Category: launch

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RSS rotating after shuttle launch scrub

After the shuttle launch scrub on December, 6th, the rotating service structure has been rotated back. This is done both to protect space shuttle Atlantis from the weather and also to allow technicians access to it. Troubleshooting is currently in progress and the next launch attempt is no earlier than Saturday, December, 8th.

And this one is from a slightly different perspective:

The animations were created from public NASA webcam images. To start the animations, you must press the (small…) play button on the lower left! I also have a higher resolution version at my personal web site. If you are interested in details, these are probably the ones you would like to look at.

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press conference postponed

The after-MMT press conference is now postponed to no earlier than 5pm ET. I suspect it will not be the last time it is postponed…

And now (4:50p) it is postponed until 5:30p.

Update 5:30p: now NASA TV states shuttle launch postponement conference no earlier than 6pm ET … OK, folks, its getting to late for me (11:30p over here). I think the MMT meeting will continue to run for quite a while. If I may guess, I think we will not see a shuttle launch tomorrow (hopefully by expressing that, we actually will have a shuttle launch tomorrow ;)).

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Shuttle Launch on Friday?

A number of folks have asked me if space shuttle Atlantis will launch on Friday. While there is a chance for a December, 7th shuttle launch, nothing solid is yet known. We need to wait until the 4pm ET press conference. In the mean time, please be sure to read my posting about the latest official NASA briefing. And, of course it is better to scrub a shuttle launch attempt than to risk crew and vehicle in a situation where launch parameters are not within set limits.

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STS-122 Launch Scrub Press Conference…

Actually, it was a quick status briefing and not a press conference. There is not yet much information, so they had not to tell a lot. The scrub of Atlantis STS-122 launch attempt on December, 6th has been confirmed once again. Neither Atlantis nor Columbus, its primary payload, will launch into space today. The next launch attempt will be no earlier than tomorrow, but may be farther delayed.

The problem is related to two ECO sensors which had invalid readings. This type of problem is typically discovered late in the countdown, while tanking (that same type of problem prevented me from seeing the STS-115 launch in 2006…). There are four of these sensors.

Space Shuttle ECO Sensor during Testing.
ECO Sensors in a Test Setting
Troubleshooting is currently underway. They will send out an inspection team to do a quick evaluation of the external tank status. This will take around an hour and a half. There is a technical meeting at noon, where options will be discussed. At 2pm, there is a mission management team meeting, which will decide on how to continue forward. A press conference on the outcome of that meeting is expected no earlier than 4pm.

The firing room guys will work on a routine that provides a 24-hour turnaround. From their point of view, a December, 7th launch is a possibility. However, it is yet uncertain if it is also a possibility when looking at the big picture. So if the missing management team gives a “go” for Saturday, this can be done. If that would be the case, the launch attempt will be at 4:09pm tomorrow (each attempt is roughly 30 minutes earlier than the previous one).

Space Shuttle Atlantis sitting at the Pad after the December, 6th launch scrub.
Atlantis sitting at the Pad after the December, 6th launch scrub

STS-122 unfortunately has a very narrow launch window. It extends just 7 days and possibly one more day if the mission duration is shortened by one day. Even more unfortunate, NASA was hoping for a two-day mission extension to help troubleshoot solar array problems on the international space station.

I will post any updates when I receive them. But I guess I won’t have much more solid information before the end of the 4pm press conference. BTW: all times are EST.

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Atlantis launch may be delayed just one day

On the press conference, the firing room just said that from their point of view a 24 hour launch delay is possible. But that doesn’t mean that this will be the actual decision from an overall point of view.

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STS-122 officially scrubbed at 9:56a ET

NASA home page states:

Dec. 6, 10 a.m. EST: Official scrub came at 9:56 a.m. EST. An update is forthcoming on NASA TV.

I’ll be watching the NASA press conference as soon as it starts (it was scheduled for 4:30p, now it is 4:36, but it hasn’t started yet).

While it is now clear that Atlantis will not reach space today (nor will the Columbus lab module), it is unclear when the next launch attempt will be. Some say December, 7th, other speculate whether or not this will need repairs that can’t be done in the STS-122 launch window.

Press conference just begun…

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ECO Sensors…

Space Shuttle ECO Sensor during Testing.Have you heard the term ECO sensor? If you care about space shuttle launches, you probably have. These are the Engine CutOff sensors. They are in the external tank and should prevent the main engines to run dry in a failure mode (that could lead to vehicle destruction). In essence, they simply indicate if the tank is empty or not (much like the tank gauge in your car, but “a bit” more high tech).

The ECO sensors are known problem sources and are responsible for more than one launch scrub. In recent launches, however, they worked quite well. So we hope that this won’t be a problem for Atlantis STS-122 launch. If there is a problem, it would be detected some time around now, during tanking. Then, test commands are sent to check all sensors out.

An additional problem with the ECO sensors is that if they are faulty, they can not be quickly accessed for repair. The reason is that that they in the external tank, not accessible. Thus, as far as I know, there was always a waiver to launch with the problem, if there were one. However, I think this is possible only if there is at most one sensor failing.

I have now also written an in-depth article about the space shuttle’s ECO sensors. If you like some details and cool facts, I suggest reading it ;)

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Rotating Service Structure retracted for Launch!

Over the night, the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) has been rotated away from space shuttle Atlantis to get it ready for its STS-122 mission launch.

The rotating service structure is retracted to support the launch of space shuttle Atlantis.

The RSS is used for servicing the shuttle prior to launch. Tonight’s retraction was the final one in support for today’s launch to the international space station ISS. I created the animation based on public NASA webcam imaginary, which I animated later. The difference in retraction speed may either be actual small holds or just an artifact of NASA webcam updates (sometimes an update is missing). I have polled pictures once every minute. The whole retraction took roughly 50 minutes.

The retraction was originally scheduled for around 8pm ET and begun at almost that time. This, plus the absence of any bad news, makes me believe we still have a flawless processing flow for STS-122. The weather also still looks excellent, so I expect Atlantis to roar into space in about 13 and a half hours from now!

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Launch Photography through a Telescope?

Do you remember Colin Ake? He is a fellow astronomer and STS-120 launch viewer. And he did a superb job at taking launch pictures:

Even though I did not notice that when I was at the causeway, Colin must have been quite close to my own location. So how come he could take such an up-close picture? Did he use professional camera equipment? Not at all. Being an astronomer, Colin had a Celestron C8 telescope right at hand:

Taking photographs through a scope is challenging. Taking photographs through a hand-held scope is outstanding! I am deeply impressed by the quality of Colin’s pictures.

I got some comments from Colin when I mentioned him in my “up-close picture taking” post. We exchanged a few comments and I was pleased that Colin offered me to show his pictures. I have taken a few from his site and moved them to my own server because I always like to make sure the images I reference will exist as long as my post (being an old web hack, I’ve had to many problems with changing URLs). Unfortunately, it took me some time to do it – much more than I anticipated. I hope Colin doesn’t mind…

If you would like to have a look at the full set, please visit Colin’s picture gallery. I highly recommend that!

Below, I have reproduced some of the shots that I like most: