SAD LOVE QUOTES: NASA retires Atlantis space shuttle replica that never left the ground

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

NASA retires Atlantis space shuttle replica that never left the ground

Last updated at 10:04 PM on 19th July 2011

It is the same size, has same instruments, the same cockpit and the same layout.

But even though the OV-095 is an exact replica of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, it has never actually flown.

The 'ghost orbiter' has been kept in a hanger for the last 26 years to help engineers if there is a problem with the craft in space.

Whenever Atlantis has flown, so has the OV-095, albeit whilst staying on Earth.

Replica: The OV-095 is NASA's ghost orbiter that engineers use in case of an emergency in space. It will now be retired alongside the flying models of the shuttle

The NASA engineers say it has played as vital a role in exploring space as Atlantis but, like the Space Shuttle itself, it now faces retirement too.

Atlantis is scheduled to land on Earth on Thursday bringing to an end
37 missions totally 276 days over the course of 26 years.

By the end of December OV-095 will be dismantled and become a real ghost orbiter - and just a memory for its 'crew'.

During the ongoing final mission, as with all the others, the cockpit of OV-095 has hummed with chatter between NASA mission control and the astronauts.

But if something goes wrong before it comes back to Earth its specialist team will spring to life in the hanger at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston.

The team, called SAIL, or Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory, replicate the problem, fix it and give their findings to the astronauts in space.

To do that they will have to sort through the craft's 1,440 circuit breakers, 2.5million parts, 1060 valves and 230 miles of wire on board the scale copy.

OV-095 gets its name from the fact Atlantis is an Orbiter Vehicle. The ships that fly into space are given OV numbers above 100, such as
OV-104 for Atlantis. The test ships are given numbers below 100.

Final mission: Atlantis is currently in orbit above the earth after undocking from the International Space Station earlier today

OV-099 was a complete ship which was later converted for spaceflight as the shuttle Challenger but was destroyed during takeoff in 1986, leading to the death of seven astronauts.

NASA has ended its Space Shuttle programme due to budget shortfalls, sparking a wave of affection from the staff who have worked on it for years.

'Words can't tell you how proud we are of what the shuttle has done, what our country has done, that this worked, that it worked repeatedly, to bring lots of people up and bring them back, to bring heavy payloads back,' Atlantis lead engineer Frank Svrcek told ABC News.

'It is just an amazing accomplishment that I can't put totally into words how proud I should be.'