SPACE SHUTTLE ATLANTIS

'Space Shuttle Orbiter ''Atlantis''' (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-104) is one of the fleet of space shuttles belonging to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It was the fourth operational shuttle built, and it is one of three fully operational shuttles in the fleet. The other two are ''Discovery'' and ''Endeavour''. In early 2007, NASA officials reversed an earlier decision to keep Atlantis flying until 2010, the projected end of the Shuttle program. This has been switched back and forth over the past months but now it is still scheduled to fly until 2010.[1]

Contents

Operational history

Flights

Aging

See also

Notes

External links

Operational history

''Atlantis'' made its first flight in October 1985, conducting classified military activities, one of five such flights. In 1989, ''Atlantis'' deployed two planetary probes, Magellan and Galileo, and in 1991, it deployed the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.
Beginning in 1995, ''Atlantis'' made seven straight flights to the Russian space station Mir. On the second Mir flight, it delivered a docking module, and on the subsequent flights, it conducted astronaut exchanges.
From November 1997 to July 1999, ''Atlantis'' underwent refitting operations, with about 165 modifications made to the shuttle, including the installation of the ''Multifunction Electronic Display System'', or glass cockpit. It has made six flights since then, all involving assembly activities at the International Space Station.
In October 2002, ''Atlantis'' and the six-person crew completed an 11-day mission to the International Space Station that involved three space walks.
NASA scheduled the 27th launch for ''Atlantis'' for September 2005, during the window of September 9 - 24. It was ruled unsafe to fly the mission and the launch window was missed, due to the complications during ''Discovery's launch of mission STS-114 and NASA's subsequent suspension of all future shuttle launches. ''Atlantis'' was the designated STS-300 rescue orbiter for the STS-114 mission. ''Atlantis'' was scheduled to fly the STS-121 mission, but it was decided that ''Discovery'' would fly the mission instead.
After a four-year-halt she went back in orbit along with six astronauts on STS-115, carrying the P3/P4 truss segments and solar arrays.
''Atlantis'' launched on her longest-ever mission STS-117, almost 14 days, on June 8.
''Atlantis'' is scheduled to be retired in 2010 after it completes STS-131, where it will carry the Docking Cargo Module to the ISS. NASA managers had previously decided to retire the orbiter in 2008, but then reversed their decision weeks later.
''Atlantis'' is currently in Orbiter Processing Facility #1 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Preparations for its next mission, STS-122, to be launched during December '07, are underway.

Flights

''Atlantis'' has completed 28 flights, spent 220.40-days in space, completed 3,468 orbits, and flown 89,908,732 miles in total, as of September 2006. Among the five Space Shuttles flown in space, Atlantis has conducted a subsequent mission in the shortest time after the previous mission when it launched in November, 1985, only 50 days after its previous mission.

#	Date	Designation	Notes
1	1985 October 3	STS-51-J	First ''Atlantis'' mission; mission dedicated to Department of Defense.
2	1985 November 26	STS-61-B	3 communications satellites deployed: MORELOS-B, AUSSAT-2 and SATCOM KU-2.
3	1988 December 2	STS-27	Mission dedicated to Department of Defense.
4	1989 May 4	STS-30	Deployed Magellan probe.
5	1989 October 18	STS-34	Deployed Galileo probe.
6	1990 February 28	STS-36	Mission dedicated to Department of Defense.
7	1990 November 15	STS-38	Mission dedicated to Department of Defense.
8	1991 April 5	STS-37	Deployed Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.
9	1991 August 2	STS-43	Deployed TDRS-5.
10	1991 November 24	STS-44	Mission dedicated to Department of Defense.
11	1992 March 24	STS-45	Carried Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS) mission 1.
12	1992 July 31	STS-46	Deployed ESA European Retrievable Carrier and NASA Tethered Satellite System.
13	1994 November 3	STS-66	Carried ATLAS mission 3.
14	1995 June 29	STS-71	First shuttle docking with space station Mir.
15	1995 November 12	STS-74	Carried docking module to Mir.
16	1996 March 22	STS-76	Rendezvous with Mir, including crew transfer of Shannon Lucid.
17	1996 September 16	STS-79	Rendezvous with Mir, including crew transfer of Shannon Lucid and John Blaha.
18	1997 January 12	STS-81	Rendezvous with Mir, including crew transfer of John Blaha and Jerry Linenger.
19	1997 May 15	STS-84	Rendezvous with Mir, including crew transfer of Jerry Linenger and Michael Foale.
20	1997 September 25	STS-86	Rendezvous with Mir, including crew transfer of Michael Foale and David A. Wolf.
21	2000 May 19	STS-101	International Space Station assembly mission (re-supply ISS).
22	2000 September 8	STS-106	International Space Station assembly mission (re-supply ISS).
23	2001 February 7	STS-98	International Space Station assembly mission (carried and assembled the Destiny Laboratory Module).
24	2001 July 12	STS-104	International Space Station assembly mission (carried and assembled the Quest Joint Airlock).
25	2002 April 8	STS-110	International Space Station assembly mission (carried and assembled the S0 truss segment).
26	2002 October 7	STS-112	International Space Station assembly mission (carried and assembled the S1 truss segment).
27	2006 September 9	STS-115	International Space Station resupply and construction (P3 and P4 truss segments).
28	2007 June 8	STS-117	International Space Station resupply and construction (S3 and S4 truss segments). [2]
29	NET 2007 December 6	STS-122	Planned International Space Station construction (Columbus laboratory).
30	NET 2008 September 14	STS-125	Planned Hubble Space Telescope servicing (Extending Operational Life).

Aging

NASA announced that 24 helium and nitrogen gas tanks, named Composite Overwrap Pressure Vessels, in ''Atlantis'' are older than their designed lifetime (designed for 10 years, later cleared for another 10 years but in service now for 22 years). NASA said it cannot guarantee any longer that the vessels on ''Atlantis'' will not burst or explode under full pressure. Therefore, the vessels will only be at 80 percent pressure as close to the launch countdown as possible, and the launch pad will be cleared of all but essential personnel when pressure is increased to 100 percent. A launch pad explosion could damage parts of the shuttle and even wound or kill ground personnel. An in-flight failure to the vessels could even result in the loss of the orbiter and its crew. Because the original vendor is no longer available, the vessels cannot be rebuilt before 2010, when the shuttles are scheduled to be retired. NASA analyses originally assumed that the vessels would leak before they burst, but new tests showed that they would burst before they leak. The new launch procedure, of clearing the launch pad of all but the essential personnel and pressurizing the tanks to 100 percent as late as possible, will now be conducted at all following ''Atlantis'' launches if no other resolution is found. ''Atlantis'' will have to launch two more times in this setting. It is unclear, but possible, that ''Discovery'', which will launch another five or six times, has the same problems and if the same launch procedure needs to be conducted with ''Discovery''. Since ''Endeavour'', which will launch another six or seven times, was built much later, around 1990, it is possible that ''Endeavour'' does not have the same problem. [3]

See also

★ List of space shuttle missions

Notes

External links

★ Orbiter Vehicles

★ Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis (OV-104)

★ Space Shuttle Atlantis in 3D for Google Earth

★ 04/16/07: Consolidated Launch Manifest: Space Shuttle Flights and ISS Assembly Sequence.

★ NASAspaceflight.com Atlantis stay of execution reversed