THE HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT BLOG: From the Space Shuttle to Beyond

NASA / Jim Grossmann

DISCOVERY MOVES ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE SMITHSONIAN... Earlier this week, the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) and Forward Reaction Control System pods for Discovery were returned to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida after spending a couple of months at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico undergoing cleaning and deservicing. The left OMS pod will be reinstalled onto the orbiter next week. Discovery is targeted for an April, 2012 delivery to the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia...though Endeavour and Atlantis’ trips to the California Science Center and KSC Visitor Complex (targeted for mid-2012 for Endeavour and early 2013 for Atlantis), respectively, may be delayed up to 6 months.


NASA / Jim Grossmann

As a way to speed up the development process and save money while preparing its new Space Launch System (SLS) for a maiden flight in 2017, NASA is planning to remove the Main Propulsion Systems (MPS) from Endeavour and Atlantis...and use them on the SLS. This will prolong the orbiters’ decommissioning process. Along with the MPS, all the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) that flew with Discovery and her two sister ships on their final flights this year will also be utilized by the SLS program. In all, around 15 SSMEs (the 12 used by the three orbiters, plus 3 spare engines) will fly onboard NASA’s new heavy-lift launch vehicle in its first couple of flights. However, the SSMEs will be destroyed as the SLS’ core stages burn up upon re-entry after liftoff in those early flights. The SSMEs will obviously not return safely to Earth like they did onboard the historic shuttles at the end of their missions.


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis