NASA Prepares For Mission It Hopes Never To Fly

NASA Prepares For Mission It Hopes Never To Fly

www.reuters.com

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The space shuttle Endeavour is perched on a launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center and ready to lift off within days. But this mission is one NASA hopes will never fly.

The shuttle is poised, if needed, to rescue the seven astronauts on the shuttle Atlantis if they can't make it home on their own ship.

NASA sees little chance the mission will ever take place. Safety upgrades have greatly reduced the chance of damage from debris hitting the shuttle during launch - the scenario that doomed the shuttle Columbia in 2003.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Bad luck with these shuttles wont stop...

"Under the plan, Endeavour could lift off as early as Monday with a four-person crew and extra seating for Atlantis' seven astronauts, if Atlantis were found to be severely damaged."

- I heard after the launch, that something went wrong... Usually they wont say anything - if its no need to. We can expect a rescue mission in my eyes... They wont star these preparations for "maybe" ...

Huh - where the broken shuttle will stay then? - First outside museum in space - for UFOs to visit

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by JanusFIN


I imagine some of the shuttle equipmenbt could be used on the space station or even for recovering some of the thousands of pieces of space junk zipping around out there. Getting fuel for those kind of missions might be a problem though.

If Atlantis can't make it back, it'd either be just another piece of space junk or a useful tool in orbit. What's really important is getting the crew back safely.

Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

I'd read a similar article a few days ago. If something were to go wrong, then the shuttle would be put into an orbit that would make it break up over the ocean.

What a waste though. I like the idea of hooking it to the space station. At least then they've got a back up bathroom up there.

What amazes me is I don't see any change in the culture and practices of all the countries sending hardware into orbit. If it's dangerous now due to junk, and they're still going to pollute the immediate space around earth with a plethora of even more junk, it wont be long until we are well and truly stuck on this rock.

Kind of reminds me of Wall-E

Is everybody in aerospace that stupid and short sighted?

The company that devises a safe way to clean up space junk is going to get very rich very quickly because let's face it, it ain't gonna come from agencies like NASA.

IRM

reply to post by Sir Solomon


Exactly. Or repair the thing in space, and use it as an emergency evacuation vehicle for the ISS. Just seems like a tremendous waste, given that it was obviously capable of making it to where it was going.

Originally posted by JanusFIN
- I heard after the launch, that something went wrong... Usually they wont say anything - if its no need to. We can expect a rescue mission in my eyes... They wont star these preparations for "maybe" ...

These preparations were planned all along... The mission has been cancelled before because of the increased risk (I think the odds of something bad happening rose from something like 1 in 500 to a 1 in 300 chance of hitting space junk).

The only way they could of got the hubble repair mission off the ground was to have Endeavour sat on the pad ready for the rescue mission... I'm assuming they are planning for the heat shield getting damaged - because if Atlantis really got wolloped by something distasterous then unless they can hang on for more than 24 hours they are done for... It goes without saying I don't want that at all.

This is all so very exciting to me.

I well remember when Russia sent a monkey into space the first time. Even as a child I thought we would colonize another planet one day.

And now we are ready to rescue our astronauts if necessary.

We really have come a long way.

The ISS is a step closer to building a colony on Mars or who knows what planet we might find to build on.

Space exploration is certainly not an exact science as we are finding new discoveries often.

Man will not rest until we conquer outer space. The truth is we must find a new home for humans for future generations.

Very exciting.

I to hope and pray we won't need a rescue effort and all will go as planned.

If they sent a shuttle into orbit to place satellites, why didn't they just use the same shuttle to pick up the space junk while they are up there, they would have then had an empty spot that the satellite was taking up? Does it have to do with increasing the mass of the shuttle when landing? Or do the astronauts just think to highly of them selves to be space junk men and women?

Would it be that difficult to conceive a space mission to clean up the junk? I understand that the mission would be expensive but would it be more expensive than ruining space vehicles that might get damaged by the debris?

reply to post by dizziedame

Man will not rest until we conquer outer space. The truth is we must find a new home for humans for future generations.

Why, so we can destroy that planet too? We would not need a new home for future generations if we only would produce 2 children per couple, and stopped abusing this planet and it's resources.

reply to post by masqua


Because the orbits of Hubble and the ISS are on such vastly different inclinations it is impossible for Atlantis to rendezvous with the ISS.

It simply doesn't have enough fuel, and there is no way to add fuel while she's on orbit.

I don't think the Endeavour has to go all the way up to the Hubble, if a 'rescue' is decided. Atlantis can fire her OMS and change orbit to a lower altitude, and the rendezvous can take place there.

This is rather long, but it is very comprehensive and informative. It explains the limitations of the Shuttle:

Originally posted by AlienCarnage
If they sent a shuttle into orbit to place satellites, why didn't they just use the same shuttle to pick up the space junk while they are up there, they would have then had an empty spot that the satellite was taking up? Does it have to do with increasing the mass of the shuttle when landing? Or do the astronauts just think to highly of them selves to be space junk men and women?

Would it be that difficult to conceive a space mission to clean up the junk? I understand that the mission would be expensive but would it be more expensive than ruining space vehicles that might get damaged by the debris?

It would be incredibly difficult nay imposable with current technology... They try to be careful not to make more debris on each mission, but picking up junk that can range in size from a paint flake to a computer monitor that's moving at a very different velocity to the shuttle?? very dangerous - just say the junk your after picking up is an apple moving at 25 times the speed of a rifle bullet - and it's on an opposite orbit to yours - thats a closing speed of 50 times the speed of a rifle bullet... That would ruin your day.

reply to post by Now_Then


I see your point.
Still would be nice to see an effort being put forward to figure a way around the obsicles of cleaning up the mess we have put there. Of course I doubt they would waste the money or manpower on trying to figure how to do this.

If atlantis is damaged beyond repair NASA will send its crew home on Endeavour and leave Atlantis in orbit. once the crew is safely on the ground NASA will remote control Atlantis, Invert the shuttle so the heat tiles face towards space and then turn Atlantis for a de-orbit burn and Burn her up in the earth's atmosphere.

Once returning from Hubble the shuttle would not have enough fuel in her fuel cells to change orbit and inclination to reach the ISS! Even IF Atlantis could make it to the ISS it could not dock with the ISS. the docking system for Atlantis is here on Earth. they removed it to make room for all of the repair parts for this hubble mission.

Atlantis is the ONLY SHUTTLE that can reach Hubbles orbit! Atlantis has larger fuel cells than all of the other shuttles. By the time Atlantis reaches Hubble they have used almost 50% of their fuel. all of the other shuttles would run out of fuel and the ability to produce breathable air and electricity before they got halfway back to earth from hubble.

If they have to launch Endeavor as a rescue they will bring Atlantis back to the shuttles regular orbit. to rescue the Atlantis crew



[edit on 5/14/2009 by Mercenary2007]

Land it on the moon for future generations to use as a museum.

Providing the NWO will let people go on moon vacations in the future.