STS-134 Shuttle Mission to the International Space Station Launches Monday 16th @ 13:56 BST

Cosimo · 18 May 2011 at 11:33

Now preparing for hatch opening and welcome:

PermaBanned · 18 May 2011 at 14:08

PermaBanned · 18 May 2011 at 17:15

Any decent footage of the docking/crew meeting?

Pate · 18 May 2011 at 17:18

simulatorman said:
Endeavour five feet away from the ISS:

Now mated and completing the docking sequence:

and docked:
/quote]

Those pictures look dark as hell. Creepy.

edit: yes I know it's space, it just seems inky darkness, I'd have thought the sun would have lit everything up?

Am I digging myself in a hole?

Cosimo · 18 May 2011 at 17:20

Superewza said:
Any decent footage of the docking/crew meeting?

This is all there is at present:

Combat squirrel · 18 May 2011 at 17:21

kenmare said:
Am I digging myself in a hole?

yeah its probably on the dark side of the earth.

PermaBanned · 18 May 2011 at 17:22

kenmare said:
Those pictures look dark as hell. Creepy.

edit: yes I know it's space, it just seems inky darkness, I'd have thought the sun would have lit everything up?

Am I digging myself in a hole?

It's to do with the exposure settings on the camera - it's set so you can see the actual Shuttle/ISS. You could change it so you could see the stars but then the Shuttle (ie, what you're actually trying to look at) would be overexposed.

Also, i believe they were in the shadow of the Earth at the time of docking, or just about to leave it...

Spook187 · 18 May 2011 at 18:21

simulatorman said:
Now preparing for hatch opening and welcome:

wow the earth looks beautiful

FNGsam · 18 May 2011 at 18:28

simulatorman said:
Now preparing for hatch opening and welcome:

Wow those pictures are beautiful. Would be amazing to be there and experience it first-hand

cheets64 · 18 May 2011 at 18:57

A couple that lived down the road texted my mum 5 mins after launch saying they had watch the shuttle take off, they are in Orlando for 3 weeks.

Was like lucky ****

PermaBanned · 18 May 2011 at 19:14

You have to think though, this doesn't look like a craft that's on it's last journey...

Cosimo · 18 May 2011 at 19:45

Superewza said:
You have to think though, this doesn't look like a craft that's on it's last journey...

or that it has already travelled 116,372,930 miles on 24 flights prior to this mission. Quite amazing.

Cosimo · 18 May 2011 at 20:04

I never get tired of watching the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver (shown at 2.5 times normal speed):

PermaBanned · 18 May 2011 at 20:18

Found this:

Looks a lot tidier than in the last video!

PermaBanned · 18 May 2011 at 22:00

simulatorman said:
or that it has already travelled 116,372,930 miles on 24 flights prior to this mission. Quite amazing.

Well, might have spoken too soon at any rate - just heard a rumor about the RPM turning up some tile damage

Berserker · 18 May 2011 at 22:39

It's no rumour - three confirmed areas of tile damage. They don't look very deep though so worst that will happen is a TPS repair. Even that is unlikely.

Cosimo · 18 May 2011 at 22:43

Superewza said:
Well, might have spoken too soon at any rate - just heard a rumor about the RPM turning up some tile damage

They have spotted several "dings" on tiles caused by debris during launch. They do not appear to be significant and they will be taking another look on Saturday.

There is a tile repair kit onboard just in case repair work is needed.

PermaBanned · 18 May 2011 at 23:04

You know, for 'indestructible tiles' they seem rather fragile...

Anyway, is it still looking good for the Soyuz fly-around?

Berserker · 19 May 2011 at 00:00

Who said they were indestructible? No-one that I'm aware of. They're very special though - try finding something else you can heat to several thousand degress and then pick up with un unprotected hand while they're still glowing.

Cosimo · 19 May 2011 at 06:50

Flight Day 3 highlights:

The wakeup call for today was Luna by Jose Serrano and the plan is:

Flight Day 4

• Shuttle robotic arm unberth of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), handoff to Canadarm2 and installation of AMS on the Starboard 3 truss segment
• Spacewalk 1 procedure review
• Spacewalk 1 campout and prebreathe by Feustel and Chamitoff

AMS unberth is due to start around 07:00 (BST) and installation about 09:00 (BST).