Return-to-flight mission starts countdown for ISS flight
NASA’s mission management team was to meet on 11 July to give final authorisation for the first Space Shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster on 1 February 2003.
As launch preparations entered their final phase, the US space agency was still aiming to launch the STS 104/Discovery return-to-flight mission on 13 July, the opening of a launch window that extends to 31 July.
The week leading up to launch began with the loading of hypergolic propellants for Discovery’s orbital-manoeuvring and reaction-control systems on the launch pad, a crew inspection of the orbiter and closing of the payload-bay doors for flight.
The 12-day mission will be conducted mainly at the International Space Station (ISS), to which Discovery will dock on day three of the flight. With a seven-person crew commanded by Eileen Collins, Discovery is scheduled as a routine ISS utility flight, carrying a multipurpose logistic module.
But the mission will also demonstrate methods to inspect the orbiter’s thermal protection system for damage, including an extended remote-manipulator arm, and test repair methods on sample tiles.
The boom sensor system will be deployed on day two to make the first survey of the orbiter, with further checks during the approach to the ISS and while it is docked, including visual inspections by the ISS crew and during spacewalks, starting on day five, that will include repair demonstrations in the payload bay.
On day seven, during the second spacewalk, an ISS control moment gyro will be replaced, and a third spacewalk on day nine will complete installation of exterior equipment racks on the ISS. Discovery will undock on day 11 to land at the Kennedy Space Center on 25 July.
Space Shuttle Atlantis will be on standby, with a reduced crew of four, in case it has to be launched to rescue the Discovery crew from the ISS. If STS 114 goes to plan, Atlantis will fly in September on the second return-to-flight mission, STS121, with its full six-person crew.
If these missions succeed, the Shuttle will be declared fit to resume the assembly of the ISS, starting with STS 115/Endeavour, carrying port truss segments, solar arrays and a radiator.
TIM FURNISS / LONDON
Source: Flight International
