Linnehan Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Single. Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. DVM Civilian US Army

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: NASA Group 14 - 1992. Active Entered space service: 31 March 1992. Number of Flights: 4.00. Total Time: 59.50 days. Number of EVAs: 6.00. Total EVA Time: 1.80 days.

NAME: Richard M. Linnehan (DVM)

NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:

Born September 19, 1957, in Lowell, Massachusetts. Single. He enjoys mountain biking, swimming, skiing, hiking, and natural history. His mother, Carol J. Robinson, resides in Jensen Beach, Florida. His father, Richard H. Linnehan, is deceased.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Pelham High School, Pelham, New Hampshire, in 1975; received a bachelor of science degree in animal sciences with a minor in microbiology from the University of New Hampshire in 1980; the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1985.

ORGANIZATIONS:

Member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians, and the International Association of Aquatic Animal Medicine.

SPECIAL HONORS:

Navy Group Achievement Award, Navy Commendation Medal.

EXPERIENCE:

After graduating from the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in June 1985, Dr. Linnehan entered private practice in small animal/exotic veterinary medicine and was later accepted to a 2-year (1986-1988) joint internship in zoo animal medicine and comparative pathology at the Baltimore Zoo and the Johns Hopkins University. After completing his internship Dr. Linnehan was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps and reported for duty in early 1989 at Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, California, as chief clinical veterinarian for the U.S. Navy's Marine Mammal Project. During his assignment at Naval Ocean Systems Center Dr. Linnehan initiated and supervised research in the areas of cetacean and pinniped anesthesia, orthopedics, drug pharmacokinetics and reproduction in direct support of Naval mobile marine mammal systems stationed in California, Florida, and Hawaii.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Selected by NASA in March 1992, Dr. Linnehan reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992. He completed one year of training and is qualified for future flight assignments as a mission specialist. Dr. Linnehan was initially assigned to flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL). He was subsequently assigned to the Astronaut Office Mission Development Branch, working on payload development, and mission development flight support for future Space Shuttle missions. In 1996, Dr. Linnehan flew on STS-78 the Life Sciences and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS) mission. He has logged over 405 hours in space. Dr. Linnehan is currently assigned to the crew of STS-90 Neurolab, a 16-day Spacelab mission dedicated to investigations on the effects of microgravity on the nervous system. Launch is targeted for March 1998.

STS-78 launched June 20, 1996 and landed July 7, 1996 becoming the longest Space Shuttle mission to date. This mission served as a model for future studies onboard the International Space Station. The LMS mission included studies sponsored by ten nations and five space agencies. The international crew included 5 Americans a Frenchman, a Canadian, a Spaniard, and an Italian.

• 20 June 1996 Flight: STS-78. Flight Up: STS-78. Flight Back: STS-78. Flight Time: 16.91 days.

• 17 April 1998 Flight: STS-90. Flight Up: STS-90. Flight Back: STS-90. Flight Time: 15.91 days.

• 1 March 2002 Flight: STS-109. Flight Up: STS-109. Flight Back: STS-109. Flight Time: 10.92 days.

• 11 March 2008 Flight: STS-123. Flight Up: STS-123. Flight Back: STS-123. Flight Time: 15.76 days.

5 December 1992 - NASA Astronaut Training Group 14 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.. Four pilots and 15 mission specialists, nine civilians and ten military. Chosen from 2054 applicants, 87 of which screened in December 1991/January 1992. Five additional international astronauts.

• Spacelab transfer tunnel
• Spacelab Long Module, with Neurolab experiments for the following life science studies:
  • Chronic Recording of Otolith Nerves in Microgravity
  • Development of the Aortic Baroreflex under Conditions of Microgravity
  • Neural-Thyroid Interaction on Skeletal Isomyosin Expression in OG
  • Spatial Orientation of the Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex and Velocity Storage
  • Autonomic Neuroplasticity in Weightlessness

• Extended Duration Orbiter pallet
• Two Get Away Special beams with canisters G-197, G-467, G-772 (Colorado's COLLIDE experiment, which collided small particles into each other to simulate the formation of planets and rings).

The Neurolab mission was managed by NASA-Johnson at Houston, unlike earlier Spacelab flights which were NASA-Marshall/Huntsville's responsibility. Landed at Kennedy Space Center May 3 1998.

In the course of five spacewalks, the crew installed new equipment on HST. This was the first flight of Columbia since the launch of Chandra in 1999 following refurbishment. In the first two spacewalks, two new solar arrays were installed, and the two old arrays stowed on the RAC carrier. The RWA-1R reaction wheel assembly on the MULE carrier replaced the faltering RWA-1 in the telescope. The third spacewalk was the most difficult, as HST was entirely powered down while astronauts replaced its power controller unit, not designed for on-orbit replacement. On the fourth spacewalk the astronauts removed the European FOC camera, aboard HST since launch in 1990, and replaced it with the new ACS (Advanced Camera for Surveys). They also installed the CASH wire harness, part of the aft shroud cooling system. On the final spacewalk, the astronauts installed the NCS (NICMOS cooling system) cryocooler in the aft shround and the associated NCS radiator on the telescope's exterior. The NICMOS infrared camera had been idle since its original thermal control system failed. With the removal of FOC, the COSTAR device (which deployed contact lenses for the original instruments) became obsolete, since the newer instruments made the corrections to the incorrect HST mirror internally. Cargo manifest:

• Middeck:4 EMU spacesuits - 480 kg
• Bay 4: RAC (Rigid Array Carrier) - 2393 kg. The RAC carried the two folded SA-III rigid solar arrays which replaced the SA-II roll-up arrays. It calso carried the DBA2 diode box assembly which controlled the arrays, and a wire harness and containers associated with the NICMOS cooling system.
• Bay 7-8: SAC (Second Axial Carrier) - 2517 kg. The SAC was a specially designed pallet that flew on the first two Hubble SM flights, STS-61 and STS-82. On this flight it carried the ACS camera up (and the FOS camera down) as well as the NCS cryocooler, the PCU-R power controller, the CASH wire harness, and the thermal covers used in the PCU replacement.
• Bay 11: FSS (Flight Support System) - 2111 kg. The FSS first flew on STS 41-C (the Solar Max Repair) and was reused for each of the HST SM flights. It carried the BAPS Berthing and Positioning System, which was the docking ring for HST. Stowed on the FSS were a support post for BAPS and a cover for the HST low gain antenna.
• Bay 12: MULE (Multi-Use Lightweight Equipment Carrier) - 1409 kg. The MULE carried the NCS radiator, the NCS electronics support module, and the RWA-1R reaction wheel unit. MULE first flew on STS-48 carrying the UARS satellite, and then on STS-95 carrying the HOST payload which tested out the NCS.
• Sill: RMS arm No 201 - 410 kg

There are two freon cooling loops that are part of the shuttle's active thermal control system, one on the port and one on the starboard side of the payload bay. Freon loop 1 on the port side is showing a degraded flow rate.

While low, the flow rate is slightly above flight rule limits. Mission managers are currently reviewing the flight data and studying the past performance of the sensors that measure the flow rate of the freon through the loops to build confidence in the performance of the freon loop and its ability to support the STS-109 mission through completion.

After reaching orbit this morning, Commander Scott Altman and Pilot Duane Carey commanded the first in a series of engine firings to position Columbia for its Sunday morning rendezvous with the Hubble Space Telescope. Their crew mates - Mission Specialists John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino, Nancy Currie, Jim Newman and Rick Linnehan - began readying Columbia for its on-orbit operations by stowing away their launch and entry suits and opening the interior hatch to Columbia's airlock.

This is Columbia's first flight since July 1999, following an extensive modification period in which many of its systems were replaced or enhanced. Columbia was NASA's first shuttle orbiter and flew for the first time in April 1981.

Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Duane Carey, Flight Engineer Nancy Currie and spacewalkers John Grunsfeld, Rick Linnehan, Jim Newman and Mike Massimino blasted off of Launch Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center at 5:22 a.m. Central time as Hubble orbited just west of Sarasota, Florida at an altitude of about 360 miles. Because of its brightness and elevation, the telescope was visible in the pre-dawn sky over the launch site as Columbia began its pursuit.

Less than nine minutes later, the pioneer shuttle was in orbit for the first time since July 1999, following an extensive modification period in which many of its systems were replaced and enhanced.

Columbia began a two-day chase to reach Hubble for its fourth service call, in which the observatory's solar arrays, main power switching unit, and a gyroscopic pointing mechanism will be replaced by newer components. In addition, the spacewalkers will also install a new scientific instrument ten times more powerful than the Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera to survey the universe and will attempt to restore an infrared instrument through the installation of a cooling system and an external radiator.

If all goes as planned, Currie will use Columbia's robot arm to grapple Hubble shortly after 3 a.m. CST on Sunday, setting the stage for five consecutive days of servicing spacewalks beginning early Monday morning.

Columbia's crew will spend the next few hours unpacking equipment, setting up computers and conducting the first of periodic engine firings that will occur over the next two days to refine the shuttle's approach to Hubble. The shuttle crew will begin its first sleep period at 12:22 p.m. CST and will be awakened at 8:22 p.m. this evening to begin its first full day in orbit, designed to test the ship's robot arm, spacesuits and rendezvous equipment which will be used over the next few days.

Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Duane Carey, Flight Engineer Nancy Currie and spacewalkers John Grunsfeld, Rick Linnehan, Jim Newman and Mike Massimino are beginning a complex mission to replace and upgrade key systems in the Hubble Space Telescope - a job that requires five back-to-back spacewalks, each more than six and a half hours long.

Mission managers met Friday evening to review information about the performance of the port side freon cooling system in Columbia's payload bay, which exhibited a degraded flow rate shortly after launch. They gave Columbia's crew a "go" to proceed with normal operations today and expressed confidence the shuttle will be allowed to complete its full mission. However, shuttle managers will meet again at midday Saturday for a further review of the potential cooling system problem and they are expected to reach a final conclusion at that time on proceeding with a Sunday capture of Hubble and the ensuing spacewalks. The degraded cooling system is one of two such systems aboard Columbia. The other system is operating perfectly. Only one of the systems is needed to provide cooling for the shuttle's electronics, but the concerns are whether the degraded cooling system can be used as a backup in the event the fully operational system were to experience unexpected problems. Although the one system is operating at a lower capacity, the problem has had no impact on any of the crew's activities and is not noticeable by the crew. Altman and Carey are getting ready to fire Columbia's reaction control system thrusters to fine-tune its approach to Hubble at 11:10 p.m. CST. Also tonight, the crew will test Columbia's robotic arm, examine the spacesuits on board, check out rendezvous equipment, and prepare the Flight Support System that will hold the telescope while it is berthed in the orbiter's payload bay.

Currie is scheduled to use Columbia's robot arm to grapple Hubble shortly after 3 a.m. CST Sunday, setting the stage for the first spacewalk early Monday morning.

During Hubble's fourth service mission, the crew of Columbia will spend five days replacing the observatory's solar arrays, its main power switching unit, and a gyroscopic pointing mechanism called a Reaction Wheel Assembly. In addition, the spacewalkers will install a new camera called the Advanced Camera for Surveys that can view twice the area of the sky as Hubble's current camera. The spacewalkers will install a cooling system and an external radiator for the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer, which requires very cold temperatures to function.

Columbia is in a 356 by 127 statute mile orbit of the Earth, catching up to Hubble about 1,000 miles every orbit.

Columbia's capture of the telescope is planned for 3:13 a.m. Sunday. The shuttle's final approach will begin this evening with the longest rendezvous engine firing in shuttle program history. The three and a half minute firing, to be performed using the shuttle's two large orbital engines just after 10 p.m., will dramatically slow the rate at which Columbia is closing on the telescope, raising the shuttle's orbital low point more than 200 miles.

In the cockpit, shuttle Commander Scott Altman and Pilot Duane Carey will guide Columbia's approach. On the shuttle's lower deck this evening, Mission Specialists John Grunsfeld, Rick Linnehan, Jim Newman and Mike Massimino will check out and prepare the tools they'll use during five upcoming space walks. Mission Specialist Nancy Currie will power up Columbia's robotic arm, moving it to a position poised to capture Hubble.

The final phase of the rendezvous with Hubble will begin at about 1 a.m. Sunday, when Columbia is about nine statute miles behind the observatory. An engine firing at that time will put the shuttle on course to directly intercept the telescope. As the shuttle moves within about a half-mile below Hubble about an hour and a half later, Altman will take over manual control of the approach. Altman will ease Columbia to within 35 feet of the telescope, within reach of the outstretched 50-foot-long robotic arm.

As Columbia flies 350 miles above the Pacific Ocean east of Australia, Currie will latch the arm onto a fixture on Hubble. Currie will then lower the telescope into position to be latched to a special support structure in the shuttle's cargo bay. The cargo bay Flight Support System, as the structure is called, will hold the telescope for the next week, turning and tilting it as needed for the spacewalking work.

At about 7 a.m. Sunday, commands will be sent to begin retracting the telescope's two solar arrays, one at a time over the course of about two hours, in preparation for Monday's first space walk. The first space walk, which Grunsfeld and Linnehan are planned to begin at about 12:30 a.m. Monday, will install a pair of new-generation solar arrays on the telescope.

Following an extensive analysis, managers determined that, although operating at a lower capacity, the system in question still provides sufficient cooling for shuttle equipment and Columbia can proceed with the capture and rejuvenation of the Hubble Space Telescope. Today, the STS-109 crew - Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Duane Carey, and Mission Specialists Nancy Currie, Jim Newman, Rick Linnehan, John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimino - prepared for Sunday morning's planned rendezvous and capture of the orbiting observatory.

Altman, Carey and Currie checked out the various tools that will be used during the final phases of tomorrow's rendezvous activities and performed another in a series of burns designed to refine Columbia's approach to the telescope. The two space walking pairs, Grunsfeld and Linnehan, and Massimino and Newman, began a checkout of the spacesuits they will wear over the course of five scheduled space walks and configured the airlock in readiness for the first spacewalk early Monday morning.

Currie, who will operate the shuttle's robotic arm to capture the telescope and maneuver astronauts during the spacewalks, powered up the 50-foot long arm today, finding it in good condition.

The final phases of the rendezvous will begin about 1 a.m. Sunday as Altman closes in on the telescope. Nancy Currie is planned to capture the telescope at 3:14 a.m. Sunday using the robotic arm. At that time, the two spacecraft will be over the Pacific Ocean, just east of Australia.

Within hours of awakening Grunsfeld and Linnehan, with the assistance of crewmates Jim Newman and Mike Massimino, will begin donning their spacesuits. Grunsfeld, performing his third spacewalk, will wear a spacesuit with red stripes. Linnehan, who is conducting his first spacewalk, will be wearing a spacesuit without any stripes. The pair may work ahead of schedule and leave the airlock as much as an hour earlier than planned.

They will begin the spacewalk with about an hour of setup activities in the payload bay to prepare for the total of five spacewalks for this mission. The next scheduled task is to install the new solar array's electrical support components, called a Diode Box Assembly, on the Hubble Space Telescope.

Space shuttle robot arm operator, Nancy Currie, will move the spacewalking duo by providing transportation to and from the worksite at the starboard array of the telescope. Grunsfeld, anchored to the telescope, will prepare the array for removal. Linnehan, on the end of the robotic arm, will then hold onto the array as Currie guides the arm into the payload bay where Linnehan will stow the old array for its return to Earth. Linnehan will then return to the worksite to help install the new solar array.

The third-generation solar arrays are two-thirds the size of the current arrays but will provide 20 percent more power to the telescope. Because of their smaller size, the new arrays will impart less atmospheric drag, slowing the rate at which Hubble's orbit decays.

Columbia Commander Scott Altman and Pilot Duane Carey will document their crewmates' work during the spacewalk with television and still-photo cameras, while also monitoring systems onboard Columbia. Today's spacewalk is scheduled to last 6 1/2 hours.

The crew is to begin its sleep period at 11:52 a.m. CST.

Columbia's chase of the telescope ended with Commander Scott Altman and Pilot Duane Carey manually flying Columbia to within 35 feet of Hubble allowing Mission Specialist Nancy Currie to use the shuttle's robot arm to gently grasp the orbiting observatory.

With the telescope safely in the payload bay, the crew turned its attention to retracting the two large solar arrays that generate power for the telescope. The motors that drive the two arrays had not been used since the panels were originally deployed during the first servicing mission in December 1993. The motors performed flawlessly taking approximately five minutes to retract each of the two arrays. The retractions were scheduled to take place during orbital daytime to allow sunlight to adequately warm the arrays prior to retraction.

The first in a pair of new-generation solar arrays will be installed by John Grunsfeld and Rick Linnehan on the first scheduled spacewalk of the mission, which is set to begin about 12:30 a.m. Monday. However, it is possible the spacewalk could begin up to one hour earlier than scheduled.

The crew is scheduled to wake up about 8 p.m. today, and within hours Grunsfeld and Linnehan, with the assistance of crewmates Jim Newman and Mike Massimino, will begin donning their spacesuits. They will begin the spacewalk by setting up some of the tools they will use, before Grunsfeld and Linnehan, working together, remove the old array, stow it in the payload bay and install the new starboard side array. They will also install its associated electrical support components, called a Diode Box Assembly. Mission Control bid the crew goodnight just before noon today concluding a busy and successful day culminating with the capture of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Newman, making his fifth spacewalk, will work closely with crewmate, Mike Massimino, who will be conducting his first spacewalk. Newman will wear a spacesuit marked with horizontal broken red strips for identification and Massimino will have on a spacesuit with diagonally broken red stripes.

This spacewalk mirrors much of the work done by spacewalkers John Grunsfeld and Rick Linnehan who replaced the Hubble Space Telescope's starboard solar array in today's seven-hour spacewalk. The second team of spacewalkers will remove the port-side array, stow it in the payload bay, and install a new-generation array along with its electrical components, or Diode Box Assembly. An additional task for the pair is to replace a Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA) inside the telescope. Space shuttle robot arm operator Nancy Currie will provide transportation for the spacewalkers to and from the worksite at the port array of the telescope and Bay 6, the location of the RWA.

The RWA to be replaced is one of four onboard the telescope. They are pointing devices that control Hubble's steady view of the cosmos. After the solar array installation, Massimino will ride the end of the robot arm to Bay 6, remove the old RWA, and then carry it to the payload bay where Newman will be waiting with the new component. They will exchange the units and Massimino will take the new RWA back to Bay 6 for installation, while Newman stows the old RWA for the flight home. Setup tasks for future spacewalks of this mission, including removing the thermal cover on Bay 5 and installing foot restraints, will wrap up the spacewalk.

Columbia Commander Scott Altman and Pilot Duane Carey will document their crewmates' work during the spacewalk with television and still-photo cameras, while also monitoring systems onboard Columbia. Today's spacewalk, the second of five for this mission, is scheduled to last almost seven hours.

The crew is to begin its sleep period at 11:52 a.m. CST.

During the space walk, which began at 12:37 a.m. CST, Grunsfeld and Linnehan removed the old starboard solar array from Hubble and installed in its place a new third-generation solar array and its associated Diode Box Assembly. The old solar array was stored in Columbia's payload bay where it will be returned to Earth to allow engineers to determine how it fared during its nine years in space. The new arrays are two-thirds the size of the current arrays but will provide 20 percent more power to the telescope. Because of their smaller size, the new arrays also will impart less atmospheric drag, slowing the rate at which Hubble's orbit decays.

Throughout the space walk, Mission Specialist Nancy Currie used the shuttle's robotic arm to maneuver the two space walkers around Columbia's payload bay and the Hubble telescope. Linnehan was on the arm for most of the space walk, with Grunsfeld taking his place about five hours and fifteen minutes into the space walk.

From the aft flight deck of Columbia, astronauts Mike Massimino and Jim Newman assisted the two spacewalkers throughout their numerous tasks. Newman and Massimino will be performing their first spacewalk of the mission tomorrow morning, replacing Hubble's port solar array and a Reaction Wheel Assembly, one of four devices that help Hubble maintain a steady position as it photographs distant objects.

During the spacewalk, Grunsfeld's EVA suit did not transmit its normal telemetry signal to the ground, though the Flight Surgeon was able to monitor the astronaut's biomedical data. After resetting power to the suit later following the spacewalk, EVA officers in Mission Control were able to receive data normally. It is believed a relay in the suit's communication system needed to be reset.

The crew is to begin its sleep period at 11:52 a.m. CST.

Controllers at the Space Telescope Operations Control Center in Greenbelt, MD, will begin sending commands to power down the telescope's systems around 10:30 p.m. CST. The power is planned to be off until the telescope is brought back to life at 5:30 a.m. CST Wednesday with a newly installed power center.

The shuttle crew was awakened today by the song "Carmen Ohio," performed by the Ohio State University marching band and played for Ohio State alumni Nancy Currie and Rick Linnehan aboard Columbia. Space walkers John Grunsfeld and Linnehan are scheduled to begin their work outside the shuttle about 12:30 a.m. CST Wednesday.

Grunsfeld and Linnehan will replace Hubble's power control unit, or PCU, the central power switching station that distributes electricity to all of the observatory's systems and scientific instruments. Currie will operate the shuttle's robotic arm, moving the space walkers to and from worksites on the telescope. Linnehan will ride the arm first to a position where he will disconnect the telescope's batteries. Meanwhile, Grunsfeld will install blankets to protect components that will not be heated while the power is off.

The pair will work in tandem to replace the PCU. Linnehan will remove 30 of the 36 connectors on the old PCU and then move to the shuttle's payload bay to prepare the new unit for installation. Grunsfeld will then work at the end of the arm to unhook the remaining connectors, ease the old PCU out of the telescope and carry it to the shuttle's payload bay to be stored. There, Linnehan will hand the new unit to Grunsfeld, who will take it to the worksite, install the new box in its bay and reattach the 36 connectors.

Inside Columbia, the flight's other space walking team, Jim Newman and Mike Massimino, will assist. They will act as in-cabin choreographers guiding Grunsfeld and Linnehan through their tasks. Newman and Massimino are scheduled to perform the mission's fourth space walk on Thursday. Columbia Commander Scott Altman and Pilot Duane Carey will operate television and still cameras to document the work.

The crew is to begin its sleep period at 11:52 a.m. CST Wednesday.

Spacewalkers Jim Newman and Mike Massimino spent seven hours 16 minutes installing the new equipment. Massimino, on his first spacewalk and Newman, making his fifth spacewalk, began their work at 12:40 a.m. CST. Newman and Massimino first removed the old port solar array and stowed it in Columbia's payload bay for a return to Earth. They then installed a third-generation solar array and its associated electrical components, the Diode Box Assembly. When the solar array installation was complete, the spacewalkers moved on to the removal and replacement of the RWA. Nancy Currie once again used the shuttle's robotic arm to maneuver the spacewalkers to and from the worksite at the port array of the telescope and the RWA in Bay 6.

Initial validation tests performed by the Space Telescope Operations Control Center in Greenbelt, Md. indicate that the new solar array and reaction wheel assembly are working flawlessly. The new RWA is one of four pointing devices on the telescope that uses its spin to control Hubble's position, providing a steady view of the universe for the telescope's sensitive cameras.

Toward the end of their spacewalk, Newman and Massimino also installed a thermal blanket on Bay 6, door stop extensions on Bay 5, and foot restraints in preparation for tomorrow's spacewalk by John Grunsfeld and Rick Linnehan.

The spacewalkers also tested two bolts on the telescope's aft shroud doors. Those doors protect the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS.) The two spacewalkers determined that the bottom of the two bolts required replacement and an aft shroud latch replacement kit was used to ensure that both bolts keep the door tightly closed.

During the spacewalk, Columbia Commander Scott Altman and Pilot Duane Carey used television and still-photo cameras to document the work, while monitoring systems onboard Columbia. Grunsfeld and Linnehan, who will be outside Columbia tomorrow for the third spacewalk of the mission, assisted Newman and Massimino from the aft flight deck.

The crew is scheduled to awaken at 7:52 p.m. CST.

Spacewalkers Jim Newman and Mike Massimino are ready to begin the first science instrument upgrade of the servicing mission when they step outside about 2:30 a.m. CST Thursday. The fourth of five spacewalks to rejuvenate Hubble will feature installation of the Advanced Camera for Surveys, which will see far beyond the reach of current instruments. The final original science instrument remaining on the telescope, the Faint Object Camera, will be removed to make room for the advanced system.

Columbia's crew - Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Duane Carey and mission specialists Nancy Currie, John Grunsfeld, Rick Linnehan, Newman and Massimino - was awakened at 9:52 p.m. CST. The original song "Sittin on Top of the World," played for the wakeup, was recorded and dedicated to the STS-109 crew by Les Paul, a music pioneer and space enthusiast.

Currie will operate the shuttle robot arm to provide transportation to and from the telescope worksites during the spacewalk. Newman will be lifted to Hubble's aft shroud doors where he will meet Massimino, remove the Faint Object Camera and temporarily stow it on the aft fixture of the enclosure holding the new instrument in Columbia's cargo bay. Together they will then unlatch the new camera from its carrier in the shuttle payload bay and install it in the aft shroud of the telescope. Once that is completed, they will stow the old camera in the payload bay carrier for return to Earth.

Massimino will then take a turn on the robotic arm, and the duo will install an Electronic Support Module for a new experimental cooling device to be installed on the fifth spacewalk for the telescope's Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer. They also will perform a few remaining cleanup tasks from Wednesday's power control unit installation.

Fellow spacewalkers Grunsfeld and Linnehan will be working inside the shuttle to choreograph the excursion as Altman and Carey provide photo and video documentation of the spacewalk.

Functionality tests continue and already have been fully successful on all of Hubble's major systems that were powered down for the third spacewalk. Functional tests of the telescope's scientific instruments will not be completed until after the telescope is released from Columbia and its aperture door is opened, allowing it to again view the heavens.

The crew is to begin its sleep period at 1:52 p.m. CST Thursday.

In addition to eliminating an intermittent problem with the old PCU, the new unit also is capable of handling the extra 20 percent of power output being generated from Hubble's newly installed set of solar panels attached during back-to-back space walks Monday and Tuesday. Controllers at the Space Telescope Operations Control Center in Greenbelt, MD, powered Hubble down at 3:37 a.m. Wednesday for the first time since its launch in 1990.

Mission Specialist Nancy Currie operated the shuttle's robotic arm throughout the space walk, moving Grunsfeld and Linnehan to and from various worksites on the telescope and in Columbia's payload bay. Grunsfeld later told Mission Control that, "Nancy is my hero" for her work today.

Today's space walk started two hours late due to a water leak in Grunsfeld's spacesuit. After swapping the upper portion of his suit the space walk began at 2:28 a.m. Linnehan, working from the shuttle's robotic arm, began by removing 30 of the 36 connectors on the old PCU. He was then maneuvered by Currie to the shuttle's payload bay where he switched places with Grunsfeld in order to prepare the new PCU for installation. At 4:55 a.m. Grunsfeld, now working from the robotic arm, unhooked the remaining six PCU connectors, eased the old PCU out of the telescope and carried it to the shuttle's payload bay for return to Earth. Grunsfeld installed the new unit at 5:53 a.m. The connectors were mated to the new PCU by 7:19 a.m. Shortly thereafter, the new PCU passed its aliveness test at 8:02 a.m. and all functional tests were completed at 12:18 p.m.

Inside Columbia, the flight's other space walking team, Jim Newman and Mike Massimino looked toward the fourth space walk set to begin tomorrow at about 2:30 a.m. CST to replace the last of Hubble's original science instruments - the Faint Object Camera - with the Advanced Camera for Surveys.

The crew is scheduled to awaken at 9:52 p.m. CST Wednesday.

The crew onboard Columbia was awakened at 9:52 p.m. CST by the Mission Impossible: II theme song, performed by Limp Bizkit.

Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Rick Linnehan plan to step out into the shuttle's payload bay about 2:30 a.m. CST Friday. The objective of the 6 1/2 hour spacewalk is to install the Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Cooling System.

NICMOS was installed on the second servicing mission to Hubble in 1997. The camera operated at extremely low temperatures and its solid-nitrogen cooling block was depleted earlier than expected. Engineers hope the new neon gas cooling system will restore the cold temperatures necessary for the camera to operate.

For the installation, Nancy Currie will give Grunsfeld a ride on the shuttle's robotic arm to the aft shroud doors, which he will open. These doors are on the opposite side of the telescope from where spacewalkers Mike Massimino and Jim Newman worked on Thursday.

Grunsfeld will then retrieve the NICMOS Cryogenic Cooler from the shuttle's payload bay and both spacewalkers will install the unit inside the telescope. After switching places on the arm Grunsfeld will close the left aft shroud door and Linnehan will move to the payload bay to remove the NICMOS Cooling System Radiator from its carrier. Together, they will install the radiator on the outside of Hubble. Linnehan will feed wires from the radiator through the bottom of the telescope to Grunsfeld, located inside Hubble, who will make the necessary connections to NICMOS. They will then close both aft shroud doors and perform the final activities of the spacewalk to prepare the shuttle payload bay for landing.

Commander Scott Altman and Pilot Duane Carey will provide photo and video documentation of this last spacewalk from inside the shuttle.

After the spacewalk, Columbia's smallest steering jets will be employed to boost the shuttle and Hubble's orbit. With the payload bay facing the direction of travel, the shuttle's vernier jets will be fired in a series of pulses, lasting about 36 minutes. The reboost will increase the shuttle and Hubble's orbit by about 3.7 statute miles.

The crew is to begin its sleep period at 1:52 p.m. CST Friday.

Columbia's spacewalkers, Jim Newman and Mike Massimino, began the first science instrument upgrade of this servicing mission at 3 a.m. central time. The duo, with Newman on the shuttle's robotic arm, began by removing the last of Hubble's original science instruments, the Faint Object Camera to make room for the ACS. Newman and Massimino first opened Hubble's aft shroud doors, removing the Faint Object Camera and temporarily stowing it at the edge of Columbia's payload bay. After installing the ACS in the Hubble, Newman and Massimino stowed the old camera in the payload bay for its return to Earth.

Then Massimino, on the shuttle's robotic arm, installed the Electronic Support Module in the aft shroud, with Newman's assistance. That module will support a new experimental cooling system to be installed during tomorrow's fifth and final scheduled spacewalk of the mission. That cooling system is designed to bring the telescope's Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) back to life.

Finally, Newman and Massimino completed some remaining cleanup tasks from yesterday's Power Control Unit installation.

During the first half of the spacewalk, mission specialist Nancy Currie operated the shuttle's robotic arm, providing transportation to and from the various worksites on both the Hubble and in Columbia's payload bay - Commander Scott Altman then took over operation of the arm to maneuver Massimino through his tasks.

Fellow spacewalkers John Grunsfeld and Rick Linnehan worked from inside the shuttle to choreograph the spacewalk, as Altman and Pilot Duane Carey continued to provide photo and video documentation of the work.

Initial functional tests on the ACS and the electronics module conducted by the Space Telescope Operations Control Center in Greenbelt, Md. were both good. Functional tests of the telescope's scientific instruments will not be completed, however, until after the telescope is released from Columbia and its aperture door is opened.

The crew is to begin its sleep period at 2:52 p.m. CST.

The crew completed five spacewalks on consecutive days, installing equipment that will give the telescope more energy, a new electronic "heart," and a camera more powerful than ever before. Columbia will release Hubble at about 4 a.m. CST Saturday, firing its engines soon after to separate the vicinity.

Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Duane Carey and mission specialists John Grunsfeld, Nancy Currie, Rick Linnehan, Jim Newman and Mike Massimino aboard Columbia were awakened at 9:52 p.m. CST by "Who Made Who" by AC DC. The song was played for Carey.

Activities in preparation for Hubble's release will begin about 12:52 a.m. CST when Currie grips a fixture on the telescope with Columbia's robotic arm. The latches that have held the telescope to a special support structure in the shuttle's payload bay will be released at about 2:04 a.m. CST. Currie will then lift the telescope above the cargo bay to a position poised for release. Several systems checks will follow as ground controllers at the Space Telescope Operations Center, Greenbelt, Md., prepare the observatory to again fly free before it is finally released by the shuttle.

After separating from the telescope, Columbia's crew will take a break from duties at 7:03 a.m. CST to participate in interviews by the NBC Weekend Today Show, WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Minn., and CNN.

The crew will begin a sleep period at 11:52 a.m. CST Saturday.

Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Rick Linnehan began their third spacewalk of the mission at 2:46 a.m. CST. Linnehan was given a ride on the shuttle's robotic arm to the aft shroud doors by Nancy Currie, working from the aft flight deck of Columbia. After the shroud doors were open, Linnehan was moved back to Columbia's payload bay to remove the NICMOS cryocooler from its carrier. Grunsfeld and Linnehan then installed the cryocooler inside the aft shroud and connected cables from its Electronics Support Module. That module was installed yesterday during a spacewalk by Jim Newman and Mike Massimino.

Next, with Grunsfeld on the end of the shuttle's robotic arm, the Cooling System Radiator was retrieved from its carrier in Columbia's payload bat and installed on the outside of Hubble. Linnehan fed wires from the radiator through the bottom of the telescope to Grunsfeld, who made the necessary connections to NICMOS. After ensuring that all the cables were properly connected and stowed, the pair closed both aft shroud doors and performed the final activities of the spacewalk to prepare the shuttle payload bay for landing.

Commander Scott Altman and Pilot Duane Carey provided photo and video documentation of the last spacewalk from inside the shuttle.

Initial tests of the new cooling system by the Space Telescope Operations Control Center in Greenbelt, Md. have all gone very well. NICMOS was originally installed on the second servicing mission to Hubble in 1997. The camera requires extremely low temperatures, but its solid-nitrogen cooling block was depleted earlier than expected. Engineers hope the new neon gas cooling system will restore the cold temperatures necessary for the camera to operate.

About an hour after the spacewalk, at 11:18 a.m., Columbia's smallest steering jets were fired for 36 minutes to boost the shuttle and Hubble's orbit by four statute miles. This reboost places Hubble in the proper orbit for its deployment from Columbia's payload bay early Saturday morning.

The crew began its sleep period at 1:52 p.m. and is scheduled to awaken at 9:52 p.m.

The crewmembers onboard Columbia - Altman, Pilot Duane Carey and Mission Specialists John Grunsfeld, Nancy Currie, Rick Linnehan, Jim Newman and Mike Massimino - will have a rare opportunity to speak with another crew in orbit, the International Space Station Expedition Four crew.

At 2:15 a.m. Sunday the shuttle crew will talk with space station Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch. STS-109 is the first space shuttle mission not dedicated to assembly of the space station, since a crew has been living aboard the orbiting laboratory. The station has been continuously inhabited since the first expedition crew arrived in November 2000.

Columbia's crew also will participate in a live question and answer session with reporters at 6:47 a.m. WABC Radio in New York City; KARE-TV of Minneapolis, Minn., and the CBS Radio Network will discuss the Hubble servicing mission with the crew.

Flight Controllers at the Space Telescope Operations Center in Greenbelt, Md., report that all systems on Hubble are operating well after its release from Columbia. The new, more efficient solar arrays and Power Control Unit are performing excellently. The activation of the science instruments is scheduled to begin about 11 p.m. Sunday. Controllers will continue to monitor the newly installed components until everything is brought back on line.

Science observations are expected to resume in the next few weeks from the veteran Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and Wide Field Planetary Camera. Any possible moisture accumulated during the maintenance operations will be allowed to evaporate before some instruments will be activated. The newest science instrument, the Advanced Camera for Surveys, will begin peering more deeply into the cosmos in the next few months.

The crew will begin a sleep period at 11:22 a.m. Sunday.

From the flight deck, spacewalker John Grunsfeld expressed the sentiments of the crew - Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Duane Carey and Mission Specialists Nancy Currie, Mike Massimino, Jim Newman and Rick Linnehan - as he said "from the crew of STS-109, we bid Hubble well on its new journey, with its new tools, to explore the universe."

Grunsfeld, Linnehan, Newman and Massimino completed five spacewalks to service and upgrade the telescope on five consecutive days, beginning early Monday morning. The spacewalks set a new record for a single shuttle mission with a total time of 35 hours 55 minutes, surpassing the previous record of 35 hours 26 minutes held by STS-61, the first Hubble servicing mission. The Hubble has now been serviced four times with a total of18 spacewalks, involving 14 different astronauts, for a total spacewalking time of 129 hours 10 minutes.

Over five days, the spacewalkers, assisted by Currie operating the shuttle's robotic arm, installed equipment that gave the telescope more power, a new module to dispense that extra power, and a camera able to see twice as much area, with more speed and clarity. They also installed an experimental cooling system that engineers hope will bring back to life the Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer.

At 4:05 a.m., Commander Scott Altman and Pilot Duane Carey fired Columbia's orbital maneuvering system engines to begin separating themselves from Hubble - leaving the telescope to continue it observations of the universe with more capabilities than ever before.

The crew took time this morning to discuss the progress of their mission with the NBC Weekend Today Show, WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Minn. and CNN. The crew is scheduled to begin their sleep period at 11:52 a.m. CST and to awaken at 8:52 p.m. to begin their 10th day in space.

Landing is scheduled for 3:32 a.m. CST Tuesday at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The weather forecast for landing calls for generally acceptable conditions with only a slight chance of rain showers developing offshore.

Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Duane Carey, and Mission Specialist Nancy Currie will test Columbia's mechanical maneuvering systems at 12:47 a.m. CST Monday to ensure they will be able to steer the shuttle on the correct path for landing. They also will test the reaction control system jets at 1:47 a.m. for assured maneuverability during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Crewmates Mike Massimino, John Grunsfeld, Rick Linnehan and Jim Newman will help pack away the equipment used throughout the mission.

The crew also will take time to answer questions from middle school students at the Maryland Science Center and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science at 10:12 p.m. The crew news conference with reporters at Kennedy and the Johnson Space Center in Houston is scheduled for 11:57 p.m. Sunday.

The song "Floating" by the Moody Blues awakened the crew at 7:22 p.m. Sunday. The song was dedicated to first-time fliers, pilot "Digger" and spacewalker Massimino.

Tuesday's primary landing opportunity to Kennedy would begin with a deorbit engine firing by Columbia at 2:22 a.m. CST leading to the 3:32 a.m. touchdown. A second landing opportunity also is available for Kennedy on Tuesday, beginning with an engine firing at 4:05 a.m. leading to a touchdown at 5:13 a.m.

Although opportunities do exist for landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., shuttle managers plan to focus Tuesday only on a landing in Florida. Additional landing opportunities are available Wednesday, in both Florida and California.

The crew will begin a sleep period at 11:22 a.m. Monday.

Columbia's main landing gear touched down at 3:32 a.m. CST, completing a mission that covered 3,941,705 statue miles.

Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Duane Carey, and Mission Specialist/Flight Engineer Nancy Currie brought Columbia smoothly back to Earth. They fired the shuttle's orbital maneuvering system engines at 2:23 a.m., while Columbia was over the Indian Ocean, to begin their descent from orbit.

Their ground track took them across the Pacific Ocean and the coast of Baja California, then on an almost due east heading across the southern United States. The plasma trail of the orbiter was visible as it passed over Houston to some flight controllers at Houston's Mission Control Center who took a moment to go outside and watch it move quickly across the northern sky.

Florida weather remained good for the landing, though there had been some concern earlier in the day about formation of ground fog. It did not materialize, and Columbia landed right on time.

Mission Specialists John Grunsfeld, Jim Newman, Rick Linnehan and Mike Massimino completed the five spacewalks, working in teams of two on alternate days. They gave the Hubble new solar arrays, an advanced new camera and installed a cooling system to revive another instrument. They also installed a new power control unit to route electricity from the arrays to batteries and instruments, and a new reaction wheel assembly to help point the telescope.

Tuesday's landing was the 58th for a shuttle at Kennedy Space Center and the 14th night landing there. Five other missions have ended with night landings at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

The sampling kit was then stowed away. Leo's next NUTRITION/Repository activity will be his Flight Day 30 (FD30) session. (The current NUTRITION project is the most comprehensive in-flight study done by NASA to date of human physiologic changes during long-duration space flight. It includes measures of bone metabolism, oxidative damage, nutritional assessments, and hormonal changes, expanding the previous Clinical Nutritional Assessment profile (MR016L) testing in three ways: Addition of in-flight blood & urine collection (made possible by MELFI), normative markers of nutritional assessment, and a return session plus 30-day (R+30) session to allow evaluation of post-flight nutrition and implications for rehabilitation.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/27/08.

Progress thrusters (DPO) were inhibited and not involved. (Crew activities focused on TORU activation, inputting commands via the RUO Rotational Hand Controller and close-out ops. TORU lets an SM-based crewmember perform the approach and docking of automated Progress vehicles in case of failure of the automated KURS system. Receiving a video image of the approaching ISS, as seen from a Progress-mounted docking television camera ('Klest'), on a color monitor ('Simvol-Ts', i.e. 'symbol center') which also displays an overlay of rendezvous data from the onboard digital computer, the crewmember steers the Progress to mechanical contact by means of two hand controllers, one for rotation (RUO), the other for translation (RUD), on adjustable armrests. The controller-generated commands are transmitted from the SM's TORU control panel to the Progress via VHF radio. In addition to the Simvol-Ts color monitor, range, range rate (approach velocity) and relative angular position data are displayed on the 'Klest-M' video monitor (VKU) which starts picking up signals from Progress when it is still approximately 7 km away. TORU is monitored in real time from TsUP over Russian ground sites (RGS) and via Ku-band from Houston, but its control cannot be taken over from the ground.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/28/08.

Before breakfast and exercise, FE-2 Eyharts performed his first PHS (Periodic Health Status) w/Blood Labs examination. CDR Whitson assisted in drawing blood and using the U.S. PCBA(Portable Clinical Blood Analyzer). The second part of PHS, Subjective Clinical Evaluation, was performed later in the day. (The PHS exam, with PCBA analysis and clinical evaluation, is guided by special software (IFEP, In-Flight Examination Program) on the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer). While PCBA analyzes total blood composition, the blood's hematocrit is particularly measured by the Russian MO-10 protocol.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/29/08.

(SONOKARD objectives are stated to (1) study the feasibility of obtaining the maximum of data through computer processing of records obtained overnight, (2) systematically record the crewmember's physiological functions during sleep, (3) study the feasibility of obtaining real-time crew health data. Investigators believe that contactless acquisition of cardiorespiratory data over the night period could serve as a basis for developing efficient criteria for evaluating and predicting adaptive capability of human body in long-duration space flight.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/07/08.

STS-123/Endeavour (ISS-1J/A) lifted off spectacularly in darkness early this morning right on time (2:28am EDT) with all systems performing nominally, for rendezvous with ISS tomorrow (3/12, Wednesday) and docking at approximately 11:25pm EDT. The Orbiter is carrying the seven-member crew of Commander Dominic L. Gorie, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Richard M. Linnehan, Robert L. Behnken, Michael J. Foreman, Takao Doi and Garrett E. Reisman. Reisman will replace LĂ(c)opold Eyharts as ISS Flight Engineer 2, who returns on 3/26 (nominal) with STS-123. STS-123 is the 122nd space shuttle flight, the 21st flight for Endeavour, the 25th flight to the station and the second of six Shuttle flights planned for 2008 (including the Hubble Service Mission 4). Its primary payloads are the 18,490-lbs Japanese Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section (ELM-PS or JLP) and the 3,400-lbs Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) 'Dextre'. We are off to another great mission!

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/11/08.

The crew was awakened at 3:28 p.m. by the Vince Guaraldi Trio's 'Linus & Lucy.' The song, which is from the album 'A Charlie Brown Christmas,' was played for Mission Specialist Mike Foreman.

The main activity of the day is the standard inspection of Endeavour's heat shield to ensure it is in good condition following launch. Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialist Takao Doi will use the shuttle's robotic arm and orbiter boom sensor system to scan the shuttle's wing leading edges and nose cap. The survey results will be sent to the ground for analysis.

Mission Specialists Robert L. Behnken, Rick Linnehan and Garrett Reisman will check out spacesuits in preparation for the five spacewalks they and Foreman will perform while at the International Space Station. Foreman has several other activities scheduled for the day, including preparations for Wednesday's docking with the station.

The station crew also is preparing for Wednesday's docking. Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Leopold Eyharts started their day at 3 p.m., after a shortened sleep period that allowed them to align their schedules with that of the shuttle crew.

Aboard the shuttle are Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Robert Behnken, Mike Foreman, Rick Linnehan, Garrett Reisman and Takao Doi, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut.

Endeavour will deliver the first component of the Japanese laboratory complex, Kibo, to the station. Kibo, which means "Hope" in English, is the major contribution of Japan to the International Space Station. The laboratory complex will take three shuttle flights to assemble. Endeavour also is carrying an intricate robotics system called Dextre that was developed for the station by the Canadian Space Agency. The two-armed robot will be attached to the end of the station's robotic arm to handle smaller tasks that otherwise would require a spacewalk to accomplish.

The STS-123 mission will be the longest mission to date to the station and will include five spacewalks.

International Space Station Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Leopold Eyharts were awake beginning their workday when Endeavour launched. Reisman will become a member of the station crew after docking as he trades places with Eyharts, who will return to Earth aboard Endeavour once it departs the station.

Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period at 7:28 a.m. today and awaken at 3:28 p.m. to begin its first full day in space. The shuttle is scheduled to dock to the station at 10:20 p.m. Wednesday.

STS-123/Endeavour continues its chaser flight for tonight's docking at ~11:25pm EDT, to begin ISS Stage 1J/A. (Catch-up rate ~480 nmi. per revolution of ~92 min). (Hatch opening is expected at ~1:08am, followed by: Safety Briefing, Soyuz seat liner transfer (for the Eyharts/Reisman exchange), SRMS (Shuttle Remote Manipulator System)- transfer of SLP-D1 (Spacelab Pallet Deployable 1), carrying SPDM 'Dextre', from Shuttle cargo bay to POA (Payload ORU Attachment) on MBS (Mobile Base System) at ~2:30am, and preparations for the first spacewalk, EVA-1, to be conducted by EV1 Linnehan & EV2 Reisman on 3/13 (~9:23pm EDT), preceded by their 'overnight' Campout tomorrow (6:43am-7:45pm) in the Airlock (A/L) for denitrogenation/pre-breathe. Main objectives of the nominal 16-day mission: Installation of the 18,490-lbs ELM-PS or JLP (Japanese Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section) and the 3,400-lbs Canadian SPDM (Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator) 'Dextre', delivering new ISS-16 crewmember Garrett Reisman & bringing LĂ(c)opold Eyharts back home, and conducting a total of five EVAs. Landing will nominally take place at KSC on FD17 (3/26) at ~8:35pm EDT.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/12/08.

Commander Dom Gorie and his crewmates, Pilot Greg Johnson and Mission Specialists Bob Behnken, Mike Foreman, Takao Doi, Rick Linnehan and Garrett Reisman, early Wednesday completed a five-hour inspection of Endeavour's heat shield using the shuttle's robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System. Imagery analysts and engineers on the ground will add these sensor images to those collected at launch and during the climb to orbit and continue their analysis of the orbiter's heat shield.

Additionally the STS-123 crew checked out the tools that will be used during Wednesday's rendezvous and docking to the station; installed the centerline camera that will be used during docking; and extended the outer ring of the Orbiter Docking System.

Spacewalkers Linnehan, Foreman, Behnken and Reisman checked the spacesuits that they will wear during the mission's five planned spacewalks.

On board the space station, Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Leopold Eyharts readied the station for the arrival of Endeavour by conducting a leak check of the docking port attached to the Harmony node.

About an hour before docking as the shuttle approaches the station, Gorie will perform the rendezvous pitch maneuver -an orbiter back-flip -600 feet below the station that will allow Whitson and Malenchenko to take hundreds of detailed images of the orbiter's underside. With the pitch maneuver complete, Gorie will fly the shuttle to a point about 300 feet in front of the station and then slowly ease the orbiter back to a docking.

STS-123 is budgeted for 16 days -the longest mission to the station -and will deliver the Japanese logistics compartment and the Canadian dextrous robot arm to their permanent home. A record five spacewalks will be performed while Endeavour is docked to the station to assist with the robotic attachment of the small logistics module and the assembly of Dextre -the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator that will extend the reach and capability of the station's robotic arm.

Endeavour's crew is scheduled to go to sleep at about 7 a.m. with the wakeup call from Mission Control scheduled for 2:58 Wednesday afternoon.

STS-123/Endeavour docked smoothly last night at 11:49pm EDT at the PMA-2 (Pressurized Mating Adapter-2) port, 24 minutes behind schedule (due to loss of target lock by the CW {Continuous Wave} laser of the Shuttle's TCS {Trajectory Control Sensor} during the manual rendezvous phase, requiring manual lock re-acquisition). The RPM (R-Bar Pitch Maneuver) started at 10:26pm and was successfully completed at 10:34pm, with Whitson and Malenchenko taking 200-300 close-up photographs of Endeavour's bottom heatshield. The station now hosts ten occupants again as Mission 1J/A is underway. (At the point of docking, Peggy Whitson rang the traditional ship's bell and announced 'Endeavour landed!' The combined crew is comprised of ISS CDR Whitson, FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko, FE-2 LĂ(c)opold Eyharts, STS CDR Dominic Gorie, PLT Gregory Johnson, MS1 Robert Behnken, MS2 Mike Foreman, MS3 Takao Doi (Japan), MS4 Rick Linnehan, and MS5/FE-2-16 Garrett Reisman who replaces Eyharts as FE-2, as the latter returns on the Endeavour as MS-5.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/13/08.

Shuttle Commander Dom Gorie started the approach with the Terminal Initiation burn earlier Wednesday evening leading to the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver at 9:26 p.m. From a distance of 600 feet below the station, Gorie manually flew the shuttle through a well-timed backflip allowing the station crew to photograph the shuttle's heat shield. The photos are being analyzed by engineers in Mission Control to ensure the heat shield is in good condition.

Following docking and leak checks, the hatches between the two spacecraft were opened at 12:36 a.m. Thursday.

Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson, joined by Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Leopold Eyharts, welcomed the shuttle crew onboard and provided an orientation of station operations and safety before proceeding to the remaining tasks.

The first 'transfer' item after hatch opening was swapping Mission Specialist Garrett Reisman for Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Eyharts from the European Space Agency.

The transfer was official when the form-fitting Soyuz seatliners were swapped at 2:50 a.m. Eyharts officially spent 33 days as a member of Expedition 16. With an on-time landing March 26, Eyharts will have spent 48 days in space.

The crew also prepared for the mission's first spacewalk, set to begin Thursday evening by Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Reisman.

Linnehan and Reisman transferred spacesuits to the station, and will spend the night in the Quest Airlock as part of the routine "campout" prebreathe protocol. The spacewalk will take about 6.5 hours as they plan to prepare the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section for unberthing from the payload bay. They also will work on some of the initial outfitting and assembly of the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator's two arms.

In preparation for that task, using the Canadarm2, Pilot Gregory Johnson and Mission Specialist Robert Behnken unberthed the Spacelab Pallet containing the Dextre and mated it to a temporary location on the station's Mobile Base System.

Mission Specialists Mike Foreman and Takao Doi commenced with the initial transfer work that will continue throughout the docked phase and set up photo and TV equipment between the two vehicles. The crews are scheduled to go to bed about 7 a.m. and wake up at 3:28 p.m.

Endeavour's crew started their day at 3:28 p.m. The wake up song for the day, Bay City Rollers' 'Saturday Night,' was played for the station's newest crew member, Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman.

Reisman will accompany Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan today on the first spacewalk of Endeavour's mission. Linnehan and Reisman will be preparing the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module, Pressurized Section -or the JLP for short -for installation on the station's Harmony node.

The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 8:23 p.m. The work on the JLP is the first task on the timeline, but should be done by 10:23 p.m. At that time, the spacewalkers will begin assembling the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, also known as Dextre. Linnehan and Reisman will be attaching two arms on the Canadian Space Agency robot, which could be used in the replacement of certain components on the station's exterior. The assembly will continue over the mission's first three spacewalks.

Dextre was removed from Endeavour's cargo bay just after 2 a.m., and the Space Lab Pallet on which it will be assembled was installed on the station's P1, or port 1, truss segment. Flight controllers ran into a problem when they attempted to route power to the pallet, but were unable to. Ground teams are currently troubleshooting the problem. Dextre does not need power for the tasks planned for tonight's spacewalk and the problem will not impact today's activities.

Crew sleep cycle today:sleep 8:00am-4:30pm; wake 4:30pm-7:00am tomorrow.

Mission 1J./A's EVA-1 was completed successfully by Rick Linnehan & Garrett Reisman in 7h 1m, accomplishing all its objectives (no get-aheads).
(During the spacewalk, Linnehan (EV1) & Reisman (EV2) -

Prepared the JAXA JLP (JEM Experiment Logistics Module Pressurized Section) for its transfer, i.e. -
opened and secured the protective flap over the Node-2 topside (zenith) hatch viewport for the internal CBCS (Centerline Berthing Camera System),
removed 8 PCBM (Passive Common Berthing Mechanism) contamination protection covers,
demated & stowed JLP LTA (Launch-to-Activation) connectors & installed protective caps on the LTA receptacles;
Performed Part 1 Assembly of the SPDM (Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator), i.e. -
released two OTCMs (ORU Tool Changeout Mechanisms) from the launch locations on the SLP (Spacelab Pallet),
installed the OTCMs on the SPDM,
released the OTP EDFs (ORU Temporary Platform Expandable Diameter Fasteners),
inspected the SLP PDGF (Power & Data Grapple Fixture) horseshoe connectors;
Took photographs of the SPDM, and
Installed a protective wire tie over the sharp edge divot discovered during Flight 1A on the Airlock (A/L) handrail.
Official start time of the spacewalk was 9:18pm EDT, about 5 min ahead of timeline, and it ended at 4:19am. Total EVA duration (PET = Phase Elapsed Time) was 7h 1min. It was the 105th spacewalk for ISS assembly & maintenance and the 77th from the station (55 from Quest, 22 from Pirs, 28 from Shuttle) totaling 472h 22min, and the 9th for Expedition 16 (totaling 64h 30min) and the 6th so far this year. After today's EVA, a total of 131 spacewalkers (99 NASA astronauts, 21 Russians, and 11 astronauts representing Japan-1, Canada-4, France-1, Germany-2 and Sweden-3) have logged a total of 660h 44min outside the station on building, outfitting and servicing. It was also the 127th spacewalk involving U.S. astronauts.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/14/08.

f the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory, was installed on the station early Friday morning.

With Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takao Doi at the controls and assisted by Commander Dominic Gorie, the JLP was gently attached to its interim location on the Harmony Node 2 module at 3:06 a.m. CDT. The module, which primarily will be used for storage space atop the larger Kibo Laboratory, will be relocated to its permanent location after the arrival of Kibo on space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission in May.

Preparations for the move were among the tasks accomplished in today's spacewalk, the first of five planned for the mission. Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman ventured out of the pressurized confines of the station at 8:18 p.m. to begin the 7-hour, 1-minute spacewalk, which ended at 3:19 a.m.

Once outside the Quest Airlock, they first removed a thermal cover to reveal the Centerline Berthing Camera System on top of the Harmony module. The system provides live video to assist with docking spacecraft and modules together and was used for the attachment of the Japanese Logistics Module - Pressurized Section.

Once in the shuttle's payload bay, the two spacewalkers removed contamination covers from the JLP docking mechanism. They also disconnected other power and heater connections, preparing it for its removal.

Next, the two headed to the port truss segment where they worked on the initial assembly of the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, known as 'Dextre.' They installed both the Orbital Replacement Unit/Tool Changeout Mechanisms (OTCMs) -the 'hands' of Dextre's arms. The OTCMs are parallel jaws that can hold a payload or tool. They each also have a retractable motorized socket wrench to turn bolts and mate or detach mechanisms, as well as a camera and lights.

Initial attempts to route power to Dextre were not successful Thursday after its unassembled components were temporarily parked on the station's truss in a pallet structure. Canadian Space Agency engineers spent the day developing a software patch to bypass what was initially believed to be a problem in a communications path from the station's robotic workstation to the new device.

But Pierre Jean, CSA's acting ISS program manager, told a Friday morning briefing that a problem with a cable harness on Dextre's pallet housing, and not the robot itself, might be the cause for the initial power glitch. Jean said the grapple of Dextre by the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm later today should initiate the routing of power to Dextre to set the stage for the rest of its assembly over the next few days.

Pilot Greg Johnson also supported the spacewalk activity, overseeing the video operations and Mission Specialist Mike Foreman served as the intravehicular officer, assisting with the choreography of the spacewalks.

Meanwhile, Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson assisted with the pre- and post-spacewalk activities, while Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko worked in the Russian segment.

Friday's spacewalk marks the 105th devoted to assembly and maintenance of the station with a total cumulative time of 660 hours. The second spacewalk is scheduled for Saturday night.

The astronauts started their day at 3:35 p.m. to the tune of The Byrds' 'Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season).' The song was played for Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan.

Linnehan will be one of the first three crew members to enter the station's new module, the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module, Pressurized Section -or JLP, for short. Preceding him will be Japanese Space Agency astronaut Takao Doi and station Commander Peggy Whitson. That entry is scheduled to take place at 11:18 p.m.

But before that can happen, Doi, Linnehan and Whitson will spend several hours outfitting the vestibule between the station and the module and beginning activation of the module.

Work will also be done on Endeavour's other main cargo, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator. When Dextre, as the robot is known, was removed from the shuttle's cargo bay after the shuttle docked to the station, ground teams ran into problems routing power to the pallet on which the robot is being assembled. The teams tried troubleshooting the problem with a software patch early this morning, but were not successful.

The next round of troubleshooting is scheduled to start at 8:53 p.m. In hopes of showing that the problem is in the pallet, not the robot itself, Mission Specialists Bob Behnken and Leopold Eyharts will grapple Dextre with the space station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, and attempt to power the robot through the robotic arm.

Shuttle Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and station Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman will take about 20 minutes out of their schedule at 12:28 a.m., to talk with reporters from ABC News, Space.com and Florida Today.

The astronauts will wrap up the fifth day of their mission by reviewing procedures for the mission's second spacewalk. Spacewalkers Linnehan and Mission Specialist Mike Foreman will spend their sleep period in the station's Quest Airlock in preparation for that spacewalk on Saturday.

Crew sleep cycle today: Sleep 7:00am -3:30pm; wake 3:30pm -7:00am tomorrow.

Node-2/JLP vestibule outfitting, JLP ingress & JLP rack reconfigurations successfully accomplished! The first Japan-made human-rated space facility is now in operation. Arigato Gozaimasu!
(After completing outfitting the Node-2 vestibule to the JAXA JLP (JEM Experiment Logistics Module Pressurized Section), including removing CBM (Common Berthing Mechanism) hardware, installing several utility jumpers & taking air samples, crewmembers, led by 'high-productivity' Peggy Whitson, ingressed the module three hours early (~9:20pm EDT). This allowed the reconfiguring of three JLP racks (including relocating rack front stowage to Node-2 in preparation for the racks transfer to the JEM during Flight 1J, plus retrieving two bags from behind a rack that contain K-Bars and pivot fittings) to be completed right away, rather than tonight (FD6) as planned. FD6 timeline replanning includes troubleshooting/repair of the broken ISS Multimeter.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/15/08.

list Takao Doi were the first to enter the new section, the first of three components that eventually will make up the full 'Kibo' science laboratory.

The crew also spent the day handing off the shuttle's Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) from the station's arm to the shuttle arm. The astronauts will stow the OBSS onto the station's main truss during the fifth spacewalk of the mission. The arm extension is being left on the station because the size of the main section of Kibo that is to be launched on the next shuttle mission, STS-124, won't allow it to be carried in Discovery's cargo bay. The OBSS will be returned to Earth at the end of that mission.

The shuttle's mission management team met earlier Friday and cleared Endeavour's thermal protection system for re-entry, scheduled for Wednesday, March 26. As a result of having a clean heat shield, focused inspection is not required.

Toward the end of their day, the combined crews grappled the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator (SPDM), nicknamed Dextre, with the station's robotic arm in order to verify Dextre's power supply unit was operating properly. Early troubleshooting involving sending up a software modification to the pallet on which Dextre currently resides was unsuccessful.

The station's arm grabbed Dextre at 8:59 p.m. Friday and power was confirmed a few minutes later at 9:10 p.m. Declaring that a success, the stage is set for the second of five planned spacewalks beginning Saturday evening about 7:23 p.m. by Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Mike Foreman.

The two astronauts will spend their sleep period in the station's Quest Airlock in preparation for the spacewalk designed to assemble Dextre's arms and positioning the robot on the outside of the station.

The crew got its wake up call at 2:28 p.m., in the form of 'We're Going to be Friends' by the White Stripes. The song was played for Mission Specialist Robert L. Behnken.

The main task of the day will be the spacewalk by Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Mike Foreman. The two will be installing two 11-feet-long robotic arms on the Canadian Space Agency's Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator -or Dextre, as it was dubbed by a Canada-wide naming contest.

Dextre is the third in a trio of robotic elements Canada has provided for the space station. Along with the 57-foot Canadarm2 and a mobile base system that allows the Canadarm2 to move along the station's truss, Dextre will form the station's mobile servicing system. Dextre will be able to attach to Canadarm2 or travel by itself on the mobile base system and install or remove small payloads and scientific experiments.

Today's spacewalk -which is the second of three involving Dextre assembly -is scheduled to begin at 7:23 p.m. and last for seven hours and five minutes. The bulk of Dextre assembly is planned to take place today.

While Foreman and Linnehan are outside the station, Mission Specialist Takao Doi will be working inside the station's newest module, the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module, Pressurized Section, or JLP. The JLP is the first section of the Japanese Space Agency's module, Kibo. Doi, a Japanese Space Agency astronaut, will resume JLP outfitting at about 5:30 p.m.

Ahead: Week 22 of Increment 16. Crew sleep cycle today: Sleep 7:00am -3:30pm; wake 3:30pm -6:00am tomorrow.

More good news!

SPDM Dextre was checked out and is working nominally with both arms. (The waist-up-only robot from Canada arrived in space in nine separate pieces that are being assembled in the current spacewalks. Each of the two arms has seven joints; in addition, SPDM (Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator) Dextre can pivot at the 'waist'. Its grippers (hands) have built-in socket wrenches, cameras & lights. Only one arm is movable at a time, to keep the robot stable and avoid a two-arm collision. Dextre can be attached to MT (Mobile Transporter) to translate along the stations rail tracks, or alternately to the SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) to swing to places where the railcart can't go. What a supercool helper!)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/16/08.

Dextre's arms, each 11 feet long, provide the robot with the ability to work outside the station to install small orbital replacement units and conduct other maintenance tasks. Dextre can operate on the end of the station's robotic arm or ride independently on the Mobile Base System.

Linnehan and Foreman completed the second spacewalk of the mission removing some of the thermal covers that had been protecting Dextre during its installation. Both astronauts coordinated their movements with Mission Specialist Robert Behnken, who was serving inside Endeavour as the spacewalk choreographer.

Meanwhile, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takao Doi configured experiment and stowage racks within the newly installed Japanese Experiment Logistics Moduleâ€"Pressurized Section. The module is a storage facility that provides stowage space for experiment payloads, samples and spare items.

Linnehan and Foreman ventured outside the space station at 6:49 p.m. CDT Saturday to begin the 7-hour, 8-minute spacewalk, which ended at 1:57 a.m. The spacewalk was the second in a series of five scheduled for the STS-123 mission.

Wake-up time for both the shuttle and station crews is 2:28 p.m. Sunday. The 10 crew members will spend the day working on various cargo items that are to be transferred back and forth between Endeavour and the International Space Station. The combined crews also will continue configuring racks in the new Japanese module while ground controllers test the electronics systems of Dextre now that it has grown arms. The standard spacewalk procedures review, this one for the third spacewalk, comes toward the end of the crew day.

The crew members were awakened at 2:43 p.m. with 'God of Wonders' by Caedmon's Call. The song was played for Endeavour's commander, Dominic Gorie.

Just before the crew went to sleep Sunday morning, flight controllers on the ground began checking out systems on Dextre -the Canadian Space Agency's Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator. Those tests wrapped up at 6:18 a.m., and were all successful.

Mission Specialist Robert L. Behnken and station Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman will pick up where the ground teams left off. Behnken will go through a series of tests to make sure the brakes on the joints on the two 11-foot arms on the robot work. At 10:48 p.m., Behnken will stow Dextre in the configuration needed for the third spacewalk of the mission by him and Rick Linnehan Monday night, when the assembly of Dextre will be completed.

Behnken and Linnehan will be starting their campout in the Quest Airlock for that spacewalk at 3:43 a.m., but before they do that, they'll join Mission Specialists Mike Foreman, Reisman and station Commander Peggy Whitson for a set of interviews with reporters on the ground. KMOX Radio in St. Louis, WEWS-TV in Cleveland and WBZ-TV in Boston will be talking with the astronauts at 9:18 p.m. All three stations are all in cities close to crew members' hometowns: Behnken, Linnehan and Foreman are from Missouri, Massachusetts and Ohio, respectively.

Work inside the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module, Pressurized Section, continues to be ahead of schedule. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takao Doi will be doing get-ahead tasks today for the STS-124 mission, when space shuttle Discovery will bring up the second Japanese component, the large Kibo pressurized laboratory.

Crew sleep cycle today: Sleep 6:00am -2:30pm; wake 2:30pm -6:00am tomorrow.

After wake-up yesterday at ~3:30pm, CDR Peggy Whitson completed another session with the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) software for data logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink, as suggested on her discretionary 'job jar' task list. (To monitor the crewmember's sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Peggy wears a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition. The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary 'job jar' task list.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/17/08.

Station Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman and Mission Specialist Robert L. Behnken first put Dextre through a series of tests to make sure the brakes on the joints on the two 11-foot arms on the robot work. Dextre passed those tests Sunday evening.

Later, Reisman and Behnken were the first to move Dextre's arms, positioning them for Dextre's final assembly during the mission's third spacewalk. The movement was completed at 11:22 p.m. CDT. The placement will allow Behnken and Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan to install additional accessories and remove thermal blankets from Dextre.

Work inside the Japanese Kibo Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section continued ahead of schedule. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takao Doi and European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts gathered supplies to prepare for the STS-124 mission, when space shuttle Discovery will bring up Kibo's laboratory module.

The spacewalkers, Linnehan and Behnken, are camping out in the Quest Airlock. The hatch was closed at 4:53 a.m.

All ten crewmembers are scheduled to awaken at 1:28 p.m.

Preparations for today's spacewalk will resume at 2:08 p.m. and the spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 6:23 p.m.

The space shuttle Endeavour's crew members received their wakeup call at 1:31 p.m. CDT. Their wakeup song for the day was 'Sharing the World,' a song written by Pilot Gregory H. Johnson's brother.

Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Robert L. Behnken will spend the day outside the station, performing the mission's third spacewalk. During this spacewalk, the spacewalkers will be finishing up the assembly of Dextre, the Canadian Space Agency's Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator. They'll add a tool holster, a stowage platform and a camera system to the robot, and then remove thermal covers that have been protecting the robot's system during its assembly.

The spacewalkers will also get the Spacelab Logistics Pallet on which the robot was assembled ready for return to Earth in the shuttle's cargo bay, and install some spare equipment -a yaw joint for the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, and two spare direct current switching units -on the station's exterior for future use.

Before heading back into the station, Behnken will also install on the station's exterior Materials International Space Station Experiment 6A and 6B. MISSE 6 is a science experiment that will gather data on how materials and coatings are affected by the extreme environment of space. It's scheduled to stay outside the station for about six months.

The spacewalk is scheduled to start at 6:23 p.m. and should last about six and a half hours.

Crew sleep cycle today: Sleep 6:00am -2:30pm; wake 2:30pm -6:00am tomorrow.

EVA-3 was completed successfully by Rick Linnehan and Bob Behnken in 6h 53m, accomplishing most of its objectives.
(During the spacewalk, Linnehan (EV1) & Behnken (EV2) -

Installed the OTP (ORU {On-Orbit Replaceable Unit} Temporary Platform) and THA (Tool Holder Assembly) on the SPDM (Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator),
Removed MLI (Multi-Layered Insulation) thermal blankets,
Installed the CLPA (Camera, Light & Pan/Tilt Assembly) on the SPDM,
Cleaned up & configured the SLP (Spacelab Pallet) for return (to be transferred with the SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) from the POA (Payload ORU Attachment) to the Orbiter PLB (Payload Bay) tomorrow evening (FD9)),
Transferred the spare SSRMS yaw joint from the PLB to stowage on the ESP-2 (External Stowage Platform 2),
Transferred two spare DCSUs (Direct Current Switching Units) from the PLB to stowage on the ESP-2,
Transferred the LWAPA (Light Weight Adapter Plate Assembly) for installation on the Columbus EPF (External Payload Facility) and prepared for the installation of two MISSE-6 (Materials International Space Station Experiment) payloads,
Removed the MCAS EBCS (Mobil Common Attachment System External Berthing Camera System) cover flap as a get-ahead, and
Stowed the JLP (JEM Experiment Logistics Module Pressurized Section) trunnion covers on a handrail for future installation.
Tasks not completed:

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/18/08.

on and was the 107th spacewalk dedicated to the assembly of the station.

Linnehan and Behnken focused on installing Dextre's tool holder assembly and a Camera Light Pan Tilt Assembly (CLPA), which will serve as Dextre's eyes. The spacewalkers also prepared the Spacelab Logistics Pallet, on which the robot was assembled, for its return to Endeavour's cargo bay Tuesday evening.

The astronauts also installed spare equipment for the station on an external platform on the Quest airlock, including a yaw joint for the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, and two spare direct current switching units.

The spacewalkers attempted to install the MISSE 6 experiment onto the Columbus module, but were unable to properly engage latching pins used to hold the experiment packages onto the hull of Columbus. MISSE 6 is designed to expose experiments to the space environment for six months and measure how materials and coatings are affected by the extreme environment.

Tuesday night, the crew will again use the station's robotic arm to grapple Dextre and move it to a power and data grapple fixture (PDGF) on the Destiny laboratory where it will reside. The next spacewalk by Behnken and Mike Foreman is scheduled for Thursday, when they will practice shuttle tile repair techniques and replace a failed circuit breaker on the station's truss.

Endeavour Commander Dom Gorie spent part of the day examining minor condensation on a cooling line under the floorboards of the shuttle's mid-deck. The condensation was noted after some noises were detected in that area. Flight controllers say the condensation has no impact on shuttle operations, but the cooling line may be inspected periodically during the remainder of the mission.

Crew sleep cycle today: Sleep 5:00am -1:30pm; wake 1:30pm -5:00am tomorrow.

Three more major mission steps were accomplished:

SPDM (Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator) 'Dextre', with repositioned arms, was successfully stowed on the U.S. Lab PDGF (Power & Data Grapple Fixture) (and is looking very cool);
SLP (Spacelab Pallet) was returned to the Shuttle PLB (Payload Bay) for re-berthing; and
SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) was 'walked off' the Node-2 PDGF onto MT/MBS (Mobile Transporter/Mobile Base System) PDGF-3 and maneuvered into position for today's MT translation from Worksite 6 (WS6) to WS4.
(During commanding of the SPDM's body ('waist') roll joint to stowage mode, it rotated in the opposite direction than expected, due to a sign mistake (polarity inversion, i.e., a plus-sign instead of a minus-sign) in the DMCS (Dexterous Manipulator Control Software) configuration file. Flight Controllers worked around this in real time, and the crew was able to maneuver the SPDM LEE (Latching End Effector) onto the LAB PDGF without further ado. Work is underway at CSA/MDA to write a corrective software patch.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/19/08.

Mission Specialist Takao Doi was joined by shuttle Commander Dom Gorie and station Commander Peggy Whitson for a phone call from Yasuo Fukuda, Japan's prime minister, who conveyed his congratulations for the successful installation of the first component of the Kibo laboratory at the station. The astronauts also answered questions from Japanese students. Afterward, all 10 crew members discussed their flight with CBS News, NBC News and WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H.

Mission Specialists Bob Behnken and Mike Foreman, along with their spacewalk coordinator Rick Linnehan, configured the tools they will use during Thursday night's spacewalk. Behnken and Foreman will employ a tool called the Tile Repair Ablator Dispenser (T-RAD) -a caulk-gun-like device -to apply a substance called Shuttle Tile Ablator-54 (STA-54) into purposely damaged heat shield tiles. Behnken and Foreman will then smooth the substance in place with foam-tipped tools. Those test samples will be returned to Earth to undergo extensive testing on how STA-54 performs in the environment of space. The demonstration is considered important in advance of the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission later this year since that flight will be conducted independently of a 'safe haven' capability at the ISS in the event the shuttle incurs damage to its heat shield.

Additional objectives of the spacewalk include replacement of a failed Remote Power Controller Module (RPCM) on the station's truss, including the temporary shutdown and spinup of Control Moment Gyroscope-2 (CMG). The RPCM replacement is needed to restore redundant power to CMG-2 and CMG-3.

Both crews reviewed procedures for that spacewalk, scheduled to start at 5:28 p.m. on Thursday and last 6.5 hours. Behnken and Foreman will sleep in the station's Quest airlock overnight for the standard spacewalk 'camp out' procedure to purge the nitrogen from their bodies.

The fifth and final spacewalk is scheduled for Saturday to move the shuttle's Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) onto the station. This is caused by the size of the huge Japanese Kibo pressurized laboratory module, which will be delivered to the station aboard Discovery in May, preventing the shuttle from carrying its own OBSS. Once Kibo is installed, Discovery's astronauts will detach the OBSS left behind by Endeavour, use it to perform tile inspections and bring it home.

Today's wake-up call at 12:28 p.m. CDT, 'Blue Sky' by Big Head Todd and the Monsters, was played for Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan, who will serve as the spacewalk coordinator for today's 6.5-hour-long excursion by Mission Specialists Robert L. Behnken and Mike Foreman.

When the hatch on the Quest airlock opens at 5:28 p.m., Behnken and Foreman will translate onto the International Space Station's truss. Behnken will replace a failed circuit breaker called a Remote Power Controller Module, while Foreman reconfigures cables on a nearby switching box to provide a redundant power source for the Control Moment Gyroscopes which control the station's attitude in orbit without the use of propellant.

The major job for Behnken and Foreman on this spacewalk is a demonstration of the Tile Repair Ablator Dispenser -a caulk-gun-like device -to apply a substance called Shuttle Tile Ablator-54 (STA-54) into purposely damaged heat shield tiles. The test samples will be returned to Earth to undergo extensive testing on how STA-54 performs in the environment of space. The work will be done at a worksite the spacewalkers will set up on the nadir side of the Destiny laboratory.

During the spacewalk other members of the crews will continue the transfer of supplies from Endeavour to the space station. Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman has his afternoon blocked out for more handover discussions with his predecessor, European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who is coming home with shuttle Commander Dominic Gorie and his crew.

The crew members were awakened at 11:29 a.m. CDT, to Heartland's 'I Loved Her First.' The song was played for Endeavour Commander Dominic Gorie.

Preparations for today's spacewalk are scheduled to resume at 12:08 p.m., and Mission Specialists Mike Foreman and Robert L. Benhken should be ready to begin the spacewalk by 4:23 p.m.

The first task on the astronauts' agenda is to store on the station's truss the Orbiter Boom Sensor System -or OBSS -used in Friday's inspection of Endeavour's heat shield. Normally, the OBSS is brought back by the space shuttle on each trip. This time, however, the OBSS is being left on the station to leave extra room in the cargo bay of space shuttle Discovery, the next shuttle to visit the space station. Discovery will be bringing the Japanese Experiment Module to the station, and there is not enough room in the cargo bay for both it and the OBSS. Discovery will bring the OBSS back to Earth at the end of its mission.

After the OBSS is safely stored, the astronauts will split up for the spacewalk's other tasks. Behnken will again try to install the Materials International Space Station Experiment 6 (MISSE-6) on the exterior of the Columbus laboratory. Behnken and Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan attempted to install the MISSE-6 experiment during the mission's third spacewalk, but were unable to engage latching pins used to hold the experiment packages onto the hull of Columbus. This time around Behnken has a few troubleshooting methods he can try if he runs into the same problem again.

While Behnken works on installing the experiment, Foreman will inspect the station's right Solar Alpha Rotary Joint. The 10-foot-wide, 2,500-pound rotary joint, which rotates the station's starboard solar arrays to track the sun, began showing increased vibrations and power usage last fall. Previous inspections have found metal shavings under the rotary joint's insulation covers, and Foreman will be looking at an area previously photographed to determine whether a pockmark seen in the photos is more metal shavings or damage from micrometeoroid orbital debris.

home on the space station, as well as installation of the Materials International Space Station Experiment-6 (MISSE-6) and inspection of the station's right Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ).

This was the 109th dedicated to the assembly of the space station. Because the two made quick work of the major tasks, they also were able to remove trunnion covers on the Japanese Logistics Pressurized Module.

Behnken and Foreman, on the third spacewalk for each, first stored the Orbiter Boom Sensor System -- or OBSS -- on the station's truss. Normally, the OBSS is returned on the space shuttle but this time it is being left on the station because there is not enough room in the cargo bay of space shuttle Discovery to house the next Japanese component to the station -the massive Kibo science laboratory. Discovery will bring the OBSS back to Earth at the end of the STS-124 mission.

After the OBSS was stored, the two spacewalkers split up for other tasks. Behnken installed the MISSE-6 on the outside of the Columbus laboratory while Foreman inspected the SARJ.

The 10-foot-wide, 2,500-pound joint, which rotates the station's starboard solar arrays to track the sun, began showing increased vibrations and power usage last fall. Previous inspections have found metal shavings under the rotary joint's insulation covers, and Foreman again looked at an area previously photographed to better characterize an apparent pockmark.

This time around Behnken had no trouble with MISSE-6 thanks to a few troubleshooting methods developed by engineers on the ground. He and Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan had attempted to install the MISSE-6 experiment during the mission's third spacewalk, but were unable to engage latching pins used to hold the experiment packages onto the hull of Columbus.

Endeavour's main gear touched down at 7:39:08 p.m. CDT with nose gear touch down at 7:39:17 p.m. Wheels stop occurred at 7:40:41 p.m.

During 249 orbits of Earth, the crew of Endeavour, which includes Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Bob Behnken, Mike Foreman, Rick Linnehan, Takao Doi and Leo Eyharts, installed the first segment of the Japanese Kibo module and the Canadian Dextre robot.

The astronauts conducted a record five spacewalks during the mission, which was also the longest mission to date at the International Space Station. The crew also installed the MISSE-6 experiment to the outside of the Columbus laboratory and also tested out a new shuttle heat shield tile repair technique.

Endeavour delivered astronaut Garrett Reisman to the station, replacing Eyharts as a flight engineer aboard the complex. Eyharts spent 48 days in space, including 44 aboard the station after he arrived on shuttle Atlantis during the STS-122 mission in February.

Endeavour will be towed to its orbiter processing facility tonight, where it will begin preparations for its next mission. The crew of Endeavour is planned to return to the Johnson Space Center tomorrow at 4 p.m. CDT.