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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SPACE SHUTTLE STATUS REPORT

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1999 (2:30 PM EST)
MISSION: STS-103 -- 3rd HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SERVICING MISSION

VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103 LOCATION: Pad 39B
TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: December 9 at 1:10 a.m. EST
TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: December 18 at about 10:40 p.m. EST
LAUNCH WINDOW: 42 minutes
MISSION DURATION: about 9 days and 21 hours
CREW: Brown, Kelly, Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld, Nicollier, Clervoy
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 317 nautical miles/28.45 degrees

Note: Last Wednesday, Shuttle workers closed Discovery's payload bay doors and completed planned main engine testing. Repair efforts on Discovery's umbilical wiring are complete and validation tests begin tonight. Following the Thanksgiving holiday, workers resumed orbiter electrical wiring inspections in Discovery's aft compartment.

Today, engineers will conduct the helium signature leak test. Ordnance installation is slated to occur midweek and replacement of a leaky quick disconnect on auxiliary power unit No. 2 is planned for Wednesday evening. Aft engine compartment close-outs are expected to conclude late Sunday. Workers are replacing Discovery's mass memory unit No. 1 today.

Wednesday afternoon, Shuttle managers will reconvene a follow-up Flight Readiness Review to obtain a final status on prelaunch preparations. The flight crew is scheduled to arrive at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility Saturday night, and the launch countdown begins Monday, Dec. 6 at 5:30 a.m.

Major Processing Milestones (targets only):
Ordnance installation ------------------------------(Dec. 1)
Flight crew arrival at KSC---------------------------(Dec. 4 at about 8 p.m.)
Orbiter aft compartment close-outs complete--------(Dec. 5)
Launch countdown begins--------------------------(Dec. 6 at 5:30 a.m.)

Kennedy Space Center Space Shuttle Status Report

Monday, November 22, 1999
(2:30 p.m. EST)
MISSION: STS-103 - 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission
VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
LOCATION: Pad 39B
TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: December 9 at 1:10 a.m. EST
TARGET LANDING DATE/TIME: December 18 at about 10:15 p.m. EST
LAUNCH WINDOW: 42 minutes
MISSION DURATION: about 9 days and 21 hours
CREW: Brown, Kelly, Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld, Nicollier, Clervoy
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 317 nautical miles/28.45 degrees

Work in progress: Shuttle managers today set December 9 as the launch date for Discovery on STS-103. The adjusted launch date allows technicians time to repair minor electrical wiring damage that was found recently in an umbilical between the Shuttle orbiter and the external tank. The schedule also allows the Shuttle workforce to observe the Thanksgiving holidays.

Managers plan to reconvene the STS-103 Flight Readiness Review on Dec. 1at 2 p.m. to obtain a final status on the recent work completed on Discovery. Friday, workers at Launch Pad 39B completed payload interface verification testing and today are conducting the planned end-to-end test. Payload bay close-outs begin this week and Discovery's payload bay doors will be closed for flight Nov. 24.

Over the weekend, oxidizer and fuel reactants were loaded into Discovery's onboard storage tanks. Leak checks on Shuttle main engine No. 3 are complete and good. Routine inspections of Discovery's aft compartment are in work in preparation for next week's orbiter aft close-outs.

Major Processing Milestones (targets only):
Shuttle main engine test . . . . (Nov. 23)
Payload bay doors closed for flight . . . . (Nov. 24)
Shuttle Interface Test repeated . . . ..(Nov. 29)
Ordnance installation . . . ..(Dec. 1)
Orbiter aft compartment closed-out . . . .(Dec. 4)
Launch countdown begins . . . ..(Dec. 6)

Kennedy Space Center Space Shuttle Status Report

Friday, November 19, 1999 (8:30 p.m. EST)
MISSION: STS-103 - 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission

VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
LOCATION: Pad 39B
TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: No earlier than Dec. 6 at 2:37 a.m. EST
TARGET LANDING DATE/TIME: Dec. 15 at 11:57 p.m. EST
LAUNCH WINDOW: 42 minutes
MISSION DURATION: 9 days and 21 hours
CREW: Brown, Kelly, Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld, Nicollier, Clervoy
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 317 nautical miles/28.45 degrees

NOTE: Following today's Flight Readiness Review at KSC, managers decided to keep the target launch date of no earlier than Dec. 6 for mission STS-103. Managers plan to convene early next week to further address potential changes to Discovery's target launch date. Also, a follow-up Flight Readiness Review will be held after the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend to permit managers the opportunity to re-address outstanding engineering issues and to establish an official launch date.

FloridaToday, November 19, 1999

Discovery damage not thought to be serious; pad fix possible
By Robyn Suriano

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA has found more damaged electrical wires on shuttle Discovery, officials said Thursday, prompting new inspections on the ship as work continues toward a Dec. 6 launch to the Hubble Space Telescope. Officials don't know yet if the checks and repairs will delay the liftoff, said Kennedy Space Center spokesman Joel Wells. All the work can be done while the shuttle sits on its launch pad, he said.

Described as minor, the new damage was found on wiring between the spaceship, its external tank and solid rocket boosters.

Technicians found minor flaws in the insulation of wiring needed to relay electrical power from the shuttle to the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters, Wells said. The discovery was made after cracks were found in similar wiring aboard Endeavour.

The solution could be as fast and easy as applying tape for extra insulation, or could be much more complicated, Wells said. All work can be done at the launch pad, he said.

Originally scheduled in October, the flight was postponed when NASA ordered wiring inspections on its entire fleet after shuttle Columbia experienced a troublesome short circuit during a July launch.

"The important thing here is that we are operating in an environment of heightened awareness over wiring issues," Wells said. "We are being very meticulous in our inspections."

When launched, the ship is to carry seven astronauts to repair Hubble's precision-pointing system.

Aerospace Daily: Article:144113 - Novemeber 19, 1999

Hubble gyro glitch impacts about 100 observation projects

GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER, Md. - Scientists on about 100 different projects counting on the Hubble Space Telescope for data will have to wait at least a little longer for their observations because of last weekend's gyroscope failure, the Hubble senior scientist said yesterday. David Leckrone told The DAILY the observations postponed when the orbiting telescope went into a sun-pointing safe mode will be rescheduled "as soon as possible," given the complex nature of Hubble scientific operations. Observations are scheduled to make the most efficient use of telescope time while keeping it available to observe transient events.

The number of science projects impacted by the long-feared gyro failure could grow if the down-time extends beyond the three weeks presently planned for the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery to reach the Hubble and replace all six gyros on it. If Discovery cannot get off the ground for its urgent Hubble servicing mission by mid-December, NASA probably won't fly until next year out of concern for the Year 2000 date- logic problem (DAILY, Nov. 15, 16).

Hubble engineers here told reporters yesterday AlliedSignal has changed the way it manufactures its highly accurate gyros in an effort to stretch their service lives to prevent a future shutdown. But the basic design of the gyros has not changed, since they are about twice as accurate as the next-best gyros available, according to Hubble Program Manger John Campbell. The problem is the tiny leads that carry power to the gyro rotors. Sunk in a thick damping fluid, the hair-like wires corrode over time and break. The six new gyros Discovery's crew will install retain the fine power leads, but the damping fluid was loaded into the gyros in a manner that engineers hope kept oxygen out of the system, reducing the risk of oxidation.

In the past the gyros have lasted four to six years, which has been enough to keep Hubble pointing accurately between servicing missions since only three of the six are needed for science operations. NASA split the third Hubble servicing mission in two last March when the third gyro failed as a way to get the whole set replaced in time to maintain science operations (DAILY, March 11).

But with the Shuttle fleet grounded this fall for unanticipated wiring inspections and repairs, time ran out and the telescope dropped to only two functioning gyros. The gyros are needed to keep the telescope pointed with extreme precision at distant points in the sky to collect data from faint sources for as long as 10 days, Campbell explained. Maintenance and upgrades.

The STS-103 mission on Discovery will devote its four spacewalks to upgrading and maintaining the systems on the telescope spacecraft, rather than its scientific instruments. In addition to replacing the six gyros and related equipment, Discovery's crew will install a new main computer; circuitry to deal with battery overheating; a second solid-state data recorder; a new S-band single-access transmitter, and new fine-guidance sensors to pick out the guide stars used in telescope pointing.

Spacewalking astronauts broken into two two-person teams will also apply lubricant to balky door latches and, on the last day outside, install new sheets of thermal-protection material over old material that has deteriorated in the space environment.

Before the mission was split, plans called for the astronauts to install a new "Advanced Camera for Surveys" (ACS) on the telescope next summer. Senior scientist Leckrone said the new camera will have what is called a "discovery efficiency" 10 times better than existing instruments. The new instrument, being built by Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colo., is now scheduled to be installed in the summer of 2001.

The new camera will have a wider field of view and better resolution than the present Wide Field Planetary Camera that has produced many of Hubble's most spectacular images to date, Leckrone said. It will be particularly useful in the search for the cold dark matter cosmologists believe makes up the "missing mass" of the Universe, making use of the gravitational lensing the Hubble has demonstrated is fairly common.

"When you have a distant galaxy or quasar and then you have a cluster of galaxies in the foreground, the mass of that cluster...actually focuses the light from the more distant galaxy or quasar into an image that we see," Leckrone said. "...If I now look at one of these foreground clusters of galaxies that's doing this lensing, and I look at the brightness of lenses and where they're located and their extent, that tells me immediately how much mass is in the lens, and how that mass is distributed within the cluster of galaxies and probably by a factor of 30 to 1 that mass is cold dark matter, unseen matter of a kind that we haven't characterized...I think that is one of the big programs this camera will be just perfect for."

- Frank Morring Jr.

Kennedy Space Center Space Shuttle Status Report

Monday, November 15, 1999 (12:30 p.m. EST)
MISSION: STS-103 - 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission

VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
LOCATION: Pad 39B
TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: December 6 at 2:37 a.m. EST
TARGET LANDING DATE/TIME: December 15 at 11:57 p.m. EST
LAUNCH WINDOW: 42 minutes
MISSION DURATION: 10 days and 21 hours
CREW: Brown, Kelly, Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld, Nicollier, Clervoy
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 317 nautical miles/28.45 degrees

Work in progress: Space Shuttle Discovery rolled out to Launch Pad 39B on Saturday, Nov. 13. First motion from the Vehicle Assembly Building began a 7:27 a.m. and the Shuttle was hard down at the pad by 2:17 p.m. Discovery had been scheduled to begin its transfer to the pad at 2 a.m., but inspections of minor external tank foam damage delayed the departure.

While Discovery was in the VAB, workers completed efforts to replace Shuttle main engine No. 3 and the solid rocket booster range safety cable. The Shuttle Interface Test validated all Space Shuttle connections prior to rollout. Final checks of the replaced main engine will be completed at the pad. Launch pad validations are under way and installation of the payload into Discovery's payload bay is slated for tomorrow.

The seven-member flight crew arrived at KSC Sunday afternoon and will participate in Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test activities through Wednesday. The launch day dress rehearsal concludes Wednesday at 11 a.m. with a simulated main engine cutoff. Shuttle managers will convene the STS-103 Flight Readiness Review on Friday, Nov. 19 to discuss the overall readiness of all Space Shuttle systems for flight.

Major Processing Milestones (targets only): Payload installed into orbiter	Nov. 16
Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (crew dress rehearsal)	Nov. 17
Flight Readiness Review	Nov. 19
Shuttle main engine test	Nov. 23

NASA Press Release, November 15, 1999

Hubble Telescope Placed into Safe Hold as Gyroscope Fails

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was placed into a safe hold at approximately 8:30 a.m. EST Saturday morning when gyroscope #1 ceased operation. With only two operational gyros remaining, the science program will be suspended until completion of Servicing Mission 3A, currently scheduled for launch aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on Dec. 6, 1999.

This gyro situation is not expected to impact the upcoming servicing mission. In fact, anticipation that another gyro could fail was the primary reason that Hubble managers scheduled an early repair mission and split the third servicing mission activities into two flights: Servicing Mission-3A (Dec. 6, 1999) and Servicing Mission-3B (Mid-2001).

"This event underscores the wisdom of dividing the third HST Servicing Mission into two parts, with Servicing Mission 3A scheduled for December 1999 -- only 3 weeks of science data will be lost," said Dr. John Campbell, Hubble Space Telescope Program Manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD.

The safe-hold mode has been thoroughly tested and used twice since Hubble's launch in 1990. The telescope is not at risk. This protective safe mode allows ground control of the telescope, but with only two gyros working, Hubble cannot be aimed with the precision necessary for scientific observations of the sky.

The safe mode does not require gyros, so even if another gyro should fail in the next few weeks, HST will remain safe, according to project managers. The aperture door has been closed to protect the optics, and the spacecraft is aligned to the sun to ensure adequate power is received by Hubble's solar panels.

Engineers are investigating the cause of the gyro loss. The gyro will be returned to ground after the upcoming servicing mission for in-depth analysis.

During Servicing Mission 3A, astronauts will replace all the gyroscopes, a fine guidance sensor, a transmitter, a spare solid- state recorder and a high-voltage/temperature kit for protecting batteries from overheating. Additionally, the crew will install an advanced computer.

Servicing Mission 3B will be conducted in 2001 to complete the third HST servicing mission activities.

FloridaToday, November 15, 1999

Monday, November 15, 1999 Update for 10:26 a.m. EST:

Hubble in Safe Mode

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope temporarily has halted its science work after the failure this weekend of equipment that helps the observatory lock onto stars and other objects, officials said Monday. In safe mode, the telescope is in no danger, but it won't be able to do any observations work until spacewalking astronauts from shuttle Discovery make some repairs next month on a planned Dec. 6 mission. "The telescope is in good shape, we're getting telemetry and everything else is showing good indications that the spacecraft is in good health," said Don Savage from NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. The telescope carries six devices called gyros that allow it to be pointed at its celestial targets. Three are needed to keep the telescope stable for its precision pointing during science work. Three of the devices had failed already, and a fourth gyro stopped working on Saturday, said John Campbell, Hubble's project manager at the Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Md. That means about six weeks' loss of science work until the repairs are made and Hubble can resume operations sometime in January, he said. - Robyn Suriano

FloridaToday, November 14, 1999

Discovery makes trip to pad after series of delays

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Discovery is sitting on its launch pad today as NASA begins final preparations for next month's flight to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. - Justin Ray


Towering atop the mobile launcher platform and crawler transporter, Discovery rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building on Saturday morning. NASA images.

FloridaToday - Nov.13, 1999

Discovery rolling toward launch pad

Update for 9:25 a.m. EST KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Space shuttle Discovery emerged from Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building this morning bound for launch pad 39B at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The 6-hour, 4.2-mile trek began at 7:27 a.m. EST. The spaceship is riding atop a mobile launching platform with a cruising speed of one mile per hour. Discovery will be going much faster on Dec. 6 when its lifts off on a 10-day mission to service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. -Justin Ray

FloridaToday - Nov.12, 1999

Work performed to replace Discovery engine

Work was performed inside the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building to replace main engine No. 3 (left) on shuttle Discovery. Last week, Shuttle managers determined that the engine was not acceptable for flight because a half-inch-long broken drill bit is lodged in the engine's coolant cavity. Therefore, the engine is being replaced. Discovery is expected to roll out to the pad at 2 a.m. Saturday morning The STS-103 launch is now targeted for Dec. 6 at 2:37 a.m. EST. The 10-day mission is expected to conclude at KSC on Dec. 16 with a 12:45 a.m. landing. NASA images.

Hubble repairmen are ready to fly - Nov. 10, 1999

Mission aimed at protecting space telescope's science
By Alan Boyle
MSNBC

Imagine hooking up a stereo system inside a broom closet ... while you're wearing a spacesuit with heavy gloves. Multiply the expense and aggravation by a factor of, say, 100,000, and you'll get an idea of the challenge facing four astronauts during next month's mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

THE FACT that the launch date for the shuttle Discovery still isn't set in stone could justifiably add to the aggravation: So far, mechanical problems have delayed the start of this third Hubble servicing mission, originally scheduled for October, until Dec. 6. A wiring problem could still set the flight back even further. Even though the delay provided some extra time at the end of a relatively rushed training schedule, Discovery pilot Scott Kelly said "it was a little disappointing, because we did work so hard and were ready to fly in October."

But Kelly and his six crew mates said during a Tuesday news conference at NASA's Johnson Space Center that they weren't letting the technical snags get them down. "We as a crew have been trained, we have confidence in our team ... and when the orbiter is ready to go, we'll be ready to go," said commander Curt Brown.

FIX-IT MISSION

Although NASA stresses this isn't an emergency mission, Discovery's 10-day flight is designed to respond to a pressing problem: the fact that three of Hubble's six gyroscopes are broken. One more gyroscope failure would force a halt to the flow of images and scientific data from the telescope NASA regards as the crown jewel of astronomical observation.

The trickiest jobs may belong to Discovery's two sets of spacewalkers: John Grunsfeld and Steven Smith (a veteran of the second Hubble servicing mission in 1997), British-American astronaut Michael Foale and Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier (who was on the first Hubble servicing mission in 1993).

"The clearances are very small," noted Smith, who is supposed to angle himself within the telescope to switch out the faulty gyroscopes.

One of Nicollier's jobs will be to roll new sheets of thermal protective covering over the 43-foot-long (13.1-meter-long) telescope's outer hull. "It's going to be pretty much like putting wallpaper on your wall at home," he said. But instead of applying wallpaper paste, the spacewalkers will use cables and clips to keep the sheets in place.

Foale noted that he had to help keep 340 tools organized for the mission's four spacewalks. He also has the task of unhooking the telescope's outdated computer and installing a new model using a radiation-hardened Intel 486 processor - a task that requires matching up delicate connectors while wearing those bulky spacesuit gloves.

Smith and Grunsfeld have to replace a broken S-band transmitter under similarly awkward conditions. Nicollier will install a new Fine Guidance Sensor to help Hubble stay focused on dim objects - an instrument that Foale said was the size of a baby grand piano.

Among the other equipment to be installed: voltage kits to keep the telescope's six batteries from overheating, a new solid-state data recorder to replace a less reliable mechanical recorder and a protective blanket that looks like a huge, curved cookie sheet.

Grunsfeld said the gloves and spacewalking suits were likely to be much stiffer than the suits used during hundreds of hours of pre-flight training. But he almost sounded as if he looked forward to the awkward exercise.

"I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and I used to love to get dressed up in all my winter clothing. I thought that was a lot of fun. It's very much like that," Grunsfeld said.

French astronaut Jean-Fran�ois Clervoy, who is to operate the shuttle's robot arm, rounds out Discovery's crew.

SAVING THE SCIENCE

NASA officials acknowledged that the general public might not see a dramatic change in the quality of Hubble images as a result of the crew's efforts.

"We're really not making any scientific improvements in this mission," said Ed Weiler, the space agency's associate administrator for space science. "This mission is really to protect the science."

But today there is far more science to protect than when Hubble was deployed from Discovery in 1990, noted John Campbell, Hubble program manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The amount of science data returned by the telescope is 11 times what it was in 1991, he said.

Two more servicing missions are scheduled: During a 2001 flight, a new Advanced Camera for Surveys is to be installed, as well as a cooling system that could revive Hubble's near-infrared camera and spectrometer. A final 2003 mission would bring up a Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and spruce up the telescope for service through the year 2010.

And then what? By then, NASA's Next Generation Space Telescope should be up and running. Hubble might be boosted into a higher orbit to keep it out of the way - or it could be loaded aboard the space shuttle, brought back to Earth and placed in a museum, Weiler said.

Weiler estimated the cost of Discovery's servicing mission at $136 million, and said the projected total expense for the Hubble mission - including 10 years of development and 20 years of operation - would amount to $6 billion.

"That's an average cost of $200 million a year from 1980 to 2010," he said, "and that equates to about 2 cents per week per American for Hubble."

Kennedy Space Center
Space Shuttle Status Report

Monday, November 9, 1999 (11:30 a.m. EST)
MISSION: STS-103 - 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission

VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
LOCATION: VAB
TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: December 6 at 2:37 a.m. EST
TARGET LANDING DATE/TIME: December 16 at 12:45 a.m. EST
LAUNCH WINDOW: 42 minutes
MISSION DURATION: 10 days
CREW: Brown, Kelly, Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld, Nicollier, Clervoy
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 317 nautical miles/28.45 degrees

Work in progress: Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to roll out to Launch Pad 39B on Saturday, Nov. 13, with first motion slated for 2 a.m. The remainder of Discovery's processing schedule leads to a target launch date of Dec. 6.

Workers have already removed the damaged range safety cable and replacement efforts begin later today. Engineers plan to retest the range safety system Wednesday and close-out the work area Thursday. The damaged range safety cable relays a redundant emergency destruction signal between the solid rocket boosters (SRB) in the unlikely event of a contingency. The cable being replaced runs from the right-hand SRB forward attach point, through the external tank and connects to the left-hand booster. The cable was damaged during close-out operations causing yesterday's test failure.

Since the orbiter will remain in the VAB for cable replacement, Shuttle managers have decided to replace Discovery's main engine No. 3 in the VAB as well. Engine replacement efforts are in work and will conclude Thursday. Engine close-outs and verifications will be performed at the pad.

The Hubble Servicing Mission cargo has been transferred into the payload change-out room at Launch Pad 39B and installation into the orbiter's payload bay is slated for Nov. 16.

Major Processing Milestones:

Shuttle to the Launch Pad	Nov. 13
Payload installed into orbiter	Nov. 16
Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (crew dress rehearsal)	Nov. 17
Shuttle main engine test	Nov. 23

Kennedy Space Center
Space Shuttle Status Report

Monday, November 8, 1999 (4:00 p.m. EST)
MISSION: STS-103 - 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission

The planned rollout of Space Shuttle Discovery to Launch Pad 39B has been delayed beyond Tuesday, Nov. 9. During standard Shuttle Interface Test activities this morning, engineers in firing room No. 1 noted loss of command capability for a range safety cable that supports both solid rocket boosters. Subsequent visual inspections revealed damage to the SRB cross-strap cable that runs between the external tank (ET)/SRB attach points and through the ET intertank.

KSC managers have decided to replace the cable and are developing a plan to accommodate the unexpected work. The impact of this work on the remainder of Discovery's processing schedule is being assessed. Preliminary reports indicate that an early December launch date is still achievable.

The Hubble Servicing Mission cargo was transported to the launch pad early this morning and transfer into the payload change-out room is in work.

Kennedy Space Center
Space Shuttle Status Report

Thursday, November 5, 1999 (4:00 p.m. EST)
MISSION: STS-103 - 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission

Work in progress: Orbiter Discovery has been mated to the external tank and solid rocket boosters stack in VAB high bay 1. Electrical and mechanical connections will conclude late Friday and the orbiter/external tank umbilical mate occurs Saturday. Over the weekend, workers will begin preparations for the engine No. 3 replacement work scheduled to happen at the launch pad. Managers currently plan to transfer Discovery out to Launch Pad 39B Tuesday, Nov. 9 beginning at about 2 a.m.

Payload managers plan to transfer the Hubble Servicing Mission cargo to the launch pad Monday, Nov. 8 with installation into the orbiter slated for Nov. 12.

KSC managers are developing the remainder of Discovery's prelaunch processing schedule and expect to brief Shuttle program managers at a meeting Monday morning. Program managers are likely to set a new target launch date for STS-103 after the meeting.

Kennedy Space Center
Space Shuttle Status Report

Thursday, November 4, 1999
MISSION: STS-103 - 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission

VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
LOCATION: Vehicle Assemble Building
TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: early December (under review)
TARGET LANDING DATE/TIME: mid December (under review)
LAUNCH WINDOW: 42 minutes
MISSION DURATION: 10 days
CREW: Brown, Kelly, Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld, Nicollier, Clervoy
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 317 nautical miles/28.45 degrees

Work in progress: Orbiter Discovery rolled out of OPF bay 1 today at about 10 a.m. Later tonight, workers will begin efforts to mate the orbiter to the external tank and twin solid rocket boosters located in VAB high bay 1. Current work plans show the Space Shuttle rolling out to Launch Pad 39B early next week. Once at the pad, preparations to replace Shuttle main engine No. 3 will begin. Managers expect that effort to take about 10 days, with most of the work done in parallel with other prelaunch work.

Shuttle managers are assessing the remainder of Discovery's processing schedule and expect to announce a new target launch date next week.

FloridaToday - Nov.4, 1999
Update for 10:55 a.m. EST

Discovery rolls into the VAB
By Justin Ray

Space shuttle Discovery departed its processing hangar just after 10 a.m. EST this morning and headed into the Vehicle Assembly Building. Discovery made the 40-minute trip riding atop a 76-wheel transporter originally built to move space shuttles through the mountains at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Later today in the VAB, Discovery will be hoisted vertically and moved into position to be mated with the awaiting external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters. Rollout to launch pad 39B is planned for the middle of next week.

Meanwhile, NASA spokesman Joel Wells now says that the drill bit lodged in Discovery's main engine No. 3 was broken earlier this spring at Kennedy Space Center. Previously provided information said the incident occurred two or three months ago at Rocketdyne's Canoga Park plant in California. NASA officials decided yesterday that the engine would be replaced before Discovery's mission, which will delay the planned Dec. 2 launch date by a few days.


Orbiter Discovery rolls out of Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 Thursday morning at Kennedy Space Center bound for the Vehicle Assembly Building. Processing of Discovery for launch on STS-103 continues toward an early December liftoff on the third mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

FloridaToday - Nov.4, 1999

Discovery's launch delayed to swap engine
By Justin Ray

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Shuttle Discovery's already delayed mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope will be pushed back at least a few days next month so one of its engines can be replaced.

The work has to be done because the engine has a piece of a drill bit lodged in one cooling tube, NASA officials said Wednesday.

The tiny piece broke off several months ago while the engine was undergoing routine maintenance at Kennedy Space Center earlier this spring.

The bit initially was not considered dangerous, but officials reconsidered Wednesday and decided to switch the engine after Discovery is moved to its launch pad next week.

That will delay it from its intended Dec. 2 launch. A new date could be selected as early as today.

"It was basically a decision on the side of caution," said NASA spokesman Joel Wells. "We said, `Wait a minute, are we sure this thing isn't going to get loose in there and cause us a problem?' "

Discovery's trouble is the latest in a string of incidents to hit the fleet.

In July, a pin broke loose inside a main engine aboard shuttle Columbia and ruptured tubes in one nozzle during launch, allowing fuel to leak out.

Exposed wiring in Columbia also caused an electrical short that shut down some of the computers controlling the ship's main engines.

Back-up computers took over and the ship made it safely to orbit. However, the shuttle was only one failure away from attempting an emergency landing in Africa.

The wiring glitch forced a fleetwide inspection, and repairs had to be made to exposed wire in 57 places in Discovery. The repairs already have delayed Discovery from a planned October liftoff.

In yet another matter, technicians last week accidentally damaged flaps on shuttle Atlantis' wings during routine checks. NASA called the damage minor.

Outside safety experts expressed some concern Thursday over the incidents, which come in a year when NASA has made just two shuttle flights - the fewest since 1988 when the ships returned to service after the Challenger disaster.

Still, they said NASA is doing everything in its power to play it safe.

"Being worried is fine, you have to be worried," said Seymour Himmel, a member of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, an independent group of experts that oversees NASA for Congress.

"But the way to deal with worry is to take the necessary steps to prevent problems, and I believe the KSC people and the shuttle people have done everything possible to ensure the efficacy of their workforce and the safety of these birds."

NASA Press Release, November 1, 1999

Preflight Briefings for Hubble Servicing Mission Set for November 9

Background briefings on the upcoming Space Shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 9.

The mission, designated STS-103, will mark the third visit of a Space Shuttle crew to Hubble and features four scheduled spacewalks by two teams of astronauts. Each spacewalk will last approximately six hours as the astronauts install new gyroscopes, upgraded sensors, computers and recorders. The teams also will install a new transmitter, add voltage/temperature improvement kits for the telescope's batteries, and begin repair of the insulation on the telescope's outer surface, which has deteriorated during nine years in orbit.

The briefings will begin at 9 a.m. EST with an overview of the mission objectives and spacewalk tasks. That will be followed at 11 a.m. by a briefing on Hubble hardware and science originating from NASA Headquarters. Following the NASA Video File at noon, the STS-103 astronauts will hold their press conference at 2 p.m. All of the briefings will be carried live on NASA Television.

NASA Television is available through the GE-2 satellite, transponder 9C, located at 85 degrees West longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 MHz, and audio at 6.8 MHz.

Following the mission briefings, round-robin interviews with the crewmembers will be held for reporters at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and for those reporters who make advance arrangements to participate by telephone. Media wishing to participate in the round-robin interviews must fax their request to the Johnson Newsroom by close of business on Friday, Nov. 5. The fax number is 281/483-2000.

STS-103 PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFINGS
Tuesday, Nov. 9, 1999
(All times shown are EST)

9 a.m.	Mission Overview and Spacewalk Briefing Linda Ham, Lead Flight Director, Johnson Space Center Keith Johnson, Lead EVA Officer, Johnson Space Center
11 a.m.	Hubble Space Telescope Payload and Science Briefing Dr. Edward Weiler; Associate Administrator for Space Science; NASA Headquarters; Washington, DC Dr. John Campbell; Hubble Project Manager; Goddard Space Flight Center; Greenbelt, MD Debra Henretty; Engineer; Guidance, Navigation and Control Center; Goddard Space Flight Center Dr. Anne Kinney; Director, Astronomical Search for Origins; NASA Headquarters
Noon	NASA TV Video File
2 p.m.	STS-103 Crew Press Conference Curt Brown, Commander Scott Kelly, Pilot Steve Smith, Payload Commander, Mission Specialist (MS)1 Jean-Francois Clervoy, MS2 John Grunsfeld, MS3 Mike Foale, MS4 Claude Nicollier, MS5
3 p.m.	STS-103 Crew Round-Robin Interviews These interviews will not be carried on NASA TV.

Kennedy Space Center
Space Shuttle Status Report

Monday, October 29, 1999 (3:30 PM EDT)
MISSION: STS-103 - 3rd Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission

VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103
LOCATION: OPF bay 1
TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Dec. 2 at 4:31 a.m. EST
TARGET LANDING DATE/TIME: Dec. 12 at 2:38 a.m. EST
LAUNCH WINDOW: 42 minutes
MISSION DURATION: 9 days, 22 hours and 7 minutes
CREW: Brown, Kelly, Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld, Nicollier, Clervoy
ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 317 nautical miles/28.45 degrees

Work in progress: Shuttle managers will resume discussions on Monday at 1 p.m. to determine Discovery's readiness to leave the Orbiter Process Facility. The orbiter's planned transfer to the Vehicle Assembly Building will now occur no earlier than Monday evening. The postponement accommodates unplanned work to repair a temperature sensor on Discovery's No. 2 nitrogen tank, in the orbiter's midbody.

Retests of Discovery's repaired and protected wiring are ongoing and will continue through the vertical processing flow. Several standard prelaunch tests will accommodate necessary functional and redundancy checks of the wiring. Once the orbiter, external tank and booster mating operations are complete, Space Shuttle Discovery will roll out to Launch Pad 39B. Rollout to the pad is currently slated for Sunday, Nov. 7.

FloridaToday - Oct. 28, 1999

Discovery's move to Vehicle Assembly Building delayed
By Justin Ray

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle program managers today decided to delay Discovery's departure from its hangar by one day so workers can replace a faulty sensor.

The shuttle is now scheduled to be rolled from the Orbiter Processing Facility bay 1 to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Tuesday to be attached to an external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters atop a mobile launch platform.

Last week, technicians found a temperature sensor in the shuttle's nitrogen tank No. 2 was not working properly, NASA spokesman Joel Well said. "It was not something that had to do with flight safety. But since we are still in the OPF, we decided to replace it anyways."

The one day delay isn't expected to impact Discovery's planned Dec. 2 launch on the third mission to service NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

Officials will meet on Monday to review the sensor replacement work and establish a timeline to ready the shuttle to meet its launch date.

For now, Discovery is still slated to roll out to launch pad 39B on Nov. 7.

NASA said prior to this latest hiccup that it had two days of padding left in the pre-launch schedule in order to meet a Dec. 2 liftoff. Two more days were also left open for holidays. Monday's meeting will reassess exactly how much "contingency" time is left to work any further problems that might arise, Wells said.

Discovery's flight, which will feature four spacewalks performed by two pairs of astronauts to replace equipment aboard Hubble, has been on hold while the entire shuttle fleet underwent inspections and repairs for wiring defects.

The Next Servicing Missions for HST: SM3A and SMOV3A
Carl Biagetti, STScI, biagetti@stsci.edu

The following is a reprint from the September 1999 Newsletter of the Space Telescope Science Institute.

HST's Third Servicing Mission (SM3), until recently scheduled for mid-2000, had originally been designed to provide for the upgrade of the observatory's scientific capabilities, the restoration of lost scientific capabilities, and the replacement or refurbishment of degraded spacecraft subsystems.

The scientific upgrade was to result from the installation of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in the radial position currently occupied by the Faint Object Camera (FOC), which would be removed and returned to Earth. Restoration of scientific capabilities was to be achieved by inclusion of the NICMOS Cooling System (NCS) which would, after the mission, afford the revival the NICMOS instrument.
The Pointing Control System (PCS) would benefit from a refurbished Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS-2R) and a complete replacement of the current complement of gyroscopes used for spacecraft rate sensing.
The Data Management System was to be enhanced with the change-out of the DF-224 computer, used for spacecraft control, with a 486 replacement. Also, one of the original mechanical tape recorders, now outmoded by the great increase in telescope data volume, would be replaced by a second Solid State Recorder (SSR-3), whose 12Gb capacity enables it to serve as a back-up to the the previously-installed SSR-1.
The Electrical Power System (EPS) would be upgraded by replacement of the current solar arrays with new, more efficient ones (SA III) which will serve to increase spacecraft power while reducing servicing risk and orbital drag. Additionally, control of spacecraft battery temperatures will be improved by the installation of the Voltage/Temperature Improvement Kit (VIK).
The Thermal Control System (TCS) would be greatly enhanced by the addition of an Aft Shroud Cooling System (ASCS) which will guarantee years of three-instrument parallel science through reduction of aft shroud instrument temperatures. In addition, telescope ambient temperatures would be reduced by the replacement of the degraded Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI) at several external points on the spacecraft.

The Communications subsystem would be restored to its original capability by the replacement of the failed S-Band Single Access Transmitter (SSAT).

Obviously, this was to be an ambitious servicing mission requiring six full extra-vehicular activities (EVAs) to accomplish all the replacements and refurbishments. Plans however changed drastically on April 20, 1999 with the hard failure of gyro 3. With this failure HST was reduced to three operating gyros (out of an original complement of six), the bare minimum for pointing control accurate enough for scientific operations. While the reason for this and the previous gyro failures was understood to be related to a particular lot and fabrication process, the remaining operational gyros were not subject to this flaw. Nonetheless, any additional gyro failures would mean the end of HST science until new gyros could be installed. For this reason, the HST Project requested and was granted a "contingency" mission, scheduled for October 1999, with the baseline purpose of replacing all six gyros. Once authorized, this new mission afforded the opportunity to off-load the heavily booked SM3 with, in addition to the gyros, any other replacements and refurbishments which would be ready by October.

As a result, the original SM3 is now divided into two missions; SM3A, scheduled for October 14, 1999, and SM3B scheduled, as of this writing, for late 2000.

SM3A is manifested for the installation of all six replacement gyros, the refurbished FGS-2R, the VIK, the 486 computer, SSA transmitter, and the SSR. In addition to these installations, the MLI repair is scheduled as a lower priority, as is the opening of the NICMOS valves to allow venting in preparation for the installation of the NCS in SM3B.

All other installations and refurbishments, including the science upgrades, i.e., ACS and NCS/NICMOS, are scheduled for SM3B. Also, SM3B will include an orbital reboost to restore some of HST's orbital altitude.

SM3A will be performed in Shuttle Mission STS-103, Shuttle flight #97 using the Shuttle Orbiter Discovery (flight #27). Launch will occur at 5:42 a.m., EDT, with a launch window of 42 minutes, from Pad 39B at the Cape. The launch duration is a little less than 10 days, with landing scheduled for October 24, 3:20 a.m., also at the Cape. The mission commander is Curtis L. Brown. The other six crew members are Pilot Scott J. Kelly, and Mission Specialists Steven L. Smith, C. Michael Foale, John M. Grunsfeld, Claude Nicollier (Switzerland/ESA), Jean-Francois Clervoy (France/ESA).

On flight day 3, a little more than 48 hours after launch, the Shuttle will rendezvous with and capture HST. (The observatory will continue doing science observations up until just a few hours prior to this point.)

Then, on flight day 4, approximately sixty-six hours into the mission, the first of four six-hour EVAs, one per day, will commence. This first EVA is scheduled to include installation of the replacement gyros, the VIK, and the opening of the NICMOS vent valves. The next day, the second EVA will see the installation of the 486 computer and the refurbished FGS-2R. EVA-3 will provide for the installation of the SSA Transmitter and the new SSR. It will also allow the first set of MLI upgrades on the external surfaces of bays 5-10. The fourth EVA will consist of a set of optional tasks, to be performed on a non-interference basis, that include more MLI replacement on the telescope's forward shell and light shield, and other lower priority activities such as installation of handrail covers and aft shroud latch replacement for +V2 doors.

Following the installation of the new devices, the astronauts and the ground operations personnel will conduct aliveness tests to confirm proper connector seating and basic aliveness, as well as functional tests to verify basic mission-critical functions.

HST is released from the Shuttle on flight day 8 and two days later the Shuttle returns to KSC. While SM3A consists of a substantial list of varied activities and installations, the minimum success criterion is the installation of four of six gyros. Replacement of all six gyros will constitute a fully successful mission.

At the point of release from the Shuttle early on October 21, the suite of activities and tests to recommission the observatory for normal operations begins. This suite of tests and the period in which they are performed are called the Servicing Mission Observatory Verification (SMOV).

In general, the goal of any SMOV plan associated with HST servicing consists of the timely recommissioning of the Observatory for science operations. In the case of SM3A, this goal takes the form of the commissioning of the FGS-2R as a newly installed instrument, the recommissioning of the existing science instruments which, in this case, include the WFPC2, STIS, and FGS-1R (as the current astrometer). It also includes the recommissioning of any spacecraft subsystems affected by servicing. In this case, the goal includes commissioning of the new gyros into the PCS system, re-verification of the DMS with the new computer and SSR, and re-verification of the EPS following the VIK installations. The TCS and overall ambient temperatures will be monitored pursuant the MLI upgrades. A major goal of any SMOV is the demonstration of any new or restored scientific capabilities of the observatory by means of a program of Early Release Observations (EROs). In this case, the ERO program will consist of a pair of WFPC2 observations designed to show that Observatory science is unaffected by the SM3A "contingency" mission.

For reasons due primarily to contamination concerns, e.g., outgassing of new devices, and residual substances left over from the servicing mission itself, these SMOV commissionings occur over a period of weeks, and in some cases, months. Meanwhile, various types of science operations can resume as each corresponding science capability gets recommissioned. The basic SMOV plan, as of this writing, is as follows:

Release occurs early on October 21 with the V1 axis pointing into the southern Continuous Viewing Zone (CVZ) in order to avoid exposing the telescope optics to the sunlit portion of the Earth. This Bright Earth Avoidance (BEA) period lasts for 12 days, during which the PCS system is checked out and normal attitude control is initialized.

Also during the BEA period, the WFPC2 undergoes a decontamination process and an initial cool-down process accompanied by UV monitoring to verify the absence of any excess contamination effects. Meanwhile, STIS is undergoing its engineering initialization & check-out (incl. darks and biases). Shortly following the completion of the 12-day BEA period, the calibration of the new gyros is complete and the observatory is ready to perform the EROs and to resume science operations, using the WFPC2 and STIS CCD, in the first week of November. In parallel with these science observations, several other SMOV calibrations for WFPC2 and STIS will be performed. STIS MAMAs will be recommissioned for science in the mid-November timeframe. SMOV activities for commissioning the new FGS will take considerably longer to complete. The FGS-2R will be commissioned for tracking guidestars in late December, while the last FGS SMOV activities will occur in February of next year.

By that time, detailed planning for SM3B and SMOV3B, currently scheduled for December 2000, will be well underway.

FloridaToday - October 5, 1999

Crucial space shuttle wiring inspections continue

An electrical short during liftoff of space shuttle Columbia in July was traced to a wire in the payload bay with damaged insulation. As a result of that problem, NASA decided to inspect much of the wiring in all four shuttles and make repairs as required. These images show technicians examining the wires onboard orbiters Endeavour and Discovery. The next Shuttle mission, STS-103, the third Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission, is currently scheduled for launch no earlier than Nov. 19 or 21. NASA could announce a new shuttle launch manifest this Thursday following a review meeting.

FloridaToday - August 24, 1999

Hubble mission flight hardware arrives at KSC

A C-5 air cargo plane lands at Kennedy Space Center carrying the payload flight hardware for the third Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission (SM-3A). The equipment was taken to KSC's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility for final testing and integration of payload elements. Shuttle mission STS-103 is a "call-up" flight which is being planned due to the need to replace portions of the Hubble's pointing system, the gyros, which have begun to fail. Although Hubble is operating normally and conducting its scientific observations, only three of its six gyroscopes are working properly. The gyroscopes allow the telescope to point at stars, galaxies and planets. Shuttle Discovery's crew will also replace a Fine Guidance Sensor and an older computer with a new enhanced model, an older data tape recorder with a solid state digital recorder, a failed spare transmitter with a new one, and degraded insulation on the telescope with new thermal insulation. In addition, a Battery Voltage/Temperature Improvement Kit is slated to be installed to protect the spacecraft batteries from overcharging and overheating when the telescope goes into a safe mode. Launch of STS-103 is currently targeted for no earlier than November 19, 1999 but under review, pending the launch date of a prior mission, STS-99, which was delayed for wiring inspections. NASA images.

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