The last shuttle mission is expected to launch on July 8. The STS-135 astronauts are in Florida for the countdown
A new Progress resupply spacecraft was launched on Tuesday from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan and docked there today.
The spacecraft, Progress 43, replaces the European Space Agency's Johannes Kepler Automated Cargo Vehicle (ATV-2) at the dock. Johannes Kepler undocked from the space station on Monday and turned on the reentry engines from orbit on Tuesday. When it was filled with feldspar and with a broken steering system, the spacecraft entered the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean and burned up in mid-air.
In the meantime, the space station team continued to perform scientific experiments, maintenance and preparations for the arrival of the shuttle Atlantis for the last time (and this time for the last time of shuttles in general).
The last shuttle mission is expected to launch on July 8. The astronauts of STS-135 are in Florida for the final countdown to Atlantis. Atlantis will carry the multi-purpose logistics unit which will also have supplies as well as spare parts for the space station and personal equipment for the astronauts.
Flight engineers Mike Possum and Ron Garan, who are station occupants, will perform the only scheduled spacewalk while Atlantis is on the station. Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa joined the two in the Quest airlock to measure and fit spacesuits and practice putting them on.
The spacewalkers will transport a broken ammonia pump to the cargo deck of Atlantis and will install experiments outside the station that require long-term exposure to space conditions.
One response
I still don't understand why they canceled all the flights from the USA to space?
Are you closing NASA?