No, not quite, but the new addition to the International Space Station is complete. After 3 spacewalks, STS-123 astronauts have completed Dextre, a robot meant to help out with certain tasks where before spacewalks were necessary. It's an amazing piece of hardware and a feat of engineering. Here's a video with more details on what Dextre can actually do.

Dextre, Canada's contribution to the International Space Station was brought up to the space station on Endeavour, launching March 11, 2008.

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Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down safely at 9:07am EST this morning at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis' landing marks the successful completion of STS-122 which saw the first new laboratory added to the station in 7 years. Columbus, Europe's contribution to the International Space Station was attached during the mission's 3 spacewalks.

What's interesting to note is the Destiny laboratory, and until this mission, the ISS' only laboratory, was launched February 7, 2001 aboard Atlantis, 7 years to the day before Columbus launched also aboard Atlantis.

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After delaying the launch for 2 months because of faulty sensors in the fuel tank, Space Shuttle Atlantis blasted off yesterday, February 7, 2008 on its 11-12 day mission to deliver Europe's Columbus Laboratory to the International Space Station.

The good news about this is that pending any other technical problems, NASA should be able to fit in 5 more launches this year as they are trying to complete the ISS by the 2010 deadline. One of the 5 missions left for this year, will be Atlantis' final mission, and the final servicing of the Hubble Telescope, tentatively scheduled for September 2008.

Tags: nasa, atlantis, spaceshuttle, iss, sts122, news

NASA has pretty much scrubbed the January 10th launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis while they try to fix the Engine Cut Off (ECO) Sensors on board the fuel tank. No new launch date has been set as NASA wants to ensure they fix the problem before they attempt a launch, and rightfully so. Earlier this month, two straight launch attempts were scrubbed because 2 of the sensors (as shown in the picture above) gave false readings in a test prior to launch. These sensors control and trigger when the shuttle's main engines cut off approximately 8 minutes and 40 seconds into the launch. Their design is to trigger that the fuel tank is empty so the engines don't try to keep firing on an empty tank. If they were to do so, the result would cause severe, if not catastrophic damage to the orbiter. Each tank has four sensors and only one needs to be functional in order for the engines to properly shut off, but NASA is unwilling to risk it.

The good news is that from diagnostics and testing, the problem does not seem to be the sensors themselves, but rather the wiring and connections related to them. All repairs needed to get Atlantis spacebound should be able to be done on the pad, so that will save them from having to roll Atlantis back to the Vehicle Assembly Building.

NASA Shuttle Director Wayne Hale is unsure of when the new launch date will be announced and will set the date when the problem is resolved. As it should be, the 2008 launch schedule is not going to influence the decision on when Atlantis is truly ready to launch, it could be days or weeks past the scrubbed January 10th launch date, all depending on how well the repairs go. NASA has an ambitious 6 launches planned for 2008, so if they can indeed fix the problem fast enough, the schedule should not be affected too much. On another not, Atlantis' final scheduled mission, STS-125 scheduled for August 2008, will be the final Non-ISS mission of the Space Shuttle Fleet as it will be heading up to fix and service the Hubble Telescope.

It's also interesting to note that since the Shuttle's return to flight, Atlantis has never launched on time (excluding weather delays and the normal stuff). STS-115 in August/September 2006 (Atlantis' first flight after Columbia) was delayed almost 2 weeks because of a Hurricane. They unloaded the cargo and started to roll it back to the VAB for protection. Halfway back, when the Hurricane lowered to a tropical storm, they did end up reversing course and sending Atlantis back to the pad, but NASA then had to re-prepare Atlantis all over again. STS-117 scheduled for a March 2007 launch had its fuel tank damaged by hail in late February causing a 3 and a half month delay. It's third launch, this one, STS-122 now has this ECO Sensor issue further delaying its launch.

NASA Scrubs January Shuttle Launch [msnbc.com]

Tags: nasa, spaceshuttle, atlantis, sts122, news

A United States Representative is proposing that NASA keep the shuttle fleet flying past its scheduled 2010 retirement date. After the Columbia tragedy back in 2003, the review board recommended that the shuttle fleet be retired in 2010 unless the fleet was re-certified. Being that the shuttle fleet is getting old, this recommendation did not seem too out of place. Two proposals, one would see the Space Shuttles flying until 2013 cutting the gap between the STS program and the Orion program, and the second would see the Space Shuttles flying until 2015 when the first manned Orion missions are scheduled to be launched. NASA currently has an exemption until 2011 allowing them to purchase Russian Soyuz Rockets despite the ban on the purchasing of Soyuz rockets designed to slow Iran from nuclear weapons technology, since Russia is accused of helping Iran in such endeavors. NASA's second option, should the shuttle fleet be retired would fall on the private sector, but the private sector doesn't yet seem ready for the task.

Keeping the shuttle fleet flying past 2010 could be counterproductive though as NASA administrator Michael Griffin said last month:

The argument could also be made that NASA and the US should keep their presence in space, and a few more years with the shuttle could help do just that. I would like to see the shuttle go past 2010, it is, despite its downfalls, a very capable machine and its already proven itself to be quite robust in its capabilities. Only time will tell if congress will give NASA the money it needs to either bring the timetable for Orion forward, or extend the life of the shuttles.

U.S. urged to keep space shuttle flying past 2010 [news.yahoo.com]

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