Endeavour Mission STS-134 First Spacewalk

STS-134 Crew: NASA astronauts Mark Kelly (bottom center), commander; Gregory H. Johnson, pilot; Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency’s Roberto Vittori, all mission specialists. Image credit: NASA 

Mission Specialists Drew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff have completed the first of four spacewalks of their mission. The spacewalk began at 3:10 am EDT (8.10am GMT) when Drew and Greg switched their suits to battery power, signifying the start of today's work.

Feustel and Chamitoff had a busy time as they retrieved two long term experiments and installed a new package of experiments on ELC-2, which is already on the International Space Station. They also installed jumpers between segments on the left-side truss, or backbone of the station, for ammonia refills and fitted an external wireless communication antenna on the Destiny laboratory that will provide wireless communication to the Express Logistics Carriers.

A carbon dioxide sensor failure in Chamitoff’s spacesuit meant that flight controllers limited his spacewalk time to 6 hours and 20 minutes - 10 minutes less than the planned time - bit still a long time in a space suit!

NASA scientists are analysing images taken from the International Space Station of Endeavour’s thermal protection system during the backflip maneuver while the shuttle approached the ISS. A decision on whether the inspection is required or not is expected later today.

Latest on the Endeavour Mission: STS-134

AMS in the cargo bay  - Image credit : NASA

The crew of space shuttle Endeavour woke today to “Luna” by Jose Serrano was played for Mission Specialist Greg Chamitoff. (Jose is a personal friend and wrote the song especially for this mission).

First Mission STS-134 spacewalk

The crew will also begin preparation for the mission's first spacewalk.  Drew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff will have to get used to reduced air pressure to purge nitrogen from their bloodstreams and prevent the risk of the “bends”.

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS)

The main focus if the mission was achieved at 5:46 a.m. EDT, when the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) was installed successfully on the outside of the International Space Station's right side. Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel and Roberto Vittori used the space shuttle’s robotic arm to extract it from Endeavour's payload bay. They handed it off to the space station’s Pilot Greg Johnson and Mission Specialist Greg Chamitoff then used the robotic arm to install AMS on the starboard side of the space station.

The AMS is a two ton ring of powerful magnets and detectors to track cosmic rays in a search for various types of unusual matter. The AMS will be operated remotely from Earth, automatically sending information to scientists for the life of the station.T

The AMS team will monitor the experiment 24 hours a day, gathering data and using a large magnet to create a magnetic field to bend the path of the charged particles traveling through space.

Hundreds of scientists from sixteen countries are working together on the project to determine what composes the universe and how it began, so the AMS could provide information about pulsars, blazers and gamma ray bursts that help us understand the cosmos.

Moon-Luna Llena Music Video

Space Shuttle Atlantis Starts Final Voyage

(Image credit: NASA)

Shuttle Atlantis is making its final planned move from the Orbiter Processing Facility-1 to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for fitting of its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters.. The move is called the "rollover" and marks the start of  the STS-135 mission to the International Space Station, planned for July.

This will be the final flight for Atlantis and the last ever shuttle mission. Atlantis was the fourth shuttle built and was completed in half the time spent on Columbia through the use of large thermal protection blanket, rather than individual tiles. Atlantis was delivered to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 9, 1985 and has successfully completed 33 missions in space.

Endeavour Docking with Space Station

(Image Credit: NASA)

Shuttle Commander Mark Kelly and pilot Johnson will fly Endeavour for docking with the International Space Station today. An hour before docking, the shuttle will make what NASA nicknamed a “backflip” while the crew take as many pictures as they can of Endeavour's heat shield for analysts to examine.

After docking it is planned that the crew, consisting of Kelly and Johnson, shuttle Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and the European Space Agency’s Roberto Vittori will join the ISS crew at 8:36 a.m EST (13.36 GMT) for twelve days of experiments and maintenance work. These will include looking at cellular biology, radiation, plant growth and aging, how diet may affect night vision and how an electronic device can check air quality in spacecraft.

Waiting to meet them are ISS Commander Dmitry Kondratyev and Flight Engineers Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev of Russia, Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency, and NASA's Cady Coleman and Ron Garan.

Shuttle Endeavour launched successfully on STS-134 mission to ISS

(Image Credit NASA HD TV)

Space Shuttle Endeavour launched successfully on its final flight at 08.56 am EDT Friday, May 16, on a mission to the International Space Station.  


The STS-134 mission


As part of the STS-134 mission Endeavour will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), a particle physics detector designed to operate from the station and search for various types of unusual matter. Also on board for delivery are spare parts on the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier 3 (ELC3), including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank, ammonia tank assembly, circuit breaker boxes, a Canadarm2 computer and a spare arm for the Dextre robot.


The ELC3 also houses a suite of Department of Defense (DoD) experiments that will test systems and materials concepts for long duration spaceflight in low Earth orbit. The STS-134 mission includes four space walks for station maintenance, experiment swap out and transferring Endeavour’s orbiter boom sensor system (OBSS) to the station.  The crew will leave the boom as a permanent fixture to aid future station space walks if needed.


Endeavour’s final landing


Endeavour’s final landing is scheduled for 2:32 am EDT on June 1st at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  At the time of its scheduled landing, Endeavour will have travelled more than 100 million miles during 25 flights and spent more than 294 days in space.

NASA launch video

Shuttle Endeavour is set for launch at 8:56 am EDT (13.56 GMT).

(Image Credit: NASA)

Space shuttle Endeavour’s external fuel tank was filled with more than 500,000 gallons of super cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen began at 11:36 p.m. EDT and the count down restarted at T-6 hours following a two-hour built in hold. 


Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters continues to predict a 70 percent chance of favorable weather for today’s launch. The only concerns are for low cloud ceilings and high crosswinds at the Shuttle Landing Facility. 


Endeavour’s launch is therefore on target for 8:56 am. EDT. Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach said the countdown is going extremely well and the team is ready to go. 


Watch the final launch of Endeavour on NASA Television and at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

Endeavour Launch Delay Update

NASA have announced that technicians and engineers are narrowing in on the likely source of what caused heaters on a fuel line for space shuttle Endeavour’s auxiliary power unit-1 (APU-1) to fail on Friday, resulting in the postponement of the Friday launch attempt for the STS-134 mission.


The NASA launch planning teams will meet Monday and are expected to determine a new “no earlier than” next launch attempt for Endeavour at that time.   


Space Shuttle Program Launch Integration Manager Mike Moses said "We can tell you, pretty much, that it's not going to be any earlier than May 8 (as) there's still a whole lot of short-term work that has to be done."


Problem with power control box


Test results indicate the problem is with a power control box, the aft load control assembly-2 (ALCA-2) in Endeavour’s aft compartment. Teams are working on plans to replace the box or any faulty associated hardware. The launch team currently is backing out of launch countdown operations.  There still are numerous factor to be worked out, but just based on the amount of time needed for repairs a new launch is unlikely before the end of the week, at the soonest. 


Endeavour’s six astronauts are heading back to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for a few days of additional training before they return for the next launch attempt.