By Matt Phillips
Special to The Review
After a lifetime’s pursuit and several years of intense training, Lake Orion’s own Dr. Drew Feustel is now 15 days away from realizing his dream of being lifted into space aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis for an 11 day journey to repair the Hubble Telescope.
While patience is a virtue, patience is a way of life at NASA. Mission STS-125 was originally schedule for departure in March of 2008, but with the meticulous nature of NASA, delays are to be expected.
Even as recently as three weeks ago, NASA announced that the mission would be delayed two more days (moving from Oct. 8 to Oct. 10) to insure that all systems were perfect. Now, barring any unexpected pre-flight abnormalities, it’s all systems go for Oct. 10, 2008.
In addition to Feustel, the crew of Mission STS-125 consists of Scott Altman, Commander from Illinois; Gregory Johnson, Pilot from Washington; Michael Good, Mission Specialist from Ohio; Megan McArthur, Mission Specialist from California; John Grunsfeld, Mission Specialist from Illinois; and Mike Massimino, Mission Specialist from New York.
While this close knit group will physically carry out the initiatives of the mission, NASA employs over 15,000 people who all play a roll in these missions and on the day of the launch, over 460 Engineers and Technicians will work in two ‘Firing Rooms? to monitor, check and recheck every aspect of the lift off.
In preparation for the Oct. 10 launch, the entire launch crew will begin final preparations during the week of Sept. 22. These events will consist of everything from sleep shifting (the process of getting your body’s internal clock adjusted to the timing of the mission) to a fully executed launch simulation (minus the rocket blast).
From there, the astronauts will go into quarantine one-and-a-half weeks prior to lift off in order to minimize exposure to potential illness and to prepare themselves mentally and physically for their mission. Then begins the countdown?
With the launch scheduled for Oct. 10 at 12:33 a.m. the countdown will begin on Monday, Oct. 6, with the official clock set at T-43 hours and counting (T means time until launch). While there are certainly more than 43 hours between Monday and Thursday, there will be several ‘built-in holds? which allow for system checks.
Things get really exciting at T-3 hours and counting, as that’s when the crew is escorted to the shuttle and begin their pre-flight checklist. By the time the next countdown milestone is reached at T-20 minutes and holding, the shuttle hatch is closed and final launch configurations are engaged.
The last ‘built-in hold? occurs at T-9 minutes and holding when the launch director asks each team member for a Go/No Go to launch. If all systems are go then they proceed, with each of the remaining 540 seconds being accounted for with a sequence of events to engage all systems. At T-6.6 seconds, the main engines are started and at T-0 the solid rocket booster ignites and we have lift off!
In a mere seven seconds MET (Mission Elapsed Time) the shuttle will have cleared the launch pad, and shortly thereafter will begin it’s designed ‘rollover? as it accelerates to at least 17,500 mph and at eight-and-a-half minutes MET the shuttle reaches orbit.
With the crew now weightless, Commander Altman and Pilot Johnson will fire up the Orbital Maneuvering Systems and proceed toward a rendezvous with the Hubble Telescope.
For all of the preparation and training, the next 11 days will pass like the blink of an eye for this crew, but their accomplishments will change the world!
From all of us here in Lake Orion to the brave men and woman of STS-125 ? ‘Godspeed.?
For more on this Mission and to track all of their activities, please visit NASA on the web at www.nasa.gov.
Please be sure to check out The Review in October for a detailed look inside of the Journey to Hubble with ‘Notes from Space.? Next week, we’ll examine the mission timeline.