Last June, I shared my excitement about submitting a photo of the Astronomy magazine staff to NASA’s “Face in Space” website so we could vicariously fly aboard space shuttle Endeavor on STS-134, the final mission of the U.S. space shuttle program. At the time, that flight was scheduled for November 2010.Well, the intervening 10 months since my post have witnessed not only repeated delays in that mission’s launch, but also the addition of another flight. Atlantis will now conclude the shuttle program with mission STS-135, currently scheduled to launch June 28.Yesterday, April 4, NASA issued a press release stating that due to a scheduling conflict with a Russian supply vehicle headed to the International Space Station, STS-134 is now rescheduled for launch 3:47 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 29. The very next paragraph of that release, however, states that NASA will hold a Flight Readiness Review April 19 and, at the end of that meeting, select an “official launch date.” Smart money says you needn’t cancel any plans for the afternoon of April 29 to watch the shuttle lift off, but who knows.Now, lest you think I’m complaining, I’m not. First, I vividly recall the terrible losses of shuttles Challenger and Columbia, so I heartily endorse any delay necessary to get it right, even the administrative kind. But second, and more importantly, it struck me the other day that once “my flight” and STS-135 happen, that’s it. The regular presence of the United States in space — and all of the important implications that has carried politically, technologically, and inspirationally since the 1960s — will cease.As a kid in the mid-1970s, I religiously scanned our daily newspaper for the slightest mention of the shuttle Enterprise, the orbiter prototype subjected to a battery of tests on the ground and in the air to validate the entire Space Transportation System (the basis of the “STS” acronym). Somewhere in my parents’ attic, I suspect the scrapbooks I created from those clippings still reside, forgotten and perhaps quaint in an age of the Internet and Google. In 1981, I daydreamed about being John Young, commander of Columbia during STS-1 and one of the dozen people to tread the lunar surface.Sure, like most of the country, I’ve since taken the shuttle program for granted, unfortunately growing to view each launch as routine instead of the phenomenal technologic achievement it is. But now, facing the mortality of the Space Transportation System, coupled with President Obama’s cancellation of the Constellation program and a shift to commercial vehicles, I realize I don’t mind this latest delay, er ... extension of the shuttle program. So, again I say, NASA, please keep delaying the launch of STS-134.
As the stilted suits re-ground the human race, so similarly grounded must all of our sights be set. Even Carl Sagan, in his later years, concluded that, however awesome the heavens may be, it is our lot here on Earth that is more important to our existence. We cannot have our heads in the stars whilst people starve daily here on Earth. Period. For every shuttle launch, 100,000 children go to bed hungry. How DARE we poke our heads into space while even a single human goes without food or dignity. How can tribes exist in South America that freak out at helicopters when a space station orbits farther above? Unless we are constructing an interplanetary anthropological zoo for interstellar visitors to marvel at our induced diversity, should we not cease to marvel at the cultural differences that keep us apart from one another here on Earth, as evidenced by episode after episode of National Geographic? That bourgeoisie society of wealthy "observers" reminds me of Marvel Comic's character "The Watcher", and its membership and publications are just as creepy and voyeuristic. "Must suck to be you!" seems to be their credo, a lot of the time. It's time to integrate the entire human race into one, semi-homogeneous body of equal knowledge and participation. We can't have naked tribesmen and astronauts on the same planet anymore! We no longer have to sword-fight with the Soviet Union to prove our cranial dominion of modern society. But if we can't even feed our populations, then what have we actually achieved? Sagan was right in the end. Feed the masses first, then take THAT to the stars.
Agreed 100%. ...and why waste money on music or entertainment, while people are starving all over the world. Imagine the billions that Avatar raked in going to feed African Tribesmen, or educating them about the ISS.
Let's stop all learning and steps towards the future until we are all one giant homogeneous group of people with the same standard of living, health, education, etc..
It's this kind of thinking that would have us all still living in Europe in the Dark Ages.
Well, they did it again...
May 1, 2011
RELEASE: 11-131
SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR LAUNCH NO EARLIER THAN MAY 8
CAPE CANAVERAL -- NASA managers have determined space shuttle Endeavour will not launch before Sunday, May 8, but will not officially set a new launch date until early this week.
After Friday's launch scrub, Kennedy Space Center technicians searched for the cause of a failure in a heater circuit associated with Endeavour's hydraulic power system. The failure was found to be in a power circuit in a switchbox in the shuttle's aft compartment.
Managers and engineers are developing a schedule to remove and replace the switchbox and retest the new unit. That work will delay Endeavour's launch until at least May 8.
The shuttle has three Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) that provide hydraulic power to steer the vehicle during ascent and entry. The hydrazine fuel lines on each APU have two heater circuits that prevent the fuel from freezing while the shuttle is in space. NASA launch commit criteria and flight rules require all three APUs and heater circuits to be operational for liftoff.
Endeavour's six astronauts have returned to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for several days of additional training. For the latest information about the shuttle mission and its crew, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
-end-
And now it won't launch before May 16...
www.astronomy.com/.../Space%20shuttle%20Endeavour%20to%20launch%20no%20earlier%20than%20May%2016.aspx
Now it IS May 16...
RELEASE: 11-134
NASA SETS MAY 16 FOR FINAL SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR LAUNCH
CAPE CANAVERAL -- NASA managers have set the liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour for 8:56 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 16. Launch attempts are available through May 26, except for May 21. The STS-134 mission to the International Space Station is the penultimate shuttle flight and the final one for Endeavour.
Space Shuttle Program Launch Integration Manager Mike Moses and Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach announced the date at a news briefing Monday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They also discussed the progress of repairs since Endeavour's launch postponement on April 29.
A short in the heater circuit associated with Endeavour's hydraulic system resulted in the launch postponement. Technicians determined the most likely failure was inside a switchbox in the shuttle's aft compartment and associated electrical wiring connecting the switchbox to the heaters. The heater circuits prevent freezing of the fuel lines providing hydraulic power to steer the vehicle during ascent and entry.
The faulty box was replaced May 4. Since Friday, Kennedy technicians installed and tested new wiring that bypasses the suspect electrical wiring and confirmed the heater system is working properly. They also are completing retests of other systems powered by the switchbox and are closing out Endeavour's aft compartment.
STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly and his five crewmates are set to arrive at Kennedy for prelaunch preparations on Thursday, May 12, at approximately 11 a.m. NASA Television will broadcast the crew's arrival live. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
The crew will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) and critical supplies to the space station, including two communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional parts for the Dextre robot. AMS is a particle physics detector designed to search for various types of unusual matter. The crew also will transfer Endeavour's orbiter boom sensor system to the station, where it could assist spacewalkers as an extension for the station's robotic arm.
For the latest information about the shuttle mission and its crew, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle