Discovery glides to smooth space station docking

CNET ^ | August 30, 2009 6:27 PM PDT | William Harwood

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston--Shuttle commander Frederick "C.J." Sturckow, forced by a leaky steering jet to use Discovery's big maneuvering thrusters instead of preferred fine-control vernier engines, deftly guided the spaceplane to a flawless docking with the International Space Station Sunday night to cap a two-day rendezvous.

Approaching from directly in front of the laboratory complex as both spacecraft sailed 220 miles above the central Atlantic Ocean at 5 miles per second, the shuttle's payload bay docking port engaged its counterpart on the front end of the station's Harmony module at 7:54 p.m. CDT, about 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

The shuttle Discovery, docked to the International Space Station.(Credit: NASA TV)

"Station and Houston, from Discovery, capture confirmed," astronaut Patrick Forrester radioed from the shuttle.

Over the next 90-minute orbit, the docking mechanisms locked the two craft firmly together and leak checks were carried out to confirm a tight seal before hatch opening later in the evening.

"Hey Pat, before the hatches get opened there and we have a hard time finding C.J., the orbit one shift wanted to pass along what a great job he did on this first ever vern-failed docking," astronaut Chris Ferguson radioed from mission control. "Did a fantastic job. And you'll be happy to know it occurred on the 25th anniversary of the maiden flight of Discovery. So would you pass that along to him for us?"

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[tet68]

it occurred on the 25th anniversary of the maiden flight of Discovery.

I giva damn about the neysayers, these craft are awesome,
our only problem was we didn’t build fifty of them!

[Daniel II]

“I giva damn about the neysayers, these craft are awesome,
our only problem was we didn’t build fifty of them!”

Agreed. That and the fact that EPA regulations signed by Clinton forced them to use non-freon based foam insulation.

Why couldn’t they get a simple waiver? What was the big deal?

[RJR_fan]

So, Discovery is officially a “classic,” an antique vehicle.

[Yossarian]

I giva damn about the neysayers, these craft are awesome, our only problem was we didn’t build fifty of them!

The orbiters - awesome crafts, indeed, in terms of what they can do. But they fell horribly, horribly short of the called for requirements for cost of maintenance. They're beautiful über-F1 machines, and require an army of über-F1 mechanics and an equivalent über-F1 budget to keep them running.

The entire "Space Transportation System"? That was a big failure. Fourteen dead astronauts give testament to systematic design flaws.

[SunkenCiv]

"Did a fantastic job. And you'll be happy to know it occurred on the 25th anniversary of the maiden flight of Discovery. So would you pass that along to him for us?"

Thanks Ernest_at_the_Beach and KevinDavis.

[tet68]

The entire “AIR Transportation System”? That was a big failure. Fourteen hundred dead test pilots give testament to systematic design flaws. Not to mention the
hundreds of thousands of dead passengers./s

As far as what it costs, it’s only a pittance compared to
what has been thrown down the welfare/great society/wealth
redistrobution rat hole over the same span of time.

[TalonDJ]

Big time. If we were going to build 50 we would want a whole new approach. Just look at that picture. An entire massive machine launched to orbit to carry that little supply/logicstics pod and 7 people. The same thing could have been done but an up-capsule and a robotic supply rocket for far less cost. Hauling the giant airframe of wings and tail and opening cargo bay has proved to be up little real use and not at all cost effective compared to other options.