Shuttle and Station Crews Working Together

Moving equipment and supplies between Discovery and the International Space Station, robotics activities and preparation for Monday?s 6.5-hour spacewalk kept shuttle and station astronauts busy much of Sunday.

Transfer activities began during the crews? morning. About 2,000 pounds of cargo was brought to the station on Discovery?s middeck, and about 2,600 pounds is to be returned to Earth by the shuttle.

STS-133 Mission Specialists Alvin Drew and Steve Bowen configured tools for th [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art25036/shuttle-and-station-crews-working-together.html

This Week On The Space Show

The Space Show, hosted by David Livingston under www.TheSpaceShow.com, will have the following guests this week:

1. Monday, February 28, 2011, 6:30-7:30 PM PST (March 1, 2:30-3:30 GMT)
Live from the Next Gen Suborbital Conference in Orlando, Florida David McBride, Director of NASA Dryden Spaceflight Center where CRuSR is managed and Dr. Alan Stern, NSRC conference organizer.
Dr. Alan Stern is a planetary scientist, space program executive, consultant, and author. He is serving as an Associa [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art25039/this-week-on-the-space-show.html

STS-133 Flight Day 5 Planned Activities

11:23 GMT (6:23 am EST) ? Discovery / ISS Crew Wake Up (begins FD 5)
12:03 GMT (7:03 am EST) ? EVA #1 Preparations Resume
16:18 GMT (11:18 am EST) ? EVA #1 Begins (Bowen And Drew)
16:48 GMT (11:48 am EST) ? J612 Cable Installation On Node 1
18:13 GMT (1:13 pm EST) ? Failed Pump Module Transfer From MBS POA To ESP-2
20:18 GMT (3:18 pm EST) ? CP 3 Camera Wedge Installation
21:18 GMT (4:18 pm EST) ? Starboard CETA Rail Board Installation
22:03 GMT (5:03 pm EST) ? JAXA ?Mess [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art25042/sts-133-flight-day-5-planned-activities.html

A shadow across the Shuttle

On Saturday, the Orbiter Discovery was in space, circling hundreds of kilometers above our planet. Here’s an interesting picture of it… but wait a sec! If it was in orbit, what could cast a shadow across it?

Why, it’s the International Space Station itself! This shot is from Paolo Nespoli, an astronaut on the ISS. He snapped it as the Orbiter approached the station — docking was achieved on Saturday afternoon Eastern time. [UPDATE: As people have noted in the comments below, that's the coastline of Peru under the Orbiter. Awesome.]

This is the last scheduled flight of Discovery. When she undocks from ISS next week, it will be for the final time. However, you can experience this flight at least by proxy through Nespoli, who has an astonishing series of pictures on Flickr that he uploads in near real-time from space (I like this one too).

Think about that: a guy living in space is taking hi-res digital pictures and uploading them to the web so everyone with internet access can see. You can keep your flying cars: we do live in the future.

Image ...

Full story at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/JtuEYmHK390/

STS-133 Flight Day 3 Planned Activities

11:53 GMT (6:53 am EST) ? Discovery Crew Wake Up (begins FD 3)
13:33 GMT (8:33 am EST) ? Rendezvous Operations Begin
16:32 GMT (11:32 am EST) ? TI Burn
18:06 GMT (1:06 pm EST) ? Discovery RPM / ISS Crew Video Documentation Begins
19:19 GMT (2:19 pm EST) ? Discovery / ISS Docking
21:18 GMT (4:18 pm EST) ? Discovery / ISS Crew Hatch Opening And Welcome Ceremony
21:53 GMT (4:53 pm EST) ? SSRMS Grapple & Unberth ELC-4
22:53 GMT (5:53 pm EST) ? SSRMS Handoff ELC-4 To SRMS
 [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art25029/sts-133-flight-day-3-planned-activities.html

Discovery Docks With Station for Final Time

At 2:14 p.m. EST Saturday, STS-133 Commander Steve Lindsey backed space shuttle Discovery into pressurized mating adapter #2 on the International Space Station?s Harmony node. The two spacecraft were flying about 220 miles above western Australia at the time they docked.

Discovery was the first space shuttle to dock to a space station when it docked to Russia?s Mir station on mission STS-91 on June 4, 1998. Discovery also was the first shuttle to dock to the International Space Station o [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art25031/discovery-docks-with-station-for-final-time.html

STS-133 Flight Day 4 Planned Activities

11:53 GMT (6:53 am EST) ? Discovery / ISS Crew Wake Up (begins FD 4)
14:53 GMT (9:53 am EST) ? SSRMS Grapples OBSS
14:53 GMT (9:53 am EST) ? Discovery / ISS Transfers Begin
15:58 GMT (10:58 am EST) ? SSRMS Handoff Of OBSS To SRMS
19:43 GMT (2:43 pm EST) ? The Weather Channel / WBZ Radio / WSB-TV / WTVT-TV Live Interviews
23:13 GMT (6:13 pm EST) ? EVA #1 Procedure Review
1:48 GMT (8:48 pm EST) ? EVA #1 Campout Begins (Bowen And Drew)
2:53 GMT (9:53 pm EST) ? ISS Crew Sleep  [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art25034/sts-133-flight-day-4-planned-activities.html