tuesday. Endeavour is scheduled to launch Friday, April 29, at 3:47 p.m. EDT.
"We had a very extensive and thorough review today," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for Space Operations. "I think the things that impressed me the most is that the team is still continuing to really work issues and look at the vehicle performance on each and every flight just like they would during any normal mission."
"We're ready to go fly," Gerstenmaier said.
All analysis and inspections of External Fuel Tank-122 confirmed its integrity after repairs were made because of damage sustained during Hurricane Katrina, according to Gerstenmaier.
"It was a really good review today from both the station and shuttle prospective," said Mike Moses, chairman of the Mission Management Team. "Endeavour and the team are in great shape."
Endeavour is poised on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The countdown is to begin Tuesday at 2 p.m.
"The final processing flow for Endeavour is going extremely well out at the pad," said Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director. "I'm very proud of the team and we'll going to have a good launch and a good mission."
The STS-134 crew is scheduled to arrive at Kennedy on Tuesday, April 26, for final launch preparations.
Space shuttle Commander Mark Kelly and his five crewmates are scheduled to begin a 14-day mission to the International Space Station with a launch at 3:47 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 29, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Space shuttle Commander Mark Kelly and his five crewmates are scheduled to begin a 14-day mission to the International Space Station with a launch at 3:47 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 29, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-134 mission is shuttle Endeavour's final scheduled flight.
The launch date was announced Tuesday at the conclusion of a flight readiness review at Kennedy. During the meeting, senior NASA and contractor managers assessed the risks associated with the mission and determined the shuttle and station's equipment, support systems and personnel are ready.
The crew consists of Commander Kelly, Pilot Greg H. Johnson, NASA Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Andrew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff and European Space Agency Mission Specialist Roberto Vittori. They are scheduled to arrive at Kennedy on Tuesday, April 26, for final launch preparations.
STS-134 is the 134th shuttle mission, Endeavour's 25th flight and the 36th shuttle mission to the station.
Sun, 17 Apr 2011 23:00:00 -0500
NASA has awarded four Space Act Agreements in the second round of the agency's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev2) effort.
Technicians at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A will continue preparations for space shuttle Endeavour's launch countdown. Tonight, teams will install the final ordinances needed for liftoff.
At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the STS-134 crew will review rendezvous procedures today before Commander Mark Kelly and Pilot Greg H. Johnson fly to El Paso for landing practice in the shuttle training aircraft at White Sands Space Harbor, N.M.
NASA managers will meet Tuesday at Kennedy for a flight readiness review. An official launch date will be announced during a news briefing after the conclusion of the meeting.
Endeavour's launch to the International Space Station remains targeted for April 29 at 3:47 p.m.
Thu, 14 Apr 2011 23:00:00 -0500
On the one year anniversary of NASA's Open Government Initiative, the agency is releasing a detailed assessment on the status of its projects to increase transparency and accountability to the American public.
Today, space exploration still inspires wonder in a new generation -- sparking passions and pursuits of the unknown.
