Before departure, the astronauts conduct an experiment with the navigation system of the future Orion spacecraft
This morning, five minutes before seven o'clock Israel time, the shuttle Endeavor left the International Space Station for the last time, docked next to it for 11 days, 17 hours and 41 minutes. Both spacecraft were at the same time over the city of La Paz in Bolivia.
As usual, the shuttle hovered around the space station so that the station could be photographed from the outside to allow people on the ground in Houston to examine its condition. About two hours after leaving the dock, the shuttle pilots will fire up the engines and it will move away. After that, station commander Mark Kelly will again conduct an approach maneuver to the station to test a system to neutralize the navigational risks of the Orion spacecraft known as STORRM.
The test will characterize the performance of the sensors on Endeavour's cargo deck and the reflector returns on the shuttle facing the station. The rendezvous will mimic the activity of the planned rendezvous between the Orion vehicles and the International Space Station, although the shuttle will only approach within 300 meters below the station and 100 meters behind it at its closest point.
The ferry is expected to land on Wednesday morning.
5 תגובות
To my father the ferry landed in Florida
It is half cancelled. Lockheed Martin is using all the developments it has to dump a crew vehicle for flights beyond low earth orbit, as you can read in the news that will be published in the daily update - after midnight.
I thought Project Orion was cancelled,
For my father, this is the last flight, that is, the landing of the ferries
For my father, this is the last flight to the space station