Rescue Ship For Hubble Shuttle Flight Moves to Launch Pad

space.com ^ | 04/17/09 | Tarig Malik

[KevinDavis]

The space shuttle Endeavour rolled out to a Florida launch pad on Friday to stand by for an unprecedented rescue mission NASA hopes it never has to fly.

Endeavour arrived at Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., at 7:17 a.m. EDT (1117 GMT), where it will be primed to launch within weeks of any emergency aboard its sister ship Atlantis during next month's risky repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Atlantis is poised atop its own launch pad for a planned May 12 liftoff.

[KevinDavis]

[raybbr]

Will they have to modify Endeavour to fit 11 people on board?

[Ken522]

They have to go fix the Hubble again??

[KevinDavis]

I’m thinking what is going to happen is just have 2 people fly it and have the Atlantis crew land in Endeavour..

[KevinDavis]

Last Hubble repair mission..

[Sequoyah101]

This thing has taken a lot of really neat pictures and provided fodder for a lot of research grants but what has it really done to make our collective lives better? I mean besides providing apparently gainful employment for a lot of really bright people who otherwise would have to go out and do something useful with all that brightness.

Can anybody name just three things it has done to make the U.S. a better place to live and work? Notwithstanding the really neat pictures, though my life would be none-the-richer without said pictures.

[The Iguana]

"Can anybody name just three things it has done to make the U.S. a better place to live and work?"

If that is the standard, a great deal of scientific research would have to go out the window right now.

It's not just about pictures. Hubble has a considerable array of instruments, and through them we have learned a vast amount about the universe we live in. And who knows? One day this pure scientific knowledge could one day become the basis for more practical advances.

Hubble has not been cheap. But there are far worse ways to spend government money.

[billorites]

Normally I’m not a fan of extended warranties. In the case of the Hubble, the gamble appears to have paid off.

[raybbr]

"Within that timeframe, we would be prepared to launch Endeavour with a crew of four astronauts," Beutel said...

I don't think they can launch with less than four. There is no mention of any modification to accommodate a crew of 11.

[SunkenCiv]

it will be primed to launch within weeks of any emergency aboard its sister ship Atlantis

I sure am glad we discontinued those wasteful and overpriced expendible boosters.

[BfloGuy]

I only wish that the Great O would waste a few of our dollars on continuing the shuttle missions. I hate the thought of our having to depend on the Russkies for transport to the space station and I think the money would be at least as well spent as on high-speed rail.

For example, ridership on the shuttle is likely to be higher though the subsidies will be about the same.