Space Forum / Shuttle / August 2006

I saw on the CBS News page that the launch window for STS-115 extends
from Aug 27th to Sept. 7th.  However if Atlantis doesn't fly then,
there are two launch days in October (23rd and 24th I think) and one in
December - the 23rd -and that's it!

If it were not such serious business you would swear the latest NASA
Press Conference, carried live on NASA TV, was a Saturday Night Live
skit.
The Shuttle Engineering Team, some of the nation's foremost technical

STS 115 Post-Readiness Review Press Conference
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=772
STS-115 Crew Interviews
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=769

What are the chances of the shuttle's retirement being canceled when the new
administration takes office in a couple of years?  Is the shuttle's
retirement cast in stone?  Is there a possibility that the shuttle and CEV
could co-exist?  Do we really want to retire a system with ...

If the shuttle had main engine issues, could a Russian Progress
craft be sent close enough for a rondevous/grapple to supply
consumables or repair items?

Hell guys n gals
I was curious about the Fin Tip Camera Pod that was installed on
Columbia.
What was its purpose? How useful was it? Only Columbia?

Is this bolt-issue a show-stopper for the August launch window or will
it be a quick fix??

I noted that  the space walk last week had to change out a different GPS to
that originally  intended, as it had stopped working. Was this one not
installed by a Shuttle crew as a replacement once before?
Also, I understand the  one they were gong to change, mysteriously  now

Been wondering about this for a while...
I guess whilst in the OPF the crew cabin is pressurized and left for a few
days to determine it's leak rate?
I imagine it does leak - I have worked on systems that really must not leak

Every time I've seen crews drive out to the pad, even in rehearsal, when
they get to the area of the VAB the convoy stops and two people exchange
cars and then the convoy speeds on.  All I can figure is that this is some
sort of tradition.  Anyone have any ideas?

AMERICA IN DANGER!          - sci abused
Secret Gas-Aerosol Rooms operated in US
(in Philadelphia, Narberth, Lower Merion, PA)
(in Wilmington and Newark, DE)

This vehicle will land on a runway like the shuttle, right? I wish NASA
would go this route--a scaled-down version of the shuttle--rather than
go backwards to Apollo.
Is there a website with diagrams and descriptions of the Clipper?

How many more missions will be flown with crews that were picked before
the Columbia accident? What will be the first mission with a crew
selected post-Columbia? Thanks.
Mark Lopa

Greeting Ladies and Gents from the Land of Eternal Rain and Guinness.
I'm a huge Space Enthusiast (especially space modeling) and have for
as long as I can remember wanted to see a Launch or landing. I live in
Ireland but for a few years I attended college in NYC and once college

At
<http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060725_scitues_shuttle_ir.html>,Tariq
Malik plays "Staff Writer" with a 25 July 2006 7:00 a.m. ET posting
about watching the reentry with thermal imaging: