NASA's Space Shuttle Processing Status Report

03.03.06

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
Phone: (202) 358-3749

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

STATUS REPORT: S-030306

NASA'S SPACE SHUTTLE PROCESSING STATUS REPORT

Note: NASA's Kennedy Space Center issues Space Shuttle Processing
Status Reports each week, and is the source for information regarding
processing activities associated with the vehicles and payloads. This
report does not necessarily reflect the chronological order of future
Space Shuttle missions. If you are a member of the media and would like
further information, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/index.html.

Discovery (OV-103)

Mission: STS-121 - 18th International Space Station Flight (ULF1.1)
Payload: Multi-Purpose Logistics Module
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3 Launch Date: No earlier
than May 2006 Launch Pad: 39B
Crew: Lindsey, Kelly, Sellers, Fossum, Nowak, Wilson and Reiter
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

On Thursday, Space Shuttle Program management set a launch date of no
earlier than May 10 for Discovery's launch to the International Space
Station. Technicians continue preparing Discovery for its rollover from
Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3 to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
Work is under way to close out various areas of the vehicle for flight.

Following the installation of the space shuttle main engines,
technicians have added a dome-mounted heat shield around each engine.
The heat shields are composed of two, semicircle-shaped sections of
heat shield tiles that surround the engines.

The external fuel tank for the STS-121 mission arrived by barge at the
Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, five days after leaving the Michoud
Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The tank, designated ET-119, was
towed into the Vehicle Assembly Building and on Thursday was lifted
into a checkout area for final processing before being attached to the
solid rocket boosters.

Atlantis (OV-104)

Mission: STS-115 - 19th International Space Station Flight (12A)
Payload: P3/P4 Solar Arrays
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 processing Atlantis in Orbiter Processing Facility
bay 1 for its mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for
no earlier than Aug. 28. The vehicle remains in a scheduled
powered-down period, with the next power-up to occur as early as next
week.

Leak checks of water coolant loop No. 1 were successfully completed.
Servicing of that loop is scheduled for the middle of next week. Work
on the shuttle's thermal protection system, or heat shield, continues
with gap filler removal and replacements.

Endeavour (OV-105)

In Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2, work continues on Endeavour
following an extensive modification period. The vehicle remains in a
powered-down period, and technicians continue to implement the new
Return-to-Flight modifications to Endeavour.

Rigging of both the elbow and shoulder for the remote manipulator
system, or shuttle arm, continues. Final work continues on the
reinforced carbon-carbon nose cap. It is scheduled to be installed into
the vehicle next week.

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

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home


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73' André, PE1PQX
Mijn site: http://pe1pqx.dyndns.org