Final Shuttle Mission Is 'Go For Launch'

From Information Week

Final Shuttle Mission Is 'Go For Launch' Atlantis is set for one more liftoff before the program is officially mothballed by NASA.
By Paul McDougall

The astronauts who will likely be the last to ever fly aboard a ship in the current space shuttle fleet were scheduled to arrive at Florida's Kennedy Space Center Monday to prepare for launch Thursday.

The MLAS emergency escape system is one of NASA's alternative approaches to securing crew safety.



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Find out how to increase availability while reducing data center energy consumptionWhen they liftoff, it will mark the beginning of the end of a program that paved the way for numerous breakthroughs in space observation and exploration—and also tragically claimed the lives of 14 crewmembers in two, separate accidents that stunned the nation.

The astronauts will board shuttle Atlantis later this week as they prepare for the May 14 launch, which is set for 2:20 p.m. EDT.

The final mission, officially known as STS-132, will see Atlantis' crew conduct series of operations at the International Space Station during 12 days in orbit. They'll drop off a Russian mini-research module, new batteries for the station's truss and dish antenna, and other replacement parts.

"Twelve days, three [spacewalks], tons of robotics—we're putting on spares that make us feel good about the long-term sustainability of the ISS," said Space Shuttle program manager John Shannon, according to a NASA news release.

"This flight has a little bit of everything, and it's been great preparation for the team," said Shannon.

The veteran crew includes commander Ken Hamm, pilot Tony Antonelli, and mission specialists Michael Good, Garret Reisman, Piers Sellers, and Steve Bowen.

The decision to cancel the shuttle program was made under the administration of former president George W. Bush, in part due to the 2003 destruction of Columbia, which exploded upon reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. All seven crewmembers were killed.

The program had previously lost a crew of seven when Challenger blew up shortly after liftoff on January 28, 1986.

President Obama has stuck with the cancellation plan, and in addition decided to kill a Bush initiative that would have seen astronauts return to the moon by 2020 in a new system comprising the Ares rocket and Orion crew capsule. Obama's current fiscal budget proposal scraps Ares and retasks Orion as an emergency lifeboat that would be permanently docked at the ISS.

NASA engineers last week successfully tested an escape system for Orion (pictured) that's designed to jettison the capsule away from the launch pad in the event of an emergency like the one that claimed Challenger.

Critics of the plan to end the shuttle program insist its cancellation would leave the U.S. dependent on foreign countries for transportation to the ISS until a replacement vehicle is ready. Some U.S. lawmakers have introduced bills that would give the program a last minute reprieve.