Shuttle Back to Space

- text as of last publication -

shuttle Discovery taking off on top its modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft from Barksdale AFB, La. on Aug. 19th, 2005. NASA photo by Lori Losey

Operations
The Return to Flight Mission is over. The STS-114 Space Shuttle flight launched Jul. 26, 2005, 10:39 a.m. EDT, with a landing back on Tuesday, August 9th, at 8:11 a.m. EDT. The Return to Flight Mission had as a mission to test the new procedures and technical improvements brought to the Space Shuttle according to the recommendations of the CAIB report (which following the dramatic loss of shuttle Columbia in February 2003), and to bring supplies and parts to the International Space Station (ISS). 3 spacewalks were performed, a cargo container unloaded, and a new stowage platform installed on the ISS. The mission had to stay one more day at the ISS to be allowed to transfer more supplies, as the landing, originally planned at the Kennedy Space Center was first delayed by one day, then diverted to the Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. due to weather conditions. The mission lasted 14 days in all
The STS-114 flight was marred by the recurrent question of the External Tank (ET)'s insulating foam. Once again, might one say, foam debris fell during the Shuttle's launch and ascent phases. A thoroughfull assessment of the possible damages led the Mission Management Team to decide to have protruding heat shield gap fillers on the underside of the Shuttle's nose to be removed while in orbit. Generally, now, any next launch of the Shuttle is postponed until the question of the insulating foam is understood and fixed. Two teams are actively working to quickly understand the causes behind the foam loss. No flight of the Shuttle may now occur until the question is solved and fixed. The next launch of the Space Shuttle which was originally scheduled for next September has been postponed until March 2006 (STS-121). It's shuttle Discovery, instead of Atlantis, which will be used for this second mission (STS-121). The change in shuttles is due to that shuttle Atlantis will fly mission STS-115, carrying Space Station truss segments which are too heavy to be carried by Discovery
LAST! After the flight was postponed due to weather conditions, Shuttle Discovery successfully came back to the Kennedy Space Center after a two-day, three-stop, cross-country flight starting at Barksdale AFB, La. The Shuttle had to be brought back to KSC where the Space Shuttle's main facilities are located. Shuttle Discovery rode atop one of two NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA). The landing was on runway 15 at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLC). During a ferry flight, at the effect the stringent flight weather conditions be met, a "pathfinder" KC-135 aircraft is flying 100 miles ahead the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, monitoring the weather on the flight path. The Shuttle is now going to be demated from its carrier using the Mate/Demate Device (MDD) at the SLF. The orbiter, on Monday (Aug. 22nd) will be towed by a diesel-powered tractor, via a two-mile tow-way strip from the SLF, towards the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF). There, the Shuttle will be unloaded from the materials it brought back from the International Space Station. Once Discovery inside the OPF, mission STS-114 will be considered definitively completed. NASA, on the other hand, announced that the teams working about the foam debris question have now identified the major areas of concern and are making good progress in dealing with the troubles.
see the mission's timeline. last updated: Aug. 22nd, 2005

Special Landing!
See our page on how a Space Shuttle is coming back from space
See this fine special page of the step-by-step landing of the Space Shuttle from the orbit to the runway!

The Question Of the Insulating Foam. Space and Politics
Despite the apparent success of having had the Space Shuttle returning to flight, the STS-114 mission was marred by the recurrent question of the debris falling out from the External Tank (ET). Although most of such "debris events" did cause less damage than is usually tolerated during any Shuttle's mission, a spacewalk had to be performed in orbit to remove protruding heat shield gap fillers on the underside of the Shuttle's nose
Such facts are showing that the heralded changes at NASA did not actually occur. Following the Columbia accident, the CAIB report had recommended a series of technical and cultural changes at NASA. Well! The ET foam question is still pending
So what? This mission is showing that the only way to put an end to a decade of ill-governance does not reside into patchy-qualmy solutions, but in a real rupture like the one exposed in the "Vision for Exploration" by President Bush in Jan. 2004. The only question is: how this will translate into NASA's daily practice?

Operations Gallery
(note that none of these pictures are thumbnails; the gallery is in this format only)

		click to the entire gallery
first stay of shuttle Discovery at launch pad 39B. picture NASA/KSC	shuttle Discovery had to be rolled back to the VAB for mating to a new External Tank. picture NASA/KSC

Mission Timeline
see the detailed mission's timeline

Mission (STS-114 – 17th ISS Flight (LF1) - Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, Return to Flight Mission)

The Return to Flight Mission, STS-114, is bound to the International Space Station (ISS) where it will test the new Shuttle's procedures and carry cargo, spare parts, and parts to the orbiting outpost
The Shuttle program has been halted since February 2003, following the dramatic accident of shuttle Columbia during its journey back Earth. No new flight was to take place before that recommendations concerning the NASA safety culture and new Shuttle's technical requirements, as edicted by an investigation board, be implemented. The STS-114 mission is the "Return to Flight Mission", that is the first flight of the Shuttle after the loss of shuttle Columbia. The importance that the requirements of the investigation board be met has led the launch window of the STS-114 flight to be postponed as the shuttle had already been moved to the launch pad. Due to further worries about possible debris coming out from the insulating system of the External Tank (ET), shuttle Discovery was moved back to the Vehicle Assembly Building ( VAB) in Kennedy Space Center, where it was re-mated to a new External Tank. As it's now fitted, shuttle Discovery, which moved back to launch pad 39B, is now ready for launch

Crew, Flight Data

->The Crew
It's a woman, Eileen Collins, who will be the commander of shuttle Discovery's crew of 6. Inspired young by a desire to fly, she passed her pilot license, then graduated in the U.S. Air Force. With a bachelor's degree and two masters, she was eventually selected by NASA to join the Astronaut Corps in 1990. Eileen Collins is now a veteran of three space flights, one of them already as mission's commander, and another as the mission's pilot (for the first flight of the joint Russian-American Shuttle-Mir program). Another women, Wendy Lawrence, is part of the mission, as James Kelly is the mission's pilot (PLT). The mission specialists (MS1, MS2, etc) are Stephen Robinson, Andrew Thomas, and Charles Camarda, with are Soichi Noguchi as the payload commander. Wendy Lawrence is a mission specialist too, as Noguchi is from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Commander Eileen Collins has logged more than 6,280 hours aboard 30 different types of aircraft. 537 of these hours have been logged in space!

• Vehicle: Discovery (OV-103)
• Launch Pad: Kennedy Space Center (KSC), launch pad 39B. see a map of the Kennedy Space Center
• Mission: this mission is the Return to Flight mission. It will head to the ISS, testing the new safety procedures, tools, and techniques. 3 spacewalks are scheduled (1 to test tile-repair techniques, 1 to replace a Control Moment Gyroscope of the ISS, 1 to affix a stowage platform at the Station). The mission is to last 12 days. Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
• Crew: Collins, Kelly, Noguchi, Robinson, Thomas, Lawrence and Camarda

launch pad 39B, KSC. picture NASA

for more about how a shuttle is preparing to launch, and other items, see the Shuttle section of this site

for more, see the official Shuttle page at NASA