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Discovery's Next Steps
Cape Canaveral (SPX) May 17, 2005 Preparations are under way at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for a tanking test on the Space Shuttle Discovery no earlier than next week. Engineers want to troubleshoot some issues that came up during a similar tank last month. Following the test, technicians will start getting ready to roll Discovery from the launch pad back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will most likely be removed from its External Tank. The External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters originally planned to fly with Atlantis on the STS-121 mission are now being prepped to fly with Discovery on STS-114, now targeted for a launch window of July 13-31. A new heater will be added to the External Tank to minimize the potential for ice and frost buildup. Meanwhile, crew members had a successful countdown dress rehearsal on May 4. "It felt to me like it was a real launch day, the way people were talking and handling issues as they came up," Commander Eileen Collins said. The practice countdown capped the week's Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT), in which flight crew members went through launch pad safety training and other prelaunch activities. The three-day test takes place before each Space Shuttle launch. NASA, meanwhile, and its international partners, named last Friday (May 13) the new crew members for upcoming missions to the International Space Station. U.S. astronaut William S. McArthur, Jr. and Russian cosmonaut Valery I. Tokarev will serve on the International Space Station as the crew of Expedition 12. They will travel to the ISS on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft later this year for their six-month mission. McArthur is the Expedition 12 commander and Tokarev is the flight engineer. Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, will also carry out a long-duration mission on the Station. He will fly to the Station aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-121, planned for a September 2005 launch. Reiter will work on the Station as part of an agreement between the Russian Federal Space Agency and ESA. Reiter's arrival on the Station marks the return to a three-person crew. Station crews were reduced to two members in May 2003, to conserve onboard resources until the Shuttle, with its considerable cargo capability, could again deliver supplies. McArthur, Tokarev and Reiter are space flight veterans. McArthur and Tokarev trained as backup crew members for ISS Expeditions 8 and 10. McArthur has flown on three Space Shuttle flights: STS-58 in 1993; STS-74 in 1995; and STS-92 in 2000. He has logged more than 35 days in space, including more than 13 hours spacewalking. On his last two missions he visited the Russian Space Station Mir and the ISS. Tokarev flew on Shuttle mission STS-96 in 1998. It was a 10-day mission to deliver four tons of supplies to the ISS in preparation for its first inhabitants. He has logged 235 hours in space. Reiter joined ESA's astronaut corps in 1992. He is a veteran of a 179-day ESA-Russian mission aboard Mir from September 1995 through February 1996. He has been training for a long-term flight aboard the ISS. Reiter joins the crew of STS-121: Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Piers J. Sellers, Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, and Stephanie Wilson. Reiter will return to Earth aboard STS-116 or a Russian Soyuz after his stay aboard the Station. STS-121 is the second scheduled test flight for the Shuttle since the Columbia accident on February 1, 2003, and the first to transport a crew for a long-duration Station mission since 2002. Atlantis will carry supplies and equipment to the ISS, and the crew will test upgraded Shuttle safety equipment and procedures. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonaut biographies SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Space Shuttle News at Space-Travel.Com
First Woman Commander Of Space Shuttles Will Lead The Discovery Crew
Washington DC (SPX) Jul 11, 2005As a young woman, Eileen Collins knew what she wanted to do in life. At age 19, she went to an airfield and told flight instructors that she wouldn't leave until they taught her to fly. |
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