Endeavour Rolled Out As Rescue Ship

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday September 20, 2008 @01:15AM from the two-for-the-price-of-two dept.

stoolpigeon writes "The space shuttle Endeavour was rolled out to Launch Pad 39B yesterday. Space shuttle Atlantis is already at Launch Pad 39A, being made ready for the STS-125 mission to repair Hubble. We recently got a look at some behind-the-scenes photos for this mission. Endeavour is now in place to act as a rescue vehicle if there are any problems with Atlantis, once they are in space. This is the first time one shuttle has been prepared to act as a rescue vehicle for another. If all goes well for STS-125, Endeavour will move over to 39A to be used for STS-126."

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Direct link by Kagura · 2008-09-20 01:19 · Score: 5, Informative

Direct link for the photos, since it's not actually in the article: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/preparing_to_rescue_hubble.html

Also, karma whore.
Re:One faulty space truck to rescue another by cyclone96 · 2008-09-20 02:53 · Score: 5, Informative

Pay the Russians to get a Soyuz ready? Although it might take two trips...
The orbital inclination of Hubble is 28.5 degrees (essentially due east from Kennedy Space Center). The Soyuz pad at Baikonur is too far north to reach that inclination without doing a plane change, which takes more propellant than Soyuz carries.

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