Busy week for STS-127 ISS mission and LRO/LCROSS Moon mission

NASA announced June 15, 2009, that the space shuttle Endeavour will lift off on June 17 for the Space Station, followed by the launch, one day later, of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite for its very important mission to study the Moon up close and personal.

The launch of STS-127 is scheduled to occur at 5:40 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), 940 UTC, on Wednesday, June 17, at launch complex 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Because of the new Endeavour launch day, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) was delayed by one day. Its mission is now scheduled to launch on Thursday, June 18.

LRO/LCROSS has three possible launch windows (opportunities) on Thursday: 5:12 p.m., 5:22 p.m., and 5:32 p.m. the satellite pair will be launched from a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at launch complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Both launch sites for the shuttle and the lunar explorers are within the Air Force Eastern Test Range (ETR).

This re-arrangement of launch times occurred because a gaseous hydrogen leak was discovered in the venting system outside the external fuel tank (ET) of Endeavour. Excess hydrogen gas is expelled from the launch pad, and its expulsion is necessary to successfully and safely carry out a shuttle launch.

The repair took about four days to complete, as NASA technicians and engineers replaced a faulty umbilical plate seal.

Consequently, it was decided by NASA that it would launch on Wednesday, which was the previous launch day of LRO/LCROSS. Its launch day was delayed one day to allow Endeavour and its STS-127 crew to liftoff.

Endeavour only has one opportunity to launch on Wednesday.

NASA states that, “If Thursday's liftoff of LRO and LCROSS is postponed 24 hours, the launch times Friday are 6:41 p.m., 6:51 p.m. and 7:01 p.m. Saturday's opportunities are 8:08 p.m., 8:18 p.m. and 8:28 p.m. [NASA: “NASA Sets New Launch Dates for Space Shuttle, LRO and LCROSS”]

The 16-day STS-127 mission goes to the International Space Station so its astronauts can perform five spacewalks for its further construction. The Kibo laboratory, by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), will be completed as spacewalkers attach an outside platform to the Japanese laboratory.

The platform will allow experiments to be conducted in the environment of outer space. They will also replace aging solar array batteries and mount critical spare parts on the space station.

The STS-127 crewmembers consist of commander Mark Polansky, pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette.

Kopra will join the space station crew and replace Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will return to Earth on Endeavour to conclude a three-month stay at the station.

The LRO/LCROSS mission to orbit the Moon will take place over about one year.

The spacecraft will orbit the moon at about 31 miles (50 kilometers) above the lunar surface. NASA says that this is the closest altitude any spacecraft has orbited the Moon.

The NASA article states, “The primary objective of LRO is to conduct investigations to prepare for future explorations of the moon."

NASA’s goal for the dual satellite LRO/LCROSS mission is to discover more about the Moon and apply it for future manned missions to the lunar surface.

For instance, NASA wants to locate suitable landing sites for future manned missions, along with understanding more about the radiation that impacts the Moon so that astronauts are as safe as possible while exploring and living on the Moon.

LCROSS, according to NASA, “… will search for water ice on the moon by sending the spent upper-stage Centaur rocket, about the size of a sports utility vehicle, to impact part of a polar crater in permanent shadows. LCROSS will fly into the plume of dust left by the impact and measure the properties before also colliding with the lunar surface.”

You can watch both launches on NASA Television, just check your local listing, or at NASA TV on the Web.