Atlantis STS-122 Status Report - 2008 - 11 - 08, 17:50 EST

CBS NEWS STS-122 STATUS REPORT: 33
Posted: 5:50 PM, 1/11/08

By William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst

Changes and additions:

SR-33 (01/11/08): Launch retargeted for Feb. 7; Progress launch moved to Feb. 5

=================================

5:50 PM, 1/11/08, Update: Russian Progress launch moved up; Atlantis retargeted for Feb. 7; station spacewalk on tap

Russian space managers have agreed to move up the launch of an unmanned Progress supply ship by two days to Feb. 5, clearing the way for NASA to retarget launch of the shuttle Atlantis on a twice-delayed space station assembly mission for Feb. 7. NASA managers made the decision Thursday and officially announced it Friday, after consultation with the agency's international partners.

Originally scheduled for launch last month, Atlantis was grounded Dec. 6 and 9 because of intermittent problems with troublesome low-level hydrogen sensors in the ship's external tank. Before the Christmas break, officials said launch was off until at least Jan. 10 and on Jan. 3, the "no-earlier-than" date was moved to Jan. 24.

But resolving the engine cutoff - ECO - sensor problem has been difficult and deputy shuttle Program Manager John Shannon told reporters at that time the launch likely would slip into early February. This week, agency managers decided to move the launch target to Feb. 7 after Russian space officials agreed to move the Progress up two days to Feb. 5.

Assuming the schedule holds up - and on-going tests show an upgraded ECO system wiring connector works as expected - Atlantis would take off around 2:47 p.m. EST on Feb. 7, setting up a docking with the space station around 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 9. Three spacewalks are planned, on Feb. 10, 12 and 14 with undocking on Feb. 16 and landing back at the Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 18.

The two-month launch delay means a flight by the shuttle Endeavour that originally was scheduled for mid February will slip to mid March instead, a ripple effect for other downstream flights. That includes Atlantis' next mission, a long-awaited flight to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Launch had been planned for around Aug. 7 but the flight is now expected to slip to the end of August or into early September.

In the near term, NASA faces a challenging few weeks with a space station solar array motor repair spacewalk planned for around Jan. 30 amid on-going work to install a replacement ECO sensor connector in the wall of Atlantis' external tank.

Data collected during a fueling test last month indicates the open circuits in the ECO sensor wiring that derailed the December launch tries were located on the external side of a so-called feed-through connector that routes signals from the sensors inside the tank to the shuttle's computer system.

The connector and the external wiring harness were removed and sent to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., for testing. A replacement connector, featuring an external harness that is soldered to the feed-through connector, is being installed this week and next.

At Marshall, initial tests subjecting the original flight hardware to ultra-cold cryogenic conditions resulted in "power fluctuations" in one of the ECO circuits, a spokesman said today, which "lends credibility" to the theory that intermittent, temperature-induced contact between pins and sockets in the connector hardware "really is the issue we've got."

The test signature was not identical to the the open circuits experienced during the launch scrubs and subsequent tanking test. But troubleshooting is far from complete, including cryogenic tests to verify the integrity of the new soldered connector design.

Space station flight controllers, meanwhile, are gearing up for a spacewalk by Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson and Dan Tani around Jan. 30 to replace a solar array positioning motor that failed late last year. NASA also plans a senior-management shuttle flight readiness review that same day.

If all goes well, Atlantis' countdown will begin the afternoon of Feb. 4, the same day NASA unveils the Bush administration's budget for the civilian space agency. The Progress supply ship is scheduled for launch at 8:03 a.m. on Feb. 5 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with docking on tap at 9:34 a.m. on Feb. 7, about six hours before Atlantis' scheduled launch.

Here is an abbreviated shuttle flight plan based on a launch at 2:47 p.m. on Feb. 7. The actual launch time will will be updated based on tracking of the international space station, but these times are believed to be "in the ballpark" for planning purposes (in EST and mission elapsed time; a detailed flight plan is available on the CBS News STS-122 Quick-Look page):

DATE/EST.......DD...HH...MM...EVENT

02/07/08
Thu 02:47 PM...00...00...00...STS-122 launch
Thu 08:47 PM...00...06...00...Crew sleep begins

02/08/08
Fri 04:47 AM...00...14...00...Crew wakeup
Fri 09:12 AM...00...18...25...Heat shield inspection begins
Fri 03:07 PM...01...00...20...Heat shield inspection concludes
Fri 08:47 PM...01...06...00...Crew sleep begins

02/09/08
Sat 04:47 AM...01...14...00...STS crew wakeup
Sat 11:34 AM...01...20...47...Atlantis docks with space station
Sat 08:47 PM...02...06...00...STS crew sleep begin

02/10/08
Sun 04:47 AM...02...14...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
Sun 09:37 AM...02...18...50...EVA-1: Spacewalk begins
Sun 03:47 PM...03...01...00...Columbus bolted to station
Sun 04:07 PM...03...01...20...EVA-1: Airlock repressurization
Sun 08:47 PM...03...06...00...STS/ISS crew sleep begins

02/11/08
Mon 04:47 AM...03...14...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
Mon 03:22 PM...04...00...35...Columbus module ingress
Mon 08:47 PM...04...06...00...STS crew sleep begins

02/12/08
Tue 04:47 AM...04...14...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
Tue 09:37 AM...04...18...50...EVA-2: Spacewalk begins
Tue 11:47 AM...04...21...00...EVA-2: Nitrogen tank installation
Tue 04:07 PM...05...01...20...EVA-2: Airlock repressurization
Tue 07:47 PM...05...05...00...STS crew sleep begins

02/13/08
Wed 03:47 AM...05...13...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
Wed 07:47 AM...05...17...00...Shuttle crew off duty
Wed 07:47 PM...06...05...00...STS crew sleep begins

02/14/08
Thu 03:47 AM...06...13...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
Thu 08:37 AM...06...17...50...EVA-3: Spacewalk begins
Thu 08:57 AM...06...18...10...EVA-3: External experiments moved to Columbus
Thu 03:07 PM...07...00...20...EVA-3: Airlock repressurization
Thu 06:47 PM...07...04...00...STS crew sleep begins

02/15/08
Fri 02:47 AM...07...12...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
Fri 09:47 AM...07...19...00...Joint crew news conference
Fri 02:17 PM...07...23...30...Farewell ceremony
Fri 02:32 PM...07...23...45...Hatches closed
Fri 06:47 PM...08...04...00...STS crew sleep begins

02/16/08
Sat 02:47 AM...08...12...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
Sat 06:37 AM...08...15...50...UNDOCKING
Sat 10:27 AM...08...19...40...Heat shield inspection begins
Sat 02:52 PM...09...00...05...Heat shield inspection concludes
Sat 06:17 PM...09...03...30...STS crew sleep begins

02/17/08
Sun 02:17 AM...09...11...30...Crew wakeup
Sun 04:52 AM...09...14...05...Cabin stow
Sun 06:17 AM...09...15...30...Flight control system checkout
Sun 02:17 PM...09...23...30...Crew off duty
Sun 06:17 PM...10...03...30...Crew sleep begins

02/18/08
Mon 02:17 AM...10...11...30...Crew wakeup
Mon 09:44 AM...10...18...57...Deorbit ignition
Mon 10:45 AM...10...19...58...Landing

=================================