Note: NASA's Kennedy Space Center issues Space Shuttle Processing Status Reports periodically and is the source for information regarding processing activities associated with the vehicles and payloads. This report does not necessarily reflect the chronological order of future space shuttle missions. If you are a member of the media and would like further information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/index.html
Mission: STS-121 - 18th International Space Station Flight (ULF1.1) - Multi-Purpose Logistics Module
Vehicle: Discovery (OV-103)
Official Launch Date: July 4, 2006 at 2:38 p.m.
Expected KSC Landing Date/Time: July 17 at about 9:14 a.m.
Crew: Lindsey, Kelly, Sellers, Fossum, Nowak, Wilson and Reiter
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Today is Flight Day 4 for STS-121, and Discovery is currently docked to the International Space Station. The Multi-Purpose Logistics Module containing supplies and equipment for the space station has been transferred from Discovery's payload bay to its station port. The crew will spend the next several days unloading the module and then filling it with items to be returned to Earth.
Mission: STS-115 - 19th International Space Station Flight (12A) - P3/P4 Solar Arrays
Vehicle: Atlantis (OV-104)
Location: Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1
Launch Date: No earlier than Aug. 28, 2006
Launch Pad: 39B
Crew: Jett, Ferguson, Tanner, Burbank, MacLean and Stefanyshyn-Piper
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
In Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1, workers are busy preparing Atlantis for rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building, currently scheduled for the last week of July. Final gap filler and tile work is under way, and final inspections of the radiator are complete.
The payload bay doors are scheduled to be closed for flight late today. Workers have configured the shuttle main engines for rollover and are finishing final closeouts in the forward and aft sections.
In high bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building, ET-118, the external fuel tank for STS-115, has been lifted from the checkout cell, and operations to mate it to the solid rocket boosters are under way.
Endeavour (OV-105)
Powered-up system testing continues on Endeavour in Orbiter Processing Facility bay 2 following an extensive modification period. This week, functional testing of the atmosphere revitalization pressure control system got under way. This system maintains crew module pressure during flight. Window no. 3 installation is nearing completion, and tile-processing work continues around the external tank doors and nose landing gear doors. Gap filler removal and replacement continues in the high priority areas of the orbiter's heat shield.
