The space shuttle fleet has an extremely ambitious six launch manifest to continue construction of the international space station and repair the space telescope in New Year 2009 with scheduled launches in February, May, June, August, November and December plus the first test flight of the Ares-1 booster in July. The STS-125 Atlantis will fly seven astronauts into space for the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope May 12. During the 11-day flight, the crew will repair and improve the observatory's capabilities to capabilites never witnessed previously.
Five of the six space shuttle missions are dedicated to station construction beginning with the planned February 12 launch of STS-119 Discovery taking the the fourth starboard truss segment to orbit to be followed by STS-127 Endeavour in June with the delivery of the exposed facility of Japan's Kibo laboratory to the ISS.
In mid-July 2009, NASA has now planned the first text launch of the Ares-1 booster configuration. The Ares I-X flight will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I, [video].
STS-128 Atlantis is now slated for launch in August will boost a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to carry experiment and storage racks to the ISS while STS-129 Discovery will deliver components including two spare gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly and a spare latching end effector for the station's robotic arm in November.
Completing the busy 2009 space shuttle launch schedule, the December-planned STS-130 Endeavour which will deliver to orbit the final connecting node, Node 3, and the Cupola, a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center that provides a 360-degree view around the ISS.
The year 2009 will be one busy launch schedule for the Kennedy Space Center teams if the proposed schedule is sustained while marking a huge year for International Space Station construction and crew number expansion from three to six.
Five of the six space shuttle missions are dedicated to station construction beginning with the planned February 12 launch of STS-119 Discovery taking the the fourth starboard truss segment to orbit to be followed by STS-127 Endeavour in June with the delivery of the exposed facility of Japan's Kibo laboratory to the ISS.
In mid-July 2009, NASA has now planned the first text launch of the Ares-1 booster configuration. The Ares I-X flight will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I, [video].
STS-128 Atlantis is now slated for launch in August will boost a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to carry experiment and storage racks to the ISS while STS-129 Discovery will deliver components including two spare gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly and a spare latching end effector for the station's robotic arm in November.
Completing the busy 2009 space shuttle launch schedule, the December-planned STS-130 Endeavour which will deliver to orbit the final connecting node, Node 3, and the Cupola, a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center that provides a 360-degree view around the ISS.
The year 2009 will be one busy launch schedule for the Kennedy Space Center teams if the proposed schedule is sustained while marking a huge year for International Space Station construction and crew number expansion from three to six.
0 comments:
Post a Comment