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Topic: STS-118: Hurricane Dean shortens mission
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Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-18-2007 12:01 PM
Hurricane Dean as seen from the International Space Station. Overnight, NASA decided to shorten STS-118's fourth spacewalk, currently on-going, from the originally planned 6.5 hours to 4.5 hours so that the crew can close hatches between the station and shuttle at the end of the day today. That preserves the option to have Endeavour undock from the station on Sunday and prepare for a one day early landing on Tuesday in the event Hurricane Dean threatens the Houston area. It could allow an opportunity for the shuttle to land before Mission Control would be shut down in preparation for a storm. NASA will review the forecast for Dean and mission activities this afternoon during their daily meeting and assess whether they will continue to pursue a possible early undocking and landing. |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-18-2007 12:05 PM
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Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-18-2007 12:26 PM
This view, from a live camera inside the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (Building 9) at Johnson Space Center in Houston, shows full scale space shuttle cabins and payload bay trainers covered by protective tarps in advance of the possible arrival of Hurricane Dean. |
lunarrv15 Member Posts: 1355 From: Cincinnati, Ohio, Hamilton Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 08-18-2007 12:36 PM
couldn't the small mission control center at Huntsville, Alabama do the operation of monitoring the shuttle?when they were offering bus tour, this was one of the stops. They said this could be a back-up center if Houston is down.
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Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-18-2007 12:52 PM
There are two active mission controls at Houston: shuttle and ISS. If Johnson had to close as a result of the on-coming storm, the contingency plan is to send about two dozen shuttle controllers to Kennedy Space Center to stage mission operations out of one of the firing rooms in the launch control center. Primary control of the ISS would be transferred to the Russian Federal Space Agency's facility outside Moscow, while a back-up team of U.S. controllers would be staged outside Houston. |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-18-2007 03:42 PM
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Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-18-2007 04:36 PM
The new 'end-of-mission' for STS-118 is Tuesday, August 21. The primary factor that Hurricane Dean might play on the landing is whether NASA proceeds with the nominal plan — where typically the shuttle will try for a touchdown at Kennedy Space Center on the first day and then, as needed, the secondary landing sites at Edwards Air Force Base and White Sands will be called up on subsequent days — or, if the storm is directly threatening the Houston area, then all three sites will be active on Tuesday and the shuttle will land on Tuesday. If Dean is directly threatening Houston and if, for some reason, Endeavour cannot land on Tuesday, then the contingency plans to send mission control personnel to Florida will go into effect. To protect for a Tuesday landing, Endeavour will undock from the space station on Sunday morning just before 7:00 a.m. CDT. The ISS and shuttle crews separated into their respective vehicles this afternoon and the hatches between them were closed at 4:10 p.m. |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-18-2007 05:40 PM
Deorbit Opportunities for STS-118 (all times are CDT)Date | Orbit | Site | TIG | Landing | | | | | | Tue, Aug. 21 | 201 | KSC | 10:27 a.m. | 11:29 a.m. | | 202 | KSC | 12:03 p.m. | 1:04 p.m. | | 203 | EDW | 1:33 p.m. | 2:35 p.m. | | | NOR | 1:34 p.m. | 2:36 p.m. | | 204 | EDW | 3:08 p.m. | 4:10 p.m. | | | NOR | 3:10 p.m. | 4:12 p.m. | | 205 | EDW | 4:44 p.m. | 5:46 p.m. | Wed, Aug. 22 | 217 | KSC | 10:50 a.m. | 11:52 a.m. | | 218 | NOR | 12:22 p.m. | 1:24 p.m. | | | KSC | 12:26 p.m. | 1:27 p.m. | | 219 | EDW | 1:55 p.m. | 2:57 p.m. | | | NOR | 1:57 p.m. | 2:59 p.m. | | 220 | EDW | 3:31 p.m. | 4:33 p.m. | Thu, Aug. 23 | 232 | KSC | 9:38 a.m. | 10:40 a.m. | | 233 | KSC | 11:13 a.m. | 12:15 p.m. | | 234 | EDW | 12:43 p.m. | 1:45 p.m. | | | NOR | 12:45 p.m. | 1:46 p.m. | | 235 | EDW | 2:18 p.m. | 3:20 p.m. | | | NOR | 2:20 p.m. | 3:22 p.m. | | 236 | EDW | 3:55 p.m. | 4:56 p.m. | TIG = Time of Ignition for Deorbit Burn KSC = Kennedy Space Center EDW = Edwards Air Force Base NOR - Northrup Flight Strip (White Sands) |
Deorbit Timeline for the first KSC Landing Opportunity (if Tuesday landing) All times are CDT. 6:27 a.m. - Deorbit Prep begins 7:47 a.m. - Payload Bay Door closing 7:59 a.m. - Transition to Reentry Software (Ops 3) 9:03 a.m. - Donning ACES flight suits 9:27 a.m. - Seat ingress 9:40 a.m. - OMS Gimbal Check 9:54 a.m. - APU Prestart 10:09 a.m. - "Go-No Go" decision for deorbit burn 10:16 a.m. - Maneuver for deorbit burn attitude 10:27 a.m. - Deorbit burn 11:29 a.m. - KSC landing |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-18-2007 06:06 PM
Photographs of Hurricane Dean taken by the crew of STS-118: |
cspg Member Posts: 6210 From: Geneva, Switzerland Registered: May 2006
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posted 08-19-2007 12:54 AM
Strange clouds at the left of the Hurricane's eye...Chris. |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-19-2007 06:52 AM
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Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-19-2007 07:20 AM
Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station at 6:56 a.m. CDT today, ending an almost nine-day stay at the orbital outpost for the STS-118 crew. "Physical separation, Houston," confirmed pilot Charles "Scorch" Hobaugh. "MCC Houston, MCC Huntsville, MCC Moscow, Endeavor from ISS, Endeavour departing," radioed ISS 15 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, as he rang the space station's bell. "Thanks for everything Scott, Endeavour crew. Godspeed. I was proud to be a part of STS-118," said ISS 15 flight engineer Clay Anderson, who originally had been slated to fly to the station with Endeavour. "And Endeavour, have a good landing," said Oleg Kotov, flight engineer on the ISS 15 crew. "Thank you very much Scott and all Endeavour's crew and have a good trip, too," added Yurchikhin. "And say hello at home everybody from Moscow." "And to the ISS crew, we couldn't have gotten everything accomplished without you guys. We thank you very much. We look forward to seeing you back on planet Earth," replied STS-118 commander Scott Kelly. Undocking was moved up a day in preparation for landing on Tuesday. After backing 400 feet away from the station, the STS-118 crew will fire Endeavour’s engines for the separation engine burn at about 8:25 a.m. Later, the crew will conduct the post-docking heat shield inspection to make sure Endeavour is ready for landing. The seven astronauts will then enjoy some off duty time after their busy stay at the station. |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-19-2007 10:30 AM
Deorbit Opportunities for STS-118 (all times are CDT) Updated: August 19Date | Orbit | Site | TIG | Landing | | | | | | Tue, Aug. 21 | 201 | KSC | 10:25:12 a.m. | 11:32:23 a.m. | | 202 | KSC | 12:00:12 p.m. | 1:06:44 p.m. | | 203 | EDW | 1:30:42 p.m. | 2:37:03 p.m. | | | NOR | 1:31:57 p.m. | 2:38:12 p.m. | | 204 | EDW | 3:06:12 p.m. | 4:11:43 p.m. | | | NOR | 3:09:12 p.m. | 4:13:52 p.m. | | 205 | EDW | 4:43:42 p.m. | 5:48:34 p.m. | |
TIG = Time of Ignition for Deorbit Burn KSC = Kennedy Space Center EDW = Edwards Air Force Base NOR - Northrup Flight Strip (White Sands) |
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NavySpaceFan Member Posts: 655 From: Norfolk, VA Registered: May 2007
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posted 08-19-2007 11:32 AM
quote: Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: "MCC Houston, MCC Huntsville, MCC Moscow, Endeavor from ISS, Endeavour departing," radioed ISS 15 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, as he rang the space station's bell.
Good to hear the ISS's bell and "ENDEAVOUR, departing" during the undocking. A space shuttle mission is considered, by the Navy, as Command at Sea, and CDR Kelly has earned the honor of those bells! |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-19-2007 03:33 PM
Johnson Space Center will be open for normal operations on Monday. The local community is in "monitoring mode" but at this time, Hurricane Dean does not appear as if it will have a significant impact on the area. As such, NASA has decided to only call up the Kennedy Space Center and Edwards Air Force Base opportunities for a landing on Tuesday. The White Sands approaches identified earlier in this thread will not be used for the Aug. 21 attempts. Should Dean's current projected track prove true, NASA may also forgo a landing in California should weather at Kennedy Space Center not cooperate on Tuesday. Instead, Endeavour and her STS-118 crew would spend an additional day in space. |
OV-105 Member Posts: 816 From: Ridgecrest, CA Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 08-19-2007 08:53 PM
By the looks of the projected track of Dean, White Sands or Edwards could get a lot of rain a few days after land fall. With no hanger at both of those site it could make the trip back to FL a very heavy flight. The pictures of Dean remind me of the pictures of hurricane Elena pictures that the crew of STS 51-I took back in August of 1985.
Edited by OV-105 |
Jay Chladek Member Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
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posted 08-19-2007 10:45 PM
The mountains over western Mexico do tend to shread Hurricanes somewhat and it is very rare for a storm to do a full cross over the country. I don't think Edwards will get rained on. New Mexico on the otherhand might get some precipitation.In my own case, I have been pondering what might happen if Endeavour did come back to Edwards. As wet as it is in Texas and Oklahoma from all the rain (TS Erin not helping), the dice roll might again bring Offutt AFB into the picture for the cross country fuel stop. Really wishful thinking I know, but I had a fun time last month shooting pictures of Atlantis during its 1 day layover at Offutt AFB.
Edited by collectSPACE Admin |