Endeavour Launch Date Officially Set

[Henk Voortwijs]

During Wednesday's Flight Readiness Review at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida NASA managers agreed that the shuttle, crew, support teams and procedures are ready for flight to deliver the Tranquility node and cupola to the International Space Station at 4:39 a.m. EST Feb. 7.

"We reviewed all the aspects of the shuttle and space station… the processing in Florida has gone exceptionally well ," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, during a post-FRR news conference Wednesday. "This is really a complicated mission … if you take a look through the press kits you'll gain an appreciation of what will be going on at the station. "

International Space Station Program Manager Mike Suffredini agreed, "This is the primary objective of this mission -- the installation and activation of this module." Suffredini addressed the issues with the ammonia hoses and how the spares had been rebuilt and tested -- keeping the launch date on target. "The team deserves an enormous amount of credit for coming up with that solution and implementing it as quickly as they were able to do."

Mike Moses, space shuttle launch integration manager said it was a clean vehicle and clean flow. "We're real proud of the work everyone has done."

Mike Leinbach, space shuttle launch director said, "We're in outstanding shape." He also said Endeavour's aft doors closed will be closed eight to nine days ahead of schedule and the teams are looking at a standard flow ahead. "There are no problems and we're in great shape," said Leinbach.

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[aviodromefriend]

Anyone around that can tell how many shuttle flights are still scheduled to take place?

[Henk Voortwijs]

Anyone around that can tell how many shuttle flights are still scheduled to take place?

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Henk Voortwijs]

NASA Managers Say "Super Shuttle" Sunday Launch a "Go"
Fri, 05 Feb 2010 11:00:50 -0600

Officials meeting at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida reviewed space shuttle Endeavour's readiness for flight at the L-2 prelaunch meeting. They unanimously decided to move forward with the STS-130 mission countdown to launch on Sunday at 4:39 a.m. EST.

Mike Moses, shuttle launch integration manager, said, "We're really looking forward to this launch carrying up node 3 and the cupola.

"From the shuttle program perspective, looking at our launch readiness, we're in really good shape. We had a fantastic review this morning," continued Moses, "Unanimous poll, everyone's pressing forward to go for launch."

Bernardo Patti, ESA's International Space Station program manager, said how happy and proud he is to see the last two European elements ready for the space station. He also commented on the great support and cooperation between the space agencies and how rewarding the process has been.

Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director, reported his team is not tracking any technical issues and everything is on track for the rotating service structure rollback at 8 a.m. Saturday and loading of the external fuel tank with propellants around 7:15 p.m.

"The team is energized and excited about the countdown... looking forward to getting Endeavour off the ground Sunday morning," said Leinbach.

Kathy Winters, shuttle weather officer, said the forecast has improved and there's only a 20 percent chance weather would be an issue at launch time. Although it may be a little chilly and breezy, no constraints should be violated. The forecast at the transoceanic abort landing sites in Spain and France also looks favorable.

Saturday at 7 p.m., NASA TV will air the fueling of Endeavour's external tank at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. At 11:30 p.m., live launch coverage will kick off on NASA TV.

You also can follow Endeavour's exciting countdown to launch with NASA's Launch Blog from inside Kennedy's Firing Room 3 beginning at 11:30 p.m. and continuing through main engine cutoff -- when Endeavour reaches orbit on its two-day race to the station.

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[Henk Voortwijs]

Spectacular Launch Begins a Complex Mission

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:13:21 PM GMT+0100

"What a beautiful launch we had this morning... the orbiter performed extremely well," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, during the STS-130 postlaunch news conference. "This is a great start to a very complicated mission."

Jean-Jacques Dordain, European Space Agency director general, thanked NASA, the crew and the ground teams for "a very beautiful launch." Dordain said, "It was an important event. Even more important for us because the shuttle was full of European hardware."

Mike Moses, shuttle launch integration manager, said the count went unbelievably smooth. He commented how the weather constraints influenced the launch of space shuttle Endeavour and how happy he was that it all came together today. Docking is set for flight day three with three spacewalks planned to install the Tranquility node and then cupola permanently to the International Space Station. "This will be a good example of international partnerships and cooperation between the station crew and shuttle crew," said Moses.

"This was one of the smoothest countdowns ever," said Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director. "The team was very, very energized going into the count."

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[Janos]

This morning received some communication at 261.5750 via Fleetsatcom 8,
radiochecks etc. and at 10.36 local time a short but clear signal from the Shuttle
at 259.7000 AM. ,,Houston Endavour block two is completed,, etc.