In Group C powerdown.
Repeat after me "anywhere but White Sands".
I'm with you, but I have to tell you that ironically, I'm driving through New Mexico Saturday on my way from Denver to Tucson!!! Wouldn't that be special if I saw it fly overhead on its entry to Northrup strip.
I think it's TDRS E/5, at 171.0°W, designator 1991-054B. Launched on STS-43 out of, ironically, Atlantis. :-)
The F5 satellite, which is currently called 171, was moved about 6 months ago and is actually located at 167.5° longitude. And the TDRS West satellite, which had been at 174, is now at 171° longitude.
At some point the satellite designators will be updated to their actual longitudes, but for the moment the naming convention is, uh, a bit off.
In Group C powerdown.
Repeat after me "anywhere but White Sands".
Concur, they'll be blowing gypsum out of Atlantis from now until she's decommissioned if they land at White Sands. They were still finding that stuff on Columbia years after STS-3.
That's not as much of an issue now; it's more the "hit" to turnaround time. There was a long discussion about this during STS-116 when KSC and EDW (well, and NOR) were marginal in the days prior to landing:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=5815.0Edwards weather looks fine, so the issue is whether there's any hope tomorrow or Sunday at KSC. If not, then the question is when they'll land at Edwards.
Is the TDRS problem due to satellite problems? - if they've gone faulty I assume they will have to launch another?
TDRS stands for tracking and data relay satellite. They have no spares in the inventory.
the problem was actualy out at White Sands. No problems with the satellites.
currently there are two TDRS in on-orbit storage that will eventually be put into use after the older satellites lose their capabilities, but those will take months to maneuver and put into service.
In Group C powerdown.
Repeat after me "anywhere but White Sands".
Concur, they'll be blowing gypsum out of Atlantis from now until she's decommissioned if they land at White Sands. They were still finding that stuff on Columbia years after STS-3.
That's not as much of an issue now; it's more the "hit" to turnaround time. There was a long discussion about this during STS-116 when KSC and EDW (well, and NOR) were marginal in the days prior to landing:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=5815.0
Edwards weather looks fine, so the issue is whether there's any hope tomorrow or Sunday at KSC. If not, then the question is when they'll land at Edwards.
Thanks for the link, quite a spirited conversation! I did not know that they had a protected facility at WS to keep gypsum contamination to a minimum, learned something new today!
what time zone are we talking about, Eastern (like Cape Canaveral), Central (like Johnson), or Pacific (like Edwards)?
Saturday Landing Opportunities
9:16 a.m. Orbit 180 landing at Kennedy (deorbit burn at 8:02 a.m.)
10:46 a.m. Orbit 181 landing at Edwards (deorbit burn at 9:29 a.m.)
10:54 a.m. Orbit 181 landing at Kennedy (deorbit burn at 9:46 a.m.)
12:24 p.m. Orbit 182 landing at Edwards (deorbit burn at 11:12 a.m.)
Sunday Landing Opportunities
10:01 a.m. Orbit 196 landing at Edwards (deorbit burn at 8:42 a.m.)
10:04 a.m. Orbit 196 landing at White Sands (deorbit burn at 8:46
a.m.)
10:10 a.m. Orbit 196 landing at Kennedy (deorbit burn at 8:57 a.m.)
11:39 a.m. Orbit 197 landing at Edwards (deorbit burn at 10:24 a.m.)
11:42 a.m. Orbit 197 landing at White Sands (deorbit burn at 10:29
a.m.)
11:48 a.m. Orbit 197 landing at Kennedy (deorbit burn at 10:42 a.m.)
Saturday Landing Opportunities
9:16 a.m. Orbit 180 landing at Kennedy (deorbit burn at 8:02 a.m.)
10:46 a.m. Orbit 181 landing at Edwards (deorbit burn at 9:29 a.m.)
10:54 a.m. Orbit 181 landing at Kennedy (deorbit burn at 9:46 a.m.)
12:24 p.m. Orbit 182 landing at Edwards (deorbit burn at 11:12 a.m.)
Sunday Landing Opportunities
10:01 a.m. Orbit 196 landing at Edwards (deorbit burn at 8:42 a.m.)
10:04 a.m. Orbit 196 landing at White Sands (deorbit burn at 8:46
a.m.)
10:10 a.m. Orbit 196 landing at Kennedy (deorbit burn at 8:57 a.m.)
11:39 a.m. Orbit 197 landing at Edwards (deorbit burn at 10:24 a.m.)
11:42 a.m. Orbit 197 landing at White Sands (deorbit burn at 10:29
a.m.)
11:48 a.m. Orbit 197 landing at Kennedy (deorbit burn at 10:42 a.m.)
NASA TV schedule is showing a third KSC opportunity Saturday on orbit 182 with deorbit at 11:21 and landing at 12:33 (EDT)
Will the landing strip even be there tomorrow?
Apologies if this has been addressed, but here come my two questions for the day.
1. If the weather is bad at KSC tomorrow, but the forecast for Sunday is good, will they wait for the Sunday opportunities, even if they have a chance to land at Edwards?
2. Does anyone have the ground tracks for tomorrow?
Thanks!
1. If the weather is bad at KSC tomorrow, but the forecast for Sunday is good, will they wait for the Sunday opportunities, even if they have a chance to land at Edwards?
I think that's still to-be-determined. Edwards will be called up tomorrow (but not Northrup). The KSC Sunday forecast may be a little short of "good" at this point.
2. Does anyone have the ground tracks for tomorrow?
Nothing yet on nasa.gov (as you know), but they have shown a few on NASA TV today for orbit 180 and 181. Eyeballing the KSC ground tracks, they look similar to today's.
Saturday landing tracks up on nasa.gov:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts125/news/landing.html
It's been so cloudy and rainy around TX that the reentry may not be visible, but here are the lucky-duckies for the KSC reentries almost overhead -
#1 McAllen/Brownsville (S for Corpus Christi)
#2 El Paso/Abilene/Dallas/Ft.Worth (N for Waco)
#3 Corpus Christi (N for Brownsville, S. for Victoria)
