![]() To replace the actuator would have required a rollback to the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) because access to the actuator was only through the Main Landing Gear wheel well. On November 18, 1993, Endeavour experienced a failure of a transducer on the elevon hydraulic actuator. The internal HST payload package was not affected because it was tightly sealed, and the contamination appeared to have been caused by sandblasting grit from recent Pad A modifications. Mission highlights Launch Launch of the first servicing missionĮndeavour was switched from Pad 39A to Pad 39B due to contamination of the Payload Changeout Room after a windstorm on October 30, 1993. Hoffman also spun a dreidel for the holiday of Hanukkah to a live audience watching via satellite. During the flight, mission specialist Jeffrey A. In order to complete the mission without too much fatigue, the five EVAs were shared between two pairs of different astronauts alternating their shifts. The flight plan allowed for two additional EVAs, which could have raised the total number to seven the final two contingency EVAs were not made. It lasted almost 11 days, and crew members made five spacewalks ( extravehicular activities (EVAs)), an all-time record even the re-positioning of Intelsat VI on STS-49 in May 1992 required only four. With its very heavy workload, the STS-61 mission was one of the most complex in the Shuttle's history. The flight also brought instrument upgrades and new solar arrays to the telescope. This correction occurred more than three and a half years after the Hubble was launched aboard STS-31 in April 1990. The mission restored the spaceborne observatory's vision (marred by spherical aberration in its mirror) with the installation of a new main camera and a corrective optics package (COSTAR). The mission launched on December 2, 1993, from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Managers reviewed the STS-134 mission timeline and determined the Endeavour crew can accomplish all objectives even with the departure of the three station crew members.STS-61 was NASA's first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. May 23 is when three of the space station’s Expedition 27 crew members undock and return home in their Soyuz spacecraft. ![]() May 21 is the only day a launch is not an option because it would lead to a May 23 docking with the space station. Launch attempts are available through May 26. Engineers confirmed the circuit in the original switchbox that directed power to the heaters was shorted out. On Endeavour’s first launch attempt, one of two heaters for APU-1’s fuel line did not work. NASA launch commit criteria and flight rules require all APUs and heater circuits to be operational for launch. The hydrazine fuel lines on each APU have two heater circuits that prevent the fuel from freezing while the shuttle is in space. The shuttle has three Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) that provide hydraulic power to steer the vehicle during ascent and entry. They also ran the heaters for up to 30 minutes to verify they are working properly and completed retesting of the other systems powered by the switchbox. This past weekend, technicians installed and checked out new wiring that bypasses the suspect electrical wiring connecting the switchbox to the heaters. The faulty box was changed May 4, and a test of nine shuttle systems powered by the new box is underway. ![]() ![]() Technicians determined the failure was inside an aft load control assembly, which is a switchbox in the shuttle’s aft compartment, and possibly its associated electrical wiring.Īlthough the root cause of the failure in the switchbox has not been found, technicians are replacing hardware that could have caused the problem. Kennedy technicians are continuing work to resolve an issue in a heater circuit associated with Endeavour’s hydraulic system that resulted in the launch postponement. Monday, May 9, Mike Moses and Mike Leinbach from NASA’s Space Shuttle Program will hold a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to discuss the progress of repairs since Endeavour’s launch postponement April 29. If Endeavour launches May 16, liftoff would be at 8:56 a.m. After a meeting May 6, they also extended the length of Endeavour’s STS-134 mission to the International Space Station from 14 to 16 days. NASA managers have retargeted space shuttle Endeavour’s launch to no earlier than Monday, May 16. ![]()
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