Sellers Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married, Two children. Born in Crowborough, Sussex, UK.

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: NASA Group 16 - 1996. Active Entered space service: 1 May 1996. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 23.61 days. Number of EVAs: 6.00. Total EVA Time: 1.73 days.

NAME: Piers J. Sellers (Ph.D.)

NASA Astronaut Candidate (Mission Specialist)

PERSONAL DATA:

Born April 11, 1955 in Crowborough, Sussex, United Kingdom. Married to the former Amanda Helen Lomas from Yorkshire, United Kingdom. They have two children. He enjoys family, flying, all kinds of exercise, reading.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Cranbrook School, Cranbrook, Kent, United Kingdom, in 1973; received a bachelor of science degree in ecological science from the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) in 1976, and received a doctorate in biometeorology from Leeds University (United Kingdom) in 1981.

ORGANIZATIONS:

American Geophysical Union (AGU), American Meteorology Society (AMS).

AWARDS:

Arthur Fleming Award in 1995, Fellow of AGU in 1996, AMS Houghton Award in 1997, and several NASA science/achievement awards.

EXPERIENCE:

Piers has worked on research into how the Earth's Biosphere and Atmosphere interact. His work involved computer modeling of the climate system, satellite remote sensing studies and lots of coordinated field work utilizing aircraft, satellites and ground teams in places such as Kansas, Russia, Africa, Canada and Brazil. He has logged over 1,100 hours as pilot in command of various light piston-engined aircraft (singles and twins) which have been used in these experiments. Most of this work was done while Piers was based at or near NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Piers was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in April 1996. He reported to the NASA Johnson Space Center in August 1996 to begin two years of training and evaluation. Successful completion of initial training will qualify him for various technical assignments leading to selection as a mission specialist on a Space Shuttle flight crew.

• 7 October 2002 Flight: STS-112. Flight Up: STS-112. Flight Back: STS-112. Flight Time: 10.83 days.

• 4 July 2006 Flight: STS-121. Flight Up: STS-121. Flight Back: STS-121. Flight Time: 12.78 days.

26 August 2002 - International Space Station Status Report #02-38. Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev stepped outside the Pirs Docking Compartment of the International Space Station today to swap out Japanese space exposure experiments and a Russian experiment measuring jet thruster residue on the exterior of the Zvezda Service Module in a 5 hour, 21 minute spacewalk.

It was the second of two spacewalks for the Expedition Five crew, the fourth of Korzun's career and the first for Treschev. Today's excursion was the 43rd spacewalk in support of ISS assembly and maintenance and the 18th staged from the station itself. 25 spacewalks at the ISS have originated from visiting space shuttles. While Korzun and Treschev worked outside, Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson tended to station systems and choreographed the spacewalk from inside Zvezda.

Whitson and Korzun conducted a 4 hour, 25 minute spacewalk on August 16 to install six micrometeoroid debris shields on Zvezda.

After a slight delay to track down a small pressure leak across the hatch between Zvezda and the Zarya module, Korzun and Treschev opened the hatch to Pirs at 12:27 a.m. Central time (527 GMT) as the ISS flew over Russia at an altitude of 235 statute miles. They went to work right away, installing a frame on the Zarya as a "parking place" for modular equipment to be temporarily stowed during future ISS assembly spacewalks and hardware on Zarya which will better route tethers for spacewalkers working around the Russian segment of the station.

The two Russian spacewalkers then exchanged trays of experiments in suitcase-like devices on Zvezda for NASDA, the Japanese Space Agency, which measure the effect of the space environment on engineering materials.

With that work accomplished, Korzun and Treschev completed a task left over from the previous spacewalk ten days ago. They replaced an experiment on the outside of Zvezda called Kromka, which measures the amount of residue emitted from the module's jet thruster firings. Deflectors previously installed on Zvezda have significantly reduced the buildup of residue on the hull of the module.

The final job for Korzun and Treschev was the installation of two additional ham radio antennas on Zvezda to enhance amateur radio operations in the future. ISS residents frequently conduct conversations with "hams" back on Earth.

After retrieving their tools, Korzun and Treschev returned to Pirs and closed the hatch at 5:48 a.m. Central time (1048 GMT) to wrap up their excursion.

The next series of spacewalks to be conducted at the ISS is planned for October when two shuttle astronauts, Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers, conduct three excursions from the Quest Airlock on the STS-112 mission aboard Atlantis to help install and activate the S1 (Starboard One) truss segment, further expanding the station's backbone.

The Progress 9 vehicle linked up to the aft docking port of the Zvezda Service Module of the ISS at 12:01 p.m. Central time (1701 GMT) as the two spacecraft flew over Central Asia after a four-day flight following its launch Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The automated docking went off without a hitch as Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson, and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev viewed the arrival of the new capsule from inside Zvezda. A few minutes later, hooks and latches closed between the two vehicles to form an airtight seal.

Korzun was prepared to take over manual control of the Progress for the docking in the event its automated rendezvous system did not work, but the linkup was executed flawlessly.

The crew was scheduled to open hatches between Zvezda and Progress this afternoon and will begin unloading supplies from the craft on Monday.

Some of the supplies include clothing and personal items for the Expedition Six crew - Commander Ken Bowersox and Flight Engineers Nikolai Budarin and Don Pettit - who will be launched aboard Endeavour on the STS-113 mission in November to replace Korzun, Whitson and Treschev following the completion of their 5 1/2 month mission.

The older Progress 8 vehicle, which arrived at the ISS in June and which was undocked on Tuesday, remains in orbit a safe distance away from the station, spending another 10 days aloft to enable Russian flight controllers to document smog and smoke over northeastern Russia through its cameras.

The Progress docking clears the way for the launch of Atlantis on the STS-112 mission Wednesday to deliver the 14-ton Starboard 1 (S1) Truss to the station. A Wednesday launch would result in Atlantis' docking to the ISS Friday. Commander Jeff Ashby, Pilot Pam Melroy and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Sandy Magnus, Piers Sellers and Fyodor Yurchikhin are in the final stages of their prelaunch preparations.

Aboard Atlantis are Commander Jeff Ashby, Pilot Pam Melroy and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Sandy Magnus, Piers Sellers and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin. A small television camera on the shuttle's external fuel tank captured a unique view of the Earth as Atlantis headed into orbit.

Less than nine minutes after launch, Atlantis and its crewmembers settled into orbit and work began to prepare for a planned 11-day mission.

As Atlantis headed toward space, on board the ISS, Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev were completing their 124th day in orbit and their 122nd day aboard the station. At the time of Atlantis' launch, the space station orbited 240 statute miles above the Pacific Ocean west of Ecuador.

Atlantis' crew is setting up equipment on board and preparing to open the shuttle's payload bay doors to begin orbital operations prior to heading to bed just before 9 p.m.

Atlantis is scheduled to dock to the station at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, setting the stage for the installation of the S1 truss on the starboard side of the S0 truss, which arrived at the ISS in April. Three spacewalks are scheduled during the mission by Wolf and Sellers to help activate the new truss' systems. The S1 truss is the fourth of 11 truss segments which will form the structural backbone for the station and provide the cooling and support for new solar arrays to be delivered to the station next year.

The shuttle crew will be awakened at 4:46 a.m. Tuesday to begin its first full day in orbit and to prepare for Wednesday's docking.

Aboard Atlantis, Commander Jeff Ashby, Pilot Pam Melroy and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Sandy Magnus, Piers Sellers and Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin were awakened at 4:46 a.m. to the song "Venus and Mars" by Paul McCartney and Wings. It was for Wolf, requested by his wife, Tammy.

The Expedition Five crew, Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Cosmonaut Sergei Treschev – in their 18th week in space – were awakened at 3 a.m. Atlantis' crew will be their first visitors since June. They are shifting their sleep schedules to prepare for the week of docked operations with Atlantis.

Today, Atlantis' crew focuses on preparations for rendezvous and docking by checking out the necessary tools. The crew also will prepare the spacesuits to be used during the three planned spacewalks by Wolf and Sellers scheduled for Thursday, Saturday and Monday. The shuttle's robotic arm also will be checked out and used to survey the payload bay, including the Starboard 1 (S1) Truss.

This afternoon the centerline camera will be mounted in the Orbiter Docking System hatch to assist Ashby as he guides the orbiter in for docking. The crew then will extend the docking ring, which makes first contact with the station.

The station crew is continuing with science operations and standard exercise activities. Whitson is working with radiation monitors for Wolf and Sellers, who will conduct the spacewalks to hook up the S1 after it is lifted from Atlantis' cargo bay and installed on the station Thursday. She will activate the monitor's badge readers and do pre-spacewalk background readings.

Atlantis' crew is scheduled to begin an eight-hour sleep period at about 6:30 p.m. today.

After arising at 4:46 a.m. CDT, the crew began its first full day on orbit with Pilot Pam Melroy assisting Mission Specialists Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers in a checkout of spacewalk suits and equipment. Commander Jeff Ashby worked with the prime robotic arm operator, Mission Specialist Sandy Magnus, to verify the arm's readiness. Ashby and Magnus powered up the arm for a video survey of Atlantis' payload bay.

In preparation for Wednesday's rendezvous and docking with the station at 10:24 a.m., the crew set up the orbiter docking system's centerline camera, extended the orbiter's spring-loaded ring that will make first contact, and checked out rendezvous tools.

The crew successfully completed three Orbital Maneuvering System burns to boost the orbiter into the station's orbit and refine its approach path to the station.

Science already is getting underway on Atlantis with Wolf leading check-out activities for the SHIMMER experiment sponsored by the Naval Research Lab. The Spatial Heterodyne Imager for Mesospheric Radicals experiment uses an ultraviolet sensing camera to observe the Earth's atmosphere at 40-90 kilometers looking for possible ozone loss. The experiment proved a bit balky, but with help from Mission Control the crew worked out steps to ready the gear for observations during the mission.

Meanwhile, the space station residents readied their home for the first visitors in the123 days since their arrival at the vehicle. Peggy Whitson and crewmates Valery Korzun and Sergei Treschev have been prepacking materials to return on Atlantis and to make room for about 7,500 pounds of gear arriving at the station.

Whitson has been sending letters describing her life on the International Space Station back to Earth over the last few months. Her most recent letter describes her anticipation and preparations for the shuttle visitors.

Both crews will head for sleep two hours earlier than Monday at 6:46 pm to get plenty of rest before Wednesday's busy day. Rendezvous operations begin at 5:06 a.m., with station docking scheduled for 10:24 a.m. Hatch opening between Atlantis and the station is expected at 12:36 p.m.

Shortly after the musical wakeup call to the crew at 2:46 this morning – Tina Turner's "The Best" for Commander Jeff Ashby from his wife, Paige – the shuttle crew focused its attention on the rendezvous and docking procedures that will culminate with the orbiter docking to a port on the U.S. Destiny Lab of the station.

The Terminal Initiation burn preceding the final approach is planned for 8:04 a.m. and occurs with the two spacecraft 50,000 feet apart. That is followed by a series of four small correction burns, which set the stage for Ashby's taking manual control of Atlantis' thruster jets as he looks out the overhead and rear windows of the flight deck. He will fly Atlantis to a point 600 feet below the station, then begin a quarter circle alignment of the orbiter's docking system and Destiny, which will place the shuttle about 300 feet in front of the station.

Assisting with the rendezvous using lasers and computers are the remaining shuttle crewmembers, including Pilot Pam Melroy and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Sandy Magnus, Piers Sellers and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin.

Awaiting the arrival of Atlantis are the three station crewmembers – Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev – in their 126th day in space.

Thursday will see the installation of the station's newest component – the Starboard 1 (S1) Truss – and shortly thereafter, the first of three planned spacewalks will begin by Wolf and Sellers to connect power, data and fluid lines between S1 and the station.

Crew sleep is set to begin about 6:30 this evening.

All efforts pointed toward the deployment and installation of the Starboard One (S1) Truss. Pilot Pam Melroy, Space Station Commander Valery Korzun, and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Piers Sellers, and Fyodor Yurchikhin configured the spacesuits for Thursday's spacewalk. Mission Specialist Sandy Magnus and NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson reviewed robotic arm operations for moving the new truss segment into place. Sergei Treschev, ISS Flight Engineer, participated in the safety briefing for the station visitors.

Thursday, Magnus and Whitson will use the Canadarm2 from inside Destiny to grapple the huge S1 Truss, take it out of Atlantis' payload bay and move it into position at the starboard end of the S0 Truss. After the segments are soft-mated, capture bolts will make the mating solid. With the truss firmly attached to the station, the spacewalkers will exit the station.

Tomorrow's EVA begins three days of spacewalks – Thursday, Saturday and Monday - at the station-shuttle complex. Shuttle and Mir veteran Wolf and space rookie Sellers will perform the EVAs, which are primarily focused on the installation and hookup of the S1 segment. In Thursday's six-hour spacewalk, Wolf and Sellers will connect power, data and fluid umbilicals between the segments; install a camera and antenna assembly; and release a number of launch restraints. Wolf will ride on the end of the robotic arm for most of the excursion, while Sellers will be a "free floater" moving around the truss structure.

Tonight the crew is scheduled to begin its sleep period at 6:46 p.m. with the wake-up call to sound at 3:16 a.m. Thursday.

Expedition Five's Peggy Whitson and Atlantis' Sandy Magnus will use the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to install the 45-foot long, 15-ton structure beginning about 5:30 this morning. Simultaneously, Astronauts Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers will prepare for the first of three spacewalks to attach plumbing, data and electrical lines to bring S1 to life. They plan to exit the Quest Airlock at about 9:40 a.m. and can easily be identified while outside. Wolf will wear a suit with solid red stripes, while Sellers will wear an all white spacesuit.

Throughout the spacewalk, Pilot Pam Melroy will be inside offering guidance and advice to the spacewalkers and keeping them on schedule. Shuttle Commander Jeff Ashby will operate the shuttle robotic arm providing camera views for documentation.

Following grapple of the S1, Magnus and Whitson will move it into position at the starboard end of the first truss segment where it will be secured in place by four remotely operated bolts. That first segment was delivered on a shuttle flight earlier this year.

In addition to hooking up power, data and fluid lines, Wolf and Sellers will release locks on a beam allowing S1's radiators to be oriented for optimal cooling. They also will deploy an antenna and release restraints on a handcar, which can be used to move spacewalkers and equipment along the truss. The next spacewalk, or Extravehicular Activity (EVA) is planned for Saturday to continue hooking S1 connections to the station.

S1 is the third of what will be 11 segments of the Integrated Truss delivered to the station. The truss eventually will stretch 356 feet from end to end and will support four huge solar wing assemblies, one pair of which is already atop the station's P6 Truss. The truss also will support cooling radiators and the first railroad in space, capable of carrying the robotic arm to assembly and maintenance sites around the station.

The workday began at 3 a.m. with a musical wakeup call to Atlantis' crew from Mission Control, Houston. The "medley of childhood songs" was played for Magnus from her family. The Expedition Five crew, Commander Valery Korzun, Whitson and Cosmonaut Sergei Treschev, woke aboard the station at the same time.

The crew is scheduled to go to bed about 8 o'clock this evening.

Expedition Five's Peggy Whitson and Atlantis' Sandy Magnus used the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple the 45-foot-long, 14-ton S1 structure, remove it from Atlantis' cargo bay and move it to the starboard end of S0. Motorized bolts locked the two truss segments together at 8:36 a.m. CDT.

Wolf and Sellers ventured outside the station's Quest airlock at 10:21 a.m. Their first task was to connect power, data and fluid lines between the S0 and the S1 trusses. As Wolf worked to accomplish this task, Sellers, on his first spacewalk, released the locks on three folded-up radiators mounted to the S1, allowing S1's radiators to be oriented for optimal cooling

Wolf and Sellers then worked together to install a new S-band antenna assembly. Wolf, attached to the end of the station robotic arm, moved the antenna into position. He then tightened stanchion bolts to lock the antenna into place near the end of the S1 Truss where it connects to the S0 as Sellers held it in place. The new component will increase the S-band data and voice communications capability from the space station to ground controllers.

The duo then went to work releasing restraints that had held the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) cart to the S1 for launch and configure its brakes. The CETA cart, a handcar that rides along rails on the station's truss, can be used to move spacewalkers and equipment.

Installation of the S1's outboard nadir external camera was the final major task of the spacewalk. The camera, launched on Atlantis' middeck, is the first of two that will be installed on S1. They will be used as situational awareness tools for spacewalkers and robotic arm operators.

Throughout the spacewalk, Pilot Pam Melroy was inside, offering guidance and advice to the spacewalkers and keeping them on schedule. She had help with arm operations and spacewalk guidance from controllers in the International Space Station Flight Control Room because the spacewalk originated out of the station's Quest airlock. Shuttle Commander Jeff Ashby operated the shuttle robotic arm, providing camera views for documentation.

Following an inventory of the tools they used during the spacewalk and cleanup activities, Wolf and Sellers re-entered Quest. Airlock repressurization began at 5:22 p.m., signaling the end of the spacewalk.

On Thursday, crewmembers attached the 14-ton, 45-foot Starboard One (S1) truss to the station, using the station's Canadarm2 operated by Atlantis' Sandy Magnus and NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson. That was followed by the first of three planned spacewalks by Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers to complete a series of tasks, including connecting power lines to the station.

The spacewalk lasted 7 hours, 1 minute and brings the total time for ISS assembly via Extravehicular Activity (EVA) to 272 hours, 45 minutes.

In addition to the time off and transfer operations, Wolf and Sellers will prepare the tools and other equipment for use during tomorrow's second spacewalk. Just before their evening meal, crewmembers will gather to review Quest Airlock procedures for the spacewalk, which is expected to begin about 9:40 a.m. Saturday.

The crew will take part in two interviews today. First, the three Russian crewmembers – Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun, Expedition Five Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev and STS-112 Mission Specialist Fyodor Yurchikhin – will discuss the mission with Russian press beginning at 10:46 a.m. Later in the day at 1:56 p.m., Wolf, Sellers, Magnus and possibly other crewmembers will be interviewed by CBS Radio, Fox News and the Cable News Network (CNN). Both interviews can be seen on NASA Television.

Today's wakeup call to Pilot Pam Melroy and the rest of Atlantis' crew came at 3:46 a.m. "Oh Thou Tupelo," performed by the Wellesley College Choir, was for Melroy, a 1983 graduate. The station crew woke up about 4:15 a.m. today.

The Atlantis and ISS complex is orbiting the Earth every 92 minutes at an altitude of 244 statute miles.

The crew moved a number of scientific experiments back and forth between the vehicles to return completed experiments to Earth and deploy new experiments at the station. Transfer items included a set of liver cell tissue samples from an experiment studying the function of human liver cells in microgravity, moved from the station onto the shuttle for return to Earth. Payload experiments such as Marshall Space Flight Center's protein crystal growth thermal enclosures for growing high-quality protein crystals in micro-gravity experiments were moved to and from the station. Seven water containers were transferred to the station.

Commander Jeff Ashby initiated a nitrogen transfer process that moved about 15 pounds of the gas from the shuttle to the station by the end of Friday. About another 35 pounds will be transferred through Flight Day 8.

STS-112 spacewalkers Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers, assisted by Pilot Pam Melroy, readied the EVA equipment for Saturday's excursion outside the station-shuttle complex. They recharged water on the extravehicular mobility unit, configured their tools and prepared the airlock.

Since it wasn't an EVA day, there was time for the crew to relate their experiences to several media organizations during live interviews. STS-112 Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus, Wolf and Sellers discussed Thursday's EVA and first-time experiences in space with CBS Radio Network and Cable News Network (CNN). Russian Commander Valery Korzun, Expedition Five Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev and STS-112 Mission Specialist Fyodor Yurchikhin participated in several interviews with the Russian press.

This evening, shortly before sleep, the crew reviewed procedures for tomorrow's spacewalk. Saturday the spacewalkers reverse positions for most of the EVA, with Sellers riding the arm and Wolf free-floating while tethered to the station. They'll attach umbilicals, install a second camera - this time on the U.S. laboratory Destiny, install spool positioning devices to quick disconnect fittings on ammonia lines and release radiator beam launch locks.

Completing the day, the crew had a joint meal in the Service Module. Wake up time Saturday is 4:16 a.m.

The Extravehicular Activity, or EVA, is set to begin about 9:40 this morning and is planned to last about 6 1/2 hours. It includes installation of devices to prevent pressure buildup in line fittings; connecting cooling system lines; removing launch restraints from a radiator which will be deployed Sunday, and installing a second camera.

The Spool Positioning Devices (SPDs) are designed to prevent pressure buildup in Quick Disconnect fittings, which could make it impossible to disconnect fittings, if necessary. Sellers and Wolf will install 24 of the devices – most of which are on ammonia lines – during the spacewalk.

Sellers, in the all-white spacesuit, will ride the station's robotic arm to the S1 Truss worksite to hook up nitrogen lines used to pressurize the ammonia system, while Wolf, wearing the suit with red stripes, releases launch restraints on the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid – a handcar on the truss rails. Peggy Whitson, NASA ISS science officer, and Atlantis' Sandy Magnus will operate the robot arm. As with the first spacewalk Thursday, Pilot Pam Melroy will choreograph the EVA from Atlantis' flight deck.

Prior to the spacewalk, Commander Jeff Ashby and Melroy will gently raise the altitude of the station by firing small thrusters on Atlantis. This reboost maneuver will increase the altitude of the complex from 238 statute miles (383 kilometers) to 242 sm (389 km).

Atlantis' crew was awakened at 2:46 a.m. today by the song "Push It," performed by the group Garbage. It was for Sellers, requested by his family. The station crew woke up about 30 minutes later.

Atlantis and station crewmembers are scheduled to go to bed about 7:30 tonight.

The spacewalk began at 9:31 a.m. CDT and ended about a half-hour early at about 3:35 p.m. CDT for an official duration of six hours, four minutes. About six and a half hours had originally been allotted for the spacewalk, the second of three ventures outside the station planned for Wolf and Sellers during STS-112 to set up the new station S1 (S-One) truss segment delivered by Atlantis.

The duo prepared a new handcar system for future use on the station's truss-mounted railway. Called the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid, the car will allow astronauts to propel themselves, maintenance and construction equipment hand-over-hand along what eventually will be a 100-yard railway atop the station's truss. The spacewalkers also installed 22 Spool Positioning Devices (SPDs) on station ammonia cooling line connections, devices that will prevent a possible condition that could lock up those connections, preventing them from being opened if needed.

Two more such devices were to be installed during the spacewalk, bringing the total to 24, but they were not attached. Due to a different configuration than anticipated on the two line connections in question, the additional two SPDs would not have fit properly. However, space station engineers and managers have determined those two connections are in a satisfactory condition and will not require any further work.

Other work included the installation of an additional exterior station television camera outside of the Destiny Laboratory; hooking up an ammonia supply for lines to a radiator on the new truss segment that will be deployed Monday afternoon; and checking equipment that will be used to add the next starboard truss segment to the station in the fall of 2003.

During today's spacewalk, STS-112 Mission Specialist Sandy Magnus and ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson operated the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm, using it to position the spacewalkers at various times. Prior to today's outing by Wolf and Sellers, Atlantis Commander Jeff Ashby and Pilot Pam Melroy fired the shuttle's small steering jets periodically over the course of an hour to boost the altitude of the shuttle and station by about 4 statute miles. The shuttle will perform another boost of altitude for the complex tomorrow, raising it an additional 2 miles.

The station and shuttle crews will begin a sleep period at 7:46 p.m. CDT and awaken at 3:46 a.m. CDT Sunday.

The Expedition 5 station crew spent a big part of its day taking apart the station's exercise treadmill, installing replacement parts and putting the system back together. Engineers on the ground quickly pulled together a backup plan for the task when the on-orbit maintenance team reported a broken cable on the gyroscope that is part of the vibration dampening system for the treadmill. Using some Teflon and Kapton tape to protect metal parts that might rub together until a new cable can be delivered to the station, the crewmembers were able to put the system back together so that it could be restored to fully operational status. After a final test Monday, exercise on the treadmill will resume.

One planned activity was deferred until tomorrow. The radiator assembly on the newly installed S1 Truss was rotated into position today, but the first radiator deployment won't occur until 2:52 a.m. central time Monday. The radiator was slated to be deployed Sunday afternoon, but protective circuits designed to measure current during preliminary steps needed to be adjusted. The tolerance levels set during ground testing needed to be expanded to a greater tolerance level in space. With that complete, ground controllers elected to defer actual deployment until early Monday morning, when they will be able to watch the deployment live.

Final preparations for Monday's spacewalk, slated to begin at 9:41 a.m., included a review of procedures, and recharging of the suits to be worn by Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers. During the planned 6 1/2-hour-long spacewalk, Wolf and Sellers will remove and replace an interface cable to the station's mobile transporter unit, or railcar. With that complete, they will install a series of fluid jumpers that will allow ammonia coolant to flow between the S0 and S1 trusses. That activity is expected to last about 1 1/2 hours. They also will install the last of the spool position devices on quick disconnect fittings in the ammonia lines.

All nine crew members took time out today to talk with media gathered at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The astronauts and cosmonauts fielded questions about life on board the station and the upcoming return of the Expedition 5 crew in November.

Atlantis' crew will awaken at 2:46 a.m. Monday, with the station crew arising about 30 minutes later.

Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers once again will conduct the spacewalk out of the Quest Airlock beginning about 9:40 this morning. It is the 46th spacewalk devoted to the assembly and maintenance of the station. Today they will focus on the removal and stowage of launch support brackets no longer required; installation of additional clamps on fittings to prevent pressure buildup in fluid lines; install an attach bracket for a future station truss element; and remove a balky bolt preventing activation of a cable cutter on the Mobile Transporter.

Ahead of the spacewalk, Atlantis' thrusters will again be used to gently raise the station's altitude another couple of miles. The reboost lasts about 35 minutes and sets the stage for the arrival of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 28. The Soyuz serves as the emergency rescue vehicle of the station and must be replaced about every six months.

Shortly after crew wakeup today, one of the three cooling radiators on the newly installed S1 Truss was deployed serving as a mechanical test for the deployment system. The deployment to its full length of 75 feet began at 3:01 a.m. and was completed nine minutes later. The task was delayed from Sunday for an electrical adjustment. The radiator is not needed operationally until next year.

Peggy Whitson, NASA ISS science officer, and Atlantis' Sandy Magnus will operate the station's robot arm throughout the spacewalk, while Pilot Pam Melroy will again choreograph the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) from Atlantis' flight deck. Wolf will wear the spacesuit with red stripes and Sellers' suit will be all white.

Today's wakeup music for Dave Wolf from his wife Tammy was "You Gave Me The Answer," by Paul McCartney and Wings and came at 2:46 a.m. The station crewmembers awakened about 30 minutes later.

The spacewalk began at 9:11 a.m., and was the 46th devoted to assembly and maintenance of the station. Making quick work of their first task, to remove a bolt preventing activation of a cable cutter on the mobile transporter, Wolf and Sellers moved on to connect ammonia lines and remove structural support clamps that held the truss in place during launch. With Sellers and Wolf working well ahead of schedule, an additional "get ahead" task – installing Spool Positioning Devices on a pump motor assembly – was added to the spacewalk. The pump motor assembly helps to circulate ammonia through the station's cooling system. Throughout today's spacewalk the station's robotic arm, which was used as a work platform by Sellers and Wolf, was operated by NASA's ISS science officer Peggy Whitson and Mission Specialist Sandy Magnus.

Earlier in the day at 6:20 a.m. Commander Jeff Ashby and Pilot Pam Melroy pulsed Atlantis' thrusters for 35 minutes gently raising the altitude of the station by 2.3 miles. The combined results of two reboost maneuvers by Atlantis increased the station's altitude by a total of six miles, setting the stage for the arrival of a replacement Soyuz spacecraft, set for launch on October 28.

Atlantis' crew is scheduled to awaken at 3:46 a.m. Tuesday with the station crew awakening about one-half hour later. Tuesday will see some scheduled off-duty time for the two crews, allowing them some final hours together before Wednesday's scheduled undocking and departure of Atlantis from the station.

The first steps in changing Atlantis from a spaceship to an airplane are to test its aero surfaces, required as the orbiter begins to interact with the upper atmosphere on reentry and landing. Also tested today are the thruster jets on the nose and tail of Atlantis which maneuver the vehicle prior to dropping below 400,000 feet in altitude following the deorbit burn.

Atlantis' computers systematically deactivate these jets when desired air pressure readings are detected at various stages throughout entry and landing.

The crew of Commander Jeff Ashby, Pilot Pam Melroy and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Sandy Magnus, Piers Sellers and Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin spend the day stowing equipment, supplies and belongings in preparation for tomorrow's anticipated return to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

At 11:46 this morning, the crew will discuss the success of the mission with media representatives from the AP Radio Network, KMOX Radio of St. Louis and WISH-TV of Indianapolis. The interview will air on NASA Television.

Behind the shuttle at a distance of 120 miles (193 kilometers), the ISS Expedition Five crew of Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Cosmonaut Sergei Treschev are preparing for their next visitors, a Soyuz taxi crew scheduled to arrive late this month. The taxi crew will return to Earth in the Soyuz at the station, which is nearing its certified on orbit life limit.

The shuttle crew began its last full day on orbit with a wakeup call from Mission Control at 2:18 a.m. The song "These are the Days" performed by Natalie Merchant was played for Sellers at the request of his wife.

Atlantis' crew sleep begins at about 6:30 this evening and the crew will be awakened at 2:16 a.m. Friday to begin landing preparations.

Commander Jeff Ashby, Pilot Pam Melroy and Flight Engineer Sandy Magnus activated one of three hydraulic power units on Atlantis, tested all of the orbiter's aerosurfaces, and then test-fired the steering jets. All of the systems are in good shape for reentry and landing. The remaining crew members - Dave Wolf, Piers Sellers and Fyodor Yurchikhin - continued packing up gear and hardware in anticipation of tomorrow's landing.

Atlantis has two opportunities to land at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Friday. The first begins with a deorbit burn of the Orbital Maneuvering System engines at 9:36 a.m., followed by a landing at 10:44 a.m. Central (11:44 a.m. Eastern.) In the event weather prevents a landing on that first opportunity, there is a second opportunity, beginning with a deorbit burn at 11:16 a.m. and resulting in a 12:21 p.m. Central (1:21 p.m. Eastern) landing in Florida.

Tomorrow's weather forecast for the shuttle landing facility at KSC is favorable. The backup-landing site at California's Edwards Air Force Base was not called up for support Friday. Atlantis has sufficient consumables to remain in orbit, if necessary, until Tuesday.

Atlantis' crew will begin a scheduled eight-hour sleep period at 6:16 p.m. today, waking just after 2 a.m. Friday to prepare for a homecoming to the Kennedy Space Center. Actual deorbit preparations will get underway at 5:40 a.m. Atlantis' payload bay doors are scheduled to be closed at 6:56 a.m. and the crewmembers will get into their seats at 8:36 a.m.

Meanwhile, aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition Five crew - Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev - enjoyed a few hours of off-duty time today. Tomorrow they will turn their attention back to unpacking the Russian Progress resupply vehicle that arrived at the station in late September.

Atlantis has two landing opportunities at KSC. The first begins with the firing of the shuttle's braking rockets at 9:36 a.m. and a landing at 10:44 a.m. CDT. A second opportunity for a KSC landing would see the deorbit burn at 11:16 a.m. and a landing at 12:21 p.m. Forecasts call for favorable weather for landing, with scattered clouds, good visibility and 10-knot winds.

The backup-landing site at California's Edwards Air Force Base will not be activated today. Atlantis has enough consumables to stay in orbit until Tuesday.

The crew, Commander Jeff Ashby, Pilot Pam Melroy and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Sandy Magnus, Piers Sellers and Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, was awakened at 2:25 a.m. by "Someday Soon," performed by Suzy Bogguss. It was for Ashby, requested by his wife.

Deorbit preparations began about 5:40 a.m. The payload bay doors are to be closed at 6:56 a.m.

About 3,000 miles behind the shuttle, the ISS Expedition 5 crew, Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Cosmonaut Sergei Treschev, is in its 135th day in space. Crewmembers are awaiting a taxi crew scheduled to arrive late this month with a replacement for the Soyuz now at the station. Expedition 5 is to return home on the STS-113 mission of Endeavour, scheduled for launch with their Expedition 6 replacements no earlier than Nov. 10.

During the week it was docked to the station, Atlantis did two reboosts of the orbiting laboratory, raising its altitude by about six miles. Another station reboost was performed about 3:25 a.m. today using the engines of the Progress unpiloted cargo carrier docked to the rear of the Zvezda Service Module. It was to raise the station's altitude an additional 6.9 miles and adjust the orbit for the arrival of the new Soyuz. The station's average altitude after the reboost was expected to be 249 miles.

If Atlantis lands on time, crewmembers are tentatively scheduled to return to the Johnson Space Center in Houston Saturday afternoon.

Called SuitSat, it faintly transmitted recorded voices of school children to amateur radio operators worldwide for a brief period before it ceased sending signals.

Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev ventured outside for a five-hour, 43-minute spacewalk to release SuitSat, conduct preventative maintenance to a cable-cutting device, retrieve experiments and photograph the station's exterior. Clad in Russian Orlan spacesuits, McArthur and Tokarev opened the hatch to begin the spacewalk at 5:44 p.m. EST. It was the fourth career spacewalk for McArthur and the second for Tokarev.

After setting up tools and equipment, they positioned the unneeded Orlan spacesuit on a ladder by the station's Pirs airlock hatch. The suit reached the end of its operational life for spacewalks in August 2004. It was outfitted by the crew with three batteries, internal sensors and a radio transmitter for this experiment.

The SuitSat provided recorded greetings in six languages to ham radio operators for about two orbits of the Earth before it stopped transmitting, perhaps due to its batteries failing in the cold environment of space, according to amateur radio coordinators affiliated with the station program. The suit will enter the atmosphere and burn up in a few weeks.

Tokarev pushed the suit away toward the aft end of the station as the complex flew 225 miles above the south central Pacific Ocean. The suit initially drifted away at a rate of about a half meter per second, slowly floating out of view below the Zvezda Service Module and its attached Progress cargo craft. The suit is now separating from the station at a rate of about six kilometers every 90 minutes.

McArthur and Tokarev then moved from Pirs to the Zarya module where they removed a hubcap-shaped grapple fixture adapter for the Strela crane. They moved the adapter to Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 on the Unity module. The Strela fixture was moved to prepare Zarya for the future temporary stowage of debris shields.

McArthur and Tokarev made their way to the center truss segment of the station, where they tried and failed to securely install a safety bolt in a contingency cutting device for one of two cables that provide power, data and video to the Mobile Transporter rail car. The transporter moves along the truss to correctly position the Canadarm2 robotic arm for assembly work. The Trailing Umbilical System cable on the nadir, or Earth-facing side of the transporter was inadvertently severed by its cutter on Dec. 16.

After several attempts to drive the bolt with a high-tech screwdriver, McArthur wire-tied the cable to a handrail instead. That left the cable out of its cutting mechanism, disabling the Transporter from further movement on the station's rail system for the time being. The Transporter is not needed for assembly work until the STS-115 mission to install additional truss segments.

The severed cable reel mechanism will be replaced during one of the three spacewalks by Discovery crewmembers Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum during the STS-121 space shuttle mission later this year.

McArthur and Tokarev moved back to Pirs. Once at the Russian airlock, they retrieved an experiment to study the effect of the space environment on microorganisms.

As their final spacewalk task, the crew photographed the exterior of Zvezda, including Russian sensors that measure micrometeoroid impacts, handrails, propulsion systems and a ham radio antenna. McArthur and Tokarev then returned to the Pirs airlock and closed the hatch at 11:27 p.m. EST. It was the 64th spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance, the 36th staged from the station, and the 17th conducted from Pirs. In all, station spacewalkers have accumulated 384 hours and 23 minutes outside the facility since December 1998.

Meanwhile in Russia, final preparations were made this week to ship the next Soyuz spacecraft from Moscow to the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft is scheduled to depart Monday and will launch the 13th station crew in late March.

During the week, the station was maneuvered through a new procedure using guidance and navigation computers in the Destiny laboratory to request firings of the thrusters on the Zvezda module while maintaining overall attitude control through the Control Moment Gyroscopes.

The first human spacecraft to launch on an Independence Day holiday, Discovery has begun a journey to resupply and service the International Space Station. Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers and Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut, lifted off at 1:38 p.m. CDT. The launch followed a flawless countdown.

During the next 12 days, Discovery’s crew will demonstrate techniques for inspecting and protecting the shuttle’s thermal protection system, restore the station to a three-person crew for the first time since May 2003, and replace critical hardware needed for future station assembly. The crew is planned to conduct two spacewalks during the mission. If supplies allow, managers may extend Discovery's flight by an additional day, a day that will be used by the crew to conduct a third spacewalk.

A system of new and upgraded ground-based cameras, radar and airborne cameras aboard high altitude aircraft documented Discovery's launch. That imagery, along with data to be gathered from in-flight inspections, will be used to ensure Discovery's heat shield is in good condition. The in-flight inspections will be performed by the crew using the shuttle's robotic arm, an extension boom and laser system as well as photography to be taken from the station of a back flip the shuttle will perform as it approaches for docking.

Moments after main engine cutoff, less than nine minutes after liftoff, Fossum and Wilson used handheld video and digital still cameras to document the external tank after it separated from the shuttle. That imagery, as well as imagery gathered by cameras in the shuttle’s umbilical well where the tank was connected, will be transmitted to the ground for review.

As Discovery lifted off, the International Space Station was 220 miles above the southern Pacific Ocean, south of Tasmania. Aboard the outpost, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams watched the launch via a television transmission from Mission Control. Discovery is set to dock to the complex at about 9:51 a.m. CDT July 6.

The shuttle crew will test Discovery’s robot arm tomorrow and then use it to grasp a 50-foot long boom extension, called the Orbiter Boom Sensor System. That boom holds the laser system and TV cameras they will use to inspect the shuttle’s wings and heat shield.

During the two spacewalks, Sellers and Fossum will test the capability of the boom extension to be used as a work platform from which repairs could be performed to the shuttle heat shield. They also will repair a cable system on the station’s rail car, a system that will be a base for the station's robotic arm for future assembly work. If the mission is extended by a day, the third spacewalk will be used to test techniques under development for repair of the reinforced carbon-carbon that makes up the heat shield on the shuttle wing edges.

Carried inside the Leonardo multi-purpose logistics module in Discovery’s cargo bay and elsewhere on the shuttle, about 14 tons of hardware and supplies is on its way to the space station. Discovery's crew begins an eight-hour sleep period at 7:38 p.m. CDT. The astronauts will awaken at 3:38 a.m. CDT Wednesday to begin their first full day in orbit.

The several hours of inspection began just after 6:00 a.m. when Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson verified proper operation of the Space Shuttle’s robotic arm, then maneuvered it to lift the 50-foot-long OBSS from the starboard sill of the payload bay.

Assisted by Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Mike Fossum, Nowak and Wilson began a slow and steady examination of the reinforced carbon-carbon panels along the leading edge of Discovery’s starboard wing just before 8:30 a.m., looking for any evidence of damage.

The inspection using the Laser Dynamic Range Imager, Laser Camera System, and Intensified Television Camera on the end of the boom continued across the shuttle’s nose cap and port wing. After returning the OBSS to its berth, Nowak, Wilson and Fossum spent an hour using the cameras on the shuttle robot arm to scan the outside of the crew cabin.

While the survey proceeded, Mission Specialist Piers Sellers completed the setup of on board computers and cameras and Mission Specialist Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency prepared Discovery’s middeck for the planned transfer of supplies onto the International Space Station. The first item to be transferred after docking, scheduled for 9:52 a.m. Thursday, is Reiter’s customized seat liner for the Soyuz vehicle; that will make him an official member of the station’s Expedition 13 crew, and the first ISS crewmember who is neither an American nor a Russian.

Sellers and Fossum, who also installed the centerline camera in Discovery’s docking mechanism, completed a checkout of the spacesuits they will wear during scheduled spacewalks on Flight Days 5 and 7. The EVAs will evaluate the combination of ISS robot arm and OBSS as a work platform for astronauts repairing a damaged shuttle orbiter and restore the station’s Mobile Transporter to full operation to support continued station assembly.

On board ISS Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams prepared the digital cameras with 400mm and 800mm lenses they will use to take high-resolution photos of the shuttle's heat shield when it flies a nose over tail somersault at a range of 600 feet below the station. They also prepared Pressurized Mating Adapter 2, at the forward end of the U.S. laboratory Destiny, where Discovery will dock tomorrow morning.

The astronauts on Discovery were scheduled to be awakened at 2:38 a.m. CDT Thursday to being final preparations for the docking with the ISS.

Today the crew will focus on thermal protection system inspections, preparing for docking to the International Space Station and getting spacesuits ready for two and perhaps three spacewalks.

Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers and Thomas Reiter got their wakeup call at 4:08 a.m. CDT, allowing them an extra 30 minutes of sleep after their first day in space ran long. The wakeup song was “Lift Every Voice and Sing” performed by the New Galveston Chorale.

Four crewmembers will spend much of the day looking for damage to Discovery's thermal protection system. Lindsey, Kelly, Fossum and Nowak will use the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), a 50-foot boom on the end of the shuttle's robotic Canadarm, to look at the wings' leading edges and the nose cap.

The task involves about 6˝ hours of intense work for the crew members. Actual data takes will total about an hour, 20 minutes for each wing and the nose cap. The rest of that time is devoted to very careful movement of the Canadarm and the OBSS.

Later, after lunch, Nowak and Wilson will return the OBSS to its berth on the starboard sill of Discovery's cargo bay. Then they and Fossum will use cameras on the shuttle arm to photograph the outside of Discovery's cabin. That activity should take about an hour.

Wilson also will take digital hand-held camera photos of the orbital maneuvering system pods at the base of the shuttle's vertical tail fin.

Photos and sensor readings from the shuttle, as well as photos of launch and ascent from more than 100 ground-based and airborne cameras and radar and instrument data, will be reviewed by experts on the ground. The data, photos by the station crew and information from subsequent arm surveys at the station and after undocking, will be used to determine if Discovery sustained damage during launch and ascent or in space, to ensure that it is safe for the shuttle to re-enter the atmosphere to land.

In other activities today, Wilson and Reiter will get items on the middeck ready for transfer to the station. Spacewalkers Fossum and Sellers, helped by Kelly, the intravehicular officer who will coach the spacewalkers, will check out spacesuits.

Nowak and Sellers will extend the shuttle docking ring which will help secure Discovery to the station. Just before the shuttle crew goes to bed, Kelly and Sellers will check out and prepare docking tools, including laptop computers.

At 3:30 a.m., Discovery was trailing the station by 9,573 statute miles and closing at a rate of 870 statute miles per orbit. Docking is scheduled for 9:52 a.m. Thursday.

Today the space station crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams, will continue to prepare the orbiting laboratory for Discovery's arrival. They will ready the digital cameras with 400mm and 800mm lenses they will use during Discovery’s approach to take high-resolution photos of the shuttle's heat shield. They also will pressurize the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 at the end of the U.S. laboratory Destiny, where Discovery is scheduled to dock.

It will mark the first time since May 2003 that more than two long-duration crew members have called the orbiting laboratory home.

Discovery, with Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers and Thomas Reiter aboard, is scheduled to dock with the station at 9:52 a.m. CDT.

Shortly after the welcome by station Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and a mandatory safety briefing, Reiter will transfer his seat liner to the Soyuz spacecraft attached to the station, making him an official station crewmember. Reiter is a European Space Agency astronaut from Germany, flying under a contract between ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency.

During Discovery’s approach to the station, Lindsey will pilot the shuttle on what amounts to a back flip, called the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver. At about 600 feet below the station, the flip will give Vinogradov and Williams a chance to photograph the thermal protection tiles on the bottom of Discovery. Using digital cameras with 400mm and 800mm lenses, they will take a carefully planned series of photos of the shuttle's underside.

The images will be downlinked for study by experts on the ground, starting with the more detailed images from the 800mm lens. More 800mm photos will be taken than during Discovery's approach during STS-114. One increased photo emphasis will be looking for protruding gap fillers, like those removed by STS-114 spacewalker Steve Robinson last year.

These photos and other data, including images from more than 100 cameras on the ground, in aircraft and on the shuttle, as well as data from the shuttle arm and the Orbital Boom Sensor System (OBSS) attached to it, will be used, along with data from subsequent surveys, to make sure that Discovery sustained no major damage on launch, ascent and in orbit.

About three hours after docking, both crews get to work with more robotic operations to prepare for additional surveys. Nowak, Wilson and Williams will operate the space station robotic arm, Canadarm2, from inside the Destiny Lab.

They will use the arm to lift the OBSS from Discovery's payload bay sill and hand it over to the shuttle arm, operated by Lindsey and Fossum. Clearance restraints around the shuttle’s docking mechanism do not allow the shuttle arm to grapple the boom on its own.

Transfer of cargo from the shuttle's middeck including spacesuits will begin shortly after docking. At least two spacewalks are scheduled, one on Saturday and another on Monday. A third may be done if the mission is extended a day.

Discovery’s crew was awakened at 2:38 a.m. Thursday by "Daniel," performed by Elton John and dedicated to Reiter. The station crew was awakened at the same time by its standard wakeup tone.

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany was delivered as the newest member of ISS Expedition 13 just hours after Space Shuttle Discovery docked at the station’s Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 at 9:52 a.m. CDT, as the two ships flew above the south Pacific Ocean south of Pitcairn Island.

Commander Steve Lindsey piloted Discovery’s approach to ISS, halting 600 feet directly below the station to perform the rendezvous pitch maneuver: the shuttle was commanded to do a nose-over-tail somersault so ISS Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams could photograph the thermal protection system tiles on the orbiter’s underside. Imagery experts on the ground will study the high-resolution still pictures for evidence of any damage to the insulating tiles.

Lindsey and his crew—Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers and Reiter—greeted the station crewmembers when the hatches between the vehicles were opened at 11:30 a.m. CDT.

After Vinogradov’s safety briefing for the shuttle crew, he helped Reiter install his customized Soyuz seat liner into the Russian rescue vehicle and check his pressurized Sokol suit, finalizing Reiter’s transfer from Discovery to ISS. Other first-day transfers from Discovery included the spacesuits that Sellers and Fossum will wear on their spacewalks out of the Quest airlock on Flight Days 5 and 7.

In preparation for the first EVA, Nowak, Wilson and Williams lifted the Orbiter Boom Sensor System with the station’s robotic arm and handed it over to the shuttle’s robotic arm. During the first spacewalk Sellers and Fossum will simulate orbiter repair tasks while attached to the OBSS/shuttle arm combination to test that 100-foot-long construction crane as a work platform.

On the second spacewalk the astronauts will deliver a spare Pump Module to an external stowage platform before replacing a damaged power and data cable reel assembly in the station’s truss. The repair will allow the Mobile Transporter to move along the truss during installation of new truss segments on future shuttle assembly missions.

The first task of the day will be the relocation of the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) from the shuttle payload bay onto the station’s Unity Module. Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers will use the station robotic arm, Canadarm2, to maneuver the module, with help from pilot Mark Kelly.

Once successfully mated to its temporary position on the station, shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey and new Expedition 13 Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter will conduct leak checks and enter the pressurized cargo container. Wilson will lead the transfer activities, which are scheduled to continue until next Thursday.

Later, using the shuttle robotic arm and boom system, Kelly, Nowak and Wilson will conduct additional inspections of the orbiter’s thermal protection system. They will target a few specific areas on the shuttle’s nose cap that were missed on the initial scans, as well as two gap fillers that appear to be protruding from Discovery’s underside. They also intend to get a closer look at a piece of fabric near the shuttle nose.

Fossum and Sellers will make preparations for Saturday’s planned spacewalk. They will configure tools and the U.S. airlock Quest for the spacewalk. They will repair the station's mobile transporter and test the capability of the robotic arm boom extension to carry spacewalkers. The results of that test will help engineers understand the feasibility of using the arm for thermal system inspections and repairs if needed on later flights.

The crew has time set aside at the end of the day for a review of the spacewalk procedures.

The newly augmented space station crew, including Flight Engineer Jeff Williams and Commander Pavel Vinogradov, will work closely with the shuttle crew, assisting with transfer activities and robotic arm operations.

Some crewmembers will talk with journalists. Lindsey and Kelly will chat in the morning with radio reporters from CBS, Fox, ABC and National Public Radio. Toward the end of the day, the Expedition crew will speak with CNN, CBS News and the Associated Press.

The space shuttle crew awoke at 2:14 a.m. CDT by the Beatles’ "Good Day Sunshine" dedicated to first time spaceflyer Lisa Nowak. The Expedition 13 crew awoke 30 minutes later with their standard wake up tone.

Spacewalkers Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum have two major tasks. First they will work to ensure that the second power and data cable linking the mobile transporter to the rest of the station is spared the fate of the mobile transporter's other trailing umbilical system cable. It was inadvertently severed by its safety cutter last December. The second activity is to test the capability of the shuttle's robotic arm and its 50-foot extension to act as a platform for spacewalkers making repairs.

Expedition 12 crewmembers tried to install a safety bolt to protect the remaining cable. They were unable to insert the bolt, so they removed the cable from the emergency cutter.

Sellers and Fossum will install a device to block the cutter blade. If that doesn't work, they'll install a new unit, called an interface umbilical assembly, this one without a blade. Once they reinstall the cable, the mobile transporter will again be able to move the station's robotic arm along the rails on the station's main truss. The arm is scheduled to be moved during the Monday spacewalk.

For the test of the arm as a repair platform, Sellers will work on the end of the 50- foot extension, called the orbital boom sensor system. Then both spacewalkers will simulate working motions at the end of the extension. That will be done in at least three arm positions.

Sellers will be the lead spacewalker and wear the spacesuit with red stripes. He did three spacewalks in October 2002 during the STS-112 mission of Atlantis to the station. On that mission he helped install the station's starboard one (S1) truss.

Fossum will wear the all-white spacesuit. He is making his first spaceflight. Discovery Pilot Mark Kelly will serve as the intravehicular officer, coaching and helping the spacewalkers from inside the station-shuttle complex.

Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson will operate the robotic arms during all three of the mission's spacewalks. They will maneuver the shuttle's Canadarm with its extension during the first, scheduled to begin at 8:13 a.m. CDT Saturday. They will use the station's Canadarm2 during the second spacewalk on Monday and the third on Wednesday.

Expedition 13 Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey also will help out during the spacewalk.

Meanwhile Thomas Reiter, the European Space Agency astronaut from Germany who became part of the Expedition 13 crew shortly after docking, will work with station commander Pavel Vinogradov to transfer cargo and equipment from the Leonardo multi-purpose logistics module.

In staggered wake ups, the shuttle crew arose at 2:08 a.m. CDT to the sound of "God of Wonders" by Marc Byrd and Steve Hindalong. The music was selected for Fossum by his family. The station crew was awakened about 30 minutes later.

Mission Specialists Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum turned their spacesuits to battery power to officially start the spacewalk at 8:17 a.m. CDT. After they configured their tools and safety tethers, they moved to the S0 Truss and installed a blade blocker in the zenith Interface Umbilical Assembly to protect the undamaged power, data and video cable. Then they rerouted that cable through the IUA so the Mobile Transporter rail car could be moved into position on the truss for replacement of the Trailing Umbilical System containing the severed power and data cable during a spacewalk Monday.

The remainder of today’s spacewalk was devoted to testing the combination of space shuttle robotic arm and Orbiter Boom Sensor System as a platform for spacewalking astronauts to make repairs to a damaged orbiter. Sellers got into a foot restraint on the OBSS, almost 100 feet from where the shuttle arm is attached to the payload bay sill, and performed a set of motions designed to see how the arm/OBSS handled the forces generated by those movements; Fossum stood nearby and reported his observations of the arm/OBSS’ movements.

Then Fossum joined Sellers on the end of the OBSS for another round of demonstrations, with measurements again taken by a load cell mounted under the foot restraint. For the last measurement the arm maneuvered Fossum into position so he could push against the end of the P1 Truss.

Sellers, wearing the spacesuit with red stripes, and Fossum, wearing the white spacesuit, re-entered the station and started pressurizing the airlock at 3:48 p.m., concluding the first of three spacewalks planned for the mission. Today’s EVA was the fourth of Sellers’ career, and the first for Fossum.

Pilot Mark Kelly served as intravehicular crewmember, keeping the spacewalkers on time and relaying information from Mission Control in Houston, while Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson and Expedition 13 Flight Engineer Jeff Williams operated the shuttle robot arm and Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey monitored their activities while transferring water onto ISS.

During the EVA ISS Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter unloaded cargo from the Multipurpose Logistics Module. Today’s transfers included a new oxygen generator, to be installed in the Destiny laboratory in the coming months, and a Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS, which will provide low temperature storage for lab supplies and for experiment samples awaiting return to Earth.

Delivery of cargo from the MPLM onto ISS will be the centerpiece of activity on orbit Sunday, and the second of two spacewalks will take place Monday morning at 7:13 a.m. CDT.

Also Saturday, Mission Managers reported clearing for entry all but one area of the orbiter’s thermal protection system that engineers had been looking at closely. The remaining area, a protruding gap filler near the external tank umbilical doors, needs further analysis, according to Steve Poulos, Orbiter Project Office Manager. The outlook was favorable for clearing that area, as well, Poulos said, but image analysts will be working through the night Saturday to finish looking at it.

Overall, the spacecraft thermal protection system had relatively few “dings” and Chairman of the Mission Management Team John Shannon said that Discovery was by far the "cleanest" in terms of damage to the heat shield.

The astronauts also made preparations for the second spacewalk during joint docked operations, scheduled for Monday morning.

Leonardo, the Multipurpose Logistics Module that rode to orbit in the shuttle payload bay, launched with more than 7,400 pounds of new space station equipment and crew supplies. Today’s operations included transfer of a new heat exchanger for the Common Cabin Air Assembly, a component of the ISS environmental control system which collects condensate out of the air, and a spare U.S. spacewalk suit and emergency jet pack.

As they deliver the module’s contents onto the station, the astronauts are also refilling Leonardo with almost 4,400 pounds of material no longer needed on the station. That includes experiment samples, trash, and broken equipment.

For several hours today Mission Specialists Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum refreshed the systems of their spacesuits and prepared tools and equipment for tomorrow’s EVA. During that planned six and a half hour excursion, scheduled to begin at 7:13 a.m. CDT, they will deliver a spare cooling system Pump Module to a stowage platform and replace the Trailing Umbilical System on the nadir side of the S0 Truss. That replacement will give the station’s Mobile Transporter rail car a redundant pair of power, data and video cables so it can translate along the truss in support of future station assembly tasks.

Earlier today, Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly, and Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Fossum and Sellers joined Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter to answer questions about their missions from reporters at NASA centers and at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany.

Late today John Shannon, the deputy shuttle program manager and chairman of the STS-121 Mission Management Team, reported that mission managers cleared Discovery for its return to Earth, declaring that the shuttle’s heat shield was free from any damage. The crew will conduct another inspection later in the mission looking for any other evidence of damage done by orbital debris prior to landing.

Discovery’s crew began its sleep period just after 5 p.m. CDT and will be awakened at 1:08 a.m. CDT Monday to begin the seventh day of the flight.

Some preparations for the second spacewalk, on Monday, also are on today's plan.

The Discovery crew was awakened at 2:08 a.m. CDT with "I Have a Dream", by ABBA, for shuttle pilot Mark Kelly. It was requested by his children. The station’s crew woke up at 2:38 a.m. CDT for the third day of joint operations.

Every member of the two crews would have at least some involvement in the cargo activities throughout the day. Mission specialist Stephanie Wilson is leading the transfer effort, which will ultimately relocate the more than 7,400 lbs of equipment and supplies that were brought up in the cargo module named "Leonardo" and 1,800 lbs from the shuttle’s middeck.

Flight controllers reported that 14 percent of equipment and supplies from the MPLM has already been transferred, including the Minus Eighty Lab Freezer and the 1,400 lb Oxygen Generation System that will expand the station’s ability to support up to six crewmembers. Six percent of equipment from the shuttle’s middeck has been relocated thus far.

All nine crewmembers will participate in a joint news conference. They will field questions from U.S. media at NASA centers and journalists at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany.

Throughout the day, Mission Specialists Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers will work on post- and pre-extravehicular activity tasks. The two completed the first spacewalk of the mission on Saturday and are preparing for the second, scheduled for Monday. They will make configurations to the Quest Airlock and prepare the tools needed for this second trip into the vacuum of space. The rest of the Discovery's crew, Commander Steve Lindsey, Kelly, Wilson, and Mission Specialist Lisa Nowak will all participate in an EVA procedures review.

The shuttle crew was awakened at 1:08 a.m. CDT by "Clocks," performed by Coldplay. It was requested by Sellers' family for the day of the second spacewalk.

The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 7:13 a.m. and expected to last nearly seven hours. First, Fossum and Sellers will make their way to the shuttle’s payload bay to a spare pump module for the station’s thermal control system. Once there, they will attach it to the fixed grapple bar which will allow Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson, inside at the controls of the robotic arm, to maneuver the pump to the external stowage platform.

While the module is being moved, Fossum and Sellers will stay in the payload bay and get ready for their next task, replacement of a trailing umbilical system (TUS) reel assembly, this one on the nadir side of the mobile transporter.

After they reconfigure the payload bay for the activity, they’ll then translate to the starboard zero truss segment, to get it ready for retrieval. Fossum will disconnect electrical cables while Sellers changes out the assembly. Once it is ready, they will leave that site to go to the stowage platform and assist with the detaching and installation of the pump into its permanent storage location. That pump is onboard as a spare should it be needed in the future.

The two spacewalkers will then return to the truss and remove the TUS reel assembly. Fossum, on the end of the robotic arm, will take the reel assembly to the payload bay. Sellers will move there on his own, and set up for the swap of that assembly with a new one. After the swap is complete, the two will go back to the worksite to install the new reel assembly, reroute the power and data cable and thus restoring the desired redundancy to the mobile transporter and enabling it again to be used for continued station assembly tasks.

Shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey and Pilot Mark Kelly will support the spacewalk with Lindsey monitoring the vehicle systems and video/television set ups and Kelly overseeing activities and coaching the spacewalkers.

The Expedition 13 crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter, will be working steadily throughout the day transferring trash and unneeded equipment and supplies for return to Earth in the multipurpose logistics module Leonardo. More than 4,300 pounds of cargo will be packed for the return to Earth.

Spacewalkers Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum exited the Quest module’s airlock at 7:14 a.m. and climbed down into the shuttle payload bay, where they lifted the Pump Module from its stowage platform so Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson could grapple it with the station’s 58-foot-long robotic arm. While the arm moved the module to its destination, Sellers and Fossum moved to the S0 Truss segment to begin work on the primary task of the EVA, replacement of the nadir-side Trailing Umbilical System (TUS).

A TUS contains a power, data and video cable that serves the Mobile Transporter as it moves along the station’s truss; the nadir TUS cable was inadvertently severed late last year and required replacement. As the first step in that process Sellers replaced the Interface Umbilical Assembly - the component containing the cutter - with a new IUA, one without a blade.

By that time, Canadarm2 reached External Stowage Platform 2 on the forward side of Quest with the Pump Module; Sellers and Fossum moved to the platform to receive the module from the arm, secured it to the storage platform, and returned to the TUS work site.

The spacewalkers removed the damaged TUS from within the S0 Truss, and Fossum carried it to the payload bay while riding the station arm. When he arrived, Sellers removed the new TUS from the payload bay platform, and the two swapped cable reels. Sellers stowed the old TUS on the cross-bay carrier while the arm moved Fossum back to the truss work site, where Sellers rejoined his crewmate to complete installation of the TUS and properly route its power, data and video cable through the IUA.

At two points during the spacewalk Fossum paused to take care of a loose connection of the emergency jet thruster backpack on Sellers’ spacesuit, securing it the first time with a safety tether.

The spacewalkers closed the hatch and began to repressurize Quest to end the spacewalk at 2:01 p.m. to conclude a six-hour, 47-minute excursion; the combined time spent spacewalking on two EVAs on this mission so far is 14 hours, 18 minutes. A third spacewalk, devoted to testing potential repair techniques and materials, is scheduled for Wednesday.

During the spacewalk Pilot Mark Kelly oversaw the timeline for the spacewalkers while Commander Steve Lindsey managed the cameras and transferred two containers of water onto ISS. Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter continued to work on delivery and stowage of equipment and supplies from the Multipurpose Logistics Module.

Additional time was set aside today for procedural review for the third spacewalk planned to begin at 6:13 a.m. CDT Wednesday.

Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov along with Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter spent most of the day loading items no longer needed on the station into the Multipurpose Logistics Module docked to the station’s Unity module. Before being returned to Discovery’s payload bay on Friday, the Italian-built Leonardo will be filled with almost 4,400 pounds of experiment samples, unneeded hardware and trash.

Included in the more than 7,400 pounds of supplies delivered to the station was a new window and window seals for the Microgravity Science Glovebox, a European Space Agency-developed enclosed workspace for science experiments involving fluids, flames, particles or fumes. Reiter, the ESA astronaut who joined the station crew last week, installed the new window and window seals today. Additional work will be needed after the shuttle departs before the MSG can resume operation.

Discovery Mission Specialists Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum, who already have spent 14 hours and 18 minutes outside the Discovery/ISS complex on two spacewalks, devoted much of the day to preparing their spacesuits and tools for the mission’s third Extravehicular Activity. The planned 6-˝ hour spacewalk is devoted to testing a non-oxide adhesive as a repair material for the reinforced carbon carbon panels that line a shuttle’s leading edge, and the use of an infrared camera to detect unseen damage to RCC.

At 7:18 this morning the spacewalkers joined Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson to talk about the progress of their flight in interviews with the Associated Press and USA Today.

More than 4,300 pounds of experiment results, unneeded hardware and trash is scheduled to be loaded onto the pressurized cargo module for return to Earth in Discovery's cargo bay next week. Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson serves as the loadmaster for the extensive transfer activity.

All nine shuttle and station crew members will help gather and stow the return cargo in Leonardo. It brought more than 7,000 pounds of clothing, food and other supplies for the station.

Throughout the day, Mission Specialists Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers will also have spacewalk preparation tasks. They’ll recharge the spacesuits, gather and organize needed tools, and configure the airlock.

Before the day’s end, they’ll be joined by Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly, and fellow Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson for a review of the spacewalk procedures.

Kelly, Fossum, Nowak, Wilson and Sellers will talk with representatives from the Associated Press and USA Today. That 20-minute chat is scheduled to begin at 7:18 a.m. CDT.

The shuttle crew was awakened at 1:08 a.m. by "All Star," performed by Smashmouth. It was for Nowak, requested by her family.

Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter were awakened 30 minutes later, at 1:38 a.m.

Mission Specialists Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum began the spacewalk at 6:20 a.m. CDT and prepared a foot restraint on the end of the International Space Station’s Canadarm2. Sellers rode the arm, commanded by Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson, to the starboard wing of Discovery where he used an infrared camera to shoot 20 seconds of video of selected reinforced carbon carbon panels on the wing’s leading edge. Infrared imagery may aid in identifying damage on the inside of those panels.

Fossum translated to the aft of Discovery’s payload bay to join Sellers and help prepare a box containing 12 RCC sample panels for the EVA’s primary task of testing a repair material known as NOAX. Non-oxide adhesive experimental is a pre-ceramic polymer sealant containing carbon-silicon carbide powder, and is being evaluated for repairing damage to RCC panels.

Data gathered from tests on mission STS-114 last year indicated NOAX is most effective when applied while the temperature of an RCC panel is falling between 120° F and 30° F, so today’s spacewalkers were directed to apply NOAX to the pre-damaged RCC panels based on the temperatures of the panels. Over the course of almost two and a half hours, Sellers and Fossum completed three gouge repairs and two crack repairs with NOAX, and provided Mission Control a running dialogue describing the repair activity and how the NOAX responded. They also imaged four of the samples with the infrared camera, which Fossum also used to gather video of an area of Discovery’s port wing while riding Canadarm2 back to the airlock.

Near the end of the EVA, Mission Control added a task to the spacewalk. Since the spacewalkers were on schedule and had plenty of supplies, Sellers carried a Pistol Grip Tool to the Integrated Cargo Carrier in Discovery’s payload bay and removed the fixed grapple bar used during delivery of the Pump Module during the second spacewalk. He carried it to the S1 Truss where Fossum helped him install it on an ammonia tank inside that truss so that the tank can be moved on a later shuttle assembly mission.

Repressurization of Quest began at 1:31 p.m., completing a 7-hour, 11-minute spacewalk, the 68th in support of ISS assembly and maintenance. The cumulative duration of the three spacewalks on this mission is 21 hours and 29 minutes. Sellers’ total spacewalking time of 41:10 on six EVAs ranks him 4th among U.S. spacewalkers and 9th in the world all-time.

ISS Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter concentrated on packing the Multipurpose Logistics Module today with returning experiment samples, unneeded hardware and trash. The Leonardo module is scheduled to be returned to Discovery’s payload bay on Friday.

Mission Specialists Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers will test techniques to inspect and repair damage to an orbiter's heat shield. The 6.5-hour spacewalk from the Quest airlock is scheduled to start at 6:13 a.m. CDT.

Sellers and Fossum will set up tools and a foot restraint on the station robotic arm. Sellers will position himself on the arm, operated by Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson. He will use an infrared camera to record about 20 seconds of imagery as the arm, and Sellers, move along the shuttle’s wing leading edge.

Sellers, designated EV1 and wearing the spacesuit with red stripes, will meet EV2 Fossum, in the all-white suit, in Discovery’s payload bay. There they will set up the worksite for the repair tasks. A pallet with 12 reinforced carbon-carbon panels is pre-positioned in the payload bay. Eight are pre-damaged and will be the subject of the repair test. Two are blank, to be used as a work palette, and the last two are for further imaging by the infrared camera.

Sellers and Fossum will use a variety of tools and methods for the repair work demonstration including a space-certified caulk gun and a variety of spatulas to manipulate the test materials.

They hope to finish demonstrations on at least two of those samples. Then they’ll do a 60-second recording using the IR camera of two other damaged tiles. The camera is designed to capture temperature gradients that will indicate invisible damage.

If they have time, they may take additional photos of some shuttle panels and move the fixed grapple bar in the shuttle payload bay.

The spacewalkers will clean up the worksite and inspect their spacesuits. Then Fossum will ride the robotic arm back to the airlock, again taking video of the wing leading edge as he passes it. Sellers will make his own way back.

Pilot Mark Kelly will again serve as the intravehicular activities officer. Commander Steve Lindsey will oversee the shuttle systems and spacewalk operations.

While the shuttle crew is helping with the spacewalk, repacking of the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo will continue. The Expedition 13 crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov, and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter, will put experiment results, unneeded equipment and garbage into Leonardo.

The STS-121 crew woke this morning at 12:08 a.m. to "I Believe I Can Fly," played for Wilson. The Expedition 13 crew was awakened 30 minutes later.

The crew woke at 12:08 a.m. CDT to "Charlie's Angels Theme Song." It was for the entire crew, from their training team.

Moments later, Texas A&M University yell leaders performed briefly for Mission Specialist Mike Fossum from Mission Control. Fossum is the first A&M undergraduate alum to fly in space.

Fossum is scheduled to receive a call from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, also an A&M graduate and former member of the Corps of Cadets, at 11:58 a.m. It will air on NASA Television.

Later in the day, Fossum and Mission Specialist Lisa Nowak will talk with representatives of MSNBC and FOX News Live. That interview, at 12:23 p.m., also will be seen on NASA-TV.

Fossum, Nowak and shuttle Commander Steven Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Stephanie Wilson and Piers Sellers then have off duty time with only a few isolated tasks and exercise planned.

International Space Station Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter will talk at 3:13 a.m. with European Space Agency Astronaut Pedro Duque, a journalist, students and the operations manager at the Columbus Control Centre, in Cologne, Germany. At 8:09 a.m. the crew will talk with Russian journalists at Mission Control Moscow. Those events will air on NASA-TV and be replayed with interpretation at 9 a.m.

First thing this morning Shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey and ISS Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter deactivated the cargo module, closed the hatch, and prepared it for removal from the Unity node. Just after 8:32 a.m. CDT Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson used the station robotic arm to uninstall Leonardo from ISS; the MPLM was reberthed in the shuttle payload bay at 10:00 a.m. CDT.

More than 7,400 pounds of cargo was delivered to ISS in the cargo module, and approximately 4,600 pounds of material including experiment samples, broken equipment and trash are now packed inside for return to Earth.

After the MPLM was returned to Discovery, Nowak and Wilson used the shuttle robot arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System to inspect the shuttle’s port wing. Similar to the pre-docking inspection on Flight Day 2, which was aimed at uncovering evidence of damage from debris at launch, this inspection looked for any signs of damage done by debris on orbit. None was found; inspection of the starboard wing and the shuttle’s nose cap will be done after undocking tomorrow, which is scheduled to occur at 5:08 a.m. CDT.

Early this morning, as Lindsey and Reiter worked at the MPLM, Nowak and Wilson joined Mission Specialists Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers, Pilot Mark Kelly, and ISS Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams to discuss the mission in interviews with CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS.

After a day off, the crew will spend much of today getting ready for their undocking from the International Space Station.

The crew woke at 12:19 a.m. CDT with the Aggie War Hymn performed by the Fighting Texas Aggie Band. It was for Mission Specialist Mike Fossum, a graduate of Texas A&M University.

The first activity of the day will be media interviews for most of the crew -- shuttle Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson and Piers Sellers, and station Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams. Beginning at 3:03 a.m. they will talk with journalists from CNN, ABC News, NBC’s Today Show, and CBS News.

Meanwhile, shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey and station Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter will deactivate the multipurpose logistics module Leonardo and begin preparing for its move back to Discovery’s payload bay. Nowak and Wilson will use the station robotic arm to maneuver Leonardo, which has been packed with more than 4,000 pounds of experiment results, unneeded supplies and equipment from the station, to its place in the cargo bay.

The two, joined by Lindsey, will also use the arm with the boom extension to conduct a scheduled final inspection of the shuttle’s port wing to ensure it has not been damaged by orbital debris during the docked operations.

Throughout the day, the remainder of the crew will continue with final transfer of supplies and equipment from the shuttle’s middeck, organize the spacewalk tools and do other tasks to get ready for Discovery's undocking from the station on Saturday.

The delivery of European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter to join Expedition 13 on the International Space Station was one of the major goals achieved on this second return to flight shuttle mission. Discovery is now aiming for an 8:14 a.m. CDT Monday landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The shuttle astronauts said goodbye to Reiter and his crewmates, Station Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams, and Commander Steve Lindsey and Pilot Mark Kelly reported the hatches between the two ships closed at 3:15 a.m. CDT. Astronauts Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson completed a leak check in the docking vestibule while Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers installed a centerline camera in the hatch window.

With Kelly at the controls, Discovery released its grip on the station at 5:08 a.m. CDT and springs pushed the two ships apart. Kelly guided the shuttle away to a distance of 400 feet and fired thrusters to separate the vicinity of the complex. A second engine firing, 50 minutes after undocking while above and behind the station, set Discovery on course that now has it about 46 miles behind the station and opening the distance slowly. No other shuttle engine firings are planned before it fires its engines to begin the descent to Earth Monday morning.

After Discovery left the station, the shuttle crew used the robotic arm and boom sensors to thoroughly inspect the starboard wing and nose cap heat shield, looking for damage from orbital debris. A similar survey of the port wing was conducted yesterday. After the nose cap survey, the boom was berthed along the starboard sill of the payload bay and the robot arm was powered down.

Mission managers reviewing the latest heat shield inspections of Discovery have found no concerns so far, and the analysis is continuing. Discovery is planned to fire its engines to deorbit at 7:07 a.m. CDT Monday. That is the first of two opportunities for landing on Monday at Kennedy. A second opportunity begins with a deorbit engine firing at 8:43 a.m. CDT leading to a landing at 9:50 am. CDT.

Their day began at 12:18 a.m. with “Just Like Heaven,” by The Cure for Mission Specialist Piers Sellers. It was requested by his family.

At 3 a.m., Shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Entry Flight Engineer Lisa Nowak will do an hour-long flight control system checkout and fire the reaction control system jets. The checkout will let managers further assess the performance of one of the auxiliary power units. The APUs power flight control surfaces. Specialists had detected a small leak in the APU but have determined it is likely a nitrogen gas leak and should not affect re-entry.

Throughout the day, most of the crew members, including Mission Specialists Mike Fossum and Stephanie Wilson, will work on final clean up and stowage of the vehicle cabin area. All six crew members will participate in a deorbit briefing with the ground team as part of their final preparation for landing.

At 11:03 a.m. CDT, the STS-121 crew will participate in interviews with major television networks, including, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC. That event will be televised on NASA television.

Mission managers continue to analyze images from the post-undocking inspection of Discovery's port wing and nose cone. Initial analysis indicated nothing amiss. A decision on whether to clear Discovery for landing is expected later today.

Discovery's deorbit burn is scheduled for 7:07 a.m. Monday, for an 8:14 a.m. CDT landing at Kennedy Space Center. A second opportunity would see a deorbit engine firing at 8:43 a.m. for a landing at 9:50 a.m.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter are enjoying an off-duty day after the intense activity during Discovery docked operations.

Discovery and its crew of six astronauts touched down on runway 15 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at 8:15 a.m. CDT, completing 12 days, 18 hours and 38 minutes in space covering 5.3 million miles. They delivered European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter to the station to join Expedition 13 and completed three spacewalks, one to restore the station’s rail car to full capability and two to develop shuttle repair techniques.

The crew was awakened at 12:08 a.m. CDT today with “The Astronaut” by Something Corporate, played for Commander Steve Lindsey as he prepared to complete his fourth shuttle flight. Returning to Earth aboard Discovery with Lindsey were Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson and Piers Sellers.

Discovery’s deorbit engines were fired for three minutes at 7:07 a.m. CDT above the Indian Ocean to begin the descent. The shuttle flew above Guatemala and Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico and the southwest Florida coast on the way to landing.