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Bill’s Launch Viewing Report

I was very pleased to find a real nice personal report from Bill Rose in my mailbox. Many thanks for it Bill, much appreciated! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do:

We have long dreamed of seeing a shuttle launch and finally we are trying to do it. We left Philadelphia on Wednesday 5 December. Flights were delayed by a snowstorm. The airport ground crew passed the time by having snowball fights. After additional delay while our plane was de-iced, we finally left the northeastern United States and soon landed in Florida. It was 3 a.m. Thursday when the 5 of us (my wife and I, Grandma, and 2 girls ages 16 and 9) arrived at the hotel. We had phoned for causeway tickets about 20 minutes after they went on sale in October, but they sold out in 15 minutes. We plan to view the launch from Titusville.

We awoke Thursday morning and very soon learned of the fuel sensor problem. Given the past history of ECO sensors, and since two failed, we knew a scrub would occur, and soon it was official. Off we went to Sea World. What a great place! The Shamu show mixed environmentalism, patriotism, Hollywood, Las Vegas… – we loved it! The dolphins, manatees, sea lions and other creatures were a treat to see and, in some cases, touch.

Next launch attempt Saturday. We fly back to Philadelphia on Sunday night.

I hope that Bill and his family will be able to witness a great launch on Saturday! He also proves the point that a shuttle launch is a whole-family event ;) And, as I side-note, I too think that SeaWorld is the next great place to be right after Kennedy Space Center. Let me add one of my pictures to explain it:

If you yourself have an experience to share, please email me. I’d love to read your stories and share them. Maybe we can even build up a pool of launch viewing experiences!

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Trying to preserve extra EVA

Now I know why there is no tanking test today. CBS’ status report (a long reading with many details) provides the reason: it is to preserve the capability to do an extra EVA (“extravehicular activity”, also known as a “spacewalk”) on the STS-122 mission.

Each launch attempt draws at least a bit from the internal consumables. Let me quote the relevant part from CBS’s page:

In the meantime, NASA managers ruled out a fueling test Friday and decided instead to top off the shuttle’s onboard supply of liquid hydrogen to power the ship’s electricity producing fuel cells. That would permit launch attempts Saturday and Sunday and still provide enough on-board supplies for a two-day mission extension and the addition of a fourth spacewalk.

This makes an awful lot of sense if you take the problems with the international space station’s solar array rotary joint into account. While that poses no problem for Columbus, I think the Kibo module can not be attached (or at least not sufficiently be powered) if the SARJ issues has not been solved until then.

NASA is hoping for a two-day mission extension to do an extra spacewalk in support of the SARJ issue. However, this is only possible if consumables permit. Having full tanks on launch is a number one requirement to achieve that goal…

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STS-122 launch status Update…

After the scrub of yesterday’s launch attempt, space shuttle Atlantis will launch not earlier than Saturday, December, 8th 2007. However, even that date is under consideration.

The Rotating Service Structure is re-attached to Atlantis
The Rotating Service Structure is being reattached to Atlantis
As of the press briefing yesterday night, there were issues with two of the ECO sensors. This was known and expected. However, NASA also told that there were some anomalies with some other ECO sensors. So right now this looks like a much bigger issue than it originally appeared. I personally think the chance for a simple sensor error is weak – why then do we have these multiple failures? So the solution is probably somewhere in either electronics or their connection path to the sensors. And if that’s the case it is questionable if it can be fixed at the pad.

In the press conference, it was stated that today should be a tanking test. However, the RSS has been re-attached to Atlantis and I have been told that no tanking test can be done with the RSS attached. Whatever they do, there is only very limited ability to repair systems within the 48 hour scrub window.

Consequently, also stated on the press conference, the Saturday launch will most probably only happen if NASA finds rationale to fly with two dead sensors. If these two sensors consistently behave wrong and the other two work well, there might be good reason to fly as is. In my personal opinion, though, this is not likely, because the other sensors also seem not to work consistently.

In short words: the guessing game is open. I do not expect any more solid information until after today’s press conference, which is scheduled around 5pm ET.

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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…