November 20, 2017 - Weather Woes Delay Deorbit

Weather Woes Delay Deorbit   Fifteen years ago this week, the STS-113 mission took off for the International Space Station. Endeavour spent a week in the configuration seen here, docked to the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 connected to the Destiny Laboratory module. During that time, astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington conducted three spacewalks totaling nearly twenty hours, during which they connected the P1 truss, installed external TV cameras, and inspected the station’s Mobile Transporter. The 14-meter-long (45 ft) P1 truss extended the length of the station’s main truss to 40 meters (130 ft). The STS-113 mission also delivered over two tons of cargo to the station, swapped the Expedition Five and Six crews, and landed three days late due to bad weather—a shuttle record.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

November 20-26, 2017

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 20

Mercury 7° south of Moon
Saturn 3° south of Moon

1889: Edwin Hubble born
1998: Zarya module launched, first element of International Space Station
2002: First Delta IV launched
2004: Swift spacecraft launched

Tuesday 21

Moon at apogee

Wednesday 22

Neptune appears stationary

1989: STS-33 Discovery launched 

Thursday 23

Thanksgiving Day

Mercury at greatest elongation (22° E)

1977: Meteosat 1 launched
1983: 149-day Salyut 7 mission ends
2002: STS-113 Endeavour launched
2014: Soyuz TMA-15M launched carrying ISS Expedition 42/43 crew
2015: New Shepard makes first powered vertical landing of rocket booster from space

Friday 24

1947: First Aerobee rocket launch
1991: STS-44 Atlantis launched

Saturday 25

1970: First powered flight of M2-F3 lifting body

Sunday 26

First Qtr Moon 12:03 PM ET

1965: France becomes third nation to launch a satellite
1975: Final X-24B lifting body flight
1985: STS-61B Atlantis launched
1989: Kvant 2 module launched
2011: Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity launched