Updates STS-135 Updates

[orb]

Some more photos from movement of payload canister to the pad, which were added later to STS-135 KSC Media Gallery:

[table="head"]{colsp=3}

Click on images to view larger versions​

​

|

​

|

​

​

|

​

|

​

​

|

​

|

​

​

|

​

|

​

​

|

​

|

​

​

|

​

|

​

[/table]​

 

[ky]

Thanks for those photos Orb!

 

[orb]

I have a shuttle crew operations manual Thats too big to be posted here

You mean this one: Shuttle Crew Operations Manual (PDF 41.1 MB)?



By the way, I don't see it's been posted here yet -

Spaceflight Now:

• Atlantis tank inspections, engine valve swap on tap
• STS-135 Countdown Timeline
• STS-135 Launch Windows
• STS-135 Flight Plan

 

[ky]

Yes that one.I can't post because I don't have a link to it.

 

[orb]

NASASpaceflight: STS-135/ULF-7 – The Final Flight’s Timeline Takes Shape:

With just three weeks to go before the final launch of the Space Shuttle, Atlantis remains on course for her big day on July 8. Meanwhile, NASA and mission managers met this week for the main Flight Readiness Reviews (FRR). During the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) FRR, the STS-135/ULF-7 flight timeline was thoroughly reviewed ahead of clearance to proceed to the Space Shuttle Program FRR on June 21.

Snap-shot Mission Overview:

Targeting launch on Friday, 8 July 2011 at approximately 11:26:46 EDT, the STS-135/ULF-7 flight of OV-104 Atlantis will be a 12+0+2 day non-SSPTS mission – meaning there are 12 nominal flight days, zero on-orbit extension days, 2 landing contingency days, and no ability to draw power from the International Space Station.

The mission will feature seven (7) full days for docked operations between Atlantis and the International Space Station, plus one docking day and one undocking day, 1 scheduled EVA (Spacewalk) by the ISS crew, and 30 hours of middeck transfers to and from Atlantis and the ISS.

{...READ MORE at NASASpaceflight...}

 

[IronRain]

Timelapse of the payload canister lifting

 

[orb]

Nice views of STS-135 cargo being installed into Atlantis' payload bay:

[table="head"]{colsp=4}

Click on images to view larger versions​

​

|

​

|

​

|

​

​

|

​

|

​

|

​

[/table]​

 

[Eli13]

Way coo..

Anyone planning to go?

Like Ky, if I'm lucky and it doesn't get pushed back, I have a 90% chance of seeing it launch. The other 10%, who knows?

 

[IronRain]

Shuttle crew comes to town for practice countdown

The four astronauts to fly Atlantis on the final space shuttle voyage have jetted into the Kennedy Space Center for this week's countdown dress rehearsal and emergency training drills.

Commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Rex Walheim and Sandy Magnus traveled today from their home base in Houston, arriving at the Cape in waves of T-38 jets just after 5:30 p.m. EDT.

"I think I speak on behalf of the crew, everyone in the astronaut office and I'm sure everybody here at KSC, we're just trying to savor the moment," Ferguson told reporters at the runway. "As our children and our children's children ask us, we want to be able to say we remember when there was a space shuttle and like I said, we're savoring every moment, trying to take it all in and looking forward to an incredible mission."

Every shuttle crew undergoes the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, or TCDT, in the final weeks before a planned launch. While in Florida, the astronauts will spend time learning how to evacuate pad 39A if an emergency arises, including procedures to operate the slide-wire baskets that would quickly whisk the crew from the launch tower to a bunker west of the pad, and test-drive an armored tank available for the astronauts to escape the area.

On Thursday, the crew boards Atlantis for a full countdown simulation. The astronauts will follow a normal launch morning routine with breakfast, a weather briefing on conditions at the Cape and various abort landing sites, then don their suits and depart crew quarters at about 7:45 a.m. to board the Astrovan that will take them to pad 39A.

After reach the pad shortly past 8 a.m., the astronauts will climb inside Atlantis and strap into their assigned seats for the final three hours of the mock countdown.

Full Article:
Shuttle crew comes to town for practice countdown





Shuttle crew meets media

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now:

• Shuttle Atlantis receives payloads for space station
• Photo Gallery: Atlantis receives mission payloads

NASASpaceflight: STS-135: Crew arrives for TCDT as MFV work begins on SSME-3:

Multiple efforts are under way for Atlantis’ STS-135 launch preparations, as her four member crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT). As engineers check the health of External Tank ET-138′s stringers, following last week’s Tanking Test, the replacement of a Main Fuel Valve (MFV) on Space Shuttle Main Engine 3 (SSME-3) is now in work.

 

[IronRain]

Shuttle's External Tank Scanned; Leaky Valve Replaced

 

[orb]

NASA:

June 21, 2011​

MEDIA ADVISORY : M11-128
NASA Schedules News Conference About Final Space Shuttle Launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA managers will hold a news conference on Tuesday, June 28, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to discuss the status of the final space shuttle launch.

The briefing will begin after the Flight Readiness Review, or FRR, a meeting to assess preparations for shuttle Atlantis' STS-135 mission to the International Space Station.

Live status updates, including the start time for the news conference, will be provided during the meeting via the NASA News Twitter feed. To access the feed, go to the nasa.gov homepage or visit:

http://www.twitter.com/NASA

NASA expects to announce an official launch date at the conclusion of the review. Atlantis and four veteran astronauts are targeted to lift off at 11:26 a.m. EDT on July 8.

The briefing participants are:

• Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations
• Mike Moses, Space Shuttle Program launch integration manager
• Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director

NASA Television and the agency's website will broadcast the briefing live. Reporters may ask questions from participating NASA locations, and should contact their preferred NASA center to confirm participation. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv​

{...}




Check out many new photos from crew training at KSC Media Gallery.

 

[N_Molson]

I would not be surprised if the launch was delayed for some reason to the 12h of July. Why ? That's a Tuesday.

 

[Eli13]

Don't say that, I'm seriously hoping to go to this.
Though, if it got delayed before I went, I would care less, and maybe I'd still be able to go.

 

[IronRain]

Atlantis crew takes tank for a spin

Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts Tuesday took turns test-driving an armored tank around Complex 39 as part of their emergency training exercises in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. The tank would be used by the crew to escape the pad 39A bunker in a dire scenario during the space shuttle countdown. Wednesday's opportunity to familiarize themselves with the vehicle occurred in the fields adjacent to the launch site. Photos: Ben Cooper/Spaceflight Now

All photos
Page 1
Page 2

 

[Ghostrider]

Is that the best they can give them? An old M113? That thing isn't going to fare well in a catastrophic kaboomlike emergency. Don't be cheapskates and give them a Bradley, at least, with full ammo load.

 

[C3PO]

Is that the best they can give them? An old M113? That thing isn't going to fare well in a catastrophic kaboomlike emergency. Don't be cheapskates and give them a Bradley, at least, with full ammo load.

Can you name a vehicle that would be better suited to the task?

 

[Evil_Onyx]

A buttoned up (all the doors closed) M113 is more than sufficient to protect from the shock wave and debris of the shuttle stack blowing up on the pad, as least from the bottom of the zip line.

 

[N_Molson]

And the M113 is a good compromise between armor, speed (especially without weapons), and crew capacity.

 

[orb]

NASASpaceflight: STS-135 Special Topics, Mission Timeline Get-wells Reviewed