2 posts tagged “sts-118”
Turns out that Endeavour was struck by foam, rather than ice (although icy foam is a possibility as well).
Again NASA provides some crazy movies of the foam detaching from the tank, and then ricocheting off a fuel pipe and into the orbiter.
Who knew foam could ricochet like that? I would have guessed that the speed at which the shuttle was traveling (about 1657mph) would have made that kind of bounce impossible.
Today is launch day at Kennedy Space Center. Excellent video on NasaTV. I have never seen some of these shots, including the crew getting harnessed and strapped into their seats.
God Speed, everyone!!But this mission also will see a two decade-old dream realized and a vision of inspiration completed. Twenty-two years after first being selected as Christa McAuliffe’s backup in the Teacher in Space Project, Barbara Morgan will strap into space shuttle Endeavour as a fully-trained astronaut. She is one of five mission specialists in the seven-member crew.
STS-118 currently is an 11-day mission with three spacewalks planned. Mission managers could add three more days and an additional spacewalk after the Station-Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS) is activated and checked out.
