Media reports say this is the most dangerous Space Shuttle mission ever. Why is this different to the other Hubble missions?
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M$2 Answers
Even worse, if they find damage to the heat shield on the shuttle, there isn't another shuttle ready to be launched for a rescue/emergency, so they won't be able to get to the space station and wait for the arrival.
--quote--
For every shuttle mission since Columbia, there has been a contingency plan in place to allow another shuttle to be launched if needed to rescue a stranded shuttle crew. On station missions, that stranded crew can wait longer at the station than would be the case for Atlantis. So, for 125, another shuttle will be standing ready on Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-B. If needed, space shuttle Endeavour, manned by the flight deck crew of mission STS-123 which flew in March, will be ready to fly to Hubble and retrieve Atlantis’ crew within days.
--endquote--
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M$Quoted from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/11/shuttle-launch-atlantis-s_n_201476.html
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M$
Hi Dr. Matt,
I am going by what is posted on the Huffington Post. Their article did not mention the lack of a backup shuttle, just the paragraph I posted as reason for danger.
In the same article it says "NASA canceled this last Hubble mission in 2004, saying it was too dangerous. It was reinstated two years later by the space agency's new boss, but only after shuttle flights had resumed and repair techniques had been developed. As an added precaution, another shuttle was ordered to be on standby, in case Atlantis suffered irreparable damage.
Endeavour, the rescue ship, is ready to lift off within a week to save Atlantis' crew."
So I don't agree that my answer was unhelpful.
(I haven't made any unhelpful answers here yet)
He did say "Media Reports"
Another source:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/05/11/space.shuttle.rescue/index.html?iref=newssearch
" Endeavour is far more than a postcard picture -- it's on standby in case something goes seriously wrong with the Atlantis mission. For example, NASA has estimated there's a 1-in-221 chance the shuttle could be struck and crippled by orbiting space debris."
"If such an incident were to thrust the seven Atlantis astronauts into danger, Endeavour would blast off within days in a last-ditch attempt to save them. "
One final quote that should sums up the risks:
"This repair mission is especially risky _ a rescue shuttle is on standby for the first time ever _ because of the debris-littered orbit of Hubble. Unlike other space flights, the astronauts can't reach the international space station because it is in a different orbit than the telescope."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/12/shuttle-atlantis-damage-d_n_202465.html#
AND "Atlantis will be flying in an unusually high orbit for a space shuttle 350 miles up" and as a result "there's a 1-in-221 chance the shuttle could be struck and crippled by orbiting space debris."
So I got some of the details wrong. It's still dangerous because they can't get to the space station like normal and would have to launch another shuttle for a rescue... as a "last ditch effort".
According to NASA, this isn't why it's going to be more dangerous.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/hst_sm4/overview.html
Here is the paragraph before the one I quoted (from the same source):
--quote--
In the unlikely event that irreparable damage is found, the crew also won’t be able to get to the space station to wait for a ride home – Atlantis can't reach the station from Hubble’s orbit. Because the crew won't have access to the station and the support it could provide in an emergency, the mission to Hubble requires some changes on the ground.
--quote--
So, I was mistaken to say there wasn't another shuttle prepared to go get them, but the thought is still correct. One of the reasons this mission is more dangerous is because the shuttle will NOT be able to get to the space station.
"Even worse, if they find damage to the heat shield on the shuttle, there isn't another shuttle ready to be launched for a rescue/emergency, so they won't be able to get to the space station and wait for the arrival"
Actually I think it's the opposite:
Source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1180135/Nasa-launches-dangerous-shuttle-mission-fix-Hubble-telescope.html
"The mission, which is costing Nasa $1.4 billion and is launched from Florida today, is considered so perilous that it was once cancelled by space agency chiefs who feared that it could cost the astronauts their lives.
It was resurrected only after they agreed to place a second shuttle and crew on emergency standby, ready to blast into space to save their colleagues should a catastrophe occur. The move is unprecedented in the 28-year history of the shuttle fleet."
and from the quote you gave:
"If needed, space shuttle Endeavour, manned by the flight deck crew of mission STS-123 which flew in March, will be ready to fly to Hubble and retrieve Atlantis’ crew within days."
And here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/05/11/space.shuttle.rescue/index.html?iref=newssearch
Astronauts ready for rescue mission they hope never happens
"We have high confidence that we're just having that thing over on pad B to make it look nice," said mission flight director Tony Ceccaci.