Main Space Station computer goes offline

A possible commanding issue caused a prime computer aboard the International Space Station to fail this morning as the five-member crew slept.

Commander Jeffery Williams and his crew began working with Mission Control in Houston to bring the computers back on line.

Command and control computer multiplexer/demultiplexer #1 went offline at about 8:55 am EST, due to the "ascending of commands from the ground", according to the space station control room.

By noon time, all three computers which have control of the space station were 'showing healthy'.

Computer #3 was set to primery, #2 remained as back-up, while #1 was moved to standby.

Mission control will be scatching their heads for a few hours to determine the cause of the computer shutdown this morning.

At 12:05 pm, there were still issues running between computers # 2 & #1 reported.

Mission control has also reported that the crew was not in any danger, nor did it affect the life support systems on board.

The station did loose both KU and S-band communications with the ground for an hour due to the failed prime and backup computers. They then again lost communications for a brief time again an hour later. KU-band provides the live video and high speed data traffic from the station to the ground.

By 1PM, the KU-band was still not operative.

The space shuttle Endeavour -- some 665 miles ahead of the station in orbit --had undocked just 37 hours earlier following the installation of the new node 3 Tranquility and cupola observation module.

There were commands in the Tanquility which did not sync up with earlier commands from the ground.

At 12:31 pm, controlers on the ground were working specific commands to a key computer on board Tranquility. A few minutes later, they uplinked the new commands.

The crew awoke this morning at 1AM, and were enjoying an off-duty day following a buy last ten days of joint docked operations with Endeavour's crew.

VIDEO: Tonight's Shuttle News Conference

Tonight's NASA lead shuttle flight director's news conference from JSC.

SLN VIDEO: Endeavour Launches Tonight

SLN Video: Endeavour Launch Replay July 15, 2009

Endeavour shifts Launch Pads this Morning

Endeavour inches toward pad 39-A at 6:56 am Today.

The space shuttle Endeavour is on her move from one launch pad to another here at the Kennedy Space Center this morning to prepare for her launch targeted in 13 days.

Technicians and ground support personnel began moving Endeavour from Launch Complex 39's pad B to the adjacent pad A at 3:16 am EDT, this morning. Endeavour was moved from the massive vehicle assembly building out to pad 39-B on April 18th to serve as a standby shuttle in case the recent Atlantis mission ran into trouble and could not get home alone.

Endeavour is currently target to launch on a supply mission to the international space station on June 13th at 7:17 am EDT. Space shuutle program managers told spacelaunchnews.com days ago that NASA has only June 13, 14 or 15th to launch Endeavour, or it must stand down until July 12th due to several high profile rocket launches from the Space Coast - a NASA Lunar mission and a weather satellite.

Once in space, Endeavour and her crew of seven, led by commander Mark L. Polansky, pilot Douglas G. Hurley and mission specialists are Christopher J. Cassidy, Thomas H. Marshburn, David A. Wolf, Julie Payette (Canadian Space Agency) and Timothy L. Kopra, will deliver two experiment platforms for the Japansese Kibo module and carry up fresh supplies, food and water to the international space station. This 127th space shuttle mission is expected to be docked with the station for 12 days.

Atlantis Touches down in Sunny California

After thirteen days in earth orbit, the space shuttle Atlantis fired her jets and returned home to America with a desert runway landing at sunny Edwards, AFB in California this morning.

Continuing rain bands flowing up the Space Coast caused Mission Control to reroute the mission from a landing here at the Kennedy Space Center to a beautiful blue sky Edwards landing.

Coming home following a very successful flight to service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope, Atlantis fired two thruster engines at 10:24 am EDT today to brake her speed by 305 mph, and begin to drop her out of her elliptical orbit of 220 x 350 statue miles.

The orbiter blazed a path and cut though earth's atmosphere over the eastern Pacific Ocean. The orbiter flew north of Hawaii and eastward toward southern California on the tail end of the mission's 197th orbit of earth.

As the newly risen Sun shone brightly on the orbiter's white skin of thermal blankets and tiles, Atlantis' commander Scott Altman pitched her nose up, and pilot Greg Johnson dropped the landing gear as they flew toward the thresh hold of runway 22.

"Ten feet. Five feet. One foot... Touchdown!" pilot Johnson radioed to his commander as the main gear hit the desert runway at 220 mph at 11:39:05 am EDT. Seconds later, a drogue chute ejected from the aft section of Atlantis, and the nose gear lowered as her speed began to drop below 200 mph. Atlantis came to a complete stop at 11:40:15 am.

"At last! I didn't realize it was going to be so hard to get back to the Earth, landing here just felt great to everybody," stated Altman after landing. "We're all thrilled to have the mission complete and it was a testament to the teamwork and cooperation of folks all across the country."

Atlantis had completed her 30th flight and a successful Hubble servicing mission which lasted 12 days, 21 hours 37 minutes and 9 seconds, and traveled 5,276,000 million miles. It was also the 56th space shuttle flight to conclude with an Edwards landing dating back to April 1981.

Along with Altman and Johnson were Mission Specialists Michael Good, K. Megan McArthur, John Grunsfeld, Andrew Feustel and Mike Massimino.

Atlantis began her latest flight on May 11th.

NASA to Bring Atlantis Home on Sunday

Mission Control will take another look at the weather early tomorrow morning and work hard again to get the space shuttle Atlantis back home to either Kennedy Space Center or a desert runway landing out in California.

It costs NASA $1.5 million to land an orbiter out at Edwards, AFB in California, and then carry it back home atop a jumbo Boeing 747 to Kennedy. Thus, Atlantis' STS-125 Entry Flight Director Norm Knight will go the distance in making sure he has exhausted all possibilities for a Sunday landing at America's Spaceport.

The first landing attempt [above] would see Atlantis fire her twin engines at 8:58 am EDT, to fall out of orbit for a 10:11 am touchdown here at KSC. The second landing opportunity would see the main gear of NASA's 24 year-old orbiter at 11:49 am.

Edwards, AFB has a few landing options for Sunday as well with the first [left] seeing a deorbit burn at 10:25 am and landing on Runway 22 at 11:40 am; and second landing try at 1:19 pm EDT.

Rains and low clouds continued to hug Cape Canaveral into late today, and the forecast for mid morning on Sunday does not look promising. Current Cape Weather is calling for variable clouds with scattered showers in the morning, then thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 78F. Winds east at 5 to 10 mph.

Atlantis launched on her current mission on May 11th on a now successfully mission to restore and fix the Hubble Space Telescope.

Weather Looks Iffy for Friday KSC Landing

Scattered storms here at the Kennedy Space Center in association with a low pressure system off shore will likely delay Friday morning's first landing attempt by Atlantis into Saturday.

On Wednesday, Mission Control south of Houston, Texas, radioed Atlantis to turn off a few extra electronic devices to conserve a little more power in case landing is delayed past the planned time.

There are two landing opportunities for the prime landing site at Kennedy's runway 15 on Friday morning. SpaceLaunchNews.com will have LIVE television of Friday's planned landing through out the day.

The first would see Atlantis perform her deorbit burn on orbit 165 to begin a free fall back to earth for the first landing attempt at 10:00:31 am EDT. The second landing time is one orbit later at 11:39 am. If this weather system remains off shore, and forecasters here at Cape weather are calling for light showers Friday morning, then both landing attempts could be waved off in support of a Saturday landing.

Click Here for the current LIVE radar of the Cape Canaveral, FL area.

The seven member flight crew awoke this morning at 3:04 am EDT, to the music of Cantina Band from the Star Wars.

Later, the crew began preparing for landing by powering up on auxilary power unit and testing Atlantis' flight control systems which include her elevons, rudder and speed brake beginning at 5:12 am. Next, the crew this morning test fired Atlantis’ reaction control system thrusters - the same thrusters they will use to take them out of orbit.

On tap for today, commander Scott Altman and pilot Greg Johnson will practice a few landing simulations via a laptop computer using the software PILOT at 8 am.

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Atlantis Crew Talks to Reporters Today

The seven members of the shuttle Atlantis spoke to reporters this morning, a day after releasing the newly serviced Hubble Space Telescope back into space.

Atlantis' commander Scott Altman, pilot Greg Johnson and mission specialists John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino, Andrew Feustel, Michael Good and K. Megan McArthur floated on the flight deck and began taking questions at 10:29 am EDT.

For 35 minutes as Atlantis flew over the Pacific Ocean, the crew gave great insight into their experiences on this mission as they approached Hubble and the fun for four of crew as they spacewalked outside of Atlantis in support of the repairs.

At 12:06 pm EDT today, the crew will next talk with the crew of the international space station. Also, according to the White House this morning, the crew will receive a call from President Obama ata bout 5:45 pm.

NASA Releases Atlantis' Booster Cameras Video

NASA this morning released the videos of Atlantis STS-125 climb to orbit from the prospective of her rocket boosters, and we like most thought it was incredible.

Atlantis lifted-off on Monday, May 11th. We captured a few still images from the different views and find them amazing. The yellow number at the top is seconds into the launch phase nearly nine days ago.

At 39 seconds into Atlantis' launch on May 11, you can see shadow of her smoke pillar from the solid rocket boosters stretch out over the Atlantic Ocean. The coastline of Cape Canaveral - America's Spaceport - is also visible in this shot from the right hand booster.

Nine seconds later, the left booster camera shows the Kennedy Space Center as Atlantis throttle's down her main engines.

Atlantis Crew Rests, Holds News Conference

The seven member crew of the shuttle Atlantis will receive some much deserved time off today after eight full days of successfully working to restore and upgrade the Edwin Hubble Space Telescope.

Atlantis' commander Scott Altman, pilot Greg Johnson and mission specialists John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino, Andrew Feustel, Michael Good and K. Megan McArthur awoke at 4:01 am EDT, to begin their ninth day in space to the theme from Star Trek in honor of the crew and their astronomical flight.

The crew will devote today to personal time, however they will clean up the crew cabin and at 10:26 am EDT, will begin their in flight crew news conference with reporters. You can watch the conference LIVE right here via SpaceLaunchNews.com.

Ninety minutes later, at 12:06 pm, the crew will make a ship-to-ship call in the vast ocean of space to the three person crew aboard the international space station orbiting 220 miles above earth. Expedition 19 crew members include Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, American astronaut Michael Barratt and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata.

Hubble Space Telescope Released by Atlantis

The Edwin P. Hubble Space Telescope was redeployed back into the vast ocean of space this morning to begin another five-plus years of astronomical photography and observations with a new camera and equipment to allow all of humanity a better view into the universe.

America's space telescope was released by Atlantis' astronaut Megan McArthur at 8:57:20 am EDT, as the pair crossed over the western coast line of Africa at an altitude of 350 miles.

Five minutes later, Hubble had moved to 150 feet away from Atlantis.

Realtime preBerth Hubble Images

Hubble at 1:52 pm EDT, as the telescope and Atlantis fly over Mexico nearing the tip of Texas.

A beautiful view of the Hubble Space Telescope over the payload bay of Atlantis, attached to the ship's 50-foot robotic arm. Baja California lies parallel withe the robot arm, as Atlantis approaches western Mexico at 1:48 pm EDT.

Atlantis to Grapple Hubble Telescope Today

The crew of space shuttle Atlantis are closing in for the capture of the Edwin P. Hubble Space Telescope, and the start of the busiest days of the new STS-125 mission.

The crew of seven - led by commander Scott Altman, pilot Greg Johnson and mission specialists Mike Massimino, John Grunsfeld, Megan McArthur, Mike Good and Andrew Feustel - were awoken this morning at 5:01 am EDT, to the music Upside Down by Jack Johnson, played for robotic arm operator McArthur.

Following a series of burns by Atlantis, the crew will fly Atlantis up from below to meet up and grapple the space telescope at 12:54 pm EDT, with its robot arm controlled by McArthur. The two crafts should be over the island of Madagascar off Africa's east coast at capture. Once captured, McArthur will ease the telescope slowly into a cradle in the aft section of the payload bay.

The gold foiled support service structure has been in space before, dating back to the 1984 STS-41C Solar Max satellite repair mission by Challenger. It was used on previous Hubble servicing flights.

Once NASA's Great Observatory is latched on the service structure, the crew will begin operations to survey the forty-foot tall telescope. The telescope was last "seen" seven years ago by the Columbia STS-109 mission. That flight included thre members of this current crew: Altman, Massimino and Grunsfeld.

Following the Hubble survey, the crew will check out their space suits for tomorrow's first of five planned walks in space to outfit HST with new equipment. Later, the crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 8:31 pm.

And Our Blu-Ray DVD Winner is...

SpaceLaunchNews.com and SLN: Up to the Minute are giving away the combo movie package from IMAX, The Blue Planet & The Dream is Alive - on Blu-Ray!

Last week, we asked the question: "What was your most memorable moment from the last 28 years of the Space Shuttle era". And while we only received four responses (I guess Blu-ray is not still accepted), we are here to announce the winner. Our winner gave a creative touch and was witnessed first hand. A very nice read... and so our winner is: Jonathan Woodworth. Mr. Woodworth, please email us at info@spacelaunchnews.com as to where to mail your Blu-ray DVD. Thank-you to all who shared your stories.

Later this week, we will give away another cool space item related to next weeks Hubble servicing mission.

Kennedy Space Center Family Day Today

On the heels of a busy month of April at America's Spaceport, employees here at the Kennedy Space Center will spend today with their families as the annual KSC Family Day gets underway under beautiful blue skies.

The main feature for most will be what I call a photographers delight as families get their final up close look at two space shuttle stacks sitting a top their launch pads over at complex 39. With Atlantis at pad 39-A and Endeavour on pad 39-B, the two space shuttles will remain exposed with their rotating service structures in the launch position.

While the closed to the public family day is in progress, technicians will move the payload canister for the STS-125 Hubble servicing flight out to pad 39-A where it will be installed into Atlantis [above, today @9:05 am ET] payload bay for flight. Atlantis is targeted for launch on May 12th at 1:31 pm EDT.

Endeavour: Rescue Mission STS-400 Planned

In a few days, the space shuttle Endeavour will rollout to her ocean side launch pad right next to where her sistership Atlantis currently sits, to prepare for a possible rescue flight following Atlantis launch into space.

In the event that Atlantis' thermal tiles on her outerskin are damaged during her STS-125 launch and Mission Control states that reentry would be too risky, Endeavour would be called up on rescue mission STS-400.

STS-400 would see Endeavour launch with a crew of four from launch pad 39-B and into the same orbital inclination as Atlantis - 28.45 degrees to the earth's equator. After only one day of manuvers to catch up with the weakened Atlantis, Endeavour would slowly pull up and park her payload bay over her weakened sistership.

NASA's Shuttle Program Managers stated that Endeavour's 50-foot robotic arm would then latch Atlantis robotic arm so that both ships are then connected to begin crew rescue via spacewalks. Program managers also state that only the STS-125 crew of seven would spacewalk over to Endeavour's outside airlock during the span of several days.

Atlantis' spacewalking astronauts of John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel will depart Atlantis to prepare a rope which will assist fellow astronaut Megan McArthur over to Endeavour. The following day more of the crew will translate over concluding with Atlantis' skipper Scott Altman.

A few months ago, the Johnson Space Center said that the STS-400 crew would be made up of the commander, pilot, and two mission specialists from a recent space station mission - last November's STS-126 mission. Chris Ferguson would command STS-400, with pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists Robert Kimbrough and Stephen Bowen rounding out the crew.

A few days following Atlantis' May 12th launch, the STS-125 crew will use the robotic arm to survey the orbiter's tiles and thermal blankets along her wing leading edges, nose section and aft section. If issues with damaged tiles are seen, then two spacewalkers will venture outside to see if the damage can be repaired using an in flight maintenance kit.

If Atlantis is cleared for reentry, then Endeavour will be moved from Pad 39-B southward to Pad 39-A to be prepared for her prime mission STS-127 to the international space station.

Inside NASA, everyone we spoke with states that if Atlantis is deemed a loss while on orbit, it could mean the end of shuttle flights now instead of Autumn 2010 - the time when the shuttle fleet are set to retire.

Atlas V Fueling Underway at the Cape

Fueling is underway this evening in support of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V with it's centaur upper stage, as liftoff approaches at 8:31 pm EDT.

Winds gusting near 20 mph here on the Atlantic coast are expected to die down after Sunset. The countdown just picked up at the T-minus 2 hour mark.

A Busy Day in Space Flight Today

The crew of Expedition 19 aboard a Soyuz TMA-14 are closing in on the international space station this morning. Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, American Michael Barratt and veteran space tourist Charles Simonyi have been in space for two days now and are scheduled to sock at 9:14 am EDT.

At 7:07am ET, the Russian Soyuz TMA-14 performed a burn at 404 Km from the station while the two were over the southwestern Atlantic Ocean.

Meanwhile, an arc of the earth away in earth orbit, the crew of orbiter Discovery awoke at 5:13 am EDT this morning to prepare for today's landing back here at the Kennedy Space Center following nearly 13 days in space - eight of which were docked to the international space station.

"I'm looking forward to being home and seeing everyone today... hopefully," stated former station Expedition 18 crew member Sandra Magnus who is coming home after 134 days in space.

Discovery's commander Lee Archambault, pilot Dominic Antonelli, and mission specialists Steven Swanson, John Phillips, Joseph Acaba, Richard Arnold and Magnus will begin donning their entry pressure suits at about 11:10 am and then begin to strap in for landing.

Discovery Milestones Today:
09:54 am - Payload Bay door closure begins
12:33 pm - DeOrbit Burn begins for three minutes
01:08 pm - Reentry by Discovery
01:39 pm - Main Gear Touchdown on KSC Runway 15

There is a second landing opportunity at 3:13 pm EDT, if Mission Control elects to hold off one orbit for any reason. A landing today is prime so that time critical experiments from the space station get to back to their destined labs for analysis. In addition, Sunday's weather at both KSC and Edwards, AFB in California is forecast No-Go due to winds and clouds.

This is cool: At this moment there are three manned space craft in space and 13 humans in space - living aboard and coming and going from the space station.

SLN VIDEO: Space Station Fly Around Today

Undocking Day for Discovery Today

The seven member crew of Discovery will finish last minute stowage and transfers to the international space station this morning before closing their hatches and departing today following eight days of docked operations.

In what will be a thrill to the entire crew following undocking will be as they pull back to see the new look of the entire space station - the look how NASA artists have envisioned it would look going back over twenty years.

Discovery [above this morning] is to unlatch and depart her port-of-call at 3:53 pm EDT today. As Discovery slowly moves payload bay first away from the station, pilot Tony Antonelli will take his ship out about 400 feet and then begin a fly around [at 4:22 pm] of the huge, beautiful orbital complex. At about 5:37 pm, Discovery will fire her engines to make a final separation from the station.

Discovery's crew awoke minutes ago, at 6:13 am EDT, to the music Dirty Water for pilot Antonelli, as the shuttle- station complex flew high at the beginning of the orbiter's 150th orbit as it approached an orbital sunset.

Discovery's crew includes commander Lee Archambault along with Antonelli, and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold and Sandy Magnus. Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata rode up to the station aboard Discovery and has now replaced Magnus to begin his three months in space. Magnus has been in space since her launch aboard Endeavour in November.

Weather permitting, Discovery is set to land back at the Kennedy Space Center this Saturday at 1:43 pm EDT, following nearly thirteen days in space.