Very professional. All about getting Atlantis and the crew home safe.
Going to 35 hours a week of utlization. Atlantis has put them in a great position.
The ISS is the legacy of the shuttle. It's our job to keep that legacy alive.
Heh, Philip being cheeky about Entry strategy
Gets a good smile out of Mr Cain. And on future supply vs help from 135. The answer will play a part in a future article for sure. Very interesting.
Hah, Someone gets on at them for repeating the movies too much.
Hah, Someone gets on at them for repeating the movies too much.
Can never be too much for those videos
LeRoy Cain
Great day in space
Congratulations to the entire SSP team, its been a long haul, a couple of years ago we challenged the team to get to this point and they've been outstanding in every way
They've been dedicated and committed to ensuring this final flight is as safe as any previously flown
The team is the finest in the world
Docked mission was a huge success
Thanks to the SSP and Mikes team and congratulations on there effort
The ISS is manned 24/7 and will be performing world class science and research
The thing that strikes me is the spirit of co operation and international partnership these folks have fostered
The hardware, systems and capabilities are incredible
MMT
Planned EOM is Thursday, early in the morning 5:56 EST landing time, 40 mins before sunrise
Have a couple of opportunities that day
Weather looks good
Not working any issues
Atlantis's performance has been outstanding
Crew completed all LI activities, all the data is on the ground
Anticipate no issues
Mike Suffredini
Its been a wonderful ride throughout ISS assembly
Its fitting that the final mission went much better than we hoped
We thought the return load for MPLM would be 70%, its 96% by volume
The extra day and outstanding effort by the crew made it possible to get everything we wanted back home
Plan is now to utilise the station, plan is to for 35 hours a week of utilisation
Assembly has been a great ride but this point is not the end but a means to an end
ISS will be the corner stone to exploration for the planet
We don’t even know what we will learn from ISS
Could only have built ISS with shuttle
Questions
Q: When was the station complete, what was the final piece ?
A: We have put all the planned US modules on orbit, Russians are building a multi-purpose lab module for flight in 2012. An experimental inflatable module is being considered. We started talking about assembly complete after ULF 5.
Q: How many hours a week are currently devoted to utilisation?
A: 0 – 10 / 20 hours. We had a really challenging period on the last few flights.
Q: Are the research hours for NASA sponsored work?
A: The Russian had 3 crew to operate there segment, the USOS is with the rest of the partners. The 30 hours is shared amongst the partners. When we get a new vehicle that can carry 4 crew we can add more hours
Q: What do you want from the photos today?
A: The flyaround is a great photo op. We used the 400mm lens on the 35mm camera. We rarely get shots of the end of the trusses, the Soyuz flyaround on 134 got 1 end of the truss but that was mainly a photo op so we didn't get many. With the many windows on the orbiter we can get close in shots. We've found small 1/8th inch holes in radiators before. Haven’t seen these photos yet.
Q: What did it mean to you (LeRoy) to sign the shuttle model?
A: Its an honour to have taken part in it. I like to believe its a representation of the entire team. If we could have physically done it we would have had everyone sign the model. I'm excited about the momentum we have and the opportunity the team have post shuttle. Its a reminder we played some part in ISS assembly.
Q: Where does the decision lye in letting SpaceX combine COTS 2/3
A: We haven’t made a decision but were close. We can technically combine them we had to look at the assessment of the last flight and we didn't see anything of large concern. So were having some final discussion about the next flight. Theres some secondary payloads they want to fly. Late November.
Q: Entry strategy ? (Philip !)
A: Don’t want to steal Tobys thunder, but KSC only on Thursday.
Q: How does this flight change the first few years without shuttle, what kind of flight tempo do the commercial providers need to reach?
A: Commercial flights have moved to the right since the presentation a few years ago, so this flight has helped fill the gap. SpaceX should have flown by now. We have predicted the move to the right though and the shuttle gave us a chance to fill the void we hoped the commercial providers would have filled. We can get through 2012 and this give us some leeway with commercial vehicles. Contract was 3 SpaceX and 2 Orbital flights a year.
Q: KSC weather for landing ?
A: Had a weather briefing in the MMT. A few cloud ceilings are forecast, not violations wind in 5-8 knots range.
Q: Any chance of waving off the first landing opp to let the shuttle land in day light ?
A: No, we want to stick with what we do normally and its important for us to do that.
Q: What were you thinking when Atlantis flew around station?
A: Its good to go back and remind yourself about the shuttle past as it helps put in perspective where we fit. The team challenged ourselves to give it everything we had for the final years. I view us as the anchor, and we want to finish strong. Were not done until the crew are on the runway. I chose to view this in terms of celebrating what we were able to do and after wheel stop and the crew are out we'll worry about the other things.
Q: Last week NASA announced the non profit to run the national lab, discuss what they will do outside of NASA funding ?
A: The 15 million is for them to operate and seed a little bit of work. The objective is for them to go out and educate people about what ISS can provide to them. There objective is to marry the money there willing to invest with the money NASA invested. We make facilities on board available and inserts for materials. This NGO is trying to find communities to invest in utilising ISS for there own benefit.
Q: Does that include marketing and space tourism?
A: Space tourism is not what we were considering in this effort, But as commercial companies come forward with systems they want to fly there might be a relationship between the two. It is marketing in some sense. They marry investors with groups who want to utilise ISS but don’t have the capital to.
Q: Give us a sense of the scene on the runway at wheel stop?
A: You'll see what you typically see. You may see a greater number of people, we don’t let anyone out till the vehicle is safed. A larger number of people will be allowed to go see Atlantis on the runway. Once Atlantis is towed back theres several planned celebrations at the centres.
Q: Could people see this landing, give people a sense of what goes into a landing?
A: Its a challenge to take all the energy back out. The vehicle has a sophisticated guidance system. We only take out a couple % of the energy with the deorbit burn. Theres a couple of avest turns during re entry to burn off some energy. Use thrusters and aero surfaces depending on where we are.
Deploy air data probes at mac 5 use the data at roughly mac 3.5. The final dissipation of energy is around the HAC, crew takes over just before we go subsonic. Its taken a lot of brain power to get us to this point.
You should all watch the video of that presser. What a great way to end.
Thanks again to Aaron.
NOW for the Ascent Highlights - always the best video of a mission. We're told this one is a level up.
Picking up on the epic now.
Gets a good smile out of Mr Cain. And on future supply vs help from 135. The answer will play a part in a future article for sure. Very interesting.
