How serious is the May window?

Yeah, I -KNOW- everybody is
supposed to be 'working toward' a
mid-May liftoff, but then why are
the working troops I talk with all so
skeptical that it can -- or even
SHOULD - be done? Any other
'straws in the space wind'?

"Jim Oberg" wrote in message
...
Yeah, I -KNOW- everybody is
supposed to be 'working toward' a
mid-May liftoff, but then why are
the working troops I talk with all so
skeptical that it can -- or even
SHOULD - be done? Any other
'straws in the space wind'?


I'm betting on August.

"Ten Quidado" wrote in news:kXwKf.2381$VI6.1288
@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net:

"Jim Oberg" wrote in message
...
Yeah, I -KNOW- everybody is
supposed to be 'working toward' a
mid-May liftoff, but then why are
the working troops I talk with all so
skeptical that it can -- or even
SHOULD - be done? Any other
'straws in the space wind'?

I'm betting on August.

I'd bet against it. The launch windows for the rest of the year are May 3-
22, July 1-19, August 29-Sept 14, Oct 26-30, and Dec 23-27. If they don't
launch in May or July, there's not much August window available.


--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.

"Jorge R. Frank" wrote:
I'd bet against it. The launch windows for the rest of the year are May 3-
22, July 1-19, August 29-Sept 14, Oct 26-30, and Dec 23-27.


How many weeks prior to launch must the stack be at the pad for
loading/prepapartions ? 3 or 4 ?

How long does it take to take the shuttle in its current state and have
it fully stacked and ready to roll out from the VAB ?

I would assume NASA would want a target between may 10 and 15. This
gives NASA room to fix minor glitches after a scrub (as well as weather scrubs).

So the question is: for a theoretical May 12th launch, what is the date
where NASA must begin the actual work to start moving hardware and
assembly it in the VAB ?

I suspect that in a couple of weeks, it should become more clear if NASA
will try a may launch.

John Doe wrote:

How many weeks prior to launch must the stack be at the pad for
loading/prepapartions ? 3 or 4 ?

About that, generally closer to 4 IIRC.

How long does it take to take the shuttle in its current state and have
it fully stacked and ready to roll out from the VAB ?

The solids aren't finished yet, so they'll need to be done, along with
the ET. I don't know what state the orbiter's in. From orbiter rollover
to rollout usually takes about a week.

I would assume NASA would want a target between may 10 and 15. This
gives NASA room to fix minor glitches after a scrub (as well as weather scrubs).

So the question is: for a theoretical May 12th launch, what is the date
where NASA must begin the actual work to start moving hardware and
assembly it in the VAB ?

Stacking of the solids started months ago. For a May 12 launch, I'd
expect to see Discovery roll over around late March to (more likely)
early April.

I suspect that in a couple of weeks, it should become more clear if NASA
will try a may launch.

If Discovery hasn't been rolled over by mid-April, she won't fly in May.

I still wouldn't completely rule out Discovery's next trip being aboard
an SCA rather than a shuttle stack.

--Chris

Jim Oberg wrote:
Yeah, I -KNOW- everybody is
supposed to be 'working toward' a
mid-May liftoff, but then why are
the working troops I talk with all so
skeptical that it can -- or even
SHOULD - be done? Any other
'straws in the space wind'?

I'm half a world away from the shuttle workers, so take this with a
grain of salt. My guess is that the workers are latching on to all of
the talk regarding things like bringing forward retirement, cutting the
flight rate to 1/year, the looming 2010 deadline, and the general
community feeling that the shuttle is too old and unsafe.

Additionally, there's very little good news. There's no talk of delaying
retirement by a few years if things go well, and hardly anyone is
talking up the fact that the shuttle's safety is as good as anything
else flying, etc. CEV's on the horizon, but it's still a long way off.

It must be pretty hard for a worker involved with a program with so much
negativity surrounding it to remain positive about their job. I'd be
much more surprised if you *weren't* detecting a significant level of
skepticism.

--Chris

"I still wouldn't completely rule out Discovery's next trip being
aboard
an SCA rather than a shuttle stack"
What's that supposed to mean??

Let's say during launch, some foam falls off...end of program? Or
another year of redesigning the ET??

"Chris Bennetts" wrote
I still wouldn't completely rule out Discovery's next trip being aboard an
SCA rather than a shuttle stack.

Since there are no longer any shuttle processing
facilities apart from KSC, I'm assuming you are
referring to museum disposal?

On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 14:19:11 GMT, Reed Snellenberger
wrote:


Isn't the pacing item on RTF-2 the ET re-work at Michoud? Things have been
sort of quiet on that front, apart from the change in the ET contract that
was announced at the end of January.

The ET itself is supposedly ahead of schedule. The big question seems
to be the wind tunnel testing of the PAL Ramp-less configuration. That
will be a nail-biter.

There are some new concerns with SSME contamination as well.

Brian

On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 13:03:32 -0600, Brian Thorn wrote
(in article ):

On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 14:19:11 GMT, Reed Snellenberger
wrote:


Isn't the pacing item on RTF-2 the ET re-work at Michoud? Things have been
sort of quiet on that front, apart from the change in the ET contract that
was announced at the end of January.

The ET itself is supposedly ahead of schedule. The big question seems
to be the wind tunnel testing of the PAL Ramp-less configuration. That
will be a nail-biter.

There are some new concerns with SSME contamination as well.

Brian

I'm a lot more concerned about SSME contamination than I am about the
aerodynamics of dumping the PAL ramp.

--
Herb

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
~ RAH