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NASA is calling up a back-up landing site in California but still aims to bring shuttle Atlantis and seven astronauts back to Kennedy Space Center on Saturday. Weather permitting, that is. As it stands, the Atlantis astronauts are scheduled to fire braking rockets at 8:02 a.m., sending their spaceship toward a 9:16 a.m. landing at NASA's coastal Florida spaceport.

Two other opportunities are available: 10:54 a.m. and 12:33 p.m. However, NASA likely would only exercise the first two because an attempt to land at 12:33 p.m. would make for an extremely long day for the crew, which faces several hours of post-flight medical exams and a news conference 4.5 hours after touchdown. Forecasters at the Spaceflight Meteorology Group at Johnson Space Center in Houston expects conditions in central Florida to be similar to those that force NASA mission managers to forego two opportunities to bring the crew home today. (more)


• NASA Targets Saturday Landing


Atlantis' astronauts are plunging through the atmosphere on a supersonic dive toward Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center. Flying the shuttle upside down and backwards over the Pacific Ocean the Atlantis commander will fire the shuttle's twin maneuvering engines for about three minutes. The retorgrade burn should slowe the shuttle by 231 mph, just enough to drop the spaceship out of orbit and onto an hour long freefall toward Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Atlantis zooming over the Pacific Ocean will cross the Yucatan Peninsula before heading out over the Gulf of Mexico making than a landfall around Tampa Bay. The orbiter will cross over Orlando and east central Florida before making a sweeping, 260-degree left turn over the Atlantic Ocean and flying a final approach to the runway over the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The shuttle's trademark twin sonic booms will signal its arrival back on the Space Coast about three or four minutes before Saturdays expected touchdown. (more)


- Web: Photos

Space News

STS-125: Space Shuttle Atlantis’ Landing Opportunities.
By Space News, May 22nd, 2009




- Astronaut Megan McArthur, STS-125 mission specialist, is pictured on the aft flight deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis during flight day nine activities. Astronaut Gregory C. Johnson (partially out of frame), STS-125 pilot, is at left. Credit: NASA


Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew will stay in space another day after bad weather prevented them from landing Friday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA Flight Director Norm Knight and the entry team will evaluate weather conditions at Kennedy before permitting Atlantis and its crew to land at 9:16 a.m. Saturday. A second Kennedy landing opportunity is at 10:54 a.m. The shuttle also has landing opportunities at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 10:46 a.m. and 12:24 p.m.

If Atlantis does not land Saturday, there are multiple landing opportunities Sunday at Kennedy, Edwards, or White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. The Kennedy news center will open for landing activities. For recorded updated information about landing and news center hours, call 321-867-2525. If the landing is diverted to Edwards, reporters should call the Dryden public affairs office at 661-276-3449. Dryden has limited facilities available for use by previously accredited journalists. The landing times below are approximate and subject to change. All times are EDT: Continued...

- May 19: Astronaut Mike Massimino, STS-125 mission specialist, occupies the commander’s station on the flight deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis during flight day nine activities. Earth’s horizon and the blackness of space are visible through the windows. Credit: NASA

- May 20: The STS-125 crew poses for the traditional in-flight portrait on the middeck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis. Pictured on the front row are astronauts Scott Altman (center), commander; Gregory C. Johnson, pilot; and Megan McArthur, mission specialist. Pictured on the back row (left to right) are astronauts Michael Good, Mike Massimino, John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel. Credit: NASA

- May 19: An STS-125 crewmember aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis captured this still image of the Hubble Space Telescope as the two spacecraft continue their relative separation on May 19, after having been linked together for the better part of a week. During the week five spacewalks were performed to complete the final servicing mission for the orbital observatory. The crew deployed the giant telescope at 7:57 a.m. (CDT). Credit: NASA


• Hubble will now be able to see farther into the Universe.

- The astronaut crewmembers of the STS-125 flight orbiting Earth aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis are seen on a TV screen as they receive a phone call from U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (US Democrat, Maryland.). Photo credit: NASA/White House/Pete Souza





- May 19: Space Shuttle Atlantis’ payload bay, vertical stabilizer and orbital maneuvering system (OMS) pods are featured in this image photographed by an STS-125 crewmember on flight day nine. Credit: NASA • Space News Coverage: http://spaceflightnow.com • STS-125 Mission Coverage - Live Videos: http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts125/status.html


• Mission Status Center - live text and video!
• MAPS: Friday's Landing Tracks

• NASA TV Schedule Rev. M (pdf)
• MOVIES: High Definition Video
• MOVIES: Standard Definition Video
• VIDEO: Preview of Flight Day 12 Activities
• VIDEO: Flight Day 11 Highlights Movie
• Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/astronautics
• http://www.space.gs/index.html • http://www.space.gs/news/?feed=rss2

Space News

NASA gives “Go” for Expedition 19 to drink recycled water.
By Space News, May 20th, 2009

NASA’s Mission Control gave the Expedition 19 astronaut crew aboard the International Space Station a “go” to drink water that the station’s new recycling system has purified. Mission Control radioed the news to the crew Wednesday, following a report from the Water Recovery System team that station program managers approved. The decision is an important milestone in the development of the station’s environmental and life support systems, which will begin supporting six-person crews at the end of May.





Expedition 19 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineers Mike Barratt and Koichi Wakata celebrated the decision with a toast in the Destiny laboratory. “This has been the stuff of science fiction. Everybody’s talked about recycling water in a closed loop system, but nobody’s ever done it before. Here we are today with the first round of recycled water,” said Barratt. “We’re really happy for this day and for the team that put this together. This is the kind of technology that will get us to the moon and further.” “This is an important milestone in the development of the space station,” said Kirk Shireman, International Space Station deputy program manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “This system will reduce the amount of water we must launch to the station once the shuttle retires and also test out a key technology required for sending humans on long duration missions to the moon and Mars.”

Space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-126 mission delivered the Water Recovery System to the station in November 2008. Mission Specialist Don Pettit and Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke installed the equipment before Endeavour’s departure. The system has been processing urine into purified water since shuttle Discovery’s STS-119 crew delivered and installed a replacement Urine Processing Assembly in March. The system is tied into the station’s Waste and Hygiene Compartment toilet and recovers and recycles moisture from the station’s atmosphere. The crews of STS-126, Expedition 18 and STS-119 returned samples of the recycled water to Earth. A total of 5.28 gallons (20 liters) of recycled water were tested for purity at the Water and Microbiology Laboratories at Johnson.

A special Space Station Program Control Board meeting on April 27 reviewed the analysis, which showed contaminants were well below established limits, and concurred that the water is safe and healthy to drink. Mission managers elected to postpone consumption until a sticky check valve in the Urine Processing Assembly was removed May 18. Space station crews will monitor the purity of the recycled water with on-board equipment and periodically send down samples for testing on Earth. Video of the Expedition 19 crew toast will air on NASA Television’s Video File. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv If you are on a slower connection and have Windows Media Player you'd be better off using this link: http://is.gd/lDJ
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- Occupying the commander’s station, astronaut Gregory C. Johnson, STS-125 pilot, uses the Portable In-Flight Landing Operations Trainer (PILOT) on the flight deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis. PILOT consists of a laptop computer and a joystick system, which helps to maintain a high level of proficiency for the end-of-mission approach and landing tasks required to bring the shuttle safely back to Earth. Credit: NASA

Weather: Cape Canaveral: http://is.gd/CcoC
Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/astronautics
Weather: Edwards Air Force Base: http://is.gd/CdkR
Landing coverage: http://space.gs/sts-125/landing.html
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- May 22: Water saturates the ground and stands on the surface of a parking lot across the street from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building, the aftermath of thunderstorms in the vicinity of Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility. Two landing opportunities for space shuttle Atlantis to conclude the STS-125 mission were waved off May 22 due to violations of the end-of-mission landing weather criteria. Through five spacewalks on the STS-125 mission, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope was refurbished and upgraded with state-of-the-art science instruments that will expand Hubble’s capabilities and extend its operational lifespan through at least 2014. Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
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- Live Coverage: NASA TV Player

- May 22: A baby alligator is unaware that the water saturating the ground is the aftermath of thunderstorms in the vicinity of NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility and that space shuttle Atlantis is unable to land to conclude the STS-125 mission. Alligators can be spotted in the drainage canals and other waters surrounding Kennedy. The center shares a boundary with the Merritt Island Wildlife Nature Refuge, which is a habitat for more than 310 species of birds, 25 mammals, 117 fishes and 65 amphibians and reptiles. Credit: NASA/Glenn Benson

Atlantis STS-125 Mission: It’s been a long road.
May 23, 2009, Mission Control Center

Weather in Florida did not cooperate again for Atlantis’ return to Earth today. There are two additional landing opportunities being considered Sunday on both U.S. coasts. For the first opportunity in Florida at Kennedy Space Center, the crew would execute a deorbit burn at 7:58 a.m. and land at 9:11 a.m. The second Kennedy opportunity calls for a deorbit burn at 9:31 a.m. and landing at 10:49 a.m.

The first landing opportunity targeted in California at Edwards Air Force Base would start with a deorbit burn at 9:25 a.m. and culminate in a 10:40 a.m. landing. The second opportunity would begin with a deorbit burn at 11:08 a.m. and result in landing at 12:19 p.m. The Kennedy weather forecast is expected to improve slightly, but there is a chance that weather in the vicinity of the Shuttle Landing Facility will continue to be unfavorable. The Edwards forecast is generally favorable. The crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 4:01 p.m. and awaken at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. (more)
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• Videos

- The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter flying in space - artist’s impression; credit: NASA


NASA’s return to the Moon will get a boost in June with the launch of two satellites that will return a wealth of data about Earth’s nearest neighbor. On Thursday, the agency outlined the upcoming missions of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS. The spacecraft will launch together June 17 aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Using a suite of seven instruments, LRO will help identify safe landing sites for future human explorers, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment and test new technology. LCROSS will seek a definitive answer about the presence of water ice at the lunar poles. LCROSS will use the spent second stage Atlas Centaur rocket in an unprecedented way that will culminate with two spectacular impacts on the Moon’s surface. (more)


- Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - Photos /

- This photograph shows the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, integrated and ready for testing in a clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.


• NASA: NASA Details Plans for Lunar Exploration Robotic Missions
• NASA’s return to the Moon gets boost with June launch of robotic missions.


- German ESA astronaut


• Return to the Moon? • Moon Photo


• Die Presse: ISS-Besatzung wird auf sechs Astronauten aufgestockt
• Die Presse (germ): Die NASA bereitet die bemannte Rückkehr zum Mond vor • www.flightglobal.com/blogs (More links)
• Spaceref: COROT space mission ready to search out new planets and map the interior of stars - www.esa.int/COROT

- Technicians at Northrop Grumman gently maneuver the Lunar LCROSS spacecraft into the thermal vacuum chamber. Credit: NASA




NOAA Issues Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook, Encourages Preparedness - www.noaanews.noaa.gov - http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov
US Weather Forecast: www.space.gs/cgi-bin/weather - www.space.gs - http://friendfeed.com/astronautics





NASA Image: The Final Mission to Hubble

- The STS-125 crew aboard space shuttle Atlantis captured this still image of the Hubble Space Telescope as the two spacecraft begin their relative separation on May 19
after having been linked together for nearly a week. During the week, five spacewalks were performed to complete the final servicing mission to the telescope.

Read Article: www.latimes.com

- Former astronaut Charles Bolden, veteran of four Space Shuttle missions, including STS-31, which deployed the Hubble Space Telescope, has been chosen by U.S. President Obama to lead NASA. - Obama speaks at the Presidential Inaugural Celebration.


- Charles Bolden Bio





Photos, Info: STS 31 deployed the Hubble Space Telescope - Photos: Assembly of Hubble S.T.


Hubble flying 1. time in space



The Hubble release


Space Photos: www.jar2.com

NASA: Image of The Day Gallery



Focus on Hubble

- STS-125 mission specialist John Grunsfeld uses a still camera at an overhead window on the aft flight deck of the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Atlantis to
photograph the Hubble Space Telescope after its release from Atlantis’ remote manipulator system robotic arm.

NASA: Preparing to Observe the Universe / 2

- The space shuttle Atlantis' remote manipulator system arm lifts the Hubble Space Telescope from the cargo bay and is moments away from releasing the
orbital observatory to start it on its way back home to observe the universe, in this image taken on May 19, 2009.

- Solar panels on the Hubble Space Telescope make for unique window shades in this scene photographed from the flight deck of the Earth-orbiting space
shuttle Atlantis. This image was taken on flight day 5 of the 11-day mission to repair and upgrade Hubble. Image Credit: NASA

- With a mostly dark home planet behind him, astronaut Michael Good rides Atlantis' remote manipulator system arm to the exact position he needs to be
to continue work on the Hubble Space Telescope on the STS-125 mission's fourth spacewalk on May 17, 2009. Image Credit: NASA




Hubble Repair Photos: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / More...

BBC News



Russia wants to keep its parts of the ISS flying beyond 2020


Russia 'to save its ISS modules'
By Anatoly Zak, BBC, 22.5.2009

Russia is making plans to detach and fly away its parts of the International Space Station when the time comes to de-orbit the rest of the outpost.
Industry officials told BBC News of plans to keep the Russian ISS modules flying around a decade from now. ISS partners are optimistic they will be
able to extend funding for the project beyond a current 2015 deadline. But most observers agree that most of the International Space Station will
have to be scrapped around 2020. According to the plans, the remaining Russian modules will form the core of a new orbital outpost, which would
serve as a haven and assembly shop for deep space missions heading to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

To facilitate the plan, RKK Energia, the country's main ISS contractor, has already started developing a special node module for the Russian segment,
which will double as the cornerstone of the future station. A ball-shaped compartment with docking ports on six sides would enable the future outpost
to stay in space indefinitely, with only individual components being replaced as needed. The current architecture of the International Space Station
makes replacement of some of its key modules practically impossible. Unlike many Nasa and European space officials, Russian engineers are confident
that even after two decades in orbit, their modules would be in good enough shape to form the basis of a new space station. "We flew on Mir for 15
years and accumulated colossal experience in extending the service life (of such a vehicle)," said a senior Russian official at RKK Energia, Russia's main
contractor on the ISS.

"I don't see any problems, with the exception of penetration of the module's skin by a meteoroid. (The vehicle) can fly twenty or thirty years and,
if we don't have a direct hit, we can replace practically every internal component. We learnt a lesson from Mir that anything that can fail in this period of
time can be replaced." However, the idea of turning the Russian segment of the ISS into an independent space station carries major political, legal and
financial pitfalls, Russian officials admitted. "I can tell you it is technically possible to separate the Russian segment (from the ISS) and fly free, however,
(in this case) there are a number of issues with the... end of the station's life," a Russian space official told BBC News.




- The ATV could potentially guide the ISS to a controlled destruction


Since Russians want to fly the key service module away along with the rest of its segments, the remaining parts of the station would be left without
propulsion capability. These would be needed to maintain the station's orbit or to plunge it into the Earth's atmosphere over a safe area. According
to Russian sources, they have actively discussed their intentions with American partners. But have so far failed to come up with a satisfactory solution.
"Our position is that the primary integrator of the station (Nasa) is responsible for a civilized end to the flight after the conclusion of the mission," a
Russian official said. "They (the Americans) said they understood the issue, but did not go beyond that."

To resolve the problem, Russian space officials are eyeing the European-built ATV spacecraft, whose propulsion system is powerful enough to guide the
station towards a controlled destruction. But currently, the vehicle can only dock with the Russian segment, and would need significant modifications
to implement the new plan. Manuel Valls, head of policy and plans at the human spaceflight and exploration directorate of the European Space Agency
(Esa) told BBC News that the agency did conduct some preliminary studies of docking the ATV to the American segment of the station. However Esa was
primarily focused on reaching a swift agreement with its partners on funding for the station until at least 2020. "If and when the ISS will be de-orbited,
which is, again, highly unlikely to happen before 2020, then the right vehicle to do the job would be the ATV," Mr Valls said. "However, by 2020, we will
also have the HTV (a Japanese cargo vehicle designed to dock with the US segment) and probably American vehicles, which could be used as well. It is
more than 10 years from now, so anything can happen."




- The new Russian ship would be launched towards the end of the next decade


Although the Russian federal space agency (Roscosmos) first announced plans to succeed the ISS with its own space station almost a decade ago,
several recent events brought this plan to the forefront of the country's long-term space strategy. In 2004, the US government made a decision to abandon
the ISS in the middle of the coming decade, and direct available Nasa funds toward lunar exploration goals. Currently, the US space agency plans to end
its participation in the ISS around 2015, exactly the time when the newest Russian modules of the station are scheduled to reach the launch pad. (more)
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See also: BBC News

• Nasa plans shuttle's new landing
• Russia mulls rocket power 'first'
• Russia to unveil spaceship plans
• Buran - the Soviet 'space shuttle'
• Russia to approve new Moon rocket

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
• RKK Energia: http://www.energia.ru/english
• Roscosmos: http://www.roscosmos.ru/index.asp?Lang=ENG
• International Space Station (Nasa): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stati ... index.html