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#480 by shuttlefanatic on 28 Jun, 2011 19:58
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racshot, you up on the presser? Don't want to duplicate, but here's my notes in progress:
Gerstenmaier:
- talked about brake fire at landing
- found particle on MFV that could explain leak.
- STS-135 cargo is critical to Station. MDF is 10 days.
Moses:
- STS-134 UA: at SRB sep saw a cylinderical piece of hardware floating by. Focused on a coupler at the SRB-ET attach point. While unlikely, even if that's what it was, it would be ok.
- Tanking test went well. No cracks detected, foam seems to be in good shape.
- Discussed chute failure on SRB - probably rubbed on deployment
- MPLM heaters can be left off for power savings to preserve +1 day option.
- MPLM is 1/3 full of food - 1 year's supply
- downmass is trash and experiments; MPLM is 75-80% full; 100% full if we get extra day.
- FD3 is rendevous; FD4 attach MPLM ; FD5 is EVA
- EVA is to remove failed pump; deploy refueling module
- Flyaround plans: Back off, station will turn 90 degrees (pointed towards shuttle); will fly around the long axis for 1/2 lap
- FD13 is entry, landing around 7A.
Leinbach:
- Ordnance connected last night; payload bay doors close tomorrow.
- Closeout aft on Friday, entire long weekend off. Countdown starts Tuesday.
- No PRSD offload
- Attempts on 8th, 9th, 10th, 2 attempts in 3 days, then standdown for Delta. 24 vs 48 hour scrub will be looked at in realtime.
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#481 by Chris Bergin on 28 Jun, 2011 20:06
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Article:
STS-135: FRR sets July 8 Launch Date for Atlantis – Debris misses ISS:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/06/sts-135-frr-july-8-atlantis-debris-misses-iss/ -
#482 by Chris Bergin on 28 Jun, 2011 20:16
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racshot, you up on the presser?
He's got it covered. He just posts the whole lot in one go
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#483 by Mapperuo on 28 Jun, 2011 20:22
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Article:
STS-135: FRR sets July 8 Launch Date for Atlantis – Debris misses ISS:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/06/sts-135-frr-july-8-atlantis-debris-misses-iss/
I may be mistake but I believe it's the 3rd time a crew has had to take cover? -
#484 by Space Pete on 28 Jun, 2011 20:27
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Article:
STS-135: FRR sets July 8 Launch Date for Atlantis – Debris misses ISS:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/06/sts-135-frr-july-8-atlantis-debris-misses-iss/
I may be mistake but I believe it's the 3rd time a crew has had to take cover?
Nope, only the second. They've come close to doing it a few other times, but apart from today, they've only ever done it once. -
#485 by Mapperuo on 28 Jun, 2011 20:38
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Article:
STS-135: FRR sets July 8 Launch Date for Atlantis – Debris misses ISS:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/06/sts-135-frr-july-8-atlantis-debris-misses-iss/
I may be mistake but I believe it's the 3rd time a crew has had to take cover?
Nope, only the second. They've come close to doing it a few other times, but apart from today, they've only ever done it once.
Wikipedia needs a tweak then:QuoteThis partial station evacuation has occurred twice, on 6 April 2003 and 13 March 2009.[186]
And it's source is an article from here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/09/soyuz-tma-16-launch-to-iss-safe-haven-evaluations/ -
#486 by Chris Bergin on 28 Jun, 2011 20:47
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I bet Aaron's got no fingers left
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#487 by racshot65 on 28 Jun, 2011 20:48
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Bill G
July 8th as launch date, in plane 11:26 am
Conducted a through review
Spent a lot of time going through each activity, many unique items
Have a unique contingency plan in case of damage to the orbiter; it’s at least as good / better than the shuttle
Reviewed previous anomalies, tyre fire is a likely a nominal occurrence, didn’t trip any temp sensors. Could be something that happens during day light if fluid is present but we can’t see it
Spent a lot of time on the leaky engine valve, they’ve found a small particle on the valve seat when it was removed.
This flight is incredibly important for the station
Need 10 days to get all the cargo off and return some
Mike Moses
Talked about a debris piece at SRB sep on the previous flight. Done an extensive investigation of returned hardware, nothing is missing. Nothing on the ET in images.
Looked at all components in the system that might look like it, didn’t come up with any candidates
1 component in SRB system looks similar, a grounding strap.
Attaches to ET and SRB. Its 2 connectors that plug into coupler it can detatch on either end. Get the part back on SRB half the time assume it is still attached to ET the other half of the time.
Cant make it become debris in ground testing though.
Used it as worst case scenario though and looked at what might happen if it did come off.
If it did come off we could detect if it hit the shuttle
Tanking test x rays came back fine
Got a good check of the ET foam, performed fantastically
Found a leaky engine valve
SRB parachute failure – hadn’t had many failures before
Was probably deployment damage, rubbing on deployment caused heating
Impact velocity was still fine, designed to only need 2 chutes
12 day mission looking to get an extra day if we go on time we’ll have extra cryo
MPLM has shell heaters, station program has said its ok to leave them off before docking and after undocking.
This should be able to buy us an extra day
MPLM is packed a third full of food (a years worth)
If we get an extra day we can pack the MPLM 100% full for return
FD3 RNDZ and docking
FD4 MPLM install
FD5 EVA – from ISS airlock with station crew
Flyaround will be around the long axis to get a different angle of the hardware
Will only be doing half a lap on the flyaround
7:00am local time landing
Mike Leinbach
Remaining pad flow is standard
Payload bay door closing tomorrow
Will take the holiday weekend off
Delta on the range on the 14th
Have attempts on 8.9, 10th then we have to stand down
If theres a scrub will look at the reason and decide on time for turnaround expect 0.5 / 0.75 million viewers which would cause a delay in people getting home
Questions
Q: 4 separate Soyuz’s to return crew if necessary?
A: Would play it by ear. Could put 2 people on 1 Soyuz. On planning we left all Soyuz’s on original launch date, 7 progresses visiting during that period. Plan is very flexible and have ensured theres a credible plan to get the crew home if necessary. Don’t think it’s a likely case.
Q: Without the shuttle can you bring the station down safely?
A: Yes required to protect propellant on board to adjust attitude of station. Need at least 180 days worth to keep in desired altitude. And 360 before it becomes dangerous. Attitude control is redundant. Can easily put the station on a path that brings it down over the ocean. Can do limited EVA’s out of Soyuz. Attitude control on station can work in a vacuum. Would have to be a unique set of multiple failures before the station became a threat to earth when coming down.
Q: Any ID of the orbital debris today?
A: Doesn’t have an idea, its in an elliptical orbit inclined at 62 degrees did post pass tracking think it came within 335m of station. Closet object ever to station. Working with Russia to try and reduce time needed to do a manoeuvre. Don’t know size or mass yet.
Q: Soyuz seat liners for 135 crew?
A: 1 being flown on 135, others could be brought up on Soyuz or Progress
Q: Details on particle found in fuel valve?
A: Size: 8 microns x 14 microns. Not uncommon to find small contamination on this valve. Filters can handle this debris, this time it just happened to end up on the ceiling have seen this before and its not caused a leak, other times it has. Don’t have root cause yet. Helium purge prevents nitrogen ice forming. Not surprised to not find a smoking gun yet. If it leaks again we can deal with it, no reason to suspect it will though.
Q: How many EVA’s are year will you need to maintain station?
A: 1, mainly for maintenance and a little payload activities. Will wait until we have a collection of tasks we need doing. Russia does about 2 a year. Will use DEXTRE more. Going to change out a power controller with DEXTRE later this year. Will be pushing to see how much maintenance we can do robotically.
Q: Biggest events on station during assembly?
A: When your in MCC any little thing looks like a big deal but then when you step back at the end they aren’t as big. Have the “rats nest” where we have access issues put lots of work in to make sure things don’t go wrong. Have avoided problems lots of times.
Q: How do you separate doing a professional job from thoughts of loosing your job ?
A: Everyone who touches the equipment is a true professional. This professionalism and dedication brings an internal commitment to do the job right. Don’t worry about people doing there job they will do it as perfectly as always. Mood is turning more sombre and were looking forward to the future.
Q: Protecting hardware for SLS?
A: SSME’s were protected in storage a little longer, in case we need them in the future. All SRB hardware is being stored in a reasonable condition. Need a more detailed design before we know if we need to protect plumbing components. Looking at GSE that might be needed by the next program. Ammonia servicing carts for example are being protected. Have 3 categories, wont need, need, may need. Are thoroughly analysing each component. Will continue to do it for the rest of the year.
Q: How many days can you go after the 8th how long can you go before you need to reservice the PRSD?
A: Can go all the way to the 10th. If we haven’t launched by then we’ll talk to the delta program.
Q: Is it a night landing every day apart from the 20th?
A: Yes not looking at doing anything special to make it in the day. Need to do lots of planning to avoid glare etc.
Q: What happens when you get the notice of a conjunction?
A: TPO gets a notice they inform the FD who discuses it with the Russians. The ISS program gets involved if management is needed to make a decision they do. If we know in advance we do paper work and share burn plans. If we don’t know in advance the TPO gets told who tells ISS management who tell general management. Then the crew take shelter in the Soyuz.
Q: How late can you make the +1 decision?
A: Could wait till around FD 5 /6 and will do if the numbers are marginal. Think we would add it around FD 8 / 9. Would like to give the crew a little notice if we do add it.
Q: HLV announcement any time soon?
A: Working on analysis want to get announcement out as soon as we can
Q: If the launch slips significantly how long can you wait on the pad?
A: Have funding to keep trying for a while (a few months). Mission is really critical for the ISS. We need to make sure we don’t cross a safety line due to lack of staff etc.
Q: Was the shuttle program worth the expense?
A: (they joke about who answers, they all do in the end) It’s defiantly worth the money. At the start of the program we could barely do space walks now look at how many we do. We used to go to space then come home, now we can live in space. CFD in terms of debris loss is light years ahead now this benefits aircraft. Understand combustion much better. Setting a high standard for ourselves drives the team. The team we have are the best in the world. We have done a tremendous service for our country. Have developed a technique to remotely scan wires for problems and its now being used around the world. It’s a noble purpose to go do these things in space. Robotics on the station drive surgical robotics. The space program is an inspiration. We’ve gone into international partnerships in LEO. Compares the international partnerships to Star Trek. Exploration is part of the human sole. Learning to live and work in LEO was the next step for humans. We are setting up the next step in the evolution of exploration
Q: What will NASA be doing to inspire children without a launcher?
A: Need to think about how we use station in the real world. With a launch it’s easy to see and feel whats going on. Maybe let student’s program robots that fly on station. Want to make people feel a part of the station. Currently do tweet up’s and use social media to stay connected. Don’t want to loose the momentum we have and keep looking to the future. The space community need to push for the future if we want political support.
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#488 by Space Pete on 28 Jun, 2011 20:49
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Wikipedia needs a tweak then:
And it's source is an article from here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/09/soyuz-tma-16-launch-to-iss-safe-haven-evaluations/
The article says:QuoteHowever, if a debris threat is identified too late, a DAM would not be able to be conducted in time. Such an incident has occurred twice in the last six years or so.
“On 6 April 2003 and 13 March 2009 potential conjunctions were identified too late to perform a Debris Avoidance Maneuver (DAM),” opened a MOD (Mission Operations Directive) presentation – available on L2 – on the subject. Both threats passed by the Station without incident.
I think the Wikipedia editors have misunderstood - the 6 April 2003 event didn't require a Soyuz evacuation (it was probably cleared as safe at the last minute - as we've seen happen before).
I'll correct the Wikipedia article. -
#489 by psloss on 28 Jun, 2011 20:56
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And it's source is an article from here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/09/soyuz-tma-16-launch-to-iss-safe-haven-evaluations/
Sounds like they're assuming the shelter-in-place for both dates, when I'm not sure I'd infer that from the article. (Yet another reason why it's an adequate source for general information, but not something one can rely on.)
FWIW, this is what the ISS status report said in 2003:QuoteA space debris conjunction of the ISS was tracked and evaluated by MCC-H and MCC-M over the weekend, with the decision point for a DAM (debris avoidance maneuver) early Saturday morning (2:30am). No action was required. [Predictive forward-calculations from tracking data did not show stable convergence for quite some time as the decision point came and went, and the DAM was not considered necessary. The object fluctuated briefly between the "yellow" and "red" probability zones briefly for a period, then turned "yellow" and finally cleared up. The crew was informed of the ongoing tracking before their sleep time.]
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#490 by Chris Bergin on 28 Jun, 2011 20:59
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Well done Aaron on the quotes, top work!
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#491 by psloss on 28 Jun, 2011 21:02
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There was discussion of this FRR being filmed, wasn't there ?
NASA TV is running "b-roll" now...looks like they're doing the 24 fps cinematic "thing" on a lot of these.
Wonder if it happenedQuoteITEM 2 - MANAGERS MEET TO ASSESS READINESS OF FINAL SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION - KSC (NEW)
NASA and contractor managers met on June 28 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to evaluate the status of the final space shuttle mission, Atlantis' STS-135 flight to the International Space Station.
The Flight Readiness Review is a standard meeting before all shuttle launches to allow management to assess how all preparations for a mission are progressing. The FRR was held at Kennedy?s Operations Support Building II.
Following the FRR, managers are expected to formally schedule a launch date for Atlantis and its four veteran astronauts. Currently launch is targeted for July 8. STS-135 is the final mission for the Space Shuttle Program.
TRT: 3:24
Super: NASA -
#492 by robertross on 29 Jun, 2011 00:31
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Thanks Aaron!
This one blows the mind (sorry for highlighting it in the processing thread):Q: Any ID of the orbital debris today?
A: Doesn’t have an idea, its in an elliptical orbit inclined at 62 degrees did post pass tracking think it came within 335m of station. Closet object ever to station. Working with Russia to try and reduce time needed to do a manoeuvre. Don’t know size or mass yet. -
#493 by steveS on 29 Jun, 2011 02:01
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Will the +1 day extension make 135 a 13 day mission (if taken) or still 12 days with one day extra at the ISS?
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#494 by padrat on 29 Jun, 2011 11:54
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I always wondered about how they put the payload into the payload bay on the pad. I mean they bring it to the pad in a container, raise the container into the RSS. Close the RSS against the Atlantis. Open the payload bay doors.
But then what? Does it just slide into the bay, does it get turned around first? Does part of the container go into also? Etc...
Thanks!
I'm so glad I wasn't the only one.
I took a quite lengthy series of pics during this last transfer. When I have some time (HA HA!!!!) I'm prob going to go through them and other payload pics that I have and try to post something up for this. Will prob be on L2 though. -
#495 by djterry11 on 29 Jun, 2011 12:15
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I always wondered about how they put the payload into the payload bay on the pad. I mean they bring it to the pad in a container, raise the container into the RSS. Close the RSS against the Atlantis. Open the payload bay doors.
But then what? Does it just slide into the bay, does it get turned around first? Does part of the container go into also? Etc...
Thanks!
I'm so glad I wasn't the only one.
I took a quite lengthy series of pics during this last transfer. When I have some time (HA HA!!!!) I'm prob going to go through them and other payload pics that I have and try to post something up for this. Will prob be on L2 though.
LOL! Ok padrat, I gotcha...will sign up for L2
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#496 by DavisSTS on 29 Jun, 2011 12:23
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LOL! Ok padrat, I gotcha...will sign up for L2.
Probably the wisest thing you'll ever do on the internet, trust me, you'll have no idea what you're about to access (think Christmas where you wander downstairs and find Santa's not only brought you a new bike, but also built you a VAB in the garden
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#497 by ChrisGebhardt on 29 Jun, 2011 12:29
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Will the +1 day extension make 135 a 13 day mission (if taken) or still 12 days with one day extra at the ISS?
As noted in the briefing, the +1 day is not something they will have when they launch. The mission is a 12+0+2 day flight. That's what it's baselined as. That's what it'll launch as. Once they are on orbit and have a chance to look at cryo use by the Fuel Cells and make the evaluations, they could very well have the available prop to get an extra, or +1, day to insert into the docked timeframe of the mission to be used for ISS internal stowage ops. But this is not a certainty... which is why they are saying they "might" have a +1 day.
Likewise, if they don't launch on the 8th, they very well might not have enough cryo to add a +1 day because the cryo boils off inside Atlantis's Fuel Cell cryo tanks - and they've said they're not re-topping PRSD for the 8-10th attempts. -
#498 by Mapperuo on 29 Jun, 2011 15:45
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It's wet wet wet..
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#499 by padrat on 29 Jun, 2011 16:21
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It's wet wet wet..
Yes it is. I was just up in it. Kinda looking like a drowned rat right now....
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