NASA's Space Shuttle Processing Status Report

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04.14.06

Joe Pally
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-7239

Jessica Rye
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(321) 867-2468

STATUS REPORT: S-041406

NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE PROCESSING STATUS REPORT

NASA's space shuttle fleet is housed and processed at Kennedy Space 
Center, Fla. 

Mission: STS-121 - 18th International Space Station Flight (ULF1.1) - 
Multi-Purpose Logistics Module 
Vehicle: Discovery (OV-103) 
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3 
Launch Date: Launch Processing Window July 1-19, 2006 
Launch Pad: 39B 
Crew: Lindsey, Kelly, Sellers, Fossum, Nowak, Wilson and Reiter 
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles 

Technicians continue closing out areas of Discovery prior to its move 
to the Vehicle Assembly Building, scheduled for May 12. The right and 
left payload bay doors were opened earlier in the week in preparation 
for reinstallation of the remote manipulator system, or "shuttle 
arm." The arm was transported from the lab in the Vehicle Assembly 
Building to the processing facility on Wednesday and installed in the 
vehicle today.

Friday program managers determined the space shuttle main engine in 
position No. 2 will need to be replaced due to the possibility of a 
crack in a solder joint in the controller. During the certification 
of similar controllers, engineers observed cracking after thermal 
testing of the units. The engine replacement has no impact on the 
overall processing schedule. 

Mission: STS-115 - 19th International Space Station Flight (12A) - 
P3/P4 Solar Arrays 
Vehicle: Atlantis (OV-104) 
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1 
Launch Date: No earlier than Aug. 28, 2006 
Launch Pad: 39B 
Crew: Jett, Ferguson, Tanner, Burbank, MacLean and Stefanyshyn-Piper 
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles 

Technicians continue performing powered-up system testing on Atlantis 
for its mission to the International Space Station. The external tank 
door functional test is scheduled for early next week.

Crane operations removed and reinstalled the orbiter boom sensor 
system in the payload bay of Atlantis on Wednesday for additional 
work on the manipulator positioning mechanisms. The positioning 
mechanisms are the pedestals that hold the boom in place in the 
payload bay while the boom is not in use. The 50-foot-long boom 
attaches to the shuttle arm and is one of the new safety measures 
added prior to the Return to Flight mission that launched in July 
2005. 

Endeavour (OV-105)

Powered-up system testing continues on Endeavour in Orbiter Processing 
Facility Bay 2 following an extensive modification period. On 
Thursday, leak checks and functional tests were completed on the 
liquid oxygen portion of the main propulsion system.

Technicians continue working on the positioning mechanisms for 
Endeavour's remote manipulator system in preparation for the arm's 
installation in the payload bay. 

External Tank

Final closeouts continue in the Vehicle Assembly Building on the 
external tank that will fly with Discovery on mission STS-121. On 
Tuesday, crane operators lifted the tank from the checkout cell and 
placed it in a horizontal position on the transporter in the transfer 
aisle. Lockheed Martin employees are completing final work required 
to close out the aft area of the tank in preparation for thermal 
protection system foam application, scheduled for late next week.

Once the foam application is complete, the tank will be lifted from 
the transporter and attached to the two solid rocket boosters already 
stacked in high bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building. That move is 
scheduled for April 24. 

For previous space shuttle processing status reports on the Web, 
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

	
-end-



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