SSEP Blog – Ballston Spa, NY

NASA has now indicated that the launch will be no earlier than May 8th.

ITA called to see if we would be sending new samples.  We confirmed that we would try to send new samples.

NASA  said the launch will not be Monday but is targeted towards the end of the week.  They have to replace a heater

ITA called and asked whether it would be better to leave our samples in the MDA or reload them based on a 72 hour delay.  We decided to leave the samples in the MDA and not reload.

The students are not too happy about delay but two in Florida  just met some of the astronauts.

We will wait for NASA to have press conference at 4pm today (Friday) and then plan next step. If Monday launch – at 2:33 pm – we will watch it from school.

Set up of the control unit and poster boards for display today - rest tomorrow

Preparations are underway back at the school – launch is right after school tomorrow.

Lots of statistics about the chances for an on time launch were shared.  During the mission the crew will instal the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment – a cosmic particle detector that utilizes the first ever superconducting magnet flown in space.