NASA finds faulty seal after delayed shuttle launch

CAPE CANAVERAL: A potentially dangerous hydrogen leak that forced NASA to cancel last week’s launch of space shuttle Discovery may have been due to a misaligned seal, a NASA spokesman said on Thursday.

“They’re analyzing the flight seal, which they found wasn’t properly aligned,” NASA spokesman Allard Beutel wrote in an e-mail to Reuters.

NASA called off its planned Nov. 5 launch of Discovery on a mission to deliver a storage room, spare parts and a prototype humanoid robot to the International Space Station when gaseous hydrogen began leaking from a vent line as the spaceship was being fueled for flight.

After the scrub, NASA discovered a large crack in the insulating foam on the shuttle’s fuel tank, which likely would have canceled the launch if the leak had not been discovered.

The crack, initially believed to be about 7 inches long, turned out to

NASA greenlights launch of shuttle Discovery

CAPE CANAVERAL : NASA gave the go-ahead for the launch of the Discovery space shuttle mission to the orbiting International Space Station, after a close study of the latest electrical glitch.

The decision Wednesday to go ahead with the launch attempt came despite concerns about poor weather around the time of launch window, with only 20 percent chance of favorable conditions, so mission managers set another meeting to evaluate the weather early Thursday.

The flight to the orbiting ISS is the fourth and final shuttle flight of the year, and the last scheduled for Discovery, the oldest in the three-shuttle fleet that is being retired in 2011.

“Managers will proceed with Discovery’s launch attempt tomorrow and will meet again at 5:30 am (0930 GMT) to evaluate the weather” at launch time, which is set for 1929 GMT on Thursday (3:29 pm).

If the weather

NASA delays end of space shuttle program to 2011

CAPE CANAVERAL, USA: NASA’s space shuttle program will keep going until next year.

Read more:
NASA delays end of space shuttle program to 2011

US shuttle Atlantis blasts off for final mission

The US space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on its final mission, carrying six astronauts to the International Space Station. The 32nd and final voyage for Atlantis, first launched in 1985, would take six astronauts to the orbiting space research facility, delivering an integrated cargo carrier and a Russian built mini research module.
Based on current plans, Atlantis’s launch would be one of the last three missions of National Aeronautics & Space Administration’s shuttle program due to be mothballed at the end of the year. Only two more shuttle launches remain: one in September for Discovery and the final blast off for Endeavour in November.

Nasa:Space Shuttle Can Fly Beyond 2010, If Money is There

WASHINGTON : The US space shuttle fleet can continue flying beyond Nasa’s September 30 deadline if the money is made available to keep it going, a US space agency official told reporters on Tuesday.

“I think the real issue that the agency and the nation has to address is the expense,” said Space Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon, noting the shuttle fleet costs the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 200 million dollars per month to maintain it in working condition.

“Where that money comes from is the big question,” he added.

Shannon’s briefing was about Nasa’s April 5 Discovery mission to the orbiting International Space Station (ISS), one of three shuttle flights remaining before the program is shut down at the end of September after 29 years of service.

Several lawmakers have recently urged the shuttle program be extended to reduce US dependency on Russia’s Soyuz spacecrafts in order to continue building the ISS until the shuttle’s successor can take off by 2015 at the earliest.

Taking up her colleagues’ concerns, Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison last week presented a bill calling for extending the shuttle program beyond its termination deadline.

On presenting his 2011 budget plan in January, US President Barack Obama confirmed the shuttle fleet’s demise this year, as well as dropping the Constellation program his predecessor George W. Bush announced in 2004 to return Americans to the moon by 2020.

Constellation included the development of the Ares 1 rocket, and its abandonment has also put into question the feasibility of the shuttle’s successor spacecraft.

Obama also asked Nasa to partner with the private sector, using funds from an economic stimulus package to develop low-cost, primary services transporting astronauts to the ISS.

US Space Shuttle Endeavour On Its Way Back

Astronauts from the US space shuttle Endeavour have said their farewells to the crew of the International Space Station, after more than a week on the orbiting outpost.
The hatches between the shuttle and the space station were closed early Friday, ahead of Endeavour’s departure. Earlier, the combined crews celebrated the latest addition to the space station with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, dedicating the Tranquility observation deck and its observation dome. The US space agency NASA says the crews left a moon rock that was carried to the summit of Mount Everest by a former astronaut. Tranquility and the dome were installed during the current shuttle mission. Endeavour is scheduled to land Sunday night at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Thanks for your comments

---

US Space Shuttle Endeavour On Its Way Back was first posted on February 20, 2010 at 12:34 pm.

Endeavor launch

TrendPK.com The National Aeronautics and Space Administration television is airing the space shuttle known to all as the Endeavor launch as it occurs, from the very own National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s internet site. The airing of the occurant Endeavor launch as well characterizes up some live commenting by the commentators as [...]

Space Shuttle Challenger

Space Shuttle Challenger, While it has been 24 years since the Challenger space shuttle explosion shocked the nation, many locals remember the event like it was yesterday.The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members.

The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida, United States, at 11:38 a.m. EST (16:39 UTC).In addition to the thousands present at the launch pad, millions of Americans tuned in to radio and TV programs to witness the start of the historical voyage.

The disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the shuttle program and the formation of the Rogers Commission, a special commission appointed by United States President Ronald Reagan to investigate the accident. The Rogers Commission found that NASA’s organizational culture and decision-making processes had been a key contributing factor to the accident.

---

Space Shuttle Challenger was first posted on January 28, 2010 at 9:08 pm.

China vows ‘all-out efforts’ to rescue hijacked ship

China on Tuesday said rescue operations were under way for the crew of a Chinese coal ship that was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters in Beijing that his government had “actively started rescue operations” for the ship, which has a crew of 25. He declined to give details but observers said they expected the issue to be resolved diplomatically. Ma added that China had issued a warning to its citizens in or travelling to the area. China sent three warships to Somali waters late last year with great fanfare, after a ship carrying oil to China was attacked by pirates. But Chinese warships, like those of other nations, primarily provide protection in the narrow and dangerous Gulf of Aden, not in the much larger Indian Ocean. Ships travelling up the east coast of Africa are advised to stay at least 600 nautical miles offshore, Chinese shippers said.

The De Xin Hai, carrying about 76,000 tonnes of coal from South Africa to the port of Mundra, in Gujarat, India, was hijacked about 700 nautical miles off the east coast of Somalia on Monday, the European Union’s counter-piracy force said.

---

China vows ‘all-out efforts’ to rescue hijacked ship was first posted on October 20, 2009 at 11:01 pm.

Ares I-X rocket ready to launch

NASA’s new Ares rocket started its slow journey to the launch pad in Florida on Tuesday. The Ares I-X rocket left the vehicle assembly building early on Tuesday morning standing on a slow-moving crawler-transporter headed for Launch Pad 39-b at the Kennedy Space Center.

Moving at a top speed of 0.8 miles per hour, the re-scheduled deployment will take approximately seven hours to cover the 4.2 miles to the pad. The rollout of Ares I-X was set originally for Monday, however during testing on October 14, engineers detected a nitrogen gas leak in an accumulator located in the aft skirt of the rocket. The accumulator, which absorbs hydraulic pressure spikes as the system operates, was replaced and successfully retested. NASA management is assessing what effect, if any, this delayed rollout will have on the targeted launch date. The 327-foot rocket is scheduled to lift off on October 27 for its first suborbital test flight.

NASA officials will use this flight to gauge flight characteristics, examine hardware and observe ground operations associated with the launch. The Ares will carry no payload during this first flight.

If the U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration gives the green light to the Ares programme, the rocket is expected to replace the Space Shuttle payload system and could begin carrying astronauts and equipment to the International Space Station within five years, with plans to act as the delivery system for any manned lunar attempts or further space exploration.

---

Ares I-X rocket ready to launch was first posted on October 21, 2009 at 12:00 am.

Next Page »