CBS NEWS Coverage of STS-124

09:00 AM, 5/3/08, Update: Shuttle Discovery hauled to launch pad

The space shuttle Discovery was moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building to launch pad 39A early today for work to ready the ship for liftoff May 31 on a flight to deliver Japan's huge Kibo laboratory module to the international space station.

Mounted atop a powerful crawler-transporter, Discovery left the VAB at 11:47 p.m. Friday and was "hard down" on the launch pad by 6:06 a.m. today.

The shuttle's crew - commander Mark Kelly, pilot Kenneth Ham, flight engineer Ronald Garan, Karen Nyberg, Michael Fossum, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and space station flight engineer Gregory Chamitoff - plans to fly to the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday to review emergency procedures and to participate in a dress-rehearsal countdown Friday.

Shuttle program managers plan to hold a two-day flight readiness review May 13 and 14, followed by an executive-level review May 19. If all goes well, the astronauts will return to the Florida spaceport May 28 for the 7 p.m. start of their countdown to blastoff. Launch is targeted for 5:02:05 p.m. on May 31.

A detailed flight plan, the countdown timeline, launch windows, personnel assignments and other useful information are posted on the CBS News STS-124 Quick-Look page.

8:02 PM, 5/1/08, Update: Shuttle Discovery on track for May 31 launch; four- to five-week slip expected for downstream flights

The shuttle Discovery is on track for launch May 31 on a high-priority flight to deliver Japan's huge Kibo lab module to the international space station. But subsequent flights are slipping four to five weeks each because of external tank production issues, and a flight that had been targeted for December will slip into early 2009, a senior NASA manager said today.

Firm launch dates are not yet available, but the long-awaited Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, STS-125, is expected to slip to around Oct. 8 or a bit later. A space station logistics delivery mission, STS-126, is expected to slip from mid October to around Nov. 15 and the flight after that, STS-119, likely will be delayed from December to early February 2009. Similar delays are expected for subsequent flights.

It has been clear for several weeks that tank delivery issues would affect the manifest, but shuttle Program Manager John Shannon's comments today during a pre-flight briefing for Discovery's upcoming mission were the first official word that one of six flights originally planned for 2008 will slip into 2009. Even so, Shannon said NASA still has margin built into the schedule to complete the space station and retire the shuttle fleet by the end of fiscal 2010 as planned.

"I would stress that the manifest we had laid out for the remaining 11 flights had us ending in about May of 2010," Shannon said. "I don't see (additional tank issues) beyond this one-time delay that we're going to have for the new processing. So I would say we're still on track to complete the program in the June or summer time frame of 2010, with some margin."

The tank that will be used by Discovery for its launching May 31 is the first to be built from scratch with post-Columbia safety upgrades and it has taken engineers at Lockheed Martin's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans additional time to perfect and implement required manufacturing techniques.

The Hubble mission remains officially targeted for launch on Aug. 28, but "we really cannot make that date with the external tank processing schedule," Shannon said. "And this all kind of falls from the processing changes that were made to assemble the tanks with the post-Columbia mods in line. This was the first time through, we learned a little bit this time. I was just out at the Michoud Assembly Facility. I saw the Hubble tank, it looks good, I saw the rescue flight tank, it looks really good as well."

Shuttle crews bound for the space station have the option of "safe haven" aboard the lab complex if any Columbia-class problems occur that might make a safe re-entry problematic. That is not possible for the Hubble repair crew because the telescope is in a different orbit and the shuttle cannot reach the station from there.

As a result, NASA plans to have a second shuttle ready for launch on short notice in case of any major problems and that, in turn, means two tanks will be needed.

"The changes that we made, it's added about four to five weeks of processing time on those two tanks," Shannon said. "So what we're looking at is a four- to five-week slip in the Hubble date. So sometime late September, early October, we're working through that. The tank team has done a really nice job of taking the lessons learned processing the tank that's about to fly, and the Hubble tank. So I don't expect that to (expand the time needed) on each of the downstream tanks. They have a mitigation plan in place so that the 2009 tanks come in more on a normal template. So we're going to take a one-time hit of this four to five weeks, it will move pretty much all of the tanks in series, the next 10 tanks that will come out, about that four to five weeks."

NASA originally hoped to launch six missions in 2008, but Shannon said the external tank production issues, along with unavoidable temperature constraints based on the station's orbit, will force the agency to move the STS-119 flight into 2009.

"The problem I have is that this year, from an orbital mechanics standpoint, is only 11 months long," Shannon said. "There's what's called a beta constraint, where the sun angle with respect to the orbital plane is such that I can't fly from Nov. 29 through the middle of December. So really, I can only fly up to Nov. 29. And what that means, with a four- to five-week slip, is that we would fly Hubble this year, we would fly ULF-2 (STS-126) this year and then we would move the STS-119 flight over to the early part of 2009."

Shannon said the launch delays are "a small price to pay ... for all the improvements we're getting on this tank."

"Really, everything immediately post Columbia that we thought of that would be a good modification has been implemented on the tank," he said. "It's a much, much better tank than we were flying pre Columbia, but it's a more laborious process. Now that the team has that figured out, we're going to get back on our normal production schedule. It just took a little extra time."

In the near term, NASA's sights are set on launching shuttle Discovery at 5:02 p.m. on May 31. On board will be commander Mark Kelly, pilot Kenneth Ham, flight engineer Ronald Garan, Karen Nyberg, Michael Fossum, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and Gregory Chamitoff, who will remain behind aboard the space station to replace flight engineer Garrett Reisman. Reisman, launched to the station in March, will return to Earth aboard Discovery.

"We've got an exciting mission ahead of us," Kelly told reporters today. "I think we're pretty fortunate, well just fortunate, period, to be part of the space shuttle program, but to carry one of the major elements to the space station, install it and check it out is really a great privilege for all of us. We've got a complicated, busy mission ahead of us."

Discovery is scheduled to be hauled to launch pad 39A Saturday. The astronauts will fly to the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday to review emergency procedures and participate in a dress-rehearsal countdown Friday. Shuttle program managers will hold a two-day flight readiness review May 13 and 14, followed by an executive-level review May 19. If all goes well, the countdown will begin May 28, setting up a launch attempt at 5:02:05 p.m. on May 31.

The flight plan calls for Kelly to guide Discovery to a docking with the space station around 1:51 p.m. on June 2. The next day, Fossum and Garan will stage the first of three spacewalks and the Kibo lab module will be attached to the left-side of the Harmony connecting module. Undocking is scheduled for June 10, with landing expected around 12:08 p.m. on June 13.

4:33 PM, 4/5/08, Update: Setting up initial STS-124 pages

The shuttle Discovery, carrying Japan's Kibo laboratory module, is tentatively scheduled for liftoff at 5:01 p.m. on May 31. We are in the process of setting up our initial STS-124 pages. A summary flight plan, launch windows and personnel chart are posted on the CBS News STS-124 Quick-Look Page. Additional information will be posted as it becomes available. Please check back often!

8:55 PM, 3/26/08, Update: Shuttle Endeavour glides to smooth night landing (UPDATED at 12:05 a.m. with post-landing news conference)

Running one orbit late because of troublesome low clouds, the shuttle Endeavour plunged back to Earth today, dropping out of the night for a picture-perfect landing at the Kennedy Space Center to close out a marathon 16-day space station assembly mission. Joining the shuttle astronauts for the trip back to Earth was European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts, launched to the station in February and returning after 48 days in space.

"I can't imagine the mission could have gone any better," said NASA Administrator Mike Griffin. "They made it look easy."

Reflecting on the addition of the first of two Japanese modules and the assembly of a Canadian maintenance robot during Endeavour's five-spacewalk mission, Griffin said "if you look around, there really isn't, any more, a U.S. human spaceflight program or a Russian human spaceflight program. There is a world human spaceflight program, centered around the building and then later utilization of the international space station. And we hope when we get that under our belt, this partnership will return to the moon and later go on to Mars."

Flying upside down and backward over the Indian Ocean, commander Dominic Gorie and pilot Gregory Johnson fired Endeavour's twin braking rockets for two minutes and 48 seconds starting at 7:33:14 p.m., slowing the ship by about 206 mph and dropping the far side of the shuttle's orbit deep into the atmosphere.

After a half-hour free fall, Endeavour plunged back into the discernible atmosphere at 8:07 p.m. at an altitude of 76 miles above the south Pacific Ocean. Minutes later, the shuttle's heat shield was subjected to 3,000-degree temperatures as the spaceplane decelerated from its orbital velocity of 5 miles per second.

Crossing high above Central America's Yucatan Peninsula, Endeavour's flight computers guided the shuttle across the Gulf of Mexico and then over the west coast of Florida just south of Tampa, dropping through 84,000 feet at 1,700 mph seven minutes before touchdown.

Three minutes later, at an altitude of about 50,700 feet, Endeavour's speed dropped below Mach 1 and a double sonic boom rumbled across the space center. Gorie took over manual control a few seconds later and after letting Gregory get a few moments of "stick time, guided the shuttle through a sweeping 255-degree left overhead turn to line up on runway 15.

As Gorie pulled the shuttle's nose up just before touchdown, Johnson lowered Endeavour's landing gear and the orbiter settled to a tire-smoking touchdown at 8:39:08 p.m. as jets of flame from the exhaust ports of the ship's three hydraulic power units flared in the night.

"Houston, Endeavour. Wheels stopped," Gorie radioed as the shuttle rolled to a stop.

"Welcome home, Endeavour," astronaut James Dutton called from mission control. "Congrats to the entire crew, to JAXA and CSA (the Japanese and Canadian space agencies), on a very successful mission."

"Thanks, Jim," Gorie replied. "It was a super rewarding mission, exciting from the start to the ending and we just thank you for all your help. Looking forward to seeing you guys soon."

It was the 16th night landing at KSC and the 22nd in shuttle history. Mission duration was 15 days 18 hours 10 minutes and 54 seconds, covering 6.6 million miles and 249 complete orbits since blastoff March 11 from nearby launch complex 39A.

Observers were startled by the hydraulic power units' exhaust jetting from vents on either side of Endeavour's vertical tail fin. The exhaust is produced by the orbiter's three auxiliary power units, which provide the muscle needed to move the ship's wing flaps, speed brake, landing gear brakes and nose wheel steering. The exhaust appeared normal in infrared views, but was more pronounced than usual in NASA's visible-light camera. NASA spokesman Kyle Herring in mission control said the APUs were operating normally.

Gorie, Johnson and their shuttle crewmates - flight engineer Michael Foreman, Richard Linnehan, Robert Behnken and Japanese astronaut Takao Doi - doffed their pressure suits and joined technicians and NASA managers on the runway about an hour after landing for a traditional walk-around inspection.

Eyharts made the flight back to Earth resting on his back in a special recumbent seat on Endeavour's lower deck. As with all returning long-duration space station astronauts, a team of flight surgeons was standing by to monitor Eyharts as he began the long process of readjusting to Earth's gravity. The French air force general was replaced aboard the station by NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, who hitched a ride the lab complex aboard Endeavour.

Eyharts and his shuttle crewmates are expected to fly back to the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Thursday.

Endeavour's 16-day mission was the longest yet for a space station assembly flight and the five spacewalks carried out by Linnehan, Behnken, Foreman and Reisman set another one-flight station assembly record of 33 hours and 28 minutes.

Endeavour took off March 11 and docked with the space station two days later. The day after that, Doi, operating the shuttle's robot arm, moved a Japanese storage module into position for attachment to the station while Linnehan and Reisman staged the mission's initial spacewalk.

During the next spacewalk, Linnehan and Behnken then began assembly of the Canadian Space Agency's special purpose dexterous manipulator, a maintenance robot known as Dextre. Attached to the end of the station's robot arm, Dextre can be used to replace components on the station that might otherwise require a spacewalk.

Along with mounting the Japanese module and building Dextre, the astronauts also transferred critical spare parts to the station and mounted Endeavour's heat shield inspection boom on the lab for use by the next shuttle crew. That shuttle, Discovery, is carrying Japan's huge Kibo lab module and does not have enough room for the inspection boom as well.

Liftoff had been scheduled for May 25 - minutes before NASA's Phoenix lander is scheduled to touch down on Mars - but Griffin confirmed Wednesday that launch will slip a few days because of late delivery of the shuttle's external fuel tank.

"You can go watch the Phoenix landing (at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.)," Griffin told a reporter. "We're working on the exact date for STS-124." He said launch would take place within a few days of May 25, "but we know you'll be deconflicted enough that you can manage with a round-trip ticket. Because I'll tell you this, the landing day on Mars is fixed! It ain't moving."

NASA is still assessing its schedule for subsequent shuttle flights. Eleven more flights are planned before the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010, with four flights on tap this year, four in 2009 and three in 2010.

Along with Discovery's upcoming station flight, the shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for launch Aug. 28 on a final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Endeavour returns to orbit in October for a space station resupply mission and Discovery closes out the year in December with a flight to deliver a final set of solar arrays to the international lab.

But external tank production problems at Lockheed Martin's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans threaten delays for downstream flights. The tank needed by Discovery for the next mission reached the Kennedy Space Center behind schedule Wednesday and while that flight remains roughly on track, the Hubble mission could slip into October when all is said and done, triggering domino-like slips for subsequent flights.

NASA managers have not yet made any official changes. But Bill Gerstenmaier, chief of space operations for NASA, said Wednesday production of new tanks based on post-Columbia design modifications involves numerous changes and based on actual experience, it appears delays are likely.

"The tanks we're getting now, you can think of them as clean-build tanks, whereas before, the tanks we had were built before the Katrina hurricane and we were repairing and making modifications to those tanks," Gerstenmaier said. "So we're gaining some experience and seeing how long it takes to put those tanks together, how to fabricate them.

"And then HST is a little unique because we need to have two tanks down here ready to go support that mission, the tank for the flight itself and the tank for the contingency (rescue) flight. So we're off evaluating now what that production schedule looks like. We really don't have a good handle on that schedule yet. Once we understand a little bit better where that fits, we'll then announce where those flights are going, if they're going to move.

"But right now, it's a little early to look at that," Gerstenmaier said. "But we understand the work is a little bit different than we had before and we're going to have to have a different production schedule. So things will slip, probably, a little bit for those tanks."

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