Space Shuttle Gets Off Ground, But Space Station Threatened by More Debris
AFP graphic
The space shuttle Discovery finally launched Sunday evening from Cape Canaveral, after several delays due to a hydrogen leak and worries over the hydrogen valves. The shuttle’s mission is to get to the International Space Station to install the last solar panel arrays on the ISS to make it fully operational, as well as switching out an ISS “resident”. Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata will be moving in, and U.S. astronaut Sandra Magnus will be returning home on Discovery’s return flight.
Despite the troubles that plagued its liftoff, Discovery will only shorten its mission by one day and a space walk. Luckily, the ISS crew can accomplish the space walk’s goals on their own, once the shuttle leaves for Earth. NASA says that all other mission directives will go forward as planned. The major part of that mission is the transport and installation of the final and 11th truss segment, which are the solar wings that provide power to the station. These final “wings” will support a full-time crew of six at the ISS.
But just when science starts to get boring, yet another chunk of space debris, a piece of an old Soviet satellite threatens the International Space Station, the second time in the last week. NASA feels that the ISS is safe, as of this writing, but is monitoring the “erratic” movements of the 4-inch item that has been floating around since the satellite’s mysterious break-up in 1981.
The problem is that the Shuttle is not at the ISS yet, and won’t be docking at the Space Station until Tuesday. The space junk will arrive first, and if the ISS does have to power up some engines to move out of the way, the shuttle will also have to adjust its course. I guess that’s not much of a problem.
Anyway, space debris seems to be becoming a bit of a nuisance for space missions. In high school, I was on the debate team the year that the resolution was to increase space exploration, and I remember all the evidence I had about space debris becoming a problem in the near future. That was like 20 years ago now, and it looks like the alarmists were right.
Space may seem infinite, but our number of safe orbits is not.
space shuttle, NASA, Discovery, International Space Station, ISS, space debris, space junk, orbit, missions, astronaut
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:27 am
Your blog is so informative … keep up the good work!!!!