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Atlantis stay of execution reversed in new manifest
by
Chris Bergin
on 21 Jul, 2007 05:36
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#1
by
halkey
on 21 Jul, 2007 10:37
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Atlantis had the coolest name of all the shuttles and I feel a tinge of sadness that it has run out of appeals and now faces the chair. May it find peace in the afterlife. RIP Atlantis.
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#2
by
svenge
on 21 Jul, 2007 10:42
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Coolest name? I can only think of FIVE other orbiters that had better names... Atlantis is a name better suited for a research submarine, not a spacecraft.
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#3
by
halkey
on 21 Jul, 2007 10:51
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Challenger, Endeavour, Columbia, Discovery, none of those names reflect the mythical place conjured by Atlantis' name, a vehicle that indeed traveled to a near mythical realm that exists beyond most peoples' experiences.
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#4
by
shuttlepilot
on 21 Jul, 2007 11:17
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I'm sad about this, because she's my favourite shuttle. But I'm also happy, because I know her retirement will be better for NASA budget
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#5
by
Celeritas
on 21 Jul, 2007 13:51
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svenge - 21/7/2007 6:42 AM
Coolest name? I can only think of FIVE other orbiters that had better names... Atlantis is a name better suited for a research submarine, not a spacecraft.
Once again . . . Who decided to name a shuttle after a continent supposed to have sunk in the Atlantic?
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#6
by
ShuttleDiscovery
on 21 Jul, 2007 14:33
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shuttlepilot - 21/7/2007 12:17 PM
I'm sad about this, because she's my favourite shuttle. But I'm also happy, because I know her retirement will be better for NASA budget
In a way, Atlantis will still be flying as parts from her will be used in her sisters...
(Didn't think of that, did ya?
)
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#7
by
Squid.erau
on 21 Jul, 2007 14:45
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Once again . . . Who decided to name a shuttle after a continent supposed to have sunk in the Atlantic?
Just like all the other orbiters, Atlantis was named after a famous ship of exploration. Atlantis in particular was named for a sailing ship used for oceanographic research operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
Matt
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#8
by
Bubbinski
on 21 Jul, 2007 16:13
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I'll always remember Atlantis as the shuttle I actually got to see launch with my own eyes. Twice. And I got to see her land once.
Anyway, I prefer to think of this as going off into a well earned retirement being looked at and admired by millions of museum visitors in due course, not as an "execution". She'll be intact and still have her good looks.
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#9
by
vt_hokie
on 21 Jul, 2007 17:39
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Atlantis will always be my favorite!
I look forward to seeing her on display!
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#10
by
Shuttle Man
on 21 Jul, 2007 18:04
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This decision makes little sense, does appear like they want to cut workforce, the orbiter does not need to be retired. This could be changed back again.
Otherwise, expect worse than this..
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#11
by
vt_hokie
on 21 Jul, 2007 18:57
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Shuttle Man - 21/7/2007 2:04 PM
Otherwise, expect worse than this..
Yeah, that would suck. That's Endeavour a couple of years ago, right?
Have they even replaced the missing RCC panels on Enterprise yet? (Still need to make it down to the new museum one of these days...)
http://media.nasm.si.edu/webimages/640/WEB10049-2003_640.jpg
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#12
by
brahmanknight
on 21 Jul, 2007 19:44
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Could this have anything to do with Atlantis' lack of the SSPTS? Doesn't that keep it from have the amount of time for EVA's and other tasks that the other two orbiters could acomplish?
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#13
by
Chris Bergin
on 21 Jul, 2007 20:00
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brahmanknight - 21/7/2007 8:44 PM
Could this have anything to do with Atlantis' lack of the SSPTS? Doesn't that keep it from have the amount of time for EVA's and other tasks that the other two orbiters could acomplish?
Interesting question. However, I would have assumed this would have been addressed beforehand. Plus, that is still a 'to be tested' mod, as it will be on 118.
As with FAWGs, they could simply change it back. It's a planning document (though the absolute best for knowing where the schedule is). However, if this was close to being swapped back, we'd of see a big line and "under review" - as we did with the manifest inbetween Atlantis flying to 2010 and back to 2008 retirement.
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#14
by
Bubbinski
on 21 Jul, 2007 20:06
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Under this scenario, would they now be able to keep Atlantis ready for last resort, emergency LON duty, if the other orbiter on the ground had a serious issue? Or would Atlantis simply not be able to do a LON at all (lack of funds, personnel?)
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#15
by
Davie OPF
on 21 Jul, 2007 20:21
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Bubbinski - 21/7/2007 3:06 PM
Under this scenario, would they now be able to keep Atlantis ready for last resort, emergency LON duty, if the other orbiter on the ground had a serious issue? Or would Atlantis simply not be able to do a LON at all (lack of funds, personnel?)
No one has really talked through any of the techs, that I know of, showing the plan for Atlantis post flight 125. From what I've read I think LON processing is impossible, because of flow timelines, and besides each flight would be designated by the next scheduled orbiter, which Atlantis would not be involved with.
I find this all baffling. A near flight ready orbiter no longer becomes the case if used for spare parts. Imagine the OMS Pod damage on Atlantis, if it had been structurally damaged during re-entry. There's no spare OMS Pods, so you can assume Atlantis would donor a pod if that happened on a future flight. From that point onwards, Atlantis is grounded.
When Atlantis was moved back into ops to 2010, I thought it was a no brainer. With the OMDP requirement changes, I find this move totally baffling and obviously pushed by management to hand out some pink slips. There is simply no other decent explanation for this.
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#16
by
psloss
on 21 Jul, 2007 20:22
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Bubbinski - 21/7/2007 4:06 PM
Under this scenario, would they now be able to keep Atlantis ready for last resort, emergency LON duty, if the other orbiter on the ground had a serious issue? Or would Atlantis simply not be able to do a LON at all (lack of funds, personnel?)
It's going to be like the "place" the fleet was in a year ago (or, as Shuttle Man wrote, worse) with two flying orbiters -- at that time, Endeavour wasn't ready to support LON.
There are some interesting logistical questions I can think of, but I do think this is more a "budget shortfall" issue than a technical one -- perhaps this is also trying to be prepared for possibly having the same budget outcome as the current fiscal year.
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#17
by
Bubbinski
on 21 Jul, 2007 20:35
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Ahh...if there is a budget issue developing, are they also looking at other things like cutting out STS-131 and STS-133? (I remember reading that they're marked off as "contingency" flights). Are they trying to speed up shuttle retirement, it sounds like maybe they want to if they're moving up a few flights like HST SM and STS-119/Truss S6 and sending Atlantis off to early retirement.
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#18
by
psloss
on 21 Jul, 2007 20:43
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Bubbinski - 21/7/2007 4:35 PM
Ahh...if there is a budget issue developing, are they also looking at other things like cutting out STS-131 and STS-133? (I remember reading that they're marked off as "contingency" flights). Are they trying to speed up shuttle retirement, it sounds like maybe they want to if they're moving up a few flights like HST SM and STS-119/Truss S6 and sending Atlantis off to early retirement.
Those I think are all distinct issues...for example, they're only talking about moving STS-125 up by about a month.
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#19
by
ChrisGebhardt
on 21 Jul, 2007 21:07
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Bubbinski - 21/7/2007 4:35 PM
Ahh...if there is a budget issue developing, are they also looking at other things like cutting out STS-131 and STS-133? (I remember reading that they're marked off as "contingency" flights). Are they trying to speed up shuttle retirement, it sounds like maybe they want to if they're moving up a few flights like HST SM and STS-119/Truss S6 and sending Atlantis off to early retirement.
According to the lastest FAWG, STS-131 and STS-133 are still on the schedule. They're the third to last, and last flights (respectively) listed in the 2010 year.
2010
February - TBD - Endeavour - TBD
April - TBD - Discovery - TBD
July - TBD - Endeavour - TBD
The February flight would be STS-131 and the July flight would be STS-133. That leaves at least two months before the September 30, 2010 retirement date of the entire fleet.
