I'll bet they won't announce until/unless Congress (and the Pres) authorize 135 in the FY2011 NASA budget bill. Though perhaps the targeted '335 crew' will be trained w/o announcement
Holds relevance to STS-135:http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2010/09/sts-134-hardware-planning-aligning-endeavours-mission/
In such a scenario, all the unused hardware – which has already been paid for – will be wasted and likely sent to exhibitions, or decommissioned and destroyed – if it can’t find a role in a notional SD HLV program.
Will NASA announce the STS 335/135 crew this coming week?
According to the meeting notes, crew selection will take place on September 14, with training – or crew loading – to begin on September 27. The June 28, 2011 launch date moves the mission four days to the right of previous evaluations.
Quote from: Chris Bergin on 09/13/2010 02:34 pmHolds relevance to STS-135:http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2010/09/sts-134-hardware-planning-aligning-endeavours-mission/Nice article, Chris!QuoteIn such a scenario, all the unused hardware – which has already been paid for – will be wasted and likely sent to exhibitions, or decommissioned and destroyed – if it can’t find a role in a notional SD HLV program.Sounds like a subtle hint to somebody (hope they're reading)!
Quote from: steveS on 09/12/2010 08:57 amWill NASA announce the STS 335/135 crew this coming week?It should be named tomorrow, as indicated from the August 20th article on STS-135.
Good to see a female astronaut selected for the final shuttle mission and also for Atlantis after two consecutive all male crews (STS-129 and STS-132)
Also notable is the fact that all of these astronauts, with the exception of Doug Hurley, made their first flights on Atlantis and in consecutive flights of the orbiter.STS-110 Atlantis - Rex Walheim as MSSTS-112 Atlantis - Sandra Magnus as MSSTS-115 Atlantis - Chris Ferguson as PLTThis is interesting as well - all three pilot-heavy branches of the military (USAF, USN and USMC) are represented on this flight.Ferguson - USNWalheim - USAFHurley - USMCObviously these had no bearing whatsoever on their selection, but it's cool to see!
Chris Ferguson, a retired U.S. Navy captain and veteran of two previous shuttle missions, would command the flight.
(e) SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION TO ISS.—16 (1) SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION.—The Adminis-17 trator shall fly the Launch-On-Need Shuttle mission18 currently designated in the Shuttle Flight Manifest19 dated February 28, 2010, to the ISS in fiscal year20 2011, but no earlier than June 1, 2011, unless re21 quired earlier by an operations contingency, and22 pending the results of the assessment required by23 paragraph (2) and the determination under para24 graph (3)(A).