18 September 2006 04:08 GMT. Landing Date: 2007-04-21 12:31:00 PM. Flight Time: 215.35 days. Flight Up: Soyuz TMA-9. Flight Back: Soyuz TMA-9. Crew: Tyurin, Lopez-Alegria. Program: ISS. Six-month long-term resident crew of the International Space Station. The flight program consisted of a six-month program from September 18, 2006 to March 19, 2006 with the following activities:
- Launch of the two EO-14 crew and one EP-11 space tourist (Ansari) aboard Soyuz TMA-9 (ISS flight 13S)
- Docking of Soyuz TMA-9 to the Zvezda port of the ISS
- Support of loading and preparation of Soyuz TMA-8 for departure from the ISS. Support of undocking and departure of Soyuz TMA-8, with the EO-13 crew and Ansari aboard, from the Zarya port of the ISS. ESA Astrolab crewmember Reiter will stay aboard the ISS, forming part of the EO-14 crew.
- Relocation of Soyuz TMA-9 vehicle from Zarya to the Zvezda port
- Operational support for docking of the Space Shuttle STS-116 in ISS Flight 12A.1. Support in the space station assembly tasks of the STS-116 crew, including assembly of the ISS third port truss segment (ITS P5); transfer of cargo from the Spacehab single cargo module and the Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC). Loading of the shuttle with return payload. Reiter was to return to earth aboard STS-116 and NASA astronaut Williams, flown on STS-116, would stay aboard the station as part of the EO-14 crew.
- Operational support for docking of Progress M-58 to the Zarya port and its unloading;
- Operational support for docking of the Space Shuttle STS-117 in ISS Flight 13A. Support for STS-117 station assembly operations including attachment of the second starboard truss segment (ITS S3/S4) with the Photovoltaic Radiator (PVR); and a third set of solar arrays and batteries.
- Loading and undocking of Progress M-57 from the Pirs port of the space station
- Operational support for docking of Progress M-59 to the Pirs port and its unloading;
- Loading and undocking of Progress M-59 from the Pirs port
- Operational support for docking of Progress M-60 to the Pirs port and its unloading
- Loading and undocking of Progress M-58 from the Zarya port
- Repair and maintenance tasks to keep the station operating
- Performance of five spacewalks: three US egresses (EVA) on the ISS USOS and two Russian egresses (EVA) on the ISS RS
- Performance of the following science and application research programs and experiments: SVS, Crystallizator, Relaksatsia, Uragan, Vsplesk, Ekon, Plasma-ISS, Cardio-ODNT, Profilaktika, Pulse, Pilot, Pnevmocard, Biorisk, Akvarium, Rastenia-2, Statokonia, Regeneration, Prognos, Matroshka-R, Diatomeya, Glikoproteid, Mimetik-K, KAF, Vaktsina-K, Biotrek, Konjugatsia, Biodegradatsia, Bioecologia, Bioemulsiya, Interleikin-K, Antigen, Vector-T, Izgib, Plasma Crystal, Identifikatsiya, Sreda, BTN-Neutron), as well as contract-based commercial activities (GTS, GCF-JAXA, Rokviss, Golf);
- Crew handover to long-duration crew EO-15
- Return to earth of the EO-14 two crewmembers and space tourist EP-12 aboard the Soyuz TMA-9 transport manned vehicle.
ISS EO-14 Chronology - 2006 Jul 28 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-035
The International Space Station's Expedition 13 crew members are a week away from their first U.S. spacewalk. They spent much of this week preparing themselves and their gear, and they activated a new laboratory super deep-freezer. Astronauts Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter will leave the station's Quest airlock hatch at 9:55 a.m. EDT Thursday, Aug. 3, for a spacewalk that is scheduled for six hours, 20 minutes. Station Commander Pavel Vinogradov will serve as the spacewalk choreographer from inside the complex. Williams and Reiter are both experienced spacewalkers. They will install a device to measure the electrical field around the station's exterior; replace a rotary joint motor controller and a computer for a radiator on the station's truss; deploy two experiments that expose samples of various materials to space for extended periods; and install various other hardware on the station. To get ready, the crew prepared spacesuits and tools, conducted a dry run of egress and ingress procedures, and moved the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm into position. The arm's cameras will provide television views of the spacewalk. This week the crew also began operations of the new Minus Eighty-degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS. The equipment can reach temperatures as low as minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit. Provided by the European Space Agency, the freezer was delivered on shuttle mission STS-121 earlier this month and is installed in the Destiny laboratory. It has 300 liters (about 79 gallons) of freezing and storage capacity in four compartments for experiment samples to preserve them for return to Earth. On Tuesday, Russian flight controllers fired thrusters on the Progress supply ship docked to the aft end of the station to boost the station's altitude. They raised the complex to an orbit of 219 by 203 statute miles. The adjustment optimizes conditions for a docking by the Space Shuttle Atlantis, targeted for a launch window that begins Aug. 27, and by the station's next crew, Expedition 14, set for launch in mid-September on a Russian Soyuz rocket.
- 2006 Aug 25 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-039
With the countdown clock ticking toward the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-115 mission, the International Space Station crew continues to prepare for visitors. Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer, NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany are ready for Atlantis to deliver a new section of the station's girder-like truss. Atlantis is set for launch on Sunday, which would result in docking with the station on Tuesday. During Atlantis' mission, astronauts will attach the new P3/P4 truss, a segment that includes a huge new set of solar arrays and a giant rotary joint to allow them to track the sun. To prepare for Atlantis' visit, the station crew members packed items that will be returned to Earth on the shuttle. They also reviewed spacewalk plans, talked with the shuttle crew in a long-distance conference and trained to photograph the shuttle's heat shield as Atlantis does a backflip while approaching the station. Flight controllers tested the operation of a U.S. air scrubbing system in advance. The Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly, or CDRA, was turned on for an extended period to test its capability to remove carbon dioxide from the air. The CDRA augments the Russian air scrubber, Vozdukh, which was turned off during the test. Engineers are continuing to evaluate data from the CDRA operations. The station was raised 2.5 miles by firing the ISS Progress 21 engines Wednesday. The boost places the complex at the optimum position for Atlantis' rendezvous and docking. It also puts the station at the optimum altitude for the launch of the next station resident crew, Expedition 14, from Kazakhstan in September. Williams replaced filters in part of the station's cooling system. The used filters will be returned to Earth for engineering analysis to confirm their success at removing fine particles from water in coolant lines. Williams completed runs of the Dust and Aerosol Measurement Feasibility Test, or DAFT experiment. DAFT is testing the effectiveness of a commercial hand-held air quality monitor called P-Trak that counts ultra-fine dust particles in microgravity. The study provides data that may help in the design of fire detection systems on future spacecraft. Its data also may prove useful for fire detection hardware in extreme environments on Earth, such as submarines or underwater laboratories. The station crew continued with the set-up and check-out of the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) that was delivered on STS-121. This experiment system contains a centrifuge that can subject a wide range of small plant and animal experiments to partial gravity conditions. The first experiment that will be performed in EMCS is the Analysis of a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism, called Tropi, which seeks to identify the genes responsible for successful plant growth in microgravity. The experiment studies mustard seeds. Vinogradov and Reiter participated in European Space Agency science experiments that test the cardiovascular system's response to microgravity for long durations.
- 2006 Sep 13 - STS-115 MCC Status Report #08
The Atlantis and Expedition 13 crews are getting ready for the second spacewalk of the STS-115 mission to the International Space Station. They will continue preparations for activation of the P3/P4 truss segment attached to the station Tuesday. Spacewalkers Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean will release and remove launch locks and launch restraints from the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint of the P4 truss. That joint will enable the new solar arrays to track the sun. The arrays are to be unfurled late today and early Thursday. Burbank and MacLean spent the night in the Quest Airlock, as did Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Joe Tanner before their Tuesday spacewalk, part of the campout pre-breathe protocol. Burbank and MacLean are preparing for their spacewalk, with help from shuttle Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and station Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 4:15 a.m. CDT. Tanner, now a veteran of six spacewalks, will serve as the intravehicular officer for this spacewalk. Piper will operate the station robotic arm to ensure video viewing during the spacewalk. Because of the success of the first spacewalk, planners were able to add get-ahead tasks to today’s scheduled activities. Once their original tasks are complete, Burbank and MacLean also will prepare the P3 for the mobile transporter, part of a movable base system for the Canadarm2 to move along rails on the truss structure. Depending on time available, they will remove a keel pin and drag link and stow them within the truss structure. They’ll also remove a Space Vision System target, rotate P1 and P3 mobile transporter and tether shuttle stops. They'll install a temporary rail stop for the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid cart. Meanwhile, inside the orbiting laboratory, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams will continue with station operations tasks as well as transfer activities and preparations for their upcoming departure. The two are scheduled to return to Earth aboard their Soyuz spacecraft Sept. 28. They will be replaced by Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, who are scheduled to launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan a little after 11 p.m. CDT Sept. 17. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany will remain on board the station and join the Expedition 14 crew.
- 2006 Sep 17 - STS-115 MCC Status Report #16
It's undocking day. The Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to begin moving away from the International Space Station at 7:50 a.m. CDT. Crew members will get a look at the results of their STS-115 mission, which resumed assembly of the station. They'll do a full fly-around, the first in four years, to photograph the station with its new truss segments and solar arrays. Before undocking, the STS-115 crew -- Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean -- will say farewell to Expedition 13 -- Commander Pavel Vinogradov, and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter -- about 5 a.m. before closing the hatches between the two vehicles. Then, with Ferguson at the controls, Atlantis will slowly move away from the station. The fly-around is scheduled to start at about 8:15 a.m. Atlantis is to leave the area a little after 9:30 a.m. Meanwhile, on the ground, preparations are under way for the launch of the next inhabitants of the station. The Expedition 14 crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, and spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari, are scheduled to launch in their Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:09 p.m. CDT. They are scheduled to dock with the orbital laboratory two days later. The shuttle and station crews woke at 11:15 p.m. to "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins, played for Ferguson. In his reply, Ferguson thanked soon-to-retire STS-115 lead guidance, navigation and control flight controller Charles Alford for his 40 years of NASA service. The shuttle pilot also thanked all those in Mission Control for helping to make spaceflight possible.
- 2006 Sep 17 - STS-115 MCC Status Report #17
The Space Shuttle Atlantis left a space station today markedly different than the one to which it docked less than a week ago. Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station at 7:50 a.m. CDT, completing six days, two hours and two minutes of joint operations with the station crew. As the shuttle departs, a new station crew is preparing to launch to the complex tonight from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Atlantis left the station with a new, second pair of 240-foot solar wings, attached to a new 17.5-ton section of truss with batteries, electronics and a giant rotating joint. The new solar arrays eventually will double the station's onboard power when their electrical systems are brought online during the next shuttle flight, planned for launch in December. Atlantis is now aiming for a 4:57 a.m. CDT Wednesday landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Meanwhile, the station's Expedition 14 crew -- Commander and NASA Science Officer Michael Lopez-Alegria, Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin and spaceflight participant Anoushheh Ansari -- are set to launch in their Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft from Baikonur at 11:09 p.m. CDT. Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will begin a six-month stay aboard the station when they dock to the complex on Wednesday. Ansari is visiting the station for eight days under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency. After undocking, Atlantis' crew -- Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean -- got a breath-taking view of the station as the shuttle circled the complex. During their stay at the station, the shuttle crew conducted three spacewalks in four days to prepare the new components for operation. As Atlantis performed a full fly-around of the station, the shuttle crew took photographs and video of the complex's new T-shaped solar array configuration. The station's truss now stretches 179 feet. In addition to the new truss section and its arrays, the astronauts transferred 800 pounds of hardware and 1,043 pounds of water to the station in exchange for 1,084 pounds of returning hardware. They also placed about 200 pounds of launch locks, restraints and other unneeded hardware on ISS Progress 21 for disposal. The shuttle astronauts spent five days, 21 hours and 57 minutes with hatches open to the station working with the station's Expedition 13 crew -- Commander Pavel Vinogradov, and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter. The hatches were shut for Atlantis' undoccking at 5:27 a.m. CDT. Vinogradov, Williams and Ansari will land in a Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan Sept. 29. Vinogradov and Williams have been in orbit since March. On Monday, the shuttle crew will use the ship’s robotic arm to grapple the boom sensor system once more to conduct a final inspection of the heat shielding on Atlantis’ wings and nose cap. The additional late inspecting ensures the areas still are in good shape for entry into the atmosphere and landing. Atlantis' crew begins their sleep period at 2:15 p.m. CDT and will awaken at 10:15 p.m. CDT.
- 2006 Sep 18 - Soyuz TMA-9 Crew: Tyurin, Lopez-Alegria, Ansari. Spacecraft: Soyuz TMA. Mass: 7,250 kg (15,980 lb). Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz. Duration: 215.35 days. Perigee: 330 km (200 mi). Apogee: 348 km (216 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.30 min.
Carried the Expedition 14 crew and space tourist Anousheh Ansari to the International Space Station. Ansari replaced tourist Daisuke Enomoto, who was removed from flight status by the Russians just 28 days before the flight. Docked at the Zvezda port of the station at 05:21 GMT on September 20. On 21 April 2007, Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and space tourist Charles Simonyi (who was taken to the station aboard Soyuz TMA-10) boarded Soyuz TMA-9, separated from the ISS, conducted retrofire, and landed in Kazakhstan at 12:31 GMT.
- 2006 Sep 18 - STS-115 MCC Status Report #18
The International Space Station is a busy place these days. Sunday saw the departure of the space shuttle visitors who had been working from the orbiting complex the past six days with a 7:50 a.m. CDT undocking of Atlantis. Hours later, three more explorers launched toward the station in a Soyuz spacecraft. Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin and spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari lifted off at 11:09 p.m. CDT Sunday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They are expected to arrive at the station early Wednesday. They will begin nearly nine days of handover activity as Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin prepare for their own six-month stay. Ansari, visiting the station as part of a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency, will return to Earth with Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams. European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter will remain onboard as part of Expedition 14. Traveling about 50 miles behind the station, the Atlantis crew -- Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean -- woke at 10:15 p.m. to “Rocky Mountain High.” It was played for Tanner. The crew will focus today on the final inspection of the shuttle’s reinforced-carbon-carbon surfaces on the wing leading edges and nose cap. Ferguson, Burbank and MacLean will use the shuttle’s robotic arm to get a final look at those areas, ensuring no critical damage may have occurred since their arrival in space. Aside from a few other minor tasks it will be a light-duty day. Atlantis is prepared for its landing Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- 2006 Sep 18 - STS-115 MCC Status Report #19
The crew of the International Space Station worked through an emergency procedure this morning after an oxygen generation unit apparently overheated. The overheating is believed to have melted a rubber seal, causing a small amount of smoke, a strong odor and possibly releasing a small amount of a chemical irritant. Aboard the station are Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency. At the time of the problem, Vinogradov was working with the Russian Elektron oxygen generator, a device that recycles wastewater on the station into oxygen for the cabin air. The Elektron had been shut off for nine days as planned during the joint operations by the station and the Space Shuttle Atlantis. At the request of Russian flight controllers, Vinogradov attempted to restart the unit at about 2 a.m. CDT. The Elektron operated only briefly before shutting down. Several subsequent attempts were made to restart the device in various modes. Just before 6 a.m. CDT, Vinogradov restarted the unit again after it had shut down. A few minutes later, as the station was out of communications with the ground, Vinogradov noted the Elektron overheating, light smoke and a bad odor. When the station moved into communications, at about 6:16 a.m. CDT, Mission Control asked the crew to manually initiate a fire alarm onboard to allow software to automatically shut down ventilation fans between the station modules. Flight controllers also checked for contaminants in the cabin air and found only low levels that posed no danger to the crew. However, the crew was asked to briefly don surgical masks, goggles and gloves to protect against possible irritation by a chemical used in the Elektron, potassium hydroxide, that may have leaked. Vinogradov reported that a small amount of clear liquid had leaked from an apparently damaged seal on the Elektron and cleaned it up, sealing it in airtight bags. Within an hour, the crew had powered back on all station ventilation equipment and had returned to working on normal activities. The incident will not affect plans to undock a Progress cargo craft from the station tonight and the docking of the next station crew with the complex, set for 12:24 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, Sept. 20. Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin and Spaceflight Participant Anousheh Ansari lifted off at 11:09 p.m. CDT Sunday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan bound for the station. Their Soyuz spacecraft is in excellent condition. Meanwhile, the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis -- Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean -- are continuing preparations for a return to Earth. The crew completed a late inspection of the heat shielding on the nose and wings of the shuttle today using a laser scanning system. They are scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center at 4:59 a.m. CDT Wednesday. They began a sleep period at 1:15 p.m. CDT and awaken at 9:15 p.m. CDT for what is planned to be their final full day in orbit.
- 2006 Sep 19 - STS-115 MCC Status Report #20
A space-age conference call linked three orbiting crews early Tuesday. Three people aboard the Soyuz TMA 9 talked with the six Atlantis astronauts and the three-man Expedition 13 crew aboard the International Space Station. The linkup was managed through Houston's Mission Control Center. The 12 people on the three very different space vehicles began their chat about 2 a.m. CDT. "It's a little crowded in the sky today," said Jeff Williams from the station. "We look forward to having you guys on board," he told the Soyuz crew. "We'll see you back on Earth sometime soon," Atlantis Commander Brent Jett told Expedition 13. The Expedition 13 crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Williams and Thomas Reiter, is awaiting the arrival of Expedition 14, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. With them is spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari. They are scheduled to dock with the station at 12:24 a.m. Wednesday. Atlantis' crew, Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean, is getting ready to come home, with a landing scheduled for Kennedy Space Center at 4:59 a.m. CDT Wednesday. They were awakened at 9:15 p.m. Monday with “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi” (Don’t Leave Without Me) for MacLean, performed by fellow Canadian Celine Dion. They checked out Atlantis' flight control surfaces and later tested reaction control system thrusters. Today they'll continue stowage activities and other preparations for their landing. The unpiloted Progress 21 cargo spacecraft with its load of station discards undocked from the orbiting laboratory at about 7:30 p.m. Monday. It re-entered the atmosphere and was incinerated over the Pacific Ocean about 11 p.m.
- 2006 Sep 19 - STS-115 MCC Status Report #21
Space Shuttle managers today decided to extend Atlantis' stay in space to allow for additional inspections of the spacecraft to be performed. The decision to pursue additional inspections was made this morning after video from cameras aboard the shuttle showed a piece of debris in close proximity to the vehicle. Also, the weather forecast for a landing on Wednesday had called for poor conditions, and Atlantis has plentiful supplies aboard to allow multiple landing attempts as late as Saturday. Atlantis is now aimed toward a landing on Thursday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Engineers are concerned the debris seen could be something that came loose from Atlantis. They will use the extra time to verify the shuttle is in good shape for the trip home. Atlantis' crew -- Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and mission specialists Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Steve MacLean -- will use the shuttle's robotic arm on Wednesday to inspect the spacecraft. The crew began a sleep period at 12:45 p.m. CDT today and will awaken at 8:45 p.m. CDT. Before going to sleep, the crew positioned the arm above the payload bay, and Mission Control has used its cameras to survey the top side of the shuttle. The cameras on the robotic arm will later be used by the crew to inspect areas on the underside of Atlantis. Atlantis' primary landing opportunity to Kennedy on Thursday begins with a deorbit engine firing at 4:14 am. CDT and culminates in a touchdown at 5:22 a.m. CDT. Meanwhile, the International Space Station's next crew, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Soyuz Commander and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are closing in on the complex. With them is Spaceflight Participant Anousheh Ansari, a U.S. businesswoman who will spend eight days on the station under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency. They will dock their Soyuz spacecraft to the station at 12:24 a.m. CDT Wednesday. Aboard the station, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut, will open hatches to greet their new arrivals at 3:10 a.m. CDT Wednesday. The station crew spent some additional time earlier today gathering data on the Elektron oxygen generating system's overheating malfunction. Russian engineers are continuing to evaluate the system's malfunction and future repairs. Repair work is not planned to be performed while the crew hands over operations of the complex to Expedition 14. Oxygen supplies on the station are plentiful, and the cabin air will be refreshed using oxygen canisters and tanks until the Elektron is repaired.
- 2006 Sep 20 - STS-115 MCC Status Report #22
The Space Shuttle Atlantis crew began another survey of the spacecraft's heat shield late Tuesday after mission managers decided the orbiter would spend another day in space. That decision was made after cameras detected a piece of debris near the shuttle early Tuesday. The survey is to make sure Atlantis is ready for re-entry and its landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Florida weather also was questionable for a Wednesday landing. The crew woke up at 8:45 p.m. CDT Tuesday to “Beautiful Day” by U2, played for Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper. After some routine personal time, they began the survey at about 11:30 p.m. Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean are using the shuttle's robotic arm and its cameras to get a full look at Atlantis' thermal protection system. The task could take up to five hours. Specialists on the ground will review the imagery as it is available and determine if a more detailed survey using the 50-foot orbiter boom sensor system (OBSS) is warranted. The OBSS survey, if needed, would take another three hours. Atlantis Commander Brent Jett and Mission Specialists Joe Tanner and Piper will help as needed with the survey and continue with other tasks including waste and water dump, exercise, downlink of imagery and stowage of the Payload General Support Computer. Atlantis' next landing opportunity is Thursday with a deorbit engine firing at 4:14 a.m. CDT and touchdown at 5:22 a.m. Atlantis has enough supplies to stay in orbit until Saturday. Early Wednesday International Space Station Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, and spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari arrived at the orbiting laboratory. Their Soyuz docked at 12:21 a.m. The hatch opening and welcoming ceremony with the Expedition 13 crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter, is scheduled for 3:30 a.m.
- 2006 Sep 20 - STS-115 MCC Status Report #23
Managers today cleared the Space Shuttle Atlantis for a return to Earth on Thursday following a day of inspections of the spacecraft's exterior. Atlantis is now aimed toward a landing that will begin with a deorbit engine firing at 4:14 a.m. CDT and culminate in a touchdown at 5:21 a.m. CDT at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The astronauts would close the shuttle's payload bay doors in preparation for the landing at about 1:44 a.m. CDT. A backup opportunity for landing would begin with a deorbit engine firing by the shuttle at 5:51 a.m. CDT leading to a touchdown at 6:57 a.m. CDT. The weather is forecast to be acceptable for landing at Kennedy, with few clouds and light winds. The astronauts performed televised inspections early this morning of the shuttle's heat shield, nose, tail, payload bay, wings and other areas using the robotic arm and a boom extension. Engineers found no issues of concern during the survey. A shim and a spacer piece that had been protruding from thermal tiles on Atlantis earlier in the mission were found to be missing during the inspection. But it is not known whether one of them was the item seen floating near Atlantis in video on Tuesday. Atlantis' astronauts began a sleep period at 12:45 p.m. CDT. They will awaken at 8:45 p.m. CDT. The new International Space Station Expedition 14 crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Soyuz Commander and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, along with spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari, docked to the complex at 12:21 a.m. CDT. They opened hatches at 3:34 a.m. CDT and were greeted by Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter.
- 2006 Sep 23 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-041
A handover continues aboard the International Space Station, with the 13th crew ending six months aboard and the 14th crew starting six months in orbit. Joint crew operations continue through next week, until Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams, and Spaceflight Participant Anousheh Ansari undock and land their Soyuz spacecraft on Thursday, Sept. 28. The new crew, Expedition 14 Commander and NASA Science Officer Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, docked to the complex with Ansari on Wednesday. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, who arrived at the station aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in July and has served as flight engineer for Expedition 13, will remain on the station and join Expedition 14. Ansari is a U.S. businesswoman spending eight days on the station under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency. During the weekend, Vinogradov and Tyurin may work with the Elektron oxygen-generating system to install a new liquids unit, a component that overheated early this week. Several crew events will be broadcast live on NASA TV next week. On Monday, Sept. 25, at 5:40 a.m. EDT, all crew members will participate in a news conference with Russian media. At 12:17 p.m. EDT Monday, Williams and Lopez-Alegria will be interviewed by CBS News and AP TV. On Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 12:04 p.m. EDT, Williams and Lopez-Alegria will be interviewed by CNN Espanol and the Houston Chronicle. On Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 12:28 p.m. EDT the crews will hold a station change of command ceremony. The hatches between the station and the departing Soyuz will be closed about 2:45 p.m. EDT. The Soyuz will fire its engines at 8:20 pm. EDT to begin its descent. Landing is at 9:10 p.m. EDT in Kazakhstan.
- 2006 Sep 28 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-042
After six months aboard the International Space Station that included arrival of two space shuttle missions, resumption of construction of the orbiting laboratory and the restoration of a three-member crew, Expedition 13 landed at 9:13 p.m. EDT in the steppes of Kazakhstan. Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA station science officer Jeff Williams landed in their Soyuz TMA 8 spacecraft about 50 miles northeast of Arkalyk. Russian recovery forces and NASA officials arrived at the site shortly after the spacecraft touched down. The Soyuz undocked from the space station at 5:53 p.m. EDT. The crew will spend several weeks in Star City, near Moscow, for debriefing and medical examinations. With Williams and Vinogradov was Spaceflight Participant Anousheh Ansari, who flew to the station with the Expedition 14 crew and spent eight days there. The American businesswoman went to the station under a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency. During their mission, which launched March 29, Vinogradov and Williams were joined by Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut from Germany. He became the first non-Russian, non-U.S. long-duration station crew member. He will remain aboard as part of the Expedition 14 crew until December when he returns to Earth on the next space shuttle flight. Two successful spacewalks were conducted during Expedition 13. The first was by Vinogradov and Williams in Russian spacesuits and the second by Williams and Reiter in U.S. spacesuits. Vinogradov and Williams welcomed Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts and Reiter during the STS-121 mission to the station in July. In September Space Shuttle Atlantis' crew on the STS-115 mission brought and installed the station's integrated P3/P4 truss segments. Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, Mikhail Tyurin and Reiter, now are on their own aboard the station after a week of handover, maintenance and some science activities. Vinogradov and Tyurin replaced a major component of the Elektron oxygen-producing device, which malfunctioned shortly after Atlantis departed. The device was activated Sept. 16 and functioned for about three hours before shutting itself off. Further troubleshooting is planned.
- 2006 Oct 6 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-043
Expedition 14 completed its first full week solo on the International Space Station performing standard early mission checks, drills and some equipment troubleshooting. Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin have been aboard the station for 19 days, while Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency is in his third month in orbit. Along with other work, the crew members prepared for a short trip away from the station next week, when they will fly the Soyuz spacecraft from one docking port to another. Early in the week, the crew conducted a check of procedures required to exit the station in an emergency, ensuring all necessary equipment is in place. Throughout the week, time was set aside for Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin to familiarize themselves with the station and operations. They started several new scientific activities and medical checks. Lopez-Alegria began his first session with the nutrition experiment. He collected blood and urine samples and began logging all of his consumed food and drink. The experiment, which tracks many vitamins and minerals essential for good health, is the most comprehensive in-flight study to date of human physiological changes during long-duration spaceflight. The information will help define nutritional requirements and food systems for future missions to the moon and Mars. Lopez-Alegria also supported the Passive Observatories for Experimental Microbial Systems in Micro-G (POEMS) experiment, by storing the next set of samples into the Minus-Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI). MELFI is a cold storage unit that maintains experiment samples at temperatures of minus 80 degrees Celsius, minus 26 degrees Celsius or 4 degrees Celsius throughout a mission. POEMS will evaluate the effect of stress in the space environment on the generation of genetic variation in model microbial cells. On Friday, all crew members performed a normal periodic fitness evaluation, exercising on a stationary bicycle, measuring heart rates and blood pressure. One new scientific investigation began with Reiter as part of his evaluation. An oxygen uptake monitor provided by the European Space Agency was used to measure Reiter's oxygen consumption, a key parameter that can be used to measure fitness. The fitness evaluations are performed monthly. Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin also checked emergency medical equipment and supplies, a check done early in each crew's flight. Tyurin spent time mid-week continuing to troubleshoot the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system. The system converts water into oxygen to replenish cabin air. It has not been functional since it overheated just before Expedition 14 arrived. The crew replaced components in an Elektron control panel this week, but problems persisted. Russian engineers are evaluating the system and further repairs may wait until the next supply ship arrives with additional parts. The next Progress cargo craft launches later this month. Plentiful oxygen supplies are available on the station. Oxygen is being replenished from tanks located on the Quest airlock. U.S. flight controllers are evaluating a vibration seen in one of the station's Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) this week. The electrically powered CMGs maintain the station's orientation so thrusters and limited fuel are not used for that purpose. The vibrations were first observed Sept. 28 as a station maneuver was performed using thrusters. The gyroscope, CMG-3, was taken off line to allow additional testing. Since then, controllers have run various tests with CMG-3 to better characterize the intermittent vibrations. Engineers have determined it could be put back on line and into normal operation, if needed. Only three CMGs are necessary to properly maintain the station's orientation. The station crew members will board the Soyuz spacecraft docked at the rear of the Zvezda living quarters module on Tuesday to prepare for the short move. With Soyuz Commander Tyurin at the controls, they will undock from the Zvezda port at 3:14 p.m. and re-dock to the Earth-facing Zarya module port at 3:39 p.m. EDT. NASA's payload operations team at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., coordinates U.S. science activities on the station.
- 2006 Oct 13 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-044
The International Space Station's Expedition 14 crew went for a short ride this week, performed maintenance and experiments aboard the growing outpost and celebrated one crew member's 100th day in space. Station Commander and NASA Science Officer Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter boarded their Soyuz spacecraft and flew it from one docking port to another. The relocation was a routine procedure conducted ahead of the launch and arrival of the next Progress supply ship, scheduled for later this month. With Tyurin at the controls on Tuesday, the Soyuz undocked from the aft position of the Zvezda module at 3:14 p.m. EDT and docked to the Zarya control module's Earth-facing docking port at 3:34 p.m. EDT. The 23rd Progress vehicle will launch Oct. 23 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will dock to the vacated Zvezda port three days later, delivering supplies to the crew. More than three weeks into a six-month stay, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin are settling in to the routine of life in microgravity. They joined Reiter in celebrating his 100th day in space since his launch aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery July 4. Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut, will return home aboard Discovery in December during the STS-116 mission. Discovery will bring NASA astronaut Suni Williams as Reiter's replacement to the station during that flight. Oxygen is being supplied in the station cabin by tanks on the outside of the U.S. Quest Airlock while an onboard Russian oxygen-generation system, called the Elektron, is not working. Additional parts to repair the Elektron are expected to be among the supplies arriving late this month on Progress. The station's orientation is being managed by three of the four electrically driven Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs). One gyroscope, designated CMG 3, was shut down after exhibiting intermittently high vibrations early Monday. Three gyros are sufficient to orient the station, and there has been no impact to the safety or operation of the station due to the shut down of CMG 3. Flight controllers are evaluating plans for CMG 3 and any changes that might be needed to assembly operations during the December mission of Space Shuttle Discovery. During that mission alternating systems on the station will be powered off as the complex is rewired to bring online new supplies of electricity from the recently added solar arrays. Steering jets could be used to control the station's orientation if needed as gyroscopes are powered down during those procedures. This week the crew also performed routine medical checks and took water samples while loading the docked Progress vehicle with unneeded items. Lopez-Alegria swapped a water separator in the Quest Airlock's Common Cabin Air Assembly to ensure a filter doesn't become clogged. The maintenance procedure was previously performed by the Expedition 5 crew.
- 2006 Oct 20 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-045
The three residents of the International Space Station spent a busy week with varied science and technical tasks as they began their second month in orbit. Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin practiced using the manual docking system for the Russian Progress cargo ship. They rehearsed rendezvous; fly around maneuvers and approach and docking with an on-board simulator. During the training, technicians at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan completed preparations for the launch of a Progress cargo craft on Monday, Oct. 23 at 9:40 a.m. EDT. It is scheduled to dock to the complex Thursday, Oct. 26 at 10:28 a.m. EDT. The Progress is filled with more than two tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station and its crew. Also aboard are new spare parts for the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system, which has been shut down since last month. Earlier Friday, Lopez-Alegria replaced equipment in the Carbon Dioxide Removal System, used to remove impurities from the station's atmosphere. Only one of its two systems designed to purge carbon dioxide from the air has been operating due to particulate matter clogging an air valve. Lopez-Alegria installed a new air flow regulator valve and a filter to recover the use of the second of two adsorbent beds in the device. He also joined Tyurin to inspect and photograph the Zvezda Service Module windows and conducted a video tour of the station for training of future expedition crews. Lopez-Alegria, who also serves as the NASA science officer, collected his second set of blood and urine samples for the Nutrition Experiment. This is NASA's most comprehensive in-flight study of human physiological changes during long-duration spaceflight. The experiment measures bone metabolism, oxidative damage, nutritional assessments and hormonal changes. It also will help to define nutritional requirements and develop food systems for missions to the moon and Mars. Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin also completed a medical officer proficiency training session. European Space Agency Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter began the first of three runs of the Analysis of a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism experiment in the European Modular Cultivation System. Seeds will sprout next week in the modular cultivation facility, where plants and other small organisms can grow in variable gravity conditions using a centrifuge. By sprouting seeds under different levels of partial gravity and different frequencies of light, this study will increase the understanding of the different systems plants use to determine what direction their roots and shoots should grow and which genes are responsible for successful plant growth. NASA's payload operations team at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., coordinates U.S. science activities on the station. Other science work this week included sessions of the Profilaktika and Urolux Russian experiments. The station remains under the control of three gyroscopes after one was shut down more than a week ago. On Monday, flight controllers conducted a test of Control Moment Gyro (CMG) 3, which was turned off due to excessive vibrations. Monday's test, looking at the health of the accelerometer, spun the CMG up to 500 rpm and then let it coast down to zero while acceleration data were taken with the Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System to correlate and compare with data from the internal CMG accelerometer. An initial review indicated no unusual vibrations, but engineers continue to analyze the results. On Monday, flight controllers will begin a five-day checkout of the Thermal Radiator Rotary Joints (TRRJ) on the S1 and P1 trusses that will rotate once the station's upgraded external thermal loops are activated during the STS-116 mission. The TRRJ test will enable the radiators to auto track or revolve when required to dissipate heat from the trusses' avionics equipment.
- 2006 Oct 24 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-046
A shipment of supplies began its journey to the International Space Station Monday as the ISS Progress 23 cargo ship was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The new resupply ship lifted off at 9:41 a.m. EDT (7:41 p.m. Baikonur time). It will be the 23rd Progress to visit the station. Less than 10 minutes later, the cargo ship reached orbit, and its solar arrays and navigational antennas were deployed for the three-day trip to the orbital outpost. Two pre-programmed firings of the Progress' main engine are scheduled Friday to fine-tune the ship's path to the space station. Additional rendezvous maneuvers are planned over the next three days. Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter were flying 220 miles over southern Russia, north of the Mongolian border, when the Progress was launched. Carrying almost 2.5 tons of food, water, fuel, oxygen, air, spare parts and other supplies, the Progress is scheduled to automatically dock to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 10:28 a.m. EDT Thursday. The ISS Progress 22 craft that arrived in June remains docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment. That Progress will be used to stow trash and supply oxygen to replenish the station's atmosphere when required. The spacecraft won't be discarded until mid-January.
- 2006 Oct 27 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-047
New supplies arrived at the International Space Station Thursday as an unpiloted Russian cargo spacecraft docked to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. With almost 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station's Expedition 14 crew, the ISS Progress 23 automatically docked to Zvezda at 10:29 a.m. EDT as the spacecraft and the station flew 220 miles above Italy. The 23rd Progress to visit the station was launched Monday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Following the initial docking, the final latching of the Progress craft to the station was delayed by about three and a half hours as Russian flight controllers evaluated potential interference by an antenna on the spacecraft. At the time of docking, flight controllers could not confirm that the antenna used by the Progress' Kurs automated docking system had retracted as commanded. If the antenna had remained extended, it could have interfered with the final latching of the supply ship to the station. After reviewing data, Mission Control Moscow commanded the Progress' docking probe to slowly retract, pulling the ship firmly into the port and aligning the hooks and latches that hold it secure. Latches for the craft on the station were secured at about 2 p.m. EDT. Flight controllers will command additional latches on the Progress to close Friday. This allows the operation to be completed in a normal manner over Russian communications sites. During the hours between initial docking and final latching, the station's orientation was allowed to drift to avoid any disturbance of the softly docked cargo ship. The station's drift resulted in lower power generation by the solar arrays. The crew then powered off several pieces of non-critical equipment as outlined in a standard procedure that reduces power consumption. Soon after the latches were closed, however, the station's attitude control was restored and power generation was returned to normal. Due to the long operations Thursday, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter will open the hatch to the supply ship on Friday. Supplies on the Progress include food, fuel, oxygen and air, clothing, experiment hardware and spare parts, as well as personal items from the crew's families. The new Progress joins an older Progress supply ship that arrived at the station's Pirs Docking Compartment in June. Progress 22 will remain docked until mid-January. It will be used to stow trash, and its supply of oxygen will help replenish the station's atmosphere when required. ISS Progress 23 holds 1,918 pounds of propellant for the Russian thrusters, 110 pounds of oxygen and almost 2,800 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and life support components, including parts for the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system. The system has been inoperable since last month, and Tyurin is expected to resume repairs on the unit next week. Engineers continue to review data from the station's S-band communications system, which experienced dropouts late last week in the transmission link of one of two redundant channels used for voice and commanding capability. After collecting data last weekend from "string 1" of the S-band system, its transmitter was reactivated Wednesday, but the communications problem occurred once again. "String 2" of the system is being used for voice and commanding with no impact to station activities. Flight controllers are analyzing the problem to determine if any procedural adjustments must be made for the upcoming flight of Discovery to the station on the STS-116 mission. In other activities, the crew conducted sound level measurements in the station's modules and installed cables in the Russian segment of the station. They performed regular station maintenance and took time to chat with a reporter from the Orange County Register in California on Tuesday. Reiter continued his work with European plant growth experiments while throughout the week Lopez-Alegria did log entries for a sleep experiment. In two weeks, the crew will begin preparations for a spacewalk Nov. 22 by Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria in Russian Orlan suits from the Pirs Docking Compartment to replace and retrieve several science experiments from the hull of the Zvezda Service Module. Tyurin also plans to hit a golf ball from a bracket on Pirs as part of a Russian commercial activity.
- 2006 Nov 3 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-048
Repair of an oxygen generator, robotic arm operations and cargo unpacking were the top priorities aboard the International Space Station this week. On Monday, Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin installed new valves and cables to repair the Elektron oxygen-generation unit which shut down in mid-September. Tyurin re-activated it after installing the new parts, and the Elektron is supplying oxygen for the cabin atmosphere. The crew unpacked most of the items from the recently arrived Russian Progress cargo ship including the Elektron parts, fresh food and other systems hardware. The rest will be unpacked as needed and as time permits. Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria worked on robotics proficiency tasks throughout the week. At the start of the week, ground controllers relocated the Mobile Transporter to a different worksite on the station's truss. On Wednesday, Lopez-Alegria maneuvered the Canadarm2 robotic arm over to the transporter and its operating base from the arm's normal home base on the Destiny Lab. The free end of the arm was photographed to help robotics specialists as they evaluate an issue that can cause snares to misalign inside the arm's end effector. On Thursday, Lopez-Alegria connected the free end of the arm to another grapple fixture on the Mobile Base System and released the opposite end. Friday, the Mobile Transporter was moved by ground controllers to the outermost worksite on the port truss. It will provide support there for the Canadarm2 operations during the next shuttle assembly mission, STS-116. Next week Lopez-Alegria will check out the robotic system for the shuttle flight, which will bring and install a new truss spacer segment to the station. Lopez-Alegria set up and activated cameras for a session of the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students, or EarthKAM experiment. The middle school students study the Earth, then control a special digital camera mounted on the space station to photograph coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic items from the unique vantage point of space. At the University of California at San Diego, an undergraduate student team manages the image requests and posts the photographs on the Internet for the public and participating classrooms around the world to view. More than 107 schools from 10 countries participated in this session. The second sample of seeds for the Analysis of a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism was harvested and frozen in the Minus-Eighty Laboratory Freezer, a cold storage unit that maintains experiment samples at temperatures of -80 C, -26 C, or 4 C throughout a mission. Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter worked with the experiment, which will increase the understanding of the different systems plants use to determine the direction their roots and shoots should grow and which genes are responsible for successful plant growth. Reiter also continued work on a suite of European Space Agency science experiments. One such experiment, called CARD, is helping scientists examine the relationship between salt intake and the cardiovascular system when exposed to the microgravity environment. Crewmembers typically experience reduced blood pressure in microgravity. To help them readjust to gravity on Earth, they take salt tablets just before returning, which temporarily increases the blood volume. CARD is looking at the effects of ingesting occasional salt supplements throughout the long duration mission. This experiment's results could also help improve treatment of patients on Earth with heart failure. The crew began gathering tools for a Nov. 22 spacewalk by Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria in Russian Orlan suits from the Pirs Docking Compartment. They will replace and retrieve several science experiments from the hull of the Zvezda Service Module. Tyurin also plans to hit a golf ball from a bracket on Pirs as part of a Russian commercial activity.
- 2006 Nov 10 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-049
The International Space Station crewmembers spent this week getting ready for an upcoming spacewalk, performing scientific research and voting in the U.S. elections back on Earth. Throughout the week the crew prepared the Pirs docking compartment for the Nov. 22 spacewalk by Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. The astronauts gathered tools and equipment they will use on the nearly six-hour spacewalk. Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin next week will prepare the Russian Orlan spacesuits they will wear for the excursion. During the spacewalk they will relocate a communications antenna, install new experiment hardware and photograph a Kurs rendezvous system antenna on the Progress supply ship that docked last month to the Zvezda module's aft docking port. Tyurin also will conduct a Russian commercial demonstration by hitting a golf ball teed up on the exterior of Pirs. A top priority for Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter this week was packing material destined to return to Earth on the Space Shuttle Discovery in December. Lopez-Alegria completed a routine checkout of the Mobile Servicing System that moves the station's robotic arm up and down the truss, in support of that shuttle assembly flight. On mission STS-116, targeted to launch Dec. 7, the shuttle crew will deliver another component of the station's girder-like truss structure and perform spacewalks to rewire the station's electrical system. The shuttle crew includes astronaut Suni Williams, who will relieve Reiter on board. Reiter will have spent six months on the complex. Lopez-Alegria, the NASA International Space Station Science Officer for Expedition 14, collected his third set of blood and urine samples for the Nutritional Status Assessment experiment. This experiment measures physiological indicators of the changes in the human body during spaceflight. The samples are stored in the Minus-Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer aboard the station. Once returned to Earth the blood and urine samples will be analyzed to understand a wide variety of bodily systems, including hormonal changes and how they relate to stress, bone and muscle metabolism. Scientists will also look at markers to measure bone metabolism, oxidative damage, and vitamin and mineral status. These findings are expected to give researchers a better understanding of what happens to crewmembers in space and when it happens. It also will help to define nutritional requirements and develop food systems for future missions to the moon and Mars. Working hundreds of miles away from home didn't stop Lopez-Alegria from participating in this week's general election. Texas law permits residents who happen to be in orbit on Election Day to cast a ballot from space. This was first done by David Wolf from the Mir space station in 1997. Lopez-Alegria made his choices on an encrypted computer ballot that was downlinked to Mission Control and forwarded to the county clerk's office in Houston for tabulation.
- 2006 Nov 17 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-050
Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter continue to prepare for a spacewalk Wednesday, Nov. 22, out of the International Space Station's Russian Pirs Docking Compartment airlock. Lopez-Alegria, who will make his sixth spacewalk, and Tyurin, with three previous spacewalks to his credit, climbed into Russian Orlan spacesuits Friday to test all systems and communications gear. This ended a week during which the spacewalkers also installed U.S. lights on their suit helmets, reviewed procedures for the extravehicular activity and performed leak checks on the Progress 22 craft currently docked to the Pirs airlock.
The six-hour spacewalk includes a commercial golf demonstration by Tyurin. Under a commercial agreement between the Russian Federal Space Agency and a Canadian golf company, Tyurin will hit a golf ball into space from a spring-mounted tee on the ladder next to the hatch of Pirs. The ball will be tapped over the back of the station's Russian segment so that the ball travels away from the complex. NASA flight controllers have calculated that it will burn up in the atmosphere in about three days. The ball weighs much less than the standard 45 gram golf ball. The ball used for this demonstration weighs three grams, approximately the weight of three paper clips.
During the spacewalk, Tyurin will examine part of the ISS Progress 23 cargo ship. One of the antennas for the Progress' automated docking system may have failed to fold back when the spacecraft approached the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module on Oct. 26. If it's necessary, Tyurin will manually retract that antenna.
Also, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will reposition a communications antenna on the aft end of Zvezda associated with next year's docking of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, check restraining bolts on one of two Russian cargo cranes attached to Pirs and deploy an experiment to measure solar flares.
Wednesday marked the first live high-definition television broadcast from space. It featured Lopez-Alegria, with Reiter serving as camera operator. The broadcasts were conducted by NHK Television in Japan and the Discovery HD Theater. Known as the Space Video Gateway, the HD system onboard transmits high bandwidth digital television signals to the ground through a computer. Previously, high-definition video was recorded and then returned to Earth for viewing.
Flight controllers this week continued to test one of the station's four control moment gyroscopes (CMGs). CMG-3 exhibited high vibrations and electrical currents in the past and was shut down Oct. 9. The recent test results will be compared to a previous series of tests to provide additional data on the state of the gyroscope's accelerometer, lubricant and lubrication of the spin bearings.
CMG-3 is scheduled to be removed and replaced on the STS-118 shuttle mission, targeted for launch in June 2007. The gyroscope will be stowed and returned to Earth on the STS-122 mission next fall. The station continues to function on three healthy CMGs without affecting operations.
Reiter also continued work this week on a suite of European Space Agency science experiments, including one called CASPER. Its objective is to develop ways to help astronauts sleep better during long-duration missions. Alteino Long Term Monitoring of Cosmic Rays or ALTCRISS is another experiment Reiter performed. It is allowing scientists to study the effects of shielding on cosmic rays. The information gained may help engineers better understand the radiation environment and how to provide efficient shielding against it.
- 2006 Nov 23 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-051
Two residents of the International Space Station ventured outside the complex Wednesday for a 5 hour, 38 minute spacewalk to reposition, deploy and relocate equipment, and to take a swing at a commercially sponsored activity. With Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter inside to monitor systems, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin opened the hatch to the Pirs Docking Compartment airlock at 6:17 p.m. CST as the station flew over the Atlantic Ocean near the west coast of Africa. They wore Russian Orlan spacesuits for the 19th spacewalk conducted out of Pirs since it was mated to the Russian segment of the station in September 2001 during Tyurin's first flight as part of Expedition 3.
The start of the spacewalk was delayed more than an hour after Tyurin encountered a problem with a cooling hose for his spacesuit. He climbed out the suit to reposition the hose, and uninterrupted cooling for the suit was restored.
After setting up tools and equipment outside Pirs, Tyurin placed a three-gram golf ball on a spring-mounted tee and clamped it onto the ladder next to the Pirs hatch. Appearing uncomfortable with his feet planted on the ladder, Tyurin used a gold-plated six-iron to tap the golf ball safely away from the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module. Tyurin said he was pleased with his golf shot, and Russian flight controllers chose not to have him hit another ball so the crew could tackle other tasks.
Tyurin's golf shot was part of a demonstration for a commercially sponsored endeavor between a Canadian golf company and the Russian Federal Space Agency. The golf club and three balls were flown to the station on recent Russian Progress cargo ships. NASA's safety analysis showed that the balls will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up in about three days. The balls weigh only about as much as three one-dollar bills.
The two spacewalkers then moved to the end of Zvezda where the recently arrived ISS Progress 23 cargo ship is docked. Tyurin released a latch on one of the antennas for the craft's Kurs automated rendezvous system that failed to retract when the Progress docked on Oct. 26. Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria attempted to move the so-called "orientation" antenna back to its retracted and stowed position with their hands and with a prybar, but the antenna would not budge. Russian flight controllers also sent commands to drive the antenna to its retracted position, but that also failed.
The spacewalkers took a number of pictures to send to Russian engineers, who will evaluate options for freeing the stuck antenna on a future spacewalk. The engineers surmise something may be frozen in the linkage for the antenna's drive mechanism, preventing it from moving.
While at the aft of Zvezda, Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria spent a few minutes removing and repositioning one of several communications antennas previously installed around the module's docking port. This will assist the docking of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle that will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana next year.
In its previous location, the antenna partially blocked the opening of one of Zvezda's engine covers. The antenna was reinstalled less than a foot from its original position, out of the way of future operations with the engine.
Next, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin moved to the top of the forward section of Zvezda to install an experiment called "BTN-Neutron" that will measure the volume of neutron particles emitted by solar flares that reach low Earth orbit. The crew wrapped up its work by jettisoning a pair of thermal covers for the experiment that will be tracked by flight controllers to ensure they pose no possibility of hitting the station or the shuttle Discovery that is scheduled for an assembly mission to the station in a few weeks.
It was the 73rd spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance totaling 444 hours and 14 minutes of time outside the outpost and the first of four scheduled during Expedition 14. The spacewalk was the sixth in Lopez-Alegria's career and the fourth for Tyurin.
- 2006 Dec 1 - International Space Station Status Report: SS06-052
The International Space Station crew have been preparing for the planned arrival next week of the Space Shuttle Discovery on a complex mission to rewire the station's electrical system. Shuttle Discovery is due to launch at 8:35 p.m. CST Thursday, Dec. 7 on mission STS-116. In addition to work that will bring power online at the station from solar arrays delivered to the complex in September, Discovery also will bring a new crew member to the outpost.
Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter reviewed the STS-116 mission plans this week. They prepared the station's Quest airlock, spacesuits and tools for three spacewalk planned for the shuttle mission. The crew packed equipment that will return to Earth aboard the shuttle, including Reiter's personal items since he will get a ride home aboard Discovery. STS-116 astronaut Sunita Williams will replace him as an Expedition 14 flight engineer.
Flight controllers worked on two problems aboard the station this week, neither of which is expected to affect Discovery's launch or mission.
An attempted reboost of the space station's altitude was cut short Wednesday. Russian flight controllers suspect that sensitive software detected a slight shift in the orientation of the station as the thrusters were fired. The change in orientation is believed to be normal, but it is new for the station due to the changes in its mass and balance resulting from the addition of the new solar arrays and truss segment in September.
The Progress cargo craft's thrusters fired for 3 minutes, 16 seconds before automatically shutting off. They had planned to fire for 18 minutes, 22 seconds. Russian controllers plan to complete the reboost Monday with a 21-minute firing of the Progress thrusters and a software adjustment. The reboost next Monday, planned for around 3:35 p.m. CST, will optimize Discovery's rendezvous with the station.
Flight controllers are analyzing a problem that occurred during testing of a new software package used to detect and solve problems with the station's giant Solar Alpha Rotary Joint. The joint is used to rotate the new solar arrays, allowing them to track the sun. The new software is designed to automatically realign the teeth of the joint's gears should they become misaligned, rather than requiring controllers to send commands for the realignment.
However, while running through a test of the software on Tuesday, a remote power controller, or station circuit breaker, opened. The circuit breaker was successfully reset on Thursday. Extensive analysis and troubleshooting appears to indicate there is no problem with any equipment aboard the station. Work continues, however, to refine the new software.
- 2006 Dec 9 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 01
The Space Shuttle Discovery rocketed into a dark Florida sky at 7:47 p.m. CST today, the third shuttle launch in five months, but the first night launch in more than four years. Discovery's seven-member crew will link up with the International Space Station on Monday to begin a complex, week-long stay that will rewire the outpost and increase its power supply. During three spacewalks and intricate choreography with ground controllers, the astronauts will bring electrical power on line generated by a giant solar array wing delivered to the station in September.
Aboard Discovery are Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and mission specialists Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Bob Curbeam, Sunita Williams and Christer Fuglesang, a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut. Aboard the station awaiting Discovery's arrival are Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter, also an ESA astronaut.
Williams and Reiter will switch places when Discovery arrives. Williams will begin a six-month stay as a station crew member and Reiter will journey home on Discovery. Reiter has been on the station since July.
After reaching orbit tonight, Discovery's crew began procedures to open the shuttle’s payload bay doors and set up computers and other equipment. They also plan to power up the shuttle's robotic arm to check its operation. They will use the arm on Sunday to inspect Discovery's heat shield. On Monday, Discovery is planned to dock to the station at about 3:47 p.m. CST.
During the mission, Fuglesang and Curbeam will conduct two spacewalks. Williams and Curbeam will perform a third spacewalk. The mission will retract one solar array on the station and begin the rotation of a giant joint on the complex to allow the recently added arrays to track the sun. The astronauts will rearrange the power cabling to a more resilient permanent setup, and they will prepare for the startup of new cooling systems.
Mission Control will power down virtually the entire station at one point or another to prepare it for the crew's work. The results will ready the complex for more solar arrays and laboratories to be added next year.
As Discovery launched, the station was 220 miles above southern England near Southampton. Discovery's crew begins a sleep period at 1:47 a.m. CST Sunday and will awaken for their first full day in space at 9:47 a.m. CST Sunday.
- 2006 Dec 10 - STS-116 Crew: Polansky, Oefelein, Curbeam, Patrick, Fuglesang, Higginbotham, Williams. Spacecraft: Discovery. Payload: Discovery F32 / P5. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Duration: 12.86 days. Perigee: 326 km (202 mi). Apogee: 358 km (222 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.40 min.
The mission used solid rocket booster pair RSRM-95 and external tank ET-123. At SSME burnout Discovery was in a 58 km x 220 km x 51.6 deg preliminary burn. The OMS-2 burn at 02:25 GMT placed the shuttle in a stable 225 x 250 km orbit from which rendezvous maneuvers began. Discovery docked
with the ISS at 22:12 GMT on December 11. In the most demanding ISS assembly mission ever, the crew would require an additional spacewalk to complete installation of the P5 truss, retraction of the recalcitrant port P6 solar array wing, and activation of the truss electrical and cooling system. Sunita Williams rode the shuttle to the station, and remained behind with the EO-14 crew; ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, already aboard the station, was returned to earth. Due to weather problems a landing at White Sands was considered; but in the end Discovery landed safely at Kennedy Space Center, after which it was to enter a year-long overhaul cycle.
- 2006 Dec 10 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 02
The Space Shuttle Discovery crew, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Bob Curbeam, Sunita Williams and Christer Fuglesang, are beginning a busy first full day in space. The astronauts will use the shuttle’s robotic arm to unberth the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) for a detailed examination of Discovery’s thermal protection system. Once the reinforced carbon-carbon on the wings’ leading edges and Discovery’s nose have been inspected, they will stow the boom and use the robotic arm to inspect Discovery’s crew cabin and orbital maneuvering system pods on either side of the tail.
In preparation for docking, the astronauts will install a centerline camera and extend the outer ring of the Orbiter Docking System. They also will check out rendezvous tools. Docking is scheduled for a little after 4 p.m. Monday. After hatch opening and welcome, Williams will become a member of the station’s Expedition 14 crew and stay for the first half of Expedition 15. Thomas Reiter, who joined Expedition 13 at its midway point and stayed for the first part of Expedition 14, will come home aboard Discovery.
Discovery’s astronauts also will check out the spacesuits to be used on three spacewalks outside the International Space Station. Curbeam and Fuglesang will do the first two spacewalks, and Williams will join Curbeam for the third. The primary goal of the first spacewalk is to install the P5 segment of the station’s main truss. The two subsequent spacewalks will focus on rewiring of the station’s electrical system, switching it from a temporary configuration to its permanent power grid.
Discovery’s crew was awakened at 9:48 a.m. Sunday with "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles, played for Polansky. The station crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Reiter, got their regular wakeup tone at 9:20 a.m.
- 2006 Dec 10 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 03
The Space Shuttle Discovery crew spent much of its first full day in space using the shuttle’s robotic arm and an extension boom-mounted sensor system to inspect heat shielding on Discovery's wing leading edges and nose. The data will be analyzed by engineers to ensure the spacecraft's heat shield is in good condition.
Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Bob Curbeam, Sunita Williams and Christer Fuglesang also prepared for the planned 4:06 p.m. CST Monday docking with the International Space Station. The crew checked rendezvous tools, installed a centerline camera in Discovery’s docking system window and extended the docking system's outer ring.
While the robotic arm survey proceeded, Curbeam and Fuglesang checked the spacesuits that will be used for spacewalks on the fourth, sixth and eighth days of the mission. Curbeam and Fuglesang will install the fifth port segment (P5) of the station’s main truss during the first spacewalk. The two subsequent spacewalks will focus on rewiring the station’s electrical system, switching it to its permanent power configuration.
During Monday's final approach to the station, Polansky will guide Discovery in a backflip to allow the station crew to take digital imagery of the vehicle's underside for analysis by the ground. The rendezvous pitch maneuver, as the backflip is called, provides more data to ensure the shuttle's heat shielding is healthy.
Shortly after the shuttle and station hatches are opened, Williams will become a member of the station’s Expedition 14 crew. She also will stay for the first half of Expedition 15, living on the station for six months. Expedition 14 crew member Thomas Reiter, who has been in orbit since July, will come home on Discovery.
Later Monday, Patrick will lift the 2-ton P5 truss segment using the shuttle’s robotic arm and hand it to the waiting station arm, where it will remain until it is installed at the end of the P4 truss on Tuesday.
- 2006 Dec 11 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 04
The Space Shuttle Discovery continues its pursuit of the International Space Station, a chase that should culminate in the docking of the two spacecraft at 4:05 p.m. CST today. Discovery’s crew, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Bob Curbeam, Sunita Williams and Christer Fuglesang, are looking forward to a very busy day. So are members of the station crew, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter.
The shuttle crew was awakened at 9:18 a.m. CST with the song "Beep Beep," performed by Louis Prima. It was played for Williams.
Rendezvous operations will begin at about 10:35 a.m. CST. The terminal initiation engine firing by Discovery, a firing that begins the final phase of the rendezvous when the shuttle is about nine miles behind the station, is scheduled for 1:28 p.m. CST.
By 3 p.m. CST, Discovery should be about 600 feet below the station. At that point, Polansky will guide the shuttle through a backflip called the rendezvous pitch maneuver. The maneuver will allow station crew members to photograph Discovery's heat shield. The electronic images will be transmitted to the ground for analysis by engineers.
Shortly after docking, a safety briefing and a welcome ceremony, Williams will transfer her custom seat liner to the Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station. When that happens, she becomes a member of the station crew. At the same time, Reiter becomes a Discovery crew member for his ride home, completing about six months in space.
A little after 7:15 p.m. CST, Discovery’s robotic arm will lift the 4,100-pound P5 truss segment from the shuttle's cargo bay. It will be handed off to the station’s arm, where it will stay during the crews’ sleep period, in preparation for its installation on Tuesday.
To prepare for the mission's first spacewalk, Curbeam and Fuglesang will spend tonight in the station’s airlock, where pressure will be reduced to 10.2 psi, a pressure roughly equal to the atmosphere on Earth at about 10,000 feet above sea level. The airlock "campout" at the lower pressure protects against decompression sickness, commonly called "the bends," as the two go to the even lower pressure of spacesuits on Tuesday.
- 2006 Dec 11 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 05
Astronauts on the Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station were united today, and the joint crew immediately began the complex work associated with installing a new truss section and rewiring the station’s power grid. Discovery’s crew entered the station complex at 5:54 p.m. CST as Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria rang the on-board ship’s bell, a centuries-old naval tradition. Lopez-Alegria and crewmates Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter greeted Discovery Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Bob Curbeam, Sunita Williams and Christer Fuglesang with smiles and hugs. The warm welcome followed a 4:12 p.m. rendezvous and docking.
Before launching into their first joint task of the mission -- extracting the new P5 truss member from Discovery’s cargo hold -- the combined crew was called upon to conduct an impromptu inspection of the tip of Discovery’s port wing using the space station’s robotic arm. The inspection was precipitated by a minor vibration reading on a wing sensor in that area about 4:30 a.m. Monday.
Though the single reading could indicate an on-orbit impact, it was not unusual and mission managers did not expect to find any damage. End-effector camera views will allow imagery analysts in Houston to verify that the reinforced carbon-carbon panels on the wing’s leading edge are unscathed. The imagery analysis team also began to review pictures taken of Discovery’s belly during its approach to the station. Teams will meet overnight to determine if a final inspection of the orbiter’s tiles is needed.
The added task delayed unberthing of the 4,100-pound truss section about an hour. But once the inspection was complete, the crew used the shuttle’s robotic arm to pull the truss section out of the payload bay and hand it to the station arm. The P5 truss will remain suspended over Discovery’s port wing overnight, awaiting installation in the first of three planned spacewalks tomorrow.
Before going to bed, the crews gathered for a thorough review of the plan for tomorrow’s spacewalk. Curbeam and Fuglesang will spend tonight in the station’s airlock, where pressure will be reduced to 10.2 psi. The airlock "campout" will purge the spacewalkers’ bloodstreams of nitrogen bubbles and protect against decompression sickness as the two go to the even lower pressure of spacesuits on Tuesday.
Discovery’s crew is scheduled to awaken at 9:47 a.m. CST Tuesday, and the Expedition 14 crew at 10:17 a.m. The spacewalk is to begin at 2:22 p.m., with truss installation expected at 4:07 p.m.
- 2006 Dec 12 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 06
The first spacewalk by Discovery's crew members, an excursion that will install a new, two-ton segment on the port side of the International Space Station's girder-like truss, will highlight today's work on mission STS-116. The six-hour, 10-minute excursion by astronauts Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang is set to begin at 2:42 p.m. CST. Curbeam and Fuglesang spent the night in the station's Quest airlock, from which they will begin the spacewalk. The installation of the new truss section, called the P5 truss, will require intricate teamwork by the astronauts. The spacewalkers will visually guide astronaut Joan Higginbotham as she maneuvers the piece in place from aboard the station using the station's robotic arm. The installation is a tight fit -- at times with only a couple of inches to spare.
Discovery remains in good condition. Mission Control has informed Discovery's crew that engineers analyzing imagery of the shuttle's heat shield likely will not request a focused inspection of heat shield areas during time that could be set aside for that activity tomorrow. Mission managers will review the status of all shuttle systems during their regular meeting this afternoon.
Discovery's crew changed late yesterday. Astronaut Sunita Williams, who launched aboard Discovery, officially became a member of the Expedition 14 station crew at 11 p.m. CST Monday as reported by station commander Michael Lopez-Alegria. At the same time, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, who has been on the station since July, became a member of Discovery's crew for a trip home. Williams joins Lopez-Alegria and Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin aboard the station as she begins a six-month stay.
Discovery’s crew, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Curbeam, Fuglesang, Higginbotham and Reiter, were awakened at 9:47 a.m. CST to the song "Waterloo," performed by ABBA. The song was played for Fuglesang.
The installation of the P5 truss is expected to begin about 4:07 p.m. CST, after Curbeam and Fuglesang have removed launch restraints and a arm capture fixture that is no longer needed. Once the segment has been maneuvered into its permanent position, the spacewalkers will bolt it in place and hook up electrical connections. At the end of the spacewalk, they will replace a malfunctioning camera on the starboard side of the station truss.
During the spacewalk, Curbeam will wear a spacesuit with red stripes on the legs. Fuglesang will be in an all-white suit.
- 2006 Dec 12 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 07
The International Space Station is now two tons heavier, with the installation today of its newest truss segment during the flight’s first spacewalk. Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang ventured outside the station to attach the P5 segment of the station’s truss and replace a failed camera needed to support future assembly tasks. They also were able to fit in some extra tasks that will save future spacewalkers time, including plugging the new segment into the existing truss, removing the locks that held it steady during launch and opening a latch that will allow the P6 segment to be attached when it is moved from its current, temporary location to its permanent place at the end of the port truss.
The spacewalk began at 2:31 p.m. CST, and Curbeam and Fuglesang were back inside by 9:07 p.m. The truss was officially attached at 4:45 p.m., and installation was complete by 5:21 p.m. Total duration of the spacewalk was 6 hours, 36 minutes.
Upon their return to the Quest airlock at the end of the spacewalk, Curbeam took a moment to congratulate Nobel Prize winners, including Dr. John C. Mather, a Goddard Space Flight Center scientist honored for his work on the big-bang theory.
With the new port truss section in place, the crew is ready to move on to the second phase of the mission – rewiring the station. That work will begin Wednesday when the port solar array on truss segment P6 is folded up, allowing the P4 solar arrays delivered by the STS-115 crew to rotate and track the sun. Once that’s done, Curbeam and Fuglesang will head outside again Thursday to begin reconfiguring the external wiring so that power from the new solar arrays delivered in September can be used.
Meanwhile, after taking a close look at imagery gathered on the first three days of the flight, mission managers determined that the shuttle’s heat shield can support a safe return to Earth. They also decided a more detailed inspection that had been scheduled for tomorrow will not be necessary.
Space Shuttle Discovery’s seven astronauts woke at 9:47 a.m. this morning to the song "Waterloo" by Swedish group Abba in honor of Fuglesang, who is from Sweden. "Nice music this morning," Fuglesang said from the Quest airlock, where he spent the night preparing for the spacewalk with Curbeam.
The crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 1:17 a.m. Wednesday, after moving the space station arm into a position that will provide a good view of the P6 solar array retraction. The shuttle crew will start flight day four at 9:17 a.m. on Wednesday. The station crew will get an extra 40 minutes of sleep, awakening at 9:47 a.m.
- 2006 Dec 13 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 08
Retracting a solar array wing that has been extended in space for six years will highlight the activities aboard the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle Discovery today. Furling of the wing, the left wing of the station's P6 solar arrays that were launched and deployed in December 2000, is the first step as astronauts and Mission Control begin a complex rewiring of the station's power system. The array retraction, performed slowly and in stages, should begin about 12:22 p.m. CST. Within about 40 minutes, the 115-foot long wing should be folded to only a few feet in length. At about 2 p.m. CST, the ground will send commands to power up a giant rotating joint on the station's truss that will begin turning, paddle wheel-style, a new set of solar arrays that were added to the station in September.
The joint, called the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, will allow the new arrays to track the sun as it rises and sets with each station orbit. If the left P6 solar array wing was not retracted, it would interfere with the rotation of the new set of arrays.
The retraction of the final few feet of the left P6 wing should be completed by 5:17 p.m. CST. The rotation of the new set of arrays, called the P4 arrays, sets the stage for activities beginning tomorrow, during the mission's second spacewalk, to rewire the station. The rewiring will bring power generated by the P4 arrays on line for use by the station's systems and prepare for more arrays to be added next year.
The retraction isn’t the only thing on today’s schedule. The shuttle crewmembers, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Bob Curbeam, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, will join their station colleagues in transfer activities, moving equipment and supplies between the two spacecraft.
A total of 4,107 pounds was brought up in the single Spacehab module in Discovery’s cargo bay. An additional 1,107 pounds came up on the shuttle middeck. The shuttle is to take 2,998 pounds from the station back to Earth in Spacehab and 727 pounds on the middeck.
Oefelein, Patrick, Curbeam and Fuglesang will take a break from their work at 7:07 p.m. CST for an interview by CBS Radio, Fox Radio and Space.com.
Discovery’s crew received its wakeup call at 9:17 a.m. CST with the song, "Suavemente," performed by Elvis Crespo, played for Higginbotham. The station crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams, got their wakeup tone half an hour later.
- 2006 Dec 13 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 09
The first phase of the electrical and thermal makeover of the International Space Station was completed tonight as the outpost’s newest solar arrays began rotating to follow the sun and ammonia flowed into the station’s permanent cooling system for the first time. Flight controllers sent commands to enable a large joint to begin rotating around 7 p.m. CST, moving the solar arrays on the P4 truss like a giant paddle wheel to track the sun as the station moves from daylight to darkness in orbit. A few hours later, just before 10 p.m. CST, valves were opened to allow 300 pounds of ammonia to flow into the truss segments of the station and its radiators, the first step toward providing permanent cooling for the avionics and electronics on the complex.
Those vital activation tasks occurred after a day-long effort by Discovery’s crew to retract the port array on the P6 solar array truss structure, which was installed six years ago to provide early electrical power for the station.
The crew spent six hours today sending as many as 45 commands in a start-stop fashion to retract, then redeploy, then retract the balky Venetian-blind like array panels in an effort to fold them into a narrow blanket box at the base of the array. But guide wires that help fold the arrays flat into the box apparently became snagged with only 17 out of 31 bays of the port array retracted. That was enough, however, to provide enough clearance to enable the new P4 arrays to begin rotating as planned.
Mission managers met tonight to discuss various options for completing the P6 array retraction, and decided to press ahead with the second of three scheduled spacewalks Thursday by Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang during which they will rewire the first pair of electrical channels for the permanent power system on the station.
Managers will convene over the next few days to determine whether additional spacewalk activity by Discovery’s crew will be scheduled to complete the retraction of the P6 array, although they have concluded that the array is in a safe configuration for the remainder of this mission, Discovery’s undocking next week, and if necessary, for the arrival of a new Russian Progress resupply ship in January should a spacewalking task be added to the Expedition 14 crew following Discovery’s flight.
Late tonight, to gather data for a future decision, Mission Control asked Discovery Commander Mark Polansky and Station Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria to consider which flight day would be best for a fourth spacewalk if one is ordered to complete the P6 array retraction. Polansky and Lopez-Alegria asked for more details about what such a spacewalk would entail before offering their thoughts.
With the station’s new solar arrays rotating and its permanent cooling system operating as advertised, Discovery’s crew members will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 1:17 a.m. CST and will wake up Thursday at 9:17 a.m. CST to begin preparations for the second spacewalk of the flight. The station crew members will be awakened thirty minutes later.
- 2006 Dec 14 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 10
The second spacewalk for Discovery's crew members is scheduled for this afternoon. During the spacewalk, set to start about 2:12 p.m. CST, Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang will begin to rewire the station’s power system Curbeam and Fuglesang spent the night in the station's Quest airlock at a reduced atmospheric pressure of 10.2 psi. The "campout" procedure reduces nitrogen levels in the blood to help avoid decompression sickness as the astronauts go to the even lower pressure of spacesuits.
The spacewalk is planned to last about six hours. The two spacewalkers are scheduled to reconfigure two of the station's four power channels, channels 2 and 3, bringing power on line from the new set of solar arrays added to the station in September. The remaining two power channels, 1 and 4, will be reconfigured in a third spacewalk on Saturday. The changes will convert the station power system to a permanent setup, ready for even more arrays and science modules to be added next year.
At about 11:22 a.m. CST, station flight controllers will be sending commands that will power down roughly half of the station's systems in preparation for the spacewalkers' rewiring job this afternoon. The result will partially power down some communications systems, lighting, ventilation systems and backup computers, among other systems. Once the spacewalkers have completed the new power connections, flight controllers will power all the equipment and systems back on. As changes are made in the power system, additional cooling systems also will need to be brought online as well.
Late last night, half of the new cooling system for the P4 truss was filled with ammonia to be ready to begin circulating today when pumps are activated.
During the spacewalk, Curbeam, who will wear a suit with red stripes on the legs, and Fuglesang, who will wear an all-white suit, also will relocate two small handcarts that run along rails on the station’s main truss. Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Suni Williams and Discovery Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham will operate the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm in support of the spacewalk.
Managers and engineers continue to evaluate whether further actions will be taken during STS-116 to complete the retraction of the port P6 truss solar array. The array was retracted almost halfway Wednesday, with only 17 bays of its center mast remaining extended. Fully extended, the mast has 31 bays. The array was retracted sufficiently to allow the new P4 solar arrays to begin rotating last night, an operation that was completed without problems. In their current state, the P6 port array and the P4 arrays have more than 16 feet of clearance from one another. Should they remain as they are, the partially retracted arrays pose no issue for the shuttle's undocking or any planned station activities until a Soyuz relocation flight set for April 2007.
A decision on any further action regarding the partially retracted array – including a possible fourth spacewalk during STS-116 for Curbeam and Fuglesang to assist in the retraction -- is not expected before Saturday.
Discovery’s crew was awakened at 9:17 a.m. CST today with the song, "Under Pressure," performed by Queen. It was played for Curbeam. The station crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Williams, woke up a half-hour later.
- 2006 Dec 14 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 11
Two spacewalking electricians completed half of STS-116’s rewiring today, and when flight controllers threw the switch, the lights inside the International Space Station turned on again without a hitch. Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang began their second spacewalk at 1:41 p.m. CST. Less than two hours later, they had the first half of the station’s permanent power system – channels two and three – up and running, taking advantage of power generated by the solar arrays delivered in September.
The second half of the station’s power system – channels one and four – will be reconfigured during the mission’s third spacewalk Saturday. Once that’s done, the station’s power system will be in its assembly complete configuration, ready for the addition of more solar arrays and science modules next year.
Before the spacewalkers swapped the cable connections, station flight controllers had to shut down about half of the station’s systems, including some lights, communication gear, ventilation fans and back-up computers. They started the power down just before 2 p.m., and by 3:45 p.m., were powering up main bus switching units for the first time ever and activating power channels two and three. By 4:30 p.m., one of two external thermal control system loops was actively shedding excess heat into space, and the direct current-to-direct current converter units were regulating power voltages.
The spacewalkers headed out the hatch of the Quest airlock this afternoon about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, and made it through their tasks quickly enough to pick up another thirty minutes. They finished at 6:41 p.m., an hour earlier than planned and exactly five hours after they started. Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Suni Williams and STS-116 Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham operated the station's robotic arm in support of the spacewalk.
Before heading back into the station, Curbeam and Fuglesang also relocated two small handcarts that run along rails on the station’s main truss, put a thermal cover on the station’s robotic arm and installed bags of tools for future spacewalkers.
Discovery’s crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 1:47 a.m. Friday. Flight Day 7 begins with a wakeup call at 8:47 a.m. The crew will spend the day transferring supplies and equipment from Discovery to the station, participating in a news conference and enjoying some off-duty time.
- 2006 Dec 15 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 12
With half the International Space Station’s electrical system rewired, the crew of Space Shuttle Discovery gets half a day off today before they finish the job during a third spacewalk set for Saturday. Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang rewired channels 2 and 3 of the station’s power system in a five-hour spacewalk Thursday. A similar task will be done with the two remaining station power channels, channels 1 and 4, on Saturday. However, for Saturday's spacewalk, Curbeam will be joined by International Space Station Flight Engineer Suni Williams for the outside work while Fuglesang will coordinate activities inside the spacecraft. Once the third spacewalk is complete, power will be fully online from the station’s P4 Truss solar array wings, which were installed in September. At that point, the station's power system will be ready for additional expansion with more arrays and new laboratories to be delivered next year.
Discovery Commander Mark Polansky and his crew—Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Thomas Reiter, Curbeam and Fuglesang—were awakened at about 8:52 a.m. CST to the song "Low Rider," performed by War, and played for Oefelein.
Discovery and the station are in good condition. Discovery is currently maintaining the orientation of both the station and shuttle using the shuttle steering jets, a function it began performing during preparations for the spacewalk on Thursday. Control of the station's orientation was transferred to Discovery on Thursday as part of the normal preparations of the station's power system for the rewiring job. The station usually uses its own control moment gyroscopes to maintain its orientation, without having to use fuel.
Originally, control of the station's orientation was to be transferred back to those gyroscopes late Thursday after the spacewalk tasks were completed and station systems powered up. However, problems were experienced as that transfer was attempted. Flight controllers believe the problems were due to a higher than usual amount of atmospheric drag currently experienced by the station due to recent solar activity. They may attempt to transfer control of orientation back to the station again today, although the shuttle thrusters can be used if needed for that purpose through the rest of the mission. If necessary, the station has thrusters that can be used for orientation control as well.
During the first half of their day, the astronauts will transfer supplies and equipment between the station and shuttle. At 1:07 p.m. the two European Space Agency astronauts, Fuglesang of Sweden and Reiter of Germany, will participate in a VIP call from Swedish dignitaries. At 2:47 p.m. all 10 astronauts and cosmonauts on the shuttle/station complex will conduct a news conference with reporters in the U.S. and Europe. The shuttle crewmembers will be off duty the last half of the day.
Station Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are scheduled for interviews with KNX Radio, Los Angeles, and National Public Radio at 4:27 p.m. CST.
Engineers investigating the difficulties with fully retracting the port-side solar array wing of the station's P6 Truss believe a guide wire may be snagged in a swiveling grommet on one of the array's panels. The snag could be keeping the panels from folding up completely. The array remains almost halfway retracted as it has been since Wednesday. Early this morning, station flight controllers commanded the array through a series of "wiggle" tests, swiveling the wing 10 degrees at a time repeatedly to see if that would help the situation. They are continuing to evaluate the results of those tests and to investigate options for further work with the array, including the potential to add a spacewalk to latter part of this mission. Options also may include some additional troubleshooting commanding that could be performed with the array during the crew's day today.
- 2006 Dec 15 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 13
The crews of Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station tried again to refold an accordion-like solar array with help from engineers and flight controllers on the ground, but none of the techniques succeeded in clearing the jam. The final attempt of the day came at 8:04 p.m. CST when Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams deployed the P6 solar array blanket slightly and then retracted it the same distance. This left 14 of the array’s 31 bays in their storage box, the same condition in which they started the day.
After the deployment and retraction technique made no significant progress in clearing the jam, the team briefed the crew on an inspection task that is being planned for use at the end of the mission’s third spacewalk. The task would be added only if the rest of the electrical rewiring activities planned for the excursion go smoothly. Mission managers have not yet decided whether a fourth spacewalk will be attempted, but the inspection task on the third spacewalk could provide information valuable to those making the decision.
Earlier in the day, flight controllers "wiggled" the solar arrays using the beta gimbal assembly, a rotating mechanism on the truss, and the crew worked out vigorously on an a resistive exercise device. Both techniques were attempts to jostle the guide wires and stainless steel grommets that are believed to be the cause of the stalled retraction.
The third spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 1:37 p.m. CST Saturday. During the excursion, Mission Specialist Bob Curbeam and Williams will finish rewiring the station’s power system, stow three Service Module Debris Panel bundles, install an adjustable grapple bar and, if time permits, troubleshoot the problem with the stuck array. The spacewalk will be Williams’ first.
In addition to their troubleshooting activites, the crew shared its experiences in space with both U.S. and European news media during a joint press conference today, and the two European Space Agency astronauts, Christer Fuglesang of Sweden and Thomas Reiter of Germany, participated in a VIP call with Swedish dignitaries.
STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Curbeam, Reiter and Fuglesang also continued to transfer food, supplies and equipment with the help of Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Williams. The spacefarers also enjoyed some off-duty time together.
Meanwhile, the new Port 4 solar arrays continued to rotate and track the sun, generating power for the station. Flight controllers completed re-powering station systems using the updated electrical grid and power from the new solar arrays delivered in September.
To prepare for the spacewalk, Curbeam and Williams will "camp out" in the Quest airlock starting at 10:57 p.m. Spending the night at a reduced atmospheric pressure of 10.2 psi will purge their bloodstreams of nitrogen bubbles to protect against "the bends." The rest of the crewmembers begin their sleep period at 12:47 a.m. Saturday.
- 2006 Dec 16 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 14
The third spacewalk of Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to begin at 1:37 p.m. CST to complete the rewiring of the orbiting laboratory’s power system. Discovery Mission Specialist Bob Curbeam and station Flight Engineer Sunita Williams will venture outside to finish the job started on Thursday’s spacewalk. Station flight controllers will begin commanding about half of the station's systems to power down at about 10:52 a.m. CST. After Mission Control has cut the power on the two station electrical channels that are the subject of today's work, channels 1 and 4, the spacewalkers will rewire them. Completing that task will put the station power system in its permanent configuration, ready for more solar arrays and laboratories to be added in 2007.
Curbeam and Mission Specialist Christer Fuglesang, a European Space Agency astronaut from Sweden, completed a rewiring job on the other two station power channels, channels 2 and 3, during a spacewalk on Thursday.
Additional tasks for today’s spacewalk include relocating debris shield panels from the station’s interior to a storage point outside. The panels, designed to increase the protection of the station's Zvezda living quarters module, will be installed during a later spacewalk by the station crew. Curbeam and Williams also will install a robotic arm grapple fixture.
Today's spacewalk is planned to be completed at 7:47 p.m. CST, but can go longer if needed. If time allows after all originally planned tasks are completed during the excursion, one or both of the spacewalkers will move up the P6 truss atop the station to the base of its partially retracted port solar wing. From that point, they will push on a blanket box into which the array has been folding to attempt to jiggle apparently misaligned guide wires and grommets into place. The result may allow additional retraction of the array.
Meanwhile, managers are continuing to evaluate a possible fourth spacewalk that would take place on Monday to attempt to fully retract the array. However, no decision has been made regarding whether that spacewalk will be pursued. To prepare for that possibility, the spacewalkers today may bring several tools inside the station that would need to be prepared with insulating tape for use on a fourth spacewalk.
The transfer of equipment and supplies between the two spacecraft continues. Late Friday, the crews were slightly ahead of the transfer schedule.
Inside the station today, station Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will replace a component of the orbiting laboratory’s carbon dioxide removal system to restore it to full operation.
The orientation of the shuttle and station is again being controlled by the station's control moment gyroscopes. Small shuttle thrusters had been controlling the orientation of the spacecraft since Friday, when an initial attempt to switch to gyroscope control was not successful. A second attempt Saturday worked. Flight controllers believe the difficulty was due to increased atmospheric drag resulting from recent solar activity.
Shuttle crewmembers Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Curbeam, Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, along with Williams in the airlock campout, were awakened at 8:52 a.m. CST to composer Aaron Copeland’s "Fanfare for the Common Man," performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The music was played for Patrick.
- 2006 Dec 16 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 15
During a spacewalk partially choreographed as it happened, STS-116 Astronauts Bob Curbeam and Sunita Williams finished rewiring the International Space Station and shook loose a balky solar array so their crewmates inside could retract it almost two-thirds of the way. By finishing the electrical work, the spacewalkers set the stage for installation of more solar arrays and science modules, including those being supplied by international partners.
For a second time, flight controllers shut down about half of the station’s systems, including some lights, communication gear, ventilation fans and back-up computers as the third spacewalk of Discovery’s mission began at 1:25 p.m. CST. Curbeam and Williams finished their rewiring tasks at nearly the same time posted by Curbeam and Mission Specialist Christer Fuglesang on Thursday. By 3:18 p.m., controllers were powering up the second half of the station’s new power grid and cooling systems.
The spacewalkers also installed a robotic arm grapple fixture and positioned three bundles of Russian debris shield panels outside the Zvezda service module before moving on to their P6 solar array panel 4B retraction work. The debris panels will be installed on a future spacewalk.
Then, using maneuvers dubbed the "Beamer Shake" and the "Suni Shake," the spacewalkers tackled grommets and guide wires that have been preventing a full retraction of the array since Wednesday. Curbeam and Williams stationed themselves on opposite sides of the array and took turns shaking the array blanket box while the crew inside the station reeled in the array one bay at a time. Curbeam shook the blanket 19 times, and Williams shook it 13 times. The crew inside the station, coordinating with flight controllers on the ground, initiated eight retraction cycles.
As a result of their combined efforts, the array is now 65 percent retracted, with only 11 bays still deployed. The 7 hour, 31 minute spacewalk concluded at 8:56 p.m.
In the midst of the excursion, Mission Control informed the crew that managers had decided to extend Discovery’s mission one day to allow a fourth spacewalk. Curbeam and Fuglesang will venture outside Monday in an attempt to complete retraction of the array and collect additional information that could prove useful when the opposite side of the array is retracted on the next shuttle mission, STS-117, in March. The extended flight plan preserves a late inspection of Discovery’s heat shield after it undocks from the station. Discovery is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center on Friday afternoon.
Discovery’s crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 12:17 a.m. Sunday, and will awaken at 8:17 a.m. for a day devoted to cargo transfers and spacewalk preparations.
- 2006 Dec 17 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 16
Astronauts will spend much of today getting ready for a fourth spacewalk during Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station. On Saturday, Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam and Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams finished rewiring the International Space Station during a 7-hour, 31-minute spacewalk.
After planned tasks had been completed smoothly and ahead of schedule, they also shook a balky solar array wing in hopes of completing its retraction. That helped gain some ground – the wing is about 65 percent retracted, compared to less than 50 percent before the spacewalk. About 11 bays remain deployed, compared to about 17 before.
Managers decided Saturday afternoon to add that fourth spacewalk to Discovery’s visit to the station. This one will be done by Curbeam, who participated in all three of the previous spacewalks, and Christer Fuglesang, a spacewalker on the first two. While Curbeam and Williams were still outside Saturday, mission managers decided to add the spacewalk, scheduled to start at 12:47 p.m. CST on Monday, and to add a day to Discovery’s stay at the station.
Today the station’s Canadarm2 will be moved into position to support the Monday spacewalk. Discovery’s arm will be used to provide camera views. Discovery crew members will reconfigure spacesuits and transfer them to the station’s Quest airlock. At 8:02 p.m., Discovery and station crews will hold a procedure review for the spacewalk.
Curbeam and Fuglesang will begin an overnight "campout" in the airlock, its pressure reduced to 10.2 psi. The crew goes to bed at 12:17 a.m. Monday. The campout is part of a process to avoid any possibility of the two spacewalkers developing decompression sickness in the relatively low pressure of their spacesuits. The suits are pressurized to a little less than 5 psi.
In other activities, transfer of equipment and supplies between the spacecraft is about 70 percent complete. Crewmembers and flight controllers believe it should be mostly finished after today’s work. Shuttle crewmembers Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Curbeam, Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, were awakened at 8:17 a.m. CST to the "Beautiful Blue Danube" performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The music was for Fuglesang.
- 2006 Dec 17 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 17
Flight controllers today put the finishing touches on plans for the fourth spacewalk recently added to the mission. On board the Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station astronauts finished transferring the bulk of supplies between the two spacecraft. Monday’s spacewalk is set to begin at 1:12 p.m. as veteran spacewalkers Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang go out to continue attempts to retract a solar array wing. The team has allotted six hours and 30 minutes for the spacewalk, but hopes to have the work completed in about four hours and 30 minutes.
Plans call for Curbeam to work from the end of the station’s Canadarm2 to reach specific areas of the solar array. Today the arm was moved atop its mobile platform into position on the truss railway to support the spacewalk. From the arm, Curbeam can use Kapton tape-insulated tools, including a scraper, needle-nose pliers and an extended bail puller to free up the array for retraction.
The techniques designed to fix the array include lightly pulling on guide wires along the length of the panels, flipping grommets that the wires may be hung up on and gently pushing on hinges in the panels to allow them to fold up.
Fuglesang will work from the truss to assist Curbeam and shake the solar array, as was done in Saturday’s spacewalk, if needed. He will also take photographs of the solar array wing on the other side of the truss to document its configuration before its retraction on the next joint shuttle and station mission.
After the crewmembers work on the array and change its configuration they will move clear as the crew inside the shuttle and station complex attempts to retract the array one bay at a time.
Astronauts Sunita Williams and Joan Higginbotham will operate the station’s robotic arm during the spacewalk. Pilot Bill Oefelein will serve as the spacewalk coordinator.
In other activities, transfer of equipment and supplies between the spacecraft is almost complete. Crewmembers and flight controllers planned for the last bit of transfer to include tools and equipment remaining after the final spacewalk. That work is set to be completed before Discovery undocks from the station Tuesday afternoon.
Shuttle Commander Mark Polansky and astronauts Nicholas Patrick, Curbeam, Oefelein and Higginbotham participated in media interviews at 6:27 p.m.
This evening, the crew has time to review the spacewalk plans before Fuglesang and Curbeam enter the Quest airlock for their third overnight campout together. Lowering the pressure of the airlock to 10.2 psi is part of a process to avoid any possibility of the two spacewalkers developing decompression sickness in the relatively low pressure of their spacesuits. The suits are pressurized to a little less than 5 psi.
The crew goes to bed at 12:17 a.m. Monday and will awaken at 8:17 a.m. for another spacewalk day.
- 2006 Dec 18 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 18
Discovery and International Space Station crew members will conduct their fourth spacewalk of the week today, an excursion aimed at freeing a snagged, partially retracted station solar array so it will fully fold properly. Astronaut Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang, a European Space Agency astronaut from Sweden, will venture outside the station at 1:12 p.m. CST. It will be Curbeam's fourth spacewalk of the mission, more than any astronaut has performed during a single shuttle flight, and it will be Fuglesang's third. Using a variety of specially prepared, tape-insulated tools, they will work to complete the retraction of the port solar array wing of the station's P6 truss.
Curbeam and Fuglesang spent the night in the station's Quest airlock in a procedure called a "campout." The air pressure in the compartment was reduced to 10.2 pounds per square inch to assist in purging nitrogen from their bodies, a measure that helps prevent decompression sickness.
The shuttle crew was awakened at 8:17 a.m. CST to the song "Good Vibrations," performed by the Beach Boys. The song was played for the entire crew in honor of the vibrations the spacewalkers may create today to attempt to free the balky solar panels. As part of the suite of potential activities they have on hand to assist with folding the array, Curbeam and Fuglesang will shake the solar blankets by pushing on the boxes into which they fold. If needed, the spacewalk could last as long as six and a half hours.
Curbeam will be on the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm during the spacewalk. He will be equipped to work on two problems believed to be experienced by the array. One is the apparent jamming of the guide wires in the grommets designed to guide them. The other is some backward, balky folding of hinges between solar panels that has been seen during attempts at retraction. As those issues are dealt with by the spacewalkers, crew members inside will send commands to further fold the array.
Fuglesang will be on the P6 truss. He will push the blanket boxes into which the arrays fold to shake the wing. He also will take pictures, including some of the P6 starboard solar wing. That wing is to be retracted on the next shuttle flight to the station. The photos taken by Fuglesang will assist in the planning of that task.
Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Suni Williams and Discovery Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham will operate the station’s robotic arm during the spacewalk. Pilot Bill Oefelein will serve as the spacewalk coordinator, or intravehicular officer, inside the spacecraft.
The transfer of equipment and supplies between the shuttle and station will continue today as well. Almost all of the 4,292 pounds brought up aboard Discovery has been moved to the station, and the loading of 3,725 pounds of gear in those areas for return to Earth is nearing completion as well. Discovery's undocking from the station is now planned for 4:09 p.m. on Tuesday. Discovery is planned to land at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 2:56 p.m. on Friday.
- 2006 Dec 18 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 19
Space Shuttle Discovery Astronauts Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang guided the port overhead solar array wing neatly inside its blanket box during a 6-hour, 38-minute spacewalk. The coordinated effort with flight controllers finished the retraction begun on Wednesday and set the stage for the shuttle’s spring mission, when the International Space Station’s starboard overhead array will be similarly stowed. The arrays will be moved to the far end of the port truss on STS-120, and redeployed.
Applause broke out in Mission Control when the arrays glided into the retention box at 5:54 CST. Crewmembers aboard the shuttle-station complex praised the ground support team after latches along the array’s two blanket boxes locked at 6:34 p.m. Fuglesang took pictures, including some of the P6 starboard solar wing set to be retracted in March. The photographs will assist in planning for that task.
The P6 arrays were first deployed on the station in November 2000, when they were delivered on STS-97. On Wednesday, flight controllers retracted the array almost halfway, leaving 17 of its 31 bays extended. Then, on Saturday, at the end of the mission’s third spacewalk, Curbeam and helped flight controllers retract six more bays, leaving 11 exposed. In all, flight controllers initiated 71 commands.
During the fourth spacewalk of the mission, Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams and STS-116 Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham used the station's robotic arm to position Curbeam and Fuglesang near the array. Pilot Bill Oefelein choreographed the spacewalk from inside the spacecraft. The two spacewalkers also firmly secured some multi-layer insulation that had been installed on the robotic arm during an earlier spacewalk.
Curbeam set a record as he made his fourth spacewalk of the mission -- more than any astronaut has performed during a single shuttle flight -- and his seventh in support of the station. Curbeam has a total of 45 hours, 34 minutes of spacewalking time. Astronaut Mike Fincke also conducted four spacewalks on the station during Expedition 9.
The total time for spacewalks on this STS-116 mission is 25 hours, 45 minutes.
Also today, the crew completed the transfer of about two tons of equipment and supplies between the shuttle and station and one and a half tons between the station and the shuttle’s pressurized cargo carrier.
Discovery is set to undock from the station tomorrow at 4:09 p.m. CST, and land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, at 2:56 p.m. CST on Friday.
- 2006 Dec 19 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 20
Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts will leave the orbiting laboratory today after four successful spacewalks, delivery and installation of a new segment of the International Space Station’s main truss and reconfiguring the station’s power system. During their eight days docked to the station, the shuttle crew also dropped off more than two tons of additional equipment and supplies and a new station crew member.
After some final equipment transfers between the two spacecraft, Discovery crew members will bid their station colleagues farewell. Hatch closing is scheduled for 12:57 p.m. CST. Undocking is to occur at 4:09 p.m.
With Pilot Bill Oefelein at the controls, Discovery will slowly move away from the station. A partial fly-around of the station will give the crew a look at the orbiting laboratory, with its new P5 spacer truss segment and the port wing of the P6 solar array fully retracted and firmly secured in its retention box.
Discovery will begin its departure from the area at about 6 p.m. The crew is to begin its scheduled sleep period at 10:47 p.m. Landing is scheduled for 2:56 p.m. CST Friday at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Highlights of docked operations include the four spacewalks. Mission Specialist Bob Curbeam participated in all of them, giving him the record for the number of spacewalks during a single shuttle mission. He teamed up with Sunita Williams, the new station crewmember for the third spacewalk, and with Mission Specialist Christer Fuglesang for the other three.
The first spacewalk was for the P5 truss segment installation, the second and third focused on the power reconfiguration, and the fourth was dedicated to completing retraction of the port solar wing of the P6 truss.
The P6 arrays were deployed in late 2000. On Wednesday almost half the port wing was retracted, leaving 17 bays out. Saturday spacewalkers Curbeam and Williams helped retract six more bays. In a dramatic Monday spacewalk, Curbeam and Fuglesang helped complete the retraction.
Discovery crewmembers -- Commander Mark Polansky, Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Curbeam, Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, the European Space Agency astronaut from Germany who will be coming home after about six months in space -- were awakened at 7:47 a.m. CST to "The Zamboni Song," performed by the Gear Daddies. The song, dedicated to the entire crew, was requested by the training team who sent a message to Oefelein saying they had arranged for him to fly the shuttle half a lap around the station.
Aboard the station, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Williams got their wakeup tone at 8:17 a.m.
- 2006 Dec 19 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 21
Crews aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station bid one another farewell at 4:10 p.m. CST today, wrapping up eight days of docked operations. Staying behind on the newly rewired space station were Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams, and departing with Discovery’s crew was Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut on his way home after a six-month space voyage.
Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin rang the ship’s bell in Navy fashion and saluted the shuttle and crew as they departed. "From the crew of Discovery – we wish you smooth sailing – thank you for the hard work, and we hope you enjoy the new electrical system on the station," STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky radioed back from a distance of 650 feet during a half-lap fly-around.
Pilot Bill Oefelein was at the controls for the fly-around, which gave Discovery’s crew a look at its handiwork, a new P5 spacer truss segment and a fully retracted P6 solar array wing. During 7 days, 23 hours and 58 minutes of docked operations, the combined crew installed the newest piece of the station’s backbone and completely rewired the station’s power grid over the course of four spacewalks.
Before the hatches closed at 1:42 p.m., Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham and her cargo team had transferred more than two tons of food, water and equipment for use by the Expedition 14 crew and its newest member. They also filled Discovery’s pressurized cargo carrier with equipment and experiment samples returning to Earth.
Discovery fired its orbital maneuvering system engines to finish separation from the station at 6:12 p.m., bound for a landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:56 p.m. Friday, weather permitting.
On Wednesday, Polansky, Oefelein and Mission Specialist Nicholas Patrick will use the shuttle’s robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System to inspect Discovery’s heat shield for damage from orbiting debris or micrometeoroids. Spacewalkers Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang will work with Higginbotham and Reiter to stow equipment and supplies used during the mission in preparation for landing.
- 2006 Dec 20 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 22
Discovery crew members will make a final check of the shuttle’s heat shields today, using a sensor-equipped 50-foot extension of the shuttle’s robotic arm. After the inspection, Discovery will deploy two small scientific satellites. A third will be deployed Thursday.
Discovery Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialist Nicholas Patrick will use the boom and sensor to look at thermal tiles on the shuttle’s underside. They also will inspect the reinforced carbon-carbon that protects the leading edges of the wings and the nose.
The heat shield inspection activities begin at 9:52 a.m. CST with the unberthing of the boom extension. Scanning of the heat shield with the sensor system begins at 10:52 a.m. and should take about five hours. The boom is to be reberthed into its cradle along the right side of the shuttle cargo bay at 4:22 p.m.
During the inspection, other Discovery astronauts will stow equipment in preparation for landing. Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter will begin packing up in the shuttle’s cabin and the Spacehab module in its cargo bay.
At about 6:19 p.m. CST, the Microelectromechanical System-Based PICOSAT Inspector (MEPSI) mini-satellite will be released from Discovery's cargo bay. The coffee cup-sized satellite will demonstrate the use of tiny, low-power satellites to observe larger spacecraft. It will test the function of small camera systems and gyroscopes.
At about 7:56 p.m. CST, the Radar Fence Transponder (RAFT) satellite will be released from the cargo bay. The satellite is a student experiment from the United States Naval Academy that uses picosatellites to test the Space Surveillance Radar Fence.
All activities aboard Discovery are aimed toward a landing that would begin with a deorbit engine firing by the shuttle at 1:53 p.m. CST Friday that would lead to a touchdown at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at 2:56 p.m. CST Friday. Mission Control continues to monitor the weather in Florida, and shuttle landing opportunities at both Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and at White Sands Space Harbor, N.M., also will be considered on Friday.
Fuglesang and Reiter are European Space Agency astronauts. Fuglesang, from Sweden, participated in three of the four spacewalks during Discovery’s stay at the station. Curbeam set a record for spacewalks on a shuttle mission, performing four. Reiter, from Germany, is returning aboard Discovery after six months on the station.
Discovery’s crew was awakened at 6:47 a.m. by "Say You’ll be Mine," performed by Christopher Cross. It was for Reiter.
On the orbiting laboratory, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams are beginning a light-duty day after eight days of joint operations with Discovery. At 6:30 a.m. CST they were trailing Discovery by about 730 statute miles. The gap was increasing by more than 80 miles with each 91-minute orbit of the Earth.
- 2006 Dec 20 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 23
Inspection of Discovery’s heat shield was conducted today as the seven crewmembers began the task of preparing their ship for their high-speed return to Earth on Friday. One hour after removing the sensor-equipped 50-foot Orbiter Boom Sensor System from the payload bay with the shuttle’s robotic arm, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialist Nicholas Patrick began to scan the reinforced carbon-carbon surface of Discovery’s wings and its nose cap to ensure the shuttle incurred no micrometeoroid debris damage during its time in space. The six-hour inspection was completed at 4:22 p.m. Imagery and damage assessment teams at the Johnson Space Center immediately began analyzing the data. A report will be offered to mission managers on Thursday.
While the inspection was conducted, Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam, Joan Higginbotham and European Space Agency astronauts Christer Fuglesang and Thomas Reiter began to pack up equipment for Discovery’s scheduled landing Friday at the Kennedy Space Center. With only one wave-off day available on Saturday, backup landing sites at Edwards Air Force Base, CA and the White Sands Space Harbor, NM are being activated for landing support Friday in the event weather diverts the shuttle and its crew from the Florida spaceport. Discovery’s scheduled landing time at the Kennedy Space Center Friday is 2:56 p.m. CST.
Late today, Discovery’s astronauts sent commands to deploy small technology demonstration satellites for the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program.
The crew deployed a pair of coffee cup-sized satellites at 6:19 p.m. CST to demonstrate how a small, low-powered autonomous satellite can observe larger spacecraft. The Micro-Electromechanical System-Based PICOSAT Inspector, known as MEPSI, may one day use on-board imagery to assess spacecraft damage.
The crew then released another pair of small scientific satellites as part of a student experiment sponsored by the United States Naval Academy at 7:58 p.m. CST. The Radar Fence Transponder, or RAFT, experiment is designed to test technology for new spacecraft design.
The last satellite experiment, the Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment, or ANDE, will be deployed from Discovery’s payload bay Thursday afternoon. ANDE consists of two spherical microsatellites that will measure the density and composition of the low Earth orbit atmosphere while being tracked from the ground. The data will be used to better predict the movement of objects in orbit.
Aboard the International Space Station, the newly comprised Expedition 14 crew, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams, enjoyed their first full day together after Discovery’s departure yesterday.
Discovery’s astronauts will begin their sleep period just after 10 p.m. CST and will be awakened Thursday at 6:17 a.m. for a day in which they will check out the shuttle’s aero surfaces and steering jets in preparation for Friday’s landing.
- 2006 Dec 21 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 24
Discovery’s astronauts will spend today preparing to return to Earth. They will test flight control surfaces, steering jets and other entry and landing systems while they stow equipment in Discovery’s cabin. The crew, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, Nicholas Patrick, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, were awakened at 6:17 a.m. CST to the song "The Road Less Traveled," performed by Joe Sample. It was played for Higginbotham.
The crew began stowing gear away at 8:47 a.m., with all seven crewmembers participating off and on during the day.
Polansky, Oefelein and Curbeam, who serves as flight engineer, checked out flight control surfaces – the wing and body flaps and the rudder – beginning at 9:17 a.m. CST. At 10:27 a.m., they began a test firing of the shuttle's steering jets used during the early portions of descent from orbit.
Fuglesang and Higginbotham will deploy the third of three small satellites from Discovery's cargo bay today. The first two were successfully pushed into space Wednesday. The Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE) microsatellite will be deployed at 12:19 p.m. The satellite will gather information on atmospheric drag in low orbit.
After lunch, all seven crewmembers will talk with reporters from CNN and ABC, and with students at the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai, Alaska.
The crew will review deorbit procedures at 2:32 p.m. CST. The KU-band antenna, used as the primary method to transmit television to the ground among other communications, will be stowed for landing at 7:17 p.m. CST. The crew begins a sleep period at 10:17 p.m.
Shuttle landing sites at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.; Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.; and at White Sands Space Harbor, N.M. all will be active for a landing on Friday. The weather forecast currently calls for a chance of rain and low clouds at Kennedy; potential strong crosswinds at Edwards; and acceptable landing conditions at White Sands.
Discovery’s first landing opportunity Friday is to Kennedy, beginning with a deorbit engine firing at 1:49 p.m. CST with wheels touching down at 2:56 p.m. CST. The next opportunity is to Edwards with an engine firing to begin descent at 3:19 p.m. CST leading to a 4:27 p.m. touchdown. The first opportunity to land at White Sands begins with an engine firing at 3:20 p.m. CST leading to a touchdown in New Mexico at 4:32 p.m.
Opportunities also exist for Discovery to land at Edwards with a descent beginning with an engine firing at 4:54 p.m. CST leading to touchdown at 6 p.m. CST. A second opportunity to land at White Sands begins with an engine firing by the shuttle at 4:57 p.m. CST leading to a 6:02 p.m. touchdown.
The final landing opportunity available for Discovery on Friday is to Edwards, beginning with an engine firing at 6:32 p.m. CST leading to a touchdown at 7:36 p.m. CST.
Discovery is now about 2,200 statute miles ahead of the International Space Station. The distance increases by about 92 miles with each orbit.
Two station crew members, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, are about half way through their six-month increment. The third crewmember, Flight Engineer Sunita Williams, came to the station aboard Discovery and is just beginning her six months on the station with the last half of Expedition 14 and the first half of Expedition 15.
- 2006 Dec 21 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 25
Discovery’s astronauts completed preparations for a planned return to Earth on Friday and received word from Mission Control that their final inspection showed the shuttle’s heat shield is in good shape. STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and Flight Engineer Bob Curbeam started checking out Discovery’s aerodynamic control surfaces at 9:31 a.m. CST, and test firing the shuttle's steering jets at 10:11 a.m. The commander and pilot also practiced landings on a laptop computer trainer, and performed final checks of the communications systems that will be used for landing.
A little later in the day, Mission Specialists Christer Fuglesang and Joan Higginbotham deployed a third small satellite from the shuttle’s cargo bay. The Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE) microsatellite, ejected at 12:23 p.m., will gather information on atmospheric drag in low-Earth orbit. The first two microsatellites were deployed Wednesday.
Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick joined the rest of the crew in talking with reporters from CNN and ABC. Oefelein, who considers Anchorage, Alaska, to be his hometown, was the main focus of questions from students at the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai.
Throughout the day, the crew took turns securing their gear for landing. The crew will awaken at 6:17 a.m. Friday, and begin final deorbit preparations at 9:48 a.m.
Entry Flight Director Norm Knight said landing sites at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.; Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.; and White Sands Space Harbor, N.M., all will be activated to support landing. The Friday forecast calls for a chance of rain and low clouds at Kennedy; potential strong crosswinds at Edwards; and acceptable landing conditions at White Sands.
Knight said the entry team’s strategy will be to watch weather conditions carefully, focusing – in order – on the first landing opportunity in Florida, the second opportunities in Florida and California, and the third opportunities in California and New Mexico. A fourth California opportunity is available, but may not be used. Saturday landing opportunities are available at all three locations if weather prohibits a Friday landing.
Discovery’s first landing opportunity Friday is to Kennedy, beginning with a deorbit engine firing at 1:49 p.m. CST with wheels touching down at 2:56 p.m. CST. The next opportunity is to Edwards with an engine firing at 3:19 p.m. CST leading to a 4:27 p.m. touchdown. The first opportunity to land at White Sands begins with an engine firing at 3:20 p.m. CST leading to a touchdown in New Mexico at 4:27 p.m.
Opportunities also exist for Discovery to land at Edwards with an engine firing at 4:54 p.m. CST leading to touchdown at 6 p.m. CST. A second opportunity to land at White Sands begins with an engine firing by the shuttle at 4:57 p.m. CST leading to a 6:02 p.m.
touchdown. The final Friday landing opportunity is to Edwards, beginning with an engine firing at 6:32 p.m. CST leading to a touchdown at 7:36 p.m. CST.
Meanwhile, the Expedition 14 crew aboard the International Space Station, is settling back to normal operations with its new member, Flight Engineer Sunita Williams. Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, are about halfway through their six-month increment. Williams, who arrived aboard Discovery, is just beginning her six months on the station. She’ll span the last half of Expedition 14 and the first half of Expedition 15.
- 2006 Dec 22 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 26
Discovery’s wakeup call said it all. The song was "Home for the Holidays," sung by Perry Como for the crew, requested by the Mission Control Center. That 6:18 a.m. CST call began a day that the crew and their support teams on the ground hope will see Discovery return to Earth after a successful flight to the International Space Station. After eight docked days and four spacewalks, the shuttle left the station with a new truss segment, a new crew member and a reconfigured power system.
All three U.S. landing sites will be activated today. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the preferred shuttle landing site, will be the first opportunity, which would see a landing at 2:56 p.m. On the subsequent orbit the focus will be on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and KSC. On the orbit after that Edwards and White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico would be the centers of attention.
Weather at Kennedy and Edwards is questionable. If the crew does not don its entry suits for the first Kennedy opportunity, a final landing chance of the day at Edwards is available to Discovery. Here are predicted CST times for the deorbit burn and landing times for each opportunity by orbit number and landing site:.
Orbit 202: Kennedy 1:49 p.m. 2:56 p.m.
Orbit 203: Edwards 3:19 p.m. 4:27 p.m.
Orbit 203: White Sands 3:20 p.m. 4:27 p.m.
Orbit 203: Kennedy 3:26 p.m. 4:32 p.m.
Orbit 204: Edwards 4:54 p.m. 6 p.m.
Orbit 204: White Sands 4:57 p.m. 6:02 p.m.
Orbit 205: Edwards 6:32 p.m. 7:36 p.m.
A total of seven landing opportunities scattered among the three sites are available Saturday if the shuttle is not able to land today.
For today’s opportunities, Discovery crew members, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, Nicholas Patrick, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, who is returning home after about six months on the station, will begin deorbit preparations at 9:52 a.m. Payload bay door closing would be at 11:13 a.m. for the first landing opportunity.
Aboard the station, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams, the new crew member who came up on Discovery, are back to their regular schedule. They got their wakeup tone today at midnight CST (6 a.m. in the GMT kept aboard the orbiting laboratory) and will begin a sleep period at 3:30 p.m.
- 2006 Dec 22 - STS-116 MCC Status Report 27
The crew of Space Shuttle Discovery made it home in time for Christmas, gliding to a perfect landing as the sun set over NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery touched down on Runway 15 of the Shuttle Landing Facility at 4:32 p.m. CST. The crew had spent 12 days, 20 hours and 44 minutes in flight. Discovery’s nose gear touched down at 4:32 p.m. exactly, and the shuttle's wheels came to a stop 52 seconds later.
After an afternoon in limbo, weather conditions along Florida’s Space Coast took a dramatic turn for the better, giving flight controllers confidence that a band of approaching showers would dissipate before the orbiter’s arrival. The first opportunity for landing at Kennedy was waved off because of stormy weather, and first chance at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., passed due to gusty winds.
The landing was the 63rd to touch down in Florida, but did not qualify as a night landing.
Discovery crew members, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, Nicholas Patrick, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, who is returning home after about six months on the station, will return to Houston on Saturday. A welcoming ceremony for the crew's return to Houston is planned at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at NASA Hangar 276 at Ellington Field.
During Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station, the crew continued construction of the outpost adding the P5 spacer truss segment during the first of four spacewalks. The next two spacewalks rewired the station’s power system, preparing it to support the station’s final configuration and the arrival of additional science modules. A fourth spacewalk was added to allow the crew to retract solar arrays that had folded improperly.
Discovery also delivered a new crew member and more than two tons of equipment and supplies to the station, most of which were located in the SPACEHAB cargo module. Almost two tons of items no longer needed on the station returned to Earth with STS-116.
The next shuttle mission, targeted for March, will deliver a second starboard truss segment and a third set of solar arrays and batteries during the Space Shuttle Program's 21st mission to the station.
- 2007 Jan 5 - International Space Station Status Report #07-01
New gear helped the astronauts on the International Space Station kick off a new year as they prepared a second oxygen-generating system, upgraded soundproofing in the living quarters and unpacked supplies delivered just before Christmas by the space shuttle. After a New Year's Day holiday, Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams spent most of the week installing the U.S. oxygen generation system activation kit in the Destiny laboratory. The parts had been delivered on shuttle mission STS-121 in July 2006. The new generator will supplement the Russian Elektron oxygen system on the station. The additional oxygen generating capacity will be important as the standard station crew size increases to six as the complex grows. In their work with the new system this week, Lopez-Alegria and Williams installed a hydrogen vent valve and power, data and fluid hoses and cables. The system will be activated and tested later this year.
Meanwhile, Expedition 14 Flight Engineer and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin worked in the Russian segment of the station, where he upgraded soundproofing of the ventilation system. Tyurin installed new fans, sound-deadening vibration isolators and air ducts with acoustic shields to reduce the noise they create.
This morning, Lopez-Alegria and Williams took time out from their work to share their mission with a group of students in the fifth through eighth grades from the Columbia Explorers Academy. From the Adler Planetarium in Chicago the students asked the astronauts about living in orbit and the goals of their mission.
Also this week, the crew finished unpacking and stowing supplies delivered last month on shuttle mission STS-116, and they marked milestones in two laboratory experiments. On Tuesday, Williams set up the hardware for the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities, or TRAC investigation. It is a NASA-sponsored experiment jointly managed by scientists from Germany and Canada. Crew members' hand and eye coordination are tested before, during and after missions. For the tests, subjects use a joystick to control a cursor on a computer screen and respond to audio and visual stimuli. The experiment gathers data about how, and to what extent, the brain adapts to weightlessness.
Crew members completed the final operations of a biological experiment on the impact of varying levels of light and gravity on plant root growth. The final images of samples in the European Modular Cultivation System were taken and downlinked, and the samples were stowed in a freezer for eventual return to Earth.
- 2007 Jan 12 - International Space Station Status Report #07-02
After a three-day holiday to celebrate the Russian Orthodox Christmas, astronauts on the International Space Station spent the week packing trash into the ISS Progress 22 cargo craft and unpacking items delivered by ISS Progress 23 as they prepared for the arrival of new supplies. Packed with discarded items no longer needed on the outpost, Progress 22 will undock from the station’s Pirs Docking Compartment next Tuesday at 5:28 p.m. CST. Its engines will be fired three hours later to send it back into the atmosphere, where it will burn up.
The station crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams, geared up for the docking of ISS Progress 24 at Pirs, which is slated for Friday, Jan. 19 at 9 p.m. CST. Progress 24 will launch on Wednesday, Jan. 17, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8:12 p.m. CST.
The new Russian cargo ship will bring about 2.5 tons of food, fuel, oxygen and supplies to the complex, including clothing and spacewalk hardware for the next resident crew that will arrive at the station in April.
In preparation for the undocking of Progress 22, Tyurin disassembled and removed the docking mechanism in the hatchway between the cargo craft and the docking compartment. The mechanism will be returned to Earth on Space Shuttle Atlantis' mission to the complex in March.
During the week, the crew worked for several hours in the Zvezda Service Module on a major systems replacement task, trained on the Robotics Onboard Trainer and relocated it to a new rack in the Destiny lab. They also repaired and tested a Russian exercise machine.
Tyurin also performed maintenance on a Russian ergometer and removed the volatile organic analyzer from the Crew Health Care Systems rack to prepare it for routine maintenance. The analyzer is used to identify and quantify a targeted list of organic compounds in the station atmosphere. Tyurin also spent time on two Russian experiments, one that studies locomotor system disorders in weightlessness and one that studies the effect of spaceflight on the growth and development of plants.
Also during the week, Lopez-Alegria completed taking samples and documented his daily diet for his mid-mission session on a renal stone experiment. This experiment examines the risk of renal, or kidney, stone formation in crewmembers pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight. In this study, potassium citrate tablets are administered to astronauts, and multiple urine samples are taken before, during and after spaceflight to evaluate the risk of renal stone formation. Lopez-Alegria is the final subject to complete the experiment.
Lopez-Alegria and Williams took the WinSCAT, a cognitive test battery used during space missions. The WinSCAT helps to assess the effects on performance of behavioral stress induced by workload demands.
The astronauts also tested emergency light power supplies onboard. In addition, Williams swapped power supplies on one of the station’s laptop computers, completed some modifications on the umbilical interface assembly in the Quest airlock, and configured and trained on the station’s Robotic Onboard Trainer. She also worked in the Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for the International Space Station, or MELFI, replacing the desiccant in Dewar 4 -- a desiccant is a material that absorbs water or moisture -- and checked to make sure the nitrogen pressure was within acceptable range.
- 2007 Jan 17 - International Space Station Status Report #07-03
A shipment of supplies began its journey to the International Space Station today as the ISS Progress 24 cargo ship was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The new resupply ship lifted off at 8:12 p.m. CST (8:12 a.m. Baikonur time Jan. 18). Less than 10 minutes later, the cargo ship reached orbit, and its solar arrays and navigational antennas were deployed for the three-day trip to the orbital outpost.
Pre-programmed firings of the Progress’ main engine are scheduled over the next two days to fine-tune the ship’s path to the space station as the craft approaches the station for docking.
When the Progress launched, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams were flying 220 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean just off the southeast coast of Argentina.
Carrying more than 2.5 tons of food, fuel, oxygen, air, spare parts and other supplies, the Progress is scheduled to automatically dock to the Pirs Docking Compartment at 9 p.m. CST Friday. NASA TV coverage of the docking will begin Friday at 8 p.m. CST. The inventory aboard the new Progress includes 1,720 pounds of propellent, 110 pounds of oxygen and 3,285 pounds of supplies, spare parts and experiment and environmental system hardware.
The ISS Progress 22 craft, which arrived in June 2006, undocked from Pirs Tuesday to clear the port for the new cargo vehicle.
- 2007 Jan 18 - Progress M-59 Spacecraft: Progress M. Payload: Progress M s/n 359. Mass: 7,250 kg (15,980 lb). Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz. Perigee: 321 km (199 mi). Apogee: 351 km (218 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.30 min.
Progress docked to the Pirs port of the ISS at 01:59 GMT on 20 January. The cargo craft brought up 780 kg of propellant for the Russian thrusters, 50 kg of oxygen and 1500 kg of spare parts, experiment hardware and life support components.
- 2007 Jan 19 - International Space Station Status Report #07-04
New supplies arrived at the International Space Station Friday night as an unpiloted Russian cargo spacecraft docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment. With more than 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station's Expedition 14 crew, the ISS Progress 24 automatically docked to Pirs at 8:59 p.m. CST (5:59 a.m. Moscow time Saturday) as the station flew 220 miles above the South Atlantic off the southeast coast of Uruguay. The 24th Progress to visit the station launched Wednesday night from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Unlike its predecessor, Progress 24 linked up to the station after its automated rendezvous antenna retracted as planned in the final 50 meters prior to docking. On Oct. 26 the automated navigation antenna on the Progress 23 failed to retract. Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will conduct a spacewalk in late February to manually retract and tie down the antenna before the older Progress undocks from the aft port of the Zvezda service module in early April.
The crew will open the hatch to the new Progress overnight and deactivate the systems of the newly arrived craft before its cargo is unloaded over the next few weeks. Progress 24 holds 1,720 pounds of propellant for the Russian thrusters, 110 pounds of oxygen and almost 3,300 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and life support components.
In addition to preparing for the cargo ship’s arrival, the Expedition 14 crew worked this week on a variety of station maintenance tasks and science experiments. Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams reported what they ate and drank, and collected blood and urine samples as part of an experiment known as Nutrition. The experiment looks at how the human body processes nutrients in microgravity.
Lopez-Alegria replaced limited-life components in the Volatile Organic Analyzer (VOA), part of the Crew Health Care System. The VOA is a gas analysis system used to assess the levels of organic compounds in the station atmosphere, some of which could become harmful to the crew in high concentrations. The old components will be returned to Earth on the next shuttle mission.
Williams focused on work with lentil seedlings as part of an experiment called Threshold Acceleration for Gravisensing, or “Gravi.” The experiment uses a European Modular Cultivation System centrifuge to document the effects of varying levels of gravity on the development of plant roots with an eye toward growing edible plants for future, long-duration spaceflights.
Tyurin worked with a number of Russian experiments, including an instrumented workout on a stationary bicycle to collect data on ways to limit bone and muscle density loss associated with long-duration spaceflights.
All three crew members also spoke with experts on the ground planning the upcoming Expedition 14 spacewalks. Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and Williams will begin on-board preparations for those spacewalks along with a fourth to remove the navigation antenna from Progress 23. The first three spacewalks by Lopez-Alegria and Williams are designed to continue outfitting the newly activated cooling systems for the station’s truss and to continue preparations for the relocation of the P6 solar array truss structure.
- 2007 Jan 26 - International Space Station Status Report #07-05
The crew aboard the International Space Station focused this week on preparing for an unprecedented series of spacewalks set to begin in a few days. Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams will begin a 6.5-hour spacewalk from the station at about 9 a.m. CST on Wednesday, Jan. 31. It will be the first of a record four spacewalks planned during the next month.
Lopez-Alegria and Williams will conduct other spacewalks on Feb. 4 and Feb. 8. The first three spacewalks will originate from the station's Quest airlock, and the astronauts will use U.S. spacesuits. Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will use Russian spacesuits for a Feb. 22 spacewalk originating from the station's Pirs airlock.
The three U.S. spacewalks will rearrange the station's cooling system, bringing online new portions of the system that were activated during a shuttle mission in December. The Russian spacewalk will free a stuck antenna on the ISS Progress 23 cargo craft docked to the aft end of the station, ensuring that craft can undock safely in April.
The crew began the week unloading some of the more than 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies that were delivered to the station on Jan. 19 by the ISS Progress 24 cargo craft. Supplies aboard the 24th Progress to visit the station included fresh produce, gifts from home, new clothing, spare parts, oxygen and water.
The crew's attention quickly turned to preparations for the upcoming spacewalks. On Monday, the crew began working with the U.S. spacesuits. Batteries for the suits were charged, and the suit cooling systems cleaned.
On Tuesday, Lopez-Alegria and Williams trained using an onboard, laptop computer-based simulation. The training refreshed their skills operating the Simplified Aid For Extravehicular Activity Rescue (SAFER) jetpack that is worn on spacesuits. The SAFER backpack allows spacewalkers to fly themselves back to the station in the event they become untethered and separated from the complex.
On Thursday, ground controllers in Houston commanded the station's robotic arm to maneuver into the position it will occupy for the start of the spacewalk. Aboard the station, the crew set time aside to review the plans for the first spacewalk.
Lopez-Alegria and Williams continued checks of their spacesuits and checks of the SAFER backpacks Friday. The SAFER backpacks are propelled by compressed nitrogen gas, and, during the checkout, the harmless gas was released, depleting the nitrogen in one unit below the usable quantity. Two other usable SAFER backpacks remain onboard, however, and the loss of the third unit does not affect plans for the upcoming spacewalks.
The crew took time out from their work on Monday to speak with television host Martha Stewart. Crew members also took time to field questions from two schools, one in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and another in Winnebago, Neb., by amateur radio.
- 2007 Jan 31 - International Space Station Status Report #07-06
Two residents of the International Space Station stepped outside their orbital home Wednesday for a 7-hour, 55-minute spacewalk to begin the connection of recently activated cooling systems from their temporary to their permanent locations and to conduct other station assembly work. Wearing U.S. spacesuits, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams began their spacewalk at 10:14 a.m. EST. After setting up tools and tethers, they moved to the area that connects the Z1 truss to the S0 truss at the middle of the station’s large girder-like truss system.
There, in a location known as the “rats' nest,” Williams and Lopez-Alegria conducted laborious work in tight quarters to demate and reroute a series of two electrical cables and four fluid quick disconnect lines from the soon-to-be defunct Early External Active Thermal Control System to a permanent cooling system in the Destiny Laboratory.
The cooling loop reconfigured today, known as the Low Temperature Loop (Loop A), removes heat from the station’s environmental control systems through a heat exchanger system in the Destiny Laboratory. On the next spacewalk by Lopez-Alegria and Williams on Sunday, a Moderate Temperature Loop (Loop B) rejecting heat from avionics and payloads will be rerouted as well to the permanent system and the heat exchangers in Destiny. The thermal systems officer in Mission Control reported that the reconfiguration of the system was successful.
Lopez-Alegria began the first of a two-step process to route electrical cable harnesses from the Z1 truss’ power outlets to the S0 truss. The two wire harnesses strung today will be joined on Sunday by two more harnesses that will be connected from the S0 truss to the Destiny Lab and, in turn, to its forward docking port, Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 (PMA-2).
Once completed, that Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS) will enable docked shuttles to draw electrical power from the station to extend their visits to the outpost. SSPTS is scheduled to debut on the STS-118 mission in June, enabling Endeavour to fly for two weeks. Subsequent shuttles will be able to remain aloft for comparable periods.
Lopez-Alegria and Williams then moved on to assist as flight controllers sent commands to retract the starboard heat-rejecting radiator on the P6 truss. It had been used to keep station systems at the correct temperature through the temporary cooling system after the truss was installed in 2000. They helped tie the radiator down with a series of cinches. A second radiator will be retracted during the Sunday spacewalk. A third radiator will be retracted later in the year, the only one of the three radiators on the P6 truss that will be redeployed after the truss is relocated.
The spacewalkers then installed a shroud over the radiator to keep it at the proper temperature for the next few months until it is extended once again. A similar retraction of the aft radiator on the P6 truss will be conducted during Sunday’s spacewalk.
With time running out, Lopez-Alegria and Williams moved on to another area of the P6 truss to disconnect and stow one of two fluid lines attached to a large reservoir known as the Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS). The EAS was designed to replenish ammonia to the temporary cooling system on the station in the event of a coolant leak. No longer required, the reservoir will be unbolted and jettisoned during a spacewalk by the Expedition 15 crew this summer. By stowing the fluid lines the crew preserved the ability to reuse the system, if required.
The second EAS fluid line will be disconnected and stowed at a later date.
Because a few “flakes” of ammonia were seen floating away from one of the fluid line connector caps, the crew was directed to conduct preventative decontamination measures to “bakeout” their spacesuits once they returned to the Quest airlock prior to the airlock being repressurized.
The spacewalk ended at 5:09 p.m. CST., tying for 5th for the longest spacewalk in history. It was the seventh spacewalk of Lopez-Alegria’s career, and the second for Williams. The excursion was the 78th spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance and the 50th staged out of the station.
With today’s spacewalk, Lopez-Alegria moved into fourth place on the all-time spacewalking list for most time outside an orbiting vehicle ahead of astronaut Joe Tanner with 47 hours and 31 minutes. Lopez-Alegria will become the all-time U.S. record holder for spacewalking time and second on the all-time spacewalking list behind Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev during the third in the current series of spacewalks on Feb. 8.
Williams is now second on the all-time list for female spacewalkers for total time outside with 15 hours and 26 minutes of spacewalking time.
Lopez-Alegria and Williams will have time to relax Thursday and Friday as they prepare spacesuits and tools for the Sunday spacewalk.
- 2007 Feb 4 - EVA ISS EO-14-3 Crew: Lopez-Alegria, Williams. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.29 days.
The crew exited from the Quest airlock. They completed reconfiguration of the ammonia cooling system, retracted the
aft radiator on the P6 truss, and began installation of cables that allowed a docked Shuttle to get electrical power from the ISS solar arrays.
- 2007 Feb 4 - International Space Station Status Report #07-07
For the second time in four days, two residents of the International Space Station stepped outside for a spacewalk to complete connecting cooling loops from a temporary to a permanent system. This time the excursion lasted just over seven hours. Wearing U.S. spacesuits, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams began their spacewalk at 7:38 a.m. CST, a few minutes ahead of schedule. After setting up tools and tethers outside the Quest airlock, they moved to the area that connects the Z1 truss to the S0 truss at the middle of the station’s large girder-like truss system. This area is known as the "rats' nest.”
In these tight quarters, they rerouted a series of two electrical cables and four fluid quick disconnect lines from the soon-to-be defunct Early External Active Thermal Control System to a permanent cooling system in the Destiny Laboratory.
The cooling loop reconfigured Sunday, known as the Moderate Temperature Loop (Loop B), removes heat from the station’s avionics systems and payload racks through a heat exchanger system in the Destiny Laboratory. On Jan. 31, Lopez-Alegria and Williams reconfigured a Low Temperature Loop (Loop A) that rejects heat from the station’s environmental systems.
On Sunday, the spacewalkers also assisted in the retraction of the aft heat-rejecting radiator on the P6 truss. The radiator had been used since 2000 to keep station systems at the correct temperature through the temporary cooling system. They helped tie the radiator down with a series of cinches. Unlike the starboard radiator, which was retracted Jan. 31, the aft radiator did not require the installation of a protective thermal shroud due to the station's orientation to the sun. During this summer's STS-118 shuttle mission, a third radiator will be retracted, the only radiator on the P6 truss that will be redeployed after the truss is relocated to the far port side of the truss.
Once the radiator was retracted, Lopez-Alegria and Williams completed Wednesday’s unfinished task of disconnecting and stowing the second of two fluid lines for the Early Ammonia Servicer, a large tank on the P6 truss that is no longer needed. The EAS was designed to replenish ammonia to the temporary cooling system on the station in the event of a coolant leak. The servicer will be jettisoned during a spacewalk by the Expedition 15 crew this summer.
Lopez-Alegria, at the base of the P6 truss, photographed the starboard solar array and the blanket box into which it folds. Engineers will analyze the photos and finalize plans to retract that array during the STS-117 shuttle mission to the station next month.
After the photographs were taken, Lopez-Alegria and Williams resumed the stringing of electrical cables from the S0 truss to the Destiny Laboratory and to its forward docking port, Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 (PMA-2), to which visiting shuttles dock. The cables provide electricity for the Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS). The system will enable docked shuttles to draw electrical power from the station to extend their missions. SSPTS is scheduled to debut during STS-118, enabling Endeavour to fly for two weeks. Three of the six cables were connected Sunday. The others probably will be connected during a spacewalk Thursday, Feb. 8.
Lopez-Alegria removed a sunshade from a data relay box on another pressurized mating adapter that connects the U.S. and Russian segments of the station. Since the shade is no longer needed, it was folded up and brought inside to be discarded either on a future Russian Progress cargo ship or a shuttle mission.
Back in the airlock, Lopez-Alegria and Williams did some precautionary decontamination procedures after a few ammonia flakes were seen early in the spacewalk.
The spacewalk ended at 2:49 p.m. as the crew returned to Quest. It was the eighth spacewalk of Lopez-Alegria’s career and the third for Williams. He surpassed astronaut Steve Smith to vault into third place on the all-time spacewalking list for most hours spent outside. Williams now holds the record for most spacewalking time by a female. Former astronaut Kathy Thornton previously held that honor. Sunday’s spacewalk was the 79th for station assembly and maintenance and the 51st done without a shuttle present.
On Monday, Lopez-Alegria and Williams will recharge batteries and prepare their spacesuits and tools for the next spacewalk set for Thursday morning.
- 2007 Feb 8 - EVA ISS EO-14-4 Crew: Lopez-Alegria, Williams. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.28 days.
The crew exited from the Quest airlock. They moved CETA carts to the P3 truss, and removed two large thermal covers, which were bagged and jettisoned. They then deployed cargo attachment adapters on P3. This was followed by work to prepare the P5 truss later connection to P6. They then went to the PMA-2 docking port at the Destiny module to complete installation of cables that allowed a docked Shuttle to get electrical power from the ISS solar arrays.
- 2007 Feb 8 - International Space Station Status Report #07-08
With all scheduled tasks accomplished, International Space Station Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Sunita Williams wound up a 6-hour, 40-minute spacewalk at 2:06 p.m. CST Thursday. It was the last in an unprecedented series of three U. S. spacewalks in nine days from the Quest airlock. Major tasks of this spacewalk included removing and jettisoning two large shrouds and installing an attachment for cargo carriers.
Lopez-Alegria and Williams moved from the airlock out to Crew Equipment Transfer Aid (CETA) carts on the rails of the main truss. Pushing one cart with their equipment, including a foot restraint, they moved to the Port 3 truss segment. Their first job was to remove two thermal shrouds, one from each of two Rotary Joint Motor Controllers (RJMC) on P3.
Next, they removed two large shrouds from P3 Bays 18 and 20. The shrouds, larger than king-size bed sheets, provide thermal shading. With the station in its present orientation, they are no longer needed and are being removed to avoid trapping heat.
Each large shroud was packed with one of the smaller RJMC shrouds into a package weighing about 20 pounds. Lopez-Alegria jettisoned them toward the rear of the station. Afterward, an Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Assembly Attachment System (UCCAS) on the upper face of the P3 truss was deployed. That was done in preparation for attachment of a cargo platform on the STS-118 mission to the ISS later this year.
While Lopez-Alegria finished work on the UCCAS, Williams moved to the end of the P5 truss to remove two launch locks in preparation for the relocation of the P6 truss to that segment.
The final scheduled task of the spacewalk was connecting the final four cables of the Station to Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS) to Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 (PMA-2) at the forward end of the Destiny laboratory where shuttles dock. The SSPTS will allow visiting shuttles to derive power from the station to extend their missions.
Work began on the system during the Jan. 31 spacewalk, and two of the cables were routed and connected to PMA-2 on the Feb. 4 spacewalk. The astronauts completed one get-ahead task to photograph a suspect connector on the outboard end of PMA-2. It carries station shuttle communications when the shuttle is docked but hatches are closed. Communications have been intermittent during recent shuttle missions.
Approximately 3 hours, 50 minutes into his ninth spacewalk, Lopez-Alegria set a record Thursday for cumulative spacewalk time by a U.S. astronaut. Jerry Ross previously held the title with 58 hours, 32 minutes accumulated during nine spacewalks. Lopez-Alegria completed the spacewalk with 61 hours, 22 minutes of spacewalking time.
The three spacewalks from the Quest airlock in U.S. spacesuits and a Russian spacewalk on Feb. 22 are the most ever done by station crew members during such a short period and will mark five spacewalks in all for Exp. 14, a record for any expedition. Starting from scratch, it takes crew members about 100 hours to prepare for a spacewalk. By doing the U.S. spacewalks just a few days apart, considerable crew time can be saved by not having to repeat some of the preparation.
Thursday's spacewalk was the 80th for station assembly and maintenance. It was the 52nd from the station and the 32nd from Quest. It was the fourth for Williams, the most for any woman.
During the final spacewalk on Feb. 22, Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will wear Russian Orlan suits to work on an antenna on the Progress 23 cargo ship docked at the aft port of the Zvezda service module. The antenna did not properly retract when that spacecraft docked in October. The spacewalkers will try to secure or remove the antenna to avoid any interference with the undocking of a Progress in April. The spacewalk will be the 10th for Lopez-Alegria, a new record for a U. S. astronaut.
- 2007 Feb 12 - International Space Station Status Report #07-09
An unexpected circuit breaker trip early Sunday caused a power outage on the International Space Station, but the safety of the Expedition 14 crew and the complex was never an issue. All systems were back up by Monday morning with no impact to operations on board. The first indications of a problem came with the loss of communications between the station and mission control just after midnight CST Sunday when an electrical switching unit experienced a brief malfunction that appropriately caused a breaker to trip, which protects the electrical system of the station much like a circuit breaker protects electrical systems and equipment in a home.
Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams – awake since mid evening Saturday – took immediate action and followed procedures on board to recover the communications link with mission control, Houston, at about 1:35 a.m. CST.
During the remainder of Sunday and through early Monday, restoration of systems continued. The systems affected included:
One of two redundant communications systems
One of four gyroscopes used to maintain the station’s position, or orientation
Several scientific facilities, including the freezer containing experiment samples
The Ku Band high data rate and television system
Several smoke detectors and various heaters that maintain a thermal balance of external components, including the robotic arm and its mobile base
None of these systems was permanently affected and the equipment’s temporary shut down did not impact research work or upcoming planned activities.
In addition to the recovery from the power outage, the crew also began early preparations for the next spacewalk by Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria. During that spacewalk scheduled for Feb. 22, the two will free a stuck antenna on the ISS Progress 23 supply craft and survey navigation systems for the European Automated Transfer Vehicle’s docking capability to the Zvezda Service Module. They will try to secure or remove the antenna to preclude any interference during undocking in April. The spacewalk will be the 10th for Lopez-Alegria, which will be a U. S. astronaut record. The two will wear Russian Orlan suits for the excursion out of the Pirs docking compartment.
- 2007 Feb 16 - International Space Station Status Report #07-10
Following Sunday’s unexpected circuit breaker trip and subsequent reset and repowering of affected equipment, the International Space Station had no further incidents. The Expedition 14 crew continued to focus on preparation for its final planned spacewalk ahead of Space Shuttle Atlantis’ arrival in March. As Atlantis was moved to the launch pad this week, station Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin conducted leak checks of the Russian Orlan spacesuits they will wear for their venture outside Feb. 22. They also installed some additional equipment on the suits, including lights that will assist in their tasks.
Today they verified the suits are in good condition by conducting telemetry and communications checks with flight controllers in Russia at the Mission Control Center in Korolev.
The spacewalk will be the fifth by the Expedition 14 crew – a record for ISS crews. It will be the fourth spacewalk conducted from the station in the past three weeks. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at approximately 4 a.m. CST and last six hours. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television beginning at 3 a.m. CST.
The spacewalkers will attempt to free a stuck antenna on the ISS Progress 23 cargo craft docked at the aft end of the station. They also will survey docking navigation systems for the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, a cargo craft planned to make its maiden voyage this summer.
Securing or removing the antenna will ensure it will not interfere with the Progress ship’s undocking in April. The spacewalk will be the 10th for Lopez-Alegria, a record for a U.S. astronaut.
Also this week, robotics ground controllers in Houston commanded the station's mobile transporter rail car to move to the starboard side of the station's truss in preparation for the arrival of Atlantis. Atlantis will bring a new, school bus-sized truss segment with a third set of U.S. solar arrays for the complex plus batteries and other electronics. The crew will spend Monday training on the operation of the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm from a work station inside the Destiny laboratory.
- 2007 Feb 22 - International Space Station Status Report #07-11
Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin retracted a stuck antenna on a cargo spacecraft during a 6-hour, 18-minute spacewalk that ended at 10:45 a.m. CST Thursday. On Oct. 26, the antenna did not properly retract when the Progress vehicle docked to the station's Zvezda Service Module. Moving the antenna was necessary to ensure it would not interfere with the Progress undocking in April.
Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin had planned to release the antenna latch with a punch and a hammer. When clearance issues prevented that, they cut struts supporting the antenna. That enabled them to partly retract the antenna and secure it with wire ties. They reported it had about six inches of clearance from Zvezda, adequate for undocking.
Early in the spacewalk, Tyurin had problems with his spacesuit's cooling system, which caused his visor to fog up. But he and Lopez-Alegria were able to complete a number of other tasks. They began the spacewalk by photographing a Russian satellite navigation antenna and changing out a Russian materials experiment. They also inspected and photographed an antenna for the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). The European cargo craft has more capacity than the Progress and is scheduled to make its first trip to the station later this year. The spacewalkers also photographed ATV docking targets.
They photographed a German robotics experiment, inspected, remated and photographed hardware connectors and inspected retention mechanisms and bolted joints on a hand-operated Strela crane that helps transport people and equipment outside Pirs. They also stowed two foot restraints on a ladder at Pirs before ending the spacewalk.
The spacewalk from the Pirs docking compartment was conducted in Russian Orlan spacesuits. It was the 81st for station assembly and maintenance, the 53rd from the station, the 20th from Pirs and the fifth for this station crew. This was the 10th spacewalk for Lopez-Alegria, a U.S. record, and the fifth for Tyurin.
- 2007 Mar 2 - International Space Station Status Report #07-12
The International Space Station's Expedition 14 crew continued work this week on scientific experiments, station maintenance and clean up following a Feb. 22 Russian spacewalk. An altitude reboost engine firing planned for Friday was postponed following the launch delay of Space Shuttle Atlantis earlier this week. The STS-117 mission had been targeted for liftoff on March 15, but was put on hold following a hail storm Monday resulting in damage requiring repair to the external fuel tank's foam.
Russian flight controllers now plan two engine firings on March 16 and 28 to increase the station's altitude, which will place the station in the desired orbit for arrival of a Soyuz spacecraft set to launch April 7. The Soyuz will bring Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov and spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi to the station. Docking to the station is April 9. Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin and Simonyi plan to land in Kazakhstan April 19.
Space station managers are reviewing the work planned aboard the station for the remaining weeks of Expedition 14 and for Expedition 15 in light of the shuttle launch delay. The review seeks to optimize use of the crews' time due to the shuttle's delay.
Thursday, the station crew was awakened briefly by a caution signal when the starboard Thermal Radiator Rotary Joint (TRRJ) experienced a dropout in commands from the Rotary Joint Motor Controller. The TRRJ automatically defaulted to another command link, and there was no impact to operations. Engineers are analyzing what may have caused the problem. The rotary joint turns the radiator to provide the best possible cooling.
Flight Engineer Suni Williams practiced on a laptop computer simulation Wednesday to maintain her skill in using the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm. She also joined her fellow crewmates in the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities experiment to gather hand-eye coordination data before, during and after their mission. TRAC Principal Investigator Dr. Otmar Bock of the German Sport University in Cologne, Germany, hopes to better understand how the brain adapts during spaceflight. The experiment will be performed during both Expedition 14 and Expedition 15.
- 2007 Mar 9 - International Space Station Status Report #07-13
Science and setup for assembly highlighted the week on board the International Space Station, where the Expedition 14 crew members performed experiments related to human adaptation to space and made preparations for upcoming additions to the orbiting outpost. Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams completed the last of the internal assembly tasks for the startup later this year of the new Oxygen Generation System (OGS) in the Destiny laboratory. The astronauts installed sound-deadening equipment and an electrical cable and reconnected a wastewater hose for the hardware that was delivered last summer on space shuttle mission STS-121. OGS, which will be required once the station crew size expands to six people, is slated for activation during Expedition 15. It will function initially as another backup to the Russian Elektron system.
Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin spent time this week in maintenance of systems in the Russian segment of the station and in long-range preparations for arrival of the first of the European Space Agency’s cargo-carrying Automated Transfer Vehicles. Tyurin set up equipment in the Zvezda module for a ground-operated test of the satellite navigation system to be used during autonomous docking of the ATV to the Zvezda module’s aft port. He also pressurized and stowed a spare liquids unit for the Elektron, which supplies oxygen for the station's crew, and installed a new liquid crystal display for the TORU system, the manual docking system for Progress unpiloted supply ships.
Expedition 14 crew members used their brains this week for scientific experiments. Lopez-Alegria and Williams conducted another session with the Anomalous Long-Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous System (ALTEA) experiment. It measures exposure to cosmic radiation.
For 90 minutes, each crew member wore an instrumented helmet containing six different particle detectors which measured radiation exposure, brain electrical activity and visual perception. ALTEA will further understanding of radiation impact on the human central nervous and visual systems, especially the phenomenon of crew members seeing flashes of light while in orbit.
Crew members also tested their hand-eye coordination during the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities, or TRAC, experiment. TRAC studies the theory that while the brain is adapting to space, it is unable to provide the resources necessary to perform normal motor skills such as hand-eye coordination.
They used a laptop and a joystick to control the position of a cursor, and a reaction time box to measure their response to audio and visual cues. Understanding how the brain adapts to microgravity could lead to improved procedures for activities requiring precise motor skills.
U.S. and Russian station officials reached agreement this week on a plan to have the Expedition 14 crew relocate the Soyuz TMA-9 craft on March 29 from the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module to the aft port of the Zvezda module. This will alleviate the next station resident crew from having to perform the maneuver to reach Zarya as its final destination for the Expedition 15 increment.
The ISS Progress 23 cargo ship currently docked to Zvezda, will be cast off on March 27 to make room for the Soyuz.
Both sides also agreed this week to conduct a reboost of the station on March 15 using the Progress 23 engines to place the station at the correct altitude for the launch of the Expedition 15 crew in the Soyuz TMA-10 capsule on April 7. They will dock to Zarya on April 9. The Expedition 14 crew will now return to Earth on April 20.
- 2007 Mar 16 - International Space Station Status Report #07-14
The Expedition 14 crew was busy this week moving trash into the ISS Progress 23, installing a new window and preparing for upcoming missions to the station. The new window was installed on Wednesday on the port side hatch of the Unity node. It is fitted with a berthing camera system that includes target markings on the outside of the hatch. This will help robotic operators align and dock the station’s new elements.
The window’s installation was part of the crew’s work to ready the station’s Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) for its relocation later this year to Unity’s Earth-facing port. This was the second hatch window installed by an Expedition crew. A similar window was installed by Expedition 6 crew members on Unity’s starboard hatch.
Additionally, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams temporarily relocated a “wall” of collapsible water bags to allow them access to PMA-3 and provide access to some of the station’s computer cables, allowing Williams and Lopez-Alegria to install new, upgraded cabling.
Lopez-Alegria and Williams emptied all the items stowed in PMA-3 except for a spare Bearing Motor and Roll Ring Module, which was tied down for the adapter’s robotic relocation later this year. The apparatus is used to help the solar arrays swivel, or gimbal, to point to the sun for the generation of electricity.
Additional work included preparations for the April 9 arrival of the Expedition 15 crew and U.S. spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi aboard Soyuz TMA-10. The ISS Progress 23 thrusters were fired on Thursday for 12 minutes, 32 seconds to lift the station into the correct orbit for rendezvous and docking of the Soyuz. This orbital boost also provided the correct trajectory for landing of the Expedition 14 crew members and Simonyi aboard Soyuz TMA-9 on April 20.
Other tasks included preparation for the March 29 relocation of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft from the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. As a result, the Soyuz TMA-10 will not need to perform the maneuver to reach Zarya as its final destination.
Also, the crew prepared for the undocking and discarding of the ISS Progress 23 cargo ship, the station’s giant trash can, on March 27.
To ready the station for the STS-117 mission, Williams began photography practice for space shuttle Atlantis' Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver. She and her new Expedition 15 crewmates will take photos of Atlantis’ heat shield as it performs the slow, 360-degree nose-forward back flip 600 feet below the station.
Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin this week completed photographic observations of Earth as part of the Russian “Uragan” Earth-imaging investigation, and monitored radiation inside the station for another set of experiments. He tracks data on three different experiments that monitor cosmic rays and background radiation.
Next week, Lopez-Alegria and Williams will conduct some of the work required to install the station’s new integrated station computer network. This new system is ten times faster than the station’s current local area network (LAN) system. It will use Ethernet connectivity over a router through either cable or wireless equipment, thus eliminating drag-through cables from the U.S. segment into the Russian segment. Installation of the LAN originally was planned for the Expedition 15 crew. However, the STS-117 launch delay prompted station managers to advance the LAN work to save time during Expedition 15.
- 2007 Mar 23 - International Space Station Status Report #07-15
The Expedition 14 crew continued work this week on scientific experiments and increased the bandwidth on the International Space Station's computer network. Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams spent time working with experiments that may hold the key to several aspects of long-duration space flight as NASA looks forward to missions back to the moon and on to Mars or other destinations.
Each served as test subject and operator for the Anomalous Long Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous System experiment that examines how cosmic radiation affects brain waves. As test subjects, they wore an electroencephalograph cap that records readings of their brain functions, and over that, a special helmet with Italian-designed instruments that records the amount and types of cosmic rays passing through the station. Since cosmic radiation is even more prevalent at greater distances from Earth, the research could lead to countermeasures important to the safety and productivity of future explorers.
Lopez-Alegria and Williams also worked with the Nutritional Status Assessment experiment tracking how their bodies process nutrients in space and how food supplies are affected by storage in that environment.
Additionally, Lopez-Alegria provided the final samples associated with the Renal Stone Risk during Spaceflight: Assessment and Countermeasure Validation investigation, which is looking at the space effectiveness of a drug used on Earth to prevent kidney stones.
Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin worked with three Russian experiments that monitor cosmic rays and background radiation as they relate to long-duration flights and documented the condition of the Earth below from the unique vantage point of the station.
The crew worked on an upgrade to the laptop computer network. The new, integrated station computer network will be 10 times faster than the current network, using Ethernet connectivity over a router and either cables or wireless equipment. This will eliminate drag-through cables from the U.S. segment into the Russian segment. The work was accelerated because of the STS-117 launch delay.
They also continued preparations for the undocking and discarding of the ISS Progress 23 cargo ship, which will be full of trash when it departs Tuesday, March 27. Russian flight controllers sent commands Friday that piped the last of the Progress 23 oxygen supplies into the station, and vented the Progress' propellant and oxidizer lines overboard to ensure a safe departure. The Progress is scheduled to undock at 1:11 p.m. CDT next Tuesday.
The station traffic schedule includes next Thursday's relocation of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft from the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. All three crew members will undock the Soyuz at 5:25 p.m. and redock at 5:53 p.m. This will make room for the arrival of the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft carrying the Expedition 15 crew and U.S. spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi. The new crew is scheduled to launch from the Baikanour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan April 7 at 12:31 p.m. and dock with the station April 9 at 2:15 p.m.
Following a week of joint operations, Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and Simonyi will climb into Soyuz TMA-9 and head for home April 20. They will leave Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov on board with Williams to start Expedition 15.
- 2007 Mar 29 - International Space Station Status Report #07-16
The Expedition 14 crew continued preparations for the April arrival of a new station crew by boarding their Soyuz TMA-9 craft and taking a 24-minute flight from one station docking port to another. Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin guided the Soyuz away from the Earth-facing port of the station's Zarya module and docked it to the aft port of the Zvezda module. The move frees the Zarya port for the arrival of the Expedition 15 crew aboard the Soyuz TMA-10, scheduled to dock to the station on April 9.
Tyurin undocked the Soyuz from Zarya at 5:30 p.m. CDT and redocked to the Zvezda port at 5:54 p.m. CDT as the station and the Soyuz flew 210 miles above the east coast of South America. Minutes later, hooks and latches engaged between the Soyuz' docking probe and Zvezda's docking port to attach the craft firmly to the station. During the time from undocking to redocking, the crew traveled about a third of the way around the world.
To prepare for Thursday's undocking and relocation, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Tyurin and Sunita Williams shut down key station systems and configured the complex for autonomous operations in the unlikely event they would not be able to redock.
Prior to undocking, Tyurin activated the Soyuz’ backup battery as a precaution when the prime spacecraft battery indicated a slightly lower voltage reading. It was quickly determined that the voltage drop was due to the activation of some Soyuz systems, and the prime battery soon returned to its normal voltage output.
Late Thursday into early Friday, the crew will open the hatch to the Soyuz, re-enter the station and reactivate systems for regular activity. Friday will be an off-duty day for the crew as they readjust their sleep cycles, which were changed to accommodate the Soyuz move.
Further preparation for the Soyuz relocation included the undocking and discarding of the ISS Progress 23 cargo craft from the aft Zvezda port on Tuesday, March 27, making room for the Soyuz to redock. That activity went smoothly; the ISS Progress undocked at 1:11 p.m. CDT and re-entered Earth's atmosphere at 5:44 p.m.
Additional work for the crew this week included a first for the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) experiment. The experiment uses 8-inch diameter spherical satellites that fly within the station cabin. The satellites test the basics of formation flight and autonomous docking that could be used in future spacecraft. The battery-powered satellites use carbon dioxide to fuel 12 thrusters as they fly in the cabin. During a weekend "Saturday Science" session, Williams conducted a SPHERES experiment run. This was the first time three satellites flew together in tests. Investigators for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, deemed the experiment highly successful.
Back on Earth, Expedition 15 cosmonauts Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, along with spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, prepared for their April 7 launch at the Baikonur Cosomodrome, Kazakhstan.
- 2007 Apr 6 - International Space Station Status Report #07-17
The Expedition 14 crew of the International Space Station was busy this week performing fitness evaluations, working on scientific experiments and preparing for the arrival of the Expedition 15 crew. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, Expedition 15 commander, and Oleg Kotov, Expedition 15 flight engineer, and spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan about 12:30 p.m. CDT Saturday. Their Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the station about 2:12 p.m. Monday.
The Expedition 14 crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, will return to Earth with Simonyi on April 20. In preparation for their departure, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin reviewed descent procedures.
Flight Engineer Suni Williams, who joined Expedition 14 in progress, will remain on the station as an Expedition 15 crew member for the first part of its increment. The two crews held a space-to-ground conference on Wednesday discussing upcoming mission activities.
On Monday, Lopez-Alegria set a new U.S. single-mission spaceflight record, passing the 196-day mark previously set by station crew members Dan Bursch and Carl Walz in 2001 and 2002.
The Expedition 14 crew performed periodic fitness evaluations this week. Additionally, they worked on a video tape recorder and on a faulty light of an ophthalmoscope that was used during a health check. They downloaded information from the Internal Wireless Instrumentation System, or IWIS, which monitors the health of the station's systems.
The crew continued scientific activities aboard the station. Williams tested a bacteria detection instrument developed by researchers at Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and industry partners. The device, Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System (LOCAD-PTS) is a portable bacteria detection system small enough to fit into a compact ice cooler. Four more sessions with LOCAD-PTS are planned for upcoming weekend science sessions.
Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin tested their hand-eye coordination by completing their sixth sessions with the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capability (TRAC) experiment. The experiment studies whether the decline of motor skills during spaceflight is a result of the brain adapting to space. The hand-eye coordination test is performed before, during and after the mission.
The crew also continued their work with the Anomalous Long-Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous System (ALTEA) experiment. Using an instrumented helmet, the experiment measures the cosmic radiation that passes through a crew member's head, brain activity and visual perception. The experiment should help researchers better understand what levels of cosmic radiation crew members are exposed to and develop countermeasures for future long-duration spaceflights.
- 2007 Apr 7 - International Space Station Status Report #07-18
Two cosmonauts and a space flight participant launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:31 p.m. CDT Saturday for a two-day flight to the International Space Station. Less than 10 minutes after launch their spacecraft reached orbit and its antennas and solar arrays deployed. The Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft is scheduled to dock at the station at a little after 2 p.m. Monday.
Once they arrive at the station, Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, Expedition 15 commander, and Oleg Kotov, Expedition 15 flight engineer, and spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, will be greeted by the station’s current crew, Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams.
Simonyi, flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency, will return to Earth on April 20 with Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin, who have been aboard the station since September 2006.
Williams, who has served as an Expedition 14 crew member since December, will remain on the station joining the Expedition 15 crew. She is scheduled to return home aboard space shuttle Endeavour this summer.
- 2007 Apr 9 - International Space Station Status Report #07-19
Two Expedition 15 cosmonauts and a spaceflight participant aboard a Soyuz spacecraft docked with the Earth-facing port on the International Space Station's Zarya module at 2:10 p.m. CDT Monday. After hatch opening, scheduled for a little before 4 p.m., Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, and Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, will be greeted by the station’s current crew, Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams.
Williams, who has served as an Expedition 14 crew member since December, will remain on the station providing Expedition 15 with an experienced flight engineer for the early part of its mission. She is scheduled to return home aboard space shuttle Endeavour this summer.
Yurchikhin is making his second flight into space. He was crew member on space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-112 mission to the station in October 2002. He holds a Ph.D. in economics and was named a cosmonaut-candidate in 1997. Kotov is making his first spaceflight. He graduated from the Moscow Medical Academy in 1988, and was named a cosmonaut-candidate in 1996.
Astronaut Clay Anderson is scheduled to replace Williams during Expedition 15. Two Expedition 16 crew members are expected to arrive next fall to replace Yurchikhin and Kotov.
Simonyi, flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency, will return to Earth on April 20 with Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin, who have been aboard the station since September 2006.
- 2007 Apr 13 - International Space Station Status Report #07-20
Two Expedition 15 cosmonauts spent much of the week in handover activities with their Expedition 14 predecessors. Their new crewmate, Sunita Williams who has been aboard the International Space Station for more than three months, also is helping them learn the ropes. E15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov arrived at the station Monday after a Saturday launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. With them on their Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft was Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman flying under a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.
Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are scheduled to return home in their Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft April 20. Simonyi will return with them after about 11 days on the orbiting laboratory.
Lopez-Alegria, who came to the station with Tyurin last September, continuously sets new U.S. single spaceflight duration records. Williams is likely to break Lopez-Alegria's record with her return tentatively planned for August after serving as an E15 crew member for the early part of that increment.
This week, in addition to handover, both crews got in their regular exercise sessions – especially important for Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin as their return to Earth approaches. Crews did required station maintenance and still managed to spend considerable time on science activities. Those activities began with time-critical transfer of several experiments from the newly arrived Soyuz to the station and station power.
Among experiments getting crew attention were Bioemulsion, a Russian effort to develop technology to produce microorganisms safely for bacterial, fermental and medical preparations. Tyurin worked with that experiment Tuesday.
On Wednesday Kotov set up the European Exhaled Nitric Oxide-2 experiment. It measures nitric oxide exhaled by spacewalkers before and after their excursions. The idea is to better understand the potential for decompression sickness.
Meanwhile, Tyurin worked with the Russian Pilot experiment. It is designed to measure during long-duration spaceflight changes in a crew member's ability to pilot a spacecraft.
On Thursday, Lopez-Alegria spent more than three hours resizing U.S. spacesuits for future users. The suits were the ones they used on an unprecedented series of three station spacewalks in a nine-day period beginning Jan. 31.
Throughout much of the week, beginning with the crew news conference on Tuesday, crew members took breaks to talk with news media representatives. U.S. organizations whose reporters interviewed them included ABC News, Space.com, CNN, and CBS.
- 2007 Apr 20 - International Space Station Status Report #07-21
The crew members aboard the International Space Station spent this week finalizing handover operations, conducting experiments and preparing for the departure of the Expedition 14 crew. E14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, accompanied by Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, will touch down in central Kazakhstan in their Soyuz spacecraft about 7:30 a.m. CDT Saturday, a day later than planned.
The primary landing site will be too wet for landing operations due to the spring thaw. The one-day delay in landing will allow for touchdown in a more southerly landing zone.
The landing will conclude a 215-day flight for Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin, and mark the longest single flight by an American astronaut. Live coverage of the landing operations will begin on NASA-TV Saturday at 12:30 a.m. for hatch closing, then will return at 3:45 a.m. for undocking, and resume at 6:15 a.m. monitoring the deorbit burn and landing.
Crew members held a ceremony Tuesday afternoon marking the change of command of the station from Lopez-Alegria to Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin. Yurchikhin and flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Suni Williams are now officially entrenched on board the station. Williams, who served as an Expedition 14 crew member since December, will provide Expedition 15 with an experienced flight engineer for the early part of its mission.
On Monday, Williams became the first person to run a marathon in space. Williams, an accomplished marathoner, was an official entrant in the Boston Marathon and ran the 26.2 mile race on a station treadmill in the Zvezda module, circling Earth at least twice in the process. Williams’ run coincided with the tens of thousands on the ground. She completed her marathon with an official time of 4:23:10.
Russian specialists are preparing plans to repair the Condensate Feed Unit in the Russian system that processes condensate recovered in the U.S. segment of the station into potable water. Since the unit failed over the weekend, the supply of drinking water has been decreasing faster than the replenishment rate. Even if they are unable to repair the unit, there is enough water already onboard to last until the ISS Progress 25 cargo vehicle docks in mid-May, providing a new supply of water.
For about 90 minutes, Lopez-Alegria completed his final session with the Anomalous Long-Term Effects in Astronauts' Center Nervous System (ALTEA) experiment, which investigates the phenomenon of crew members seeing flashes of light while in orbit. Using an instrumented helmet, the experiment measures the cosmic radiation that passes through a crew member's head, brain activity and visual perception. ALTEA should help researchers better understand what levels of cosmic radiation crew members are exposed to and develop countermeasures for future long-duration spaceflights.
Lopez-Alegria and Williams also worked on an Education Payload Operations activity linked to the International Polar Year. The crew members videotaped their Earth photography activities and their observations of sea ice and auroras. These images will later be used in NASA education videos sent to classrooms around the world.
Education Payload Operations include curriculum-based activities that demonstrate basic principles of science, mathematics, technology, engineering and geography. They are designed to support the NASA mission of inspiring the next generation of explorers.
- 2007 Apr 21 - International Space Station Status Report #07-22
The 14th crew of the International Space Station, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, along with spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi landed their Soyuz spacecraft in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 7:31 a.m. CDT Saturday. The Expedition 14 mission included many highlights during its seven-month duration, including the setting of several records. Lopez-Alegria completed five spacewalks, which gave him a total of 10 for his career. This set a U.S. record for not only number of spacewalks, but also cumulative spacewalk time, 57 hours, 40 minutes. He also set a U.S. record for a single spaceflight's duration with more than 215 days. This tops the 196-day mark, set by station crew members Dan Bursch and Carl Walz in 2001 and 2002.
During the mission Flight Engineer Sunita Williams set the record for number of space walks and total time spent on spacewalks by a woman. She participated in four space walks for a total of 29 hours and 17 minutes. Williams will remain on the station for the first part of Expedition 14.
Three of the crew's spacewalks were conducted over the course of nine days, an unprecedented schedule for a station crew. Starting from scratch, it takes about 100 crew-member hours to prepare for a spacewalk. By doing them a few days apart, considerable crew time can be saved by not having to repeat some of those preparatory steps.
Before closing the Soyuz-station hatches at 1:03 a.m. Saturday, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin said farewell to the Expedition 15 crew, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Williams. The new crew and Simonyi launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 7 and arrived at the station on April 9. Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, spent 12 days aboard the station under a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.
Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will now spend several weeks in Star City, near Moscow, for debriefing and medical examinations. Their return to Earth was originally scheduled for Friday, April 20, but was delayed due to wet ground conditions, which could have precluded helicopter operations. The one-day change allowed for landing farther to the south.
- 2007 Apr 21 - Landing of Soyuz TMA-9
- 2007 Apr 27 - International Space Station Status Report #07-23
The Expedition 15 crew aboard the International Space Station completed its first week of station orientation as the crew worked with experiments and hardware maintenance. Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Suni Williams began the week with a couple light duty days after the busy handover operations with the former crew. Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, accompanied by Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, returned to Earth on Saturday and are at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, for several weeks of post mission debriefing and rehabilitation.
Additionally this week, the station crew participated in several drills to maintain medical and emergency proficiency skills. Yurchikhin and Kotov began sessions throughout the first two weeks of their residence to orient themselves with the station’s operating systems. Williams, who served as an Expedition 14 crew member, is aiding Expedition 15 with their station orientation.
On Thursday, Williams was told that she will return to Earth aboard space shuttle Atlantis, targeted for launch June 8. That shuttle mission, STS-117, will carry astronaut Clay Anderson to the station to join Expedition 15 in progress. Their rotation was originally planned for STS-118, targeted for launch Aug. 8.
NASA managers approved the crew rotation after a more detailed review determined it would not impact station operations or future shuttle mission objectives. Since an earlier crew rotation was possible, they decided it would be prudent to return Williams and deliver Anderson sooner rather than later. Upon Williams' return, she will have accumulated more time in space than any other woman.
Williams spent some of her off-duty time completing additional test runs for the Capillary Flow Experiment. Capillary flow is the key process used to move fluids in a microgravity environment. It uses the low-gravity environment provided by the station to understand the special dynamics of capillary flow and will aid in the design of fluid transport systems on future spacecraft.
On Monday, Williams set up and activated cameras for the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students, or EarthKAM, education experiment. Middle school students program a digital camera on the station to photograph a variety of geographical targets from the unique vantage point of space. Undergraduate teams at the University of California at San Diego manage the images and post them on the Web for the public and participating classrooms around the world to view. Nearly 4,000 students from 66 schools in seven countries are participating in this run.
On Friday, Williams performed a series of test flights with small free-flying satellites for the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) experiment. The experiment uses 8-inch diameter spherical satellites that fly within the station cabin. The satellites test the basics of formation flight and autonomous docking that could be used in future spacecraft. The battery-powered satellites use carbon dioxide to fuel 12 thrusters as they fly in the cabin.
In addition to general station orientation, Yurchikhin and Kotov also performed maintenance work on life support hardware in the Russian segment. The water separator in the air conditioning system was replaced. The separator dispositions condensate water and air collected from the station’s atmosphere that forms through the air conditioner, maintaining optimum humidity levels onboard.
Flight controllers and mission managers test fired the two main engines on the Zvezda Service Module in a Wednesday reboost, raising the station’s altitude. It was the first time the engines had been fired since initial arrival of Zvezda in 2000. Another reboost using ISS Progress 24 engines is scheduled for Saturday in order to finish placing the station in its correct position for the arrival of the ISS Progress 25 cargo vehicle May 15 and the space shuttle Atlantis in June.
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