Nasa Shuttle Launch
April 20, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under Technology
Nasa Shuttle Launch, All systems are go for the NASA space shuttle Discovery launch due at 6:21 a.m
. ET today. The Easter Monday launch is apparently progressing smoothly after the external fuel tanks were filled yesterday in preparation. The weather forecast appears to be good so far although there are some reports of fog due.
The lift-off will be from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Discovery crew will be made up of 7 astronauts taking supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. There are 3 planned spacewalks for the 13-day mission, when the shuttle eventually arrives at the I.S.S. scheduled for Wednesday.
The return to Earth is scheduled for April 18 at 8:35 a.m. ET., after which there are only 3 more shuttle missions remaining. This mission is the first time that 4 women have been in space together with 3 on the shuttle crew, and one already at the I.S.S.
The space station is around nine tenths complete and is due to be finished in the next year. Will you be watching the launch? Will you be sad to see the end of the shuttle missions? Let us know your thoughts on this.
Nasa Shuttle Launch was first posted on April 5, 2010 at 4:51 pm.
Copyright @ A Pakistan News.Com
4 Women Flying On Space Shuttle Discovery
April 20, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under Technology
Three women are flying aboard space shuttle Discovery.
With another female astronaut awaiting them at the International Space Station, that makes for a record-setting four women in space at the same time.
Discovery launched into space at 6:21 am EDT (1021 GMT) in a pre-dawn launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center here carrying seven astronauts and vital supplies toward the International Space Station.
Three of seven astronauts on Discovery are women. They include former high school teacher Dorothy “Dottie” Metcalf-Lindenburger, robotic arm expert Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki, the second Japanese woman ever to reach space.
Rounding out the female space quartet is chemist-turned-astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, who is living on the International Space Station after arriving at the orbiting laboratory on Sunday.
The four female spaceflyers will meet up on Wednesday to form the largest gathering of women in space in history. Discovery’s flight is only the third in NASA history to launch with three female crew members aboard. There are still more men than women in space today, with nine men (four on Discovery, five on the space station) currently in orbit.
4 Women Flying On Space Shuttle Discovery was first posted on April 7, 2010 at 10:24 am.
Copyright @ A Pakistan News.Com
Hydrogen Valve Glitch, Discovery Postponed
WASHINGTON: NASA was planning to launch the space shuttle Discovery early Friday after thunderstorms and a hydrogen fuel tank valve postponed two previous attempts.
The shuttle and its crew of seven astronauts were preparing for a 13-day mission to supply the orbiting International Space Station (ISS).
Ahead of the next planned launch attempt, engineers will evaluate a liquid hydrogen valve that became problematic when technicians began fueling Discovery on Tuesday, mission management team chairman Mike Moses told reporters.
It was the second scuttled launch in a 24-hour period. A first launch attempt early Tuesday was scrubbed due to stormy weather.
Moses said detailed test data about the valve would be examined before the shuttle’s fuel tank is filled with propellant ahead of the planned launch shortly after midnight.
If engineers cannot determine the exact nature of the problem or if the vlave must be replaced, he warned, “then we will probably not be in a position to launch 48 hours from now.”
Weather and hurricane risks could also prevent a Friday launch, he noted.
Discovery can blast off until about Sunday, after which any attempts would have to be postponed until mid-October due to scheduling conflicts.
US space agency officials said the problem valve cycles liquid oxygen from the external fuel tank to the shuttle’s main propulsion system, and technicians will attempt to fix it while Discovery remains at the launch pad, positioning it for a third launch attempt Friday at 12:22 am (0422 GMT).
The delays were a reminder of turbulence that surrounded the previous mission, when space shuttle Endeavour’s launch was postponed five times by weather woes and technical glitches.
The Discovery crew is scheduled to conduct three spacewalks of six and a half hours each during the mission.
A key task during the spacewalks will be to replace an old liquid ammonia coolant tank, which will be substituted with a new, 1,760-pound (800-kilogram) replacement brought aboard Discovery.
The new freezer will store samples of blood, urine and other materials that will eventually be taken back for study on the effects of zero-gravity.
The seven shuttle astronauts also will be retrieving experiment equipment from outside the ISS and returning it to Earth for processing.
A treadmill named after popular US comedy talkshow host Stephen Colbert will be the second aboard the ISS, where exercise is key for astronauts spending long periods of time in space because zero-gravity can result in muscle atrophy.
The shuttle flight is to be the first with two Hispanic astronauts: veteran mission specialist John “Danny” Olivas, 44, of El Paso, Texas, and space3 rookie Jose Hernandez, 47, of Stockton, California. Veteran European astronaut Christer Fuglesang, 52, of Sweden, is also among the crew.
Once the Discovery mission is complete, just six more shuttle flights remain before NASA’s three shuttles are retired in September 2010.
The ISS is a project jointly run by 16 countries at a cost of 100 billion dollars — largely financed by the United States.
Hydrogen Valve Glitch, Discovery Postponed was first posted on August 26, 2009 at 3:10 pm.
