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Author
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Topic: Shuttle's future had STS-107 landed safely
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Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 1508
From: Toms River, NJ,USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted July 12, 2007 12:03 PM
   
What was planned for the Shuttles post-STS 107, assuming that Columbia landed safely? Were the shuttles going to be, for that foreseeable future, used to supply and exchange crews on ISS or had a retirement date and a successor been planned at that point (and therefore, STS-107 sped up the shuttle's successor)? |
Ben
Member Posts: 1817
From: Daytona Beach, FL
Registered: May 2000
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posted July 12, 2007 02:58 PM
I don't think there was a definitive retirement date, but just priort to STS-107 the manifest went at least to about STS-145 (last one I can remember being listed). STS-120 was the farthest totally manifested flight coming up (which is why STS-121 was the number of the second RTF mission).Most of them were ISS flights but there were a couple of HST flights and an X-37 drop test mission out of Columbia's cargo bay. (Note, you probably know, that STS-118 was the next Columbia flight after 107 and its first ISS flight). I believe they even had HST retrieval listed as a probable future flight. But I am going by memory as best as I can from the manifest I had then. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 23493
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted July 12, 2007 03:50 PM
On March 19-20, 2003, NASA convened a summit for the Shuttle Life Extension Program at the Michoud Facility in New Orleans. The stated goal of the conference was: quote:
Assure that all critical assets are in place to safely and efficiently fly the Space Shuttle through at least the middle of the next decade.
This summit came before the findings of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and the decision to retire the shuttle fleet in 2020. In his foreword to the conference program, then NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe wrote: quote:
NASA is moving into a new era. We are looking forward to what our space transportation needs will be over the long term to support NASA’s entire mission. As we look to the next century of exploration, we will focus with renewed vigor on the challenges that lie before us and on developing unique capabilities that strengthen America while addressing our critical needs. We developed a new Integrated Space Transportation Plan (ISTP) that provides a roadmap for taking the next step in this journey. This roadmap more closely integrates the Space Station, Space Shuttle, and the planned Orbital Space Plane. It also calls for the Space Shuttle to fly safely and effectively through at least the middle of the next decade until we can field another means of sending humans into space. The SLEP is the means by which we will ensure that the Shuttle can continue to support this key goal, and that NASA can continue to fulfill its mission.
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Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 1508
From: Toms River, NJ,USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted July 12, 2007 04:01 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Ben:
I don't think there was a definitive retirement date, but just priort to STS-107 the manifest went at least to about STS-145 (last one I can remember being listed).
STS-145 would seem to make sense (145-118=27, which is about five or so years in the future, assuming five to six flights per year.) I was curious about post-107 plans because one of the Morton Thiokol booklets I have dated sometime in 1984 did a forecasted shuttle manifest to 1989, listing missions up to STS-91T (that's 20 shuttle missions a year from KSC!) and STS-12V (an additional 2 missions a year from VAFB).... |
astro-nut
Member Posts: 400
From: washington, Illinois USA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted July 15, 2007 04:24 PM
I hope my information will help answer your question about the future of the shuttle program if STS-107 had landed successfully. I had a full launch schedule that listed a lot of flights. I will have to locate the launch manifest in my office somewhere but from what I can remember it went like this:STS-114/ULF-1(ISS crew exchange)
STS-115/ISS-12A
STS-116/ISS-12A.1(ISS crew exchange)
STS-117/ISS-13A
STS-118/ISS-13A.1
STS-119/ISS-15A(ISS crew exchange)
STS-120/ISS-10A
STS-122/Hubble Space Telescope repair
STS-121/ISS-9A.1
STS-123/ISS-UF4(ISS crew exchange)
STS-124/ISS-1J/A
STS-125/ISS-1J
STS-126/ISS-UF3(ISS Crew exchange)
STS-127/ISS-1E
STS-128/Hubble Space Telescope repair
STS-129/ISS-2J/A
STS-130/ISS-UF5
STS-131/ISS-14A
STS-132/ISS-UF6
STS-133/ISS-20A
STS-134/ISS-16A
STS-138/ISS-UF7
STS-135/ISS-17A
STS-136/ISS-18A
STS-137/ISS-19A
STS-144/Hubble Space Telescope retrieval. Once I find the schedule I will post the rest, but this is what I can recall from it. I hope this information is useful to you all. Thank you. |
Ben
Member Posts: 1817
From: Daytona Beach, FL
Registered: May 2000
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posted July 15, 2007 04:56 PM
That looks very much as I remember it.I am sure, though, that they had a planned Columbia flight (a short one probably) to take up the X-37 and drop into the atmosphere. I seem to remember it as being STS-12X. X-37B was refitted to fly on an ELV and is going to be tested by Atlas 5 in a year two. |
robsouth
Member Posts: 551
From: West Midlands, UK
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted July 16, 2007 05:42 AM
Why dedicate an entire shuttle missing to retrieving the HST? |
kr4mula
Member Posts: 528
From: Cinci, OH
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted July 16, 2007 08:25 AM
Aside from the PR value of sticking Hubble in the NASM, I think it was be of great interest to military and civilian space researchers to find out how a satellite weathered that many years in space in its particular orbit. But I believe the really compelling reason was that they were (and still are) concerned about what will happen when that giant hunk of metal reenters, especially uncontrolled. They could avoid that by bringing it down intact on the shuttle.Cheers, Kevin |
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