STS 123: Endeavour is home!

[Brent]

Liftoff!

[Cyclenall]

I liked that one.

[Rainband]

I don't remember seeing a night launch on TV ever. This could be sweet.

When I first read the topic title, I thought it said "Endeavour to go for lunch on March 11th".

I saw a launch at 4am once. it's not to be missed

[JonathanBelles]

As its pursuit of the International Space Station draws to a close, the crew members of space shuttle Endeavour are getting ready to dock with the orbital outpost. Commander Dominic Gorie and Pilot Gregory H. Johnson will guide the shuttle to link up with the station at 11:25 p.m. EDT.

About an hour before docking, Gorie and Johnson will guide the shuttle through a back-flip maneuver, giving the Expedition 16 crew the opportunity to take pictures of the orbiter’s protective heat-resistant tiles. These photos will be sent to engineers on Earth for analysis.

After Endeavour docks, the STS-123 and Expedition 16 crews will conduct pressure and leak checks before the hatches between the two spacecraft open at 1:08 a.m. Thursday. They will greet each other and begin joint operations.

Mission Specialist Garrett Reisman will join the Expedition 16 crew, trading places with Flight Engineer Léopold Eyharts, a European Space Agency astronaut. The crews will then prepare for the first of five scheduled STS-123 spacewalks, which Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan and Reisman will begin at 9:23 p.m. Thursday.

In addition, the STS-123 crew will install the Canadian-built Dextre – the final element of the station’s Mobile Servicing System – and the Japanese Logistics Module - Pressurized Section, which is the first component of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory.

[lurkey]

[JonathanBelles]

No Problems thus far.


The space shuttle Endeavour and International Space Station crews have begun the seventh day of STS-123. They will continue outfitting the Japanese Logistics Module - Pressurized Section (JLP), transferring supplies and equipment into it from Endeavour, as well as configuring racks inside the module.

The JLP is the first pressurized component of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory and the newest component of the station. Marking the beginning of Japan’s scientific work aboard the station, astronauts entered the new module Friday.

Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Mike Foreman finished assembling Dextre, the final element of the International Space Station’s Mobile Servicing System, Sunday during the second spacewalk of STS-123. The crews will test the brakes in the robotic system’s arms.

Linnehan and Mission Specialist Robert Behnken will end their day by “camping out” in the station’s Quest Airlock to purge the nitrogen from their bodies before they begin the third spacewalk of the mission at 7:23 p.m. EDT Monday.

[JonathanBelles]

The STS-123 and Expedition 16 crews have begun a new day that will be highlighted by robotics operations.

Canadarm 2, the International Space Station’s robot arm, will grab the pallet that secured Dextre during its journey to the orbital outpost and return the pallet to space shuttle Endeavour’s payload bay for return to Earth.

The Canadian-built Dextre is the final element of the station’s Mobile Servicing System. Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Mike Foreman finished assembling Dextre Sunday during the second spacewalk of STS-123.

The station and shuttle crews also will prepare hardware to be used in a shuttle tile repair test on the next spacewalk, and they will get some much needed off duty time.

Foreman and Mission Specialist Robert L. Behnken are slated to begin the mission’s fourth spacewalk at 6:28 p.m. Thursday. The two will perform tasks that include the shuttle tile repair test and change out of a circuit breaker on the station.

[JonathanBelles]

Endeavour Crew Tests Repair Method, Prepares for Inspection

Mission Specialists Robert L. Behnken and Mike Foreman completed the fourth STS-123 spacewalk at 12:28 a.m. EDT, spending six hours and 24 minutes on the excursion.

As the docked International Space Station and space shuttle Endeavour orbited high above the Earth, the two shuttle crew members replaced a failed Remote Power Control Module – essentially a circuit breaker – on the station’s truss. However, there were difficulties removing a power connecter from the Z1 truss.

With Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan coordinating their activities from inside the orbiting complex, the spacewalkers also tested a repair method for damaged heat resistant tiles on the space shuttle. This technique used a caulk-gun-like tool named the Tile Repair Ablator Dispenser to dispense a material called Shuttle Tile Ablator-54 into purposely damaged heat shield tiles. The sample tiles will be returned to Earth to undergo extensive testing on the ground.

Endeavour’s crew will perform a final inspection of the orbiter’s heat shield tiles Friday using the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS).

Behnken and Foreman will begin the mission’s fifth and final spacewalk Saturday at 5:23 p.m. Among other tasks, they will stow the OBSS on the station’s main truss to be retrieved by the crew of Discovery on STS-124, the next space shuttle mission

[JonathanBelles]

Mission Specialists Robert L. Behnken and Mike Foreman completed the fifth spacewalk of STS-123 at 10:36 p.m. EDT. Rick Linnehan, also a mission specialist, coordinated their activities from inside the orbiting complex made up of space shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station.

Robot arm operators grappled the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), and the two spacewalkers assembled an umbilical designed to keep the boom safe during its time in the harsh space environment. Then, the robot arm handed the OBSS off to Behnken and Foreman, who stowed it on the station’s S1 Truss.

The next component of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory, which will be delivered on space shuttle Discovery during the STS-124 mission, is too large to accommodate the OBSS in the shuttle’s payload bay. Once the next element of Kibo is installed on the station, Discovery’s astronauts will detach the OBSS left behind by space shuttle Endeavour, use it to perform tile inspections and bring it home.

After the STS-123 spacewalkers attached the boom to the S1 Truss, Behnken installed the Materials International Space Station Experiment 6 on the outside of the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory, and Foreman inspected the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint.

The spacewalkers also completed a few get-ahead tasks, installing trunnion covers on the Japanese Logistics Module – Pressurized Section and stowing tools in a toolbox on the airlock before ingressing the hatch.

With the final STS-123 spacewalk complete, flight day 14 will see the crew of Endeavour prepare for the end of their visit to the station. The orbiter will undock Monday and return to Earth Wednesday.

[JonathanBelles]

Space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station at 8:25 p.m. EDT, ending its 12-day stay at the orbital outpost. After the STS-123 and Expedition 16 crews bid one another farewell, the hatches between the two spacecraft closed at 5:49 p.m.

STS-123 arrived at the station March 12, delivering the Japanese Logistics Module - Pressurized Section, the first pressurized component of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory, to the station. The crew of Endeavour also delivered the final element of the station’s Mobile Servicing System, the Canadian-built Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator.

In addition the STS-123 astronauts delivered Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman, who replaced European Space Agency Astronaut Léopold Eyharts on the station. Eyharts is returning to Earth aboard Endeavour.

The astronauts also performed five spacewalks while on the station.

Endeavour is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Wednesday.

[cycloneye]

Endeavour is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Wednesday.

At what time it will land?

[JonathanBelles]

Endeavour is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., Wednesday.

At what time it will land?

According to the TV schedule, 7:05 pm EDT. The landing charts should be released tomorrow sometime.

[MGC]

I've been to two landings, both at Edwards. I got to see Challenger's last landing and Columbia. I guess I might be a curse since both crafts have since been lost with the entire crews. I have also seen the shuttle at about 100K feet at night during re-entry. It glows white hot as it streaks across the night sky.....MGC

[Stephanie]

You're not a curse MGC. It's a dangerous job to begin with and the tragedies are unfortunately a real possibility.

I'm still awestruck seeing how the Shuttles come in landing like a plane with the parachute out to help them stop. I think they were a bold, wonderful new step for man to explore outer space.

[JonathanBelles]

Landing Tracks!!

Track 1 on orbit 248:



Track 2 on orbit 249: (backup)



I really hope they bypass the first track. That second one will bring it very close to here, and it would also be a night landing if it was the second track.

[JonathanBelles]

Two landing opportunities are available for space shuttle Endeavour and the STS-123 crew to return to Earth today.

Endeavour’s first landing opportunity is at 7:05 p.m. EDT on orbit 248 at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. If controllers elect to take it, Commander Dominic Gorie will perform the deorbit burn at 5:58 p.m. to begin the descent to Kennedy. Orbit 249 provides a second opportunity at 8:39 p.m.

STS-123 arrived at the station March 12, delivering the Japanese Logistics Module - Pressurized Section, the first pressurized component of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory, to the station. The crew of Endeavour also delivered the final element of the station’s Mobile Servicing System, the Canadian-built Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator.

In addition, the STS-123 astronauts delivered Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman, who replaced Léopold Eyharts, a European Space Agency astronaut, on the station.

STS-123 is the 122nd shuttle mission and 25th station assembly mission.
______________________________________________________

Landing Blog:
5:10 p.m. - Capcom Jim Dutton radioed Endeavour Commander Dom Gorie that current conditions are not favorable but that does not necessarily apply to the forecast at landing time.

[JonathanBelles]

They are stipulating on moving landing to the second opportunity. *prays*

[JonathanBelles]

Flight controllers decided to pass on Endeavour’s first landing opportunity today. The next opportunity is at 8:39 p.m. EDT.

[CajunMama]

I got to see both the shuttle and space station last night. I was just amazed to think that there were humans up there in those little dots. I missed seeing them monday night.

[JonathanBelles]

Breaking News: They are coming home!!!