Half 6 in Kennedy Area Heart’s Historical past sequence
Constructing on the accomplishments of the earlier decade, Kennedy Area Heart entered the 2000s with some difficult targets to attain. Not the least of those was processing and launching NASA’s area shuttles and finishing building of the Worldwide Area Station, in addition to managing the company’s Launch Service Program and its many Earth-observing, scientific and interplanetary missions.
Throughout this decade, Kennedy processed and launched 33 profitable area shuttle missions, most of those to the area station, and oversaw a record-setting 53 expendable launch car missions.
Roy D. Bridges, middle director from 1997 to 2003, stated regardless of the difficult surroundings, the Kennedy crew delivered wonderful outcomes.
In October 2000, the STS-92 mission on Discovery marked the one hundredth area shuttle mission and likewise included the one hundredth spacewalk for the U.S. area program.
The arrival of the primary crew, Expedition 1, to the Worldwide Area Station on Nov. 2, 2000, aboard a Soyuz rocket, marked the start of an uninterrupted human presence on the orbiting laboratory. A month later, the very first set of photo voltaic arrays, the P6 truss, was delivered aboard Endeavour on the STS-97 mission and instantly elevated the station’s capabilities.
What adopted was greater than 10 years of U.S. and worldwide companion factor processing in Kennedy’s Area Station Processing Facility (SSPF) and supply to the station aboard area shuttles.
Russell Romanella was a director of ISS and Payload Processing within the 2000s. “It was a tremendous time with the SSPF excessive bay so filled with components that we needed to begin utilizing the excessive bay of the Operations and Checkout Constructing as overflow,” Romanella stated. “Throughout these years, we noticed the bay refill and empty out no less than three totally different instances.
“What was most memorable about this time, particularly in 2007 and 2008, was the wave of worldwide participation. It wasn’t uncommon to have 100 worldwide companions right here on any given day.”
Russell Romanella
Former Director of ISS and Payload Processing
Area shuttles delivered to the station the Future Lab, the Quest airlock, the Tranquility node, the cupola, the station’s robotic arm and cellular base system, and all the starboard and port truss segments and photo voltaic arrays. Additionally, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Company’s Kibo Laboratory and the European Area Company’s Columbus module have been processed within the SSPF and carried to the station aboard area shuttles.
The primary of three multi-purpose logistics modules (MPLMs) constructed by the Italian Area Company, Leonardo, was processed and delivered to the station in February 2001 aboard Atlantis on the STS-98 mission.
NASA’s Spitzer Telescope was launched aboard a Delta II rocket on Aug. 25, 2003, from Cape Canaveral Air Drive Station (CCAFS) in Florida. Spitzer is the biggest infrared telescope ever launched into area and the final of 4 missions in NASA’s Nice Observatories Program.
Tragedy struck the Area Shuttle Program for the second time when Columbia and its seven-member crew have been misplaced throughout re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003, on the STS-107 mission. Misplaced have been Commander Rick Husband; Pilot William “Willie” McCool; Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark and David Brown; Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon, of Israel; and Payload Commander Michael Anderson.
Kennedy helped the company examine and decide the trigger and made upgrades to the shuttle and exterior gasoline tank in order that shuttle launches might resume.
They did so July 26, 2005, when Discovery launched with a seven-member crew on Return to Flight mission STS-114 to the area station. The payload included the MPLM Raffaello, the Orbiter Growth Sensor System (OBSS), and tile and Strengthened carbon-carbon (RCC) pattern supplies.
Jim Kennedy was middle director from August 2003 to January 2007. He stated the middle and the company have been centered on seeing the area shuttle security return to flight.
“Whereas this was an amazing problem, fraught with issues, the truth that we shared mutual aims with widespread targets made it a really doable job,” Kennedy stated. “It’s a credit score to the high quality women and men of Kennedy Area Heart.”
Throughout a spacewalk, mission specialists demonstrated inspection and restore methods utilizing the samples. Previous to docking to the station, the crew used the OBSS to examine and take footage of the shuttle tiles and RCC panels for evaluation again on Earth.
“What was important throughout this decade was the power of the shuttle processing crew to work throughout this system to beat adversity, together with decision of assorted floor umbilical hydrogen leaks, exterior gasoline tank stringer crack repairs, engine cutoff sensor decision, and safely returning to flight following the Columbia tragedy,” stated Floor Processing Director Pete Nickolenko.
In 2004, previous to Return to Flight, then President George W. Bush introduced the Area Shuttle Program would finish in 2010 and the nation’s Imaginative and prescient for Area Exploration can be the subsequent step in U.S. area exploration. A brand new program, Constellation, would come with the Ares I and Ares V launch autos and Orion crew exploration car (CEV).
NASA’s Hubble Area Telescope underwent a fourth servicing mission in March 2002, throughout Columbia’s STS-109 mission, after which a fifth and remaining servicing mission in Could 2009 throughout Atlantis’ STS-125 mission. The entire new elements have been processed by way of Kennedy.
“The final mission was an outstanding success,” stated Bob Cabana, Kennedy middle director since 2008. “No robots might have completed what the astronauts did to improve Hubble through the STS-125 mission.”
In November 2008, the Launch Companies Program celebrated its 10-year anniversary at Kennedy, with 55 profitable missions underneath its belt.
Among the many most celebrated missions was the Mars Phoenix Lander, which launched Aug. 4, 2007, on a Delta II rocket from Launch Advanced 17A at CCAFS. It descended to Mars on Could 25, 2008.
One other of NASA’s planetary missions despatched two exploration rovers, Spirit and Alternative, on their travels to Mars, atop Delta II rockets, from CCAFS, June 10, 2003, and July 7, 2003, respectively. Each rovers descended by way of the Martian environment in January 2004 and commenced sending again pictures of the planet’s floor.
Chuck Dovale, deputy director of LSP, has spent all however two of his 30-year profession in this system. “The Mars landers nonetheless seize the creativeness like no different. It’s been extraordinarily gratifying to witness the evolution from Sojourner to Spirit and Alternative and now to Curiosity,” Dovale stated. “To have a hand in processing and launching them on their quests has been a profession spotlight for me and I’m certain for everybody in LSP.”
One other LSP mission was a pair of spacecraft known as Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Remark and Sensing Satellite tv for pc (LCROSS). They launched atop an Atlas V rocket from CCAFS on June 18, 2009. It was the primary mission again to the moon in 10 years.
“My hope is that LSP stays an integral a part of the company’s plan to construct and launch one-of-a-kind scientific spacecraft to assist us enhance our data in regards to the world and the galaxy wherein we stay,” Dovale stated.
Invoice Parsons, who was middle director from January 2007 to October 2008, stated he wish to see Kennedy processing flight {hardware} and launching a number of autos sooner or later.
On Oct. 28, 2009, the Ares I-X rocket soared into the sky from Launch Pad 39B on its first flight take a look at. This system was subsequently canceled in 2010, permitting NASA to work with industrial firms for transport to low Earth orbit.
The rocket’s first stage separated from the simulated higher stage, after which slowly splashed down within the Atlantic Ocean for restoration.
Because the Area Shuttle Program’s finish drew close to, the middle confronted difficult instances with the start of workforce reductions and a repurposing of services and infrastructure to assist NASA’s Area Launch System and quite a lot of industrial launch autos into the subsequent decade.
“We’re a pacesetter in area exploration,” Cabana stated. “We need to keep our management on this planet.”
