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March 31, 2008
STS-124 Rescheduled
The next shuttle flight has been moved from May 25 to May 31, the Saturday of our International Space Development Conference (ISDC). Launch time is planned for 5:01 p.m. Come to the conference and cheer the launch with a bunch of fellow space enthusiasts!
The delay was a domino effect of weather problems that delayed the shipment of the external tank from the Michoud Facility in Louisiana.
The main objective of the mission is to deliver the Japanese Kibo (Hope) module. The Japanese logistics module, which was brought up by the last flight, will be moved to attach to Kibo. That involves a lot of fancy robotic "crane" work that should be fun to watch in between sessions at the ISDC.
Mark Kelly will command the seven-member crew, which includes Pilot Ken Ham, Mission Specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Jr., Mike Fossum, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and Greg Chamitoff. Chamitoff will replace Expedition 16/17 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman and remain aboard the station as a member of the Expedition 17 crew. Reisman will return to Earth with the STS-124 crew.
For more information on the shuttle mission, visit: www.nasa.gov/shuttle.
To the stars!
Marianne Dyson
NSS member
http://www.mdyson.com
Posted by m_dyson at March 31, 2008 10:19 PM
