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Posted by: David May 31 2008, 02:33 PM

Discovery is currently being fueled on pad 39A.

Posted by: karolp May 31 2008, 03:42 PM

I've just read the press kit for STS-124 and it turns out that out of the 7 people going up, 5 are going into space for the very first time, with the other 2 having flown once and twice respectively - the commander has flown earlier twice as a pilot, and Mission Specialist-3 has flown once before. Also, the fuel tank used in this mission is the first redesigned version actually used after return to flight. The tanks used previously were fitted with modifications in the post-production process.

Posted by: Marz May 31 2008, 04:17 PM

Looks like they've saved the best module for last; Kibo's the largest and has compartments for exposing experiments to space.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/jem.html

The weather looks great too; clear skies and not too windy.

Posted by: ugordan May 31 2008, 04:23 PM

Where can one find the ground track map for launch? It appears it should pass right overhead for me so I thought about going out for a look.

Posted by: karolp May 31 2008, 05:12 PM

Hi ugordan,

Try:

http://heavens-above.com/?Loc=Zagreb&Lat=45.800&Lng=16.000&Alt=131&TZ=CET

After it launches. I have been using this service since 1999 and it is perfect not only for the shuttle but also for observing the ISS and other satellites.

Posted by: ugordan May 31 2008, 05:19 PM

Thanks, karolp. I use Heavens Above for ISS flyovers, but I wasn't sure how quickly STS orbits are input there.

Posted by: karolp May 31 2008, 05:45 PM

The orbit of Discovery is going to be very similar to that of the ISS since they are going to dock eventually :-) Therefore, even if the parameters are not there on time, assuming a flyover pattern similar to the station would be a pretty good guess.

Posted by: ugordan May 31 2008, 06:06 PM

Yes, but while ISS orbit is fixed in inertial space (more or less), its ground track is not. Earth is rotating underneath and two objects sharing same the same orbit with one trailing in its orbit will have different groundtracks. How much different depends on how long it takes for the trailing one to cross the separation.

Posted by: jmjawors May 31 2008, 06:17 PM

This is not entirely what you were asking for, but this is what I use when looking for overflights of STS/ISS:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html

Just plug in your location and voila!

(I'm not sure if http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/ will include the shuttle or not once it launches)

Posted by: Zvezdichko May 31 2008, 06:26 PM

Hmm... how are they going to relocate the logistic module? It's currently attached to Harmony, but in the final configuration it has to be attached to the main Kibo module. As far as I see, there are only three EVAs planned

Posted by: Marcel May 31 2008, 06:29 PM

I have been searching the web for typical trajectories of the space shuttle for a long time now.
Anyone knows where to find graphs showing height, downrange distance, speed, acceleration, weight, etc. in time during launch (until orbit insertion) ?

Posted by: jmjawors May 31 2008, 06:46 PM

I don't recall the exact timelines, but the logistics module will be closed up and relocated to its final location using the station's robotic arm. I am not sure if the EVA'ers will have to assist much with that task.

Marcel, I'm sure such documentation exists somewhere, but I don't know where you might find it. The commentators on NASA TV do read off that info during their coverage of launch, though.

Posted by: Zvezdichko May 31 2008, 06:56 PM

Thank you. I suppose thy will just attach the arm to the module.

Posted by: Stu May 31 2008, 09:27 PM

WOW!!!!!!!!! Just saw the orbiter and ET flying in formation thru the sky over kendal... ET very distinctive orange colour, orbiter blue-white, less than a degree apart... sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet ;-)

Posted by: jmjawors May 31 2008, 09:27 PM

Successful launch!

Posted by: Zvezdichko May 31 2008, 09:32 PM

I saw a lot of debris falling away. Hope nothing struck the orbiter.

Posted by: mars loon May 31 2008, 09:36 PM

beautiful launch

a small piece of foam did strike the underbelly of the shuttle shortly after SRB sep.

clearly visible via the camera on the ET.

did not appear to strike the RCC panels on the wing leading edge

this is likely after the period of much concern, but will be an area of close, detailed investigation during the crew inspection

Posted by: stevesliva May 31 2008, 09:58 PM

Incidentally, they'll have to wait until they pick the boom system up at the station-- it wouldn't fit in the bay with Kibo. It's too bad there will likely be more concern on this launch.

Posted by: mars loon May 31 2008, 10:21 PM

At a NASA press conference on going at this moment, Bill Gerstenmaier just said "the foam strike is not of much concern". But off course they will check it throughly after picking up the OBSS at the ISS, during the back flip, etc

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 1 2008, 05:21 PM

TPS inspections are complete for today. They're having to make do without the OBSS (the sensor boom) for this inspection due to the size of Kibo.

Tomorrow we dock!

Posted by: Stu Jun 2 2008, 04:10 PM

For those who missed Saturday's http://youtube.com/watch?v=zcp684Qu8Ng...

Posted by: Stu Jun 2 2008, 04:52 PM

Discovery approaching ISS right now... gorgeous pix on NASA TV...

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/nasa/index.html

Posted by: alan Jun 2 2008, 05:06 PM

I notice the solar panels are still aligned differently on opposite ends of the station.
Anyone know when that is planned to be fixed?

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 2 2008, 05:38 PM

This is done on purpose to protect the arrays from docking and undocking vehicles. The Russian vehicles have their arrays 'feathered' as well right now, as are some of the radiators.

The overall SARJ issue (the massive joint that rotates the starboard array) has not yet been resolved, though. There will be an attempt to clean the joint during this docked mission, and work will continue beyond that throughout the year.

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 2 2008, 05:47 PM

Discovery is within 150 feet of docking. They are in an orbital night right now, but the features within the payload bay can be made out.

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 2 2008, 06:05 PM

Discovery has successfully docked to the ISS.

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 2 2008, 07:42 PM

And now with hatch opening the crews can finally come together.

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 3 2008, 02:32 PM

Today is the mission's first EVA. Tasks on hand:

• Release the straps from the Shuttle robotic arm elbow camera
• Transfer the OBSS from Station to Shuttle
• Inspect the starboard SARJ
• Reinstall trundle bearing assembly into the SARJ
• Demonstrate cleaning technique on SARJ
• Prepare Kibo for installation on Station

This EVA is scheduled to start in about an hour, and scheduled to last 6 1/2 hours.

Posted by: kspace Jun 3 2008, 04:22 PM

Has anyone else seen this article?

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/080602-sts124-pad39a-damage.html

or seen anymore pictures of the damage?

Of all the launches I have seen I have never seen damage to the pad like this. Could it just be the aging pad or was it the fact they were taking the larges element to the station? Would they have needed more power at liftoff because of Kibo's weight?

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 3 2008, 04:26 PM

They're trying to figure it out as we speak. The structure was old, initially built in the 60's. And Kibo is certainly a heavier payload, but not the heaviest payload even since return to flight.

But yeah, your assessment is pretty much the same as those close to the program. Never seen such damage before.

(edited to remove quote)

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 3 2008, 04:28 PM

EVA #1 has begun, just shy of one hour late. This spacewalk was delayed by a communications issue with one of the suits.

Posted by: kspace Jun 3 2008, 05:14 PM

Here is another article on that damage

httpwww.spaceflightnow.comshuttlests124080601pad

Posted by: dvandorn Jun 3 2008, 07:21 PM

I have no idea if this contributed to the pad damage, but I thought it quite noticeable that Discovery's rise off the pad was significantly slower than I'm used to seeing for a shuttle. I attributed it to the weight of Kibo, which IIRC is one of the heaviest payloads the shuttle has ever carried.

Could a fractional increase in the time it took for the stack to clear the pad have added enough stress to the flame diversion pits and the entire pad structure that damage you wouldn't have seen after a "regular" launch was caused by this one?

The flame trench, after all, has stood up to eleven Saturn V launches and countless (nearing 100) shuttle launches. Is it merely age and wear that finally got to it this time, I wonder, or a slightly more stressful launch sequence?

-the other Doug

Posted by: ugordan Jun 3 2008, 07:39 PM

It didn't look that much slower to me. The Saturns took forever to get off the pad on the other hand. I'd say this is just age doing its thing.

Posted by: nprev Jun 3 2008, 08:53 PM

I agree. Aging infrastructure problems rear their ugly head again. Whatever sort of mortar or adhesive that held the bricks together looks like it finally gave up the ghost.

Posted by: BPCooper Jun 3 2008, 10:10 PM

The difference between a 32,000 lbs module or even having an empty payload bay has little effect on 7.5 million lbs of thrust.

This was not even the heaviest ISS piece taken up by the shuttle, remember.

Posted by: lyford Jun 4 2008, 01:10 AM

And looked so much the more awesome for it

Posted by: Stu Jun 4 2008, 05:28 AM

NASA TV currently showing some very cool footage of Kibo being unberthed from Discovery...

(Don't know if it's live or not; I just got up and that's what they're showing...)

Edit: ah. Obviously not live as they're now showing something else. Oh well, still great pics

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 4 2008, 01:41 PM

That was from the 'flight day highlights' video package they air during the crew's sleep period, and showed part of the installation of Kibo. Today we get our first peek inside.

Posted by: ilbasso Jun 4 2008, 01:47 PM

OK, I have to say something about Karen Nyberg's hair. As a red-blooded male, I'm 100% in favor of long blonde hair, but hers looks kinda dangerous floating around in microgravity! I have seen Dr. Nyberg tie her hair back or put it up on a few of the inflight videos, but I'm watching it float all over the place again this morning. Wouldn't you think that would create some horrendous tangles? I remember that Judith Resnick's hair actually got caught in the IMAX camera on an early Shuttle mission.

OK, got that out of my system.

Posted by: lyford Jun 4 2008, 02:54 PM

Well, no one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrdMuRkwgWE for long locks....
Would she be a member of the http://improbable.com/category/lfhcfs-hair-club/

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 4 2008, 03:59 PM

Installation of the air pump into the station toilet is complete, and after several test runs appears to be working just fine now.

Posted by: MahFL Jun 4 2008, 04:55 PM

".....ahhhhhhh....." sounds from the Station......

Posted by: dvandorn Jun 4 2008, 05:11 PM

True, this was not the heaviest Shuttle to launch. If I'm remembering correctly, the heaviest stack at liftoff wasn't even an ISS msission -- that honor goes to the flight that launched Hubble. Again, IIRC.

However, um... I thought the Shuttle stack generated a total of about 6.5 million lbs of thrust (or whateve the heck that is in Newtons) at liftoff, roughly 2.5 million per SRB and a total of 1.5 million for the three SSMEs. The Saturn V developed a design spec of 7.5 million, and with the F-1 engines uprated slightly (higher fuel and oxidizer flows) for the J missions, could be made to generate 7.7 million.

A difference of 20,000 or 30,000 lbs payload weight would, I would think, have a perceptible impact on the initial climb rate, though. Remember, we're not talking using 6.5 million lbs of thrust to lift just that payload -- the Shuttle stack itself at liftoff, without payload, weighs something on the order of 6 million lbs. It's the overage between the thrust and the liftoff weight that determines rate of climb. The Saturn V weighed more than 7 million lbs at liftoff, the overage of thrust to weight was less than you get with the Shuttle, hence the slower climb-off.

-the other Doug

Posted by: dvandorn Jun 4 2008, 05:13 PM

Good. I was concerned that the meet-and-greet after hatch opening Monday was going to consist of Volkov saying "Hello, welcome to Alpha. Now get out of the way, we need to use your toilet!"



-the other Doug

Posted by: ugordan Jun 4 2008, 05:27 PM

30 000 lbs in 6 000 000 is 0.5% mass difference. The initial acceleration differs from the empty stack acceleration by about 1%. By the time the Shuttle normally clears the tower, it changes acceleration much more than that due to weight lost to expelled propellant - if my quick back-of-the envelope calculation is right, 30 000 lbs is about the amount of mass burned by two SRBs alone in about 2 seconds, based on average consumption rate.

I'd personally say the perceived acceleration of a launch vehicle at liftoff is inversely proportional to the amount of excitement of the observer.

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 4 2008, 05:47 PM

It may have!

Posted by: dvandorn Jun 4 2008, 06:05 PM

And there, my friend, you have an excellent point. I should also note that Discovery took off, cleared the tower, and immediately rolled onto a northern heading, which is not the most common heading for an ISS mission. Could be that the pitch onto the preplanned flight path, from the camera angle I was watching, gave the optical illusion of the slowing of the stack's rise when nothing of the sort was actually happening.

-the other Doug

Posted by: djellison Jun 4 2008, 06:21 PM

You may jest - but there was a great 'home movie' style downlink during hatch opening. I could swear I heard someone say 'wow - can you smell it?' when the hatch opened, and literally within 2 minutes of going onboard, they told the ISS crew that the STS toilet was ready for them to use.

Doug

Posted by: ugordan Jun 4 2008, 06:41 PM

Speaking of camera angles, there was a great shot of Discovery eclipsing the Sun for one of the cameras at about the time the commentator says "man-made rising sun". It was pretty neat.

Posted by: climber Jun 4 2008, 08:04 PM

What did Reisman said after ringing the bell? ??? arriving!

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 4 2008, 08:04 PM

Discovery.

Posted by: climber Jun 4 2008, 08:45 PM

I know, I know, I was joking (better say, I tried to)

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 4 2008, 08:52 PM

Oooh... sorry. I didn't pick up on that.

Awaiting reestablishment of Ku communications for Kibo ingress. Going to look awfully big inside of there.

Posted by: climber Jun 4 2008, 08:57 PM

Sorry, I've got to get ouside since ISS is coming in 5 minutes with a -2.5 magnitude

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 4 2008, 09:03 PM

"The JPM is open!"

Posted by: dvandorn Jun 4 2008, 09:05 PM

Yeah, they said it's open, but the hatch is still closed.

They do have the camera inside Kibo operating, though. Very, very empty-looking module at the moment.

Now the hatch is open. We're in business!

-the other Doug

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 4 2008, 09:08 PM

View from a camera on the opposite end of the JPM, watching the ingress.

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 4 2008, 09:14 PM

Full ingress has occurred.

Posted by: stevesliva Jun 4 2008, 10:12 PM

Wow, when do they fill all of that empty rackspace?!

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 4 2008, 10:48 PM

I'm not sure the answer to that. Over the course of this docked mission there will be *some* racks moved in: definitely from the JLM and possibly from Destiny (though I'm not sure about that one. All I know is that the US owns some of the rack space in Kibo).

Someone was kind enough to put the ingress video on YouTube:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qK2bdrS7E8]

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 4 2008, 10:53 PM

Speak of the devil...

Racks being moved into Kibo now. The JLM was launched with 8 racks, and those are being relocated to the JPM. The JPM has a 23 rack capacity, though, so I imagine the rest will be coming up slowly over the subsequent shuttle flights, ATV flights (maybe?) and HTV flights when they start.

Posted by: stevesliva Jun 5 2008, 01:50 AM

I went googling, and there is some good info on Kibo's planned racks here:
http://kibo.jaxa.jp/en/experiment/

It'll have an aquarium

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 5 2008, 02:00 AM

A weightless aquarium? That would be interesting.

Posted by: Thu Jun 5 2008, 02:48 AM

This is soooooooooooo funny

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 5 2008, 03:38 AM

Just got a little more info on the racks. Four were launched inside the module, with eight being transfered from the JLM. Obviously that's 12 total, and we're more than halfway to its capacity already.

Posted by: djellison Jun 5 2008, 06:35 AM

The ATV can't do racks - because it docks to the Russian side, and the russian hatches are smaller than a full rack - you've got to dock to one of the large US hatches, so it'll be via MPLM's, or possibly HTV, or possibly Dragon.

Posted by: elakdawalla Jun 5 2008, 06:47 AM

Doug, what the heck are you doing up? Oh. Right. I've gone and worked late enough that it's your morning

--Emily

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 5 2008, 03:01 PM

You're absolutely right, for all the reasons you gave. I knew there was something that felt not right about the ATV bringing up US racks when I typed it. Thanks for setting me straight.

Today is EVA #2, and as I write the airlock is being depressurized. On tap today are:

• Installation of TV equipment on the exterior of Kibo
• Prepare Kibo's robotic arm for its first deployment
• Prepare Kibo's berthing port for the relocation of the JLM
• Further outfitting of Kibo's exterior
• Prepare a Nitrogen tank assembly for replacement
• Remove a truss TV camera, to be brought inside and repaired

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 6 2008, 12:50 AM

EVA #2 concluded after about 7 hours and 11 minutes today. All the planned tasks were completed, and additionally the port SARJ was inspected. The point of this activity was to compare/contrast this healthy SARJ with the damaged one.

There was some unexpected grease seen in this SARJ, but apparently that isn't raising any concerns for the engineers on the ground... at least not at this point.

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 6 2008, 02:32 AM

Buzz Lightyear makes his appearance on the flight deck of Discovery:

Posted by: David Jun 6 2008, 12:24 PM

What's Buzz's assignment in the crew? Payload specialist maybe? Or is he going to be a long-term visitor to the ISS?

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 6 2008, 03:27 PM

Looks like Buzz is a station crew member.

[http://www.livescience.com/blogs/author/tariqmalik/]

Posted by: nprev Jun 6 2008, 03:35 PM

...gotta admit, that's just cute as hell!!!

Potentially, that's great outreach for the very young. My daughter made me carry around a Ken doll for about two years when she was 4-5, loved nothing more then to "play Barbies". Hopefully, the parents of young children are getting the word about Buzz.

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 6 2008, 08:11 PM

The JLM has been relocated from the zenith port of Harmony to its final home attached to the JPM. No word yet on how instrumental Buzz Lightyear's assistance was to the success of this operation.

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 8 2008, 02:37 PM

Video: http://mfile.akamai.com/18566/wmv/etouchsyst2.download.akamai.com/18355/wm.nasa-global/STS-124/buzz2buzz.asx

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 10 2008, 08:13 PM

The docked mission of Discovery and ISS has come to a close. The two crews said goodbye to each other a few minutes ago. All objectives were completed along with a good amount of get ahead work.

Undocking will occur tomorrow morning and will be followed by the standard inspection, this time with the sensor boom (OBSS).

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 11 2008, 02:37 PM

Discovery successfully undocked from the ISS this morning. Such a dramatic difference between what the station looks like today and what it looked like a year ago!

Posted by: djellison Jun 11 2008, 03:05 PM

As a European, I feel a bid inadequate looking at the ISS like that now - it's very lop-sided

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 11 2008, 03:07 PM

Don't forget about the Jules Verne, docked to the Russian segment.

Posted by: ilbasso Jun 13 2008, 02:13 PM

You don't like to see pieces of your spacecraft floating away...hopefully this is in an area that will neither be subject to high heat loads or will affect steering once in the atmosphere. Maybe it was something floating out of the payload bay. Looking forward to more news on this:

"After completing a standard day-before-landing test of the shuttle steering jets, the crew indicated they had seen a one-foot- to 1.5-foot-long rectangular object floating away from the shuttle from behind the rear portion of the right wing. Shortly afterwards, the crew described what they called a "bump" on the left side trailing edge of Discovery's rudder. Experts on the ground are examining images and video of the object and the "bump" while the crew continues to stow items in the cabin for Saturday's planned landing."

Posted by: kspace Jun 13 2008, 03:15 PM

Based on preliminary examination of photos taken this morning showing a piece of debris floating away from the space shuttle Discovery, NASA mission managers think it will pose no threat to the shuttle.

"[It's not] considered to be a critical item… So far it doesn’t appear to pose any concern for the safe return of the astronauts to the Kennedy Space Center tomorrow," said NASA commentator Rob Navias.

Mission managers also think the small protuberance that was seen on the rudder this morning is a small piece of thermal insulation associated with that clip. They also think this is unlikely to cause problems for the shuttle landing.

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 13 2008, 03:21 PM

The initial assessment is that it's a thermal clip from the Rudder Speed Brake, and is of no impact for landing. Of course their analysis is still ongoing...

Posted by: Toma B Jun 13 2008, 09:16 PM

Finally!!!
These "fly around" images are usually posted sooner but here they are:
7 lovely images....
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-124/html/s124e009968.html
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-124/html/s124e009973.html
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-124/html/s124e009982.html
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-124/html/s124e009990.html
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-124/html/s124e010006.html
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-124/html/s124e010013.html
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-124/html/s124e010042.html

Beautiful isn't she?

Posted by: Shaka Jun 13 2008, 11:19 PM

Do I see a pair of jet contrails far below between the ends of Columbus and the adjacent radiator array?

Posted by: ugordan Jun 13 2008, 11:21 PM

Far too large to be a plane. Looks like a reflection in the window to me. There's a third "trail", parallel to the two ones and a bit to above and left.

Posted by: Shaka Jun 14 2008, 01:18 AM

I was thinking of a pair of fighters in loose formation, but I'll admit the reflection is a possibility.

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 14 2008, 01:30 AM

There are window reflections in a lot of photos from the shuttle. That's undoubtedly what you're seeing (I see it too).

Posted by: Stu Jun 14 2008, 06:54 AM

Absolutely. No doubt about it. A much-maligned lady.

Posted by: nprev Jun 14 2008, 03:18 PM

Down and safe, an entirely unremarkable landing...just like we like them! Welcome home, Discovery.

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 14 2008, 03:24 PM

Agreed. A great two weeks for Discovery and the ISS. Next up for her is the delivery of the last set of solar array wings to station. But next up for us is Atlantis and the Hubble Servicing Mission!

Posted by: jmjawors Jun 14 2008, 07:37 PM

A parting shot of Discovery as she is towed back to the OPF to begin processing for STS-119.