Endeavour, Atlantis Being Prepped To Fly In Coming Months

Officials with NASA updated ANN last week on the status of the equipment slated to fly the next two shuttle missions to the International Space Station... Ed.

Mission: STS-117 - 21st International Space Station Flight (13A) -
S3/S4 Truss Segment Solar Arrays
Vehicle: Atlantis (OV-104)
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1 Launch Date: No earlier than March 16, 2007 Launch Pad: 39A
Crew: Sturckow, Archambault, Reilly, Swanson, Forrester and Olivas Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

Final vehicle closeouts are under way in preparation for technicians to move Atlantis to the Vehicle Assembly Building on February 7. This week, the payload bay was cleaned and the doors were closed. The doors will be cycled one last time and the payload bay doors will be closed for flight next week.

The external tank scheduled to fly with Atlantis, designated ET-124, is in the checkout cell in the Vehicle Assembly Building for final processing prior to being mated to the solid rocket boosters in high bay 1. Space Shuttle Program managers will hold a review on January 16 to determine the readiness to mate the tank with the boosters. Once the review is complete and the "go ahead" has been given, the tank will be attached on January 19.

Mission: STS-118 - 22nd International Space Station Flight (13A.1) -
S5 Truss Segment
Vehicle: Endeavour (OV-105)
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 2 Launch Date: No earlier than June 28, 2007 Launch Pad: 39A
Crew: Kelly, Hobaugh, Williams, Morgan, Mastracchio, Caldwell and Anderson Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

Endeavour remains in Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2, and technicians continue preparing the vehicle for its first launch in just over four years. The vehicle has undergone an extensive modification period, including the addition of all of the return-to-flight safety upgrades added to both Discovery and Atlantis.

This week, technicians installed the left-hand orbiter maneuvering system pod on the vehicle and they are now performing interface verification. Main propulsion system leak, functional and electrical checkout was successfully completed. Water spray boiler checkout and servicing began Thursday and will continue Friday.

FMI: www.nasa.gov