How would the rescue mission work, if needed, and how long would it last?
A rescue mission to Atlantis called STS-400 would last about a week. Endeavour would launch from Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center with shuttle commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Eric Boe and spacewalkers Shane Kimbrough and Stephen Bowen. The rescue crew consists of the same four astronauts who last launched on Endeavour’s flight deck during its most recent flight, STS-126 in November 2008. The astronauts would fly Endeavour to Atlantis, and grapple the stricken ship with Endeavour’s robotic arm. They would then perform a complicated series of three spacewalks to move the seven astronauts from the damaged Atlantis into Endeavour, with Atlantis commander Scott Altman the last to leave. After a day to rest, the astronauts would perform their standard prelanding heat shield inspection and return to Earth a day or so later. NASA considers the need for such a rescue mission as extremely unlikely, but wanted to have an option just in case.
