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Nelson requests space earmarks
A day after Space Florida's president resigned, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson submitted earmark funding requests to get $10 million for two space industry projects to be administered by Space Florida, whose leader Steve Kohler quit under pressure Thursday.

Nelson has requested a $5 million earmark to help refurbish Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. He has also requested $5 million for a thermal vacuum chamber and an additional $4 million for a technology outreach program to be administered through the Technological Research And Development Authority in Brevard County.

The funding requests break Nelson's tradition of avoiding earmarks for space industry funding.

"What I am concerned about is jobs," Nelson said. "That's why I'm putting in for this money."



Nelson said he agreed with the former Space Florida director's plan to build a second commercial launch pad at the Cape.

"I support that," Nelson said. "The problem is, they haven't been effective."

The earmarks for Space Florida were submitted Friday because it was the deadline. The timing had nothing to do with Kohler's resignation.

"It just happens to be coincidental," Nelson said.

He's asked Gov. Charlie Crist to conduct a national talent search for the next Space Florida leader and to ramp up the effort to bring commercial launch companies to the Cape.

"I want the best and brightest because over the last 25 years, the other nations have eaten our lunch and taken away the commercial space launch business," Nelson said.

Nelson said he has been in Washington D.C. working to get the administration to commit to finishing the International Space Station, even if the schedule goes past the 2010 deadline for stopping shuttle flights.

"I expect that will be through 2011 instead of ending in 2010," he said.

Nelson also said he believes President Obama is close to naming a NASA director. The position has been vacant since January.

"I don't have any timing for you," Nelson said. "I think it's pretty clear the President is getting down to his final selection process."

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Astronauts Fly In For Launch
The seven astronauts destined to launch aboard Atlantis on a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission just arrived at Kennedy Space Center, and after two-and-a-half years of training, they are good to go.

"Hello, Florida. It's great to be here. At last! It was a long road to get here. We're all thrilled," said Atlantis mission commander Scott "Scooter" Altman.

"To say it's sweet is an understatement," said pilot Gregory "Ray J" Johnson, who spent two years at KSC working as the manager of shuttle launch integration. "And to say I'm really happy is an understatement also."

"We are ready!" Altman added with a hand-pump. "Let's launch Atlantis!"

Altman and his crewmates flew to NASA's shuttle homeport in sleek white-and-blue T-38 training jets. They made a sweeping turn out over the Atlantic Ocean so they could see Atlantis on launch pad 39A and Endeavour on pad 39B.

"It was really special for us to be able to fly by and see both the shuttles on the pads," mission specialist Andrew "Drew" Feustel said.

Endeavour will be ready to launch on a rescue mission seven days after the Atlantis launch should the latter sustain critical damage during a planned launch Monday. Liftoff remains scheduled for 2:01 p.m.

The Atlantis crew also includes pilot Gregory "Ray J" Johnson and four other mission specialists: robot arm operator Megan McArthur and spacewalkers John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino and Mike Good.

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Nelson requests space earmarks
A day after Space Florida's president resigned, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson submitted earmark funding requests to get $10 million for two space industry projects to be administered by Space Florida, whose leader Steve Kohler quit under pressure Thursday.

Nelson has requested a $5 million earmark to help refurbish Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. He has also requested $5 million for a thermal vacuum chamber and an additional $4 million for a technology outreach program to be administered through the Technological Research And Development Authority in Brevard County.

The funding requests break Nelson's tradition of avoiding earmarks for space industry funding.

"What I am concerned about is jobs," Nelson said. "That's why I'm putting in for this money."



Nelson said he agreed with the former Space Florida director's plan to build a second commercial launch pad at the Cape.

"I support that," Nelson said. "The problem is, they haven't been effective."

The earmarks for Space Florida were submitted Friday because it was the deadline. The timing had nothing to do with Kohler's resignation.

"It just happens to be coincidental," Nelson said.

He's asked Gov. Charlie Crist to conduct a national talent search for the next Space Florida leader and to ramp up the effort to bring commercial launch companies to the Cape.

"I want the best and brightest because over the last 25 years, the other nations have eaten our lunch and taken away the commercial space launch business," Nelson said.

Nelson said he has been in Washington D.C. working to get the administration to commit to finishing the International Space Station, even if the schedule goes past the 2010 deadline for stopping shuttle flights.

"I expect that will be through 2011 instead of ending in 2010," he said.

Nelson also said he believes President Obama is close to naming a NASA director. The position has been vacant since January.

"I don't have any timing for you," Nelson said. "I think it's pretty clear the President is getting down to his final selection process."

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Astronauts Fly In For Launch
The seven astronauts destined to launch aboard Atlantis on a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission just arrived at Kennedy Space Center, and after two-and-a-half years of training, they are good to go.

"Hello, Florida. It's great to be here. At last! It was a long road to get here. We're all thrilled," said Atlantis mission commander Scott "Scooter" Altman.

"To say it's sweet is an understatement," said pilot Gregory "Ray J" Johnson, who spent two years at KSC working as the manager of shuttle launch integration. "And to say I'm really happy is an understatement also."

"We are ready!" Altman added with a hand-pump. "Let's launch Atlantis!"

Altman and his crewmates flew to NASA's shuttle homeport in sleek white-and-blue T-38 training jets. They made a sweeping turn out over the Atlantic Ocean so they could see Atlantis on launch pad 39A and Endeavour on pad 39B.

"It was really special for us to be able to fly by and see both the shuttles on the pads," mission specialist Andrew "Drew" Feustel said.

Endeavour will be ready to launch on a rescue mission seven days after the Atlantis launch should the latter sustain critical damage during a planned launch Monday. Liftoff remains scheduled for 2:01 p.m.

The Atlantis crew also includes pilot Gregory "Ray J" Johnson and four other mission specialists: robot arm operator Megan McArthur and spacewalkers John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino and Mike Good.

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No issues for Atlantis
NASA officials reported no pre-launch concerns for shuttle Atlantis at a 6:30 p.m. news conference today at Kennedy Space Center, which followed a Mission Management Team meeting that produced a unanimous "go" for launch.

"It really went well," Mike Moses, the team's chairman, said of the meeting. "Nice and smooth. No issues."

"The team is not tracking anything that would prevent an on-time launch Monday," added Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach.

As a result, the team does not plan to meet on Mother's Day

The Air Force's weather forecast calls for an 80-percent chance of weather that would support the scheduled launch time of 2:01 p.m. Monday.

There is only a slight chance that a shower near at an abort landing site in Spain could present a problem during the 62-minute launch window.

The preferred 2:01 p.m. launch time is 20 minutes into that window.

The time optimizes the shuttle's performance for its rendezvous with Hubble and also gives launch managers a chance to make sure the orbiter isn't on course to run into any orbiting space debris.

Processing of shuttle Endeavour on pad 39B to the north of Atlantis is complete until next week. Endeavour could be launched as a rescue shuttle as early as seven days after Atlantis, if Atlantis sustains major damage during liftoff.

"We're in good shape with Endeavour," Leinbach said.

Moses said both orbiters were checked - and cleared - for a couple of minor thruster-related issues uncovered during post-flight inspections of Discovery, which returned from its STS-119 mission on March 28.

A nut was missing from a retaining plate in a forward Reaction Control System vernier thruster, and another nut was loose on an attach point fitting in an Orbital Maneuvering System pod.

Pad 39A was cleared for much of the day for loading of cryogenic reactants that power Atlantis' fuel cells, which provide electricity for shuttle systems during flight.

Launch preparations will continue overnight. On Sunday, orbiter and ground communications networks will be checked out and some crew equipment will be stowed in Atlantis.

The pad's Rotating Service Structure is scheduled to be retracted into its launch position at 5 p.m.

Fueling of the shuttle's orange external tank is expected to being at 4:41 a.m. Monday.

A new round of briefings updating Atlantis' progress toward launch begins at 10 a.m. Sunday with a countdown status report. Briefings on the Hubble program and the observatory's scientific capabilities follow at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

You can watch them all live here on The Flame Trench. Just click on the NASA TV image on the right side of the page to launch an online viewer.

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Savor the awe of these last shuttle launches
Editor's Note: My new space column runs Monday in the FLORIDA TODAY newspaper, but you'll be able to see it here early on Sundays. Read to the end for links to the first two columns and readers' comments. Thanks, and please click comment below to weigh in or e-mail me at jkelly@floridatoday.com.

We toss around words like awesome too easily these days.

Few things truly inspire awe. Easily, the most incredible thing I've ever seen is the birth of my five children. Nothing can compare.

But, if I were making a list of the greatest things I've seen, the launch of a space shuttle would be near the top. I've seen 15. The sense of amazement, fear and pride in country and humankind hasn't faded. It still gives me goosebumps to watch that big spaceship roar up, out over the sea.

Monday, if all goes well, a team of thousands of men and women across the country will see the fruition of years of labor when they blast a 4.5-million pound spaceship off planet Earth bound for a daring mission to repair a cosmic time machine known as Hubble Space Telescope. Could there anything cooler going on anywhere?

I was born two years after the first moon landing. I can only relive it through the stories of people who lived it; many now are neighbors and friends.

My fascination with space flight was tied up in the shuttle. I remember watching video of Columbia's maiden launch in the lunch room at Oakview Elementary in Kettering, Ohio. I was forever enamored with anything I could read or learn about the space shuttle.

Seven years ago, I was blessed with the chance to move to Florida to report on the space program. I remember being bummed that I barely missed the launch of STS-111 that June by a few days.

That was a good thing. I would not have appreciated the launch of Atlantis a few months later had I had not spent the next few months learning.

I got to see two orbiters up close. I met people responsible for the care and feeding of the orbiters from landing to the next launch.

I got to peek inside the guts of the shuttles, marveling at the snaking cables and pipes and bewildered by the millions of things that have to work just right every single time.

I learned the painstaking perfection that goes into crafting thousands of heat-shielding tiles, stacking solid rocket boosters, putting the monstrous pieces together on a mobile launch platform and moving it out to the launch pad.

That appreciation and respect brings a special intensity to the sights, sounds and feelings of launch day. I shake my head in wonder at the teamwork necessary. Itâ

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NASA Aims For 2:01 PM Launch

NASA is aiming to gas up shuttle Atlantis this morning for the planned launch this afternoon of seven astronauts on a fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.

With Atlantis perched on Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A, engineers will send commands around 4:41 a.m. to start flowing more than 500,000 gallons of cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the shuttle's 15-story external tank.

The cryogenic propellants -- which range in temperature from Minus 298 degrees Fahrenheit for liquid oxygen and Minus 423 degrees for liquid hydrogen -- will power the shuttle's three Rocketdyne main engines during a nine-minute climb into orbit.

The three-hour fuel-loading operation is expected to take about three hours to complete.

Atlantis and a crew led by veteran mission commander Scott "Scooter" Altman remain scheduled to launch at 2:01 p.m. Meteorologists say there is a 90 percent chance the weather will be acceptable for flight.

You can watch the countdown and launch here in The Flame Trench, and we'll have live coverage from the roof of our blockhouse -- which is located 3.5 miles from the pad (right outside the range safety Impact Limit Line) -- out on our home page (www.floridatoday.com) starting at 8:30 a.m.

We'll webcast NASA TV Commentary beginning at that time and then start up a series of live countdown updates and interviews at 10 a.m.

Here's our live shot line-up for what should be an awesome launch day:

++10 a.m.: Former NASA astronaut Mike Bloomfield, now with shuttle booster manufacturer ATK, will update us on preparations for the Ares I-X launch, which is the first test flight in NASA's bid to return American astronauts to the moon.

The launch is scheduled for no earlier than Aug. 30 from pad 39B, where Endeavour now is poised for launch on a rescue mission should Atlantis sustain critical damage in flight.

++10:30 a.m.: Former NASA astronaut Jon McBride, who now makes appearances at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. We'll talk about the Shuttle Launch Experience attraction and how closely it resembles the real thing.

++11 a.m.: Former NASA astronaut Loren Shriver, now vice president of engineering and integration for United Space Alliance and USA's Chief Technology Officer, will join us. He was commander of the 1990 mission to deploy the Hubble telescope.

From 11:30 to noon we'll breakaway for the debut of a half-hour Florida Today television news program on WBCC-TV, the local public television station located on channel 5 on local cable systems.

++Noon: Matt Ashmore, senior tools engineer with ATK, will join us. We'll talk about some of the 116 tools that have been developed for the telescope servicing crew. We'll also have a live demonstration of some of the tools.

++12:30 p.m.: Mike Dahm, Boeing Lead Test Engineer for STS-125, will join us. Dahm led the team at Kennedy Space Center that tested and prepped all the Hubble hardware that is going up in Atlantis.

1 p.m.: Hubble Project Scientist Mal Niedner of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. We'll talk about what Hubble has meant to astronomy, and what new science is planned with the new and repaired instruments after the mission.

1:30 p.m. NASA Astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburge will join us. We'll talk about a supply run she and her STS-131 crewmates will be making to the International Space Station next March.

In the meantime, you can watch "Saving Hubble," a half-hour special we produced for WBCC-TV. It previews the Atlantis flight, the rescue mission that would be flown if Atlantis suffers severe damage, the Hubble Space Telescope and what the observatory has meant to our knowledge of the universe.

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Atlantis safely in orbit
The space shuttle Atlantis has reached orbit.

The shuttle and its seven-astronaut crew are now en route to the Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA says there were no actual system problems during the nine-minute climb to orbit. The main engine issue being discussed during ascent were just sensor errors. The crew was told to disregard the indicator. All the engines performed as planned.

The engines cut off just a moment ago. Commander Scott Altman next will use the orbiter's manuevering system to continue adjusting the shuttle orbit to prepare for a rendezvous with the telescope on Wednesday afternoon.

The crew says they are working to get a visual of the external tank so that they can take photographs to document any lost foam or other problems from the ascent.
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Atlantis Embarks on Historic Final Mission to Hubble
Space shuttle Atlantis and seven astronauts blasted off today on a final, daring mission to repair and upgrade the 19-year-old Hubble Space Telescope, hoping to leave the iconic observatory in peak condition for at least five more years.

Atlantis roared from its Kennedy Space Center launch pad at 2:01 p.m., taking nine minutes to climb to orbit and begin a mission that was delayed seven months.

"It's been a long time coming," mission commander Scott Altman told launch managers about nine minutes before liftoff. "Let's launch Atlantis!"

"Enjoy the ride, pal," replied Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach.

Altman was joined on the shuttle by pilot Gregory Johnson and mission specialists Drew Feustel, Mike Good, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino and Megan McArthur.

The crew will conduct five spacewalks on consecutive days during the planned 11-day mission.

They'll install two new, state-of-the-art science instruments that could increase Hubble's discovery power 10 to 70 times, helping it look further back in time.

They'll also attempt complex repairs of two more instruments that have broken down since astronauts last visited the school bus-sized observatory in 2002, and replace a critical computer that stores and relays science data.

The computer's failure last fall postponed a planned October launch.

Other tasks packed into the five spacewalks: replacement of the telescope's batteries, gyroscopes and some protective thermal covers.

The fifth mission to service Hubble faces an increased risk of a catastrophic hit from space junk or micrometeoroids because of the telescope's orbit about 350 miles above Earth, which is more than 100 miles higher than the International Space Station.

And the crew won't be able to reach the station if Atlantis sustains serious damage.

Those issues contributed to the mission being cancelled in 2004 because it was considered too dangerous, but it was later reinstated after NASA established unprecedented safety measures.

For the first time, a second shuttle - Endeavour - is standing by on launch pad 39B at the space center, ready to launch a rescue mission if necessary as early as next Monday.

The Atlantis crew will begin inspecting the orbiter's heat shields for damage on Tuesday.

Making its 30th flight, Atlantis is scheduled to land in Florida at 11:41 a.m. May 22.

The mission is the 126th by a shuttle since 1981. It is one of nine missions scheduled before the end of next year, when NASA plans to retire its fleet of three shuttles.

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Doors open, astronauts begin mission work
The payload bay doors are open. The radiators are activated. The orbiter is currently in an elliptical orbit, peaking at more than 300 statute miles above the Earth. The astronauts are scheduled to rendezvous with the telescope on Wednesday.

You can click the NASA TV player at the right to open a window with the live broadcast of the mission coverage. That will be available 24 hours a day throughout the mission. You can also click here to launch the player.

The mission is slated to end Friday, May 22, with a landing at the Kennedy Space Center.

4:15 p.m. update: Mission Control just informed the crew that engineers saw no debris or other obvious problems during ascent. Additional inspections and analyses will be done to make sure there's no damage to the orbiter, but the preliminary look so far shows no concerns.

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Atlantis launch damaged pad 39A
Blogger update: corrected at 11:30 a.m.
Monday's launch of shuttle Atlantis blew a 25-square-foot section of material off a flame trench deflector at Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A.

Engineers are assessing the damage, but don't believe it impacted Atlantis and don't expect it to delay a targeted June 13 launch of Endeavour to the International Space Station, according to a KSC spokeswoman.

Endeavour is now sitting on pad 39B, ready to serve as a rescue shuttle if Atlantis sustains serious damage on its launch to the Hubble Space Telescope. But assuming Atlantis is OK, Endeavour is scheduled to roll around to pad 39A on May 29.

That would allow pad 39B to the north to be handed over to NASA's Constellation program, which later this summer plans the first test flight of the rocket being designed to return astronauts to space after the shuttle's retirement next year.

The damaged flame trench area, discovered during preliminary inspections soon after the 2:01 p.m. liftoff, had been covered with a flame-resistant, concrete-like material called "Fondu Fyre."

The damage was located on the north side of the solid rocket booster flame deflector, near an area that was repaired after the launch of Discovery's STS-120 mission on Oct. 23, 2007.

Some gaseous nitrogen and pressurized air lines were damaged and will need to be replaced.

A different part of the flame trench was damaged by Discovery's STS-124 launch last May 31. That event tore off an estimated 3,540 flame-retardant bricks and cost $2.7 million to repair.

The flame trench is a 490-foot trough, 42 feet deep and 58 feet wide, that deflects flame from the shuttle's two solid rocket boosters and three main engines.

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analysts examining nicked tiles                                         
Analysts at Johnson Space Center in Houston have spotted some nicks toheat shields on Atlantis near where the right wing meets up with thefuselage.

They do not think the area, which is covered by thicktiles, is likely to require a more detailed "focused" inspection, buttold Atlantis commander Scott Altman just after 2 p.m. that he may needto try again to download launch imagery from a shuttle camera thatcouldn't be beamed down before.

The nicks apparently came fromsome debris believed to have struck the area 104 seconds into flightafter Monday's 2:01 p.m. liftoff from Kennedy Space Center. A sensor onthe starboard wing's leading edge also recorded a hit matching thatprofile around the same time.

"At this point the preliminaryassessment is that it doesn't look very serious," spacecraftcommunicator Dan Burbank told Altman from Houston. "Those tiles arepretty thick. The nicks look to be pretty small."


"Everybody is feeling pretty good that it's not something particularlyserious, we just want to make sure we do the right thing and completeall the analysis," he added.

"Appreciate the due diligence and working that," Altman replied.

The matter could be discussed further at an mission status briefing coming up at 2:30 p.m.

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Cargo ship docks successfully at ISS
An unmanned Russian resupply ship has docked successfully with the International Space Station.

The Progress 33 vehicle hooked up with the station's Pirs compartment at 3:24 p.m. EDT, more than 200 miles above the China/Mongolia border.

"Capture confirmed," said Russian cosmonaut and station commander and Gennady Padalka through a translater.

Padalka was poised to take manual control of the ship, as his Russian predecessor on the station, Yury Lonchakov, had to do with Progress 31 last November. But the robotic approach was executed flawlessly.

The newest Progress delivered about 2.5 tons of food, including fresh fruit, and propellant and other supplies.

"We're happy to see our apples have arrived," one of the station crew members said.

Padalka is joined on the station by American astronaut Michael Barratt and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata.

The supplies are needed as the station prepares to double the size of permanent crews from three to six people later this month.

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Atlantis Appears in Good Shape
After today's early inspections of shuttle Atlantis' heat shields, NASA managers say the odds are extremely low that Endeavour will be called upon to launch a rescue mission.

"If we needed to, we could launch Endeavour on Monday," said LeRoy Cain, NASA's deputy shuttle program manager, during a mission briefing early this evening. "We have not seen anything in our early assessments that make us think that that's in any way going to be necessary, so we are not doing anything to try to accelerate that."

Analysts in Houston will review imagery overnight that the Atlantis crew took today during the first full day of the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

A string of four tiles on a forward section of the right wing, called the "chine," showed signs of surface damage from a debris hit about 104 seconds into flight Monday.

But the damage is considered minor and unlikely to prompt a call for a more detailed inspection.

A decision on whether to request that "focused" inspection is expected during Wednesday afternoon's Mission Management Team briefing.

If necessary, the inspection would be done Friday and have a minimal impact on that day's planned spacewalk - the second of five.

Endeavour is standing by on Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39B because Atlantis won't be able to reach the International Space Station for shelter during its 11-day mission.

Cain said Endeavour and its launch pad systems appeared unaffected by two lightning strikes reported at pad 39B overnight Monday. He also said that damage to pad 39A's flame trench from Monday's launch would not delay Endeavour's targeted June 13 liftoff, assuming the shuttle isn't needed for rescue duty.

Early this evening, Atlantis used thrusters to adjust its orbit and put it on track to hook up with Hubble on Wednesday. Hubble's aperture door has been commanded closed.

The crew is scheduled to capture the orbiting observatory around lunchtime Wednesday, some 340 miles above the northeast coast of Madagascar.

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Hubble Secured In Shuttle Atlantis
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is securely mounted in the payload bay of shuttle Atlantis, clearing the way for a survey aimed at seeing how well the observatory fared during the last seven years in orbit.

Looming four stories tall, the 12.5-ton Hubble is latched down on a high-tech work platform that operates like a "lazy Susan," rotating the telescope so spacewalking astronauts can access different instrument bays on the cylindrical observatory.

It also provides serves as an electrical link that enables the telescope to draw power from the orbiter Atlantis rather than its own rigid solar wings.

Atlantis mission specialist Megan McArthur used the shuttle's robotic arm to grapple a pin-like fixture on the side of the observatory -- an orbital grab that took place at 1:14 a.m. as Atlantis and Hubble flew 350 miles over western Australia.

McArthur now is employing cameras on the arm to inspect the external hull of Hubble -- a survey aimed at documenting the condition of the craft. NASA last visited Hubble in March 2002 and engineers want to document an micrometeorite or space debris hits as well as any degradation of its solar wings or thermal insulation.

On previous visits astronauts have discovered dings from space debris and degraded thermal blankets as well as damage to solar wings.

Today's high-flying rendezvous and capture of Hubble sets the stage for five consecutive days of spacewalking work on the observatory.

Atlantis lead spacewalker John Grunsfeld, who is making his third trip to Hubble, will work with mission specialist Andrew "Drew" Feustel on the first, third and fifth spacewalks on Thursday, Saturday and next Monday.

Veteran spacewalker Mike Massimino will work with mission specialist Mike Good on the second and fourth spacewalks on Friday and Sunday.

The astronauts aim to install two new state-of-the-art science instruments on Hubble -- the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. They also will attempt unprecedented repairs on two other instruments -- the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and the Advanced Camera for Surveys.

The spacewalkers also will equip Hubble with six new nickle-hydrogen batteries, six gyroscopes, new thermal blankets and a fixture that will enable a robotic craft ultimately to link up with Hubble and guide it into a watery grave in the Pacific Ocean.

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Space Junk Flies By Atlantis
A small piece of debris from a Chinese communications satellite destroyed in an anti-satellite test whizzed near shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Space Telescope tonight but it wasn't close enough to require evasive action.

The 10-centimeter chunk was following an orbital path that took it about 2.8 kilometers out in front of Atlantis and 150 meters below the shuttle and Hubble. Its orbital plane, however, was 3.9 kilometers from the shuttle's.

NASA's Mission Control Center informed the crew of the debris pass a few hours ago and told the astronauts that it wasn't anything to be concerned about. The debris flew by without incident.

The Hubble telescope is in an orbit 350 miles above Earth, one that is more littered with debris than the lower, 220-mile orbit of the International Space Station. The risk from micrometeorite or orbital debris strikes is elevated slightly as a result. NASA said before the flight the mean chance of a strike during the course of the Hubble servicing mission was about 1 in 221.

NASA deputy shuttle program manager LeRoy Cain said today that the agency is keenly aware of the dangers presented by micrometeorite and orbital debris and has put in place a strong program to identify and react to any threats.

"We just have to watch it. And we'll take action if action is necessary," Cain said.


NASA Mission Control, meanwhile, just told the astronauts that no focused inspection will be required during the mission -- a big relief in two ways.

First, it means the shuttle's heat shield did not sustain critical damage during ascent or early in flight.

And second, the astronauts don't have to worry about shoehorning a time-consuming inspection of the shuttle's heat shield into an already jammed-packed mission that includes spacewalking work on five consecutive days.

The crew will take a second look at 16 heat shield tiles on the port side of the shuttle's nose. Engineers said there was not sufficient coverage of that area during initial inspections, so the astronauts will use the camera on the end of the shuttle's robot arm to take another quick look.

The sensor-laden inspection boom used on Flight Day 2 inspections will not be required for the job, which is only expected to take about an hour.

Flight controllers are still determining exactly when that work will be done.

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Crew Assigned for Last Flight of Atlantis
NASA today announced the crew assigned to fly shuttle Atlantis for the last time - the third-to-last shuttle flight ever - which is targeted to launch from Kennedy Space Center on April 8, 2010.

Ken Ham, who piloted Discovery on STS-124 last May and June, will command the crew on a mission to deliver a Russian-built research module to the International Space Station.

The STS-132 mission will be piloted by Tony Antonelli, who just completed his first spaceflight in March as pilot of Discovery, the on STS-119 mission that installed the station's last set of solar arrays.

Mission specialists are Steve Bowen, Karen Nyberg, Garrett Reisman and Piers Sellers.

It will be the second spaceflight for each crew member except Sellers, who will be making his third trip to space.

After STS-132, NASA plans two more mission to complete assembly of the station and deliver spare parts and a physics experiment. The missions are planned by the end of 2010.

Here's the NASA press release:

NASA Assigns Crew for STS-132 Space Shuttle Mission

WASHINGTON -- NASA has assigned the crew for space shuttle mission STS-132, targeted for launch in April 2010. This flight will deliver the Russian-built Mini Research Module (MRM1) to the International Space Station.

Navy Capt. Ken Ham will command the shuttle Atlantis for this 11-day mission. Navy Cmdr. Tony Antonelli will serve as the pilot. Mission specialists are Navy Capt. Steve Bowen, Karen Nyberg, Garrett Reisman, and Piers Sellers.

Ham was born in Plainfield, N.J. He received a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. He served as the pilot on the STS-124 mission, which launched on May 31, 2008.

Antonelli was born in Detroit and grew up in Indiana and North Carolina. He holds a bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Washington. He served as the pilot on STS-119, which flew to the space station in March.

STS-132 will be the second mission for Bowen, who served as a mission specialist on STS-126 in November 2008. He was born in Cohasset, Mass., and has a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and a degree of ocean engineering from MIT.

STS-132 also will be the second spaceflight for Nyberg, who served as a mission specialist on STS-124. She considers Vining, Minn., to be her hometown. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of North Dakota, and a master's and a doctorate degree from the University of Texas.

This will be Reisman's second spaceflight. Reisman served as a flight engineer on the space station for portions of Expeditions 16 and 17, spending more than three months in space. He was born in Morristown, N.J., and considers Parsippany, N.J., his hometown. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's and doctorate degree from the California Institute of Technology.

Sellers will be embarking on his third spaceflight, having served as a mission specialist on STS-112 in 2002 and STS-121 in 2006. He was born in Crowborough, Sussex, United Kingdom. He has a bachelor's degree from University of Edinburgh and a doctorate from Leeds University.

Video of the STS-132 crew members will air on NASA Television's Video File at 10 p.m. EDT. For downlink and scheduling information and links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For complete astronaut biographical information, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios

For more information about NASA's Space Shuttle Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

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Cabana to KSC: Stay Focused on Shuttle Safety
Kennedy Space Center workers must stay focused on flying the final space shuttle missions safely while bracing for the loss of 3,500 to 4,000 jobs, KSC Director Robert Cabana told employees today.

"That's tough, that's really hard," Cabana said, during a morning presentation discussing NASA's recently released five-year budget, which was broadcast on closed-circuit television at the space center.

"But we have to face it and we have to deal with it. And nothing in this budget supports anything else but that."

The job losses will primarily affect technicians employed by NASA contractors between 2011 and 2012, after eight more shuttle flights are completed in addition to the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission in progress, Cabana said.

The spaceport had about 11,000 contractor employees as of last fall, according to its 2008 annual report. NASA civil service positions are expected to remain steady at about 2,100.

The agency plans to retire its three-orbiter fleet at the end of 2010 and transition to new spacecraft that won't launch astronauts until at least 2015. They are intended to fly crews first to the International Space Station and later to the moon.

But President Obama has asked for an independent commission to review NASA's human spaceflight plans over the next 90 days, and changes to current policy or spacecraft designs could impact KSC's workforce.

"We can't be distracted by commissions and all this other stuff that's going on," said Cabana, who welcomes the review. "If we make a mistake, nothing else matters. We're done."

The job loss numbers Cabana cited were consistent with NASA projections over the past year. An updated report is due to Congress soon.

He encouraged employees to take advantage of training opportunities offered by the Brevard Workforce Development Board.

And he expressed optimism about the work the shuttle's successor program, called Constellation, would eventually bring to KSC, such as final assembly and checkout of the new Orion crew capsule.

But similar work anticipated on lunar landers, which NASA had hoped to launch by 2020, is likely to be delayed because of inadequate funding, Cabana noted.

"It may not all be here yet, but there is new work coming beyond shuttle," he said.

Cabana is hopeful a partnership with Space Florida to develop a research park will succeed in attracting a diverse range of scientific and technical research. The park would be anchored by the state-built Space Life Sciences facility now on KSC property.

But he said progress partnering with private industry had been limited.

"I'm racking my brain trying to think of things we could bring here, but, you know, there's not a whole lot that we, NASA, can do," he said. "It kind of is what it is."

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Spacewalkers Head For The Showers
The first of five spacewalks on NASA's fifth and final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope now is in the history books.

More than seven hours after heading outside the airlock of shuttle Atlantis, mission specialists John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimino closed its hatch and settled back into their spaceship.

It was a productive day for the astronauts. They removed a workhorse planetary camera than had been operating for 16 years; they installed a next-generation replacement and also swapped out a broken control unit that routes commands to the telescope's science instruments and data back to Earth.

And they installed a docking mechanism that will enable a robotic spacecraft to latch onto the observatory and guide it on a controlled reentry over remote areas of the Pacific Ocean at the end of its useful life.

"Ready for a hot shower and a good meal," Grunsfeld said as he moved back into the spaceship.

"Well, we'll see what we can do about that," said mission specialist Mike Good, who was looking on from the shuttle's aft flight deck.

Grunsfeld will have to settle for a sponge bath. NASA shuttle orbiters are not equipped with showers.

He'll fared better with dinner. On his menu tonight: Shrimp Cocktail, an astronaut corps favorite; Teriyaki Chicken, Chicken Strips with Salsa; Red Raspberry bar; Greens Garden Of Life Organic Perfect Foods; Edamame, Goji Blend; two servings of Lemonade and decaffeinated Green Tea.

Grunsfeld and Feustel switched their spacesuits off battery power at 4:22 p.m., marking the official end of the 19th spacewalk performed at the Hubble telescope since its launch 19 years ago.

The official duration of the spacewalk: 7 hours and 20 minutes.

Total spacewalking time now tallied at Hubble: 136 hours and 30 minutes.

Next up: Atlantis mission specialists Mike Massimino and Mike Good. The Mikes will head outside at 8:16 a.m. on an excursion aimed at swapping out three nickel-hydrogen batteries and three gyroscopes key to the telescope's pointing control system.

You can watch it all unfold live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the Live Shuttle Broadcast box at the righthand side of this page to launch our NASA TV viewer and live round-the-clock coverage of the STS-125 mission.

And be sure, too, to refresh this page for periodic updates.

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NASA's Moon Probe Launch Delayed
NASA won't launch its lunar mapping probe and crater impactor until at least June 17, a delay of about two weeks from the previously planned June 2 date.

A NASA new release today says more time is needed to analyze how a rocket upper will handle before it is crashed into one of the moon's permanently shadowed poles.

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite spacecraft, or LCROSS, will follow the rocket stage into the plume with sensors trying to detect evidence of water ice.

Officials are studying a potential thrust disturbance associated with the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket's Centaur upper stage fill/drain valves, according to the release.

Meanwhile, the rocket is fully loaded with propellants today for a launch rehearsal at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41. The rocket will be rolled back to its vertical hanger facility Saturday.

Also today, the LCROSS spacecraft and rocket's primary payload, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, are being enclosed inside the rocket's payload fairing at Astrotech in Titusville.

LRO will create a detailed digital map of the moon's surface, helping to identify potential landing sites for astronauts. NASA hopes to send crews back to the moon by 2020.

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White House: Bolden to meet with Obama on NASA job

Former astronaut Charlie Bolden will meet with President Barack Obama on Monday to discuss the NASA administrator job, the White House confirmed today.

"I think you know that the president...wants to meet with somebody about filling the important role of NASA administrator," Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, said at a briefing.

Asked if that person was Bolden, Gibbs responded: "He will meet with him Monday and we'll see how that goes."

Bolden, a veteran shuttle mission pilot and commander, has been on the shortlist of candidates being mentioned in Washington for months. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who flew with Bolden on shuttle Columbia in 1986, has been pushing for him.

Bolden did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Bolden would be the first Afrian-American to be nominated for the top NASA job.