Two of NASA's three shuttle orbiters will be on the move this weekend and the crew for the planned June 13 launch of Endeavour will be at Kennedy Space Center next week for a practice countdown.
Now perched on Launch Complex 39B, Endeavour is scheduled to roll off the pad there at 12:01 a.m. Sunday and then make its way to pad 39A. Total trip time: six or seven hours.
The move will clear the way for pad 39B modifications required to host the Ares I-X test flight, which is slated for launch no earlier than Aug. 30.
The Endeavour roll-around is key to keeping NASA on track for the planned June 13 launch of a mission to deliver the third and final segment of the Kibo science research facility to the International Space Station.
Mounted atop a modified 747 jumbo jet, Atlantis is tentatively scheduled to depart Edwards Air Force Base at first light Sunday for the first leg of what is expected to be a two-day, cross-country ferry flight to KSC.
NASA spokesman Allard Beutel says the earliest arrival on the Space Coast would be Monday afternoon. Weather permitting, the 747 pilot would have the option to fly over Space Coast beaches between Patrick Air Force Base and KSC on the way to NASA's three-mile shuttle runway.
Atlantis and NASA's fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing crew landed at Edwards last Sunday after three straight days of stormy weather prevented a return to KSC.
The seven astronauts destined to fly aboard Endeavour will fly to KSC at 3 p.m. next Tuesday to take part in a two-day practice countdown.
Led by veteran mission commander Mark Polansky, the crew includes pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Dave Wolf, Julie Payette, Chris Cassidy, Tom Marshburn and Tim Kopra. Kopra will replace Koichi Wakata on the station. Wakata will return to Earth aboard Endeavour.
The Endeavour astronauts will hold an informal Q&A with the media in the launch pad 39A area at 9:20 a.m. Wednesday. Then on Thursday, they'll don partial-pressure launch-and-entry suits and climb aboard Endeavour for what amounts to a launch-day dress rehearsal.
The crew arrival and the media Q&A both will be broadcast live in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box at the righthand side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer and be sure to refresh the page for periodic updates.
The dates for the Endeavour roll-around and the practice countdown both were shifted as part of an attempt to readjust the schedule for launch preparations and maintain a June 13 target launch date.
4 comments:
Milk it Baby, Milk it!
isnt roll around Sunday at 12:01 AM?
isnt roll around 12:01 Sunday?
Yes. Nice catch! Thanks!
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