Chandra X-Ray Observatory Deployed by Space Shuttle Crew Fifteen Years Ago

Image Credit: NASA

On July 23, 1999, a little more than seven hours after Space Shuttle Columbia and its five astronauts were launched from the Kennedy Space Center, NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory was successfully deployed by the STS-93 crew.

Chandra was spring-ejected from a cradle in the shuttle’s cargo bay at 6:47 a.m. Central time, as Columbia flew over the Indonesian island chain.

Inertial Upper Stage (IUS)

Commander Eileen Collins, the first female Shuttle Commander, maneuvered Columbia to a safe distance away from the telescope as an internal timer counted down to the first of a two-phase ignition of the solid-fuel Inertial Upper Stage (IUS).

The IUS lit up as scheduled at 7:47 a.m., and a few minutes later, shut down as planned, sending Chandra on a highly elliptical orbit which was refined over the next few weeks by a series of firings of telescope thrusters, designed to place Chandra in an orbit about 6900 x 87,000 statute miles above the Earth.

Since its deployment, Chandra has helped revolutionise our understanding of the universe through its unrivaled X-ray vision.

Chandra, one of NASA's current "Great Observatories," along with the Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope, is specially designed to detect X-ray emission from hot and energetic regions of the universe.

In this photograph, the five STS-93 astronauts pose for the traditional inflight crew portrait on Columbia's middeck.

In front are astronauts Eileen Collins, mission commander, and Michel Tognini, mission specialist representing France's Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES).

Behind them are (from the left) astronauts Steven A. Hawley, mission specialist; Jeffrey S. Ashby, pilot; and Catherine G. (Cady) Coleman, mission specialist.

In the background is a large poster depicting the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

NASA Space shuttle Atlantis (retired) exhibited

Space shuttle Atlantis (retired) is seen fully-exposed, its protective shrink-wrap cover removed, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, April 26, 2013.

CREDIT: Robert Z. Pearlman

Space Shuttle Atlantis (retired) is ready for its admiring public.

The retired NASA orbiter, which is set to go on public display June 29 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, was fully revealed Friday (April 26) after workers spent two days peeling off its protective shrink-wrap cover of the past five months.

"It looks fantastic," Tim Macy, director of project development and construction for Delaware North Parks and Resorts, which runs the visitor complex for NASA, said after seeing Atlantis unwrapped. "It looks better than I thought it was going to look."

"It looks completely different with the plastic on it than the plastic off," Macy told reporters. "But this is the way it is supposed to look. It looks so much like the exhibit's conceptual drawings."

On Thursday, workers began carefully cutting back the 16,000 square feet (1,486 square meters) of shrink wrap that protected Atlantis as its $100 million exhibition building was completed around it.

By the end of the first day, the shuttle's nose, tail, aft engines and left wing were exposed.

On Friday, the workers completed the process, revealing Atlantis' right wing and its 60-foot-long (18 meter) payload bay.

"I cannot wait to get the covers off the windows and get the doors open to see the final configuration," Macy said.

NASA Space Shuttle Service Ship MV Liberty Star Embarks on a New Mission

Credit: NASA

For 30 years MV Liberty Star, a sea ship owned by NASA, served the Space Shuttle program.

It retrieved the spent solid rocket boosters after their splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.

It also towed the space shuttles' external fuel tanks from their assembly facility in New Orleans to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

At the end of August, NASA signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) transferring the ship to the U.S. Transportation Department’s Maritime Administration (MARAD).

In the middle of September, it will be included into the National Defense Reserve Fleet and used for training at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) at Kings Point.

Robert Lightfoot, a NASA associate administrator commented on this event in a statement: “Liberty Star served NASA well during the space shuttle program,” he said.

“We know it will greatly benefit the Kings Point midshipmen, and we’re proud that Liberty Star will continue to serve the United States with distinction.”

 Credit: MARAD

Russian Companies Design Space Tourism Shuttle

Buran space shuttle. Photo courtesy RIA Novosti - Alexander Mokletsov.

Russia's NPO Molniya design bureau and the Myasischev Experimental Factory (EMZ) are designing a space-plane for sub-orbital "space tourism" and small satellite launch flights, according to a company specialists' report seen by RIA Novosti.

The sub-orbital craft will be launched from a subsonic carrier aircraft such as the existing high-altitude Myasischev M-55 Geofizika or 3M-T transport aircraft.

The 3-MT, a derivative of the Myasischev M-4 bomber which first flew in the 1950's, was used in the Buran space shuttle program in the 1980's to carry the orbiter as well as the Energiya carrier rocket.

The winged space-plane will take off from the launch aircraft and climb at 1,000-1,200 meters a second to 105-120 km altitude - at the edge of space - under power of a solid-fuel rocket motor.

"Space tourists will experience weightlessness for three to five minutes and can see the surface of the earth through portholes. After entry into the dense layers of the atmosphere, the spaceplane will make a landing on an aerodrome," the document says.

The number of passengers carried will be from four to 14, dependent on the type of carrier aircraft, the document says.

The companies are also designing a variant of the air-launch system for placing small satellites in low-earch orbit, with a satellite and booster carried in the spaceplane's passenger compartment.

No information was available as to whether either project has funding to place it in production.

NASA - Shuttles Come Nose-to-Nose

NASA's space shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis switched locations today at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and in the process came "nose-to-nose" for the last time in front of Orbiter Processing Facility 3.

Endeavour was moved from Orbiter Processing Facility 2 to the Vehicle Assembly Building where it will be housed temporarily until its targeted departure from Kennedy atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in mid-September. 

After a stop at the Los Angeles International Airport, Endeavour will move in mid-October to the California Science Center for permanent public display.

Now in the processing facility after leaving the Vehicle Assembly Building, shuttle Atlantis will undergo preparations for its move to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in November, with a grand opening planned for July 2013.

Image credit: NASA

KOUNOTORI3 (HTV3) - Third Expedition to Space - YouTube

In this Japanese video the narrator states that the HTV is only means of providing the ISS crews with fuel and supplies, this is of course, untrue. The European (ESA) ATV and the Soyuz Progress module are still in operation. Progress has long been the most reliable vessel for uplifting astronauts and a key support provider of the ISS.

NASA Shuttle Image: Socorro Island in Gulf of Mexico

A cloud wake appears on the downwind side of Isla Socorro, Mexico - 2/12/2000

Image courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center

NASA Dismantling the Space Shuttle Infrastructure

The motion based Space Shuttle simulator being removed from NASA building 5. 

Credit: Nasa

NASA - Space Shuttle Enterprise Moves to Intrepid

Atop a barge on Wednesday, June 6, 2012, the space shuttle Enterprise was towed on the Hudson River past the Statue of Liberty on its way to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where it will be permanently displayed.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Space Shuttle narrated by William Shatner - YouTube

A very cool video of the history of the space shuttle program from NASAtv. From concept days all the way to leading up to the end of the shuttle program. interviews with astronauts, mission ops, ground ops and others telling the story of the Space Shuttle Program over the past 30yrs

NASA Space shuttles, Enterprise and Discovery, meet nose-to-nose

Space shuttles Enterprise and Discovery meet nose-to-nose at a transfer ceremony at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre in Chantilly, Virginia. Discovery will take the place of Enterprise at the centre.

Picture: Smithsonian Institution via NASA, Carolyn Russo/AP

HD Simulation of NASA Shuttle Discovery's Arrival at IAD - YouTube

HD Simulation of NASA Shuttle Discovery's arrival at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center - scheduled for April 17, 2012

Lego Space Shuttle: YouTube video

Raul Oaida (from Romania) LEGO tribute to the end of the space shuttle era. Proving that although retired, this machine can still fly, albeit in toy form.

The launch took place from central Germany (easy flight clearance) and reached a max altitude of 35000m. A 1600g meteo balloon filled with helium was used alongside a GoPro Hero, Spot GPS and of course Lego Space Shuttle model 3367.

He launched it on the 31st of December 2011, the equipment was recovered via GPS tracking 240 km S-E from a remote area.

He wishes to thank Steve Sammartino for the opportunity to do this project and the german airtraffic control for the understanding.

Full Story: http://microblade.blogspot.com/2012/03/2001-brick-odyssey.html

Shuttle Memories: Bernard Harris

Shuttle Memories: Bernard Harris

NASA Shuttle Discovery: Virtual Tour of Flight deck

To see a 360 deg virtual tour of the NASA Shuttle Discovery flight deck, click on the picture.

This view shows Space Shuttle Discovery's flight deck during decommissioning in the Orbiter Processing Facility

What kind of World do you want? Video

Nasa Space Shuttle: The most remarkable flying machine

“This is the world’s greatest flying machine, I’ll tell you that,” proclaimed NASA astronaut John Young, Commander of the first Space Shuttle flight, when its wheels stopped after landing on 14 April 1981, 30 years ago.

Because of its age, cost of operations and a new mission for NASA to explore beyond Earth orbit, the Space Shuttle will retire this year, just after its 30th anniversary.

“In 135 missions, with two catastrophic failures, the US Space Shuttle proved itself a vehicle filled with contradictions and inconsistencies,” says Roger Launius, former Chief Historian for NASA, now Senior Curator at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

ESA - Space Shuttle - A remarkable flying machine

NASA Orbiter Processing Facilities: High-Tech Shuttle Garages

Image: Shuttle Columbia arrived at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility via the shuttle carrier aircraft in March 1979 after completing its ferry flight from Dryden Flight Research Center in California. Columbia then was towed into an OPF for processing for STS-1, NASA's first shuttle fight. Photo credit: NASA
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If home is where the heart is, then the heart and soul of NASA's space shuttle fleet reside in three custom-built, 29,000-square-foot buildings at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

They're formally called orbiter processing facilities (OPF), but routinely go by the names OPFs, bays, or hangars, and inside highly experienced technicians perform two-thirds of the work to prepare a shuttle for space.

The bays may be the highest-tech garages on the planet, where workers ready a spaceship for flight without scuffing it and huge cranes move tons of cargo into place. But it's also a place where staples are prohibited from the paperwork technicians work off of so the little pieces of metal don't accidentally become embedded in the shuttle's critical systems.

Fresh off Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility and back from a mission, shuttles are towed to their individual processing bays. In recent years, OPF-1 and OPF-2, which are connected by a 233-foot-long low bay, have been the residence of Atlantis and Endeavour, respectively. Across the street is OPF-3, the home base of Discovery. Once inside, technicians jack-and-level the shuttle to maintenance height where platforms and a main access bridge surround the spacecraft like a glove.

"Each high bay has a footprint of the orbiter, and when it rolls in, it has to fit to that footprint," said Wayne Bingham, a United Space Alliance, or USA, flow manager.

"We try to keep the platforms within a maximum distance of 6 to 8 inches, but a minimum of 4 inches."

NASA - Orbiter Processing Facilities: High-Tech Shuttle Garages



Image: In September 1983, technicians in Orbiter Processing Facility-2 inspect Spacelab-1 in the payload bay of shuttle Columbia. Photo credit: NASA
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Image: In OPF-2, technicians check out space shuttle Endeavour's payload bay before its final mission, STS-134. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin
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Image: Shuttle Discovery's tail fin clears the hangar door of Orbiter Processing Facility-2 at the end of its 39th and final spaceflight mission, STS-133 in March 2011. Inside the OPF, Discovery will be prepared for future public display. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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Image: Workers watch as shuttle Atlantis slowly backs out of OPF-1 during its rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building for its final mission, STS-135. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
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NASA Will Compete Space Launch System (SLS) Boosters

It should come as no surprise that NASA has selected a "shuttle-derived" vehicle with two existing LOX/LH2 stages as its reference design for the new heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) ordered by Congress and to be used for exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO).

Over the past few years NASA had supported the use of solid rocket boosters (SRBs) as strap-on motors for both the now-cancelled Ares I and Ares V launch systems.

Many experts have opposed the use of SRBs for these applications, because of limited energy efficiency and expensive post-flight refurbishing.

NASA has now decided to hold a competition between liquid-propellant and solid-propellant boosters for the SLS in order to satisfy a Congressional mandate.

The use of liquid-propellant boosters is not a new idea. The original proposed Space Shuttle design had included reusable fly-back liquid boosters as far back as the early 1970s.

Of course, the Shuttle system design was changed many times in the 1970s due to political and financial pressures. The end result was a lower cost development and higher per-flight costs for the Shuttle system.

Earlier this month, NASA Administrator Bolden endorsed the possible use of LOX/kerosene liquid boosters for SLS.

Such boosters could significantly increase the energy efficiency of the SLS boost phase and could allow this vehicle to offer a 130-metric-ton payload capability that is specified in the 2010 NASA reauthorization legislation.

The booster competition will likely be between ATK and Aerojet. It appears that ATK will propose the five-segment version of the four-segment SRBs used on the Space Shuttle. The five-segment variant was to be the first stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle.

Aerojet will likely propose a U.S.-built version of the Russian-based NK-33, but renamed as the AJ-26.

Orbital Sciences will be using the AJ-26 as the main-stage engine for its new Taurus II commercial launch vehicle.

Crochet Space Shuttle Pattern by MsPremiseConclusion on Etsy

This is an all-crochet version of the Space Shuttle! Each section detaches for easy play-ability. This soft miniature would be great for kids big and small who love rockets!

What you will need:
4 ply worsted weight yarn (1 Skein) in White, Black and Orange plus a small amount in Yellow, Red and Blue.
Fiberfill stuffing
Snaps or Velcro

The final height of the rocket is about 50 cm/20 inches. It is roughly to scale with the real Space Shuttle.

This pattern is easy to follow, includes loads of pictures and even has an explanation of ScDec and colour switching.

The pdf is 1.5 MB and will be emailed to you within 24 hours of receiving payment.

Feel free to contact ETSY with any enquiries or questions!