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NASA's space shuttle fleet will continue flying through at least early next year due to delays with the agency's final two missions.

Space shuttle program managers officially decided Thursday to delay the launch of NASA's next space shuttle mission to Nov. 1 and push back the last scheduled flight to late February 2011.

The move was not unexpected - the space agency said in late June it was hoping to postpone the final shuttle flights because of cargo delivery and schedule conflicts. Both missions are bound for the International Space Station.

The new plan delays the launch of Discovery - NASA's oldest space shuttle - from an earlier Sept. 16 target to Nov. 1.

People can upload their information on a new website under the Face in Space program to have it go into orbit along with the astronauts on the last two times the reusable space planes will launch.

In a statement released by NASA's space shuttle program chief John Shannon he said: "The Space Shuttle Program belongs to the public, and we are excited when we can provide an opportunity for people to share the adventure of our missions. This website will allow you to be a part of history and participate as we complete our final missions "

The next to last mission is scheduled to launch on September 16, which will be on Discovery, and the final space shuttle to go on orbit will be Endeavour, with its mission lifting off no earlier than November 27.

As NASA continues its internal review of the pending launch dates for the final two Space Shuttle missions in history, preparations are also continuing in earnest for the mission that everyone hopes will never be needed: the STS-335 flight to rescue the STS-134 crew in the event that Endeavour becomes disabled during the program's final [...] Read more... @

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2010/05/sts-335-nasa-planning-contingency...

Wed, 26 May 2010 07:48:39 AM CDT

Space shuttle Atlantis and six astronauts ended a 12-day journey of more than 4.8 million miles with an 8:48 a.m. EDT landing Wednesday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The third of five shuttle missions planned for 2010, this was the last scheduled flight for Atlantis. The mission, designated STS-132, delivered the Russian-built Mini Research Module-1 to the International Space Station. Also known as Rassvet ("dawn" in Russian), the module provides additional storage space and a new docking port for Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.

Ken Ham commanded the flight and was joined by Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, Michael Good, Steve Bowen and Piers Sellers.

Ground tracks for Wednesday's two landing attempts have been published. Only KSC will be targeted for Wednesday morning. Deorbit Burn for the 1st opportunity is 6:41 am CDT with a landing at 7:48 am CDT. 2nd rev burn is 8:17 am CDT and landing would be 9:23 am CDT

Plots at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts132/news/la...

HOUSTON - Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station at 10:22 a.m. CDT Sunday, ending a seven-day stay that saw the addition of a new station module, replacement of batteries and resupply of the orbiting outpost.

During three spacewalks astronauts added a backup high-data-rate antenna to the station and a tool platform to Dextre, the robot-like special purpose dexterous manipulator. They removed and replaced six 375-pound batteries on the station's P6 truss segment. The six old batteries are headed back to Earth in Atlantis' cargo bay.

Rassvet, the Russian Mini-Research Module 1 brought to the station by Atlantis, was installed on the Zarya module by Mission Specialists Piers Sellers and Garrett Reisman. The delicate installation involved working in Russian on a computer linked to Rassvet and the station's Russian segment and exacting control of the 58-foot Canadarm2. Both astronauts were in the new cupola, enjoying the luxury of window views to aid arm operation for the first time.

Mission Specialists Michael Good and Garrett Reisman began the third and final spacewalk of the STS-132 mission at 6:27 a.m. EDT.

The spacewalkers' first task was the installation of an ammonia jumper on the port 4 and 5 truss. Then they finished the last of the battery replacement work, swapping the remaining two batteries and installing a battery that was left in a temporary stow position from the last spacewalk.

The final planned task is the retrieval of a Power and Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF) from the orbiter's payload bay to bring inside the station at the end of the spacewalk. The PDGF will be installed to the Zarya module's exterior on a spacewalk later this summer.

The space shuttle crew gets a little break from the busy pace of the last several days. Today they are working with the new Rassvet module and preparing for a third spacewalk, but the shuttle astronauts will have some off-duty time as well.

The first tasks of the day focused on the new module, Mini-Research Module-1, also known as Rassvet, which was attached to the International Space Station Tuesday. Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Alexander Skvortsov performed leak checks in the Russian segment before opening hatches around 6:52 a.m. EDT.

The shuttle crew will have a few hours of off duty time in the afternoon, but otherwise, the day will largely focus on preparations for the third and final spacewalk. Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, Michael Good and Stephen Bowen will gather and prepare the tools needed and configure the airlock. Commander Ken Ham, Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialist Piers Sellers will join them to review the procedures before Reisman and Good settle in to spend the night in the Quest module as part of the "camp out" for their excursion.

Mission Specialists Stephen Bowen and Michael Good began the second STS-132 spacewalk at 6:38 a.m. EDT.

Bowen adjusted a cable on the end of the orbiter boom. This brief task was added after discovering early in the flight that the cable was inhibiting a camera from maneuvering correctly. Bowen adjusted the cable and used a plastic tie to hold it in position.

The two spacewalkers are replacing three batteries on the station port solar array. Each of the batteries weighs more than 360 pounds and is requiring an intricate choreography between the spacewalkers to swap out safely. The spacewalk is expected to last six and a half hours.

Two astronauts are venturing outside the International Space Station today in the first of three planned spacewalks for the STS-132 mission. They are installing a second station space-to-ground Ku-band antenna and a spare parts platform on Dextre, the two-armed robotic Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator.

Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman and Stephen Bowen began the planned 6.5-hour spacewalk at 7:54 a.m. EDT. Mission Specialist Michael Good and Pilot Tony Antonelli, the intravehicular officer, are assisting the spacewalkers from inside the orbiting complex. Support for robotic arm operations is being provided by Mission Specialist Piers Sellers and Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson.