Collected data can be transcribed into detailed topographic images showing elevation and other features. In one instance, Endeavour piloted to within 30 feet (nine meters) of where it was flown on first flight in April. Called interferometry, it required repeated, nearly coincidental imaging passes with SIR-C/X-SAR over target sites. The maneuvering capability of the orbiter was demonstrated anew in the latter half of mission, when different data-gathering method was tried. On flight day six, mission extended one day by Mission Management Team. Flying for fourth time on the shuttle, MAPS is designed to measure global distribution of carbon monoxide. Special readings were taken with another SRL element, Measurement of Air Pollution from satellites (MAPS), to gain better understanding of carbon monoxide emissions from burning forest. Mission also took advantage of opportunity to study fires set in British Columbia, Canada, for forest management purposes. Also tested was ability of SRL-2 imaging radars, Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C) and X- band Synthetic Aperture Radar (X-SAR), to discern difference between such human-induced phenomena as an oil spill in the ocean and naturally occurring film. Besides repeating data takes over same locations as on first flight, unusual events also imaged, including erupting volcano in Russia and islands of Japan after earthquake there. SRL-2 was activated on flight day one, and around-the-clock observations conducted by astronauts split into two teams. Flying SRL during different seasons allowed comparison of changes between first and second flights. STS-68 marked second flight in 1994 of Space Radar Laboratory (first flight was STS-59 in April), part of NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth. Wisoff, Mission Specialist Mission Highlights Mission Duration: 11 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes, 8 seconds Landing Site: Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The launch countdown will commence on Friday, May 13 from the beginning of the nominal 41 hour countdown sequence.Īs a consequence of Endeavour’s delays, the launch of the very final shuttle mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis will likely be delayed to mid-July, although Moses and Leinbach did not give a specific target date.Launched: September 30, 1994, 7:16:00 a.m. The STS-134 mission has been officially extended to 16 days from 14 days and will include 4 spacewalks. The all veteran six man crew led by Shuttle Commander Mark Kelly is due to fly to the Cape on Thursday, May 12 from their training base in Houston. The potential launch window for Endeavour’s final flight extends through May 26, except for May 21. A rupture in the lines could result in toxic hydrazine leaking into the shuttles aft engine compartment. If the heaters fail during flight, the hydrazine can freeze and clog the fuel lines and render the hydraulics inoperative. The three units must all be fully functional before NASA can commit to any shuttle launch as part of the launch commit criteria (LCC). The APU’s control the shuttles hydraulics which power the steering of the main engines, wings, wheels and rudders during ascent and re-entry. LCA-2 was replaced and all systems were retested. Located in space shuttle Endeavour's aft avionics bay 5, the LCA-2 distributes power to nine shuttle systems. At the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Load Control Assembly-2 (LCA-2) is uncovered for testing. “We’ve replaced everything except the heaters, and we’ve wrung those out with at least five separate checks and full functionals afterwards and now have extremely high confidence that the problem is no longer on the ship or in any of the electronics,” said Mike Moses, the Shuttle launch integration manager at the Kennedy Space Center. They installed about 20 feet of new wiring, a new ALCA box and then retested all related systems over the past week and a half. Technicians have been working around the clock to resolve the problems and determined that the likely cause of the heater failure was an electrical short inside the ALCA -2 load control assembly box located in the aft section of the shuttle (see photo). Endeavour’s last launch attempt on April 29 was scrubbed about four hours prior to blastoff when critical hydrazine fuel line heaters failed to turn on inside one of the orbiters three auxiliary power units (APU’s).
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