Space Shuttle Status Report 18 September 2000

NOTE: This is an orbiter processing report and does not reflect the chronological order of upcoming Space Shuttle flights. Visit http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/schedule/schedule.htm on the KSC Home Page for the latest schedule of future Shuttle missions.

• VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104
• LOCATION: On orbit
• OFFICIAL KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Sept. 8, 2000 at 8:46 a.m. EDT
• KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Sept. 20, 2000 at about 3:56 a.m.
• MISSION DURATION: 11 days, 19 hours and 4 minutes
• CREW: Wilcutt, Altman, Lu, Malenchenko, Morukov, Mastracchio, Burbank
• ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 177 nautical miles/51.6 degrees

Note: Having successfully
undocked from the International Space Station Sunday night, orbiter Atlantis
remains in excellent health on orbit. KSC ground control is preparing to support
landing operations on the first KSC landing opportunity at about 3:56 a.m. EDT
on Sept. 20. A second opportunity is available at about 5:33 a.m. EDT on
Wednesday if needed.

Preliminary forecasts indicate generally
favorable weather conditions for Wednesday’s landing opportunities. The forecast
calls for few clouds at 2,000 feet, scattered at 8,000 feet and broken at 25,000
feet; visibility at 7 miles; winds from the southeast at 4 knots gusting to 6
knots; temperature at 79 degrees F; relative humidity at 83 percent; and the
chance of rain showers within 30 nautical miles, over the water. At this time,
mission managers do not plan to call up Edwards Air Force Base, CA, to support
Wednesday’s landing attempts.

• VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
• LOCATION: Launch Pad 39A
• TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Oct. 5, 2000 at 9:38 p.m. EDT
• TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Oct. 16, 2000 at about 5 p.m.
• MISSION DURATION: 11 days
• CREW: Duffy, Melroy, Wakata, Chiao, Wisoff, Lopez-Alegria, McArthur
• ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 177 nautical miles/51.6 degrees

Shuttle Processing Note: Workers
at Launch Pad 39A have resumed Discovery’s prelaunch processing after a busy
weekend of hurricane preparation. Planned processing work gave way to
preliminary Shuttle rollback preparations on Saturday, but by Sunday morning the
threat of Hurricane Gordon had passed. KSC managers have adjusted the remainder
of Discovery’s processing flow and continue to work toward an Oct. 5 target
launch date. Over the weekend, rainfall at KSC totaled 2.42 inches and winds
reached 47 knots. Winds at Launch Pad 39A peaked at 28 knots.

The Zenith-1 (Z-1) Truss was installed into
Discovery’s payload bay Saturday and the payload bay doors will be opened today
to accommodate payload testing. Today, technicians are preparing to replace a
transducer on Discovery’s right hand orbital maneuvering system (OMS) engine.
The OMS transducer replacement and a leak check of the fuel line disconnect for
auxiliary power unit No. 2 are both scheduled to occur tomorrow morning.

Milestones:
Helium Signature Test – Sept. 21
Prelaunch propellant loading of Discovery’s
onboard tanks -Sept. 23
Space Shuttle main engine flight readiness test
begins – Sept. 25
Orbiter aft compartment close-outs begin- Sept. 26

• VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105
• LOCATION: OPF bay 2
• TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Nov. 30, 2000 at 10:48 p.m.
• TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Dec. 10, 2000 at time TBD
• MISSION DURATION: 10 days
• CREW: Jett, Bloomfield, Tanner, Noriega, Garneau
• ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 177 nautical miles/51.6 degrees

Shuttle Processing Note: The
five-member flight crew completed the Crew Equipment Interface Test over the
weekend and then returned to Houston, TX. Leak checks of the orbiter’s crew
module and airlock are complete. Two of Endeavour’s main engines have been
installed and the third is slated for installation this week.