The other important Space News of the day is that after wind tunnel tests, it's been decided that the last questionable area on the shuttle (a bit of torn insulation foam around the cockpit window) should pose no danger. So they've cleared the shuttle to return and land on Monday, as scheduled. Of course, there's no such thing as a guarantee, but they're as confident as they've ever been about the shuttle being in a condition to handle the extreme environment that is reentry.

good ....and then they are grounded again. Hopefully the design something better than this type of shuttle system for the next trip...

I hereby nominate DD as the Space Shuttle geek of the week!

Thanks for the continued updates Daniel. As someone who cannot keep up on the news, I appreciate your posts and links.

The red long-john tribute idea is really taking off!

The groundings arn't permenant, it's only until they can secure those last pieces of foam that fell off this launch.

From my understanding of what I've read, after the last accident it was decided that the shuttle fleet would be retired in 2010 regardless. The tech and design is too old.

Personally, I believe that if this is the case, the military must have some secret craft that is perhaps already in use. There are frequent launches undercover of darkness at some missile range in NM, and here in Phoenix at sunrise we are often able to see the exhaust from the launches, and a news story is broadcast that it was some sort of "test".

With the Chinese expansion into the space business, I find it hard to believe that we will be without the ability to get there when we need to.

thats to bad. With an aging fleet only more accidents are likely to occue not less....I found out soemthing I hadn't kown before. the shuttle was originally designed with the intention of it to reach space on it's own ....and the big fuel tank, but when it was found out it could not preform the way they had intended instead of redesignign one that would work they did the quick fix and added solid rocket boosters to it. There was more to it than that...somthing about solid rocket boosters shouldn't be used on manned space crafts...however and engineer was telling this to me. one who used to work at edwards....and I'm not an engineer so i will butcher it in the retelling....I still think they need to come up with something better. the current fleet served it's purpose. make them staric somewhere as an exhibit and move on.

I agree. The U2 and the Stealth Bomber were made under similar circumstances, and wern't revealed for years. I remember hearing about some top secret project (Avalon maybe?) that showed up on a military budget that was presented to congress, then deleted. It was something that had billions of dollars alloted to it. Perhaps, for once, the conspiricy theroy's are right?

Discovery's Voyage Nears an End - Aug. 7, 2005

Space Shuttle Discovery flies alone. On Sunday, Aug. 7, the Discovery crew completed its last full day of spaceflight before landing, which is scheduled for 4:46 a.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 8.

This was a relatively quiet day aboard Discovery for the crew, who spent nearly nine days in joint operations with the International Space Station's Expedition 11 crew before undocking early Saturday, Aug. 6. Together, they transferred tons of supplies and equipment to and from the Station, conducted three spacewalks and experimented with techniques for repairing the Shuttle's heat shields.

STS-114, dubbed the most photographed spaceflight, set a new precedent for future test flights. Never-before-seen imagery aided engineers in assessing the Shuttle's external tank performance and ensuring a safe heat shield for return to Earth.

A mission of firsts, STS-114 carried the Orbiter's Boom Sensor System on its maiden flight, performed the first back-flip in spaceflight and successfully completed a first-of-its-kind repair to the Shuttle, making spacewalk history. Discovery was the first Space Shuttle to visit the Station since late 2002.

The two crews also paid tribute to the astronauts and cosmonauts who have given their lives for space exploration.


Backdropped by the blackness of space and Earth's horizon, this full view of the International Space Station was photographed by a crewmember onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery following the undocking of the two spacecraft. Discovery pulled away from the complex at 2:24 a.m. (CDT) on August 6, 2005.


Astronaut Eileen M. Collins (right), STS-114 commander, and cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev, Expedition 11 commander representing Russia's Federal Space Agency, pose for a photo Aug. 5 in the Unity node after the STS-114 crew patch was added to the growing collection of insignias representing crews who have worked on the International Space Station.


Astronaut Stephen K. Robinson, STS-114 mission specialist, anchored to a foot restraint on the International Space Station's Canadarm2, participates in the mission's third session of extravehicular activity (EVA) on Aug. 3. The blackness of space and Earth's horizon form the backdrop for the image.


The Space Shuttle Discovery, docked to the Destiny laboratory of International Space Station, is featured in this image photographed by astronaut Stephen K. Robinson (out of frame), STS-114 mission specialist, during the Aug. 3, 2005 spacewalk. Astronaut Soichi Noguchi, mission specialist representing Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is partially visible between Discovery's payload bay and Destiny. The blackness of space and Earth's horizon formed the backdrop for the image.

Podcaster and Mission Specialist Steve Robinson aboard the International Space Station prior to Space Shuttle Discovery undocking.

Steve Robinson: First Podcaster From Space - Aug. 7, 2005

How would you like to hear from the first person to perform an extravehicular activity (EVA) underneath a Space Shuttle in orbit? The same astronaut also performed another "first" in space: One day before the planned landing of Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-114 Mission Specialist Steve Robinson transmitted the first podcast from space on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2005.

You can listen to or download the podcast (3 minutes and 42 seconds, mp3 file) at: http://www.nasa.gov/mp3/124708main_s...on_podcast.mp3

Podcast Transcript:

Hello, this is Mission Specialist Number 2 Steve Robinson from the Space Shuttle Discovery. We're high in orbit on our last day of orbit. Tomorrow we come home. I'm currently talking to you just off the southeast tip of Indonesia in the daylight and moving on towards night. It's been a fantastic mission up here, absolutely amazing. Some of the hardest work that any of us have ever done. We haven't had a whole lot of sleep, and we've been extremely busy and really happy.

The mission has been a test flight. We've tried lots of new things on this mission, from inspecting the Space Shuttle in space using all kinds of robot arms and sensors, to doing experimental spacewalks, which have also gone very, very well, and it's been very gratifying to learn so much about our orbiter.

We've had some surprises. We sure didn't expect that big piece of foam to come off of the tank. Fortunately it missed us. We didn't expect to go outside and get to remove gap fillers from the belly of the orbiter. That was, I would have to say, the most fantastic experience of my life. Just incredible to be way out there on the end of that arm all by myself and see no evidence of humans anywhere. Just me and the Space Station and the Space Shuttle from a view that neither I nor anybody else has ever seen, and watch the sun come up over the bottom of the Space Shuttle, and get to sort of drink in that big view. I'll never forget it, and I'll never be able to describe it adequately, I'm sure. But I feel very fortunate to have been able to get a chance to do that. And also very glad that it worked!

We were able to do, we were ready to do more than just pull on the gap fillers. We were ready to actually cut it out if we had to. We were going to get those gap fillers out no matter what! Turns out to be, have been a very easy job.

The rest of the crewmembers, the rest of the crewmembers -- Eileen and Jim and Soichi and Andy and Wendy and Charlie -- we've had a really good time together. You know, we've trained together for a long time, several years. And we really enjoy each other's company. And it's a really rare thing to be with this, a group of people who are as diverse as we are. Everybody with different and complementary talents and all with a really great sense of humor. So we've laughed a lot, we've worked really hard, and we've learned a lot from each other. It's been really a fantastic experience.

Now it's time to go home. I think some people are ready to go home -- I know I'm not. I would rather stay on the Space Station with Sergei and John and experience this strange, incredible life floating in Earth, above the Earth.

At any rate, I will close ... At any rate I will close this very brief first podcast from space with a greeting to all Earthings and a thank you for your interest and support. Whether you support the space program or not, you're learning from it. You're learning from it the very moment you hear this and think about what we're doing. And I think that learning is what looking over the horizon is all about, and don't forget that learning can be exciting and fun, too, because that's certainly what this mission has been all about.

So signing off from the Space Shuttle Discovery, this is Steve Robinson, and hope to talk to you soon.

Thanks, Daniel. I hope they make it back safely- it's getting so that I am reluctant to pay any attention to these endeavors, as it is devastating when something goes wrong.