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Crew for STS-126 selected |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Monday, 01 October 2007
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 NASA has announced the crew for the Space Shuttle Endeavour's 22nd planned flight in September 2008. The STS-126 mission will deliver the Italian-built Leonardo cargo module to the International Space Station and carry nearly 14 tons of supplies and equipment for the station, including a new crew quarters that will expand the space station's capacity to six simultaneous residents. Endeavour will also be on standby as a rescue flight mission for an April 2008 flight by Discovery to the ISS, and as a rescue flight for the August 2008 flight by Atlantis to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
The crew selected includes Navy CPT Christopher J. Ferguson as Endeavour's commander, Air Force LTC Eric A. Boe as pilot, and mission specialists Navy CMDR Stephen G. Bowen, NASA astronaut Joan E. Higginbotham, Army LTC Robert S. Kimbrough and Navy CPT Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper. Boe, Bowen and Kimbrough will be making their first spaceflight.
In a rare maneuver, Endeavour will be on a launch pad at the same time as another shuttle sits on another launch pad. Ever since the loss of Columbia in 2003, NASA has designated rescue missions for all shuttle flights should a shuttle be damaged beyond the repair capablities of the shuttle crew. Endeavour will be standing by for preparation in April to launch as a rescue mission to the ISS to retrieve the crew of STS-124 Discovery, a mission to the ISS. Because the crew of Discovery would be able to take refuge in the ISS for an extended period of time, NASA would not need a mission ready for immediate launch.
STS-125 is another matter. The Space Shuttle Atlantis will be launching in August on a service mission to the aging Hubble Space Telescope. If Atlantis were to experience damage that would impede its safe return to Earth they would have just three weeks of life support available. Because of the short time frame, NASA has decided that it would be prudent to have a shuttle on a launch pad simultaneously as Atlantis is launched. This is where Endeavour comes in. The shuttle will be moved to the Launch Pad 39B (which has been reserved since January for use with the new Ares launch vehicle) a full two weeks before Atlantis rolls to the neighboring 39A. The rescue missions for both Discovery and Atlantis are termed LON missions - Launch On Need. After it is determined that Endeavour will not be needed for a LON mission to rescue the Atlantis crew, it will be moved over to Launch Pad 39A and a full renovation of 39B will begin.
Should Endeavour have to launch on a mission to retrieve the crew of Atlantis, it would do so with four crewmembers and would perform the first ever coupling of two space shuttles in orbit. Atlantis would attach itself to Endeavour with its robotic arm - the Canadian-built Canadarm - while Endeavour would use its own arm to assist in the transfer of crew from Atlantis. After uncoupling from Atlantis, Endeavour would return to Earth and NASA would control Atlantis from the ground. Depending on the severity of the damage, they would either attempt a an unmanned remote control landing, or ditch the shuttle tail first into the atmosphere, disentigrating the craft in just minutes, likely over the Pacific ocean.
Such a fate for Atlantis is unlikely, as NASA has gone to great lengths to redesign the external fuel tank to avoid the shedding of debris like that which doomed Columbia. They have also designed several techniques to repair the fragile heat shield belly of the shuttles. Catastrophic damage would be required for NASA to abandon any shuttle.
If all goes as planned, Endeavour will launch sometime around September of next year. On board will be the previously mentioned Multi-Purpose Logistics Module 'Leonardo', which in addition to the expanded crew quarters will carry a second treadmill, equipment for the regenerative life support system, a larger galley, and spare hardware. Leonardo will then be loaded with waste and return loads from the station and returned to Earth aboard Endeavour.
The Endeavour crew will perform at least four EVAs during the mission, and perhaps a fifth thanks to the new Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System successfully debuted earlier this year. Also on board will be Japanese Astronaut Koichi Wakata, a crewmember for ISS Expedition 17. He will trade places with Sandra Magnus, who will be returning home with Endeavour. The shuttle will also carry an array of picosatellites, miniature satellites that will be spring-ejected after leaving the ISS to test of the performance of new solar cells in orbit.
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