Kavandi Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Female, Married, Two children. Born in Springfield, Missouri, USA. PhD

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: NASA Group 15 - 1995. Active Entered space service: 9 December 1994. Number of Flights: 3.00. Total Time: 33.84 days.

NAME: Janet Lynn Kavandi (Ph.D.)

NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:

Born July 17, 1959 in Springfield, Missouri. Married to John Kavandi. They have two children. She enjoys snow skiing, hiking, camping, horseback riding, windsurfing, flying, scuba diving, piano. Her parents, William and Ruth Sellers of Cassville, Missouri, are deceased.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Carthage Senior High School, Carthage Missouri, in 1977; received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Missouri Southern State College - Joplin in 1980; master of science degree in chemistry from the University of Missouri - Rolla in 1982; doctorate in analytical chemistry from the University of Washington - Seattle in 1990.

SPECIAL HONORS:

Elected to the National Honor Society, 1977. Valedictorian of Carthage Senior High School, 1977. Awarded Presidential Scholarship from Missouri Southern State College, 1977. Graduated magma cum laude from Missouri Southern State College, 1980. Elected to Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, 1980; Who's Who of Emerging Leaders in America, 1989-90, 1991-92; and Who's Who in the West, 1987-88. Awarded certificates for Team Excellence and Performance Excellence from Boeing Missile Systems, 1991.

EXPERIENCE:

Following graduation in 1982, Dr. Kavandi accepted a position at Eagle-Picher Industries in Joplin, Missouri, as an engineer in new battery development for defense applications. In 1984, she accepted a position as an engineer in the Power Systems Technology Department of the Boeing Aerospace Company. During her ten years at Boeing, Kavandi supported numerous programs, proposals and red teams in the energy storage systems area through power analyses, trade studies, sizing, selection, development, testing and data analysis. She was lead engineer of secondary power for the Short Range Attack Missile II, and principal technical staff representative involved in the design and development of thermal batteries for Sea Lance and the Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile. Other programs she supported include Space Station, Lunar and Mars Base studies, Inertial Upper Stage, Advanced Orbital Transfer Vehicle, Get-Away Specials, Small Spacecraft, Air Launched Cruise Missile, Minuteman, and Peacekeeper. In 1986, while still working for Boeing, she was accepted into graduate school at the University of Washington, where she began working toward her doctorate in analytical chemistry. Her doctoral dissertation involved the development of a pressure-indicating coating that uses oxygen quenching of porphyrin photoluminescence to provide continuous surface pressure maps of aerodynamic test models in wind tunnels. Commercial imaging technology was used for data collection and analysis. This non-intrusive technique was developed to supplement or replace the more expensive and time consuming pressure tap method. Her work on pressure indicating paints has resulted in two patents to date. In addition to her patents, Dr. Kavandi has published and presented several papers at technical conferences and in scientific journals.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Dr. Kavandi was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in December 1994 and reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995. Following an initial year of training, she was assigned to the Payloads and Habitability Branch where she currently supports payload integration for the International Space Station.

• 2 June 1998 Flight: STS-91. Flight Up: STS-91. Flight Back: STS-91. Flight Time: 9.83 days.

• 11 February 2000 Flight: STS-99. Flight Up: STS-99. Flight Back: STS-99. Flight Time: 11.24 days.

• 12 July 2001 Flight: STS-104. Flight Up: STS-104. Flight Back: STS-104. Flight Time: 12.77 days.

9 June 1995 - NASA Astronaut Training Group 15 selected.. The group was selected to provide pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights.. Qualifications: Pilots: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. Advanced degree desirable. At least 1,000 flight-hours of pilot-in-command time. Flight test experience desirable. Excellent health. Vision minimum 20/50 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 vision; maximum sitting blood pressure 140/90. Height between 163 and 193 cm.

Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm.. 10 pilots and 9 mission specialists, 6 civilians and 13 military officers, chosen from 2,962 applicants, of which 122 screened in June-August 1994. 4 additional international astronauts.

Red Team leader Commander Kevin Kregel, and colleagues Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele initiated extension of the radar mast at 5:27 p.m. CST. After 17 minutes, all 87 cube-shaped bays of the carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, stainless steel, alpha titanium, and Invar structure were deployed by 5:44 p.m. Total length of the mast was 60.95 meters, or just under 200 feet.

The crew also maneuvered the shuttle into the proper attitude, or orientation, for mapping. This orientation points the shuttle payload bay - and its inboard and outboard radar antennas - at the Earth. Endeavour's tail is leading the way as the shuttle orbits about 150 statute miles above the surface. The Red Team then began a series of jet thruster firings to test the ability of dampers to absorb the force of planned maneuvering jet firings and keep the inboard and outboard antennas properly aligned. This alignment is crucial for scientists who will need to combine the radar images received by the two sets of antennas.

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission will record radar data in both C-band and X-band radar wavelengths. This data eventually will be processed into 3-D maps of the Earth that are 30 times more exact than those currently available. These maps will be important to scientists in many disciplines, ranging from ecology to geology to hydrology, as well as a number of military and commercial applications. As the Red Team performed the checkout procedures, Blue Team members Dom Gorie, Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri set up the shuttle's network of portable computers and began an abbreviated six-hour sleep period at 3:44 p.m. They'll be awakened at 9:44 p.m. to begin radar mapping operations late tonight.

Endeavour is orbiting the Earth in an orbit inclined 57 degrees to either side of the Equator for the radar mapping of a majority of the Earth's surface. The shuttle completes one orbit every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 150 statute miles.

Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dom Gorie, and Mission Specialists Janice Voss, Janet Kavandi, Gerhard Thiele and Mamoru Mohri blasted off 14 minutes into the available 2 hour plus launch window at 11:44 a.m. Central time after a near flawless countdown, and arrived on orbit 8 ½ minutes later. The slight delay in launching Endeavour was due to the launch team needing a few minutes to resolve some minor technical issues before proceeding with the final portion of the countdown.

The STS-99 crew's first tasks were to set up Endeavour for dual shift, round-the-clock operations using a trio of radar systems mounted in the cargo bay for the most comprehensive three-dimensional map of the Earth ever attempted.

Once Endeavour's payload bay doors are opened, the Red Team of Kregel, Kavandi and Thiele will begin to activate the Shuttle radar instruments, and will prepare for the deployment of a 200-foot long boom over the left wing of the orbiter on which two of the radar systems are housed. That boom deploy will begin about 5 ½ hours into the mission.

Kregel, Kavandi and Thiele will conduct a series of jet thruster firings once the boom is deployed to test its ability to flex properly and will set up recorders on board on which the radar data will be stored for downlink to mission scientists on the ground.

Meantime, the Blue Team of Gorie, Voss and Mohri will begin an abbreviated six hour sleep period at 3:44 p.m. They'll be awakened at 9:44 p.m., soon after the radar boom has been checked out, to begin radar mapping operations late tonight.

Endeavour is orbiting the Earth in an orbit inclined 57 degrees to either side of the Equator for the radar mapping of around 80 per cent of the Earth's surface. Endeavour is orbiting the planet every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 127 nautical miles.

Because of the 24-hour-a-day activity aboard Endeavour, the six crewmembers are divided into two teams. Blue Team members Dom Gorie, Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri began the first mapping swath, covering a 140-mile-wide path, at about 11:31 p.m. Friday. It was the beginning of coverage of more than 70 percent of the Earth's land surface. The mapping will cover an area between 60 degrees north and 56 degrees south, where about 95 percent of the Earth's population lives.

The Red Team, led by Mission Commander Kevin Kregel, includes Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele. Their first shift was intense. It included deployment and checkout of the almost 200-foot mast supporting the outboard antenna structure. It is the largest rigid structure ever deployed in space. The Red Team began its sleep period at about 10:45 p.m. Friday and is scheduled to be awakened at 6:44 this morning.

After mast deployment, tests revealed that the mast's damping system, designed as a kind of a shock absorber for the mast, was not working as expected. Flight controllers decided to leave the dampers in their locked position. Calculations showed that the mast was at no risk without the dampers activated.

All planned science data takes have been acquired successfully and all indications from the telemetry show that the radars are performing nominally. Data has been sent to JPL for analysis and early indications are that the data is of excellent quality. Additional reports about mapping results are expected about 12:00 noon CST.

Shortly after 5:30 a.m. Saturday, Voss and Gorie held a news conference with correspondents from NBC and CNN.

Saturday is scheduled to be the first full day of Shuttle Radar Topography Mission mapping. Endeavour systems continued to function normally.

The Red Team - Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele - took over the mapping operations from their Blue Team counterparts shortly after waking up about 7 this morning Central Time. Dom Gorie, Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri turned in shortly after 2 this afternoon and are to be awakened at 10:14 tonight. For a few minutes this morning - while Japanese astronaut Mohri conducted mapping operations - Gorie and Voss discussed the mission with CNN and NBC's Today Show.

The crew is working around the clock, in two shifts, to collect data that will produce maps of the Earth with unprecedented accuracy and uniformity. Mapping operations will continue for 10 days, and are proceeding very smoothly. SRTM will cover the area between 60 degrees north and 56 degrees south, roughly the area between St. Petersburg, Russia to the north and the tip of South America to the south. The area to be mapped is home to about 95 percent of the Earth's population. In all, more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface will be mapped.

The first X-band image - of the area near White Sands, New Mexico - was released this afternoon, and scientists expressed their delight with the quality of the image. X-band images will be posted to the German Space Agency web site at www.dfd.dlr.de/srtm/html/newtoday_en.htm. Both the C-band and X-band radars continue to perform as expected.

"The data we've seen so far looks just terrific," said Dr. Michael Kobrick, project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. "The mapping plan is right on schedule."

Early this afternoon, Kregel fired the shuttle's thruster jets in a series of pulsed burns to measure the movement of the rigid mast extending over Endeavour's left wing. Flight controllers reported the tip of the mast moved only 11 inches, just as predicted, despite the fact the antenna's dampers remained locked in position. The firings were necessary to determine how they affect the mast, prior to upcoming maneuvers to raise Endeavour's orbit.

Endeavour's crew also downlinked launch video from an in-cabin camera, providing a unique perspective of yesterday's flawless launch.

All of Endeavour's payload and spacecraft systems are continuing to function normally.

The flycast maneuver is designed to reduce strain on the almost-200-foot mast extending from Endeavour's cargo bay. The orbiter, which flies tail-first during mapping operations, is moved to a nose-first attitude with the mast extending upward. A brief reaction control system pulse begins the maneuver. The mast deflects slightly backwards, then rebounds forward. As it reaches vertical, a stronger thrust is applied, arresting the mast's motion and increasing the orbiter's speed.

For this mission Endeavour is in a comparatively low orbit, and is slowed by the upper fringes of the Earth's atmosphere, which causes it to lose altitude. The crew will make daily flycast maneuver trim burns to keep the spacecraft in the proper altitude for mapping.

Endeavour's Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel, and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, began their eight-hour sleep period shortly after the trim burn. Blue Team members went on duty at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday.

Working around the clock in the two shifts, crewmembers will map an area from 60 degrees north to 56 degrees south. The area includes all the southern continents except Antarctica, and northern continents south of a line from the southern tip of Greenland, southern Alaska and through St. Petersburg, Russia. The area includes about 95 percent of the Earth's population.

All of the orbiter's systems continue to function normally. Crewmembers and flight controllers in Houston continue to look at the cold gas jet on the end of the SRTM's outboard antenna. They are looking at consumption of propellant and the lack of thrust from that jet, designed to help maintain the attitude of the mast. The balky jet is having no impact on the mission's mapping activities.

"We are starting to see the first 'quick look' results from the X-band and C-band antennas and the details are fantastic," said Dr. Michael Kobrick, SRTM project scientist. "Even in this lower resolution, quick-look results, we can see many topographic features that were completely invisible in the best maps we have today."

Two members of the Blue Team - Dom Gorie and Mamoru Mohri - spent a few minutes early this morning talking to Dr. Bob Ballard, discoverer of the RMS Titanic and founder of the JASON Foundation, an educational program designed to spark students' interest in science and technology. They also took questions from the Fox News Network.

Endeavour's crew and flight controllers continue troubleshooting a problem with a small nitrogen thruster mounted at the tip of the radar's outboard antenna. Although gaseous nitrogen propellant is flowing, little or no thrust is being produced. Crew members cycled the valve open and closed in an attempt to pinpoint the problem. Controllers plan to leave the valve closed for several hours to attempt to quantify the rate of propellant usage. The thruster was designed to keep the mast from "righting" itself in response to Earth's gravity and remove the need for additional orbiter thruster firings to keep the antenna in its data-taking position. Without the thruster on the antenna, crew members have to fire the orbiter's thrusters more than expected.

As the Blue Team wrapped up its third day in space, the Red Team of Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele took over mapping operations shortly after their wake-up call this morning. Gorie, Mohri and Janice Voss turned in shortly after 2 p.m., with a wake-up call set for 10:14 tonight to begin their fourth day of mapping activities.

Controllers also did some troubleshooting on one of the on-board cameras after Gorie reported the system that records the time at which images are taken was not working. Controllers suspect that the batteries were weakened due to the delay in launching Endeavour. The weak batteries should have no impact on the use of the camera to support NASA's Earth observation program.

After yesterday's repositioning of a camera bracket on the flight deck, EarthKAM operations continue nominally. As of late this afternoon, some 355 images had been downlinked from the EarthKAM. This NASA program allows students to use interactive Web pages to target and select images to be photographed from a camera onboard the shuttle. All of Endeavour's spacecraft systems are continuing to function normally as it circles the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 150 miles.

Mission scientists continue to express delight with the "quick-look" data seen so far. SRTM project scientist Dr. Michael Kobrick notes that Endeavour is mapping 100,000 square kilometers every minute, and that after only three days of flight, the mission has tripled the world's supply of digital terrain elevation data. The low-resolution images processed so far show many topographic features that until now have been difficult to detect on the best maps in existence today.

A continuing problem with a small nitrogen thruster on the end of the 200-foot-long mast has had no impact on mapping operations or data quality. Both radar systems -- C-band and X-band -- continue to perform flawlessly. Flight controllers are continuing to troubleshoot the problem with the thruster, which helps control the mast's attitude. This function currently is being performed by Endeavour's reaction control system. Mission managers are implementing propellant conservation measures and hope to meet the full nine-day science objective. The mast continues to provide an extremely stable platform for the mapping operations.

As their workday concluded, Blue Team members Dom Gorie, Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri spent a few minutes on Endeavour's flight deck discussing various mission activities. The Blue Team turned in shortly after 2 p.m., with a wake-up call set for 10:14 tonight. The Red Team's Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele were awakened a few minutes after 10 a.m. to continue mapping operations.

As of this morning, 525 images had been taken by students using the EarthKAM, which allows photos of Earth to be taken using a camera on the shuttle. So far, 20 of the 84 schools participating in the program have requested and received photos.

All of Endeavour's systems are functioning normally as it circles the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 150 miles.

By early Monday morning, about 20 million square miles had been imaged. By the planned end of the mission, more than 45 million square miles will have been imaged twice.

Processing of the huge amount of data gathered by Endeavour - enough to fill about 13,500 CDs if all goes according to plan - will result in maps 30 times more accurate than the best global data available now. The maps also will be of unprecedented uniformity.

The flycast maneuver reduces stress on the almost-200-foot mast extending from Endeavour's cargo bay. The orbiter flies tail-first during mapping operations. For the maneuver, it was moved to a nose-first attitude with the mast extending upward. A brief reaction control system pulse began the maneuver. The mast rebounded forward after a slight deflection backwards. As it straightened, a stronger thrust stopped its motion while increasing the orbiter's speed.

Endeavour is in a low orbit, and is slowed by the upper atmosphere. The crewmembers make daily flycast maneuver trim burns to keep the spacecraft in the proper altitude for mapping.

Flight controllers and crewmembers are troubleshooting a cold gas jet, a thruster on the SRTM outboard antenna. The jet is designed to help control the mast's attitude, a function now being performed by Endeavour's reaction control system jets. The mapping mission continued uninterrupted as flight controllers worked to develop propellant-conserving strategies.

Members of the Blue Team, Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, continued to manage the Payload High Rate Recorders, changing the high-density tapes that will return the mapping data to Earth. About 270 of those tapes are expected to be filled.

Members of the Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, are sleeping. They are scheduled to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. Central Standard Time.

More than 20 percent of the targeted land had been mapped twice and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission had covered more than 6 percent of it three times. The area surveyed at least once was equal to that of Africa, North America and Australia combined.

Those totals were growing rapidly. Endeavour was gathering mapping data on 40,000 square miles of land each minute. Scientists say the mission already has tripled the world's pool of digital terrain data with this much detail.

Endeavour is gathering data four times faster than its advanced data communications system can send it to Earth. "Quick look" data sent down, with less detail than will be available from the high-density tapes being filled aboard the orbiter, already has revealed features not shown on even the best maps available today.

While Endeavour continued to gather data that will be the basis for maps of unprecedented accuracy and uniformity, flight controllers were troubleshooting the balky cold-gas jet on the outboard antenna structure. The jet helps maintain the attitude of the mast - the longest rigid structure ever deployed in space. The orbiter's reaction control system jets are being used for that function. Flight controllers are developing further procedures to conserve propellant.

Blue Team members Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri sent down television early Tuesday. It showed Voss using an inflatable globe to explain the SRTM mission, Mamoru Mohri, taking photos out the commander's window, and then, with Pilot Dom Gorie, changing a tape on a payload high rate recorder.

Members of the Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel, and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, are in their sleep period. They are scheduled to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. Central Standard Time.

Endeavour's systems are functioning normally as it circles the Earth at a speed of about 5 miles a second and an altitude of about 150 miles.

Mapping operations continued smoothly into the mission's fifth day, with both radar and orbiter systems working flawlessly. By early afternoon, more than 29 million square miles had been mapped, representing more than 61 percent of the planned coverage for the mission. That's equivalent to the combined area of North America, South America and Africa.

Flight controllers continue to troubleshoot a problem with a small nitrogen thruster on the end of the 200-foot-long mast, and are focusing on steps that can be implemented to conserve shuttle propellant. Several steps already have been implemented, including relaxing the requirements for maintaining the mast's attitude due to the better-than-expected stability of the mast. Additional steps are under review for their propellant-saving potential. Optimism is increasing that these measures will enable Endeavour to complete its planned mapping operations.

Blue Team members Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri spoke with reporters from CNN, NBC's Today Show and KGO Radio in San Francisco earlier today. Voss, Mohri and Dom Gorie ended their day early this afternoon, and will be awakened to begin their sixth day on orbit at 10:14 tonight Central Time.

The Red Team -- Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele -- was awakened shortly after 10 this morning and promptly resumed mapping operations. This afternoon, Kregel and Kavandi answered questions from students at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS; Sitting Bull College in Ft. Yates, ND; and Houston High School in San Antonio, TX. This event was part of a NASA effort to encourage students to pursue careers in science, engineering and math.

All of Endeavour's systems are functioning normally as it circles the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 150 miles.

Scientists reported that 67.2 percent of the target area - 32 million square miles - had been mapped by early Wednesday. That is equal to the area of the Americas, Africa and Australia combined. It is about 56 percent of all the Earth's land surface.

More than 32.5 percent of the target area had been mapped with two passes. That 15.5 million square miles is roughly equal to the combined areas of Africa and Australia. New radar images of Brazil, South Africa and the South Island of New Zealand were released Tuesday afternoon by enthusiastic scientists who said the picture of the Earth obtained by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission will be used for decades to come.

EarthKAM, mounted in the overhead starboard window of Endeavour's aft flight deck, lets middle school students take pictures of the Earth. They use interactive web pages to select photos. On four previous flights, EarthKAM took more than 2,000 photos.

The astronauts completed the fourth trim burn, adjusting the orbiter's altitude using the "flycast maneuver." The carefully choreographed and timed maneuver is designed to adjust Endeavour's orbit while imparting minimal stress to the 200-foot mast protruding from the cargo bay.

Mapping operations continued flawlessly early Wednesday. Endeavour was gathering data on 40,000 square miles of land a minute while it was over land areas.

Flight controllers continue to troubleshoot a problem with a small nitrogen thruster on the end of the 200-foot-long mast. They have implemented a number of steps to conserve the propellant used by Endeavour's reaction control system jets, which are being used to maintain the attitude of the mast in the absence of the jet. Flight controllers and crewmembers are optimistic that they will have enough propellant and power to complete their planned nine-day, nine-hour mapping operations.

Blue Team members, Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, are on duty. Earlier in his shift, Mohri took time out to talk with Japanese students in Tokyo and Kagoshima. Members of the Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, were in their sleep period. They are scheduled to be awakened at 10:14 a.m.

Endeavour's systems are functioning normally as it continues to gather data for unprecedentedly accurate and unified topographical maps of the Earth.

As of noon today, 81 percent, or more than 39 million square miles of the target area had been mapped once. That exceeds the land area of the Americas, Africa and Australia combined. More than 47 percent of the target area - over 22 million square miles - has been mapped with two or more passes. Endeavour images 40,000 square miles of land every minute.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield in Mission Control transmitted the good news to the crew aboard Endeavour while all six astronauts were awake conducting a shift change. The crew is working around the clock on two shifts conducting the detailed mapping operations. Several fuel-saving steps have been implemented, including a change in the way excess water is dumped overboard, and allowing more flexibility in holding Endeavour and the 200-foot mast in the proper attitude. The final conservation measure will be the deletion of the eighth trim burn, which controllers believe can safely be deleted by adjusting the sixth and seventh burns without a disruption to data collection.

Exuberant scientists today released new radar images of the San Andreas Fault in California, the Los Angeles basin, Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains, and the island of Hokkaido, Japan, birthplace of Mission Specialist Mamoru Mohri. "We're well on the way to making the best topographic map of the world ever," said Dr. Diane Evans, chief scientist in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Earth Science Office. "We are ecstatic about this data set." She said the level of detail in maps resulting from this Shuttle Radar Topography Mission should help scientists better understand earthquakes and mudflows.

Science operations continued through the seventh day of the mission, with trouble-shooting a problem with one of six high data-rate recorders on board being the only issue of significance. The recorders are used to capture the masses of data collected during the SRTM mission on 270 tapes.

Earlier today, Mohri spoke about the mission with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and the Minister of State for Science and Technology. Later, he joined Dom Gorie and Janice Voss for interviews with The Weather Channel and two television stations. Janet Kavandi briefly joined them to send greetings to her hometown of Springfield, MO.

Meanwhile, EarthKam continues its record-breaking production of images, having processed 1,355 images. The project allows school students to remotely take pictures of the Earth using a camera mounted in one of Endeavour's windows.

The orbiter continues to perform smoothly and provide a solid platform for the most accurate and unified topographical mapping of the Earth ever produced.

By early Thursday more that 77 percent or 36.4 million square miles of the target area has been mapped once. That is about equal to Asia, the Americas and Australia combined, or about twice the area of the surface of the moon. More than 20.24 million square miles has been mapped with two or more passes. Endeavour collects data on 40,000 square miles every minute it is over land. At that rate, SRTM could map an area the size of Florida in 90 seconds.

Propellant for the shuttle's reaction control system jets became an issue after failure of a small cold-gas jet on the end of the almost 200-foot mast extending from Endeavour's payload bay. The small jet was designed to help control the attitude of the mast. Without the jet, the orbiter's reaction control system jets are doing the job. Their increased propellant consumption has required a number of fuel conservation steps on the orbiter to enable a complete mapping mission.

Mapping operations are not affected, and scientists continue to express delight at the quality of even the rough data, sent down to confirm SRTM function. The radar gathers data at a rate about four times as fast as the orbiter can send it down. It is being collected on about 270 high-density tapes (which hold as much information as 13,500 CDs). But even the early, rough data show scientists features not seen on today's best maps.

Endeavour's Blue Team, Pilot Dom Gorie and mission specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, is on duty until about noon Central Standard Time. Mohri is speaking with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and the Minister of State for Science and Technology, Hirofumi Nakasone, at 6:22 a.m. The Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, is sleeping. Its wakeup call is scheduled for 10:14 a.m.

EarthKAM continued its record-breaking performance. A secondary payload mounted in an upper window on Endeavour's flight deck, EarthKAM is used by middle school students to take digital photos of the Earth's surface. It has sent down a mission record of more than 1,250 photos. On four previous flights, EarthKAM took a total of about 2,000 photos.

Early today, Endeavour completed its sixth "Flycast Maneuver" trim burn, a gentle engine firing that maintains the Shuttle's altitude at around 150 statute miles for the precise mapping work. Today's burn gave the Shuttle a slightly larger boost than previous daily firings, a measure that will allow controllers to save fuel by eliminating a subsequent firing on Sunday. The next trim burn is now planned for midday on Saturday. So far, the Shuttle Radar Topography instruments aboard Endeavour have mapped 83 percent, or almost 40 million square miles, of the target area once, an area larger than the Americas, Africa and Australia combined. More than 50 percent of the target area, over 24 million square miles, has been mapped with two or more passes. Endeavour images 40,000 square miles of land every minute, a rate that would allow the Shuttle to map the state of Alaska in 15 minutes and the state of Rhode Island in less than two seconds.

In addition to the changes in trim burns, other fuel conservation measures aboard Endeavour have included changing the way waste water is dumped overboard, slightly relaxing the spacecraft's stringent attitude control guidelines and limiting the use of some equipment. Early in the mission, the failure of a tiny thruster at the end of the 197-foot mast protruding from Endeavour's cargo bay resulted in increased use of the Shuttle's steering jets and fuel. On Thursday, flight controllers noted that the small nitrogen gas thruster on the mast now appeared to be again providing some thrust, a trend that could further improve the Shuttle's predicted fuel consumption.

While the radar mapping continues, a student-operated camera mounted in one of Endeavour's windows also has set a record pace. So far, the experiment, called EarthKAM, has sent down almost 1,400 photos of Earth to middle school students. On four previous shuttle flights combined, EarthKAM sent down a total of about 2,000 photos.

Working around the clock, Endeavour's crew is divided into two shifts. The Blue Team -- Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri -- are now on duty. Voss and Mohri took time out from their work this morning to provide television of the high-rate recorders used for the mapping operations and a High-Definition Television Camera.

The recorders use high-density tapes to capture the radar mapping data. About 270 tapes will be recorded, containing a volume of data that would fill about 13,500 CDs. The data will allow topographical maps to be created of a majority of Earth that will be several times more accurate than are available today. The HDTV camcorder aboard Endeavour is one of the first steps in NASA's transition to HDTV.

The Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, are sleeping and will awaken at 10:14 a.m. CST. The entire crew will participate in a press conference at 11:59 a.m. today, fielding questions from U.S. and Japanese reporters at NASA centers. Subsequently, Thiele, Kregel, Kavandi and Voss will take a call from German Research Minister Edelgard Buhlmann.

Endeavour continues to function well.

The camera takes pictures for middle school students. Through the Internet, their schools' mission operations centers are linked to the EarthKAM Mission Operations Center at the University of California at San Diego. Except for setup, initial camera pointing and lens changes, no crew involvement is required for normal operations.

Meanwhile, flight controllers continued to successfully conserve fuel and electricity aboard Endeavour and plan an extension of the mapping work.

The nine-hour extension of imaging operations means that mapping will continue until about 6 a.m. Monday. Successful completion of the 9 days, 18 hours of mapping will mean that almost all of the target area will be imaged -- only small areas of the United States, already well mapped, would be missed. The target area is the 80 percent of the Earth's land between 60 degrees north, the latitude of Hudson Bay, and 56 degrees south, Cape Horn at the tip of South America. It is home to 95 percent of the Earth's people. With the current plan, more than 99.9 percent of the area would be imaged at least once. More than 94.6 percent of it would be covered at least twice, and almost half would be imaged at least three times.

Scientists reported that by early Saturday 89.6 percent of the target area, 42.7 million square miles, had been mapped once. About 60.1 percent, or 28.6 million square miles, had been imaged at least twice. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission's sophisticated radar continued to collect surface imaging data at a rate of 40,000 square miles a minute.

Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Gerhard Thiele and Janet Kavandi, the Red Team, and the Blue Team members Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, held their crew news conference Friday. Today Kregel and Thiele will answer questions from German news media representatives and later speak with dignitaries at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

The Red Team is asleep and is to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. The Blue Team remains on duty until 11:59 a.m.

So far, the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission has imaged 44.7 million square miles, or about 93.9 percent of the target area, at least once. About 33.4 million square miles or 70.1 percent of the target area has been imaged at least twice. The target area extends from 60 degrees north latitude to 56 degrees south latitude. That covers all the Southern Hemisphere landmasses except Antarctica and Northern Hemisphere land south of Hudson Bay and St. Petersburg, Russia. It is home to about 95 percent of Earth's population.

At the scheduled end of mapping operations, more than 99.9 percent of the area will have been imaged at least once. More than 94.6 percent of it will be covered at least twice, and almost half will be imaged at least three times. All but about 80,000 square miles of targeted land will have been covered. The areas that will not be covered are in small, scattered segments, mostly in North America and most of them already accurately mapped.

Endeavour's radar, gathering data in 140-mile-wide swaths as the spacecraft orbits at 17,500 miles per hour, images 40,000 square miles each minute. Data from this mission will, after a year or more of processing, produce the most accurate and most uniform global topography maps ever made.

The EarthKAM, a digital camera mounted at an overhead window on Endeavour's flight deck, has sent down about 2,200 images so far, and the number is growing. On four previous shuttle flights, EarthKAM sent down a total of 2,018 images.

The camera takes pictures for middle school students working on projects in Earth science, geography, space sciences and other topics. Through the Internet, their schools' mission operations centers are linked to the EarthKAM Mission Operations Center at the University of California at San Diego, which sends up photo targets and receives the images. Except for setup, initial camera pointing and lens changes, no crew involvement is required for normal operations.

On Saturday, Endeavour's crew carried out the seventh and final trim burn and flycast maneuver of the flight. The maneuver keeps the spacecraft at the proper altitude for mapping and is designed to reduce the stresses on the mast and minimize the loads at the tip.

Blue Team members, Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, are on duty and continue mapping operations. Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Gerhard Thiele and Janet Kavandi, the Red Team, are sleeping. They are to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. CST.

Endeavour's systems continue to perform well as it orbits about 150 statute miles above the surface.

After wrapping up mapping operations at 5:54 a.m. Central time today with a final pass over Australia, Endeavour's crew retracted the 200-foot mast into its payload bay canister. The mast, the longest rigid structure ever deployed in space, supported the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission's external antenna structure during more than 222 hours of data gathering.

Mast retraction proceeded smoothly as each of its 86 external sections, or bays, folded into the nine-foot-long canister during the 18-minute retraction procedure. Final mast stowage was delayed when the three latches on the lid of the mast canister failed to engage as expected. The first two efforts failed to secure the latches, but the third attempt succeeded and all three latches on the mast canister were activated at 9:50 a.m. Central time.

The SRTM mapped almost 100 percent of all planned sites around the world, a total area of more than 47.6 million square miles. The area mapped four times represents more than twice the area of the United States. SRTM project scientist Dr. Mike Kobrick called SRTM "a truly outstanding achievement." New images released today showed Fiji; the San Francisco Bay area; Pasadena, CA; the San Andreas Fault near Palmdale, CA; and an animated fly-around from Pasadena to Palmdale along the San Andreas Fault.

This afternoon, Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dom Gorie and flight engineer Janet Kavandi tested Endeavour's flight control surfaces and reaction control system thrusters. Deactivation and stowage of radar mapping hardware and the Ku antenna were completed, and members of the Red Team - Kregel, Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele -- began cabin stowage. The Blue Team - Gorie, payload commander Janice Voss and Japanese astronaut Mamoru Mohri -- will complete stowage tomorrow morning. The Blue Team began its sleep period at 5:44 p.m., and will be awakened at 1:14 a.m. Tuesday.

There are three landing opportunities available tomorrow, two at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the third at Edwards, CA. The first opportunity would bring Endeavour back to KSC at 3:50 p.m. Central. There is another opportunity one orbit later, with a KSC landing at 5:22 p.m. Central. The third opportunity would see Endeavour land at Edwards at 6:48 p.m. Central time. The previous 20 shuttle missions have ended with landings at KSC. The last Edwards landing was STS-76 in March 1996. The primary concerns for a KSC landing are strong crosswinds and a low layer of clouds. Weather conditions at KSC are not expected to improve Wednesday or Thursday, and are expected to deteriorate at Edwards after Tuesday.

During 225 hours of operation during this mission, EarthKam took 2,715 images. Over 75 middle schools from around the world participated. The previous record number of images for a single flight was 670 on STS-86. The total number of images for this flight alone far exceeded the combined total from all previous flights.

With Commander Kevin Kregel at the controls, Endeavour touched down at 5:22 p.m Central time on Runway 33 at the three mile long Shuttle Landing Facility to complete a mission spanning almost 4.7 million statute miles. Pilot Dom Gorie, Flight Engineer Janet Kavandi and Mission Specialist Janice Voss joined Kregel on the flight deck for entry and landing. Mission Specialist Mamoru Mohri from NASDA, the Japanese space agency, and European Space Agency astronaut Gerhard Thiele were seated down in the middeck. The end of the STS-99 mission marked the 21st consecutive landing at the Florida spaceport.

After waving off the first landing opportunity of the day because of high cross winds at the landing site, the crew was given a "go" to perform the deorbit burn which came at 4:24 p.m. Central time and caused Endeavour to fall out of its 150 statute mile high orbit to start the journey home to the Kennedy Space Center.

The data brought home by Endeavour's crew was collected during more than 222 hours of around-the-clock radar mapping operations and is enough to fill more than 20,000 CDs. The information gathered on the STS-99 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission will be used to produce global maps more accurate than any available today.

The STS-99 crew will spend the evening in Florida before returning to Houston on Wednesday. The crew should land at Ellington Field in Houston near the Johnson Space Center at about 1:30 p.m. Central time where the six astronauts will be greeted by JSC management and center employees. The crew return ceremony will occur at Hangar 990 and is open to the general public.

• Bay 1-2: Orbiter Docking System/External Airlock - 2160 kg including 3 EMU spacesuits
• Bay 4-5: Spacelab Pallet (Fwd) with O2-1/O2-2 oxygen tanks - 2500 kg
• Bay 6-7: Spacelab Pallet (Aft) with N2-1/N2-2 nitrogen tanks - 2500 kg
• Bay 8-12: Station Joint Airlock Adapter beam (6064 kg) with IMAX Cargo Bay Camera (238 kg)
• Sill: RMS arm - 410 kg

The six tonne Airlock consisted of two cylinders of four meters diameter and a total length six meters. The Airlock could be pressurized by the externally-mounted high pressure oxygen-nitrogen tanks, and was to be the sole unit through which all future EVAs were to take place. (Until that point, all EVA entries/exits had been through a Russian module in ISS, with non-Russians having to wear Russian space suits). Another payload was the "EarthKAM" of middle/high school interest. It was to allow pupils to command picture-taking of chosen spots on Earth; they were expected to target 2,000 spots. The shuttle also carried out pulsed exhaust tests during maneuvers to enable better understanding of the formation of HF echoes from the shuttle exhaust. The echoes were obtained by ground based radars in an experiment called SIMPLEX (Shuttle Ionospheric Modification with Pulsed Local EXhaust). The STS-104 crew returned to Atlantis on July 22, and undocked at 0455 GMT. After flying around the station they departed the vicinity at 0615 GMT. Atlantis landed at 0338:55 GMT on July 25, touching down at Kennedy Space Center runway 15.

Atlantis Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Jim Reilly and Mike Gernhardt will install an airlock named Quest on the station, increasing the orbiting complex's onboard capabilities for maintenance and construction and completing a major milestone in the station's orbital construction. The International Space Station crew - Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms -- was informed of Atlantis' launch just minutes after liftoff. The station crew spent the day preparing for the shuttle's visit. Earlier in the week the station crew performed final checks of the orbiting outpost's Canadian-built mechanical arm, an arm that will be used to attach the airlock, and reported the arm in excellent condition.

Atlantis is planned to dock with the station at about 9:51 p.m. Central on Friday. After opening Atlantis' payload bay doors and preparing the shuttle for an extended stay in space, Atlantis' crew will go to sleep at 9:04 a.m. Central today. The space station crew, now in its fourth month aboard the complex, will begin its sleep period at about 5:30 a.m. Central.

The station crew will awaken at 2 p.m. and Atlantis' crew will awaken at 5:03 p.m. today. When they awaken this afternoon, the shuttle crewmembers will spend their first full day in space checking out equipment in preparation for the major events to come on their 11-day mission: Friday's docking with the station and three space walks, the first to begin on Saturday, to install the new airlock.

Atlantis Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Jim Reilly and Mike Gernhardt will spend their first full day in space checking equipment in preparation for the major events to come on their 11-day mission: Friday's docking with the station and Saturday's first of three space walks.

With Gernhardt and Reilly assisting during a seven-hour space walk, scheduled to begin around 9 p.m. Saturday, Flight Engineer Susan Helms will use the station's new robotic arm -- Canadarm2 -- to remove the Quest airlock from the shuttle's payload bay and attach it to the right side of the station's Unity connecting module. The new airlock will enable station crews to perform space walks in U.S. space suits without the shuttle being present. This ability will enhance the station's capabilities for maintenance and construction and complete a major milestone in the station's orbital construction.

The International Space Station crew - Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Helms and Jim Voss - awoke at 2 p.m. The station crew will spend its day preparing for the Friday docking of Atlantis and the Saturday installation of the Quest airlock. The Expedition Two crew has been in space since March 8 and in charge of the space station since it took over from the Expedition One crew March 18.

The day's rendezvous operations began at 4:34 p.m. with Atlantis trailing the station by about 250 statute miles and closing the gap by 230 miles every orbit. Yesterday, the crew powered up the shuttle's docking mechanism and installed a centerline camera that will help line up the orbiter's docking mechanism with the station's docking port.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition Two crew Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms awoke at 4 p.m. The Expedition Two crew spent its orbital morning preparing the station for the arrival of Atlantis, and some initial cargo exchanges.

Another successful firing of Atlantis' orbital maneuvering system engines at 6 p.m. refined the shuttle's approach. A final burn, called the Terminal Intercept (Ti) burn, is scheduled for 7:33 p.m. when Atlantis is about 50,000 feet behind the station. After the Ti burn, the shuttle's rendezvous radar system will begin tracking the station and providing range and closing rate information to Commander Steve Lindsey and Pilot Charlie Hobaugh. When Atlantis reaches a point about a half mile below the station, Lindsey will take manual control of the shuttle and slow Atlantis' approach, flying to a point about 600 feet below the station. Mission Specialists Michael Gernhardt, Janet Kavandi and Jim Reilly will assist, operating additional range-finding tools and documenting the approach with an IMAX camera mounted in the cargo bay. Lindsey will trace a quarter-circle around the station, bringing the shuttle to a point a little more than 300 feet in front of the Destiny laboratory and Pressurized Mating Adapter 2. From that point, Lindsey will move Atlantis toward the station at a speed of one tenth of a mile per hour until the two vehicles are just 30 feet apart; there he will pause for a few minutes to check his alignment. Lindsey will gently close the distance until the shuttle's spring-loaded docking mechanism makes contact with the station. The mechanism will be retracted and latches commanded to close, completing the docking process.

After docking, the crews are scheduled to open the hatches between the two vehicles about 11:30 p.m. and greet one another in a brief welcoming ceremony.

Commander Steve Lindsey and Pilot Charlie Hobaugh fired Atlantis' steering jets periodically during the night to adjust the shuttle's course toward the station. Atlantis now is trailing the International Space Station by about 1,800 statute miles, closing the gap by 230 miles with each orbit of Earth, on track to dock with the complex at about 9:53 p.m. Central. Astronauts Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly powered up and tested the two space suits they will wear during the three space walks planned to install the Airlock Quest on the station after Atlantis arrives. Assisted by Hobaugh, they also checked a third, spare suit that will be left aboard the station.

During the suit checks, the crew noted a white substance in the vicinity of the spare space suit's battery. Mission Control instructed the crew to take several standard precautionary measures, such as donning rubber gloves and turning off several ventilation fans, as they cleaned the substance off of the suit, swapped the suspect battery with a fresh one and changed the carbon dioxide removal cartridge. The old battery was then stowed away, sealed in leak-proof bags. The substance did no damage to the space suit and it remains in excellent operating condition.

Mission Specialist Janet Kavandi powered up Atlantis' robotic arm, successfully checking its operation and surveying the Quest airlock in the shuttle cargo bay using television cameras on the arm. The shuttle's robotic arm will be used to maneuver the space walkers during their planned work outside Atlantis and the station. The crew also powered up the shuttle's docking mechanism, preparing it for the linkup tonight.

Atlantis is in an orbit with a high point of 235 miles and a low point of 182 miles, circling Earth every 90 minutes. All of the shuttle's systems are in excellent condition.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition Two crew Commander Yury Usachev, and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms reviewed the schedule for Atlantis' arrival later tonight. The shuttle and station crews will go to sleep at about 8:04 a.m. The shuttle crew will awaken at 3:04 p.m. and the station crew at 4:04 p.m. to begin the rendezvous and docking activities.

The Shuttle crew's day began at 4:04 p.m. with a wake-up call from Mission Control, playing the song "Space Cowboy" by N'Sync for Mission Specialist Janet Kavandi. On board the Space Station, Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms also awoke at 4:04 p.m.

During tonight's space walk, Gernhardt, designated EV1, will be identifiable by the red stripes around the legs of his spacesuit, while Reilly, EV2, will be wearing an all-white space suit. Atlantis' pilot Charlie Hobaugh will coordinate the space walk from within the shuttle cabin.

Gernhardt will begin the space walk by removing an insulating cover, nicknamed the "shower cap," from the airlock's berthing mechanism, as well as protective covers from the mechanism's seals. Reilly will work to install bars on the airlock that will be used to attach four High-Pressure Gas Tanks during two subsequent space walks later in the mission. Gernhardt will then disconnect heater cables that kept the airlock warm while in the payload bay, which Reilly will stow along with the shower cap and berthing mechanism covers.

When the airlock is ready for installation, Helms, from a control panel in the station and assisted by crewmate Voss, will attach the Canadarm2 to the Quest airlock and lift it out of Atlantis' payload bay. Grappling of the airlock by the station's robotic arm is scheduled to occur at 11:04 p.m., with removal of the airlock from the payload bay at 11:19 p.m. The airlock is scheduled to be attached to the right side of the Unity module at 2:04 a.m.

Throughout the space walk, Atlantis astronaut Janet Kavandi will operate the shuttle's robotic arm, using it to maneuver the two space walkers around the space station and to provide camera views to assist Helms and Voss with their work.

Atlantis brings a new airlock to the station. It will enable station crewmembers to conduct spacewalks from the station, using either Russian or U.S. spacesuits.

The hatch separating the Atlantis crew, Lindsey, Pilot Charles Hobaugh, and mission specialists Mike Gernhardt, Janet Kavandi and James Reilly, from Expedition Two crewmembers Yury Usachev, Jim Voss and Susan Helms was opened at midnight. After a safety briefing by Expedition Two Commander Usachev, both crews began an hour-long review of procedures for the first of three spacewalks of the STS-104 mission.

The spacewalk, by Gernhardt and Reilly, is to begin about 9:10 p.m. Saturday and last more than seven hours. Focus of the spacewalk is the berthing of the airlock, named Quest. Two subsequent spacewalks by Gernhardt and Reilly will attach high-pressure Oxygen and Nitrogen tanks to the airlock.

After the hour-long meeting on the spacewalk, robotic arms on both the station and Atlantis were put through a rehearsal of procedures to be used during removal of the airlock from the shuttle's cargo bay and its attachment to the station. Helms took the station's 58-foot-long robotic arm, Canadarm2, through a dry run of the berthing of the new airlock to the starboard docking port of the station's Unity node. Aboard Atlantis, Kavandi powered up the shuttle's robotic arm and practiced its spacewalk activities.

Early Saturday Gernhardt and Reilly checked the batteries of their spacesuits and found no evidence of potassium hydroxide leakage that was seen Friday as they checked a spare spacesuit. The battery was replaced and the suit cleaned. Managers decided to postpone temporarily the planned transfer of that suit to the station while they study the situation.

Hatches between Atlantis and the station were closed at 4:45 a.m. and the pressure in the shuttle's cabin reduced to 10.2 pounds per square inch in preparation for the first spacewalk.

Mission Specialist Janet Kavandi will assist Expedition Two Flight Engineer Jim Voss in troubleshooting the suspected leak in an Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) assembly. The IMV Assembly, a series of fans and valves that circulate air between station modules, connects the Quest airlock to the station's environmental control and life support system. The two astronauts will examine the valve seals for any debris or damage and determine if the valve will have to be replaced. Should replacement be necessary, a spare valve is available aboard the station.

Meanwhile, Atlantis Commander Steve Lindsey and Expedition Two Flight Engineer Susan Helms will test oxygen lines between the station and the airlock. The lines will be used during future shuttle missions to replenish the airlock's high-pressure oxygen tanks with shuttle-supplied oxygen.

The Atlantis crew was awakened for its sixth day in space at 4:19 p.m. today by the song "Nobody Does it Better" performed by Carly Simon, played by Mission Control for Mission Specialist Jim Reilly. The International Space Station crew of Commander Yury Usachev, Voss and Helms is in its 131st day in space.

Atlantis' space walkers Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly will spend today preparing for their two remaining space walks. They will review plans and set up equipment in both Atlantis' airlock and the station airlock. The second spacewalk, to begin Tuesday evening, will originate from Atlantis while the third spacewalk, to begin Thursday, will be the first to originate from the station's new Quest airlock. Both of the remaining space walks will focus on the installation of high-pressure oxygen and nitrogen tanks on the exterior of the Quest airlock.

Lindsey, Atlantis' Pilot Charlie Hobaugh and Usachev will take a break from their work at 11:34 p.m. CDT for a 20-minute interview by news reporters from CBS, Space.com and KNBC-TV of Los Angeles.

After cleaning up about half a liter of water that spilled from a coolant line and getting rid of some air bubbles that caused the spill, the two crews installed valves that connect Quest to the station's environmental control system and a computer that will be used to run the airlock's systems. They also tested lines that will be used during future shuttle missions to replenish oxygen and nitrogen supplies, and removed bolt drivers from the airlock's berthing port, which are no longer needed now that the airlock is permanently attached to the station.

The extra time it took to get the coolant line working put the crews about an hour behind schedule, so a planned checkout of the airlock's space walk equipment was put off to another day. Station Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms were able to try out the airlock's audio communication systems, making the first radio calls to the ground from the airlock and two American space suits.

STS-104 Commander Steve Lindsey and Pilot Charlie Hobaugh fired the shuttle's engines for an hour Sunday night to boost the station to an altitude of 238 by 235 statute miles (383 by 375 kilometers). Mission Specialists Michael Gernhardt, Janet Kavandi and Jim Reilly also worked on equipment and supply transfers between the shuttle and station.

Gernhardt and Reilly made preparations for the second spacewalk of the mission, during which they will help install the first set of the High-Pressure Gas Tanks -- one oxygen tank and one nitrogen tank -- onto the airlock's shell on Tuesday. A third space walk, scheduled for Thursday evening, will see Gernhardt and Reilly use the new airlock for the first time.

The two crews will go to bed at 8:04 a.m., with a wake-up call scheduled for 4:04 p.m.

Early this morning, mission managers decided to add an additional docked day to the flight between the second and third spacewalks. The mission's third spacewalk, which will be the first out of the Quest airlock, will now occur Friday evening on Flight Day 10 instead of Thursday evening.

The two crews are about half a day behind schedule due to a small water leak that occurred when the astronauts were linking the new airlock to the station's Moderate Temperature Loop. The crews also have been troubleshooting a leaky air valve in an Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) Assembly in the rear, right side of the station's Unity node. Troubleshooting efforts to pinpoint where the valve is leaking and why will continue tomorrow and for now the astronauts have installed a cap on the valve to stop the leak. Should replacement of the valve become necessary, several identical valves are available aboard the station.

The Atlantis crew was awakened at 4:08 p.m. by "Happy Birthday Darlin'" sung by Conway Twitty. It was played for Atlantis Mission Specialist Janet Kavandi who is celebrating a birthday today as she soars 235 miles above the Earth.

During tonight's spacewalk, Expedition Two Flight Engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss, working from a robotics workstation in the station's Destiny lab, will maneuver the station's robotic arm, the Canadarm2, over Atlantis' payload bay and grapple oxygen tank one. They will then maneuver the tank to Quest where the tank will be attached to the airlock by Gernhardt and Reilly. During the spacewalk, Gernhardt, wearing the spacesuit with the red stripes on the legs, will be on the end of the shuttle robotic arm, which will be controlled by Kavandi. Pilot Charlie Hobaugh will coordinate the spacewalk from inside Atlantis. The procedure will be repeated for nitrogen tank four. The remaining two tanks will be removed from Atlantis' payload bay Friday evening during the mission's third spacewalk.

The practice run included a successful lowering of the airlock's pressure to 10.2 pounds per square inch for the first time in space.

Lead Flight Director Paul Hill said troubleshooting on the valve -- and work the day before to get air bubbles out of an airlock water cooling line -- have put the combined crew about half a day behind its timeline. Among the tasks delayed was a relocation of the hatch from the junction of the airlock and the Unity module to its final position between the airlock's crew and equipment lock sections.

The second space walk of the flight remains on schedule for Tuesday night. Mission Specialists Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly are scheduled to step out of the space shuttle's airlock about 9:30 p.m. The objective of the 5 ½ hour foray is to mount one high-pressure oxygen and one high-pressure nitrogen tank on the shell of the new airlock to provide consumables that would allow expeditioners to leave the station in American space suits for construction and maintenance work without a shuttle present. Russian space suits can be used from the airlock as well.

The crews closed the hatches between the two spacecraft at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday to begin lowering Atlantis' cabin pressure to that same 10.2 pounds per square inch mark. This measure helps purge nitrogen bubbles from the space walkers' bloodstreams, and is augmented by the space walkers pre-breathing pure oxygen. All crewmembers reviewed the procedures for the space walk prior to closing the hatch between the shuttle and the station's Destiny Laboratory.

Mission Specialist Janet Kavandi and Expedition Two Flight Engineer Jim Voss took the lead in troubleshooting the suspected leak in an Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) assembly. The series of fans and valves circulates air between station modules and connects the airlock to the station's environmental control and life support system. The pair wasn't able to pinpoint the problem with the valve, but did install a cap that stopped the leak. Should replacement be necessary, several valve replacement options are available to the flight control team and crew onboard.

The delays have led flight managers to study the possibility for an extra day of docked operations and a shuttle mission extension to ensure all of the mission's work can be completed.

Shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey, Atlantis' Pilot Charlie Hobaugh and Station Commander Yury Usachev took time late Monday night to answer questions from reporters from CBS, Space.com and KNBC-TV of Los Angeles.

The eight people on orbit are scheduled to go to bed about 8 a.m. and awaken at 4:04 p.m.

Atlantis Commander Steve Lindsey and Expedition Two Flight Engineer Jim Voss will do the valve replacement. It will be tested for several hours to ensure it is not leaking. Atlantis spacewalkers Mike Gernhardt and Reilly, assisted by Pilot Charlie Hobaugh will continue testing equipment of the new airlock Quest. The three astronauts also will transfer equipment to Quest for the third spacewalk of the mission. That spacewalk is scheduled for Friday evening and will be the first out of the new airlock.

Atlantis Mission Specialist Janet Kavandi and Expedition Two Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms will install the Hatch between Quest's Crew Lock and Equipment Lock. The hatch is currently in its launch position at the interface between the airlock and the Unity node. After the hatch is installed in its new position, it will be tested for leaks for more than eight hours.

Station Commander Yury Usachev will spend his day working with one of the station's payload computers, performing periodic maintenance on several of the station's Russian systems and helping fellow crewmate Voss replace valves on the Airlock to continue linking the new module with the station's life support systems.

At about 2:30 a.m. Thursday, Lindsey will fire Atlantis' engines in a series of pulses during a one-hour period to boost the station's altitude. This will be the third and final reboost scheduled for this mission.

The Atlantis crew was awakened at 4:04 p.m. Wednesday by Sheryl Crow's "All I Wanna Do." The song was played for the entire crew from their training team.

Four of the arms belonged to space walkers Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly. Two robotic arms also were called into service - the shuttle's Canadarm and its big brother, the station's Canadarm2. Station Flight Engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss were at the station arm's controls, while Mission Specialist Janet Kavandi guided the shuttle limb.

The space walk got off to a slightly delayed start at 10:04 p.m. CDT Tuesday after the station's primary Command and Control computer had to be restarted. The computer, needed to guide the station arm as it lifted the high-pressure oxygen and nitrogen tanks out of the shuttle cargo bay and into position alongside the new airlock, was back in business shortly after 8 p.m., allowing first motion of the arm by 9 p.m.

Gernhardt and Reilly, supported by their six colleagues inside the shuttle and station, latched the first two dog house-shaped tank assemblies into place without difficulty, so shuttle and station Flight Directors Paul Hill and Mark Kirasich decided to move ahead with installation of the third tank at 1:41 a.m.

The second space walk of the mission concluded at 4:33 a.m. CDT Wednesday. It was the 66th space walk in shuttle program history, and the 23rd devoted to International Space Station assembly. So far, STS-104 space walks have lasted 12 hours, 28 minutes.

The crews will have an extra day to prepare for the third and final planned space walk of the flight, which now is scheduled for Friday. Mission managers decided Tuesday to add the additional docked day to give the joint crew adequate time to ready the new airlock for its first use.

The two crews are about half a day behind schedule due to a small water leak that occurred when the astronauts were linking the new airlock to the station's Moderate Temperature Loop. The crews will resume troubleshooting a leaky air valve in an Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) unit on the rear, right side of the station's Unity node after wakeup scheduled for 4:04 p.m. today.

With the space walk complete, STS-104 Commander Steve Lindsey and Pilot Charlie Hobaugh, who also was the inside coordinator for the space walk, began another hour-long series of automated steering jet firings to reboost the station's altitude.

Atlantis Commander Steve Lindsey and Mission Specialist Janet Kavandi will assist with the final checks of the airlock later in the morning. Subsequently, all eight crewmembers will gather to review the procedures for Friday's spacewalk, the third of the mission. During that spacewalk, Gernhardt and Reilly will attach the final nitrogen gas tank to the airlock, assisted by Voss and Expedition Two Flight Engineer Susan Helms who will be operating the station's robotic arm. At 10:11 p.m., the two crews will participate in a joint news conference with media representatives at several NASA centers and the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev. That conference will run for 26 minutes and will be shown live on NASA TV. In addition, Lindsey is scheduled to downlink a tour of the Quest airlock around 3 a.m.

Station Commander Yury Usachev will perform various periodic maintenance duties on the station's Russian systems, as well as help fellow crewmates Voss and Helms prepare for robotics operations related to Friday evening's spacewalk.

The Atlantis crew was awakened at 4:04 p.m. by the song "A Time To Dance" by Janet Giroux played by the Space Center Intermediate School Symphonic Band. The band was directed by Giroux and the song was played for Reilly.

That space walk is scheduled to begin about 10:30 p.m. Friday, pending a successful leak check of the crew lock while the crew sleeps today. Mission Specialists Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly will attach a fourth and final supply tank to the airlock's exterior, and move on to some get-ahead tasks made possible when they were able to attach a bonus third tank during Wednesday's space walk. Tasks added to Friday's space walk include an inspection of one of the station's solar array swivels and inspection of the Floating Potential Probe that measures plasma levels around the solar arrays.

STS-104 Commander Steve Lindsey and Expedition Two Flight Engineer Jim Voss finished replacing the Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) Assembly valve in the station's Unity module about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. With help from station Commander Yury Usachev, they replaced the leaking valve with another from the Destiny laboratory that won't be needed until the station's second node arrives in 2003.

Voss, Mission Specialist Janet Kavandi and Susan Helms moved the hatch from its initial location between the Unity module and the airlock's Equipment Lock to between the Equipment Lock and Crew Lock. The Equipment Lock will be used for storing and servicing space suits, while the Crew Lock will serve as the exit to space.

Usachev also worked with one of the station's payload computers, performing maintenance on several of the station's Russian systems, and Kavandi, Gernhardt and Reilly worked to transfer items between the shuttle and station while getting equipment and space suits squared away in the airlock. Helms also changed out a Command and Control computer that had been temporarily installed in place of a payload data computer in Destiny. The payload computer was cannibalized during the STS-100 mission and retasked when all three of the station's command computers broke down. The old computer will be returned to Earth on Atlantis for testing and analysis.

Lindsey and Pilot Charlie Hobaugh gave the station another boost using the shuttle's reaction control system jets, increasing the station's orbit about 5 miles to 244 x 240 statute miles. It was the final reboost planned for this mission. Atlantis will leave the station later this week about 10 miles higher than when it arrived.

STS-104 Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Mike Gernhardt, Janet Kavandi and Jim Reilly also got together with Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss in Quest to answer questions from reporters in the U.S. and Russia.

Voss reported tracking down and sealing a minor leak discovered during an overnight pressure check. Air had found a path from the Equipment Lock segment of the new airlock to its Crew Lock, which is the segment the orbital construction workers will open to the vacuum of space when they step outside about 11:09 p.m. CDT Friday.

Flight Directors Paul Hill and Mark Kirasich talked with the crew about 1 a.m. Friday, going over the final details and sending up the good news that both the shuttle and station flight control teams agree all systems are "go" for the first station-based excursion out of the airlock. Lindsey sent down a video tour of the fully outfitted Quest module about 4:50 a.m.

The entire crew then reviewed the plan for Friday's five-hour space walk by Gernhardt and Reilly. On their third foray outside this mission, the pair will attach the final nitrogen gas tank to the airlock and climb to the top of the station's solar array truss to check on a swivel joint that allows the arrays to track the sun. If time allows, they'll also take a look at the nearby Floating Potential Probe that measures the plasma created as the arrays drag through the rarified atomic oxygen at 240 miles up.

Meanwhile, Usachev performed some periodic maintenance duties on the station's Russian systems, and helped Voss and Helms prepare for their work with the Canadarm2 robotic arm's operations related to Friday evening's space walk.

After some time off to rest up after a very busy week, the crews were scheduled to turn in at 8 a.m. Their alarm clock is scheduled to go off at 4:04 p.m.

The Atlantis crew, Commander Steve Lindsey, Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly, will leave behind the Expedition Two crew of Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms, who are in their 136th day in space.

The Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson and Flight Engineers Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikail Tyurin, will replace the Expedition Two crew next month during the STS-105 mission.

Atlantis will undock from an International Space Station that is ready to begin independent operations. Since July 2000, 77 tons of hardware has been added to the station, including the Zvezda module, the Z1 Truss Assembly, Pressurized Mating Adapter 3, the P6 Truss and its 240-foot long solar arrays, the U.S. laboratory Destiny, the Canadarm2 and the Quest airlock.

The Atlantis crew was awakened at 4:14 p.m. Saturday by the song "Who Let The Dogs Out" sung by the Baha Men. The song was played for Hobaugh. All systems aboard both Atlantis and the International Space Station continue to function normally as the two spacecraft orbit the Earth at an average altitude of 240 statute miles.

Lindsey and Hobaugh will do a test firing of the reaction control system jets that will be used to maneuver Atlantis as it begins to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. The pair also will check out the orbiter's flight control surfaces that will be used to maneuver Atlantis when it reaches the lower portions of the atmosphere. Finally, they will test Atlantis' communications systems.

Kavandi, Gernhardt and Reilly will put away some of the equipment they used during their eight days docked to the International Space Station. They also will stow some of the 2,550 pounds of equipment they are bringing home from the station. Atlantis is almost 100 statute miles ahead of the space station and increasing the separation by almost nine miles per 90-minute orbit.

Atlantis is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday at 11:37 p.m. CDT. Another landing opportunity is available on the subsequent orbit, which would see Atlantis touch down at 1:13 a.m. Tuesday. Though the outlook was improving, forecasts for landing time still carried the possibility of clouds and rain.

During the afternoon, Russian flight controllers performed the first two firings of thrusters of the Progress resupply vehicle docked at the rear of the station's Service Module. These burns and three subsequent firings of the Progress thrusters this week will adjust the inclination of the station's orbit. The slight adjustment is being made to prepare for arrival of Discovery on the STS-105 mission and the next Progress, both in August, and the launch of the Russian Docking Compartment in September. The Atlantis crew was awakened at 4:36 p.m. Sunday by the song "Orinoco Flow" sung by Enya. The song was played for Mike Gernhardt. All systems aboard Atlantis continue to function normally as the spacecraft orbits the Earth at an average altitude of 240 statute miles.

Pilot Charlie Hobaugh was at the shuttle's aft flight deck controls for the fly-around, which allowed the shuttle crew to take a parting look at the newly installed airlock, Quest, and the four large air supply tanks they had delivered.

Commander Steve Lindsey, Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly, had spent 196 hours, 46 minutes - or more than 8 days - docked to the station, working with Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms to install, checkout and christen the station's newest asset.

A final separation burn at 1:14 a.m. CDT Sunday put Atlantis on its initial course for home, with landing scheduled for 11:37 p.m. CDT Monday at Kennedy Space Center.

The entire Atlantis crew took time out to discuss the mission with CNN and Fox News early Sunday, then got ready for bed about 7:30 a.m. The shuttle astronauts will awaken at 5:34 p.m. CDT Sunday and begin stowing gear and testing Atlantis' systems that will be used during re-entry and landing.

Back on the station, the Expedition Two crew will go to bed about 1 p.m. Sunday, then enjoy a day of off-duty time following the busy shuttle stay and begin shifting back to its regular schedule. So far, the Expedition Two crew has spent 136 days in space. The trio will be replaced by Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson and Flight Engineers Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin next month during Discovery's STS-105 mission.

All systems aboard both Atlantis and the International Space Station continue to function normally as the two spacecraft orbit the Earth independently once again.

Atlantis Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly will awaken at 3:04 p.m., and begin deorbit preparations at 6:30 p.m. The shuttle's payload bay doors are slated to be closed at 7:49 p.m. Computers on the shuttle will be switched to landing mode at 8:01 p.m., and the crew will climb into its seats at 9:29 p.m.

Since the shuttle's supplies will support several more days on orbit, Entry Flight Director Wayne Hale has elected to activate landing support only at Kennedy Space Center for tonight. Forecasters are predicting generally favorable conditions at the Shuttle Landing Facility, but are watching out for the possibility of thunderstorms and rain within 30 miles.

There are two Florida landing opportunities Monday night and Tuesday morning. The first begins with a deorbit burn at 10:29 p.m. and concludes with landing at 11:37 p.m. CDT Monday. The second commences with an engine firing at 12:08 a.m. ending with landing at 1:14 a.m. CDT Tuesday.

Lindsey and Hobaugh on Sunday conducted successful tests of the reaction control system jets used to maneuver Atlantis as it begins to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. They then checked out the flight control surfaces that become effective once the orbiter's computers sense aerodynamic drag on the vehicle.

Kavandi, Gernhardt and Reilly put away the bulk of the equipment they used during their eight days docked to the station and stowed the 2,550 pounds of equipment they are bringing home from the station.

Aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition Two crew enjoyed off-duty and exercise time. Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss did spend time talking with flight controllers in Houston and Moscow about the work ahead of them to get squared away after Atlantis' visit, and to get ready for the next shuttle mission and their replacement crew. The crew is scheduled to go to bed at 1 p.m. CDT today.

Both spacecraft continue to orbit the Earth at an average altitude of 240 statute miles.

Preliminary weather forecasts show generally favorable conditions at the Shuttle Landing Facility tonight, with only a possibility of low clouds and rain within 30 miles of the runway.

The crew will begin its final deorbit preparations around 6:30 p.m. Atlantis' payload bay doors are slated to be closed at 7:49 p.m. and computers on the shuttle will be switched to landing mode at 8:01 p.m. with the crew scheduled to climb into their seats at 9:29 p.m. for the first of tonight's two landing opportunities.

The first opportunity to return to Florida begins with a deorbit burn at 10:29 p.m. resulting in an 11:37 p.m. CDT landing Monday (12:37 a.m. eastern time Tuesday.) If weather precludes a landing on the first opportunity, there is a second landing opportunity beginning with an engine firing at 12:08 a.m. and a landing at 1:14 a.m. Tuesday. For the second landing opportunity, Houston area residents would have an opportunity to watch Atlantis streak through the sky on its return to Florida. Atlantis would pass over the Houston area moving from southwest to east beginning at 12:57 a.m. Atlantis and its plasma trail should be visible in the skies for approximately two minutes as it flies at speeds between Mach 10-12 at an altitude of 130,000 feet, with less than 20 minutes to touchdown in Florida.

Aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition Two crew enjoyed a quiet day on orbit with no scheduled work, though they did spend some time working on items from their Task List. Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss went to bed at 1 p.m. and are scheduled to awaken at 9:30 p.m.

Both spacecraft continue to orbit the Earth in excellent condition at an average altitude of 240 statute miles.

The Atlantis crew, Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly, spent eight days docked to the station during their almost 13-day flight. Reilly and Gernhardt completed three spacewalks to help with Quest's installation and its fitting out with four high-pressure tanks, two oxygen and two nitrogen.

Lindsey and Hobaugh fired Atlantis' orbital maneuvering system engines at 9:32 p.m. CDT to drop the shuttle out of orbit for the 10:39 p.m. landing at KSC on the 3-mile-long Shuttle Landing Facility runway. Their landing was the 55th shuttle landing and the 13th night landing at KSC. Florida weather cooperated beautifully, with none of the rain showers that caused waveoff of two landing opportunities a day earlier.

The Atlantis crew is expected to return to Houston on Thursday for a 4 p.m. public welcome home at Ellington Field's Hangar 990. For updates on crew arrival time at Ellington, please call 281 483-8600.

Aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition Two crew, Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss, will be awakened just before midnight to resume their full work schedule after two light days of activity. Flight controllers in Moscow successfully performed the fourth of five scheduled orbital adjustment burns using jet thrusters on the Progress supply vehicle docked at the rear of the Service Module Tuesday afternoon. The maneuvers are designed to optimize the station's orbit for the arrival of the next Progress vehicle in August and the Russian Docking Compartment in September.

The station is in excellent condition, orbiting at an average altitude of about 240 statute miles.

Atlantis will try again Tuesday night. The first of two opportunities for KSC would see a landing at 10:39 p.m. CDT on the 200th orbit of the mission. The second opportunity for the Florida landing site would see Atlantis touch down on orbit 201 at 12:15 a.m. Wednesday. Weather forecasts for Florida called for improving conditions.

Conditions late Monday and early Tuesday were marginal at the Cape, but very nearly improved enough to permit landing. Showers near the landing strip prevented Atlantis' homecoming, and the decision was made to back off and try again Tuesday night without calling up landing support in California.

Atlantis Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly reopened the shuttle's payload bay doors as they moved through procedures to back out of the landing configuration. The crew was scheduled to go to bed just after 6 a.m. Tuesday, and to be awakened a few minutes after 2 p.m. to begin landing preparations again.

On the International Space Station, the Expedition Two crew awakened about 9:30 p.m. CDT Monday for another day of light duty following the hectic pace of joint operations with the shuttle crew. Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss were informed of their colleagues' delayed return to Earth. About the only activities scheduled were continued unloading and stowage of the 2,500 pounds of supplies delivered by the Atlantis crew.

Both the shuttle and station continue to orbit at an average altitude of 240 statute miles with all systems working well.

The forecast for Kennedy Space Center calls for a few scattered clouds and no rain for both landing opportunities this evening.

Atlantis Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly began final deorbit preparations around 5:40 p.m. for the first landing opportunity at KSC. Atlantis' payload bay doors are to be closed at 6:52 p.m. Crewmembers will climb into their seats just after 8:30 p.m. Atlantis' orbital maneuvering system engines will begin firing at 9:32 p.m. to drop the shuttle out of orbit for a 10:39 p.m. CDT landing at KSC on the 3-mile-long Shuttle Landing Facility runway.

A second landing opportunity at KSC would see a deorbit burn at 11:08 p.m. and touchdown at 12:15 a.m. Wednesday.

Aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition Two crew, Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss, will be awakened just before midnight to resume their full work schedule after two light days of activity. Flight controllers in Moscow successfully performed the fourth of five scheduled orbital adjustment burns using jet thrusters on the Progress supply vehicle docked at the rear of the Service Module Tuesday afternoon. The maneuvers are designed to optimize the station's orbit for the arrival of the next Progress vehicle in August and the Russian Docking Compartment in September.

Both spacecraft are in excellent condition, orbiting at an average altitude of about 240 statute miles.