STS-114 LAUNCH WINDOWS
By William Harwood
CBS News Space Consultant
http://cbsnews.cbs.com/network/news/space/current.htmlEditor's Note...
Updated 05/31/05
To reach the international space station, the shuttle must take off within about five minutes of the moment Earth's rotation carries the launch pad into the plane of the station's orbit. To maximize performance, NASA targets launch for right around the moment the shuttle can launch directly into that plane. For shuttle mission STS-114, NASA has decided not to launch in windows that result in a flight-day 4 rendezvous and docking. If some event drove NASA to a flight-day 4 launch anyway, there would be no in-plane time. In all such "dual-plane" cases, the launch windows overlap and an FD-4 launch would occur after the FD-3 in-plane time.
Editor's Note: The windows listed below assume a space station reboost maneuver June 29 to bring in additional flight-day 3 rendezvous opportunities. In cases where the launch window is less than 10 minutes long, there is no "in-plane" launch time and the shuttle would take off at the opening of the window. For July 25, rendezvous rocket firings could, in theory, bring in a flight-day 3 rendezvous opportunity, but no such opportunity currently exists "off the pad."
THE TIMES LISTED BELOW ARE PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE (all times in EDT):
DATE.........OPEN.............IN PLANE........CLOSE...........RENDEZVOUS
07/13/05...03:45:42 PM...03:50:42 PM...03:55:42 PM...FD-3
...............03:48:53 PM.......................03:58:52 PM...FD-4
07/14/05...03:23:11 PM...03:28:11 PM...03:33:11 PM...FD-3
07/15/05...02:57:28 PM...03:02:28 PM...03:07:27 PM...FD-3
...............03:00:37 PM.......................03:10:37 PM...FD-4
07/16/05...02:34:56 PM...02:39:56 PM...02:44:56 PM...FD-3
07/17/05...02:09:13 PM...02:14:13 PM...02:19:12 PM...FD-3
...............02:12:22 PM.......................02:22:22 PM...FD-4
07/18/05...01:46:41 PM...01:51:41 PM...01:56:40 PM...FD-3
07/19/05...01:20:58 PM...01:25:58 PM...01:30:58 PM...FD-3
...............01:24:11 PM.......................01:34:07 PM...FD-4
07/20/05...12:58:26 AM...01:03:26 PM...01:08:25 PM...FD-3
07/21/05...12:34:17 AM...12:39:17 AM...12:42:43 AM...FD-3
...............12:35:56 AM.......................12:45:52 AM...FD-4
07/22/05...12:10:11 AM...12:15:11 AM...12:20:11 AM...FD-3
...............11:47:40 AM.......................11:57:41 AM...FD-4
07/23/05...11:52:25 AM...N/A...............11:54:28 AM...FD-3
...............11:47:40 AM.......................11:57:41 AM...FD-4
07/24/05...11:21:56 AM...11:26:56 AM...11:31:56 AM...FD-3
...............11:25:07 AM.......................11:27:58 AM...FD-4
07/25/05...10:59:25 AM...11:04:25 AM...11:09:25 AM...FD-4
07/26/05...10:33:41 AM...10:38:41 AM...10:43:41 AM...FD-3
...............10:36:52 AM.......................10:45:56 AM...FD-4
07/27/05...10:11:10 AM...N/A...............10:16:00 AM...FD-3
...............10:16:00 AM.......................10:21:10 AM...FD-4
07/28/05...09:45:26 AM...09:50:26 AM...09:55:26 AM...FD-3
...............09:48:37 AM.......................09:58:37 AM...FD-4
07/29/05...09:22:55 AM...09:27:55 AM...09:32:55 AM...FD-3
07/30/05...08:57:12 AM...09:02:12 AM...09:07:11 AM...FD-3
...............09:00:22 AM.......................09:10:22 AM...FD-4
07/31/05...08:34:40 AM...08:39:40 AM...08:44:40 AM...FD-3