Credonia
19-12-2004, 22:22
http://www.vussp.com/images/VUSSP.gif (http://www.vussp.com)
Last night, VUSSP Directors Kaimoni Sutton and Troy Autry calculated, confirmed, and approved the 7 am launch times for both the SSF-7 and SSF-8 missions. The SSF-7 launch will occur on Sunday December 26th at 7 am EST, while the SSF-8 launch will occur exactly 24 hours later on Monday December 27th. As always, mission controllers for these two missions are required to be online and check in with the mission's Flight Director on or before the T-2 hour mark (2 hrs 30 minutes prior to lift-off) to begin the pre-launch operations for the mission. If there are any questions, please e-mail them to VUSSP Flight Director Jon Standley at ood@vussp.com.
Mission Introduction
The VUSSP’s 7th mission to Space Station Freedom and 2nd unmanned mission for the Freedom program will be delivering Normal Truss 1 to Space Station Freedom, which will begin PHASE I of the station redesign plan which was adopted on December 11, 2004 by the VUSSP EXCOM. The launch of this truss section signals in the first expansion of the space station in just under a year.
Normal Truss 1 is part of a section of the station that will be used to attach fuel storage tanks (to be launched in PHASE II) and a nuclear power reactor that will render the large solar panel arrays that are currently in operation, obsolete. PHASE I is designed, as a whole, To increase the station’s ability for current and future missions. It will allow the station to serve as a main refueling platform for all future missions, including missions to the Moon and Mars, and will also serve as an earth-orbiting scientific research and observatory that will explore an array of different sciences.
About the Mission
Normal Truss 1 will be launched atop a Delta IV Heavy (heavy lift) launch vehicle from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Once in orbit, the PAM-D rocket will boost the truss section to a 220 km circular orbit and align its orbital plane with that of Space Station Freedom. Once the orbital planes have been aligned, the JPL’s mission control will remote program the PAM-D’s guidance computer to begin the auto-rendezvous sequence. This process will take 6-12 hours. When the PAM-D and its attached payload rendezvous with Freedom, it will be put into station-keeping mode, keeping a distance of 300 meters away from the station until just before the arrival of the STS-13 crew in mid-January.
Visit the VUSSP (http://www.vussp.com) website for more additonal information and up to date reports.
Picture of SSF-7 Delta IV HEAVY Sitting On Launch Pad 14
http://www.vussp.com/ssf-7.jpg
Last night, VUSSP Directors Kaimoni Sutton and Troy Autry calculated, confirmed, and approved the 7 am launch times for both the SSF-7 and SSF-8 missions. The SSF-7 launch will occur on Sunday December 26th at 7 am EST, while the SSF-8 launch will occur exactly 24 hours later on Monday December 27th. As always, mission controllers for these two missions are required to be online and check in with the mission's Flight Director on or before the T-2 hour mark (2 hrs 30 minutes prior to lift-off) to begin the pre-launch operations for the mission. If there are any questions, please e-mail them to VUSSP Flight Director Jon Standley at ood@vussp.com.
Mission Introduction
The VUSSP’s 7th mission to Space Station Freedom and 2nd unmanned mission for the Freedom program will be delivering Normal Truss 1 to Space Station Freedom, which will begin PHASE I of the station redesign plan which was adopted on December 11, 2004 by the VUSSP EXCOM. The launch of this truss section signals in the first expansion of the space station in just under a year.
Normal Truss 1 is part of a section of the station that will be used to attach fuel storage tanks (to be launched in PHASE II) and a nuclear power reactor that will render the large solar panel arrays that are currently in operation, obsolete. PHASE I is designed, as a whole, To increase the station’s ability for current and future missions. It will allow the station to serve as a main refueling platform for all future missions, including missions to the Moon and Mars, and will also serve as an earth-orbiting scientific research and observatory that will explore an array of different sciences.
About the Mission
Normal Truss 1 will be launched atop a Delta IV Heavy (heavy lift) launch vehicle from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Once in orbit, the PAM-D rocket will boost the truss section to a 220 km circular orbit and align its orbital plane with that of Space Station Freedom. Once the orbital planes have been aligned, the JPL’s mission control will remote program the PAM-D’s guidance computer to begin the auto-rendezvous sequence. This process will take 6-12 hours. When the PAM-D and its attached payload rendezvous with Freedom, it will be put into station-keeping mode, keeping a distance of 300 meters away from the station until just before the arrival of the STS-13 crew in mid-January.
Visit the VUSSP (http://www.vussp.com) website for more additonal information and up to date reports.
Picture of SSF-7 Delta IV HEAVY Sitting On Launch Pad 14
http://www.vussp.com/ssf-7.jpg