The Shuttle fleet is housed and processed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla. The order Shuttles are listed may not reflect the chronological order of future missions.
Discovery (OV-103)
Mission: STS-114 – 17th ISS Flight (LF1) – Multi-Purpose
Logistics Module
Vehicle: Discovery (OV-103)
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3
Launch Date: Launch Planning Window May 12 – June 3, 2005
Launch Pad: 39B
Crew: Collins, Kelly, Noguchi, Robinson, Thomas, Lawrence and Camarda
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Processing continues on Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3 for its Return to Flight mission, STS-114, to the International Space Station (ISS). The STS-114 crew visited KSC this week for the Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT). Prior to each flight, crews participate in CEIT for hands-on training and hardware familiarization. The crew performed a vehicle walk-around to inspect the Thermal Protection System and entered the payload bay to inspect the new Orbiter Boom Sensor System.
System testing continues with fuel cell valve, Auxiliary Power Unit controller checkout and payload bay door functional tests. Flight crew equipment technicians began installing tools into the mid-deck lockers in support of the CEIT. In the payload bay, the keel yolk assembly for an external stowage platform was installed. The platform will be deployed and mounted on the ISS. It will be used by crews as a permanent spare parts facility on the Station.
In the Space Station Processing Facility, prep work is under way for the installation of the racks into the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module named Raffaello. The racks hold food, spare parts and clothing.
In the Vehicle Assembly Building, all final closeouts have been completed on the External Tank (ET) in the checkout cell prior to the tank being mated to the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB). Repairs continue to progress well on the SRB aft inactive stub. It is an attach ring surrounding the booster, located approximately 10 feet below the point where the ET is mated to the SRBs. In preparation for ET/SRB mate, alignment optics begins on Monday. The ET is scheduled to be moved to the integration cell and mated with the SRBs on Feb. 21.
Mission: STS-121 – 18th ISS Flight (ULF1) – Multi-Purpose
Logistics Module/Crew Rotation
Vehicle: Atlantis (OV-104)
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1
Launch Date: Launch Planning Window July 12 – August 3, 2005
Launch Pad: 39B
Crew: Lindsey, Kelly, Sellers, Fossum, Nowak and Wilson
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Technicians continue to process Atlantis in Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 for its mission to the ISS. The body flap power drive unit is installed in preparation for body flap installation on the vehicle early next week. Optics alignment is complete on the Remote Manipulator System’s Manipulator Positioning Mechanisms (MPM). MPMs are the pedestals that hold and latch the Shuttle’s robotic arm and new boom in the payload bay. Electrical checkout is complete on the MPMs on the starboard side; the side where the boom will be installed.
The new left-hand Orbiter Maneuvering System (OMS) pod is scheduled to be installed next week. An OMS pod was removed from Atlantis and moved to the Hypergol Maintenance Facility for inspections on the thrusters. Connector mates for Auxiliary Power Units No. 1, 2 and 3 are complete, and the controllers are installed.
Endeavour (OV-105)
Space Shuttle Endeavour is located in Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2. It is in its Orbiter Major Modification period, which began in December 2003.
Previous Space Shuttle processing status reports and information about NASA’s Return to Flight efforts are available at:
http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight