Discovery (STS-133) = 25.02.11 00:53:24 ДМВ - Kennedy

[Launch1961]

Если что-то произойдет с кораблями, обслуживающими МКС, то шаттлы призовут из запаса. Также это может быть Пентагон, который когда-то отказался от них, но Боинг и Локхид имеют большие связи в тамошних кругах, так что все может быть.

Это примерно как крейсер Аврора призывать из запаса. Можно, но зачем?  

В вероятном крайнем полете Шаттла не будет Шаттла на подстраховке. Так как нет баков и нет Шаттлов. Разработана схема эвакуации экипажа Шаттла на Союзах.
Уважаемый ник Not в теме а George просто не в теме и ничего не знает...

[Launch1961]

George писал(а):

Если не считать неудавшегося "Бурана", то корабли "Спейс Шаттл" самые совершенные в своем классе

В каком классе?

[fon Butterfly]

Если не считать неудавшегося "Бурана", то корабли "Спейс Шаттл" самые совершенные в своем классе.

Ибо единственные. Я так тоже когда-то призовое второе место на областных соревнованиях по борьбе занял - нас в сверхтяжёлой категории всего-то двое и было... :lol:

[Petrovich]

Есть мнения, будет ли сдвигаться STS-134? Планируем поездку, голову сломал на какие числа закладываться. Вроде пока все идет по плану, скоро вывоз на стол, но все равно как-то боязно.

... сие есть тайна неопределяемая :cry:
Я два года назад посмотрев статистику решил не заморачиватся,
и просто посмотрел на Атлантис на стартовой позиции.
А на KSC есть чего посмотреть http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9524&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Потом еще ездил бывший сисадмин НК на старт, но ему не повезло...
два дня пробыл на космодроме, но старт все сдвигали... :cry:
Правда после этого был запуск точно по грвфику.
Надеюсь что вам повезет  

[Потусторонний]

НА ГЛАВНОЙ СТРАНИЦЕ САЙТА Discovery "ставит" рекорд за рекордом продолжительности полетов шаттла. :lol:  17 суток было только 1 раз в 1996г. Еще несколько часов и Discovery "станет" рекордсменом продолжительности полетов. :lol:
Непорядок. Надо бы исправить страницу.

[Salo]

Если не считать неудавшегося "Бурана", то корабли "Спейс Шаттл" самые совершенные в своем классе.

Ибо единственные. Я так тоже когда-то призовое второе место на областных соревнованиях по борьбе занял - нас в сверхтяжёлой категории всего-то двое и было... :lol:

Коллега! Мы оба вицечемпионы! :wink:

[Брабонт]

Еще несколько часов и Discovery "станет" рекордсменом продолжительности полетов. :lol:
.

Будем надеяться, хорошая погода сегодня позволит Шину посадить челнок во Флориде.

[Гидразин]

Будем надеяться, хорошая погода сегодня позволит Шину посадить челнок во Флориде.

Видимо не позволила  :lol:

[LRV_75]

Но нырок над Москвой говорят сделал  

[Lin]

Шаттлы "сажает" специальный человек, и это не Шин.
Этот человек далеко, и управляется по email`у (причем, проверят она почту, видимо, раз в неделю).
Больше ни у кого доступа к сайту нет. Админа нет в принципе (должность упразднена).
 
Не злите Шина понапрасну!  

[fon Butterfly]

Еще несколько часов и Discovery "станет" рекордсменом продолжительности полетов.

Уже стал - показывает 17:17:22, а рекорд был 17:15:53...

[Брабонт]

Этот человек далеко, и управляется по email`у (причем, проверят она почту, видимо, раз в неделю).

ОК. Аутсорсинг с российской спецификой.

[Потусторонний]

Шаттлы "сажает" специальный человек... управляется по email`у (причем, проверят она почту, видимо, раз в неделю).

Так она девушка! Девичей памяти свойственна забывчивость :roll:

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Sporty' weather greeted Discovery on final landing
Posted: March 9, 2011

When the shuttle Discovery swooped back to the Kennedy Space Center a year ago Friday to conclude the spaceship's flying days, commander Steve Lindsey was dealt some of the most challenging weather conditions ever experienced during an orbiter landing.

Scattered low clouds over the Florida spaceport just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time as the veteran astronaut turned Discovery onto final approach into Runway 15. Peering out the front cockpit windows, a wall of clouds completely obscured his view of the landing strip as the powerless glider descended toward its pin-point homecoming.

What's more, Discovery was flying straight into a stiff headwind gusting into the high 20 knots while heading for the northwest-to-southeast runway. Then, just before touchdown, a strong crosswind blew across the shuttle.

"We have flight rules that govern the weather for landing the space shuttle and one of the rules is the layer of clouds can't be less than 8,000 feet above the ground for landing. Unfortunately for our landing, we broke out at 3,500 feet above the ground. So we didn't see the runway until then," Lindsey recalled after the mission.

Although the commander didn't get the "field in sight" until a mere 45 seconds before touchdown, the shuttle was precisely aligned with the concrete strip for Lindsey to bring his ship on down.

"We have very good navigational aides on the space shuttle. Now we have Global Positioning System just like you might have in your car or on your mobile phone. So we knew the navigation was spot on, we knew where the runway was, we just couldn't see it. So it ended up not being a big deal."

But there was more weather to contend with.

"The bigger deal were the winds. We had a very strong headwind, but about 15 feet off the ground we picked up about a 12-knot crosswind gust. That was the biggest challenge in landing for us," Lindsey continued.

"It was a sporty day, but it was doable. The shuttle flew just fine."

The tire-smoking touchdown came at 11:57 a.m. EST, signaling the end of Discovery's spaceflight career and the start of preparations to become a museum piece at the Smithsonian.

Discovery was home from her 39th and final mission, wrapping up a life that spanned 148 million miles and orbited Earth 5,830 times.

See all of our coverage from Discovery's final mission.

On the one-year anniversary of that landing, Discovery will be towed from her hangar Friday morning and relocated to a storage bay inside the Vehicle Assembly Building to wait out the final weeks in Florida before being flown atop the modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia on April 17.

We'll have live streaming video coverage of the move, which will include sistership Atlantis coming out of the VAB and taking over the hangar Discovery is vacating. The rollarounds are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. EST.

Photo credit: NASA-KSC

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/anniversary/

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World's Greatest Piggyback Ride

ВИДЕО

Imagine flying from Florida to D.C. with nowhere to sit, no air conditioning, no place to store your bags -- not even a bathroom. Imagine flying anywhere under those conditions.

NASA has kept two 747s set up this way on purpose. The downstairs passenger area of these jetliners has been as hollow inside as possible in order to carry a very special cargo: the space shuttle.

Known as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, the modified Boeing 747 jetliners originally were manufactured for commercial use. The 747 four-engine intercontinental-range, swept-wing "jumbo jets" entered commercial service in 1969. To view the interactive feature on SCA, visit www.nasa.gov/externalflash/shuttlecarrier/ .

During the era of the Space Shuttle Program, SCAs were used to ferry space shuttle orbiters from landing sites back to the launch complex at the Kennedy Space Center and also to and from other locations too distant for the orbiters to be delivered by ground transportation. The orbiters are placed atop the SCA by Mate-Demate Devices, large gantry-like structures that hoist the orbiters off the ground for post-flight servicing and then mate them with the SCA for ferry flights.

The planes' passenger areas were stripped of creature comforts, such as galleys, carpeting and even part of the inside temperature duct work -- all for the sake of reducing weight. But the weight still is more than 250,000 pounds, and the drag created by the shape and weight of the orbiter -- 176,000 pounds or more, depending on the payload -- negates the small amount of lift it adds. During a normal flight, the SCA might use 20,000 pounds of fuel an hour; with an orbiter on its back, that number doubles.

NASA 911 made its final flight Feb. 8, 2012. The jumbo jet's final mission was a short flight lasting only about 20 minutes from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base to The Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility adjacent to Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif.

NASA 905 will ferry the shuttles to the cities of their final display venues. Those sites include the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington, D.C. (Discovery), the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City (Enterprise), the California Science Center in Los Angeles (Endeavour). Shuttle Atlantis will move to the visitor center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will not be ferried via the SCA.

After those deliveries are completed, both shuttle carrier aircraft will support NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) Boeing 747SP aircraft flying.

Features which distinguish the SCAs from standard 747 jetliners are:
--Three struts with associated interior structural strengthening protrude from the top of the fuselage (two aft, one forward) on which the orbiter is attached.
--Two additional vertical stabilizers, one on each end of the standard horizontal stabilizer, to enhance directional stability.
--Removal of all interior furnishings and equipment aft of the forward No. 1 doors.
--Addition of instrumentation used by SCA flight crews and engineers to monitor orbiter electrical loads during the ferry flights and also during pre- and post-ferry flight operations.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/shuttle_museum.html

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/shuttlecarrier/

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Ferryflight Status Center

By Justin Ray

Welcome to Spaceflight Now's live coverage of the shuttle Discovery's delivery to the Smithsonian. Text updates will appear automatically; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/ferry/status.html

Discovery rolls to the runway for retirement ride

In the predawn darkness Saturday, the shuttle Discovery moved ever closer to leaving her home port forever as remaining technicians towed the decommissioned spaceplane to the runway ramp for mounting atop the 747 carrier jet.

Emerging from a storage bay on the northwestern side of the Vehicle Assembly Building at 5 a.m. EDT, the orbiter passed the former mission preparation hangars, crossed State Road 3 and followed the concrete towway to the Shuttle Landing Facility apron, arriving at the Mate-Demate Device at 7 a.m. EDT.

Having survived the massive layoffs and workforce reductions following the shuttle program's shutdown, a handful of ground specialists went to work getting the four-point lifting structure hooked up to Discovery for today's ascent off the ground, retraction of the landing gear and pulling the 747 underneath the spacecraft.

One of the escorts walking alongside Discovery on the look out for hazards during the early morning roll was Alan Shinault, a senior aerospace technician with United Space Alliance and 25-year veteran of the shuttle program.

"Discovery was the first one I worked on when I started here, first orbiter I saw and walked under. It's going to be pretty sad," Shinault said of Tuesday's departure. "We've prepared ourselves for this. We have two left, then it's really going to hit when the last one goes."

In the past year, Discovery's toxic hypergolic plumbing and components used for maneuvering the ship in space have been removed to safe those systems for the public. A cleaned thruster nose piece and twin tail pods have been installed on Discovery, as well as three replica main engines.

"Things we used to pride ourselves all these years trying to protect, being really careful working with this or working with that, now we're just cutting wires and taking them apart. It's sad. They only flew one-third of their lives," said Shinault.

The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, originally built in 1970 by Boeing and then sold by American Airlines to NASA in 1974, is modified to haul the spaceplanes. Its insides largely are removed to save weight and three support struts protrude from the upper surface for attaching the shuttles. Now, this jumbo jet's career that has spanned the entire shuttle era will ferry the orbiters to their final destinations.

Known as NASA 905, the aircraft is scheduled for takeoff Tuesday at 7 a.m. EDT on the non-stop trek to Dulles International Airport for delivery of Discovery to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Northern Virginia.

A makeshift dual-crane contraption will be used to remove the shuttle on Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for a ceremonial entrance into the museum next Thursday.

"It's mobile, easy to take apart and move around. We've got it up there and people in place putting it together. They have to drill some holes in the tarmac for cable reels and wind restraints to keep the thing from rocking," said Mark Linthicum, a USA technician headed to Dulles for demating Discovery and attaching Enterprise to the 747.



Photographers shoot Discovery's arrival in the Mate-Demate Device. Credit: Justin Ray/Spaceflight Now
 
Nearly 200 holes had to be drilled into the surface to secure the structure in place before grabbing ahold of the shuttle.

"It is this real thick, heavy-duty concrete. We had a bunch of speciality drills and tools they drug up there. They are probably cussing us because they had to do all that hole-drilling before we get there," said Linthicum.

Two cranes, one in the rear and one in the front, will work in tandem to remove the 166,000-pound Discovery orbiter.

"It is going to pick it straight up, we'll pull the 747 out from underneath it, lower it down to about 10-12 feet off the ground, we'll hook up hydraulics and pop the gear down, demate the hydraulics, lower the vehicle the rest of the way to weight-on-wheels, take the aft part of the sling off, bring the nose down (to the ground), take the nose sling off and get ready to tow," said Linthicum, a shuttle worker since 1991.

The contraption has been used in the past for shuttle ferryflights, albeit many years ago. The most recent operation was Enterprise's shipment to Dulles in 1985.

"It's going to be an all-new learning experience for us. None of those guys are still around anymore," Linthicum said.

About a dozen technicians will be among a team of over 30 people, including engineers and managers, going to Dulles for the operations. Many of workers now consider themselves to be a "jack of all trades" and not certain task specialists anymore with current workforce so small.

"It's a pretty tight timeline," Linthicum says of removing Discovery from the 747 in preparation for a public parade to the Smithsonian next Thursday.

"Hopefully we'll get a good start, set the table," Linthicum said of the game plan for arrival day Tuesday at Dulles. "We'll work till we get to a safe stopping point, then break and come back in the next day and finish it up."

After Discovery is plucked off the jetliner, sistership Enterprise will be brought to the so-called Apron W on the west side of the airport for its attachment to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

The prototype shuttle, which has been on display at that Smithsonian annex for a decade and located at Dulles even longer, will be hoisted atop the 747 and then depart on April 23 bound for New York City.

"Basically in reverse, we'll hook the sling up, raise the nose off the ground, raise the whole vehicle up, hook up hydraulics, we'll suck up the gear," said Linthicum.

Once Enterprise is bolted in place, the lifting equipment will be packed up like "a traveling roadshow" and head for the New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport where the shuttle is destined.



File image of Enterprise being removed using the mobile crane system in the 1980s. Credit: NASA
 
But demating Enterprise won't be as quick after the New York City landing as Discovery's Dulles touchdown. The pre-op work of setting up the contraption will take a while to complete.

"They already have the area laid out. But we still have to go in and do the final measurements and markings, then start drilling holes," said Linthicum.

"We'll build it all back up, get all the wind restraints anchored. Once we get Enterprise on the ground there, there is another company coming in to be in charge of moving it," Linthicum said of USA's responsibilities ending after the 747 removal.

Enterprise will be parked at JFK until a summertime barge ride to take the shuttle to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, a vintage aircraft carrier located at Pier 86 on the Hudson River.

After those two orbiter deliveries are finished in the coming weeks, NASA 905 also has one final ferryflight planned this September to take Endeavour to Los Angeles before the aircraft is retired from service.

Both Shinault and Linthicum said they hope to remain part of the shuttle team until the bitter end this fall.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/120414rollout/

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http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/120412tour/
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/120412tour/index2.html

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http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=8

Оригинальные фото

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

И слегка ужатые по разрешению

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

   

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Public can get up-close view of shuttle ferryflight takeoff

Talk about access! Space shuttle fans have a unique opportunity to buy front-row seats at Kennedy Space Center's runway to watch Discovery depart the spaceport atop the 747 carrier jet Tuesday morning.

The commercially-run Visitor Complex, which operates the bus tours around KSC, will be selling tickets to the public to witness the piggyback shuttle leave Florida for the final time en route to her new home at the Smithsonian.

The "limited availability" offer will take you to the VIP spot at the Shuttle Landing Facility's midpoint where officials and families used to watch orbiters returning from space make their tire-smoking touchdown.

For $40 per person, plus the normal admission rate, you can be bussed to the site and watch the 698,000-pound aircraft-shuttle duo take off around 7 a.m. EDT Tuesday, then come back around for a low-altitude flyby in a ceremonial goodbye to Discovery.

If you don't want to buy the extra $40 pass, you can stay at the KSC Visitor Complex and catch the ferryflight making a flyover of the Rocket Garden at a mere 300 feet.

The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft pilots plan to buzz the Space Coast beaches in addition to the Visitor Complex and shuttle runway flyovers before heading northbound for the nation's capital.

The Visitor Complex advises those planning to watch from the Rocket Garden "to bring chairs and arrive by 6:00 a.m."

Also on tap Tuesday, astronauts from Discovery's maiden flight in 1984, including commander Hank Hartsfield, mission specialists Steve Hawley and Mike Mullane and payload specialist Charlie Walker, will appear at the Visitor Complex's Astronaut Encounter at 11 a.m.

This weekend, there's also a $20 special ticket to drive by the runway's apron where Discovery will be getting attached atop the 747 at the Mate-Demate Device. The bus ride includes a trip by launch pad 39A and delivery to the Apollo/Saturn 5 Center where one of the surviving moonrockets is on display.

For more information, call 877-313-2610.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/120414kscvc/

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http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/488540main_discovery-final.pdf
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/pdf/608887main_T%26R.pdf
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-013-DFRC.html