Fwd: MOTHER'S DAY EDITION: Human Spaceflight News - May 12, 2013

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: May 12, 2013 7:37:24 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: MOTHER'S DAY EDITION: Human Spaceflight News - May 12, 2013

Happy Mothers Day!

 

 

 

NASA TV: 2:40 pm Central (3:40 EDT) - E35/36 Chg of Cmd Ceremony (Hadfield to Vinogradov)

 

Human Spaceflight News

Sunday, May 12, 2013

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Proud mom is over the moon

Son takes spacewalk to fix leak

 

Jordan Graham - Boston Herald

 

Janice Cassidy could not take her eyes off her son yesterday, more than 200 miles above her York, Maine, home. She watched, glued to her TV, as her astronaut son Christopher Cassidy floated in a rare emergency spacewalk to find and repair an ammonia leak venting from the International Space Station. Born in Salem and raised in Maine, Christopher Cassidy has been an astronaut since 2006. Yesterday, on his fourth spacewalk, the former Navy SEAL and Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate spent more than five hours replacing a pump to repair the leak.

 

NASA cautiously optimistic about leak repair; making sure will take weeks

 

William Harwood - CBS News

 

Replacing a pump assembly aboard the International Space Station during an impromptu spacewalk Saturday may have eliminated an elusive leak that took down a critical coolant loop. But mission managers say it will take several weeks of careful observation to make absolutely sure the system is leak free. "We're very happy. We didn't see any obvious sign of a leak" after the replacement pump was installed, Joel Montalbano, deputy manager of the space station program at the Johnson Space Center, told reporters after the spacewalk repair job.

 

Spacewalk repairs show favorable signs of solving space station thermal control system leak

 

Mark Carreau - Aviation Week

 

U. S. spacewalkers Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn searched hard Saturday but failed to find the "smoking gun" source of an ammonia coolant leak on the International Space Station's vaulting solar power system. However, they replaced a bulky suspect pump and flow control system (PFCS) electronics box nested in an Integrated Electronics Assembly (IEA) bed on the station's 13-year-old P-6 solar power module in a bid to stem the leak of hazardous coolant. The surprise seepage of frozen ammonia from the region around the old PFCS that was first noted by ISS commander Chris Hadfield on Thursday, did not resume after the replacement.

 

Spacewalking repair halts station leak - for now

 

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

 

Astronauts making a rare, hastily planned spacewalk replaced a pump outside the International Space Station on Saturday in hopes of plugging a serious ammonia leak. The prospects of success grew as the minutes, then hours passed and no frozen flecks of ammonia appeared. Mission Control said it appeared as though the leak may have been plugged, although additional monitoring over the coming weeks will be needed before declaring a victory. "I will tell you that we're happy. We're very happy," said Joel Montalbano, NASA's deputy space station program manager. "We didn't see any obvious signs of a leak, but it's going to take some time ... for us to look at the system, evaluate the system and make sure we did, indeed, stop the leak."

 

Spacewalking repairmen replace space station's leaky pump

 

Irene Klotz - Reuters

 

A pair of spacewalking astronauts wrapped up a hastily planned repair job on Saturday to replace a suspect coolant pump needed to keep the International Space Station at full power. NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn put on spacesuits and left the space station's airlock shortly before 9 a.m. EDT to attempt to stem an ammonia coolant leak that cropped up on Thursday. Over the next four hours, they installed a spare pump, then positioned themselves to check for signs of escaping ammonia ice crystals when the system was turned back on.

 

In rare unplanned spacewalk, astronauts hunt for mystery leak on space station

 

Joel Achenbach - Washington Post

 

A mysterious leak of coolant on the international space station compelled two astronauts to make an extraordinary, unplanned spacewalk Saturday in which they tried to find the source of ammonia snowflakes that have been streaming into space since Thursday. They didn't spot any ammonia, but they did manage to pop in a new pump that may have solved the problem once and for all. The 51 / 2-hour spacewalk was the 168th EVA (extravehicular activity) in the history of the space station, but it was the first of its kind: a repair job hastily choreographed after the astronauts discovered Thursday that a cooling system had sprung a leak. Thursday night, as the astronauts slept, the leak worsened, and NASA officials decided to throw together a spacewalk on the fly.

 

Astronauts Take Unplanned Spacewalk to Repair Leak

 

Kenneth Chang - New York Times

 

Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station conducted a hastily arranged spacewalk on Saturday to look for the source of a worrisome leak that had forced the shutdown of one of the eight power systems that provide electricity to the orbiting laboratory. The two astronauts, Thomas H. Marshburn and Christopher Cassidy, both American, spent 5 ½ hours outside the space station. They were unable to locate the source of the leak, but did install a new pump, which appeared to solve the problem. The new pump started up normally, and with the two astronauts looking for escaping crystals of ammonia coolant, there were no signs of the leak. "We're not seeing anything," Dr. Marshburn reported. Pressure in the coolant loop was also holding, another indicator that the problem had been resolved.

 

Spacewalkers tackle leak at space station

 

James Dean - Florida Today

 

Two NASA spacewalkers stepped outside the International Space Station on Saturday to fix a serious coolant leak. American astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn didn't see any sign of the leak by the time they reached the end of the station's central truss. But they quickly replaced a box that controls the flow of ammonia coolant in that area, which engineers suspected had failed and sprung the leak. When ground controllers powered up the replacement box, the spacewalkers reported seeing no white flakes of ammonia crystals that would indicate an ongoing leak. "No snow," Cassidy radioed.

 

Astronauts Replace Pump to Tackle ISS Ammonia Leak

 

RIA Novosti

 

Expedition 35 crew members Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn have removed and replaced a pump on a cooling system of the International Space Station (ISS) that may be leaking ammonia, NASA said on Saturday. The astronauts have removed "a 260-pound pump controller box that may be the source of an ammonia leak on the International Space Station and replaced it with a spare," the statement said.

 

After Last-Minute Spacewalk Fix, It's Wait-and-See on Space Station

 

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

 

A spacewalk outside the International Space Station Saturday appeared to fix a leak of liquid ammonia, though astronauts and Mission Control will be in wait-and-see mode until they know for sure if the repairs succeeded. Two NASA astronauts — Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn — ventured outside the football field-size orbital complex to investigate a leak that had sprung in the station's cooling system, which uses liquid ammonia to transfer heat away from electronic power systems. Although they found no signs of damage that might explain the leak, the spacewalkers replaced a suspect coolant pump, which appeared to halt the flow of ammonia for now. It will be weeks, or even months, though, before it's clear if the leak has fully stopped.

 

Astronauts Fix Space Station Ammonia Leak

 

Ian O'Neill - Discovery News

 

During an unscheduled spacewalk on the space station's exterior on Saturday morning, NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy carried out the mother of all plumbing jobs: They detached a suspect ammonia pump, replaced it with a spare and watched for any further ammonia leakage. The emergency spacewalk was carried out in response to a troubling ammonia coolant leak that was discovered on Thursday. The coolant is used to maintain the temperature of the vast solar arrays the space station uses to generate electricity for its systems.

 

Spacewalkers Successfully Tackle Ammonia Leak at Space Station

 

Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.com

 

In what may go down in the record books as one of the shortest intervals between authorizing a spacewalk and executing it to perfection, Expedition 35 astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn ventured outside the International Space Station earlier today (Saturday) to identify the source of a puzzling ammonia leak from the outboard P-6 truss segment. The two men—who previously performed a pair of EVAs together during the STS-127 mission in July 2009—spent more than five hours exposed to vacuum. Although they found only a few tiny flakes of leaking ammonia, it was decided to remove, replace, and test a suspect Pump Flow Control Subassembly (PFCS), which will yield additional clues for investigators as they search for the root cause of the problem in the coming days and weeks.

 

Atlantis' payload bay doors swing open for display

 

Justin Ray - SpaceflightNow.com

 

 

The clamshell payload bay doors of space shuttle Atlantis swung open this week at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex as the retired ship is configured to mimic her flying days in orbit. Large metal clamps were attached to the support structures on the upper surfaces of the doors and cables were rigged from the ceiling. The contraption slowly pulled the delicate starboard door opened Tuesday morning, followed by deploying the Ku-band dish antenna once used for high-speed communications, television downlink and rendezvous radar. Opening the 60-foot-long port door went significantly quicker on Friday morning. Workers will use suspension wires connected to the ceiling to hold the doors in their current state forever, allowing the bulky hardware needed for the opening to be removed in the coming days.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Proud mom is over the moon

Son takes spacewalk to fix leak

 

Jordan Graham - Boston Herald

 

Janice Cassidy could not take her eyes off her son yesterday, more than 200 miles above her York, Maine, home.

 

She watched, glued to her TV, as her astronaut son Christopher Cassidy floated in a rare emergency spacewalk to find and repair an ammonia leak venting from the International Space Station.

 

Born in Salem and raised in Maine, Christopher Cassidy has been an astronaut since 2006. Yesterday, on his fourth spacewalk, the former Navy SEAL and Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate spent more than five hours replacing a pump to repair the leak.

 

"All of this was very sudden. I'm sure it was a real thrill for Chris," Janice Cassidy said. "It's just amazing to think that that's my son in the space suit, floating around doing all those things."

 

Cassidy's mother said she wasn't nervous yesterday, but she admitted to some jitters during his first spacewalk in 2009. Still, as experienced as she is, she said she couldn't look away.

 

"I'm just really proud of Chris and I'm so appreciative of the backup crew. I think they probably don't get enough credit," she said of the earth-based team keeping her son safe.

 

Never before has the space agency staged such a fast, impromptu spacewalk for a station crew. Even during the shuttle program, unplanned spacewalks were uncommon.

 

Cassidy's efforts, along with those of fellow astronaut Thomas Marshburn, received rave reviews from mission control as first minutes, then hours passed with no frozen flecks of the ammonia used to cool station electronics appearing, although additional monitoring over coming weeks will be needed.

 

"We're very happy," said Joel Montalbano, NASA's deputy space station program manager.

 

NASA said the leak, while significant, never jeopardized crew safety. But managers wanted to deal with the trouble now, while it's fresh and before Thomas Marshburn returns to Earth in just a few days.

 

"To pull off what this team did … working practically 48 straight hours, it was a remarkable effort on everybody's behalf," Cassidy said from space.

 

Able to email and talk on the phone — Janice Cassidy said the reception in outer space is quite good — and she talks to her son frequently. The space mom said he often regales her with descriptions of the view.

 

"That's his favorite part," she said.

 

"To see the whole, entire earth, with no borders, no country divisions. He just can't get enough of it."

 

NASA cautiously optimistic about leak repair; making sure will take weeks

 

William Harwood - CBS News

 

Replacing a pump assembly aboard the International Space Station during an impromptu spacewalk Saturday may have eliminated an elusive leak that took down a critical coolant loop. But mission managers say it will take several weeks of careful observation to make absolutely sure the system is leak free.

 

"We're very happy. We didn't see any obvious sign of a leak" after the replacement pump was installed, Joel Montalbano, deputy manager of the space station program at the Johnson Space Center, told reporters after the spacewalk repair job.

 

"But it's going to take some time, it'll take some weeks to look at the system, to evaluate the system and make sure we did indeed stop the leak. But again, today, no obvious signs (of trouble), so we're very happy with that."

 

Flight Director Ed Van Cise said the pressure of the ammonia in the coolant loop can fluctuate as solar heating increases and decreases due to periodic changes in the angle between the sun and the plane of the station's orbit.

 

"As the sun moves through its beta angle, it also effects the telemetry we see in the system," Van Cise said. "So we really need to get a lot of data to make sure it's fully stabilized."

 

In the wake of the leak, flight controllers re-configured the thermal control system, using a healthy loop to cool equipment normally serviced by the leaking 2B channel. The system will remain in that configuration until engineers can collect enough data to verify the integrity of the 2B loop.

 

"I expect it'll take a good four weeks, five weeks, maybe even a few weeks longer before we have a really 100 percent characterization," Montalbano said. "Obviously, the longer you go, the more confidence you get that you either have a leak or you've successfully solved that problem."

___

 

02:25 PM EDT - Spacewalk ends

 

Astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Christopher Cassidy began repressurizing the space station's Quest airlock at 2:14 p.m. EDT, closing out an unplanned five-hour 30-minute spacewalk to fix a leak in one of the lab's ammonia coolant loops.

 

While the ammonia leak did not re-appear after a replacement pump module was installed, flight controllers cautioned that it will take days, if not weeks, to make absolutely sure the coolant loop is leak free.

 

But there were no immediate signs of any trouble and mission managers were hopeful the pump replacement had, in fact, resolved the problem.

 

The spacewalk -- U.S. EVA-21 -- was carried out just two days after an ammonia leak was spotted on the far left side of the station's solar power truss, taking down one of the lab's critical coolant loops.

 

"I just have to say, it is incredible what we've done in just 48 hours," Marshburn radioed shortly before airlock repressurization began. "By 'we' I mean all of operations at Johnson (Space Center) and around the country, to do this in two days. We felt safe the whole time, didn't feel rushed, the (training) products were incredible. Thanks very much. We're just really proud to be a tiny part of it."

 

"The team sure appreciates your words," said Michael Fincke from the mission control center in Houston. "There were a lot of folks who stayed up really late ... to get this accomplished, and you guys performed excellently, the whole entire crew, and we're very proud of you."

 

Today's excursion was the 168th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, the second so far this year and the fourth for both Marshburn and Cassidy, who were spacewalking crewmates during a 2009 shuttle mission.

 

Total station spacewalk time now stands at 1,061 hours and nine minutes , or 44.2 days. Marshburn's total now stands at 24 hours and 29 minutes while Cassidy's mark is 23 hours and 35 minutes.

 

Marshburn is scheduled to return to Earth Monday aboard a Soyuz ferry craft, along with cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and outgoing station commander Chris Hadfield.

 

Cassidy and cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin will have the station to themselves until the end of the month when three fresh crew members -- Karen Nyberg, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin -- arrive aboard another Soyuz.

 

If all goes well, Cassidy and Parmitano will carry out two already planned spacewalks July 9 and 16.

 

Spacewalk repairs show favorable signs of solving space station thermal control system leak

 

Mark Carreau - Aviation Week

 

U. S. spacewalkers Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn searched hard Saturday but failed to find the "smoking gun" source of an ammonia coolant leak on the International Space Station's vaulting solar power system.

 

However, they replaced a bulky suspect pump and flow control system (PFCS) electronics box nested in an Integrated Electronics Assembly (IEA) bed on the station's 13-year-old P-6 solar power module in a bid to stem the leak of hazardous coolant. The surprise seepage of frozen ammonia from the region around the old PFCS that was first noted by ISS commander Chris Hadfield on Thursday, did not resume after the replacement.

 

As Saturday's hastily planned 5.5 hour spacewalk drew to a close, all troubleshooting pointed to an elusive leak source within the old PFCS box itself.

 

The replacement PFCS was activated with Cassidy and Marshburn positioned closeby the assembly to watch for telltale signs of frozen ammonia floating away.

 

"We are not seeing anything," Cassidy reported.

 

"So far, so good," NASA Mission Control spacecraft communicator Mike Fincke, a former ISS commander, told the spacewalkers. "You guys have done fantastic work.

 

However, a final determination will likely follow a substantial period of leak free thermal control system operations and follow up analysis by ground experts, with the new pump circulating coolant.

 

"We are happy, very happy we did not see any obvious signsf of a leak. But it is going to take some time, weeks and perhaps months, to evaluate the system to make sure we did indeed stop the leak," Joel Mantalbano, NASA's deputy ISS program manager, told a post spacewalk news briefing.

 

The spacewalk ended at  2:14 p.m., EST

 

Prior to Saturday's excursion, the leak prompted the shutdown of one of eight power channels on the six person orbiting science laboratory, which over time could impact research activities. If not solved with the installation of the new PFCS, the seepage will require more focus from the ISS ground personnel to monitor power demands against cooling system limitations.

 

Radiators panels jut from the starboard and port sides of the station's vaulting power system truss to dissipate heat from companion solar arrays, power storage batteries, life support systems, research gear and other avionics.

 

The deactivated power channel will remain off at least through Monday, when three of the station's crew, including Hadfield and Marshburn are scheduled to return to Earth.

 

"If we change out the pump and the pump is not the cause of the problem, then it's going to take us quite a bit of time, I imagine, to figure out where this leak could be, identify it, isolate it, overcome it, fix it and then recharge the system," Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS program manager, cautioned on the eve of the spacewalk.

 

The lengthy appraisal will include assessments of day night cycles and changing solar beta angles on the station's orbit.

 

A very small leak of ammonia in the P-6 module was first noted in 2007. The system was topped off to manage the seepage until last Nov. 1, when former station astronaut Sunita Williams and Akihiko Hoshide installed a jumper cable during a spacewalk and reactived an older radiator panel to circumvent the suspected leak source, the primary radiator panel.

 

Cassidy and Marshburn looked everywhere Saturday for an obvious source of the ammonia loss.

 

"I don't see any smoking guns," reported Cassidy as the two men reached the work site after translating hand over hand 150 feet from their airlock. "It looks like a nominal IEA."

 

The leaking power module's 2B radiator cooling loop was deactivated ahead of the excursion and thermal control transferred to the companion 2A circulation system. But ISS mission managers and NASA flight controllers were hopeful there would be enough residual pressure in the 2B loop to push free distinctive white flakes of frozen ammonia that would point the way to the leak source.

 

"I don't see any flakes either," Marshburn reported.

 

That assessment was repeated over and over throughout the outing.

 

As the spacewalk got under way at 8:44 a.m., EST, NASA's flight control team planned to have the spacewalkers, inspect the IEA for evidence of a leak source in the PFCS box and associated coolant plumbing before committing to the installation of a replacement. Cassidy and Marshburn were familiar with the work site from previous excursions to the region during a July 2009 shuttle space station assembly mission they shared.

 

But Mission Control directed the spacewalkers to proceed with further photo documentation after they removed the suspect 260 pound electronics box, then to install one of two spares stowed previously on the power system truss in case a rapid repair was necessary.

 

"It looks really, really clean, surprisingly so," reported Cassidy as the old PFCS was removed. "All the pipes look clean, no crud."

 

Though initially disappointed at the elusiveness of the leak source, Mission Control urged the two men on.

 

"Everyone is really happy with the data so far," controllers assured Cassidy and Marshburn.

 

Near the four hour mark of the spacewalk, coolant flowed through the newly installed PFCS pump.  Still, no signs of leaking ammonia were evident and internal accumulator pressures within the assembly held steady.

 

As much as Saturday's troubleshooting pointed to the old PFCS as the leak source, it may be impossible to know for certain.

 

An actual failure analysis of the old hardware is unlikely. The ammonia exposure makes the assembly too hazardous to astronauts to haul into the station so that it could be loaded aboard a re-supply craft destined for a return to Earth. And at the moment, there is no supply craft capable of descending with unpressurized equipment.

 

Hadfield and Marshburn will join cosmonaut Roman Romanenko aboard the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft as it departs the station on Monday just after 7 p.m., EST, for a scheduled landing under parachute in Kazakhstan at 10:30 p.m., EST, ending a 146 day mission.

 

Command of the ISS will transfer to cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, who remains with Cassidy and cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. They are scheduled to be joined by a new U. S., Russian, European crew, Karen Nyberg, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Luca Parmitano, following a Soyuz launch on May 28.

 

Parmitano will arrive prepared to join Cassidy for further troubleshooting if another spacewalk is required.

 

Spacewalking repair halts station leak - for now

 

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

 

Astronauts making a rare, hastily planned spacewalk replaced a pump outside the International Space Station on Saturday in hopes of plugging a serious ammonia leak.

 

The prospects of success grew as the minutes, then hours passed and no frozen flecks of ammonia appeared. Mission Control said it appeared as though the leak may have been plugged, although additional monitoring over the coming weeks will be needed before declaring a victory.

 

"I will tell you that we're happy. We're very happy," said Joel Montalbano, NASA's deputy space station program manager. "We didn't see any obvious signs of a leak, but it's going to take some time ... for us to look at the system, evaluate the system and make sure we did, indeed, stop the leak."

 

Montalbano expects it will take "a good four weeks, five weeks, maybe even a few weeks longer."

 

"Obviously, the longer you go, the more confidence you get," he told reporters.

 

Christopher Cassidy and Thomas Marshburn installed the new pump after removing the old one suspected of spewing flakes of frozen ammonia coolant two days earlier. They uncovered "no smoking guns" responsible for the leak and consequently kept a sharp lookout for any icy flecks that might appear from the massive frame that holds the solar panels on the left side.

 

"Let us know if you see anything," Mission Control urged as the fresh pump was cranked up. Thirty minutes later, all was still well. "No snow," the astronauts radioed.

 

"We have our eyes on it and haven't seen a thing," Marshburn said.

 

NASA said the leak, while significant, never jeopardized crew safety. But managers wanted to deal with the trouble now, while it's fresh and before Marshburn returns to Earth in just a few days.

 

The space agency never before staged such a fast, impromptu spacewalk for a station crew. Even during the shuttle program, unplanned spacewalks were uncommon.

 

The ammonia pump was the chief suspect going into Saturday's spacewalk. So it was disheartening for NASA, at first, as Cassidy and Marshburn reported nothing amiss on or around the old pump.

 

"All the pipes look shiny clean, no crud," Cassidy said as he used a long, dentist-like mirror to peer into tight, deep openings.

 

"I can't give you any good data other than nominal, unfortunately. No smoking guns."

 

Engineers determined there was nothing to lose by installing a new pump, despite the lack of visible damage to the old one. The entire team - weary and stressed by the frantic pace of the past two days - gained more and more confidence as the 5 1/2-hour spacewalk drew to a close with no flecks of ammonia popping up.

 

"Gloved fingers crossed," space station commander Chris Hadfield said in a tweet from inside. "No leaks!" he wrote a half-hour later.

 

Flight controllers in Houston worked furiously to get ready for Saturday's operation, completing all the required preparation in under 48 hours. The astronauts trained for just such an emergency scenario before they rocketed into orbit.

 

This area on the space station is prone to leaks.

 

The ammonia coursing through the plumbing is used to cool the space station's electronic equipment. There are eight of these power channels, and all seven others are operating normally.

 

Life for the six space station residents has been pretty much unaffected since Thursday's ammonia shower. The loss of an additional power channel, however, could threaten science experiments and backup equipment.

 

"We may not have found exactly the smoking gun," Cassidy said, "but to pull off what this team did yesterday and today, working practically 48 straight hours, it was a remarkable effort on everybody's behalf."

 

NASA officials remain mystified as to why the leak erupted. Ammonia already had been seeping ever so slightly from the location, but the flow increased dramatically Thursday.

 

Montalbano did not know, as of Saturday evening, how much ammonia was lost. Another spacewalk will be needed to replenish the supply.

 

With the repair work behind them, the astronauts and ground controllers turned their attention to the impending departure of three of the six crewmen.

 

Marshburn has been on the space station since December and is set to return to Earth late Monday, along with Hadfield, a Canadian, and Russian Roman Romanenko. Cassidy is a new arrival, on board for just 1 1/2 months.

 

By coincidence, the two Americans performed a spacewalk at this troublesome spot before, during a shuttle visit in 2009.

 

"This type of event is what the years of training were for," Hadfield said in a tweet Friday. "A happy, busy crew, working hard, loving life in space."

 

Spacewalking repairmen replace space station's leaky pump

 

Irene Klotz - Reuters

 

A pair of spacewalking astronauts wrapped up a hastily planned repair job on Saturday to replace a suspect coolant pump needed to keep the International Space Station at full power.

 

NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn put on spacesuits and left the space station's airlock shortly before 9 a.m. EDT to attempt to stem an ammonia coolant leak that cropped up on Thursday.

 

Over the next four hours, they installed a spare pump, then positioned themselves to check for signs of escaping ammonia ice crystals when the system was turned back on.

 

"No flakes," Cassidy reported to flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

 

Engineers will monitor the system over the next several days and beyond to make sure the pump replacement fixed the problem.

 

"We certainly have come a long way in identifying a potential source," said NASA mission commentator Rob Navias as the astronauts returned to the station's airlock. The entire spacewalk lasted 5-1/2 hours.

 

The station crew discovered a steady stream of ammonia flakes flowing away from the far left side of the station's exterior frame on Thursday. Flight controllers spent the next 48 hours diagnosing the problem and coming up with potential solutions.

 

Engineers believed the leak most likely was coming from in or around a 260-pound (118-kg) pump that pushes ammonia throughout the system. The coolant dissipates heat from electronics in space station's solar-powered electrical system.

 

The station can be reconfigured to compensate for a system shutdown, but if a second problem should occur, that likely would mean a cutback in power available for the experiments.

 

The $100 billion station, which flies about 250 miles above Earth, is a research laboratory for biomedical, physics, astronomical and other experiments, as well as for technology development and demonstrations.

 

On Sunday, station commander Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian to lead the international outpost, turns over the helm to Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov. Hadfield, Marshburn and cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, who have been aboard the station since December, are scheduled to depart on Monday.

 

Their replacements - NASA's Karen Nyberg, Italy's Luca Parmitano and Russian Fyodor Yurchikhin - are due to launch on May 28.

 

In rare unplanned spacewalk, astronauts hunt for mystery leak on space station

 

Joel Achenbach - Washington Post

 

A mysterious leak of coolant on the international space station compelled two astronauts to make an extraordinary, unplanned spacewalk Saturday in which they tried to find the source of ammonia snowflakes that have been streaming into space since Thursday. They didn't spot any ammonia, but they did manage to pop in a new pump that may have solved the problem once and for all.

 

The 51 / 2-hour spacewalk was the 168th EVA (extravehicular activity) in the history of the space station, but it was the first of its kind: a repair job hastily choreographed after the astronauts discovered Thursday that a cooling system had sprung a leak. Thursday night, as the astronauts slept, the leak worsened, and NASA officials decided to throw together a spacewalk on the fly.

 

The loss of the ammonia coolant forced the shutdown of one of the eight power systems that provide electricity to the station. The station and the crew were never in peril — this was not an emergency in that sense. NASA could have punted and waited for a new crew to come aboard with a carefully crafted repair plan.

 

But an agency known for deliberate actions decided this time to order two astronauts to suit up. NASA wanted to spy the source of the leak before all the ammonia had bled away into space. Also, the station had two veteran spacewalkers on board, Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy, who had worked on that part of the station.

 

Saturday morning, the two astronauts emerged from the air lock and began snooping around for ammonia snowflakes. They saw none.

 

"So far, no smoking gun, an hour and a half into the spacewalk," an announcer said on NASA TV, which streamed images of the astronauts patrolling a truss of the station and aiming their cameras at the innards of machinery packed with tubes and wires.

 

"All the pipes look shiny, clean. No crud," Cassidy reported at one point.

 

Cassidy and Marshburn used a power tool to remove a boxlike pump apparatus believed to be a possible source of the leak. They then replaced it with a spare pump that the NASA engineers had thoughtfully put on the station long ago. That pump was then pressured up. Still, no ammonia leak appeared.

 

After stowing the old pump, the spacewalkers underwent a "bakeout" period, bathing in sunshine in an attempt to get rogue ammonia to sublimate from their spacesuits. The ammonia can be toxic inside the station, and NASA spared no effort in making sure the astronauts were ammonia-free before they rejoined their crew mates.

 

It's unclear if the spacewalk and the installation of the new pump has put an end to the leak, NASA officials said in a late-day news conference. They said it would take weeks of monitoring to determine if the swapped-out pump was the source of the leak. They will also continue to operate the station without the shut-down power system. But the officials were clearly pleased that the impromptu spacewalk went off without a hitch.

 

"This was a momentous spacewalk," a Mission Control official said when the astronauts were back in the air lock.

 

The leak never posed a threat to the station or to the astronauts, but NASA would like to get the power system back up and running, since it provides one-eighth of the electricity to the station.

 

"It's really not a big deal to us overall. It shows the redundancy of the station, it shows how strong a research facility it is," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human spaceflight. But he added, "I think the next failure, or the failure after that, becomes a problem."

 

The safety of the astronauts is the highest priority on a mission like this. The astronauts must be extremely careful not to touch anything sharp or do anything that might compromise their pressure suits.

 

"The reason they regularly check their gloves is for damage. Even though multi-layer, even a tiny leak requires immediate haste to airlock," tweeted crew commander Chris Hadfield as he supervised the spacewalk from inside the station.

 

Saturday's spacewalk gave Marshburn a chance to end his five months in space in style.

 

On Monday, he, Hadfield and crew mate Roman Romanenko will climb into the Soyuz spacecraft, undock from the station and return to Earth, landing in southern Kazakhstan. Three fresh astronauts will rocket to the station May 28 to join the three remaining on board.

 

Astronauts Take Unplanned Spacewalk to Repair Leak

 

Kenneth Chang - New York Times

 

Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station conducted a hastily arranged spacewalk on Saturday to look for the source of a worrisome leak that had forced the shutdown of one of the eight power systems that provide electricity to the orbiting laboratory.

 

The two astronauts, Thomas H. Marshburn and Christopher Cassidy, both American, spent 5 ½ hours outside the space station. They were unable to locate the source of the leak, but did install a new pump, which appeared to solve the problem.

 

The new pump started up normally, and with the two astronauts looking for escaping crystals of ammonia coolant, there were no signs of the leak.

 

"We're not seeing anything," Dr. Marshburn reported.

 

Pressure in the coolant loop was also holding, another indicator that the problem had been resolved.

 

On Thursday, astronauts spotted a stream of frozen flakes emanating from one of the station's trusses. From videos, engineers concluded that the source of the leaks was a pump that pushes ammonia coolant to regulate temperatures on one of the eight expansive solar arrays, which provide electricity to the station.

 

Each array has an independent cooling loop, and the leak did not have an immediate impact on the day-to-day operations.

 

NASA officials said there was no danger to the six-member crew. But they worried that if a problem developed with a second cooling loop, the station might have had to cut back on its power consumption, limiting science experiments.

 

NASA has tussled with coolant leaks previously and last November, two other astronauts took a spacewalk to fix a leak in the same general area.

 

"This has been something that has been troubling us for some time," Joel Montalbano, the deputy space station program manager, said at a news conference after the spacewalk.

 

The balky loop had been losing coolant at a rate of five pounds per year, but on Thursday, that rate jumped to five pounds per day.

 

With three of the crew members, including Dr. Marshburn, scheduled to head back to Earth on Monday, NASA decided it would be prudent to repair the leak sooner rather than later.

 

In less than 48 hours, plans for the spacewalk and the repairs were put together. At 8:44 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday, Dr. Marshburn and Mr. Cassidy switched on the power to their spacesuits, marking the start of the spacewalk. When they reached the site of the suspected leak, at the far left end of the space station, they were not able to spot evidence of it. Even after removing the pump, they did not see much unusual.

 

"It looks really, really clean," Dr. Marshburn said. "Surprisingly so."

 

NASA engineers thought the leak could be inside the pump and decided that a new one should be installed.

 

Dr. Marshburn and Mr. Cassidy did take a moment to admire the view as they passed over the southern end of Africa.

 

"Did you see the moon?" Dr. Marshburn asked.

 

"I did, oh my God!" Mr. Cassidy replied. "Burn that in your memory!"

 

It was the 168th spacewalk related to construction or maintenance of the space station since the first piece of the space complex was launched in 1998.

 

"We're happy, we're very happy," Mr. Montalbano said after the repair.

 

He warned that it would be weeks or months before engineers were confident that the problem would not recur.

 

"Obviously, the longer you go, the more confidence you get," Mr. Montalbano said.

 

Spacewalkers tackle leak at space station

 

James Dean - Florida Today

 

Two NASA spacewalkers stepped outside the International Space Station on Saturday to fix a serious coolant leak.

 

American astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn didn't see any sign of the leak by the time they reached the end of the station's central truss. But they quickly replaced a box that controls the flow of ammonia coolant in that area, which engineers suspected had failed and sprung the leak.

 

When ground controllers powered up the replacement box, the spacewalkers reported seeing no white flakes of ammonia crystals that would indicate an ongoing leak.

 

"No snow," Cassidy radioed.

 

The astronauts returned safely to the space station after 5 1/2 hours outside.

 

NASA says it may take weeks to confirm if the old pump controller box was indeed the cause of the leak, but the new one is performing perfectly so far.

 

After wrapping up their work, Cassidy and Marshburn took time to "bake out" any toxic ammonia that might have contaminated their spacesuits, although they reported seeing none.

 

They also celebrated the success of an ISS spacewalk organized in record time, within two days after the leak was identified.

 

"It is incredible what we've done in just 48 hours," said Marshburn.

 

NASA said the leak, while significant, never jeopardized crew safety. But managers wanted to deal with the trouble now, while it's fresh and before Marshburn returns to Earth in just a few days.

 

This area on the space station is prone to leaks. The ammonia coursing through the plumbing is used to cool the space station's electronic equipment. There are eight of these power channels, and all seven others were operating normally. As a result, life for the six space station residents was pretty much unaffected, aside from the drama unfolding Saturday 255 miles above the planet.

 

The loss of another power channel, however, could threaten science experiments and backup equipment.

 

NASA's space station program manager Mike Suffredini said it's a mystery as to why the leak erupted. Possibilities include a micrometeorite strike or a leaky seal. Ammonia already had been seeping ever so slightly from the location, but it increased dramatically Thursday.

 

The spacewalk was the fourth each for Cassidy and Marshburn, and their third together. They partnered previously during a 2009 shuttle mission, and each now has about 24 total hours of spacewalk time for their careers.

 

It was the 168th spacewalk supporting assembly and maintenance of the ISS, whose construction began in 1998, all totaling about 44 days of spacewalk activity.

 

Marshburn will now turn his attention to his return to Earth, scheduled for Monday evening in a Soyuz spacecraft bound for Kazakhstan.

 

He'll be joined by Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who will turn over command of the station Sunday to cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov.

 

Astronauts Replace Pump to Tackle ISS Ammonia Leak

 

RIA Novosti

 

Expedition 35 crew members Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn have removed and replaced a pump on a cooling system of the International Space Station (ISS) that may be leaking ammonia, NASA said on Saturday.

 

The astronauts have removed "a 260-pound pump controller box that may be the source of an ammonia leak on the International Space Station and replaced it with a spare," the statement said.

 

The emergency spacewalk to "inspect and possibly replace a pump controller box suspected of leaking ammonia coolant" began at 8:44 a.m. EDT (12:44 GMT) on Saturday after a team of NASA officials gave the go-ahead late Friday.

 

The leak was reported to mission control in Houston on Thursday, when the ISS crew said they could see "a very steady stream" of small white flakes floating away from an area of the truss structure.

 

The astronauts used handheld cameras and, with help from mission control, were able to narrow down the location of the leak to the truss. They also determined that the rate at which ammonia was seeping out of the cooling loop was increasing.

 

Chilled liquid ammonia is used to cool the power channels on the ISS's eight solar array panels, which supply electricity to the ISS. Each solar array has its own cooling loop.

 

The ammonia loop where the leak was detected is the same one that spacewalkers tried to fix a leak on in November last year, NASA said.

 

In Moscow, an official from the Russian space agency said the leak had occurred in the US portion of the vessel.

 

After Last-Minute Spacewalk Fix, It's Wait-and-See on Space Station

 

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

 

A spacewalk outside the International Space Station Saturday appeared to fix a leak of liquid ammonia, though astronauts and Mission Control will be in wait-and-see mode until they know for sure if the repairs succeeded.

 

Two NASA astronauts — Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn — ventured outside the football field-size orbital complex to investigate a leak that had sprung in the station's cooling system, which uses liquid ammonia to transfer heat away from electronic power systems. Although they found no signs of damage that might explain the leak, the spacewalkers replaced a suspect coolant pump, which appeared to halt the flow of ammonia for now.

 

It will be weeks, or even months, though, before it's clear if the leak has fully stopped.

 

"The crew looked and watched for any obvious signs of leaks and didn't see anything," Joel Montalbano, deputy space station program manager, said during a press conference after the spacewalk today at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We're very happy."

 

Engineers on the ground will continue to study the troubled area in hopes of understanding what caused the leak.

 

"We'll see if anything becomes obvious," said NASA flight director Ed Van Cise. "From what we saw during the EVA [extravehicular activity, or spacewalk] itself, nothing really stood out in terms of what may have been the culprit."

 

NASA officials said they don't yet know if the problem is related to a leak that was spotted in the same coolant channel in 2007. That leak was so slow it posed no immediate problem, and a November 2012 spacewalk that replaced a radiator for the system appeared to stop it.

 

On Thursday (May 9), the six-man crew of the space station's Expedition 35 mission noticed the leak had worsened, with visible white snowflakes of frozen ammonia floating out into space.

 

"It was just two days ago that the slight leak we were observing in the thermal control system took a change to where it was a pretty dramatic leak," Van Cise said.

 

The urgency of the problem caused NASA to "pretty much bring everyone to the table" to address the situation and plan the spacewalk at the last minute, he added. "Space station is a very large, complicated and complex vehicle built all across the world. There are going to be engineers and very smart people all over the place that need to help us address these situations. We draw upon that when we have to and when the vehicle throws something at us that we need all those resources."

 

For now, mission managers are breathing a sigh of relief, though only time will tell if the issue is truly resolved.

 

"It's going to take the teams a few weeks to go ahead and watch the system, understand the system … before they're ready to tell us that we were 100-percent successful," Montalbano said.

 

In the meantime, the crew is preparing for a change of command ceremony tomorrow (May 12), where current Expedition 35 commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency will pass the duty over to Expedition 36 commander Pavel Vinogradov of the Russian Federal Space Agency. Hadfield, Marshburn, and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko will depart the space station Monday evening at 7:08 p.m. EDT (2308 GMT) on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and land about three hours later, at 10:31 p.m. EDT (0231 GMT Tuesday), in Kazakhstan.

 

A new crew of three spaceflyers is due to arrive at the space station later this month to round out the Expedition 36 team.

 

Astronauts Fix Space Station Ammonia Leak

 

Ian O'Neill - Discovery News

 

During an unscheduled spacewalk on the space station's exterior on Saturday morning, NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy carried out the mother of all plumbing jobs: They detached a suspect ammonia pump, replaced it with a spare and watched for any further ammonia leakage.

 

The emergency spacewalk was carried out in response to a troubling ammonia coolant leak that was discovered on Thursday. The coolant is used to maintain the temperature of the vast solar arrays the space station uses to generate electricity for its systems.

 

But after nearly four hours of extravehicular activity, Marshburn and Cassidy reported seeing "no snow" (i.e. no ammonia flakes) as a replacement Pump and Flow Control System (PFCS) box was switched on and ammonia was pumped around the solar array at full pressure. No trace of the phantom ammonia leak was spotted by the spacewalkers' cameras nor the ever watchful mission managers in Houston, Texas.

 

Space station commander Chris Hadfield watched events unfold from the orbiting outpost's interior, providing support for the astronauts working outside. "Houston just sent the command to start flowing ammonia through the newly-installed pump. Gloved fingers crossed," he said as the newly replaced PFCS was switched on. Several minutes later, Marshburn reported, "we don't see anything."

 

"No leaks! We're bringing Tom & Chris back inside. In two days Tom, Roman & I return to Earth in our Soyuz. This is an amazing place & time," tweeted an exhilarated Hadfield as Marshburn and Cassidy packed up their tools and underwent a "bake-out" procedure. The bake-out was required to allow sufficient time for any possible ammonia contamination on the spacewalkers' suits to sublimate and dissipate into space. Ammonia is toxic, so every precaution was taken to ensure none was inadvertently carried back into the space station.

 

Although the replacement box appears to have solved the ammonia leak, NASA will still need several days to assess whether the fix has worked. "It will take some diagnostics, still, over the course of the next several days by the thermal systems specialists to fully determine that we have solved the problem of the ammonia leak," said NASA commentator Rob Navias during the live NASA TV spacewalk broadcast. "But so far, so good."

 

This spacewalk was the fastest of its kind; there was only 48 hours from planning to execution. As soon as the ammonia flakes were seen emanating from the P6 truss on the far left of the space station on Thursday, NASA space station managers began planning for an emergency spacewalk that was approved Friday night. At 8:44 a.m. Saturday morning Marshburn and Cassidy had exited the space station to identify the location of the leak and fix the problem.

 

Although the spacewalkers saw no evidence of ammonia or damage, they quickly removed the suspect PFCS box and replaced it with a spare, running about an hour ahead of schedule.

 

Spacewalkers Successfully Tackle Ammonia Leak at Space Station

 

Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.com

 

In what may go down in the record books as one of the shortest intervals between authorizing a spacewalk and executing it to perfection, Expedition 35 astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn ventured outside the International Space Station earlier today (Saturday) to identify the source of a puzzling ammonia leak from the outboard P-6 truss segment. The two men—who previously performed a pair of EVAs together during the STS-127 mission in July 2009—spent more than five hours exposed to vacuum. Although they found only a few tiny flakes of leaking ammonia, it was decided to remove, replace, and test a suspect Pump Flow Control Subassembly (PFCS), which will yield additional clues for investigators as they search for the root cause of the problem in the coming days and weeks.

 

As described by AmericaSpace's Emily Carney, the leak was visually observed on Thursday in the form of ammonia "snow" emanating from the critical 2B power channel of the massive P-6 truss. This 17,000-pound segment of the station's football-field-sized structural backbone supports a pair of huge solar array wings, together with integrated energy storage and thermal control subsystems. It carries a pair of PFCS units as part of its Photovoltaic Thermal Control System, and these are responsible for pumping and controlling the flow of ammonia coolant. In turn, this enables the Photovoltaic Radiator to dissipate excess heat into space and properly regulate operating temperatures.

 

The P-6 segment—which sits at the furthest-port side of the expansive truss—was launched into orbit aboard STS-97 in November 2000, with 52 pounds of ammonia coolant, but since the end of 2006 it exhibited a steady leak of around 1.5 pounds per year. Efforts to circumvent the problem were taken during STS-134 in May 2011, when spacewalkers Drew Feustel and Mike Fincke topped up its ammonia supply, with the expectation that it should not need further attention until about 2015. However, since last summer the leak accelerated to an alarming 5.2 pounds per year, posing the very real threat that the 2B channel—which carries significant electrical loads across the entire ISS—might have been forced to shut itself down before the end of the year. As a result, in November, Expedition 33 astronauts Suni Williams and Aki Hoshide performed a contingency EVA to isolate the 2B loop and use the Trailing Thermal Control Radiator for cooling.

 

When the latest leak was detected, at around 10:30 a.m. CDT (4:30 p.m. UTC) Thursday, it was unclear as to whether it originated from the same location, but early engineering analyses suggested that its rate alone—5 pounds per day—could have triggered a total shutdown of the 2B loop within 48 hours. The suspect PFCS was shut down, because if it was allowed to deplete its remaining ammonia it would begin to "cavitate," or take in air, which would cause irreparable damage. Although NASA stressed that the six-man Expedition 35 crew—commanded by Canada's Chris Hadfield—was in no danger, it was clear that the need for immediate attention was acute.

 

Cassidy has the most recent EVA training, having arrived at the orbital outpost in late March, and his prior experience with Marshburn made them the logical pairing to perform the task. Former U.S. Navy SEAL Cassidy—described as "the nicest iron man you'll ever meet" by Hadfield on Twitter—served as EV1, with red stripes around the legs of his suit for identification. Meanwhile, civilian physician Marshburn, touchingly labeled by Hadfield as a "friend for life," was EV2 and wore a pure white suit.

 

Back on Earth, at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, NASA astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti—both assigned to the upcoming Expedition 42/43 mission—participated in underwater rehearsals of the work to be conducted. Meanwhile, in Mission Control, serving at the Capcom's desk for the November EVA and also for today's excursion by Cassidy and Marshburn, was STS-134 veteran Mike Fincke. He provided an indispensable source of expertise and understanding of the difficulties the spacewalkers faced.

 

After almost three hours of pre-breathing on masks and a protocol of In-Suit Light Exercise, Cassidy and Marshburn departed the Quest airlock at 7:44 a.m. CDT (1:44 p.m. UTC) and immediately set about the laborious task of translating to the P-6 worksite. Upon reaching the furthest-port tip of the space station, they noticed that the entire system appeared clean, with no trace of leaking ammonia. Slight discoloration, which the spacewalkers likened to a coffee stain, had to be photographed during a daylight orbital pass, when the flash on their camera refused to work.

 

Despite the apparent lack of an obvious source for the leak, it was prudently decided to remove and replace the 260-pound PFCS from the 2B channel. Cassidy and Marshburn moved rapidly to complete the task, about 2.5 hours into the spacewalk, by closing the Fluid Quick Disconnect Coupling ammonia valves between the PFCS and the truss itself. Only a few specks of frozen ammonia were evident as they drove the bolts into place. "I can't give you any data," Cassidy reported at one stage, "other than it looks nominal."

 

After exchanging the old PFCS for a replacement, the new unit's quick disconnects were opened and 20 pounds of ammonia were used to charge the system. This will aid ground-based investigators in their effort to hunt down the root cause of the leak, but it is expected to require several weeks of troubleshooting to determine if the work of today's EVA has resolved the problem. The "used" PFCS was attached to the long spacer element of P-6. At 11:20 a.m. CDT (5:20 p.m. UTC), ground teams prepared to bring the system back to its normal operating conditions, with no evidence of leaks. Whilst the astronauts monitored the testing of the replacement pump, they were granted the priceless opportunity for free time on an EVA. "Twenty-three minutes to wait," came the call from Mission Control at one stage. "Sit back and enjoy the view."

 

As is customary in such cases—and as was also done by Williams and Hoshide at the end of their EVA last November—the astronauts completed an hour-long "bake-out" protocol to ensure that no ammonia remained on their suits and eliminated the risk of this highly toxic substance entering the pressurized environment of the ISS. Before re-entering the station, Cassidy also paid a poignant tribute to long-time NBL lead diver Marq Gibbs, who died unexpectedly last week at the age of 43. This tribute was echoed by Hadfield, who held up a photograph of Gibbs to the camera inside the Quest airlock. The EVA officially ended at 1:14 p.m. CDT (7:14 p.m. UTC), after five hours and 30 minutes.

 

Despite much speculation that the EVA would inevitably delay Monday night's return of Hadfield, Marshburn, and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko to Earth—perhaps by as much as ten days—it seems that Expedition 35 will stick to its original schedule. "Commander Chris Hadfield will ceremonially hand command of the station over to Expedition 36 Commander Pavel Vinogradov on Sunday," NASA reported on its website. The three men will undock their Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft from the ISS at 6:08 p.m. CDT Monday (12:08 a.m. UTC Tuesday) and are expected to touch down in Kazakhstan about three hours later, concluding a mission of 146 days in orbit.

 

Atlantis' payload bay doors swing open for display

 

Justin Ray - SpaceflightNow.com

 

 

The clamshell payload bay doors of space shuttle Atlantis swung open this week at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex as the retired ship is configured to mimic her flying days in orbit.

 

Large metal clamps were attached to the support structures on the upper surfaces of the doors and cables were rigged from the ceiling. The contraption slowly pulled the delicate starboard door opened Tuesday morning, followed by deploying the Ku-band dish antenna once used for high-speed communications, television downlink and rendezvous radar.

 

Opening the 60-foot-long port door went significantly quicker on Friday morning.

 

Workers will use suspension wires connected to the ceiling to hold the doors in their current state forever, allowing the bulky hardware needed for the opening to be removed in the coming days.

 

The Atlantis' permanent public exhibit depicts the shuttle in space, just pulling away from a visit to the International Space Station. She is mounted top beefy support struts and angled at 43.21 degrees to port, with a massive high definition television screen on the wall behind to run inspiring views recorded in orbit.

 

A replica docking system is installed in the bay, like the one that would have been used to connect Atlantis to the station. A 50-foot-long inspection boom, added in the wake of Columbia, is mounted along the right side of the bay, although with its camera and laser package removed. A mockup robotic arm will soon be installed.

 

Atlantis' cargo bay carried the Magellan probe that went to Venus and Galileo that was launched to Jupiter, several classified military satellites, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and also served as the operating base for scientific investigations to study the atmosphere during NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program and experimented with the first tethered satellite system.

 

The new era of cooperative spaceflight between the United States and Russia saw Atlantis at the forefront, flying seven trips to dock with the orbiting space station Mir.

 

In the International Space Station era, Atlantis lift the American laboratory module Destiny, Europe's laboratory module Columbus, the airlock named Quest, plus major sections of the outpost's truss backbone and power grid and a Russian module -- the Rassvet docking compartment.

 

Atlantis also made the final service call to the Hubble Space Telescope, accomplishing a dramatic five-spacewalk mission that overhauled the iconic observatory within the payload bay to add new scientific instruments and internal gear.

 

Atlantis flew into space 33 times, traveling 125,935,769 miles and covering 4,848 orbits during 307 days aloft.

 

Complete with theaters, a full-size Hubble Space Telescope model and over 60 interactive displays to tell the space shuttle program's story, the Atlantis attraction opens to the public June 29.

 

"I want people to come in and enjoy what they are seeing. This is a one-of-a-kind artifact. There is nothing else like this. The way it is shown to the public here and presented, it's like no place else on Earth," said Tim Macy, KSCVC's director of project development.

 

END