CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space Shuttle Discovery sits on Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, after rollback of the rotating service structure, or RSS. The oxygen vent hood, called the “beanie cap,” is positioned above the external fuel tank. It is designed to vent gaseous oxygen vapors away from the shuttle. The rollback is preparation for Discovery’s scheduled 1:36 a.m. EDT liftoff Aug. 25 on the STS-128 mission with a crew of seven. First motion was at 5:06 a.m. EDT and completed at 5:46 a.m. EDT. The service structure provides weather protection and access to the space shuttle at the launch pad. The 13-day mission will deliver a new crew member and 33,000 pounds of equipment to the International Space Station. The equipment includes science and storage racks, a freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment and the COLBERT treadmill. STS-128 will be Discovery's 37th mission and the 30th shuttle flight dedicated to station assembly and maintenance. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder KSC-2009-4819
Summary
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space Shuttle Discovery sits on Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, after rollback of the rotating service structure, or RSS. The oxygen vent hood, called the “beanie cap,” is positioned above the external fuel tank. It is designed to vent gaseous oxygen vapors away from the shuttle. The rollback is preparation for Discovery’s scheduled 1:36 a.m. EDT liftoff Aug. 25 on the STS-128 mission with a crew of seven. First motion was at 5:06 a.m. EDT and completed at 5:46 a.m. EDT. The service structure provides weather protection and access to the space shuttle at the launch pad. The 13-day mission will deliver a new crew member and 33,000 pounds of equipment to the International Space Station. The equipment includes science and storage racks, a freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment and the COLBERT treadmill. STS-128 will be Discovery's 37th mission and the 30th shuttle flight dedicated to station assembly and maintenance. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder
The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.
Tags
Date
Location
Source
Copyright info