Spaceflight Now





Astronauts return to Cape
for Monday's shuttle launch

BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: May 12, 2011


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After extensive troubleshooting and repairs to fix an electrical problem with the shuttle Endeavour's hydraulic power system, commander Mark Kelly and his five crewmates flew back to Florida Thursday to prepare for a delayed launch Monday on a long-awaited space station assembly mission, the orbiter's 25th and final flight.


Credit: NASA TV
 
The countdown is scheduled to begin Friday morning, setting up a launch attempt at 8:56:26 a.m. EDT (GMT-4) Monday. Forecasters are predicting a 70 percent chance of good weather.

Hoping for the best, Kelly, pilot Gregory H. Johnson, Michael Fincke, Gregory Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori landed at the Kennedy Space Center's shuttle runway aboard a NASA training jet shortly after 9 a.m. after a flight from Houston.

"It's great to be back," Kelly told reporters. "Four days from now, we should all be strapped in and ready to go. Hopefully the weather will be good. (Launch Director) Mike Leinbach just told us the vehicle is in great condition. We really appreciate all the hard work by the team that's worked over the last couple of weeks to get shuttle Endeavour ready."

Kelly said the crew's families, presumably including his wife, Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, "will be down later in the week."

"All of our kids are in school and they missed a lot of school last (time) and we couldn't let that happen again," he said. "So they'll be down over the weekend, even though I'm sure they'd rather be here in Florida now."

Giffords, who is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head in a January assassination attempt, flew to Florida for the crew's first launch attempt and is expected to return for the second.

"I'd just like to say on behalf of all of us, we all know Mark's been through a lot the past few months," Chamitoff said Thursday. "He's done an incredible job keeping track of all the details of this mission. I flew with him on (mission) STS-124, he's truly an amazing commander and all of us feel really, really lucky to have him guide us through this complex mission."

Endeavour was grounded April 29 when hydraulic system fuel line heaters failed to activate as required when the shuttle was being fueled for launch. Extensive troubleshooting revealed blown fuse elements on a power switching circuit card inside an engine compartment avionics box packed with electrical distribution gear. Engineers have been unable to find the short that caused the fuse to blow, but the box was replaced, along with thermostats and the power line between the box and the heaters.

The system worked normally in a battery of tests and engineers are confident the heaters will operate as required when Endeavour is loaded with supercold propellants Monday, subjecting the hydraulic system fuel lines to low temperatures.

Engineers plan to start Endeavour's countdown at 7 a.m. Friday. Liquid oxygen and hydrogen will be pumped aboard Saturday to power the ship's three electricity producing fuel cells and a protective gantry will be pulled away from the ship Sunday at noon, exposing the orbiter to view and clearing the way for fuel loading.

The three-hour fueling procedure is scheduled to get underway around 11:36 p.m. Sunday. If all goes well, Kelly and his crewmates will begin strapping in at 5:41 a.m. Monday to await liftoff on the 134th shuttle mission.

The primary goals of the flight are to deliver a $2 billion particle physics detector to the International Space Station, along with supplies and a pallet of critical spare parts and components. Four spacewalks are planned to carry out needed external maintenance and the shuttle crew will help their station colleagues service a U.S. carbon dioxide removal system, along with transferring supplies and experiment hardware.

The launch delay has complicated the mission flight plan because of the scheduled departure of a Soyuz ferry craft May 23 carrying three space station crew members back to Earth. The station crew must adjust their sleep cycles to synch up with the re-entry schedule, which is dictated by the station's orbit and the location of the Soyuz landing zone in Kazakhstan.

But the Endeavour crew will be on a different sleep cycle through undocking day because of their time of launch and landing in Florida. After the Soyuz departs, the station crew members will adjust their schedules to synch back up with the shuttle astronauts.


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Additional coverage for subscribers:
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VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR LAUNCH RESCHEDULED FOR MAY 16 PLAY
VIDEO: OLD ALCA-2 BOX OPENED UP FOR FORENSICS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FAILED ALCA-2 BOX REMOVED FROM ENDEAVOUR PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: WORKING ON OLD AND NEW SWITCHBOXES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH OF ENDEAVOUR DELAYED FURTHER PLAY

VIDEO: PRESIDENT OBAMA ARRIVES AT THE CAPE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TOUR OF ATLANTIS AND ASTRONAUT MEETING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FIRST FAMILY DEPARTS AFTER VISIT PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: POST-SCRUB NEWS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH DIRECTOR EXPLAINS SCRUB CALL PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SCRUB DECLARED FOR APU NO. 1 HEATER GLITCH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS LEAVE QUARTERS BEFORE SCRUB PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW GETS SUITED UP FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF PAD GANTRY RETRACTING PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR'S PRE-FLIGHT CAMPAIGN PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PAYLOADS' PRE-FLIGHT CAMPAIGN PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PREPARING ENDEAVOUR FUEL TANK FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: COUNTDOWN UPDATE AND WEATHER BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: THE PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE AT LAUNCH SITE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: COUNTDOWN PREVIEW BRIEFING PLAY | HI-DEF

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VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR MISSION PREVIEW MOVIE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: GET TO KNOW ENDEAVOUR'S ASTRONAUTS PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT INTERVIEW WITH MARK KELLY PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT INTERVIEW WITH GREG JOHNSON PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT INTERVIEW WITH MIKE FINCKE PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT INTERVIEW WITH ROBERTO VITTORI PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT INTERVIEW WITH DREW FEUSTEL PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT INTERVIEW WITH GREG CHAMITOFF PLAY

VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR CLEARED FOR APRIL 29 LAUNCH PLAY

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VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS BOARD ENDEAVOUR PLAY | HI-DEF
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VIDEO: SHUTTLE INSPECTED FOR STORM DAMAGE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW TEST-DRIVES PAD ESCAPE VEHICLE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUT CHAT AT THE PRESS SITE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW ARRIVES FOR PRACTICE COUNT PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: PAYLOADS ARRIVE AT LAUNCH PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CANISTER ROTATED UPRIGHT FOR PAD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PALLET OF SPARE PARTS INTO CANISTER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: AMS PAYLOAD PUT INTO TRANSPORTER PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: SHUTTLE AND STATION PROGRAM BRIEFING PLAY
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VIDEO: HOISTING ENDEAVOUR TO TANK AND SRBS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ORBITER GOES VERTICAL PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR LEAVES PROCESSING HANGAR PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: PAYLOAD MEDIA DAY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: THE ALPHA MAGNETIC SPECTROMETER PLAY | HI-DEF
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VIDEO: EXPRESS LOGISTICS CARRIER NO. 3 PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: HIGH-PRESSURE OXYGEN GAS TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PUTTING STATION ANTENNA ON CARRIER PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: TANK UNLOADED TO ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: THE EXTERNAL FUEL TANK ARRIVES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: BOOSTER SEGMENT MOVED TO VAB PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SRB CEREMONY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR FITTED WITH MAIN ENGINES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ORBITER TOWED OFF RUNWAY PLAY | HI-DEF

MORE: STS-134 VIDEO ARCHIVE
HDTV: HIGH-DEFINITION COVERAGE
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