NEXT SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH:
Discovery STS-124
May 31, 2008 @ 5:01 p.m. EDT
If you're in my friends list, check your bulletins for space shuttle updates.
Enjoy below the most recent
space shuttle pictures
These are updated & changed frequently
High above the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Discovery is moved into high bay 3. Below wait the solid rocket boosters and external tank for mating to the shuttle. The stacking of the four elements precedes their launch on the upcoming STS-124 mission to the International Space Station.
April 26, 2008
click image for hi-res image
In high bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, space shuttle Discovery comes to rest on the mobile launcher platform in front of the solid rocket boosters and external tank. The stacking is in preparation for the launch on the upcoming STS-124 mission to the International Space Station. On the mission, the STS-124 crew will transport the Japanese Experiment Module - Pressurized Module and the Japanese Remote Manipulator System to the space station.
April 26, 2008
click image for hi-res image
Discovery, atop a mobile launch platform, moves through the doors of the Vehicle Assembly Building toward Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
May 3, 2008
click image for hi-res image
Discovery arrives at Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A
May 3, 2008
click image for hi-res image
Dawn reveals the arrival of space shuttle Discovery, secured atop the mobile launch platform below, at Launch Pad 39A to begin prelaunch processing for the STS-124 mission.
May 3, 2008
click image for hi-res image
At Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the crawler-transporter is moved to the foot of the pad after delivering space shuttle Discovery for final prelaunch processing for the STS-124 mission.
May 3, 2008
click image for hi-res image
On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the STS-124 mission payload, the Japanese Experiment Module - Pressurized Module, is being transferred from the Payload Changeout Room into space shuttle Discovery's payload bay.
May 5, 2008
click image for hi-res image
STS-124 Commander Mark Kelly is ready to practice driving the M113 armored personnel carrier as part of emergency training. He and other crew members are at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for a dress launch rehearsal called the terminal countdown demonstration test (TCDT)
May 7, 2008
click image for hi-res image
STS-124 Mission Specialist Mike Fossum stands ready to practice driving the M113 armored personnel carrier as part of emergency training. He and other crew members are at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for a dress launch rehearsal called the terminal countdown demonstration test (TCDT)
May 7, 2008
click image for hi-res image
After completing M113 driving practice, the STS-124 crew stands in front of the armored personnel carrier for a photo. From left are Commander Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, Karen Nyberg and Ron Garan, Pilot Ken Ham, and Mission Specialists Akihiko Hoshide and Greg Chamitoff. They are at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for a dress launch rehearsal called the terminal countdown demonstration test. TCDT provides astronauts and ground crews with an opportunity to participate in various simulated countdown activities, including equipment familiarization and emergency training.
May 7, 2008
click image for hi-res image
This site is
dedicated to the crews of
Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia
who gave their lives for our US space program
and to all of our Astronauts who have flown
and will fly into space!
HIGH
FLIGHT
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
NASA’s Space Shuttle is the most capable, versatile and reliable space-faring vehicle in the world today. As a major transportation link between Earth and low Earth orbit (LEO), the Shuttle has kept the United States on the cutting edge of space exploration and scientific discovery from 1981 through today.
The Space Shuttle is a unique vehicle with unrivaled capabilities. It is the launch vehicle for all U.S. and many international components of the International Space Station (ISS).
The Space Shuttle’s extensive capabilities include:
• Payload deployment
• On-orbit assembly
• Crew transfer
• On-orbit research
• Satellite retrieval and repair
• On-orbit, point-to-point maneuvering of people and cargo
• Cargo return
No other launch vehicle – either in development or in operation today – can match the Space Shuttle’s capabilities. The missions of the Space Shuttle range from the retrieval and return of errant satellites, the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope, the deployment of probes to study distant planets, dockings with the Russian space station Mir and assembly of the International Space Station (ISS).
As missions have become increasingly more challenging over the years, the most adaptable and capable element of Space Shuttle operations has proven time and again to be human beings. Human involvement in space operations provides the unique aspects of observation, interaction and intervention that can reduce risk and make the difference between the failure and success of multi-million dollar missions.
Reliability
Since its first flight in 1981, the Shuttle has flown over 100 times, carrying over two-thirds of the humans ever to have flown in space. The Shuttle fleet has logged more than 300 million miles – well in excess of the distance from the Earth to the Sun and back – and has carried more than 2.1 million pounds of cargo and more than 700 major payloads into orbit. The fleet has accumulated more than 700 days of total flight time, equating to more than 10 years of total person time in space.
The Space Shuttle's past missions have affected our lives in fundamental ways, through improvements in a wide range of fields such as patient care, communications, education, and agriculture.
Upgrading the Space Shuttle
Much like complex yet reliable aircraft such as the B-52, C-130 and 737 – many of which have been flying successfully for more than thirty years – the Space Shuttle’s performance and reliability continually improves with upgrades and modifications to its systems and structures. And thanks to past upgrades, the Shuttle now incorporates the latest technology in many of its systems.
The Future
Construction in orbit of the International Space Station began in 1998. The Shuttle is playing a pivotal role in the assembly of the International Space Station. The Shuttle is providing the tools, technology and human ingenuity to assemble and operate the Space Station in the unforgiving and challenging environment of Earth’s orbit. The Space Shuttle's fly to and from the Space Station carrying astronauts, major structural components and supplies. Upon completion of the International Space Station NASA will retire the Space Shuttle program in 2010.
The Space Shuttle Program will be replaced by the Constellation Program. Click the below link to learn more about the Constellation Program.
The reusable Orbiters are only a
part of the overall Shuttle system. The Shuttle system
consists of an Orbiter Vehicle (OV), an External Tank (ET),
and twin Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), which together weigh
4.5 million pounds fully fueled, produce seven million pounds
of thrust, and are capable of lifting up to 65,000 pounds of
cargo to orbit, plus a flight crew to manipulate the cargo.
Orbiter
Each Orbiter is 121 feet long with a wingspan of 78 feet – about the size of a DC-9 commercial airliner. Its payload bay measures 60 by 15 feet. The forward fuselage houses the pressurized crew cabin including the cockpit and crew working and living areas. The mid-body consists of the payload bay, the wing, and main landing gear attach points. The aft fuselage holds the main engines, the orbital maneuvering system (OMS), the reaction control system (RCS) and the vertical tail. Each Orbiter is designed for a lifetime of 100 flights.
External Tank (ET)
The ET, which is the only major component of the Space Shuttle that is not reusable, is 154 feet long and 28.6 feet in diameter. To meet the needs for flights to the International Space Station, a new super lightweight tank was recently developed that incorporates aluminum-lithium in its internal structures, reducing the overall tank weight by 7,500 pounds. Weighing slightly more than 71,000 pounds without fuel, the ET weighs 1.67 million pounds with a full load of liquid propellant and oxidizer. Thousands of gallons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen are drawn from the tank by the Shuttle’s main propulsion system during ascent. Once orbit is achieved, the tank is ejected and disintegrates in the Earth’s upper atmosphere.
Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs)
Each Shuttle is equipped with two SRBs that provide the initial thrust and acceleration to allow the main engines to carry the Orbiter into space. The boosters are 116 feet long, 12 feet in diameter and contain more than one million pounds of solid propellant. The propellant burns at 5,800 degrees and each SRB delivers 2.65 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. After two minutes, at an altitude of about 24 miles, the boosters separate from the ET and descend by parachute into the ocean, where they are collected for refurbishment and reuse. The Shuttle SRBs are the largest solid rocket propellant motors ever built and the first to be used on a human-rated spacecraft.
Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSMEs)
The SSMEs are the most reliable and highly tested large rocket engines ever built. With a maximum thrust at sea level of more than 418,000 pounds each, they work in tandem with the solid rocket boosters from liftoff until SRB separation, about two minutes after launch, after which they are the sole means of propelling the Orbiter into space. The engines are gimbaled to steer the Shuttle during the climb to orbit. Normal engine operating time during ascent is about 8.5 minutes, and each engine has a designed operating lifetime of about 7.5 cumulative hours.
Click Link above for The
SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH ARCHIVES
Click Link
above for upcoming
Space Shuttle Flights and ISS Assembly Sequence
Click Link
above for the
Space Transportation Reference Manual
Space
Shuttle & Space Station Sightings
Click Link above to find Sightings Opportunities in your City (United States)
For
other countries, click here and select your country
Orbital
Tracking
Click Link above to track the orbit of
Space Shuttle (when in orbit) & Space Station
NASA Television
provides live coverage of all space missions,
Earth observation, Mission Control Center activities,
and daily press briefings. Click on link above.
Atlantis docked with the International Space Station
Image used with permission from: Ron Dantowitz, Marek Kozubal,
Clay Center Observatory Dexter and Southfield Schools This remarkable image of the space shuttle orbiter Atlantis docked with the International Space Station (ISS) during the STS-117 mission was taken at a range of 190 nautical miles. To record the fast moving pair, astronomers at Clay Center Observatory, near Boston, Massachusetts, planet Earth, used a satellite tracking system and 25-inch diameter telescope in combination with a digital video camera. In the sharp picture, Atlantis is below and left of center. The aft view shows three main engines just below its vertical tail glinting in the sunlight. With the Sun shining from below, the body of the orbiter casts a long shadow across the ISS itself and impressive details of the ISS solar arrays used for power generation are easily visible. The large set of solar arrays installed at the lower right was delivered during this visit from Atlantis.
Click link above to visit:
NASA's Space Shuttle web site
Click link above to visit:
NASA's Space Station web site
Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
Job 22:12