March 3, 2006
Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-3749
Jessica Rye
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(321) 867-2468
STATUS REPORT: S06-007
NASA’S SPACE SHUTTLE PROCESSING STATUS REPORT: S06-007
NASA’s space shuttle fleet is housed and processed at Kennedy Space
Center, Fla.
Mission: STS-121 - 18th International Space Station Flight (ULF1.1) -
Multi-Purpose Logistics Module
Vehicle: Discovery (OV-103)
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3
Launch Date: No earlier than May 10, 2006
Launch Pad: 39B
Crew: Lindsey, Kelly, Sellers, Fossum, Nowak, Wilson and Reiter
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
On Thursday, Space Shuttle Program management set a launch date of no
earlier than May 10 for Discovery’s launch to the International Space
Station. Technicians continue preparing Discovery for its roll over
from Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3 to the Vehicle Assembly
Building. Work is under way to close out various areas of the vehicle
for flight.
Following the installation of the space shuttle main engines,
technicians added a dome-mounted heat shield around each engine. The
heat shields are composed of two, semi-circle shaped sections of
thermal protection system tiles that surround the engines.
The external fuel tank for the STS-121 mission arrived by barge at
Kennedy Wednesday, five days after leaving the Michoud Assembly
Facility in New Orleans. The tank, designated ET-119, was towed into
the Vehicle Assembly Building. On Thursday it was lifted into a
checkout area for final processing before being attached to the solid
rocket boosters.
Mission: STS-115 - 19th International Space Station Flight (12A) -
P3/P4 Solar Arrays
Vehicle: Atlantis (OV-104)
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1
Launch Date: No earlier than Aug. 28, 2006
Launch Pad: 39B
Crew: Jett, Ferguson, Tanner, Burbank, MacLean and Stefanyshyn-Piper
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Technicians continue processing Atlantis for its mission to the
International Space Station, scheduled for no earlier than Aug. 28.
The vehicle is in a scheduled powered-down period, with the next
power-up as early as next week.
Leak checks of water coolant loop No. 1 were successfully completed.
Servicing of that loop is scheduled for the middle of next week. Work
on the shuttle’s thermal protection system (heat shield) continues
with gap filler removal and replacements.
Endeavour (OV-105)
In Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2, work continues on Endeavour
following an extensive modification period. The vehicle remains
powered-down, and technicians continue to implement the new Return to
Flight modifications.
Rigging of both the elbow and shoulder for the remote manipulator
system (shuttle arm) continues. Final work continues on the
reinforced carbon-carbon nose cap. It is scheduled to be installed
into the vehicle next week.
For previous space shuttle processing status reports on the Web,
visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle For information about NASA and
agency programs on the Web, visit:
-end-
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