NASA / Jim Grossmann

PHOTOS OF THE DAY... A day after Discovery entered retirement after completing mission STS-133, Endeavour began her own swan song by arriving on the launch pad at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center last night. The countdown to the end of the space shuttle program continues ticking.


NASA / Terry Zaperach


NASA / Jack Pfaller

NASA / Kim Shiflett

THE END BEGINS... At 8:57 AM, Pacific Time today, space shuttle Discovery safely landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida...bringing an end to her storied 26-plus year career that involved launching the Hubble Space Telescope into Earth orbit in 1990, sending John Glenn (who became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962) into space for the second time in 1998, and returning to flight the U.S. space shuttle fleet after the 1986 Challenger and 2003 Columbia disasters. Discovery is now destined to find her final home at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.


NASA

On a personal note, the final mission of space shuttle Discovery is significant to me in that I actually had a presence, so to speak, onboard the orbiter. My name and face, along with 194,180 others, were digitally transmitted up to the vehicle during her flight. They were gathered as part of NASA’s Face in Space campaign that started last June. In case you missed out on having your name and face onboard Discovery, you can submit your name and face to fly on Endeavour during her final flight, STS-134—which is scheduled to launch next month. You can submit your name (and face...sorry for being repetitive) even on the day of her launch, which is April 19. That is all.


NASA

NASA / Jack Pfaller

ENDEAVOUR PREPS FOR HER FINALE... At 8:13 AM, Pacific Time today, the orbiter Endeavour rolled into the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the final time. Over the next week or so, the youngest vehicle in NASA’s space shuttle fleet will be mated to her external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters and undergo tests before being rolled out to the launch pad next month. Scheduled for liftoff on April 19, Endeavour will fly on mission STS-134...which will deliver a large physics experiment known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station (ISS). Unless NASA does find funding for STS-135 (which would involve Atlantis flying to the ISS this June), Endeavour’s voyage will mark the final flight in the 30-year-old shuttle program. That is all.


NASA / Jack Pfaller


NASA / Jack Pfaller

NASA

DISCOVERY’S SWAN SONG... At 1:53 PM, Pacific Standard Time today, space shuttle Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on her final voyage to the International Space Station (ISS). Discovery will dock with the ISS this Saturday, February 26, and undock on March 5 before returning to KSC on March 7. Eventually, the orbiter will be moved to her final home at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.

Below are several photos of Discovery when she was constructed at Rockwell International (now Boeing) in Palmdale, California during the early 1980s. The images are courtesy of Space.com.


Boeing


Boeing


Boeing


Boeing


Boeing

NASA / Kim Shiflett

BACK AT THE PAD... Not to state the obvious, but here’s hoping that the next time space shuttle Discovery leaves her pad at Launch Complex 39A, it will be to head for the International Space Station 220 miles above on February 24...and not to undergo more repairs inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. By the way, may the 7 astronauts of space shuttle Columbia rest in peace. Today marks 8 years since STS-107 ended in tragedy. The space shuttle program is 3 flights away from ending in hopeful triumph. That is all.


NASA / Jack Pfaller


NASA / Jack Pfaller


NASA / Kim Shiflett

25 YEARS AGO TODAY... The 7 astronauts of space shuttle Challenger lost their lives 73 seconds into flight on a cold January day. 44 years ago yesterday, the 3 astronauts of Apollo 1 perished in a horrific fire during a ground launch rehearsal at Cape Canaveral, Florida. This Tuesday, it will be 8 years since the crew of space shuttle Columbia was lost during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere over Texas. May all these folks rest in peace. Hopefully, space shuttle Discovery will be launched as scheduled on February 24—and commence what will (hopefully once more) be a safe and successful conclusion to the space shuttle program (the flights of Endeavour and Atlantis will follow that of Discovery...in April and June, respectively). This particular era of American human spaceflight, which will have lasted a little over 30 years, deserves an upbeat and memorable ending. It would obviously be a tribute to the 17 men and women who sacrificed their lives in the name of exploration. Not to sound clichéd or anything...it's the ultimate truth.

Pat Corkery / United Launch Alliance PHOTOS OF THE DAY... Today’s entry is devoted to yesterday’s launch of the Delta IV-Heavy rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. If you read this recent post (high-five if you did), then you’ll know that the launch pad the Delta IV (whose payload was a top-secret spy satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office) lifted off from was originally intended for space shuttles being sent into polar orbit for military missions. As mentioned in the entry I linked to above, this plan was scrapped after the Challenger disaster in 1986. Too bad. As for yesterday’s launch (which took place at 1:10 PM, PST), this was the first time ever that the Delta IV—which is currently the largest unmanned rocket (or Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle in techno-jargon) in the U.S. inventory—took flight from the California coastline. Here is a video of the launch: Living in Southern California, I would’ve driven 100+ miles north to view this historic moment for um, America’s military space program, but I had errands to do around the time of launch yesterday. That, and my car will be 13-years-old this year (yes—it’s Japanese-made, but still...) and I currently can’t afford to spend money on something like a rental car right now. I probably shouldn’t have broadcast that here. Oh well. Pat Corkery / United Launch Alliance Gene Blevins / LA Daily News TitanFan - NASASpaceflight.com

U.S. Air Force

WHAT COULD’VE BEEN... SpaceflightNow.com has posted up some neat photos of the prototype space shuttle Enterprise sitting atop a launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, back in 1985. Prior to the Challenger disaster, the Department of Defense planned to launch the shuttle from the U.S. West Coast on military flights...but that was scrapped after the 1986 tragedy. Unlike launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, where shuttles and other spacecraft are sent up into equatorial (or west-to-east) orbit, the ascent of the shuttle after a Vandenberg liftoff would bring it into a polar (or south-to-north) orbit...which is the orbit that all satellites launched from the California airbase are sent to. Today, the pad, technically known as Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6), serves as the launch site of the Delta IV-Heavy rocket—which will fly its very first mission from the West Coast on January 20. The Delta IV’s four previous launches were from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.


U.S. Air Force

All I can say is...had the shuttle been launched from Vandenberg AFB as originally envisioned, I wouldn’t have to spend a thousand dollars to fly to Florida to see the orbiter at KSC instead. Then again, unlike at KSC—where I can take a tour (the 'Up-Close Tour' to be exact) to see the shuttle’s launch pad from as close as a mile away—there is no visitor complex at Vandenberg. Nor is there any hilly terrain (which would obscure the shuttle at liftoff) in Florida like there is in Ventura County (where Vandenberg is situated) in California. Oh well. I like traveling out-of-state anyway... When I have the money to do so, that is.


William G. Hartenstein


William G. Hartenstein


U.S. Air Force


U.S. Air Force


U.S. Air Force


U.S. Air Force


U.S. Air Force

NASA / Kim Shiflett PHOTOS OF THE DAY... The images above and below show space shuttle Discovery just as a total lunar eclipse is about to take place above it on Monday night. Of course, I myself couldn't watch the eclipse...since I live in Southern California...and the rainstorm that started last Friday just ended yesterday. Oh well. NASA-KSC video The pic below shows Discovery back inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center yesterday. Tests will be conducted on Discovery's external fuel tank before the shuttle rolls back to Launch Pad 39A by January 13...in preparation for its targeted February 2 (Pacific Time) launch. NASA / Frank Michaux

NASA / Kevin O'Connell

THE DRAGON TAKES FLIGHT... At 7:43 AM, Pacific Standard Time today, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying SpaceX’s first fully operational Dragon vehicle was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This was the second launch of Falcon 9 since its maiden flight last June, while this was Dragon’s first voyage to Earth orbit before it finally begins ferrying cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) next year. At 11:02 AM, PST, the Dragon capsule safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean (500 miles off the coast of Mexico, to be exact) after re-entering Earth’s atmosphere...making this the first time a commercial company successfully brought a spacecraft back to the Earth’s surface from orbit. SpaceX deemed this flight a 100% success.

Today is a historic day for manned spaceflight...especially for the United States. With the space shuttle fleet retiring next year, the launch of Falcon 9 had to be a complete success and the on-orbit performance of Dragon completely flawless to vindicate President Obama’s decision earlier this year to cancel NASA’s Constellation program and rely on private companies to send cargo (and even astronauts) to low-Earth orbit. SpaceX was suppose to conduct one more "demo" flight of the Dragon spacecraft before it was to finally dock the capsule to the ISS for actual cargo operations. Here’s hoping NASA will have a change of plans and allow SpaceX to consolidate those two flights into one mission, thus allowing Falcon 9 and Dragon to immediately usher in the era of commercial spaceflight just as the space shuttle program is about to come to a close. That is all.


SpaceX / Michael Altenhofen


SpaceX / Michael Altenhofen


SpaceX / Michael Altenhofen


SpaceX / Michael Altenhofen