# Last flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis



## David Baxter PhD (May 14, 2010)

*Strapping In With the Crew of the Shuttle for Launch Training*

Strapping In With the Crew of the Shuttle for Launch Training
By Jason Paur, _Wired_
May 13, 2010

The STS-132 crew will buckle into the space shuttle Atlantis tomorrow before launching into orbit for a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. It is the last scheduled flight of Atlantis, and the last scheduled flight for each of the six astronauts aboard.

Earlier this month, I was at the Johnson Space Center after STS-132 commander Ken Ham invited me to join the crew on a launch-simulation training session. After spending some time in the fixed-base simulator practicing landings, Commander Ham thought it would be interesting for me to get a taste of the launch simulations in the full-motion simulator.

The motion-based simulator (MB) is similar to the full-motion simulators used to train airline pilots. There is a complete reproduction of the entire space shuttle cockpit, and screens out the windows replicate the scenery during flight. Unlike the full-motion simulators used by the airlines, the MB that trains the astronauts can tilt all the way back to simulate the launch position of the orbiter with everybody on board lying on their backs.

Inside the cockpit are Commander Ken Ham in left seat and Pilot Tony Antonelli in the right seat. Directly behind the right seat, sits Mission Specialist Garrett Reisman and, in the middle behind a center console, sits Mission Specialist Michael Good. During launch, mission specialists Piers Sellers and Steve Bowen will be in the mid-deck and did not take part in the cockpit training sessions. Though there are only four seats in the cockpit of the orbiter, there is a fifth seat in the simulator located directly behind Commander Ham?s seat for observers.

After everybody is strapped in, and all loose objects are secured, the entire cockpit is tilted on to its back and the crew sits waiting for the training to begin.

[video]http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid46203255001?bclid=46205328001&bctid=85466876001[/MEDIA]

There was no iconic countdown in the simulation. After confirmation over the headset with the launch crew at mission control that everything was secure and ready to go, we could hear the rumbling sound of rockets and the entire MB started to shake. The shaking is an attempt to recreate as much of the real launch conditions as possible. The full load of the sustained g forces can?t be replicated, but lying on your back with everything moving around provides some of the feeling of launch.

Inside the simulator, you can feel when the solid rocket boosters detach. The shaking stops once the main engine is cut off, about eight minutes and 30 seconds into the flight. By the time the shaking stops, the simulator is returned to a level position so the crew is no longer lying on their backs.

Over the course of several hours, the crew rehearsed several launch emergency scenarios, some of them stacked one after the other during a single session. After each session, the crew debrief with the trainers who are monitoring the training in a room nearby. Once the debrief was done, the MB was returned to the vertical position, a few small, loose items fall to the back of the cockpit and several minutes later, everything starts shaking and a new session begins.

From my vantage point in the extra fifth seat behind Commander Ham, watching the crew train is complete information overload. The crew remains calm through each emergency and works together like a well-oiled machine. And crew resource management takes on a whole new meaning with a four-person crew and several more on the ground at mission control. But the constant stream of information coming in from the ground crew over the headsets, the information presented inside the cockpit and the book-like checklists that are constantly referred to is incredible.

The mood during each session is all business. Each crew member is working very hard to find a solution to the wide range of emergencies that?s being thrown at him. But during the short breaks between sessions, it sounds more like your average office chit-chat. The crew talks about Little League games and past work experience, though since that includes previous missions to space and flying fighter jets, it?s not exactly mundane. There are plenty of jokes and laughter.

The various simulators used by the space shuttle crews are - practically speaking - the main way for astronauts to gain experience. Commander Ham and other members of the STS-132 crew have been been astronauts for more than a decade, but except for Piers Sellers, this will only be their second mission to space.

Unlike an airline or military pilot who can spend a decade gaining experience during actual flight training and missions, the relative lack of actual time in the orbiter means there is very little opportunity to gain ?on the job? experience for the astronauts. After spending only half a day in the MB watching the crew deal with everything from fires to aborted trips to orbit due to engine failures, it is apparent there is plenty of experience to be gained while only shaking 20 feet above the ground.
The crew will buckle into the real orbiter tomorrow morning. After thousands of training sessions in a variety of simulators, they are scheduled to lift off at 2:20pm EDT for a twelve day mission to the ISS. There are only three scheduled space shuttle missions remaining remaining.


----------



## Retired (May 14, 2010)

*Re: Strapping In With the Crew of the Shuttle for Launch Training*

I'll be glued to my TV watching NASA TV to watch the the launch of Atlantis this afternoon.  CNN will probably carry the launch as well, but if you can access NASA TV on your cable you will get better coverage.

On your computer you can see NASA TV HERE.  You may be asked to run Windows Media Player Add-on to your browser to view the TV stream.

Check it out right now!


----------



## David Baxter PhD (May 14, 2010)

*Re: Strapping In With the Crew of the Shuttle for Launch Training*



Steve said:


> I'll be glued to my TV watching NASA TV to watch the the launch of Atlantis this afternoon.


 
Voice of experience says pick up a few extra large bottles of nail polish remover beforehand so you can unglue yourselkf when it's all over.


----------



## Retired (May 14, 2010)

*Re: Strapping In With the Crew of the Shuttle for Launch Training*

Great advice, David...in the past I got very tired _prying myself to sleep_...:lol:


----------



## Daniel (May 14, 2010)

*Re: Strapping In With the Crew of the Shuttle for Launch Training*

I wonder what the NASA people would think of the new article on Overcoming Perfectionism 

Seriously, I'm watching the NASA channel now since you guys mentioned it.  The launch is still scheduled at 2:20 pm, which is now only 20 minutes away.


----------



## Retired (May 14, 2010)

*Re: Strapping In With the Crew of the Shuttle for Launch Training*

It was a picture perfect launch, and as many times as I have watched a shuttle launch, I am fascinated every time.  The weather looked perfect and I'm sure those who were on the shore of the Indian River had a great show.

Can you see the the shuttle in the air or the plume from your location, Daniel?

Who else on the Forum watched the lauch of Atlantis today?


----------



## Daniel (May 14, 2010)

*Re: Strapping In With the Crew of the Shuttle for Launch Training*

Yeah, it was exciting to watch.  It was also relaxing to watch the replays of the launch from different cameras.



> Can you see the the shuttle in the air or the plume from your location,  Daniel?


Negative , or at least not that I know of.  I practically live in Georgia


----------



## David Baxter PhD (May 16, 2010)

Last flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis
May 15, 2010


----------



## Retired (May 16, 2010)

> Last flight



Atlantis will be prepped as the backup rescue vehicle for Discovery's mission in September, and there is a slight possibility a couple of missions will be added after the current end of the shuttle program.  Officially, as has been stated, STS 132 is the final flight of Atlantis.

Anyone watching Nasa TV for a live video/audio stream of the Atlantis mission?


----------



## Retired (May 16, 2010)

*Re: Strapping In With the Crew of the Shuttle for Launch Training*



> I practically live in Georgia



We won't hold that against you, Daniel

Here is a photo by one of my friends, taken in about ten miles from the launch site.


----------



## David Baxter PhD (May 16, 2010)

*Re: Strapping In With the Crew of the Shuttle for Launch Training*

Is it my imagination or can you see one of the astronauts waving through the window in that photo?


----------



## Daniel (May 17, 2010)

> Anyone watching Nasa  TV for a live video/audio stream of the Atlantis mission?


I did since you mentioned it, but for the most part was more enticed by the other highly popular channel, Book TV


----------



## David Baxter PhD (May 24, 2010)

*Space shuttle Atlantis heads home*

Space shuttle Atlantis heads home
CBC News
Sunday, May 23, 2010

The U.S. space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station on Sunday morning and is heading home on its final voyage after being connected with the station for a week.

Crew members from the shuttle and the orbiting station gathered one last time in the ISS for a joint news conference, taking questions from reporters in the United States and Japan before parting ways 354 kilometres above the Indian Ocean at 11:22 a.m. ET, NASA said.

Atlantis is expected to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday at 8:48 a.m. ET.

The space station is now bigger and packs more power, thanks to Atlantis and its crew.
They left behind a new Russian compartment packed with supplies, as well as six fresh batteries and other equipment that was hooked up during a series of spacewalks.

Its total mass exceeds 370,000 kilograms, and it's 98 per cent complete in terms of living space. Two shuttle missions remain to wrap up NASA's share of construction on the ISS.

Discovery is scheduled to fly in September, followed by Endeavour in November.

*No more flying*
Once Atlantis lands, it will never fly in space again.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who is in Key Largo, Fla., said three-quarters of astronauts who go into space have taken Atlantis. He took it on his first trip to the Russian space station Mir in the 1990s.

"At some point you have to retire a vehicle and build new ones, just like any car or any airplane," he said.

"But it does make me wistful to know that when Atlantis's wheels roll to a stop in a couple of days that that'll be the last time we ask that great creation to take us places we've never been before."


----------



## David Baxter PhD (May 24, 2010)

From the public comments to that story:

*TheAngloIndian wrote: *
_On another note, could some space aficionado answer why an astronaut or cosmonaut has to be tethered to the ISS while doing a spacewalk so as to not drift away, but, the ISS is standing on its own? _​*CoolVoiceofReason wrote:*
_The ISS is not standing on its own, it is connected to Earth by a very small but very strong piece of string. Following this string allows the shuttle to locate and arrive at the ISS just as scuba divers follow a rope to something on the bottom. _​*SensibleSam wrote:*
_"Space shuttle Atlantis heads home"_
_If you have read most of today's news headlines, I'd detour around home._​


----------



## David Baxter PhD (May 24, 2010)

Photo Gallery: The space shuttle _Atlantis_ in pictures

Photo Gallery: The space shuttle _Atlantis_: The final voyage


----------



## David Baxter PhD (May 26, 2010)

CBC News - World - Space shuttle Atlantis lands for final time

Video of landing: CBC.ca Video Breakout Player  (mentions Titusville )


----------



## Retired (May 26, 2010)

*Re: Strapping In With the Crew of the Shuttle for Launch Training*

I watched it live on NASA TV this morning.  The weather looked great and the landing was absolutely beautiful.  Wished I was there <sigh>

The video content available is just fabulous.  It's just too bad the media and the politicians have not been paying attention until now.


----------

