STS-134 Press
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CONTENTS Section Page STS-134 MISSION OVERVIEW ................................................................................................ 1 STS-134 TIMELINE OVERVIEW ............................................................................................... 9 MISSION PROFILE ................................................................................................................... 11 MISSION OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 13 MISSION PERSONNEL ............................................................................................................. 15 STS-134 ENDEAVOUR CREW .................................................................................................. 17 PAYLOAD OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................. 25 ALPHA MAGNETIC SPECTROMETER-2 .................................................................................................. 25 EXPRESS LOGISTICS CARRIER 3 ......................................................................................................... 31 RENDEZVOUS & DOCKING ....................................................................................................... 43 UNDOCKING, SEPARATION AND DEPARTURE ....................................................................................... 44 SPACEWALKS ......................................................................................................................... 45 STS-134 EXPERIMENTS .......................................................................................................... 55 SHORT-DURATION EXPERIMENTS TO BE PERFORMED ON STS-134 ..................................................... 55 RESEARCH TO BE DELIVERED TO STATION ON SHUTTLE ...................................................................... 57 RESEARCH OF OPPORTUNITY .............................................................................................................. 59 RESEARCH SAMPLES/HARDWARE TO BE RETURNED TO STATION ON SHUTTLE ................................... 60 SPACE SHUTTLE DEVELOPMENT TEST OBJECTIVES (DTO) AND DETAILED SUPPLEMENTARY OBJECTIVES (DSO) .............................................................................................................................. 64 DTO 703 Sensor Test For Orion Relative Navigation Risk Migigation (STORRM) ................. 65 HISTORY OF SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR (OV-105) ............................................................ 69 SHUTTLE REFERENCE DATA .................................................................................................... 75 APRIL 2011 CONTENTS i Section Page LAUNCH AND LANDING ........................................................................................................... 93 LAUNCH ............................................................................................................................................... 93 ABORT TO ORBIT ................................................................................................................................. 93 TRANSOCEANIC ABORT LANDING ........................................................................................................ 93 RETURN TO LAUNCH SITE .................................................................................................................... 93 ABORT ONCE AROUND ......................................................................................................................... 93 LANDING ............................................................................................................................................. 93 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................... 95 MEDIA ASSISTANCE ............................................................................................................... 109 PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACTS .................................................................................................. 111 ii CONTENTS APRIL2011 STS-134 MISSION OVERVIEW Endeavour at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A Endeavour is targeted to launch on its final ammonia tank assembly, circuit breaker boxes, flight at 3:47 p.m. EDT Friday, April 29, for a Canadarm2 computer and a spare arm for the STS-134’s 14-day mission to the International Dextre robot. The ELC3 also houses a suite of Space Station. The shuttle will deliver the Department of Defense (DoD) experiments that Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS), a will test systems and materials concepts for particle physics detector designed to operate long duration spaceflight in low Earth orbit. from the station and search for various types of unusual matter. STS-134 includes four spacewalks that focus on station maintenance, experiment swap out and Also onboard for delivery will be station spare transferring Endeavour’s orbiter boom sensor parts on the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier 3 system (OBSS) to the station. The crew will (ELC3), including two S-band communications leave the boom as a permanent fixture to aid antennas, a high-pressure gas tank, an future station spacewalk work, if needed. APRIL 2011 MISSION OVERVIEW 1 NASA astronaut Mark Kelly (right foreground), STS-134 commander, and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori (left foreground), mission specialist, participate in a simulation exercise in the motion-base shuttle mission simulator in the Jake Garn Simulation and Training Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Photo credit: NASA The mission also features Endeavour’s Force), European Space Agency astronaut approach back toward the station after Roberto Vittori (Col., Italian Air Force), undocking to test new sensor technologies that Andrew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff. could make it easier for future space vehicles to dock to the International Space Station. Kelly previously served as pilot of STS-108 in 2001, STS-121 in 2006 and commander of Mark Kelly (Capt., U.S. Navy) will command STS-124 in 2008. Johnson was the pilot on Endeavour and the veteran astronaut crew. STS-123 in 2008. Fincke has logged more than Gregory H. Johnson (Ret. Col., U.S. Air Force) 365 days in space and more than 26 hours of is the pilot. They will be joined by Mission spacewalk time in six spacewalks throughout Specialists Mike Fincke (Col., U.S. Air Expedition 9 as a station flight engineer and 2 MISSION OVERVIEW APRIL 2011 Expedition 18 as station commander. Vittori of the flight, the crew will perform the standard has flown to the International Space Station scan of the shuttle’s thermal protection system twice as part of two crews that delivered new using the OBSS attached to the end of Soyuz spacecraft to the complex. Feustel Endeavour’s robotic arm. While the inspection flew on the fifth and final Hubble Space is underway, Fincke and Feustel will work on Telescope servicing mission, STS-125, and preparing the spacesuits onboard the shuttle accumulated more than 20 hours of spacewalk that will be transferred to the station after time during three excursions. Chamitoff served docking for use during the mission’s four on Expeditions 17 and 18, logging a total of spacewalks. After the inspection and the boom 183 days in space. extension is stowed, the shuttle robotic arm will be attached to the ELC3 to be ready for the Endeavour and crew will spend two days cargo carrier’s installation on the station soon heading toward a rendezvous with the after docking. International Space Station. On the second day APRIL 2011 MISSION OVERVIEW 3 NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, STS-134 commander, dons a training version of his shuttle launch and entry suit in preparation for a training session in the fixed-base shuttle mission simulator in the Jake Garn Simulation and Training Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. United Space Alliance suit technician Andre Denard assists Kelly. Photo credit: NASA On the third day of the flight, Endeavour will re-rendezvous with the station will occur later approach and dock with the space station. The in the flight for the heart of the test. Sensor Test for Orion Rel-nav Risk Mitigation, or STORRM, system will begin gathering After the hatches are opened between the information on a laptop inside the shuttle two spacecraft, both crews will begin working during rendezvous and docking. The unique on using the shuttle’s robotic arm to remove the ELC3 from inside the shuttle’s payload bay, 4 MISSION OVERVIEW APRIL 2011 hand it to the station’s robotic arm, and install it The crew will hand Endeavour’s orbiter boom in the upper outboard attach position on the sensor system from the station robotic arm to port side of the station’s truss structure. The the shuttle robotic arm on flight day 6. The weight of the ELC3 is approximately boom extension is then ready for any focused 14,023 pounds with the spares installed. inspection tasks on this day, if required, and the inspection activities later in the flight. The The AMS will be installed on flight day 4. afternoon will be off-duty time for the crews Similarly to the ELC3, the shuttle and station and then Feustel and Fincke will campout in robotic arms will work together to place AMS the airlock for the next spacewalk. on the upper inboard attach position on the starboard side of the station’s truss. The crews During the second spacewalk, on flight day 7, also will begin transferring equipment and Feustel and Fincke will refill the P6 truss supplies