Lightning strikes near Pad 39A // 430pm July 7, 2011

Two lightning strikes at 12:31 pm and 12:40 pm, one only 515 feet from the pad caused NASA to conduct an engineering review to be certain the Atlantis was unharmed. It was. - photograph of one of the lightning strikes, Courtesy NASA TV

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NASA Updates on Launch of Atlantis are HERE
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4:30 pm Thursday, July 7, 2011 … from NASA Web Site
Engineering Review Board Meets to Discuss Lightning Strikes
Thu, 07 Jul 2011 04:28:36 PM ED
NASA is convening an Engineering Review Board meeting at 4:30 p.m. EDT to discuss the status of space shuttle Atlantis and the launch pad following a lightning strike earlier today. Lightning was detected within a third of a mile of the pad.

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Update ……….. Rollout: STS-135 // Landing: STS-134 … plus! Hints on Where to View the Final Launch

STS-135 MISSION // ATLANTIS
The Orbiter Atlantis is scheduled to be rolled out to Pad 39A from the Vehicle Assembly Building beginning at 8 pm, Tuesday night, May 31, 2011. This STS-135 mission will be the final in the 30-year American Space Shuttle program. Atlantis is scheduled to be launched no earlier than July 8, 2011 — this will be the final launch of a shuttle.

STS-134 MISSION // ENDEAVOUR
.The Orbiter Endeavour is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF = runway) at 2 am Wednesday morning, June 1, 2011. This will be the end of the STS-134 mission, the second to last in the shuttle program. Endeavour, the newest of the five shuttles, will be retired at the end of this mission.

HINTS ON WHERE TO VIEW FINAL LAUNCH on JULY 8, 2011
PLANNING TO VISIT FLORIDA FOR FINAL LAUNCH?
here’s some help to begin planning from NASA and the Kennedy Space Center
NASA list of best viewing sites to watch shuttle launches HERE

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Previous header Photograph

Dawn, Wednesday, May 18, 2011, Kennedy Space Center. In the distance is Pad 39A where the Endeavour was launched nearly two days previously and in the foreground is the press site. The shot was taken by Carol Anne Swagler.

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STS-135 / Atlantis == Status May 17, 2011

At the NASA press briefing, one hour following successful launch of the Shutte Endeavour, on Monday, May 16, 2011, at the press ste, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, the following dates on the final shuttle mission, STS-135 were discussed:

Atlantis rollover — OPF (hangar) to VAB
scheduled for May 17, 2011, 8 am

Atlantis rollout — VAB (vehicle assembly building) to Pad 39A
scheduled for May 31/June 1, 2011

Atlantis launch — from Pad 39A
expected for mid-July (change from earliest launch date of June 28)
expected earliest launch date to be set by about May 20, 2011

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STS-134 = Launch/First 26 seconds = Monday, May 16, 2011

NASA’s stunning photographs of the launch of STS-134 are HERE.

Pictures here are from 2 seconds after ignition through disappearance of the Shuttle Endeavour into clouds at 5,000 feet at about 8:57 EDT, Monday, May 16, 2011 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The launch is from the only remaining operational shuttle launch pad, Pad 39-A.

2 Seconds into Launch

4 Seconds into Launch

10 Seconds into Launch

15 Seconds into Launch

22 Seconds into Launch

Gone! -- 26 Seconds into Launch. This was one of the quickest disappearance of the shuttle into clouds in the history of the program, a NASA spokesman said at a press conference later in the morning.

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.”petecrow/NASA” © 2011 by / Peter M. Crow and the Peter Michael Crow Trust and by Seine/Harbour® Productions, LLC, Studio City, California.

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Current header Photograph

Shuttle Endeavour on Pad 39-A early evening, Sunday, May 15, 2011, 6:20 pm. This view is from the press site. Earlier in the day, shortly after Noon, the RSS was rolled back. Now all that remains is a decision expected to be made about 11 pm whether to begin fueling. The Astronauts will head for the pad shortly after 5 am, and Endeavour will lift off from Kennedy Space Center at 8:56 am, Monday, May 16, 2011, if all continues to go as planned.

photo © 2011 by / Peter M. Crow for Seine/Harbour® Productions, LLC, Studio City, California.

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Walking with the Crawler to the Launch Pad

NASA offered the press different opportunities on the shuttle missions, including walking the Crawler and Shuttle from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the Launch pad. It’s a long walk and in February 2007, it was a cold one that took over six hours and ended at Pad 39B. The shuttle on the Crawler was Atlantis.

Carol Anne Swagler stands on one of the two pebble covered tracks which serve as the Crawler's highway to the two launch pads. Ms. Swagler, a veteran newspaper woman, was working as a photographer for an Oklahoma newsapaper, The Grove Sun Daily. In the waning days of the shuttle program, Ms. Swagler was frequently accredited to photograph the shuttle and other NASA launches at the Cape. The Grove Sun Daily, unusual for a small daily, sent reporters and photographers to cover the space program frequently, all the way back to the Apollo 17 moon launch in 1972; its community had a NASA sub-contractor. In the background over Ms. Swagler's shoulder is the Vehicle Assembly Building. The Crawler and shuttle are heading toward Ms. Swagler -- she had walked on ahead. If she had not moved -- which she did -- the Crawler would have flattened her and there would have been no more trips to the Cape for Ms. Swagler.

photo by petecrow / © 2007 Seine/Harbour® Productions, Studio City, California

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STS-133 has returned to the Launch Pad

(<<< CLICK to ENLARGE — the thumbnail at left is a former blog header) Discovery, bathed in lights, is seen near center in long view against clear, black Florida night as she headed toward Launch Pad 39A at 9:10pm Monday, January 31, 2011. The Crawler, on which the shuttle rides, moves about a mile an hour on its best days. And the Crawler's mileage? If you have to ask, you can't afford one.

STS-133 Roll-Out to Launch Pad & Launch Update
Roll-Out from the Vehicle Assembly Building to 39A was completed overnight, January 31/February 1
Launch: No earlier than, Thursday, February 24, 2011.

Orbiter Discovery is shown exiting the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center on Monday night, January 31, 2011. Discovery, photographed from the 5th floor of the VAB, sits atop a massive Crawler. Barring a return to the VAB, as has already happened once in this second-to-last Shuttle mission, this was Discovery's final exit from the building. Discovery's mission is designated STS-133; the mission is scheduled for launch no earlier than February 24. == photo by petecrow

UPDATE / January 27, 2011 Thursday
Orbiter Discovery Roll-Out from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the Launch Pad overnight January 31-February 1 began about 8 pm and in the early hours of February 1. Generally Roll-Out takes about 6 hours.

Discovery has been to the pad for this launch before, but when cracks in the fuel tanks caused concerns, she was returned to the VAB.

The STS-133, Orbiter Discovery, launch was further re-scheduled on January 7, 2011, to no earlier than February 24 2011. No launch time has been designated for that date.

This is a further delay in this much delayed mission, and now moves this mission to 2011.

This is the second to last of the scheduled Shuttle launches. The original launch date for STS-133 was last summer; the most recent was February 3, 2011. The final mission, STS-134 has been scheduled for launch in March 2011. However, there may be one additional mission following STS-134 to provision the International Space Station — sometimes it is on; sometimes it is off.

Latest NASA launch schedules can be found HERE.

photo, peter michael crow for seine/harbour® productions, studio city, california, and for the grove sun daily, grove, oklahoma // © 2011 seine/harbour® productions and peter m crow

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