09.02.05 Jessica Rye Kennedy Space Center, Fla. (Phone: 321/867-2468) STATUS REPORT: S05-036 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 ISS Flight (ULF1) Payload: Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3 Launch Date: NET March 2006 Launch Pad: 39B Crew: Lindsey, Kelly, Sellers, Fossum, Nowak, Wilson and Reiter Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles Discovery is in Orbiter Processing Facility bay 3 with processing under way for the second Space Shuttle Return to Flight test mission, STS-121. The plugs installed in the Orbiter Maneuvering System and the Forward Reaction Control System for the ferry flight from California were removed. Preparations to remove the three Space Shuttle Main Engines from Discovery continue, with engine removal to begin late next week. The Orbiter Boom Sensor System is currently scheduled to be removed from the payload bay early next week following the holiday weekend. Technicians have begun thermography of the 22 Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panels on each wing leading edge. Thermography is a procedure that uses high intensity light to heat areas that are immediately scanned with an infrared camera. Atlantis (OV-104) Mission: STS-115 - 19th ISS Flight (12A) Payload: P3/P4 Solar Arrays Location: Vehicle Assembly Building Launch Date: TBD Launch Pad: 39B Crew: Jett, Ferguson, Tanner, Burbank, MacLean and Stefanyshyn-Piper Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles Orbiter Atlantis was demated, or removed, from its propulsion elements, an External Tank and twin Solid Rocket Boosters, and lowered into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) transfer aisle today. Atlantis will remain in the VAB until after the holiday weekend and be rolled back to Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1 on Tuesday, Sept. 6. Endeavour (OV-105) Endeavour is in its Orbiter Major Modification period, which began in December 2003. External Tank External Tank 119, the third redesigned tank to arrive at Kennedy Space Center, was moved from Port Canaveral back to the Turn Basin today. The tank will be offloaded and moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building next Wednesday, Sept. 7. The tank was loaded onto Pegasus, NASA's specially designed barge, for transport to the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The tank was held at Port Canaveral due to the impacts of Hurricane Katrina. Due to the impacts of the hurricane, the Space Shuttle Program formed a team to review possible options and locations for performing some of the External Tank processing at Kennedy Space Center. Previous Space Shuttle processing status reports are available on the Internet at: http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight For information about NASA and agency programs on the Internet, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ -end- To subscribe to the list, send a message to: ksc-subscribe@newsletters.nasa.gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: ksc-unsubscribe@newsletters.nasa.gov
