STS-130

[deja vu]

Throughout the weekend, technicians will prepare space shuttle Endeavour for prelaunch propellant servicing at Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle continues to be sheltered from the space coast's uncharacteristically cold temperatures with heaters and warm air purges. This process will keep the spacecraft's systems at an appropriate temperature. At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the STS-130 crew will spend the day reviewing flight crew equipment. Endeavour's six astronauts will participate in the prelaunch dress rehearsal known as the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, or TCDT, Jan. 19-21 at Kennedy. This training will include simulated countdown activities, equipment familiarization and emergency egress procedures.

Liftoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is targeted for February 7, 2010, at 4:39 a.m. EST

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... index.html

~~~~~

Hopefully the ice and cold temps wont affect the shuttle but time will tell. Ice at the Cape is a very rare sight.

[deja vu]

5 days 15 hours and counting:

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, prelaunch activities are in full swing this week with the official launch countdown to space shuttle Endeavour's STS-130 mission set to begin at 2 a.m. EST Feb. 4. Teams at Launch Pad 39A will be packing the astronauts' spacesuits into Endeavour today.

Meanwhile, the six STS-130 crew members who will fly to the International Space Station entered quarantine yesterday and now are on a sleep schedule to match their evening and overnight work hours during the mission. They will conduct final integrated ascent training in the motion base simulator today at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and will be flying to Kennedy tomorrow night.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... index.html


If the leaky pipe in Launch Control is the only glitch they will be lucky.

[Rhet-or-Ric]

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Cold weather and a shuttle launch bring back very bad memories.



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[alohasand]

Rhet-or-Ric, you are referring to a past mission where freezing was known to be on the shuttle or launch pad.

While NASA could practically put off the shuttle launch until weather is much better, the other side of the mission is who on the ISS is ready to go home or are supplies low on-board the ISS (i.e. food or plumbing equipment)?

[Rhet-or-Ric]

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January 28, 1986 >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shut ... r_disaster



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[deja vu]

Commander George Zamka will lead the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour. Terry Virts will serve as the pilot. Mission Specialists are Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Stephen Robinson and Kathryn Hire. Virts will be making his first trip to space.

Shuttle Endeavour and its crew will deliver to the space station a third connecting module, the Italian-built Tranquility node and the seven-windowed cupola, which will be used as a control room for robotics. The mission will feature three spacewalks.

Liftoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is scheduled for February 7, 2010, at 4:39 a.m. EST


http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... index.html


Weather seems to be cooperating so far, but weather in Florida can change with the snap of the fingers.

[deja vu]

Managers officially have scheduled space shuttle Endeavour's next launch attempt for Monday, Feb. 8 at 4:14 a.m. EST.

The Mission Management Team will meet at 6:15 p.m. Sunday to give the "go" to fill Endeavour's external fuel tank with propellants. Tank loading would begin at 6:45 p.m.


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Mother Nature caused the glitch after all. Cloud cover will do it every time.

[deja vu]

Space shuttle Endeavour roars off Launch Pad 39A on its STS-130 mission to deliver Tranquility and cupola to the International Space Station.




"What a beautiful launch we had this morning... the orbiter performed extremely well," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, during the STS-130 postlaunch news conference. "This is a great start to a very complicated mission."

Jean-Jacques Dordain, European Space Agency director general, thanked NASA, the crew and the ground teams for "a very beautiful launch." Dordain said, "It was an important event. Even more important for us because the shuttle was full of European hardware."


http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... index.html

[deja vu]

While a new crew is welcomed to the Space Station, Nasa is busy with this:


The Atlas V roared to life Thursday morning to send the Solar Dynamics Observatory into space on its mission to evaluate the complex mechanisms of the sun. Liftoff came on-time at 10:23 a.m. EST from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Florida's Atlantic Coast.

The SDO spacecraft is in good shape midway through the launch phase that will eventually place it in an elongated orbit reaching more than 21,000 miles high. Eventually, SDO's orbit will be circularized and will reach about 22,300 miles in what is called geosynchronous orbit. From that altitude, the spacecraft will point its instruments at the sun and relay the readings instantly to a ground station in New Mexico. The research is expected to reveal the sun's inner workings by constantly taking high resolution images of the sun, collecting readings from inside the sun and measuring its magnetic field activity. This data is expected to give researchers the insight they need to eventually predict solar storms and other activity on the sun that can affect spacecraft in orbit, astronauts on the International Space Station and electronic and other systems on Earth.


http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/main/index.html

[pretzels]

The shuttle has a crack on it and a piece of something sticking out near a window. NASA was told to look at the shuttle carefully to see if there were any other issues.

Would like to see the crew return safely-their ride will get a good examination.