When was sts 135

Space Shuttle Program. Since the SSEP Announcement of Opportunity on December 22, , we have been moving forward assuming that two highly expected decisions were to be made: 1 NASA formally declares that STS will fly, and 2 the launch date slips from the current projected date of June 28, to at least August 31, However, NASA has recently reversed its desire to fly late summer to early fall , and is pressing ahead with the nominal June 28, launch.

The milestone dates in the Critical Timeline below are now tied to a launch date of June 28, Phase 1: The timeline through student experiments selection—. To carry out the mission within available fiscal and humanpower resources, NASA has reversed its desire to fly late summer to early fall , and is pressing ahead with a nominal June 28 launch.

The cameras started rolling, he continued, and "about 30 seconds into this [call], I'm thinking to myself, 'My hands are behind my back, and the flag is not in either one. How is this going to go? Happily, at least the STS crew was able to leave the space station on schedule on Atlantis, which today is on display at the Kennedy Space Center.

If pre-departure inspections had revealed problems with the shuttle's heat-shield tiles, Walheim said, the plan was to bring down the crew members one at a time on Soyuz spacecraft over the ensuing months. Such inspections became routine after it was determined that tile damage incurred during launch was responsible for the loss of Columbia. Hurley would have been stuck up there the longest, he said, making him the first American to go about a year in space, long before Scott Kelly marked that milestone in Less publicized at the time of STS's flight was the huge network of ground personnel who supported the mission, with many of those people facing unemployment due to the end of the space shuttle program once processing of Atlantis' landing was completed.

Leinbach added that one of the safety lessons he tried to impart to his team was how "signing off" on mission items during planning and operations meant taking responsibility, and not just agreeing with colleagues or managers. Joining Leinbach during the interview was Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, who served as the chief of launch and landing through the retirement of the space shuttle program.

Blackwell-Thompson is also the launch director of Artemis 1. Knowing STS was the last mission, she recalled, "you couldn't quite bring yourself to leave" after the mission safely touched down. She recalled walking back to the Orbiter Processing Facility a few hours after landing, while Atlantis was being towed there from the runway.

The program was coming to an end. Among the objectives was the returning of an ammonia pump that recently failed on the station.

Engineers want to understand why the pump failed and improve designs for future spacecraft. This is the final flight for shuttle Atlantis and the Space Shuttle Program. The Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module MPLM is one of three differently named large, reusable pressurized elements, carried in the space shuttle's cargo bay, used to ferry cargo back and forth to the station. Raffaello includes components that provide life support, fire detection and suppression, electrical distribution and computers when it is attached to the station.

The cylindrical logistics module acts as a pressurized "moving van" for the Space Station, carrying cargo, experiments and supplies for delivery to support the six-person crew on board the station. Each MPLM module is 21 feet 6. There are no system or express racks flying up on this MPLM. Located behind Raffaello in the space shuttle payload bay is the Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier LMC , a non-deployable cross-bay carrier providing launch and landing transportation.

The LMC is a light-weight shuttle stowage platform that only weighs pounds kg. The launch weight of the LMC is 2, pounds 1, kg and the return weight with the pump module will be 3, pounds 1, kg. GSFC and ATK have provided the sustaining engineering support for all the LMC missions, including carrier management, refurbishment, analysis, documentation and safety. During descent, the LMC will be carrying an ammonia pump that will be analyzed to determine its cause for failure.

Additional modifications had to be made to accommodate the Pump Module Assembly PMA which included removing the aft winch, the wireless video antenna, and all handrails in the aft bulkhead of the space shuttle cargo bay. This will be first time that a pump module has been carried on an LMC. NASA 's Robotic Refueling Mission RRM is an external International Space Station experiment designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies and techniques needed to robotically refuel and repair satellites in space, especially satellites that were not designed to be serviced.

It is expected to reduce risks and lay the foundation for future robotic servicing missions. RRM also marks the first use of Dextre beyond the planned maintenance of the space station for technology research and development. The ELC will provide command, telemetry and power support for the experiment.

Hubert, Quebec. Once the RRM module is securely mounted to the space station's ELC -4 platform, mission controllers will direct the Dextre robot, the space station's Canadian, twin-armed "handyman", to retrieve RRM tools from the module and perform a full set of refueling tasks.

Dextre will use the RRM tools to cut and manipulate protective blankets and wires, unscrew caps and access valves, transfer fluid, and leave a new fuel cap in place. At one stage of the mission, Dextre will use RRM tools to open up a fuel valve, similar to those commonly used on satellites today, and transfer liquid ethanol across a robotically mated interface via a sophisticated robotic fueling hose.

Each task will be performed using the components and activity boards contained within and covering the exterior of the RRM module. The experiment will also demonstrate general space robotic repair and servicing operations. Completing the demonstration will validate the tool designs complemented with cameras , the fuel pumping system, and robotic task planning, all of which will be used during the design of a potential future refueling spacecraft.

The station has two independent cooling loops. The external loops use an ammonia-based coolant and the internal loops use a water-based coolant.

At the heart of the ATCS is the Pump Module, which provides circulation, loop pressurization, and temperature control of the ammonia.

The PM pumps the ammonia through the external system to provide cooling. Heat is generated by the electronic boxes throughout the station and eventually rejected into space via the radiators.

The accumulator within the PM works in concert with the Ammonia Tank Assembly ATA accumulators to compensate for expansion and contraction of ammonia caused by the temperature changes and keeps the ammonia in the liquid phase via a fixed charge of pressurized nitrogen gas on the backside of its bellows. On this mission, the PM is being returned for further analysis and investigation of the failure that occurred on July 31, A new PM was installed on August 16, , and has been performing well.

The failed PM will undergo extensive testing and evaluation in Houston. The current theory for the cause of the failure is an electrical issue within the PCVP unit. After the root cause is determined to be either systemic to the PM or specific to this unit, NASA will determine the follow-on actions, if any.

The space station has three spare pump modules in orbit. Only four astronauts were assigned to this mission, versus the normal six or seven, because there were no other shuttles available for a rescue following the retirement of Discovery and Endeavour.

If the shuttle was seriously damaged in orbit, the crew would have moved into the International Space Station and returned in Russian Soyuz capsules, one at a time, over the course of a year. All STS crew members were custom-fitted for a Russian Sokol space suit and molded Soyuz seat liner for this possibility.

Assuming Atlantis does land on its first opportunity today, it'll be the 19th night landing at Kennedy Space Center, and the 78th landing there at any time of the day. There have been 54 landings at Edwards Air Force Base in California over the course of the space shuttle program, and one at the White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico, for a total — including today's scheduled landing — of space shuttle landings in 30 years.

STS is the th and final space shuttle mission and the 33rd flight of Atlantis. The two solid rocket boosters launching Atlantis' STS mission were assembled from segments flown on 59 earlier space shuttle missions, including STS-1, the space shuttle's maiden mission. Atlantis' three space shuttle main engines have flown on 27 prior flights, including the orbiter's "first last flight," STS The five orbiters have flown ,, miles. STS will add more than four million miles to the total.

More than 2, experiments have been conducted on the space shuttles in the fields of Earth, biological and materials sciences and astronomy. The shuttles have docked to two orbiting space stations: Between and , nine missions flew to Russia's Mir. Space News space history and artifacts articles Messages space history discussion forums Sightings worldwide astronaut appearances Resources selected space history documents.

Wheels stop: Atlantis lands on final shuttle flight. Entry interface. Deorbit burn. Configuring Atlantis for its return home. Today in Space Shuttle History.