NASA Astronauts Ready for March 11 Endeavour Launch

Countdown to Landing: Atlantis Crew Headed Home

The distinctive twin sonic booms as Space Shuttle Atlantis streaked across the Florida sky told residents that the STS-122 crew was close to home. The textbook landing ended a 5.3 million mile expedition, the ferrying of a replacement astronaut, and the delivery of the Columbus module to the International Space Station.

With a successful mission completed, the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis is checking off the timelines and tasks before a scheduled 9:07 a.m. EST landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The team, including NASA astronaut Dan Tani, returning after an extended stay at the International Space Station, is scooting home before the U.S. attempts to shoot down a failing satellite. The first attempt could occur tonight off Hawaii, where a designated "no-fly" zone has already been declared. NASA officials wanted to clear space before that attempt and signalled the shuttle home today.

The shuttle has four landing opportunities in Florida and at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Here's the schedule for all four.

06:34:54 AM...Commander/pilot don entry suits
06:51:54 AM...Inertial measurement unit alignment
06:59:54 AM...Commander/pilot strap in; others don suits
07:16:54 AM...Shuttle steering check
07:19:54 AM...Hydraulic power system prestart
07:26:54 AM...Toilet deactivation
07:34:54 AM...Payload bay vent doors closed for entry
07:39:54 AM...MIssion control 'go' for deorbit burn
07:45:54 AM...Mission specialists seat ingress
07:54:54 AM...Single hydraulic power unit start

07:59:54 AM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 197.7 mph; dT: 02:39)
08:02:33 AM...Deorbit burn complete (altitude: 211.6 sm)

08:35:59 AM...Atmospheric entry (altitude: 75.6 sm)
08:40:59 AM...1st roll command to left
08:52:05 AM...1st left-to-right roll reversal
08:54:00 AM...C-band radar acquisition
09:01:06 AM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (altitude: 84,200 feet)
09:03:18 AM...Velocity less than mach 1 (altitude: 50,700 feet)
09:03:42 AM...Shuttle banks 301 degrees to line up on runway 33
09:07:39 AM...Landing

SECOND FLORIDA OPPORTUNITY: Rev. 203 Deorbit to Kennedy

09:15:20 AM...Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn
09:21:20 AM...MS seat ingress
09:30:20 AM...Single APU start

09:35:20 AM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 195.7 mph; dT: 02:38)
09:37:58 AM...Deorbit burn complete (altitude: 214.5 sm)

10:11:00 AM...Entry interface (altitude: 75.6 sm)
10:15:57 AM...1st roll command to right
10:27:46 AM...1st right-to-left roll reversal
10:36:05 AM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (altitude: 84,700 feet)
10:38:18 AM...Velocity less than mach 1 (altitude: 50,200 feet)
10:38:55 AM...Shuttle banks 269 degrees to line up on runway 33
10:42:35 AM...Landing

FIRST CALIFORNIA OPPORTUNITY: Rev. 204 Deorbit to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

10:45:15 AM...MCC 'go' for deorbit burn
10:51:15 AM...MS seat ingress
11:00:15 AM...Single APU start

11:05:15 AM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 195.7 mph; dT: 2:38
11:07:53 AM...Deorbit burn complete (altitude: 213.4 sm)

11:41:01 AM...Entry interface (altitude: 75.6 sm)
11:46:00 AM...1st roll command to left
11:55:55 AM...1st left-to-right roll reversal
12:06:06 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (altitude: 81,800 feet)
12:08:19 PM...Velocity less than mach 1 (altitude: 49,400 feet)
12:09:24 PM...Shuttle banks 205 degrees to line up on runway 22
12:12:31 PM...Landing

SECOND CALIFORNIA OPPORTUNITY: Rev. 205 Deorbit to Edwards

12:21:25 PM...MCC 'go' for deorbit burn
12:27:25 PM...MS seat ingress
12:36:25 PM...Single APU start

12:41:25 PM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 195.7 mph; dT: 02:38)
12:44:03 PM...Deorbit burn complete (altitude: 216.9 sm)

01:16:09 PM...Entry interface (altitude: 75.6 sm)
01:21:06 PM...1st roll command to right
01:32:39 PM...1st right-to-left roll reversal
01:41:10 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (altitude: 82,700 feet)
01:43:25 PM...Velocity less than mach 1 (altitude: 48,800 feet)
01:44:34 PM...Shuttle banks 189 degrees to line up on runway 22
01:47:34 PM...Landing

Space Shuttle Atlantis Homeward Bound to KSC, Landing Ahead of Falling Satellite Shootdown

After a highly successful mission to the International Space station, the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis is heading home to Kennedy Space Center. NASA is staffing both the KSC Shuttle Landing Strip and Mojave Desert facilities at Edwards Air Force Base in California in a bid to get Atlantis home before the U.S. Navy attempts to shoot down a crippled spy satellite.

Engineers are monitoring, but are not concerned about, a circuit failure that dropped heat to four after venier thrusters. Those thrusters power the Reaction Control System (RCS), which maneuvers the orbiter during small in-flight corrections.

The temperature on one of the thrusters dropped to 40 degrees, causing concern about possible freezing of lines or systems in that area. Even if one or two of the thrusters should totally fail--highly unlikely--the system has built-in redundancy because the crew can employ the thrusters in a variety of combinations.

Actual rocket firing to drop Atlantis into its come-home orbital path is done by the larger Orbital Maneuvering Systems ((OMS) pods. The thruster problem on the smaller rocket system does not impact the operation of the larger OMS engines.

Early this morning, mission controllers in Houston asked Mission Commander Steve Frick to swing the orbiter around so that its tail faced the sun. This common maneuver in effect put the RCS thrusters out for warming by the sun.

The primary Shuttle landing trajectory for 9:07 a.m. landing Wednesday at KSC's Runway 33 takes the Shuttle over Central America and the Gulf of Mexico before flying across Florida to Kennedy Space Center. That course will treat area residents to the double sonic boom that for decades has signalled the space shuttle coming home to the nation's spaceport.


STS-122 long-range landing track


STS-122 mid-range landing track



There are four landing opportunities Wednesday at KSC and Edwards, as follows with timelines including orbit numbers and de-orbit OMS engine firings (burns):

202...1st KSC OPPORTUNITY DEORBIT BURN........12/17:16...08:01 AM...13:01
203...1st KSC OPPORTUNITY LANDING.............12/18:22...09:07 AM...14:07


203...2nd KSC OPPORTUNITY DEORBIT BURN........12/18:52...09:37 AM...14:37
204...2nd KSC OPPORTUNITY LANDING.............12/19:57...10:42 AM...15:42

204...1st EDW AFB OPPORTUNITY DEORBIT BURN....12/20:22...11:07 AM...16:07
205...1st EDW AFB OPPORTUNITY LANDING.........12/21:27...12:12 PM...17:12

205...2ND EDW AFB OPPORTUNITY DEORBIT BURN....12/21:58...12:43 PM...17:43
206...2ND EDW AFB OPPORTUNITY LANDING.........12/23:02...01:47 PM...18:47

The Atlantis crew delivered the European Space Agency module to the ISS. Commander Steve Frick, pilot Alan Poindexter, Leland Melvin, Stan Love, Rex Walheim, Hans Schlegel also ferried European Space Agency astronaut Léopold Eyharts to the space station.




On the homeward bound trip they'll taxi NASA astronaut Dan Tani, who joined Space Station Commander Peggy Whitson and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko last October.

Tani, who flew to the ISS aboard Discovery, was due back on Earth in December. However, Atlantis' mission was delayed by by problems with fuel sensors. During his extended stay, Tani got the bad news that his 90-year-old mother had been tragically killed in a car wreck Dec. 19. It's the first time that an astronaut in space has had to be notified of a family member's death.

While in orbit, astronauts Love, Walheim and Schlegel, in varying teams, completed three arduous space walks. Schlegel had to miss his first space walk due to an unspecified illness, most likely a form of the dreaded space sickness--a former of super nausea much like car sickness, many times multiplied. In the space version, the inner ear loses the ability to stabilize the astronaut during adjustment to living in micro-gravity.

The crippled NROL-21 satellite will pass over an area west of Hawaii at about 10:30 p.m. EST Wednesday. Pilots have been notified to stay clear of that area, declared restricted. It's not yet known if the Navy will attempt the first-ever rocket shootdown of a decaying satellite, which will otherwise impact Earth sometime in March.

The satellite's location can be checked at Heavens Above.Its orbital designation is USA 193.



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Space Shuttle Endeavour on the Launch Pad, Ready for March Launch

A space shuttle rollout at Kennedy Space Center is incredible technology on the move. The crawler transporters that ferry the vehicle to the launch pad have been in service since the Apollo moon landing era. They carried the massive Apollo/Saturn rockets.




The two tracked Crawler-Transporters previously used to move the assembled Apollo/Saturn from the VAB to the launch pad are now used for transporting Shuttle vehicles.
Transporter Statistics

* Weight: 2,721 metric tons (6 million pounds)
* Length: 40 meters (131 ft) wide, 35 meters (114ft) long
* Miles: 2,526 miles (1,243 miles since 1977)

KSC has 2 crawler-transporters. Each vehicle consists of four double-tracked crawlers, each 3 meters (10 ft) high and 12 meters (41 ft) long. Each of the 8 tracks on a vehicle contains 57 shoes per track and each tread shoe weighs about .9 metric tons (one ton). Click here to see the crawler moving a shuttle .

The Crawler/Transporter is powered by 16 traction motors powered by four 1,000 kw generators, driven by two 2,750hp diesel engines. Two 750 kw generators, drived by two 1,065 hp diesel engines are used for jacking, steering, lighting, and ventilating. Two 150 kw generators are also used for MLP power.

When they were built, the KSC crawlers were the largest tracked vehicles ever made. (Surpassed by the Bagger 288 German excavator). They move the Mobile Launcher Platform into the Vehicle Assembly Building and then to the Launch Pad with an assembled space vehicle. Maximum speed is 1.6km (one mile) per hour loaded, about 3.2 km (2 miles) per hour unloaded. Launch Pad to VAB trip time with the Mobile Launch Platform is about 5 hours. The crawler burns 568 liters (150 gallons) of diesel oil per mile.

The top of the orbiter is kept vertical within plus or minus 10 minutes of arc, about the diameter of a basketball during the journey. Leveling systems within the crawler keeps the platform level while negotiating the 5% ramp leading up to the pad surface.

The height of the crawler is 6 meters (20ft) to 8 meters (26 feet) adjustable. The top deck is flat and square, about the size of a baseball infield, 27 meters (90 feet) on a side. Two operator control cabs, one at each end of the chassis, are used to control all crawler systems.

Live NASA Launch Video: Atlantis Liftoff Set for 2:45 PM EST

To watch the live streaming Atlantis launch countdown and liftoff click here.


Image above: STS-122 crew members, attired in training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits, pose for a crew photo prior to a training session in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at Johnson Space Center. From the left are European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts; astronauts Stanley G. Love, all mission specialists; Stephen N. Frick, commander; Alan G. Poindexter, pilot; Leland D. Melvin and Rex J. Walheim, both mission specialists. Image credit: NASA



Space Shuttle Mission STS-122

Orbiter: Atlantis
Mission: STS-122/1E
Primary Payload: Columbus
Launch Date: Feb. 7, 2008
Launch Time: 2:45 p.m. EST
Launch Pad: 39A
Landing Date: Feb. 18
Landing Time: 9:57 a.m.
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles