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NASA managers cleared space shuttle Discovery for launch at 4:40 p.m. EDT Nov. 1, following a review of weekend repair work to fix a small leak in the flange area of the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS). “We’re in great shape out at the pad,” Launch Director Mike Leinbach told reporters Oct. 25 following NASA’s Flight Readiness Review for the STS-133 mission, the 39th and final planned mission for Discovery. The replacement of two seals in the OMS flange ate up the four contingency days that had been remaining in the shuttle’s processing schedule, but Leinbach said he saw no reason...

The independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel will recommend that NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, the White House and Congress strive for a decision by the end of December whether to launch shuttle Atlantis on an extra mission to the International Space Station in mid-2011, to avoid potential risks associated with workforce uncertainty. The eight-member panel agreed on the recommendation Oct. 22 during its fourth-quarter meeting at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, following two days of fact finding. “You could say this is an administrative issue, but it’s a morale issue, too,” said Joe Dyer, the retired U.S. Navy vice admiral...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Discovery has new seals and is no longer leaking. It also has an official launch date. NASA's senior managers met Monday and set Discovery's last liftoff for next Monday. Launch time is 4:40 p.m. This will be Discovery's 39th and final mission as NASA retires its three remaining

With the final crews in training for NASA’s last three space shuttle missions, the number of astronauts in the corps is down to 65 – a 25% drop since last year. NASA plans to keep its roster of astronauts at 65 to support spaces station operations and other programs, including the development of the agency’s Orion deep space capsule and planned commercial crew vehicles, said Jerry Ross, a seven-time shuttle veteran who heads the agency’s Vehicle Integration Test Office, an engineering support team for the Astronaut Office. The 65-member corps does not include nine astronaut-candidates selected last year who are...

There's still the matter of money. But it looks increasingly likely that NASA will get an extra space shuttle flight. President Barack Obama signed the NASA 2010 Authorization Act into law Monday, following last week's approval by Congress. The measure directs NASA to move forward with an additional shuttle flight, before retiring the fleet. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson says the funding issue should be resolved once Congress returns to Washington in a lame duck session next month.

NASA space shuttle program managers approved a Nov. 1 launch date for the 11-day STS-133 mission aboard the shuttle Discovery, following a Oct. 6 review of mission preparations. John Shannon, the shuttle program manager, received a unanimous “go” from the team members to continue with launch preparations. NASA will host an agency-wide Flight Readiness Review on Oct. 25 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to set a formal launch date. The FRR will assess the readiness of the International Space Station as well as Discovery for the STS-133 flight. During the mission, Discovery’s six-member crew will deliver the Permanent Multipurpose...

HOUSTON - Perhaps as many as one thousand people from the NASA community are being laid off Friday. The cut-backs are among NASA contractors tied to the Space Shuttle Program that has just 3 launches remaining. The United Space Alliance (USA) says it's letting go of 333 employees from its Houston office and nearly 900 employees in Florida. "Today we say goodbye to a remarkable group of people," said USA's Chief Executive Officer Virginia Barnes Friday morning. Barnes statement continued, "Although our workforce has known for several years that the Space Shuttle Program was scheduled to end, layoffs are always...

Workers started assembling twin solid rocket boosters this week to help power Endeavour toward orbit in February on the final scheduled launch of the space shuttle program. A heavy-lifting crane hoisted the aft segment of the shuttle's left solid rocket booster Monday and moved the motor atop a mobile launcher platform. The boosters for Endeavour's STS-134 mission are being stacked inside High Bay 1 of the Kennedy Space Center's cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building. Crews repeated the procedure Tuesday and lifted the right booster's aft segment from the VAB's transfer aisle into High Bay 1. It will take about three weeks...

A key Senate panel approved Thursday a 2011 budget proposal for the US space agency NASA that would extend the space shuttle program in a compromise from the Obama administration's demands. Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee unanimously approved the legislation, after months of debate and criticism. The powerful Senate Budget Committee must still approve the bill before sending it to the full chamber for a vote. Although the plan maintains the White House's 19-billion-dollar request for NASA funding for the fiscal year that begins on October 1, it adds another shuttle mission in...

NASA and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company have paid tribute to the workforce who built the external tanks for the space shuttle fleet. The last external tank scheduled to fly on a shuttle mission was completed on June 25 by Lockheed Martin workers at Michoud. "ET-138 is the last in a series of tanks that has provided increasingly safer launches of space shuttles," said John Honeycutt, manager of the External Tank project. The tank was scheduled to depart after the ceremony Thursday aboard the Pegasus barge on a six-day, 900-mile sea journey to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida where...

United Space Alliance (USA) anticipates that smaller layoffs in January and late March of next year will follow the 15% cutback announced July 6 by NASA’s Houston-based space shuttle prime contractor to align the company’s workforce with NASA’s requirements to fly out the remaining assembly and supply missions to the International Space Station. On July 1, NASA formally delayed the STS-133 mission aboard Discovery with the Permanent Multi-purpose Module until Nov. 1 and the STS-134 mission aboard Endeavour with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer until Feb. 26. A decision on whether to prepare Endeavour’s launch-on-need orbiter, Atlantis, for an operational supply...

NASA managers July 1 decided to delay the last two missions of the space shuttle program to allow more time to prepare a final load of spare parts for the International Space Station. To cover shuttle operating expenses beyond Sept. 30, NASA will dip into an expected $600-million cushion promised by legislators and tap savings that managers have been accruing from the program’s roughly $200 million monthly allotments. If schedules hold, Discovery will lift off at 4:33 p.m. EDT on Nov. 1 with a load of station space parts and other equipment inside the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, which is...

Priorities: NASA's chief says his mission is not to return us to space but to help the Muslim world feel good about its scientific contributions. The moon we should be landing on should not be crescent-shaped. At a time when the only missile programs in the Arab world, namely in Syria and Iran, are aimed at hitting Israel with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, NASA administrator Charles Bolden goes on Al Jazeera to tell the Muslim world his "foremost" goal was to make them feel good about their achievements in math, science and engineering.

NASA's space shuttle program has gotten a brief reprieve, as the space agency plans to keep shuttle flights going until next year. The space agency made it official Thursday after weeks of hints about the potential for launch delays. Managers agreed to postpone the next-to-last shuttle launch until Nov. 1. Discovery had been scheduled to fly to the International Space Station in September. The very last mission now has a Feb. 26 launch date. Endeavour will close out the shuttle program by delivering a major scientific instrument to the space station. Why the delays? NASA says it needs more time...

The two final US space shuttle missions before the shuttle program is phased out will likely be postponed, a NASA spokesperson told AFP on Friday. "It's not official yet but it's very likely," said Allard Beutel, media services chief at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "The decision will be officially announced July 1st," he said. The US space shuttles are being retired after President Barack Obama opted not to fund a successor program, deciding instead to encourage private spacecraft development. The final two shuttle missions are both to the orbiting International Space Station (ISS). The shuttle Discovery's flight to...

NASA managers this week plan to request new launch dates for the final two shuttle flights to accommodate preparations on space station equipment slated to fly on the STS-133 mission, originally targeted for September. If approved, NASA would postpone until Oct. 29 the launch of shuttle Discovery on STS-133, which includes installation of the modified Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo cargo carrier for long-duration flight on the station and delivery of spare parts for several key station systems. Previously scheduled missions by international partners and Sun angle heating issues would in turn bump shuttle Endeavour’s launch with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer,...

I am not sure who would be interested in viewing these pictures but I had the tremendous honor of being escorted by a friend who works at Kennedy Space Center in late February as a mission specialist around Endeavor, the tower, the waiting room, the walk out ramp, and a number of other area's of KSC. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity that will never happen again with the shuttles being retired. I am just getting around to loading up some of the photos and wanted to share them here. Enjoy!

US museums are wasting no time in jostling to showcase the three retiring space shuttles after Atlantis touched down on Earth this week, capping the last scheduled mission of its 25-year career. "No doubt the competition is fierce," said Bill Moore, chief operating officer of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. His institution is among some 21 others competing to preserve and exhibit the Atlantis, Discovery or Endeavour space shuttles. The trio is being retired after President Barack Obama opted not to fund a successor program, deciding instead to encourage private spacecraft development. NASA has announced it would...

"When the sun sets tonight, go outside and look west. You'll see Venus and the crescent Moon beaming together through the twilight. And don't be surprised if you see a spaceship, too. The ISS and Atlantis are circling Earth and flying over many US towns and cities this evening. A four-way conjunction of planets and spaceships is not out of the question. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for flyby predictions." (simply enter zip code):http://www.spaceweather.com/flybys/?PHPSESSID=1ukve2rqseki17ff29cn687l52&PHPSESSID=r3eer56o4hit72t92i8r6l7u24

The U.S. Space Shuttle program may not come to an end this year, Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said in a statement, citing International Space Station (ISS) manager. According to Michael Suffredini, the space shuttle Atlantis may be launched to the ISS in summer 2011. "In this case, additional scientific equipment and components for system of water regeneration from condensate could be delivered to the U.S. segment of the station," the statement said. "However, funding for this flight has not been provided so far." The U.S. flights program was planned to be closed this year. The final flight to the...