STS-130 Shuttle Mission to the International Space Station Launches Sunday 09:39 GMT

Berserker · 7 Feb 2010 at 11:56

simulatorman said:
“official”

Oh no, not you as well. Go away with your silly smart quotes.

I spent two days last week hacking around with XSLT and Java code just because of those stupid quotes.

sigma · 7 Feb 2010 at 15:21

Excuse the stupid question but what happens to the two thrusters/rocket boosters after they fall off from the shuttle? Do they just float about or fall back down to earth with parachutes?

lord filbuster · 7 Feb 2010 at 15:27

silane said:
Excuse the stupid question but what happens to the two thrusters/rocket boosters after they fall off from the shuttle? Do they just float about or fall back down to earth with parachutes?

They fall back to earth with parachutes, then are recovered and reused i think. The large orange tank burns up in the atmosphere.

Cosimo · 7 Feb 2010 at 15:35

lord filbuster said:
They fall back to earth with parachutes, then are recovered and reused i think. The large orange tank burns up in the atmosphere.

Yup, they are reused and the tank breaks up:

Reusable Solid Rocket Motor and Solid Rocket Boosters

More detail:

Space Shuttle External Tank

Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster

KatanaDV20 · 7 Feb 2010 at 15:49

Check out this vid of them testing the SRB.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D1mr6OnZgo

I have always wondered why they use cape c as. There main launch site when the weather always seems so unpredictable?

Mostly cuz of its location - big ocean right alongside for overflight etc. Also the space center has a 3-mile long runway in case theres a RTB (return to base) emergency. However after passing a certain altitude other emergency landing strips have to be used. I think ones in Spain and the other in Australia howver not sure about the latter.

Berserker · 7 Feb 2010 at 17:37

Preferred TAL sites are Istres (France) and Moron and Zaragoza (Spain). Other locations can accept a Shuttle landing in extreme situations.

Soichi Noguchi (ISS Astronaut) posted this a few hours ago: http://twitpic.com/11vx1r. Well, that's an improvement on the white-out we got last time I saw London in a picture from space.

KatanaDV20 · 7 Feb 2010 at 18:30

Cheers for the headsup on that Berserker

Cosimo · 7 Feb 2010 at 19:03

Endeavour on PAD39A before the postponed launch:

Berserker · 7 Feb 2010 at 23:56

@NASA STS-130 managers gave a "go" to fill Endeavour's external tank for Monday's 4:14a ET launch. Watch on NASA TV & http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

@ExploreSpaceKSC Tanking "go" has been given to fuel the external tank in preparation for launch of space shuttle Endeavour at 4:14 am ET on Feb. 8.

Weather currently no-go as the SLF, but there's nine hours for that to clear out. Time to turn in.

sigma · 8 Feb 2010 at 00:05

Thanks for the updates chaps.

I'm still intrigued by the boosters falling back to Earth - are there any videos of them falling and then landing back on Earth?

Jimbeam3678 · 8 Feb 2010 at 00:58

So the obvious question why would a little bit of low level cloud stop a shuttle from taking off? Ok I can understand if a storm front came over or something , but just some low level cloud? Anyone care to expand ?

Berserker · 8 Feb 2010 at 01:05

Flying through precipitation is problematic - mainly due to the risk of electrical discharge. Not such a problem for the average plane, but rather more of a problem for the Shuttle with all that fuel on board. They don't have to do it, so why risk it.

Marine Iguana · 8 Feb 2010 at 01:07

Also if something happened where the shuttle had to do a emergency landing they would not be able to see where they can land.

Berserker · 8 Feb 2010 at 01:30

And the most important reason of all. The risk of a high-velocity impact between water vapour and shuttle thermal protection tiles. The tiles have properties not unlike those of polystyrene - very efficient insulators, but also very fragile. One catastrophic TPS failure is enough, thanks.

GreatWaves · 8 Feb 2010 at 04:21

KatanaDV20 said:
....
Mostly cuz of its location - big ocean right alongside for overflight etc. Also the space center has a 3-mile long runway in case theres a RTB (return to base) emergency. However after passing a certain altitude other emergency landing strips have to be used. I think ones in Spain and the other in Australia howver not sure about the latter.

It's also about proximity from the equator. Shuttles get a boost from Earth's rotation. Requires less energy to attain orbital velocity around the Earth.

Berserker · 8 Feb 2010 at 07:25

So I missed the crew getting strapped in again and again the weather is currently "no-go". Hope that's not an omen.

Ur round next · 8 Feb 2010 at 07:33

Iv been watching since 5 this morning but the nasa TV site keeps cutting out for me

Berserker · 8 Feb 2010 at 07:43

Glad it isn't just me then. Hope it works for the launch.

Cosimo · 8 Feb 2010 at 08:05

The weather is currently at red and Endeavour is now in a 10 minute countdown hold.

Cosimo · 8 Feb 2010 at 08:19

Improvement in the weather reported by aircraft.

So this morning’s revised timings:

08:20 ...... Begin final built-in hold (T-minus 9m)

08:50:08 .. NTD launch status verification

09:05:08 .. Resume countdown (T-minus 9m)

09:09:08 .. Orbiter access arm retraction
09:09:08 .. Launch window opens
09:09:08 .. Hydraulic power system (APU) start
09:09:13 .. Terminate LO2 replenish
09:10:08 .. Purge sequence 4 hydraulic test
09:10:08 .. IMUs to inertial
09:10:13 .. Aero surface profile
09:10:38 .. Main engine steering test
09:11:13 .. LO2 tank pressurization
09:11:33 .. Fuel cells to internal reactants
09:11:38 .. Clear caution-and-warning memory
09:12:08 .. Crew closes visors
09:12:11 .. LH2 tank pressurization
09:13:18 .. SRB joint heater deactivation
09:13:37 .. Shuttle GPCs take control of countdown
09:13:47 .. SRB steering test
09:14:01 .. Main engine start (T-6.6 seconds)
09:14:08 .. SRB ignition and LAUNCH