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Astronauts set for countdown rehearsal

Second shuttle on standby for rescue mission

POSTED 09/20/08 - On Sunday, the Atlantis astronauts are set to fly from their home base at Johnson Space Center in Houston to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where they will participate in the STS-125 Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test next week. The training activities and countdown rehearsal will run from September 22 through 24. Johnson Space Center is set to open on Monday, September 22, for the first time since Hurricane Ike hit the

Space Shuttle Endeavour arrived at Launch Pad 39B on Friday morning.
Image credit: NASA

area.

Contamination discovered Wednesday during preparations to deliver NASA's Hubble Space Telescope servicing payload to Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A has been removed. Cleanliness is extremely important for space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-125 mission to Hubble, and the teams have insured that the Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier is ready to fly.

The Hubble payload moves to the pad over the weekend and will be put into Atlantis' cargo bay on Tuesday. It is too early to speculate whether there will be any effect on STS-125's launch, targeted for October 10 at 12:43 a.m. The formal launch dates for space shuttle flights are determined during the Flight Readiness Review. The STS-125 review is scheduled for October 2 and 3.

In the early morning hours Friday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour successfully completed its slow 4.2-mile trek from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B. The journey took less than 8 hours, and the shuttle was securely fastened to the pad just before sunrise.

Just a short distance away on pad 39A, technicians continue to prepare space shuttle Atlantis for its targeted October 10 launch on mission STS-125 to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Endeavour will be on standby in the unlikely event that a rescue mission for the Atlantis's crew would be necessary. After Endeavour is cleared from its duty as a rescue vehicle, workers will move it to pad 39A in preparation for liftoff on mission STS-126 to the International Space Station in November.

FACTS & FIGURES

• STS-125 is the 124th space shuttle flight, the fifth serving flight to the telescope, the 30th flight for Atlantis and the fourth flight in 2008.

• The weight of the payload is the heaviest ever carried aboard the shuttle on a Hubble servicing mission.

• Each Hubble orbit takes 96 minutes. Its speed is about 5 miles per second.

• During a typical orbit, Hubble uses the same energy as 28 100-watt light bulbs.

• Among Hubble's greatest discoveries: determining the age of the universe (13.7 billion years); finding that virtually all major galaxies have a super massive black hole at their center; discovering that the process of planetary formation is relatively common throughout the universe; detecting first ever organic molecule in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star; and providing evidence that the speed at which the universe is expanding is accelerating--caused by an unknown force that makes up more than 75 percent of the universe.

• The farthest objects Hubble has seen are galaxies more than 12 billion light years away.

• Hubble has six nickel-hydrogen (NiH) batteries with a storage capacity equal to 20 car batteries.

• The primary mirror has a diameter of 94.5 inches and weighs 1,825 lbs.

• Hubble can't observe the sun or Mercury, which is too close to the sun.

• Pointing Hubble and locking onto distant celestial objects is equivalent to holding a laser light steady on a dime that is 200 miles away.

• Hubble’s fifth servicing mission was originally planned for 2004, but was postponed after the space shuttle Columbia accident in 2003 and then canceled in light of agency safety concerns. Following the successful recovery of the Space Shuttle Program and a re-examination of risks, NASA approved one last servicing mission.

• Shuttle Endeavour is being prepared as a backup vehicle for shuttle Atlantis. Endeavour will be designated STS- 400 if it's needed for a rescue flight.

• This will be the first time that two shuttles occupy both launch pads at the same time since July 2001 .

• Endeavour will remain on Launch Pad 39B while Atlantis is in space. Once the shuttle is cleared for its return to Earth, Endeavour will move to Pad 39A for its next flight.