Count down to Atlantis May 14th Launch

Looks here that the Flight Readiness Review has been completed and Shuttle Atlantis and her crew have been given the green light for fuel preparations and close out procedure can start.

Atlantis Fueling Preps Under Way; "Go" for Launch May 14
Thu, 06 May 2010 08:48:48 AM CDT
Launch of space shuttle Atlantis on its STS-132 mission to the International Space Station officially is set for May 14 at 2:20 p.m. EDT. At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians working at Launch Pad 39A will replenish the liquid hydrogen storage tank and perform recharge operations for the gaseous oxygen.
The countdown will begin May 11 at 4 p.m. when countdown clocks at the oceanside launch complex begin ticking backward from the T-43 hour mark.

Unfortunately this will be one of the last few missions for the Shuttle. Lets send her off with pride!


NASA Shuttle Page

reply to post by theability


Well here are the last 3 shuttle launches ever (from NASA website):

www.nasa.gov...
Date: May 14
Mission: STS-132
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 2:20 p.m. EDT
Description: Space shuttle Atlantis mission will carry an integrated cargo carrier to deliver maintenance and assembly hardware, including spare parts for space station systems. In addition, the second in a series of new pressurized components for Russia, a Mini Research Module, will be permanently attached to the bottom port of the Zarya module.

Date: Sept. 16 +
Mission: STS-133
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 11:57 a.m. EDT
STS-133 Description: Space shuttle Discovery will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier 4 (ELC4), a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MLPM) and critical spare components to the International Space Station.

Date: Mid-Nov. *
Mission: STS-134
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: To Be Determined
STS-134 Description: Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver an EXPRESS Logistics Carrier-3 (ELC-3) and an Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the International Space Station.

I wonder what the next shuttle design would be? If NASA and Obama won't do it you know the military will after their x37 space plane

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[edit on Thu May 13 2010 by Jbird]

I love this part:

Tuesday at 4 p.m., countdown clocks across the launch site will begin ticking away the hours leading to liftoff. The countdown will begin at the T-43 hour mark following the traditional call-to-stations for launch controllers.

Shuttle Page

The 43 hour mark is tomorrow at 4pm EDT. Launch is 2:20 PM Friday EDT. Dang that is 27 hours 40 minutes of holds.





[edit on 10-5-2010 by theability]

While I am sure many people on this site know, but the "T-" clock stands for "Test minus." Because the odds of launching on a single attempt were so remote, they planned all of the elements as a "test' of the rocket systems. Thus, instead of launching the craft, they would test the launch vehicle to see if a launch was viable.

If you recall, for those who are old enough, they would always have a call for "ignition" then "liftoff." There is a umorous story behind this. In the old control bunkers, to limit the risk to the missile crews, they were encased in complexes that were very think, reinforced concrete bunkers. They did not have good television systems, so they had a thin window, with 14 planes of thick glass that were sealed with a plastic liner between each plate. The windows were green in appearance, due to the wavelengths of light the plastic lining absorbed. Thus, if a rocket blew up on the pad, the chance of blowing out the windows of the bunkers were greatly decreased. That, however, created a problem. The Test Director was the man seated at the console to physically flip the switches, but he could not see out the rather high window to be able to tell what was happening with the rocket.

Therefore, they had an official announcer who would stand at the window, looking out, reporting what he saw to all of the scientists inside, who were not in position to look out the window. When the Test Director would lift the lever and flip the switch to ignite the rocket engines, he would have to wait for the announcer to find out if they had actually ignited. If they did, the announcer would call out, "We have ignition." The Test Director would then count the appropriate number of seconds, to let the thrust build up in the rocket engines, then would flip to switch to release the "hold-down" brackets that anchored the rocket to the ground. The Test Director would then look over at the announcer, waiting to hear "We have liftoff!" If there had been a third lever, we would have had a third call for the actual launch.

With the shuttle, we would keep an "L-" launch as well. It had no built-in holds, so if it was placed on hold, it was a real-world hold. Still, it is the T minus clock most everyone is familiar with.

I am giving this a bump since the launch is just under a day away.

The Launch blog starts coverage at 9 am.
Launch Blog
NASA TV Launch Coverage

I hope those that are interested visit the links.

The crew has entered and they are proceding with pressure checks.

I hope the weather holds for the launch, still about 70% on weather.

On NASA TV they ere talking about where "gunter" went? rotf...