Schlegel Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married, seven children. Born in Überlingen, Germany.

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: DLR Group 1 - 1987, NASA Group 17 - 1998. Inactive Entered space service: 3 August 1987. Left space service: 2 March 1997. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 22.75 days. Number of EVAs: 1.00. Total EVA Time: 0.29 days.

Official DLR Biography

Hans Schlegel

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Überlingen, Germany, 3 August 1951.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Aachen University in 1979 with a Diploma in Physics.

FAMILY: Married, four children.

RECREATIONAL INTERESTS: Sports, reading.

EXPERIENCE: Following his studies, Hans Schlegel spent six years as a scientist at the Physikalisches Institute of Aachen University, and two years as a specialist in non-destructive methodology in the research and development department of a company in Reutlingen.

From 1988 to 1990, Schlegel underwent Basic Astronaut Training at the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR). He started D-2 specific training in 1990 and flew for the first time, as Payload Specialist, during the D-2 mission. This second Spacelab mission under German management, successfully took place from 26 April to 6 May, 1993 on board the US Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-55).

Hans Schlegel went to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre near Moscow, in August 1995, to train for the German-Russian Mir 97 mission. Selected in crew 2, he served as Crew Interface Co-ordinator responsible for onboard-to-ground communication during the flight (10 February - 2 March 1997).

He returned to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre for additional training as Board engineer 2, between June 1997 and January 1998.

Schlegel has published works in the field of semiconductor physics and his areas of research include Experimental Solid State Physics, Optics and Infrared Spectroscopy.

He held a private pilot's licence, including instrument rating and aerobatics, and was holder of a German Science Diver Licence.

Schlegel entered the Mission Specialist Class at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, USA, in August 1998. Hans Schlegel was one of a number of astronauts from European national space programmes being integrated into ESA's single European astronaut corps. ESA astronauts will be involved in the assembly and on-board operations of the International Space Station, a multinational programme that will place a permanently inhabited research facility in Earth orbit.

SPECIAL HONOURS: Hans Schlegel has been awarded the Order of Friendship of the Russian Federation, as well as the German Verdienst Kreuz 1. Klasse.

• 25 April 1993 Flight: STS-55. Flight Up: STS-55. Flight Back: STS-55. Flight Time: 9.99 days.

• 7 February 2008 Flight: STS-122. Flight Up: STS-122. Flight Back: STS-122. Flight Time: 12.77 days.

26 April 1993 - STS-55. Manned seven crew. Carried German Spacelab-D2. Payloads: Spacelab D-2 with long module, unique support structure (USS), and Reaction Kinetics in Glass Melts (RKGM) getaway special, Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) II.

Node-2 Harmony is ready to accept Columbus!

EVA-12 'Charlie' was completed fully successfully in 7 hrs 4 min, accomplishing all objectives & get-ahead tasks.
As a consequence, Node-2 Harmony was fully activated by the ground, one day earlier than originally planned, enabling interior activations by the crew tomorrow.

During the spacewalk, CDR Peggy Whitson (EV1) and FE-2 Dan Tani (EV2), supported by FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko as intravehicular (IV) crewmember, connected and configured the second half of the Node-2 fluid, power, and cooling jumpers (the first half was accomplished on EVA-11 'Bravo' on 11/20).
Specifically, the spacewalkers -

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 11/24/07.

Today she collected another urine sample for storage in the MELFI (Minus-Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS). The sampling kit was then stowed away. (The current NUTRITION project expands 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 11/27/07.

FE-1 Malenchenko continued his support of his first experiment session with the Russian TEKh-20 Plasma Crystal-3+ (Plazmennyi-Kristall/PK-3+) payload by activating the turbopump in the Service Module (SM)'s Transfer Compartment (PkhO) for keeping the vacuum chamber (ZB) in the SM Work Compartment (RO) evacuated. The turbopump will be deactivated tonight at ~4:25pm EST. (Main objective of PK-3 is to study dust plasma wave propagation and dispersion ratio at a specified power of HF discharge, pressure, and a varied number of particles.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 12/03/07.

During the spacewalk, Tani (EV1) & Whitson (EV2), supported by FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko as intravehicular (IV) crewmember, inspected the Stbd (right-side) 1A BGA (Beta Gimbal Assembly) and BMRMM (Bearing Motor Roll Ring Module), followed by a detailed investigation and photo documentation of the Stbd SARJ (Solar Alpha Rotary Joint).
Specifically, the spacewalkers -

Found no obvious signs of external damage on cables or hardware of the BGA & BMRMM that might have caused the repeated tripping of circuit breakers (RPCs/Remote Power Controllers), making it more likely that the issue is internal to the hardware or its electrical system;
Entered into the S5 truss to disconnect some wiring to allow the ground to perform diagnostic continuity tests, and later reconnected the cables;
Temporarily removed 22 protective MLI (Multi-Layer Insulation) covers to inspect the SARJ, its two DLAs (Drive Lock Assemblies), and its 12 TBAs (Trundle Bearing Assemblies), reattaching the covers afterwards,
Found most metal shavings around TBA-4 and TBA-5, i.e., metallic, magnetic contamination on the main gear bearing's outboard angled race ring as well as pitting and abrasions on the ring but no obvious damage on the inboard race ring or on the gear teeth themselves. DLA (Drive Lock Assembly) #2 appeared especially 'ugly', i.e., filled with contamination, and, according to the spacewalkers, the further away from the DLA, the less contamination was observed;
Took photographs, measured the depth of surface pits with a special probe and collected debris samples; and
Deinstalled and removed TBA-5 from its housing under cover #20, using a PGT (Pistol Grip Tool), then brought it inside in a bag for eventual return to Earth aboard STS-122/Atlantis (SARJ can function OK on only 11 TBAs).
(Official start time of the spacewalk was 4:50am EST, 70 minutes ahead of the timeline, ending at 11:46am. Total EVA duration (PET = Phase Elapsed Time) was 6h 56min. It was the 100th spacewalk for ISS assembly & maintenance and the 72nd from the station (28 from Shuttle, 50 from Quest, 22 from Pirs) totaling 436h 3m, and the 4th for Expedition 16 (totaling 28h 11m. During the spacewalk, her fifth, Peggy Whitson set a new record of aggregated EVA time by a woman (of 32h 36m) when she exceeded the 29h 18m held by Sunita Williams. After today's EVA, a total of 121 spacewalkers (90 NASA astronauts, 21 Russians, and ten astronauts representing Japan-1, Canada-4, France-1, Germany-1 and Sweden-3) have logged a total of 624h 25m outside the station on building, outfitting and servicing. It was also the 122nd spacewalk by U.S. astronauts. The 100th EVA dedicated to ISS assembly & maintenance originally was to have been conducted by Rex Walheim & Hans Schlegel of the delayed STS-122/1E mission.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 12/18/07.

Yest kasaniye! Progress M-63 (28P), approaching from below the station, docked flawlessly at the DC1 Docking Compartment nadir port at 9:38am EST, followed by docking probe retraction and hook closure ('sborka') after motion damp-out, while the ISS was in LVLH (local vertical/local horizontal) attitude. All Progress systems operated nominally from Automated Rendezvous start. (Launched on 2/5 (8:02am EST), the 28P resupply drone delivered about 2.5 tons of cargo for the ISS crews, including propellants for the Russian thrusters, fresh water, oxygen, food, spare parts, repair gear, life support and science experiment hardware.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/07/08.

Atlantis lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-122 at 1:45 p.m. CST. Aboard the shuttle are Commander Steve Frick, Pilot Alan Poindexter and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Stanley Love, Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts. Schlegel and Eyharts are European astronauts.

Atlantis is in excellent condition. The shuttle is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station on Saturday. On Friday, the crew will use the shuttle's robotic arm to inspect Atlantis' heat shield on the wing leading edges and nose. They also will check the spacesuits that will be used for three spacewalks during the mission.

After Atlantis arrives at the station, Eyharts will become a member of the Expedition 16 crew, joining Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko. Flight Engineer Dan Tani, who has been aboard the station since October 2007, will return to Earth on Atlantis.

The launch of Atlantis is the 121st space shuttle launch and the 29th flight of Atlantis. The Columbus module is Europe's primary contribution to the space station. Columbus will host experiments in life, physical and earth sciences.

The shuttle crew will begin a sleep period at 7:45 p.m. CST and awaken at 3:45 a.m. CST Friday to begin their first full day in space.<

The crew's work/sleep cycle was shifted once more in preparation for Atlantis 1E arrival, to 5:00am-8:15pm.

STS-122/Atlantis continues its catch-up flight for tomorrow's FD3 ISS docking at ~12:25pm EDT, to begin ISS Stage 1E. (Catch-up rate ~480 nmi. per revolution of ~92 min.). (Hatch opening: expected at ~1:35pm, followed by: Safety Briefing, OBSS (Orbiter Boom Sensor System) handoff from SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) to SRMS (Shuttle RMS) at ~4:30pm, Soyuz seat liner transfer (for the Tani/Anderson exchange), and preparations for the first spacewalk, EVA-1, by EV1 Walheim & EV2 Schlegel, on 2/10, preceded by their overnight Campout tomorrow night in the Airlock (A/L) for denitrogenation/pre-breathe. Objectives of the nominal 11-day mission: Delivering & installing the Columbus module, delivering new ISS-16 crewmember LÃ(c)opold Eyharts & bringing Dan Tani back home, and conducting a total of three EVAs. Landing will nominally take place at KSC on FD10 (2/18) at ~9:59am EST.)

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

Installing the laboratory, named for Christopher Columbus, is the primary goal of this 121st space shuttle mission. It will add 2,648 cubic feet of pressurized volume, four science experiment racks and one storage rack to the space station.

This morning's wakeup song, 'The Book of Love,' performed by Peter Gabriel, was played for European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts at 3:45 a.m. CST. Eyharts will become a member of the Expedition 16 crew, replacing Flight Engineer Dan Tani, after Atlantis arrives at the space station Saturday.

Today Atlantis Commander Steve Frick and his crewmates, Pilot Alan Poindexter and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Stanley Love, Hans Schlegel and Eyharts will perform an inspection of Atlantis' heat shield using the shuttle's robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System. They'll also check out the tools they need for Saturday's rendezvous and docking to the station and install a centerline camera in the shuttle's orbiter docking system.

Spacewalkers Walheim, Schlegel and Love will prepare spacesuits that they will wear during the mission's three spacewalks; two by Walheim and Schlegel and one by Walheim and Love.

The International Space Station's Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Tani started their day at 4 a.m. CST. Today they will conduct a leak check of the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 where Atlantis will dock to the station Saturday morning at 11:25 a.m. CST.

Commander Steve Frick and his crewmates, Pilot Alan Poindexter and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Stanley Love, Hans Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts, today completed a five-hour inspection of Atlantis' heat shield using the shuttle's robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System. Imagery analysts and engineers on the ground will add today's three-dimensional sensor images to imagery and accelerometer data collected at launch and during the climb to orbit and continue their analysis of the shuttle's heat shield.

Also today, the crew checked out the tools that will be used during tomorrow'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 Walheim, Schlegel and Love checked out the spacesuits that they will wear during the mission's three spacewalks. At 2:02 p.m. Walheim reported that the suits had been fully prepared for transfer to the space station.

On board the space station, Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Dan Tani readied the station for the arrival of Atlantis' crew by conducting a leak check of Pressurized Mating Adapter-2, Atlantis' docking point.

Tomorrow, Frick will perform the rendezvous pitch maneuver, an orbiter back-flip 600 feet below the space station that will allow Whitson and Malenchenko to take hundreds of detailed images of the orbiter's underside. With the pitch maneuver complete, Frick will fly the shuttle ahead of the station and slowly ease the orbiter back to a docking with the space station.

Tomorrow also marks Whitson's 48th birthday. She commented today that she was looking forward to Atlantis' arrival as her birthday present.

The STS-122 crew is on an 11-day mission that will deliver a new research module to the International Space Station, the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory. Columbus will be Europe's largest contribution to the construction of the station, adding 2,648 cubic feet of pressurized volume, four science experiment racks and one storage rack to the orbiting complex.

Atlantis' crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 7:45 p.m. and will awaken at 3:45 a.m.

aturday = Docking Day. Happy Birthday, Peggy Whitson!

STS-122/Atlantis docked smoothly at the PMA-2 (Pressurized Mating Adapter-2) port at 12:17pm EST, eight minutes ahead of time, after successfully completing the RPM (R-Bar Pitch Maneuver) at 11:32am. The station now hosts ten occupants again as Mission 1E is underway. (The combined crew is comprised of ISS CDR Peggy Whitson, FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko, FE-2 Dan Tani, STS CDR Steve Frick, PLT Alan Poindexter, MS1 Leland Melvin, MS2 Rex Walheim, MS3 Hans Schlegel, MS4 Stanley Love, and MS5 LÃ(c)opold Eyharts who replaces Dan Tani as FE-2, while the latter returns on the Atlantis as MS-5.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/09/08.

Space shuttle Atlantis will deliver the new module and a new crew member to the station when it docks at 11:25 a.m. CST to begin 6 days of docked operations.

Today's wakeup song, played for Commander Steve Frick, at 3:45 a.m. CST was the theme song from Garrison Keillor's radio variety show 'A Prairie Home Companion.' The song is the Spencer Williams composition "Tishomingo Blues," but with lyrics written especially for the show.

Frick and his shuttle crewmates begin rendezvous operations at 5:30 a.m. CST. At 10:23 a.m., at a range of 600 feet below the station, Frick will command Atlantis to perform a back flip so ISS Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko can photograph the thermal tiles on the shuttle's underside. Those digital images will be sent to Mission Control for analysis.

With the pitch maneuver complete, Frick will then fly the shuttle ahead of the station and slowly ease the orbiter back to a docking with the space station.

After hatch opening, the crew members will begin moving spacewalking equipment into the Quest airlock to prepare for the first excursion on Sunday. Mission Specialists Rex Walheim and Hans Schlegel will go outside to prepare the Columbus module to be grappled by the station's robotic arm, lifted from Atlantis' payload bay, and installed on the starboard side of Harmony.

The official exchange of Atlantis crewmember LÃ(c)opold Eyharts with space station Flight Engineer Dan Tani, who arrived at the station in October, is planned for 6 a.m. CST Sunday. The transfer becomes official with the installation of Eyharts' customized seat liner in the Soyuz.

The STS-122 crew is on an 11-day mission to install and activate Columbus. The new laboratory is Europe's largest contribution to the construction of the station, adding 2,648 cubic feet of pressurized volume, four science experiment racks and one storage rack to the orbiting complex.

What wasn't delayed, however, was the official crew rotation of ESA Astronaut Leopold Eyharts and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Dan Tani, which was completed at 5:20 p.m. Eyharts now is a member of Expedition 16 and Tani is an STS-122 mission specialist.

Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Tani welcomed the seven-man Atlantis crew into the space station at 12:40 p.m., following an 11:17 a.m. docking, following a flawless rendezvous throughout the morning.

They'll have 24 extra hours to finish preparing for the mission's next major milestone, however, due to a crew medical issue. The mission's first spacewalk originally was scheduled for Sunday, but has been postponed until Monday. Mission Specialist Rex Walheim will be joined for the spacewalk by Mission Specialist Stanley Love, rather than Mission Specialist Hans Schlegel, as originally planned.

Space Shuttle Program Deputy Manager John Shannon said ground teams are currently reworking the mission timeline and there should be no impact to the completion of the mission's objectives, despite being shifted one day later.

To make up for the delay, Shannon said the crew will conserve enough power to spend an additional day in space. Atlantis went into orbit with the option of adding one day to its mission, which was to be used for additional work commissioning the new Columbus module. By adding a second day, the crew could shift their activities by one day and still have time for more Columbus work after the module is installed.

Before docking, Commander Steve Frick flew the shuttle through a backflip to allow the space station crew a good view of Atlantis' heat shield. Whitson and Malenchenko took about 300 photos of the shuttle's thermal protection system and sent them down to teams on the ground for analysis.

The teams also are paying close attention to photos sent down by the crew Friday of minor damage to a thermal blanket over the shuttle's right Orbital Maneuvering System pod. A similar condition occurred on the left pod last year on STS-117 and was repaired during a spacewalk.

Shannon said this case does not seem to be as much of a concern, because this particular blanket location does not experience as much heat during the shuttle's reentry.

Docking went smoothly with the exception of a hiccup with one of the station's five general purpose computers. After experiencing some problems with guidance and navigation software on the computer, the crew opted to use other computers for the shuttle's rendezvous with the station. Only one computer is needed to perform the rendezvous, with one computer required for backup. Mission Control will review the computer's software to ensure its health.

Ahead: Week 17 of Increment 16.

Mission 1E replanning by MCC-Houston, driven by the one-day delay of the first spacewalk, was completed last night, as follows:

Approved mission extension by one day (i.e., 12+0+2 instead of 11+0+2), resulting in 2/19 (Tuesday) as return date for Atlantis;
Limiting resource being oxygen (O2), under further discussion is the option to either extend by one more docked day or transfer the unexpended O2 to the ISS (current O2 margins are estimated to be 11+1+2 plus an additional 20-25 hours. These are still being refined given the insertion of the new FD4);
All FD 4 activities moved to FD 5. EVA-1 will be conducted by Stanley Love and Rex Walheim tomorrow, with Campout of the two tonight;
Today (FD 4) was replanned and includes 1.5 hrs of focused inspection (FI) of the starboard OMS (Orbital Maneuvering System) pod blanket that has a corner slightly peeled back (the FI, starting at ~ 2:15 pm EST, is planned for 90 min, with additional FI time available on FD 06 if needed);
Transfer status: 22% of transfer complete, 6 hours of transfer scheduled for FD 4, expect 35/40 lbs N2 transfer today, 3 CWCs filled.
Wakeup time for the ISS crew remains at 4:45am EST, with sleep time tonight 8:45pm. Same times for the Shuttle crew.

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/10/08.

Mission Specialists Rex Walheim, Stanley Love, Alan Poindexter and Hans Schlegel focused most of the day on finalizing the checklists for the spacewalk, which is scheduled to begin at 8:35 a.m. CST tomorrow. In advance of tomorrow's activities, Love and Walheim will 'camp out' inside the Quest airlock tonight in order to purge nitrogen from their bodies.

Tomorrow's events will focus on installing the Columbus laboratory by mating it to the Harmony module. Walheim and Love will first install a grapple fixture onto Columbus while it rests inside the shuttle's payload bay. Astronauts will then use the space station's robotic arm to attach to Columbus and move it into place on the starboard side of Harmony.

Once the detailed inspection is complete and all images are captured, analysts at Mission Control in Houston will examine the data to ensure there are no issues with the shuttle's thermal protection system.

The crew is scheduled to wake at 3:45 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Mission managers added a day to the mission Saturday after delaying the first spacewalk because of a crew medical issue. Plans were finalized last night for a focused inspection of Atlantis' thermal protection system today beginning at 1:15 p.m. CST. The crew also will ready Harmony for the Columbus research module and transfer cargo to the space station.

Today's wakeup song at 3:45 a.m. CST was 'Maenner' by German musician Herbert Groenemeyer for astronaut Hans Schlegel. 'Maenner' translated is 'Men.' Groenemeyer is also known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Werner in Wolfgang Petersen's movie 'Das Boot.'

Mission Specialists Rex Walheim, Stanley Love and Schlegel will spend time today reviewing procedures for Monday's spacewalk. Love is replacing Schlegel on the mission's first spacewalk. Love and Walheim will assist robotic arm operators in attaching the newly arrived Columbus module to the starboard side of the Harmony module.

Walheim and Love will spend tonight "camped out" inside the Quest airlock with air pressure lowered to help purge nitrogen from their bodies in preparation for tomorrow's spacewalk, the first of three planned for this mission. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 8:35 a.m. CST Monday.

The day began at 3:46 a.m. CST. The wakeup song 'Fly Like an Eagle,' written by Steve Miller, was played for Mission Specialist Leland Melvin on the day he will use the station's robotic arm to lift the Columbus research module from Atlantis' payload bay.

Mission Specialists Rex Walheim and Stanley Love will leave the Quest airlock at 8:35 a.m. CST for a 6.5-hour spacewalk to mate Columbus to the Harmony module. Inside the space station, Melvin will operate the station's arm and Pilot Alan Poindexter and Mission Specialist Hans Schlegel will assist the two spacewalkers.

Walheim and Love will first install a grapple fixture on Columbus while it rests inside the shuttle's payload bay. The two spacewalkers will then prepare to replace a large nitrogen tank used for pressurizing the station's ammonia cooling system.

Meanwhile, Melvin will use the station's robotic arm to grasp Columbus and move it into place on the starboard side of Harmony. Motorized bolts will lock Columbus in place. Once Columbus is attached, crew members will do an initial leak check.

Columbus is the cornerstone of the European Space Agency's contribution to the International Space Station and is the first European laboratory to be dedicated to long-term research in space.

At ~9:15am EST, the European Columbus laboratory was opened and entered by crewmembers for the first time. (Columbus is permanently attached at the starboard port of Node-2.)

Crew sleep cycle remains at 4:45am - 8:15pm for both crews.

Before breakfast, FE-2 Dan Tani completed his daily access of 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. (To monitor the crewmember's sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan 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.)

CDR Peggy Whitson and FE-2-16 Leo Eyharts continued their IMMUNO (Integrated Immune Assessment) experiment, begun on 2/9, with liquid saliva collections, first thing after wake-up and prior to breakfast, drinking and teeth-brushing. All samples were stored at ambient temperature. Dan Tani's IMMUNO liquid saliva collection starts tomorrow morning. (IMMUNO (Integrated Immune Assessment)is a 24-hr. test of human immune system changes, with the objective to investigate immune neuro-endocrine reactions in the space environment by studying samples of saliva, blood and urine using collection kits and the biomedical (MBI) protection kit, to develop and validate an immune monitoring strategy consistent with operational flight requirements and constraints. The strategy uses both long and short duration crewmembers as study subjects. The saliva is collected in two forms, dry and liquid. The dry samples are collected at intervals during the collection day using a specialized book that contains filter paper. The liquid saliva collections require that the crewmember soak a piece of cotton inside their mouth and place it in a salivette bag; there are four of the liquid collections during docked operations. The on-orbit blood samples are collected right before undocking and returned on the Shuttle so that analysis can occur with 48 hours of the sampling. This allows assays that quantify the function of different types white blood cells and other active components of the immune system. For cold storage, samples are secured in the MELFI (Minus-Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS). Also included are entries in a fluid/medications intact log, and a stress-test questionnaire to be filled out by the subject at begin and end. Urine is collected during a 24-hour period, conventionally divided into two twelve-hour phases: morning-evening and evening-morning.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/12/08.

Station Flight Engineer Leopold Eyharts and Mission Specialist Hans Schlegel, both European Space Agency astronauts, opened the hatches to the new Columbus laboratory at 8:08 a.m. CST.

"This is a great moment and Hans and I are very proud to be here and to ingress for the first time the Columbus module," Eyharts said.

The crew remained ahead of schedule throughout the activation of Columbus, working inside to bring computers, ventilation and cooling systems online. While integrating the cooling system into that of the station's, temperature fluctuations caused the system to partially shutdown as a precaution. The system was brought back up and connected without incident later.

With the activation of the new lab, the Columbus Control Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, began supporting mission operations.

Late today, STS-122 Mission Specialists Rex Walheim and Schlegel will begin a camp out in the station's Quest Airlock in preparation for Wednesday's spacewalk. The spacewalk is scheduled to start at 8:35 a.m.

The crews will awaken at 3:45 a.m. Wednesday.

Atlantis' crew started its day at 3:45 a.m. CST. The wakeup song, 'Dream Come True' by Jim Brickman, was played for Mission Specialist Rex Walheim.

The main activity of the day will be getting the International Space Station's newest international module ready for business. The crew will begin outfitting the station's newest science module at 6:40 a.m.

During a partial ingress of the module at 7:50 a.m., European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts will start ventilation between Columbus and the rest of the station. Then the rest of the shuttle and station crew members are scheduled to take their first steps into Columbus at 1:55 p.m. Soon afterward, the Columbus Control Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, will take over command of the module.

Between Columbus work and transfer operations, some members of the shuttle crew will take time out to talk with reporters. At 7:53 a.m., Commander Steve Frick and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Stanley Love and Walheim will talk with FOX News' Fox and Friends, KGO-TV in San Francisco and The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS. And at 3:35 p.m., Frick, along with Pilot Alan Poindexter and Mission Specialist Hans Schlegel, will be interviewed by CBS News and Pittsburgh television stations KDKA-TV and WPXI-TV.

Crew sleep cycle remains at 4:45am EST - 8:15pm for both crews.

Mission 1E's EVA-2 was completed successfully by Rex Walheim & Hans Schlegel in 6h 45m, accomplishing all its objectives and get-aheads.
(During the spacewalk, Walheim (EV1) & Schlegel (EV2) removed the new NTA (Nitrogen Tank Assembly) from the Shuttle PLB (Payload Bay), 'flew' it to the CETA (Crew & Equipment Translation Aid) cart for transfer to the P1 truss, installed it in place of the failed NTA, which they returned via CETA for stowage in the PLB, and performed Get-Aheads, viz.: Clean up Lab MMOD (Micrometeoroid/Orbital Debris Shield) & install Columbus Trunnion Covers.) Official start time of the spacewalk was 9:27am EST, about 8 min ahead of the timeline, and it ended at 4:12pm. Total EVA duration (PET = Phase Elapsed Time) was 6h 45min. It was the 103rd spacewalk for ISS assembly & maintenance and the 75th from the station (28 from Shuttle, 53 from Quest, 22 from Pirs) totaling 457h 56min, and the 7th for Expedition 16 (totaling 50h 04min). After today's EVA, a total of 127 spacewalkers (95 NASA astronauts, 21 Russians, and 11 astronauts representing Japan-1, Canada-4, France-1, Germany-2 and Sweden-3) have logged a total of 646h 18min outside the station on building, outfitting and servicing. It was also the 125th spacewalk involving U.S. astronauts.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/13/08.

The crews of the station and space shuttle Atlantis are preparing for the second spacewalk of Atlantis' mission. Mission Specialists Rex Walheim and Hans Schlegel will replace a nitrogen tank used to pressurize the station's ammonia cooling system.

The astronauts' day began at 3:45 a.m. CST. The wakeup song 'Oysters and Pearls,' by Jimmy Buffett, was played for Pilot Alan Poindexter. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 8:35 a.m., after Walheim and Schlegel finish their preparations in the Quest airlock, where they spent the night.

At 8:55 a.m., the space station's robotic arm will remove the new nitrogen tank from Atlantis' cargo bay. The removal of the old tank will take the spacewalkers about two and a half hours, and the installation of its replacement is scheduled to take another two hours.

The spacewalkers are scheduled to return to the space station at 3 p.m.

This will be the fourth spacewalk for Walheim, who also took part in the mission's first spacewalk on Monday and the first for Schlegel. It is the 103rd spacewalk devoted to space station assembly and maintenance.

Walheim and Schlegel stepped outside the International Space Station's Quest airlock at 8:27 a.m. CST, and during the next six hours and 45 minutes they worked to replace a nitrogen tank used to pressurize the station's ammonia cooling system. Once the tank was replaced, Walheim, mounted on the station's robotic arm, maneuvered the spent tank into Atlantis' payload bay for return.

Once the task was completed, Walheim and Schlegel made some minor repairs to the Destiny laboratory's debris shield and worked on some tasks in advance of the third and final spacewalk of the mission, which will take place on Friday.

While Walheim and Schlegel were finishing up their tasks 210 miles above the earth, mission managers on the ground decided to extend Atlantis' mission by one extra day to continue activation of the new Columbus laboratory. They also cleared the shuttle's thermal protection system for re-entry based on inspections completed thus far. Additional inspections are scheduled following Atlantis' departure from the station.

Atlantis is now scheduled to land at 8:06 a.m. CST on Wednesday, Feb. 20.

The shuttle crew woke up at 2:45 a.m. to 'Consider Yourself at Home.' The song, which is from the musical 'Oliver!', was played for Mission Specialist Stanley Love.

The first major event of the day will begin at 8:55 a.m., when shuttle Commander Steve Frick, Mission Specialists Hans Schlegel and Daniel Tani, station Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Leopold Eyharts speak with Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany. Schlegel, a European Space Agency astronaut, is from Germany.

Tani, Whitson and Malenchenko will then speak with reporters from NBC News, WOI-TV and WBBM radio at 10:10 a.m. WOI-TV is in Des Moines, Iowa, capital of Whitson's home state. WBBM will be calling from Chicago, near Tani's hometown of Lombard, Ill.

Before the day is over, the crews will also go over the plan for the mission's third and final spacewalk. Love and Mission Specialist Rex Walheim will be installing experiment platforms on the outside of the new Columbus laboratory and storing a failed control moment gyroscope in the shuttle's cargo bay. They will also take a closer look at some damage to a handrail on the Quest Airlock that may be the cause of cuts to spacesuit gloves on recent missions.

Part of today's preparations will involve building a tool that will be used in the inspection. Astronauts will wrap an overglove around a socket, then run the tool over the damaged handrail to see if there are any edges sharp enough to cut the material.

This morning, Shuttle Commander Steve Frick and Mission Specialists Hans Schlegel and Daniel Tani, station Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Leopold Eyharts spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Also participating were European Space Agency Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain and former astronaut Thomas Reiter of the German Space Agency.

The astronauts then spoke with NBC News, WOI-TV and WBBM radio. WOI-TV is in Des Moines, Iowa, capital of Whitson's home state. WBBM is in Chicago, near Tani's hometown of Lombard, Ill.

Tonight, Mission Specialists Stanley Love and Rex Walheim will camp out inside the Quest airlock. This will purge the nitrogen from their bodies in advance of tomorrow's spacewalk.

During the 6.5-hour spacewalk that is scheduled to start at 7:40 a.m. CST, Love and Walheim will install two experiment platforms on the outside of the Columbus module. If time allows, they also will take a closer look at some damage to a handrail on the Quest airlock. The astronauts have built a special tool that will be used during the inspection, which comprises an overglove material wrapped around a socket. They will run the tool over the damaged handrail to see if there are any edges sharp enough to cut the material.

ISS crew goes to sleep one hour earlier than yesterday: 3:45am - 6:15pm, Shuttle crew half an hour later. 3:45am - 6:45pm.

Mission 1E's EVA-3 was completed successfully by Rex Walheim & Stan Love in 7h 25m, accomplishing all its objectives and get-aheads.
(During the spacewalk, Walheim (EV1) & Love (EV3) transferred the European SOLAR (Solar Monitoring Observatory) and the EuTEF (European Technology Exposure Facility) to the COL EPF (Columbus Orbital Laboratory External Payload Facility), retrieved the failed CMG (Control Moment Gyro) for stowage in the Shuttle PLB for return, installed COL worksite interface fixtures and handrails, inspected a suspected sharp-edged MMOD impact site on an Airlock (A/L) handrail (#508), and inspected, photographed and took samples from the failed starboard SARJ (Solar Alpha Rotary Joint) race ring and covers not yet inspected before. Official start time of the spacewalk was 8:07am EST, about 28 min ahead of timeline, and it ended at 3:32pm. Total EVA duration (PET = Phase Elapsed Time) was 7h 25min. It was the 104th spacewalk for ISS assembly & maintenance and the 76th from the station (28 from Shuttle, 54 from Quest, 22 from Pirs) totaling 465h 21min, and the 8th for Expedition 16 (totaling 57h 29min). After today's EVA, a total of 129 spacewalkers (97 NASA astronauts, 21 Russians, and 11 astronauts representing Japan-1, Canada-4, France-1, Germany-2 and Sweden-3) have logged a total of 653h 43min outside the station on building, outfitting and servicing. It was also the 126th spacewalk involving U.S. astronauts.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/15/08.

The crew's day started at 2:45 a.m. Their wake up call from the Mission Control Center featured Drafi Deutscher's song 'Marmor Stein und Eisen Bricht.' The song's title translates as 'Marble Breaks and Iron Bends.' It was played for Mission Specialist Hans Schlegel, a European Space Agency astronaut from Germany.

The mission's third spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 7:40 a.m. At that time, the space station's robotic arm will transfer the first of two external experiment facilities -an observatory used to monitor the sun, called SOLAR -to the Columbus module for installation. That task should take Mission Specialists Rex Walheim and Stanley Love about three hours.

On its way back to the shuttle's cargo bay to retrieve the second experiment facility to be installed, the robotic arm will pick up a failed control moment gyroscope that was replaced in August and take it back to Atlantis to be returned to Earth.

After dropping that gyroscope off, the robotic arm will pick up the European Technology Exposure Facility -or EuTEF, a facility that will allow scientists to expose experiments to space. Love and Walheim are scheduled to spend about an hour and 45 minutes on that task, which should begin around 11:50 a.m.

If there's any time left in the 6 hour and 25 minute-long spacewalk, the astronauts will inspect a damaged handrail on the Quest Airlock that may be the source of recent spacesuit glove cuts and take another look at the station's right Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, which began experiencing problems last fall. The spacewalk is scheduled to end at 2:05 p.m.

Wake/sleep cycle shifted back again to prepare for 2/18 undocking: 3:15am - 5:15pm EST, Shuttle crew: 3:15am - 5:45pm.

More crewtime was applied to COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory) rack configuration, activation & operation, led by CDR Peggy Whitson and FE-2-16 Leo Eyharts. (In particular, Whitson focused on readying the EDR (European Drawer Rack), gathering equipment, outfitting the rack, installing PCDF EU (Protein Crystalization Diagnostic Facility Electronic Unit) coolant water and data connections, setting up the laptop, verifying its software load & activating it, checking out the EDR RFI (Rack Fire Indicator), and checking out the functionalities of the rack's various subsystems.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/16/08.

Earlier in the day, space shuttle Atlantis' propulsion system was used to reboost the station's altitude by about 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers) -the first reboost of the station using shuttle thrusters since 2002.

The altitude adjustment lasted 36 minutes and used four of the shuttle's vernier jets that produced about 28 pounds of thrust each to gently raise the orbit. The increased altitude will allow the station to be in the proper orbit for next month's arrival of Endeavour on the STS-123 mission.

Early Saturday, all 10 members of the shuttle and station crews held their traditional news conference with media in the United States and Europe. Today set the stage for the final transfer of cargo between the shuttle and station early on Sunday. The crews will bid farewell to one another and close the hatches between the shuttle and station shortly after 11 a.m. Sunday. Atlantis' departure remains scheduled for early Monday.

Dan Tani's 118th day in space (116 aboard ISS). Ahead: Week 18 of Increment 16.

Wake/sleep cycle shifted further back to prepare for 2/18 undocking: 1:45am - 4:15pm EST (incl. Eyharts), Shuttle crew: 1:45am - 4:45pm (incl. Tani).

CDR Peggy Whitson performed her final INTEGRATED IMMUNE blood collection, assisted by MS1 Leland Melvin, right before hatch closure. FE-2 Dan Tani will continue his saliva collections, both liquid and dry, and blood collections aboard the Atlantis all the way home FE-2-16 Leo Eyharts transferred his and Peggy's saliva return pouches and blood sleeves as well as Dan's saliva collection kit to the Shuttle for return. (Background: IMMUNE assessment, integrated with the Russian IMMUNO, is a 24-hr. test of human immune system changes, with the objective to investigate immune neuro-endocrine reactions in the space environment by studying samples of saliva, blood and urine using collection kits and the biomedical (MBI) protection kit, to develop and validate an immune monitoring strategy consistent with operational flight requirements and constraints. The strategy uses both long and short duration crewmembers as study subjects. The saliva is collected in two forms, dry and liquid. The dry samples are collected at intervals during the collection day using a specialized book that contains filter paper. The liquid saliva collections require that the crewmember soak a piece of cotton inside their mouth and place it in a salivette bag; there are four of the liquid collections during docked operations. The on-orbit blood samples are collected right before undocking and returned on the Shuttle so that analysis can occur with 48 hours of the sampling. This allows assays that quantify the function of different types white blood cells and other active components of the immune system. For cold storage, samples are secured in the MELFI (Minus-Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS). Also included are entries in a fluid/medications intact log, and a stress-test questionnaire to be filled out by the subject at begin and end. Urine is collected during a 24-hour period, conventionally divided into two twelve-hour phases: morning-evening and evening-morning.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/17/08.

Atlantis is planned to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:07 a.m. CST with the forecast of near perfect weather at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The shuttle would fire its engines to begin a descent to Florida at 7 a.m.

Atlantis has three additional opportunities to land Wednesday if needed. A second opportunity to land in Florida would begin with an engine firing at 8:35 a.m. leading to touchdown at 9:42 a.m.

Opportunities also are available to land at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The first opportunity to land at Edwards would begin with an engine firing at 10:05 a.m. leading to an 11:12 a.m. touchdown. A second opportunity to land in California would begin with an engine firing at 11:41 a.m. leading to a 12:47 p.m. touchdown.

Atlantis crew -Commander Steve Frick, Pilot Alan Poindexter and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Stan Love, Hans Schlegel and Dan Tani -began a sleep period at 3:45 p.m. and will awaken at 11:45 p.m. Tani is returning home after a four-month stay aboard the International Space Station.

The crew's 11:45 p.m. CST Monday wake-up call was the Spamalot rendition of 'Always Look on the Bright Side' played for STS-122 Commander Steve Frick.

The crew is expected to begin routine de-orbit preparations and cabin stowage at 2:45 a.m. Then, at 4:10 a.m., Frick, Pilot Alan Poindexter and Mission Specialist Rex Walheim will power up an auxiliary power unit to check out the orbiter's flight control surfaces. At 5:20 a.m. they will start a test firing of each of the shuttle's reaction control system jets.

Late Monday afternoon, the heaters on Atlantis' four aft vernier engines, part of the reaction control system, failed. Those jets, located near the Orbiter Maneuvering System pods, are the small attitude control jets used to tweak a shuttle's position in orbit and are not used during de-orbit maneuvers.

The shuttle astronauts will take a break from packing at 7:35 a.m. to talk about the flight with ABC News, CNN and WRIC-TV in Richmond, Va., near the home of Mission Specialist Leland Melvin.

At 12:15 p.m. Walheim and returning Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Dan Tani will set up a recumbent seat on the middeck for Tani to use during entry and landing. Melvin and Mission Specialist Hans Schlegel will stow the Ku-band communications antenna at 12:35 p.m.

The International Space Station's crew is enjoying a day off-duty before starting a heavy schedule. They are preparing for the delivery of the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency's multi-armed dexterous robotic system, Dextre, on the STS-123 mission targeted for launch March 11.

Atlantis is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center Wednesday at 8:07 a.m. The weather forecast is favorable. Today the crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 3:45 p.m. and awaken at 11:45 p.m.

wn at 8:07:20 a.m. Wheels stop occurred at 8:08:08 a.m.

During 202 orbits of Earth, the crew of Atlantis, which includes Commander Steve Frick, Pilot Alan Poindexter and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Hans Schlegel, Stan Love and Dan Tani, installed the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station. Columbus, Europe's largest contribution to the station, adds more than 2,600 cubic feet to the station and a wide variety of experiments and research.

The astronauts conducted three spacewalks to install and set up Columbus. They also removed a spent nitrogen tank assembly and a failed gyroscope, both of which were returned to Earth. During the final spacewalk, the astronauts examined an area outside of the station's air lock, where a small divot was discovered. The astronauts used an improvised tool comprising some material from an unused overglove to see if this area could be causing cuts and abrasions on the astronauts' gloves. Engineers in Houston will examine the results.

Atlantis delivered European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts to the station, replacing Tani as a flight engineer aboard the complex. Tani spent 107 days in space as a resident of the station. He launched on Oct. 23, 2007, aboard space shuttle Discovery on the STS-120 mission.

Atlantis will be towed to its orbiter processing facility this afternoon, where it will begin preparations for its next mission, STS-125, which is targeted to launch Aug. 28 to service the Hubble Space Telescope for the final time.

As Atlantis landed, the astronauts saw out their left window space shuttle Endeavour standing ready at launch pad 39-A. Endeavour's launch on mission STS-123 is scheduled for March 11. The crew of Atlantis is scheduled to return to Houston on Thursday. An arrival ceremony is planned for about 4 p.m. at NASA Hangar 276 at Ellington Field.<

The wakeup song, 'Hail to the Spirit of Liberty' by John Philip Sousa, was played at 11:55 p.m. Tuesday for Pilot Alan Poindexter.

Deorbit preparations begin at 3:05 a.m. Then the crew will ready their seats and should get the okay to close the payload bay doors at 4:19 a.m. If the near perfect weather continues, Commander Steve Frick will conduct the deorbit burn at 6:59 a.m. That will slow Atlantis enough to fall out of orbit to begin its descent toward a landing at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility at 8:07 a.m.

Atlantis has three additional opportunities to land today if needed. A second opportunity to land in Florida would begin with an engine firing at 8:35 a.m. leading to touchdown at 9:42 a.m.

Opportunities also are available to land at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The first opportunity to land at Edwards would begin with an engine firing at 10:05 a.m. leading to an 11:12 a.m. touchdown. A second opportunity to land in California would begin with an engine firing at 11:41 a.m. leading to a 12:47 p.m. touchdown.

Atlantis' crew -Commander Steve Frick, Pilot Alan Poindexter and Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Rex Walheim, Stan Love, Hans Schlegel and Dan Tani -installed Columbus Feb. 11 and conducted three spacewalks to prepare the lab for its scientific work. They also replaced an expended nitrogen tank on the station's P1 truss and retrieved a failed control moment gyroscope for return to Earth.

The next STS-122 status report will be issued following landing.<