Space Shuttle Processing Status 21 Feb 2001
MISSION: STS-98 – 7th ISS Flight (5A) – U.S. Laboratory
VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104
LOCATION: Edwards Air Force Base, California
KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Feb. 7, 2001 at 6:13:02 p.m. EST
EAFB LANDING DATE/TIME: Feb. 20, 2001 at 3:33 p.m. EST
MISSION DURATION: 12 days, 21 hours and 21 minutes
CREW: Cockrell, Polansky, Curbeam, Jones, Ivins
ORBITAL INSERTION ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 173 nautical miles/51.6 degrees
Shuttle Processing Note: Following yesterday’s landing at Edwards Air Force
Base, Calif., preliminary inspections of orbiter Atlantis revealed no
abnormal damage. The orbiter’s lower surface sustained 58 total debris hits
with 8 hits measuring one-inch or greater. Atlantis’ landing gear tires are
in good condition. The five-member STS-98 flight crew has departed Edwards
Air Force Base and they will arrive at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas
this evening.
Work crews at Edwards have completed orbiter safing activities and
preliminary cryogenic offloading efforts are under way. Once the standard
post flight work is complete, workers will begin preparing Atlantis for a
ferry flight back to KSC atop Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) No. 911.
Managers expect the Atlantis ferry to depart Edwards on Feb. 28 and arrive
at KSC March 1. Both the ferry turnaround work and the flight plan are
contingent upon weather conditions in California and en route to Florida.
MISSION: STS-102 – 8th ISS Flight (5A.1) – Leonardo MPLM
VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
LOCATION: Launch Pad 39B
TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Mar. 8, 2001 at about 6:45 a.m. EST
TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Mar. 20, 2001 at about 1:13 a.m.
LAUNCH WINDOW: less than 5 minutes
MISSION DURATION: 11 days
CREW: Wetherbee, Kelly, Thomas, Richards; (up) Voss, Helms, Usachev; (down)
Shepherd, Gidzenko, Krikalev
ORBITAL INSERTION ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 122 nautical miles/51.6 degrees
Shuttle Processing Note: At Launch Pad 39B, Space Shuttle Discovery’s
onboard oxidizer storage tanks have been loaded and fuel loading is in work
today. Orbiter onboard propellant loading continues through tomorrow.
The MPLM payload “Leonardo” is scheduled to be installed into the payload
transport canister tonight and transported to the pad early Friday morning.
The MPLM is scheduled for payload bay installation Monday.
Upcoming Milestones:
Payload arrives at Pad 39B – Feb. 23
MPLM installed into Discovery’s payload bay – Feb. 26
Orbiter midbody umbilical unit mated – Feb. 26
Shuttle ordnance installations begins – Feb. 27
Orbiter aft compartment closeouts complete – Mar. 2
MISSION: STS-100 – 9th ISS Flight (6A) -Raffaello MPLM, SSRMS
VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105
LOCATION: Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2
TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Apr. 19, 2001 at 2:04 p.m. EDT
TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Apr. 30, 2001 at 9:56 a.m.
MISSION DURATION: 11 days
CREW: Rominger, Ashby, Hadfield, Parazynski, Phillips, Guidoni, Lonchakov
ORBITAL INSERTION ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 173 nautical miles/51.6 degrees
Shuttle Processing Note: Endeavour’s payload premate test is in work today.
Technicians are also performing leak checks on the orbiter’s main propulsion
system and standard tests of the water spray boilers. This week, the IMAX
3-D camera is being installed inside the orbiter. Potable water servicing
is scheduled to occur this week.
SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA/OV-102 FERRY FLIGHT
Shuttle Orbiter Columbia is awaiting final preparations for its ferry flight
back to KSC in Boeing’s Orbiter Assembly Facility in Palmdale, Calif.
Current plans have the orbiter rolling out of its hangar on the morning on
Feb. 23, and then mated to Shuttle Carrier Aircraft No. 905 later that day.
NASA’s modified 747 SCA is scheduled to depart Palmdale Feb. 24 and head
back to KSC. Depending upon weather conditions en route, the current flight
plan calls for an overnight stay at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas.
Managers expect Columbia to arrive at KSC Feb. 25. Ferry preparations and
the flight plan are contingent upon weather conditions in California and en
route to Florida.
