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

Cosimo · 23 May 2011 at 23:41

Let's hope they all get back safely. Hopefully we will see the images tomorrow evening.

A goodnight from the ISS:

Spook187 · 23 May 2011 at 23:44

simulatorman said:
Let's hope they all get back safely. Hopefully we will see the images tomorrow evening.

A goodnight from the ISS:

quality pics and posts simulatorman

Cosimo · 24 May 2011 at 08:37

Soyuz has landed safely and now we wait for the photos.

The plan for today:

Flight Day 9

• OGS install
• Spacewalk 3 review

PermaBanned · 25 May 2011 at 00:47

Apparently they had a little band going in the JEM before Expedition 27 left, any footage of that? They said in the Day 9 highlights they recorded it.

Also - just how do you 'find' a keyboard in the ISS?

Cosimo · 25 May 2011 at 07:02

Flight Day 9 highlights:

The plan for today:

Flight Day 10

• In-Suit Light Exercise (ISLE) prebreathe by Feustel and Fincke
• Spacewalk 3 by Feustel and Fincke (Zarya PDGF installation, PDGF data cable installation, vision system installation, Strela adapter relocation)

Spacewalk three began at 06:43 (BST).

Cosimo · 25 May 2011 at 12:42

Men still at work:

Metalface Mark · 25 May 2011 at 12:44

simulatorman said:
Men still at work:

Is that outside or inside? Looks like an empty module.

Cosimo · 25 May 2011 at 13:01

Metalface Mark said:
Is that outside or inside? Looks like an empty module.

That's outside and they're coming out of the airlock (middle one) after stowing some gear.

PermaBanned · 25 May 2011 at 23:19

Just watched the first three minutes of this but it's amazing:

Merlin5 · 25 May 2011 at 23:45

Superewza said:
Just watched the first three minutes of this but it's amazing:

That's a fantastic video. I've watched the first 10 minutes so far, and you really get a whole new perspective on the launch with those SRB cameras. I didn't realise just how high up they were before the SRB's were ejected. They're already in pitch black space and earth is already visibly a sphere behind them even before the SRB's are detached. Some of the shots look just like a great hollywood scifi movie. Breathtaking stuff.

Cosimo · 26 May 2011 at 07:33

Flight Day 10 highlights:

Today's plan:

Flight Day 11

• Late inspection of Endeavour’s thermal protection system heat shield
• Spacewalk 4 procedure review
• Spacewalk 4 campout and prebreathe by Fincke and Chamitoff

Westyfield2 · 26 May 2011 at 10:57

Have they published the photos of ISS/Endeavour taken from the Soyuz as it returned yet?

Cosimo · 26 May 2011 at 11:03

Westyfield2 said:
Have they published the photos of ISS/Endeavour taken from the Soyuz as it returned yet?

Nope and the wait is unbearable. We expected them to be available within a day or so but:

Today, Navias said the data cards were left inside the Soyuz after it landed, and are due to be airlifted to Moscow on Thursday.

The contents of the Soyuz craft, including the precious cards, "will be processed through normal disposition procedures" at the Energia rocket company's spacecraft fabrication facility on the northern outskirts of Moscow, Navias told Oberg. NASA expects to get access to the pictures in about a week.

"This was always the plan," Navias said. But that doesn't square with the reports that went out from Mission Control before the photo op. One report, from NASASpaceflight.com, suggested that the images would be copied from the cards almost immediately after the Soyuz landed, and then would be either transmitted electronically to the U.S. or flown back to Houston.

Source

PermaBanned · 26 May 2011 at 17:08

What is a data card anyway?

But yeah, you've got to think - if NASA had managed to go along with the original plan of 'one launch per week' then we'd be on about 1500 by now, not 135...

iamtheoneneo · 26 May 2011 at 18:18

so taking it back a week or so...i was actually lucky enough to be in Florida on launch day so up at 5am it was to travel to the east coast and the cape. I had heard on good prinicple that the cocoa beach area was a great area to see it , which it certainly was.
Shame about the clouds, but still great to experience. The noise, vibrations are incredible even though it is miles away.
was good aswell as loads of people there had walky talkies tuned to nasa so we could hear everything that was going on.
anyway heres some pics:

parking (lots of police):

waiting (crowds got bigger by the minute but still enough room to sit down etc):

lift off!

Cosimo · 27 May 2011 at 09:23

Flight Day 11 highlights:

Plan for today:

Flight Day 12

• Spacewalk 4 by Fincke and Chamitoff (install the OBSS at the Starboard 0/Starboard 1 truss interface, swap out of the OBSS grapple fixtures, retrieval of the Port 6 truss segment power and data grapple fixture, release of retention systems on the Dextre spare robotic arm; this is the final scheduled spacewalk by Shuttle crew members)

Cosimo · 27 May 2011 at 12:13

Spacewalk four coming to the end:

Cosimo · 28 May 2011 at 08:38

Time for some of the best pictures we've had:

Cosimo · 28 May 2011 at 08:42

Cosimo · 28 May 2011 at 08:55

Flight Day 12 highlights:

Plan for today:

Flight Day 13

• Post-spacewalk spacesuit reconfiguration
• Joint crew news conference
• CDRA servicing

The data collected from late inspection of the shuttle’s thermal protection system has indicated that there are no issues and Endeavour has been cleared for landing.