Bursch

Onufrienko

Walz

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ISS EO-4

5 December 2001 22:19 GMT. Landing Date: 2002-06-15 17:58:00 PM. Flight Time: 195.82 days. Alternate Name: STS-108 (Bursch, Onufrienko, Walz). Flight Up: STS-108. Flight Back: STS-111. Call Sign: Endeavour. Crew: Bursch, Onufrienko, Walz. Program: ISS. Three-person crew to operate the station and provide support during station replenishment and assembly missions Progress M1-7, Progress M1-8 and Space Shuttle missions 8A, UF2

The flight program consisted of the following main activities:

• Launch of ISS EO-4 crew on Space Shuttle mission UF1;
• Operational support for docking/undocking of Progress M1-7, Progress M1-8 and Space Shuttle missions 8A, UF2;
• Unloading Progress M1-8 and Space Shuttle;
• Continuing work on the Space Station deployment and maintaining it in good working order;
• Extravehicular activites - performing two EVAs on the ISS RS from Docking Compartment DC1 Pirs and four EVAs from Quest airlock on the USOS (Unity);
• Carrying out a program of scientific and engineering research and experiments for Rosaviakosmos, Japanese space agency NASDA and European Space Agency ESA - experiments Relaksatsia, Uragan, Molniya-SM, Diurez, Parodont, Farma, Cardio-ODNT, Biotest, Profilaktika, Prognos, Brados, Diatomeya, Meteoroid, Tenzor, Vektor-T, Izgib, Privyazka, Iskazheniye, Identifikatsia, Skorpion, Kromka, Platan, contract-based commercial activities GTS, MPAC&SEED, HDTV, Vzglyad, as well as humanitarian educational project such as Konstruktor, Kolibry.
• Carrying out work under the EP-3 space tourist mission;
• Handover to the ISS EO-5 crew and return of the ISS EO-4 crew to Earth on Space Shuttle mission UF2.

• 2001 Dec 5 - STS-108  Crew: Gorie, Kelly Mark, Godwin, Tani, Onufrienko, Bursch, Walz. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Payload: Endeavour F17 / Raffaello. Mass: 105,000 kg (231,000 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Duration: 11.82 days. Perigee: 353 km (219 mi). Apogee: 377 km (234 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.80 min.

  ISS Logistics flight, launch delayed from November 30 and December 4. Gorie, Kelley, Godwin, Tani, Onufrikeno, Bursch, Walz STS-108 flew the UF-1 Utilization Flight mission to the International Space Station. The UF designation distinguished this from earlier Station flights which were considered assembly flights. The shuttle would deliver the Expedition-4 crew of Onufrikeno, Bursch, and Walz to the station and return the Expedition-3 crew to earth. In addition to the crew swap, UF-1 brought supplies to the Station aboard the Raffaello module, and Godwin and Tani conducted a spacewalk to add thermal blankets to the gimbals on the Station's solar arrays. Endeavour reached an orbit of approximately 58 x 230 km (according to the NASA PAO) at 2228 GMT. At 2259 GMT it fired its OMS engines to raise perigee to 225 km. Mass after OMS-2 was 114,692 kg. Endeavour soft docked with the International Space Station at 2003 GMT on December 7. Problems with aligning the vehicles delayed hard dock until 20:51 GMT, and the hatch was opened at 22:43 GMT. The Raffaello module was unberthed from Endeavour at 1701 GMT on December 8 and berthed to the Unity module of the station at 1755 UTC.

  STS-108 cargo bay payload was dominated by the Raffaello (MPLM-2) logistics module with 4 RSP and 8 RSR resupply racks. Also in the cargo bay were the MACH-1 and LMC experiment trusses flown under the Goddard small payloads program. MACH-1 was an MPESS-type Hitchhiker bridge carrying the CAPL-3 capillary thermal control experiment on top. On its forward side was the Starshine-2 launch canister, the CAPL-3 avionics plate, the Hitchhiker avionics plate, and the SEM-15 canister. On the aft side was the G-761 canister containing experiments from Argentina, the PSRD synchrotron detector (a prototype for the AMS antimatter experiment which will fly on Station later), and the COLLIDE-2 and SEM-11 canisters. The SEM (Space Experiment Modules) are collections of high school experiments. LMC, the Lightweight MPESS Carrier carried four canisters with materials science and technology experiments: SEM-12, G-785, G-064 and G-730. In addition, an adapter beam on the starboard sidewall carried G-221 and G-775, with materials science and biology experiments.

  Raffaello was transferred back to the Shuttle payload bay on December 14. Endeavour undocked from the Station at 17:28 UTC on December 15 and made a half loop around the station before making a small separation burn at 1822 UTC. The Starshine-2 reflector satellite was ejected from the MACH-1 bridge in Endeavour's payload bay at 1502 UTC on December 16. Endeavour landed on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 1755 UTC on December 17. The Expedition 3 crew of Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin returned to Earth aboard Endeavour, leaving the Expedition 4 crew of Onufrienko, Bursch and Walz in charge of the Station.

• 2001 Dec 5 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #01 

  Endeavour lifted off this afternoon on the final space shuttle mission of 2001, and, after a flawless climb to orbit, it is now on its way to deliver a fresh crew to the International Space Station and return home a crew that has spent four months in space.

  The station was about 250 statute miles above the central Indian Ocean as Endeavour rocketed away from Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center, FL, on time at 4:19 p.m. CST. Endeavour will close in on the station for the next two days and dock with the complex on Friday to begin a week-long stay.

  Endeavour is commanded by Dom Gorie with Mark Kelly serving as pilot. Mission Specialists are Linda Godwin and Dan Tani. Also aboard Endeavour are station Expedition Four crew members Commander Yuri Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, who are beginning more than five months in orbit.

  Endeavour will bring home the Expedition Three station crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, who have been aboard the station since mid-August. In addition to the new crew, Endeavour is carrying more than three tons of food, supplies and equipment in the Raffaello logistics module to the orbiting outpost.

  Endeavour's crew will spend the next few hours unpacking equipment, setting up computers and conducting the first of periodic engine firings that will occur over the next two days to refine the shuttle's approach to the station. The shuttle crew will begin a sleep period at 11:19 p.m. CST and will be awakened at 7:19 a.m. CST Thursday. On Thursday, Endeavour's crew will check out the shuttle's equipment and systems that will be needed for Friday's final approach and docking to the International Space Station. Docking is planned for just after 2 p.m. CST Friday. On Saturday, the Raffaello module will be lifted from the shuttle payload bay using Endeavour's robotic arm and attached to a station berthing port to be unloaded. Godwin and Tani are planned to conduct a four-hour space walk on Monday to install insulation around two solar array rotation mechanisms. Raffaello will be returned to the shuttle payload bay later in the mission and brought back to Earth.

  In addition to a new station crew and supplies, Endeavour is carrying a host of scientific investigations, including experiments from space agencies, schools and universities across the United States, Europe and South America as well as a small satellite that has involved more than 25,000 students in 26 countries.

• 2001 Dec 6 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #02 

  The seven crewmembers aboard the space shuttle Endeavour were awakened at 7:19 a.m. CST today to begin their first full day in space.

  The crew, Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko, Flight Engineer Carl Walz and Flight Engineer Dan Bursch, was awakened by the song "Soul Spirit" and "Put a Little Love in Your Life," sung by Bursch's daughter and her second-grade classmates.

  The crew will spend the day preparing shuttle systems for docking with the International Space Station, which is scheduled for about 2 p.m. CST Friday. Preparations include powering up the shuttle's robotic arm and checking out the airlock and the space suits that will be used on Monday's planned four-hour spacewalk by Godwin and Tani to place thermal blankets on the motors that rotate the solar arrays atop the P6 truss.

  In addition to performing the spacewalk, other activities during the mission include a crew exchange on board the space station Saturday and the transfer of more than three tons of cargo. The cargo, housed in the Raffaello logistics module that will be attached to the Unity module, includes food, supplies and equipment that the Expedition Four Crew will use during its stay on the station. The Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin have been living aboard the space station since mid-August and will return home on Endeavour.

  Also on board Endeavour is a host of scientific investigations, including experiments from other space agencies, schools and universities across the United States, Europe and South America. Two experiments located in the Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1) in the shuttle payload bay had already completed 15% and 10% of their mission objectives by the time the crew went to sleep last night. Those experiments are the Capillary Pumped Loop Experiment (CAPL) and the Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector (PSRD) respectively. The CAPL demonstrates a multiple evaporator capillary pumped loop system and the PSRD measures cosmic ray background data.

• 2001 Dec 6 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #03 

  Endeavour's crew spent its first full day in space today preparing for the major events to come: docking with the International Space Station on Friday; latching a cargo module to the station on Saturday; and conducting a space walk on Monday.

  Endeavour Commander Dom Gorie and Pilot Mark Kelly fired the shuttle's steering engines and jets twice today to adjust course toward the station. Gorie and Kelly also checked out the rendezvous systems and navigation aids Endeavour will require for its final approach to the orbiting complex, finding everything in good shape. Later, Kelly, assisted by Mission Specialist Linda Godwin, powered up the shuttle's robotic arm to check its operation and to use its television cameras to survey the Raffaello cargo module and experiments housed in Endeavour's payload bay. On Saturday, the robotic arm will be used by Kelly to attach Raffaello to a station berthing port so that more than three tons of food, supplies and experiments it holds can be moved aboard the complex.

  Godwin and Mission Specialist Dan Tani also powered up and tested the space suits they will wear for a four-hour space walk on Monday, finding all the equipment in good condition. Godwin and Tani will install extra insulation on mechanisms that rotate the station's solar arrays during the excursion. Also today, Godwin powered up Endeavour's docking mechanism and extended it into position to await contact with the station. The Expedition Four crew members aboard Endeavour, en route to begin an almost six-month mission aboard the station, assisted the shuttle crew today with preparations and worked with several secondary scientific investigations.

  All crew members on the shuttle had a few hours off-duty this evening, providing a short break in advance of what will be a busy week docked with the International Space Station. Endeavour is scheduled to dock at the station at about 1:59 p.m. CST Friday. The final phase of the approach begins with an engine firing by Endeavour at about 11:44 a.m. CST, when the shuttle is some nine miles behind the complex. Gorie will take over manual control of Endeavour's approach just after 1 p.m. CST, when Endeavour moves within a half-mile underneath the station. Gorie will fly the shuttle closer, maneuvering a quarter-circle around the station to dock at the complex's front port. Hatches will be opened between the two spacecraft and the crews will greet one another around 4 p.m. CST.

  Meanwhile, aboard the station today, the Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, spent their final solo day in flight packing for the trip home. The station crew, completing more than four months in space, also continued to unload a Russian cargo supply craft that docked to the station last week.

  Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST and awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST on Friday. Endeavour is now about 3,500 statute miles behind the station, closing in 260 miles with each orbit of Earth.

• 2001 Dec 7 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #04 

  As Endeavour continues its pursuit of the International Space Station, the seven astronauts and cosmonauts on board were awakened at 6:21 a.m. today to prepare for a busy day as they close the final 765 miles between the two vehicles in anticipation of a docking just before 2 p.m. CST today. Endeavour and the ISS are to link up off the British coast, southwest of Cardiff, Wales.

  Endeavour's crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch - will quickly move into their final rendezvous activities today, bringing the shuttle to a position about 9 ½ miles behind the International Space Station about 11:44 a.m. today.

  From that position behind the station, Gorie and Kelly will command Endeavour 's jets in a final major rendezvous maneuver to begin the final phase of the approach for docking. Endeavour will close the final miles to the station during the next orbit of the Earth, about 90 minutes.

  As Endeavour approaches the station, the on-board rendezvous radar system will begin tracking the station providing distance and closing rate information to the crew. During the approach, the shuttle can perform up to four, small mid-course corrections at regular intervals. Just after the fourth burn, Endeavour will be about one-half mile below the station. Gorie will take over manual control of the approach, slowing Endeavour's approach and maneuvering to a point about 600 feet directly beneath the station. There he will begin a quarter-circle of the station, slowly moving to a position in front of the complex, in line with its direction of travel.

  Once Endeavour has firmly docked to the station, and required leak checks are complete, the hatches between the spacecraft will open around 4 p.m. allowing Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin to greet their newest guests.

  Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin began their formal residency on the station on August 13 as their custom-made Soyuz seat liners were installed on the Soyuz return vehicle. Their residency will officially end once those seat liners are transferred to Endeavour and the Expedition Four crew's seat liners are installed in the Soyuz on Saturday.

• 2001 Dec 7 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #05 

  A new trio of residents arrived at the International Space Station this afternoon as the shuttle Endeavour docked to the orbital outpost.

  With the new Expedition Four station crew of Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch looking on from Endeavour's flight deck, shuttle Commander Dom Gorie brought Endeavour to a gentle linkup with the ISS at 2:03 p.m. CST as the two craft sailed over England. Within minutes, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani began to conduct post-docking checks of the mechanical interface between Endeavour and the station's Destiny Laboratory prior to the opening of the hatches on the two vehicles. At first, the shuttle's docking ring and the docking mechanism on the ISS did not align properly, but after allowing the two craft to dampen their relative motion against one another, the vehicles were hard mated for a week of joint operations by the ten crewmembers.

  On board the ISS in their 119th day in space and their 116th day aboard the station, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin watched as their replacements arrived for the start of more than five months of orbital duty. The only other visitors for the Expedition Three crew during its increment arrived on the ISS in October to deliver a new Soyuz return vehicle.

  The hatches were opened between Endeavour and the ISS' Destiny Laboratory at 4:42 p.m. CST, enabling the ten crewmembers to greet one another. Onufrienko, Walz and Bursch will officially take over command of the ISS Saturday afternoon from Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin after transferring custom made Soyuz seatliners and conducting leak checks to their spacesuits.

  The crews now begin a busy week of handing over station responsibilities and unloading tons of supplies brought to the complex by Endeavour. Saturday's activities will be highlighted by Kelly's use of the shuttle's robotic arm to hoist the Italian-built Raffaello logistics module from Endeavour's payload bay and attach it to a station berthing port. Raffaello will stay attached to the station for most of the week while it is unloaded. The crews will begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST today and awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST on Saturday.

• 2001 Dec 8 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #06 

  The crews aboard Endeavour and International Space Station awoke this morning to begin their first full day of joint operations following yesterday's docking between the two vehicles.

  Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Linda Godwin will work together to remove the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module from Endeavour's payload bay and attach it to the Unity node of the International Space Station. Over the course of about three hours, Kelly will use the shuttle's robotic arm to gently lift Raffaello from the payload bay and maneuver it into place, securing it to the Earth-facing berthing port on the Unity module about 12:39 p.m. CST today.

  As Kelly works to install the Raffaello module, the formal exchange of space station crews will occur as the Expedition Three crew - Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov, and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin - and the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, exchange their customized seat liners in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. As each Expedition Four crew member's seatliner is installed in the Soyuz and checked out, he officially becomes a resident of the space station with the Expedition Three crew member moving over to become a member of the Endeavour crew. Handover briefings between the crews will continue throughout docked operations.

  Mission Specialist Dan Tani will focus his attention on transferring equipment from Endeavour to the space station while Commander Dom Gorie tends to vehicle operations.

  The three commanders onboard - Gorie, Culbertson and Onufrienko - along with Endeavour's Pilot Kelly will participate in media interviews at 3:44 p.m. CST. MSNBC, CBS News and WAGT-TV in Augusta, Georgia will have the opportunity to interview the crewmembers in the station's Destiny laboratory.

  Two payload bay experiments located in the Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1) facility have already completed 50% and 76% of their mission objectives. Those experiments are the Capillary Pumped Loop Experiment (CAPL) and the Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector (PSRD) respectively. The CAPL demonstrates a multiple evaporator capillary pumped loop system and the PSRD measures cosmic ray background data.

• 2001 Dec 8 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #07 

  The Expedition Three crew - Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin - officially ended their 117-day residency on board the International Space Station today as their custom Soyuz seatliners were transferred to Endeavour for the return trip home.

  The transfer of the Expedition Four seatliners to the Soyuz return vehicle attached to the station marked the official exchange of crews. Culbertson reported that his crew had completed the exchange and that Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch had become official station residents at 4:11 p.m. CST. Handover briefings between the two crews will continue for the duration of docked operations.

  While the crew exchange was under way, aboard Endeavour Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Linda Godwin used the shuttle's robotic arm to lift the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module from the shuttle payload bay and attach it to a berth on the station's Unity node. Raffaello was removed from the payload bay at 11:01 a.m. CST and secured in place on the station at 11:55 a.m. CST. The hatch to Raffaello was opened and the crews began unloading the cargo module just before 7:30 p.m. CST. Over the course of the next several days, the crews will work together to transfer approximately three tons of food and supplies from Raffaello to the station.

  The crews will begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST and awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST Sunday. Sunday's work will focus on unloading Raffaello, continuing an exchange of information between the two station crews and some preparatory work for a space walk planned to take place Monday by shuttle astronauts Godwin and Dan Tani. Endeavour and the International Space Station remain in excellent condition with no significant systems problems of concern to Mission Control.

• 2001 Dec 9 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #08 

  Waking up to the patriotic tune of "It's A Grand Ole' Flag" performed by the Fire Department of New York Emerald Society Pipes & Drums, Endeavour's crew was awakened at 6:14 a.m. CST today. The Expedition Four crew on board the International Space Station was awakened about a half hour later by a wake-up tone on board.

  A New York firefighter presented Pilot Mark Kelly with today's wake-up music when Kelly visited the World Trade Center site with former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin shortly after the September 11 attacks. All the astronauts and cosmonauts on board Endeavour and the International Space Station will take time today to remember the victims, their families and rescue workers in a special message from space, at 4:24 p.m. CST today.

  Commander Dom Gorie, Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch will all gather in the Destiny laboratory aboard the station to display a U.S. flag and take a moment to honor the victim's families and survivors of the attacks.

  Coordinated through the "Flags for Heroes and Families" campaign, which was initiated by Former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, several American flags are being flown aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. Those flags include 6,000 small U.S. flags, one U.S. flag that was recovered from the debris of the World Trade Center, a Marine Corps flag that was retrieved from the Pentagon, and an American flag from the State of Pennsylvania. Also onboard, is a large New York Fire Department flag, 23 replica New York Police Department shields, and 91 New York Police Department patches. Those items are stowed away in the shuttle and will be distributed upon Endeavour's return to Earth.

  The crew's activities today will focus on continuing transfer of several hundred pounds of equipment and supplies from the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module that was attached to the station yesterday. Transfer of equipment, supplies and experiments to and from the shuttle mid deck is already complete. Today, Godwin and Tani will also check out and prepare the tools they will use for Monday's scheduled spacewalk.

• 2001 Dec 9 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #09 

  The 10 astronauts and cosmonauts in orbit took a break from the transfer of supplies, experiments and equipment to and from the Space Shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station today to pay tribute to the heroes of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

  Aboard Endeavour are 6,000 small United States flags that will be distributed to heroes and families of the victims of the attacks after the shuttle returns to Earth. Also aboard are a U.S. flag that was found at the World Trade Center site after the attacks, a U.S. flag that has flown above the Pennsylvania state capitol, a U.S. Marine Corps Colors flag from the Pentagon, a New York Fire Department flag, and a poster that includes photographs of firefighters lost in the attacks.

  Shuttle Commander Dom Gorie said the flag carried aboard Endeavour which came from the World Trade Center elicited especially poignant thoughts among the crew.

  "This was found among the rubble and it has a few tears in it. You can still smell the ashes. It is a tremendous symbol of our country," Gorie said. "Just like our country, it was a little battered and bruised and torn, but with a little bit of repair it is going to fly as high and as beautiful as it ever did. And that is just what our country is doing."

  International Space Station Expedition 3 Commander Frank Culbertson and his crew -- cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin -- were in orbit Sept. 11 and will be on their way home to Earth when Endeavour departs the station next week. The space station flew above New York the morning of Sept. 11, and the crew could see evidence of the attacks out the windows.

  "That was quite a disturbing sight, as you might imagine, to see my country under attack," Culbertson said. "All of us were affected by that day greatly.

  "To all of those who lost loved ones, to all of those who worked so hard to help people survive, and to the people who are trying so hard to stop this threat, we wish you the best. We have thought about you often over the last three months that we've been here ... and we will continue to keep you in our thoughts," Culbertson added. "We will continue, I hope, to set a good example of how people can accomplish incredible things when they have the right goals. We will continue to think of how we can improve peace around the world and how we can improve knowledge, and hopefully that will bring people together."

  While the unloading of almost three tons of new food, supplies and experiments continued today, Culbertson's crew also conducted a handover of station work to the oncoming Expedition Four crew -- Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz. Also today, Endeavour fired its steering jets gradually over the course of an hour to increase the station's altitude by about two statute miles, the first of three similar reboost maneuvers planned for this week's mission.

  The hatches were closed between the shuttle and the station, with only the Expedition Four crew remaining aboard the station, at about 6:43 p.m. CST today in preparation for a space walk planned from the shuttle on Monday. Closing the hatch allows the cabin pressure on the shuttle to be lowered slightly, part of a protocol that protects space walkers from decompression sickness when they go to the low pressure, pure oxygen space suits.

  Astronauts Linda Godwin and Dan Tani are scheduled to exit the shuttle airlock at 11:24 a.m. CST Monday to begin four hours of work outside to add insulation to mechanisms that rotate the station's solar arrays. After the space walk is completed Monday afternoon, the hatches between Endeavour and the station will be reopened.

  The crews begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. today and awaken at 6:19 a.m. on Monday.

• 2001 Dec 10 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #10 

  The crew aboard the space shuttle Endeavour was awakened at 6:12 a.m. CST this morning to the sound of "Jumpin' at the Woodside," performed by Mission Specialist Linda Godwin's own band, Brass, Rhythm and Reeds. Godwin plays tenor sax in this 18-piece big band recording.

  The focus of activities aboard Endeavour today will be on the planned four-hour spacewalk to be conducted by Godwin and Dan Tani. Godwin and Tani will exit the shuttle's airlock about 11:24 a.m. and will be carried about half way up the truss of the space station by the shuttle's robotic arm, operated by Pilot Mark Kelly. Commander Dom Gorie will coordinate efforts as the two spacewalkers maneuver hand-over-hand to their worksite location at the top of the P6 truss, some 80 feet above Endeavour's cargo bay.

  The prime objective of the spacewalk is to place insulating blankets on the two Beta Gimbal Assemblies (BGA) that control the rotation of the solar arrays as they track the sun. The thermal blankets will protect the BGAs from temperature variances experienced in space, which has been leading to current spikes from the motors inside the BGAs. Once that task is complete, the spacewalkers will perform some get-ahead-tasks including retrieving tools from an outside pouch and bringing them inside for use during a spacewalk on the next mission to the space station early next year.

  With hatches between the two spacecraft closed for today's space walk, the Expedition Four Crew, Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz will continue transferring equipment and supplies from the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station. This is the crewmembers' first day alone on the space station after exchanging places with the Expedition Three Crew, Commander Frank Culberston, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, on Saturday.

• 2001 Dec 10 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #11 

  Endeavour astronauts Linda Godwin and Dan Tani completed a four-hour, 12-minute space walk today to install insulation on mechanisms that rotate the International Space Station's main solar arrays.

  The space walk went smoothly as Godwin and Tani installed insulation around the two barrel-shaped devices atop the station's five-story tall truss structure. The space walkers also attempted to secure one of four legs that brace the starboard station array, but they were unable to close the latch, which has been open since the array was installed a year ago. The other legs have always been latched securely and are sufficient.

  On their way down from the top of the station, the two space walkers stopped at a stowage bin to retrieve a cover which had been removed from a station antenna during an earlier flight. The cover will be brought back to Earth and may be reused. Godwin and Tani also performed a "get-ahead" task, positioning two switches on the station's exterior to be installed on an upcoming shuttle mission, STS-110, that will deliver a central, 40-foot long truss section this spring. Godwin and Tani left Endeavour's airlock at 11:52 a.m. CST as the shuttle and station flew above the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America. They ended the space walk at 4:04 p.m. CST.

  Meanwhile, aboard the station, the Expedition Four crew -- Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz -- continued moving supplies to and from the Raffaello logistics module, now more than 70 percent unloaded. So far, at least 3,500 pounds of food and supplies have been moved from Raffaello to the station and another 1,000 pounds of gear and experiments have been moved to the station from Endeavour's cabin. The hatches between Endeavour and the station, closed late yesterday to prepare for today's space walk, were reopened just before 6 p.m. CST.

  Today's space walk completes a record year with 18 space walks conducted: 12 originating from the shuttle and six from the station. That number eclipses the previous records for most space walks performed in a single year, a tie between the years 1973, when nine space walks were conducted from the Skylab space station, and 1997, when nine space walks were conducted from the shuttle and from the Russian Mir space station combined. The space walking record set this year is expected to be broken again next year -- in 2002, 22 space walks are planned from the shuttle and station.

  The crews will begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST and Endeavour's crew will awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST Tuesday with the station crew awakening a half-hour later.

• 2001 Dec 11 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #12 

  The song "Let There Be Peace on Earth," performed by Vince and Jenny Gill, awakened Endeavour's crew this morning at 6:19 a.m. CST. The song was played for Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson from his wife for his years of dedicated pursuit of peace on Earth through service to his country, and in tribute to a special anniversary today.

  Shortly after the crews onboard Endeavour and the International Space Station were awakened, they prepared to take a moment to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the attacks on America on September 11, as part of President Bush's "Anthems of Remembrance" event. The event will take place at 7:46 a.m. CST, the exact moment of the attack three months ago.

  The United States and Russian national anthems will be played in the shuttle and station flight control rooms in Mission Control and aboard the shuttle and the space station. The three commanders aboard the two spacecraft - Shuttle Commander Dom Gorie, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, and Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko, will share their personal thoughts as well as play a special pre-recorded message from the rest of the crew currently in orbit.

  Onufrienko, along with Expedition Three crew members Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin, will take time today to talk with Russian media located at the mission control center outside Moscow in an interview scheduled to begin at 9:24 a.m. Later in the day, the full crews - Gorie, Onufrienko, Culbertson, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, Expedition Four flight engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, along with Dezhurov and Tyurin - will have an opportunity to talk with American news media during a crew news conference scheduled for 2:04 p.m.

  A ceremony to mark the change of command from Culbertson to Onufrienko will take place at 2:48 p.m. today. Culbertson, in his 123rd day in space, will ceremoniously pass command of the space station on to Onufrienko, its newest commander. The official crew exchange occurred Saturday, December 8 with the transfer of Soyuz seatliners for each crew member. Today's event continues the tradition begun by Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd in March of this year, when he relinquished command of the ISS to Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev.

  The crews will also continue transferring equipment and supplies from the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the space station for later use by the Expedition Four Crew. About 4,000 pounds of cargo has already been transferred from Raffaello to the station.

• 2001 Dec 11 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #13 

  The United States astronauts and Russian cosmonauts aboard the shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station paused this morning to remember and honor the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, as did many Americans across the country and citizens of nations around the world.

  Joined by flight controllers in Mission Control, the crews observed the playing of the U.S. and Russian national anthems at 7:46 a.m. CST, the three-month anniversary of the first impact at the World Trade Center.

  "In stark contrast to the international cooperation and unity in our effort to take mankind literally to the stars, we are reminded of our loss and sorrow due to the acts of violence and terror in an unprecedented attack on freedom, democracy and civilization itself," STS-108 Lead Flight Director Wayne Hale told the crews from Mission Control. "More than 3,000 people perished this day three months ago, including more than 200 citizens from countries that are family members of the International Space Station program -- Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Japan and Russia."

  Caps honoring the New York Police Department, New York Fire Department, New York Port Authority and New York Office of Emergency Management are being displayed in Mission Control. Aboard Endeavour are U.S. flags that will be distributed to heroes and family members of victims of the attacks when the shuttle returns to Earth. Also on the shuttle are several other commemorative items, including a U.S. flag found at the World Trade Center site after the attacks.

  The shuttle crew found out this morning that it will spend an extra day in space as mission managers extended Endeavour's flight to a duration of 12 days. Landing is now scheduled for Monday. The extra day will allow Endeavour's crew to assist with additional maintenance tasks on the station, including work on a treadmill and air conditioner.

  The crews' work today focused on the continued transfer of equipment and supplies to and from the station. So far, more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments have been moved to the station from Endeavour and the Raffaello cargo module. The transferred items have included more than 850 pounds of food, 1,000 pounds of clothing and other crew provisions, 300 pounds of experiments and associated equipment, 800 pounds of space walking gear, and 600 pounds of medical equipment. Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST tonight and awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST Wednesday, a day that will continue the packing and unpacking onboard and include the station treadmill maintenance work.

• 2001 Dec 12 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #14 

  Activities on board Endeavour and the International Space Station today will focus on continuing transfer of hardware, equipment and supplies between the two spacecraft as well as hardware maintenance and continuing handover briefings between the Expedition Three and Four crews.

  Flight Day 8 for Endeavour's crew began with a wake-up call from Mission Control offering a rendition of "Fly me to the Moon", sung by Oliver "Ollie" O'Regin for Dan Tani.

  The astronauts and cosmonauts have transferred more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and material from Endeavour's middeck, and the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station. Today, the crews will focus on packing up the Raffaello module with items bound for a return trip to Earth. Raffaello will be detached from the Unity module of the station onFriday and reberthed in Endeavour's cargo bay for its ride home.

  With a one-day extension to the mission, Endeavour's crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Tani - will spend today assisting the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Expedition Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - with maintenance tasks on board the station, including the replacement of some of the components of the on-board treadmill. Tomorrow, the crew will replace a failed compressor in one of the air conditioners in the Zvezda Service Module. As the Expedition Three crew - Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin - prepare for a return to Earth on Monday, they continue a series of handover briefings to acquaint the newest resident crew with their orbital home.

  Endeavour is currently scheduled to undock from the ISS on Saturday morning, with landing planned for early Monday afternoon at the Kennedy Space Center.

• 2001 Dec 12 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #15 

  Having almost completed unpacking three tons of supplies brought from Earth aboard Endeavour and the Raffaello cargo module, the station and shuttle crews today turned their focus to packing up the cargo carrier and shuttle for the trip home.

  When the day began, the crews had already completed unloading more than 4,600 pounds of food, clothes, supplies and equipment from Raffaello, about 95 percent of the module's total cargo. They also had completed moving the 1,000 pounds of station gear and experiments that were launched in Endeavour's cabin to the orbiting complex.

  In repacking the cargo module and Endeavour with unneeded equipment bound for Earth, the crews have loaded more than 1,800 pounds of material into Raffaello, almost half the amount expected by the time the packing is completed. Packing of Raffaello and Endeavour will continue on Thursday. On Friday, Raffaello will be detached from the station and moved back into Endeavour's payload bay for the trip home.

  In addition, Endeavour's crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, and offgoing station crew members Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin - assisted the new station Expedition Four crew in replacing most components of a station treadmill today. Expedition Four - Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - will use the new treadmill almost daily during their five and a half months aboard the station. The job went smoothly and the crews finished several hours ahead of schedule, loading the old treadmill parts into Raffaello to be refurbished on Earth and, eventually, reused. A third and final scheduled reboost of the station by Endeavour also was completed today. The three boosts performed during the mission, each accomplished by a gradual, hour-long periodic firing of the shuttle steering jets, have raised the station's altitude by a total of almost 9 statute miles. The station's average altitude is now about 241 statute miles.

  On Thursday, the crews will continue maintenance work as well as packing, replacing a faulty compressor in a Russian air conditioner on the station. Although the new crew officially took over aboard the station on Saturday, a formal handover ceremony also is planned for the two station crews at 2:04 p.m. CST Thursday.

  The crews begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST today and awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST Thursday.

• 2001 Dec 13 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #16 

  The crew onboard Endeavour was awakened at 7:17 a.m. CST this morning by the song "Here Comes the Sun", in memory of former Beatle George Harrison, who recently died of cancer. The instrumental was from the IMAX movie, "Everest". The song was played for the Expedition Three Crewmembers, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. The crew was allowed to sleep in for an extra hour with a relatively light day of activities in store.

  Today's agenda for the shuttle crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, and Mission Specialists Dan Tani and Linda Godwin - will focus on packing up the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics module with unneeded equipment and supplies for the return flight home. Raffaello will be detached from the Unity module of the International Space Station tomorrow and reberthed in Endeavour's cargo bay for its ride back to Earth. Endeavour is currently scheduled to undock from the station on Saturday morning, with landing planned for early Monday afternoon at the Kennedy Space Center.

  The Expedition Three crew will also continue handover activities with the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz.

  A ceremony to mark the change of command from Culbertson to Onufrienko will take place at 3:09 p.m. CST. Culbertson, in his 125th day in space, will formally hand command of the space station on to Onufrienko, it's newest commander. The official crew exchange occurred Saturday, December 8 with the transfer of Soyuz seatliners for each crew member. Today's event continues the tradition begun by Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd in March of this year, when he relinquished command of the ISS to Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev.

  With the crew completing the stowage of Raffaello for the trip home, work to replace a faulty compressor in an air conditioner unit in the Zvezda Service Module was deferred until tomorrow morning, concurrent with the closing of the hatch to the Raffaello module prior to its detachment from the ISS.

• 2001 Dec 13 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #17 

  The crews of Endeavour and the International Space Station continued packing the Italian-built Raffaello cargo module and the shuttle for the trip home today as the new station crew began to settle in aboard the complex for a five and a half-month stay.

  The crew has already unloaded almost three tons of station food, clothes, experiments and other gear that was launched aboard Endeavour and Raffaello. Early today, the crews had also completed more than 70 percent of the repacking of Raffaello for the trip home, loading the cargo module with trash and gear from the offgoing station crew's mission such as individualized Soyuz space suits and seat liners.

  The 10 astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the shuttle-station complex gathered this afternoon in the station's Destiny Laboratory for a formal change of command ceremony as Expedition Three ends and Expedition Four begins. The new crew officially took over duties aboard the station on Saturday. Expedition Three -- Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin -- spent 117 days as the station crew. Expedition Four -- Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz -- will remain aboard the complex until May 2002.

  On Friday, the crews will close the hatch on Raffaello and Endeavour Pilot Mark Kelly will use the shuttle's robotic arm to detach it from the station and lower it back into the shuttle's payload bay to be brought back to Earth. The crews also will continue maintenance work on the station, replacing a faulty air conditioner compressor. Endeavour will undock from the station on Saturday.

  Endeavour and the International Space Station remain in good shape, orbiting at an average altitude of 241 statute miles. Last night, the crew and Mission Control noted a transient problem with one of the shuttle's three inertial measurement units (IMUs), the primary navigation units for the shuttle. Only two of the three IMUs were on line at the time, with the third unit off line to save electricity. The IMU that experienced a problem, designated IMU 2, was immediately taken off line and the third IMU brought on line. IMU 2 has operated well since then, but it has remained off line and is considered failed by flight controllers. The loss of one IMU has no impact on Endeavour's mission, and the other two units are operating in excellent condition. Endeavour could operate well on only one IMU if needed.

  Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period at 9:19 p.m. CST today and awaken at 5:19 a.m. CST on Friday.

• 2001 Dec 14 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #18 

  In space today, the 10 astronauts and cosmonauts on board Endeavour and the International Space Station, will focus their efforts on final transfer activities and this morning's unberthing of the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to be placed back in Endeavour's payload bay for a return trip home.

  Raffaello has been loaded with unneeded equipment, as well as gear from the returning Expedition Three crewmembers, including their custom Soyuz spacesuits and seat liners. The hatch between Raffaello and the space station will be closed about 10 a.m. CST today once final transfers are complete. About 1:20 p.m., Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Linda Godwin will begin the process of detaching Raffaello from the station using the shuttle's 50-foot long robotic arm. The process of removing Raffaello from the station and carefully placing it back in Endeavour's payload bay is expected to be complete shortly after 3:30 p.m.

  The two station commanders - Frank Culbertson and Yury Onufrienko - will continue their handover briefings even as they prepare for Endeavour's scheduled departure Saturday morning. Expedition Three crew member Vladimir Dezhurov will join Onufrienko in some final maintenance work on the station this morning replacing a faulty compressor in an air conditioner unit in the Zvezda Service Module.

  All of the crew members - Endeavour Commander Dom Gorie, Kelly, Godwin and Dan Tani, along with Expedition Three crew members Culbertson, Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin and the Expedition Four crew, Onufrienko, Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - will meet late in the day today for a final briefing in preparation for Endeavour's departure tomorrow. Following final farewells tomorrow morning, about 7:30 a.m., the hatches between Endeavour and the station will be closed for a final time during this mission. Endeavour will undock from the station at 10 a.m. Saturday, and after a brief fly-around of the station, a final engine burn will mark Endeavour's departure from the station, leaving the Expedition Four crew on board for a planned five-month stay.

  Endeavour's crew was awakened at 5:12 a.m. today by a traditional Russian song, "My Sweetheart," played for Onufrienko, Dezhurov and Tyurin. The Expedition Four crew was awakened about a half-hour later with a wake-up tone on board the station.

  Endeavour and the International Space Station remain in good shape, orbiting at an average altitude of 241 statute miles. Wednesday, the crew and flight control teams noted a transient problem with one of the shuttle's three inertial measurement units (IMUs), the primary navigation units for the shuttle. That IMU, designated IMU2, experienced about an hour-long "drift rate," subsequently returning to normal operation. Flight controllers have taken IMU2 off line and declared it "failed," though it has performed normally since the initial problem was observed. The remaining two IMUs on board are performing well and the loss of a single IMU has no impact on Endeavour's mission or planned landing. Endeavour could operate well on only one IMU if required.

• 2001 Dec 14 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #19 

  The crews of Endeavour and the International Space Station will spend a final night together tonight, preparing for Endeavour's departure from the complex Saturday.

  Endeavour will leave the station with a new crew and almost three tons of new food, supplies, experiments and equipment. Endeavour will bring home the offgoing Expedition Three station crew -- Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin -- and more than two tons of unneeded station gear, food containers, clothes, and other cargo. The station's Expedition Four crew -- Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz -- will remain aboard the outpost until May 2002.

  Endeavour Pilot Mark Kelly used the shuttle's robotic arm to detach the Raffaello logistics carrier from the station today and reberth it in Endeavour's payload bay. Raffaello was latched back into the shuttle bay at 4:44 p.m. CST. This morning, Dezhurov and Onufrienko worked together to replace a faulty air conditioner compressor in the station's Zvezda living quarters module as the crews completed cargo transfer activities.

  Flight controllers are planning slight changes to Endeavour's departure from the station Saturday, allowing time for a small jet firing by the shuttle to boost the station's future path away from a piece of space debris that could pass near the complex on Sunday. Mission Control was notified early today that a spent Russian rocket upper stage launched in the 1970s could pass within three miles of the station if Endeavour did not perform the engine firing. With the shuttle reboost now planned on Friday, the station is predicted to instead pass more than 40 miles away from the debris on Sunday.

  The new plan for Saturday's activities will have the station and shuttle crews bid farewell to one another and close hatches between the two spacecraft at about 7:30 a.m. CST. Endeavour will pulse its steering jets gradually for about 30 minutes beginning at about 8:55 a.m. CST to raise the station's altitude by almost three-quarters of a mile. Endeavour will then undock from the station at about 10:37 a.m. CST. Because of the changes, Endeavour will not perform a full-circle flyaround of the station after undocking. Instead, Endeavour will undock from the station and fly only a quarter circle of the complex, to a point about 400 feet directly above the station where it will fire its engines at about 11:20 a.m. CST to depart the vicinity of the oribting outpost.

  Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period today at 8:19 p.m. CST and awaken at 4:17 a.m. CST Saturday.

• 2001 Dec 15 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #20 

  The 10 crewmembers of the Space Shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station will bid farewell to each other this morning shortly before the hatches are closed between the two vehicles about 7:30 a.m. CST prior to Endeavour's departure from the complex.

  Endeavour is bringing home the Expedition Three crew - Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin - who have been in space since they launched to the station on August 10. In addition to bringing home the Expedition Three crew, Endeavour carried to orbit both a new crew and almost three tons of supplies and experiments to the station. That new crew, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz, will remain aboard the space station until May.

  The Endeavour astronauts were awakened for their 11th day in space at 4:17 a.m. by the song "Where I Come From," by Alan Jackson, for Pilot Mark Kelly from his family.

  Overnight, flight controllers decided to execute an additional reboost of the space station, designed to add about three-quarters of a mile to the station's altitude. On Friday, flight controllers received word from U.S. Space Command that a spent Russian rocket upper stage, launched in the 1970s, could pass within three miles of the station. With today's scheduled reboost, beginning at 8:55 a.m. and using Endeavour's small firing jets for about 20 minutes, the space debris is now expected to pass more than 40 miles away from the station.

  With Kelly at the controls, Endeavour is scheduled to undock from the station about 10:37 a.m., concluding more than a week of docked operations. Because today's scheduled reboost will use additional propellant, Endeavour will not perform a full-circle flyaround of the station after undocking. Instead, the shuttle will undock from the station, performing a quarter circle flyaround of the complex to a point about 400 feet directly above the station where it will fire its engines in a final separation burn at 11:20 a.m. beginning its departure from the orbiting outpost.

  On the station, all systems are functioning well, including a newly refurbished air conditioning unit in the Russian Zvezda Service Module which received a new compressor yesterday. The air conditioner was tested last night and is functioning normally.

  The STS-108 and Expedition Three crewmembers will take time this afternoon to discuss the progress of their mission with KGO-TV in San Francisco, the Fox News

  Network and Associated Press in an interview scheduled to begin at 3:09 p.m. today on NASA TV. The crew also will enjoy several hours of scheduled off duty time today prior to gearing up for Monday's scheduled landing.

  Homecoming at the Kennedy Space Center is scheduled at 11:55 a.m. Central time Monday. The early weather forecast calls for possible scattered and broken clouds and thunderstorms within 30 nautical miles of the landing strip.

• 2001 Dec 15 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #21 

  After eight days together, Endeavour and the International Space Station parted ways today, the shuttle leaving behind a new station crew and ferrying home a veteran station crew.

  Endeavour undocked from the station at 11:28 a.m. CST as the spacecraft flew 240 statute miles above the Indian Ocean off the Australian coast. Pilot Mark Kelly flew Endeavour through a half-circle of the station before firing jets to leave the vicinity.

  Before undocking, Endeavour's jets were fired in a series of small pulses beginning at 8:55 a.m. CST to raise the altitude of the station about three quarters of a mile. The maneuver ensures the station will fly well clear of an old Russian rocket body that had been predicted to potentially pass close to the complex later this weekend. The final small reboost by the shuttle, coupled with three larger reboosts done earlier in the week, means the station was raised a total of more than nine statute miles by Endeavour.

  The new station crew, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz, said goodbye to Endeavour's crew and the departing Expedition Three crew and closed hatches between the spacecraft at 7:16 a.m. CST. Now en route home, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin completed 117 days as the primary station crew and spent 125 days aboard the station overall. When Endeavour lands on Monday, they will have spent a total of 129 days in space.

  The crew members aboard Endeavour had several hours off duty after departing the station, a break from a very busy pace moving tons of supplies between the shuttle and station during the past week. Sunday's activities will focus on checking out systems used during descent and making preparations for a landing on Monday. Endeavour is set to land at the Kennedy Space Center, FL, about 11:55 a.m. CST Monday. The weather forecast predicts generally acceptable conditions except for a chance of rain showers in the vicinity of the landing site. Flight controllers determined today that all three Inertial Measurement Units on Endeavour, the primary navigation systems for the shuttle, would be usable for landing. One of the three units had been taken off line two days ago due to a brief fault. However, the unit has worked well since that time. Even if the problem were to recur, it would not affect Endeavour's entry and landing since the shuttle can operate with only one such unit if necessary. Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period at 7:19 p.m. CST and awaken at 3:19 a.m. CST Sunday.

• 2001 Dec 16 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #22 

  On board Endeavour today, the crew will focus its efforts on checking out the systems and equipment that will be used during Endeavour's planned reentry and landing Monday.

  Endeavour is scheduled to return to the Kennedy Space Center about 11:55 a.m. CST tomorrow, weather permitting. Preliminary weather forecasts predict generally acceptable conditions at the landing site, with a chance of rain showers in the vicinity. Entry Flight Director LeRoy Cain and his team of flight controllers will oversee the crew's checkout of flight control systems and surfaces this morning from Mission Control. They also will receive updated weather forecasts for Monday's planned landing.

  On what should be their final full day in space, Endeavour's crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, along with the returning Expedition Three crewmembers Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin - were awakened at 3:14 a.m. by the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas," sung by Bing Crosby.

  About 9 a.m. today, Endeavour's crew will deploy a small satellite called STARSHINE 2 from a canister located in the payload bay. More than 30,000 students from 660 schools in 26 countries will track STARSHINE 2 as it orbits the Earth for eight months. The students, who helped polish STARSHINE'S 845 mirrors, will use the information they collect to calculate the density of the Earth's upper atmosphere.

  Endeavour's middeck will carry home the results of several experiments completed during Expedition Three's stay on the station. These include the Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility, the Dynamically Controlled Protein Crystal Growth experiment and cells from the Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support System (CBOSS). The CBOSS equipment aboard the space station will remain active during Expedition Four, growing ovarian and colon cancer cells, as well as kidney cells in microgravity.

  Experiments in Endeavour's payload bay also will be coming home, to be returned to investigators around the world. The Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1) is carrying a wide array of experiments, including the Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector, the Collisions Into Dust Experiment-2, the Capillary Pump Loop, and the Space Experiment Module (SEM). The SEM is carrying experiments from Argentina, Portugal, Morocco and Australia, as well experiments from U.S. schoolchildren. Several other canisters in Endeavour's payload bay are also carrying student experiments.

• 2001 Dec 16 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #23 

  On board Endeavour today, the crew focused its efforts on checking out the systems and equipment that will be used during Endeavour's planned reentry and landing Monday.

  Endeavour is scheduled to return to the Kennedy Space Center, FL, about 11:55 a.m. CST Monday, weather permitting. Preliminary weather forecasts predict generally acceptable conditions at the landing site, with a chance of rain showers in the vicinity. Entry Flight Director LeRoy Cain and his team of flight controllers coordinated the crew's checkout of flight control systems and surfaces this morning from Mission Control.

  Endeavour's crew deployed a small satellite called STARSHINE 2 from a canister located in the payload bay at about 9 a.m. CST today. More than 30,000 students from 660 schools in 26 countries will track STARSHINE 2 as it orbits the Earth for eight months. The students, who helped polish STARSHINE'S 845 mirrors, will use the information they collect to calculate the density of the Earth's upper atmosphere.

  Endeavour's middeck will carry home the results of several experiments completed during Expedition Three on the International Space Station. These include the Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility, the Dynamically Controlled Protein Crystal Growth experiment and cells from the Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support System (CBOSS). The CBOSS equipment aboard the space station will remain active during Expedition Four, growing ovarian and colon cancer cells, as well as kidney cells in microgravity.

  Endeavour's activities are geared toward a landing at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday. Although opportunities exist, flight controllers do not plan to consider a landing by Endeavour at Edwards Air Force Base, CA, Monday. The primary KSC landing opportunity Monday would begin with a shuttle engine firing at 10:50 a.m. CST leading to the 11:55 a.m. CST touchdown. A second opportunity to land at KSC also is available on Monday, beginning with an engine firing at 12:28 p.m. CST that would lead to a 1:32 p.m. CST touchdown at KSC.

• 2001 Dec 17 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #24 

  Endeavour's crew began a journey home today, waking up at 3:19 a.m. CST to "Please Come Home For Christmas" sung by Jon Bon Jovi. Weather permitting, Endeavour is scheduled to return to Earth just before noon today. On board Endeavour, Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, along with the returning Expedition Three crew of Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin, are preparing for a scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Preliminary weather forecasts predict generally acceptable conditions at the landing site, with a possibility of rain showers in the vicinity. The Entry flight team, led by Flight Director LeRoy Cain, will receive its first weather briefing of the day at 6:30 a.m.

  The first KSC landing opportunity today would begin with a deorbit burn of Endeavour's large orbital maneuvering engines at 10:50 a.m. resulting in an 11:55 a.m. central time (12:55 p.m. eastern) landing. If weather precludes landing on that first opportunity, there is a second opportunity, one orbit later, with an engine firing at 12:28 p.m. resulting in a 1:32 p.m. central (2:32 p.m. eastern) touchdown. The alternate landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California has not been called up for launch support today.

  Just before 7 a.m., the crew will begin its formal deorbit preparations and by 8:10 a.m., Endeavour's payload bay doors should be closed in preparation for reentry. The crewmembers will begin climbing into their seats at 9:50 a.m., with a final "go, no go" call from the Entry Flight Director expected about 10:30 a.m. A landing today in Florida would conclude a voyage of more than 4.8 million miles for Endeavour and a 129-day stay in orbit for Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin.

• 2001 Dec 17 - STS-108 Mission Status Report #25 

  Endeavour touched down at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida today at 11:55 a.m. central time, returning the third resident space station crew to Earth after 129 days in space.

  Concluding a successful mission to the International Space Station, today's landing brings to an end a voyage of more than 4.8 million miles for Endeavour and marks the 57th shuttle landing at the Florida spaceport.

  On Endeavour's flight deck are Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani. On the middeck, strapped into recumbent chairs to reduce the effects of reentry, is the Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin.

  Following routine medical examinations, the STS-108 and Expedition Three crewmembers will enjoy a reunion with their families. All seven crewmembers are expected to return to a public welcome home at Hangar 990 at Houston's Ellington Field about 1 p.m. Wednesday.

  During their 12 days in orbit, the STS-108 crew worked with both the returning Expedition Three and newly-arrived Expedition Four crews to transfer more than three tons of material, hardware and supplies from Endeavour to the station. Godwin and Tani also conducted a spacewalk to install thermal protection on motor assemblies that control the motion of the station's large solar arrays.

  On board the International Space Station, the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - are settling in for a planned five-month stay on orbit, unloading the recently arrived Progress resupply vehicle.

• 2001 Dec 21 - ISS Status Report: ISS 01-50 

  Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch have completed their first week of independent operations aboard the International Space Station.

  Last Saturday, the three new station crewmembers bid farewell to their predecessors, the Expedition Three crew, and the crew of Endeavour as the shuttle undocked to begin its journey home. The Expedition Three crew of Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin returned to Earth on Monday and to Houston on Wednesday. The three have begun several weeks of physical rehabilitation to help their bodies readjust to the pull of Earth's gravity

  Aboard the station, Onufrienko, Bursch and Walz spent the week activating science experiments, including a cell growth experiment used to study colon and ovarian cancer cells and human kidney cells. They also continued to familiarize themselves with their new home, unload the Progress 6 cargo ship, and unpack equipment and supplies brought aboard Endeavour.

  The crew will continue experiment work next week, and they will have a day off on Christmas Day to observe the holiday. The station's food stores include turkey and some other traditional holiday foods. The crew also will observe a holiday on New Year's Day.

  All International Space Station systems are currently operating well. However, on Tuesday flight controllers noted that the Beta Gimbal Assembly that rotates the port-side U.S. solar array experienced strain on its electric motor and briefly stalled. The mechanism was restarted quickly and has since been performing normally. The stall had no significant impact on station operations and is similar to events seen several times in the past. The Beta Gimbal Assemblies rotate the station's arrays, allowing them to precisely track the sun, generating the maximum possible power for the station.

  During Endeavour's flight, thermal blankets were installed on both assemblies to better insulate them in hopes of alleviating such problems. Engineers have confidence the mechanisms will continue to operate, and they are continuing to gather data from both the port and starboard mechanisms to evaluate the effectiveness of the new insulation.

• 2002 Jan 4 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-01 

  The International Space Station's Expedition Four crew began a new year in space this week conducting a variety of experiments, testing new techniques with the station's robotic arm and beginning to prepare for a spacewalk planned later this month.

  Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch observed a quiet New Year's holiday in orbit, spending time relaxing and communicating with family and friends. Later in the week, work resumed as the crew operated two experiments that study astronauts' reactions to weightlessness. Walz and Bursch both participated in the H-Reflex experiment, a study that gauges the effects of weightlessness on spinal cord excitability and reflexes, and the Pulmonary Function experiment, a study of the effects of space flight and space walks on lung function.

  Bursch and Walz had an opportunity to train in the operation of the station's robotic arm, the Canadarm2, while maneuvering the arm on Thursday to latch on to fixtures on the exterior of the station. In addition to providing training for the crew, the arm operations tested a new technique being developed to alleviate tension that has been seen as the arm releases its latch on a fixture. The tests provided valuable data for engineers on the ground developing those techniques, and similar tests may be repeated later in the mission.

  The crew members have virtually completed unpacking and stowing the more than three tons of supplies and equipment brought to the station with them aboard the space shuttle in early December. Their attention next week will turn to an upcoming milestone for their flight -- the first of two planned this month and as many as four spacewalks that are planned during their five-month stay aboard the station. Walz and Onufrienko are planned to conduct a spacewalk for up to six hours tentatively beginning at about 2:50 p.m. CST Jan. 14. This weekend, the crew will begin shifting their sleep period later to adjust for the timing of the upcoming spacewalk, and, next week, checkouts will begin of the spacesuits and spacewalking gear that will be used for the work outside.

  The spacewalk will use Russian Orlan space suits and originate from the Russian Pirs docking compartment airlock. Onufrienko and Walz will reposition an exterior Russian strela cargo crane from the station's pressurized mating adapter 1 to the station's Zarya module, moving it within reach of a similar crane on the Pirs compartment. The move will allow the cranes to be used in tandem to maneuver equipment on the station's exterior during future space walks.

• 2002 Jan 11 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-02 

  The Expedition Four crew is completing its fifth week in space aboard the International Space Station, continuing preparations for the first spacewalk of the five-month mission. The six-hour spacewalk by Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Carl Walz is scheduled to begin at 2:56 p.m. CST, Monday, Jan. 14. This week, with the assistance of their crewmate, Flight Engineer Dan Bursch, the two spacewalkers outfitted and tested their Russian Orlan spacesuits and prepared the tools and equipment they will use on Monday.

  After exiting the station from the Russian Pirs docking compartment, Onufrienko and Walz will use a Russian cargo crane that is already installed on Pirs to relocate a similar crane from the station's Pressurized Mating Adapter 1 onto Pirs. On future spacewalks, the two cranes, called Strela (the Russian word for "arrow"), can be used to maneuver equipment and spacewalkers on the station's exterior. Onufrienko and Walz also will install an amateur radio antenna on a handrail at the end of the Zvezda service module.

  Monday's spacewalk will be the thirty-second in support of the assembly of the International Space Station, the seventh such excursion conducted from the station itself, and the sixth based out of the station's Russian segment. A second spacewalk this month -- to be conducted by Onufrienko and Bursch -- is targeted for Jan. 25. The plan for this spacewalk currently includes the installation of thruster deflector shields on the end of Zvezda.

  In addition to preparing for next week's spacewalk, the Expedition Four crew continued a series of upgrades to the station's computer hardware. The crew also completed the first session of a Human Life Sciences experiment called Renal, which is investigating ways to prevent the formation of renal stones during long-duration spaceflights.

• 2002 Jan 14 - EVA ISS EO-4-1  Crew: Walz, Onufrienko. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.26 days.

  The spacewalk was made from the Pirs module. Depress was around 2050 UTC, with hatch open at 2059 UTC and egress around 2110 UTC. The astronauts moved the Strela-2 crane from PMA-1 to Pirs and installed it there; the Strela-1 crane was already functional on Pirs. They also installed an amateur radio antenna on Zvezda. On Jan 15 at about 0254 UTC the crew jettisoned two pairs of Orlan spacesuit gloves and a pair of towels used to wipe the spaceuits down, because of concerns about contamination from Zvezda thrusters. They reentered Pirs at 0255 UTC, with hatch close at 0302 UTC and repressurization above 50 mbar at about 0304 UTC.

• 2002 Jan 14 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-03 

  Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Carl Walz floated outside the International Space Station on the first spacewalk of their expedition and finished installing a second Russian cargo boom, part of which had been delivered to the station two and a half years ago. With coordination help from inside the station by Flight Engineer Dan Bursch, the two space walkers also installed an amateur radio antenna on the Zvezda Service Module.

  The first space walk Expedition Four crew's five-month tour of duty began at 2:59 p.m. CST and ended at 9:02 p.m. CST, lasting a total of 6 hours, 3 minutes. Monday's spacewalk was the thirty-second in support of space station assembly, the seventh such excursion conducted from the station itself, and the sixth based out of the station's Russian segment. The total amount of time spent on space station-based spacewalks now stands at 29 hours, 04 minutes, and the total spacewalking time spent on station construction at 196 hours, 19 minutes.

  After exiting the station from the Russian Pirs docking compartment, Onufrienko and Walz assembled an extension for a Russian cargo boom that had been previously installed on Pirs. They used the operational cargo crane, called Strela 1 (Strela is the Russian word for arrow), to get into position to detach and relocate a similar crane temporarily stored on the outside of the Unity-to-Zarya connecting tunnel. Known as Strela 2, this second crane was moved back alongside Pirs and attached to a base point on the opposite side of the docking compartment and airlock at 6:31 p.m. CST.

  The first piece of Strela 2 had been delivered and installed in May 1999, and the second piece in May 2000. On future spacewalks, the two cranes may be used to maneuver equipment and spacewalkers.

  Onufrienko and Walz also installed an amateur radio antenna on a handrail at the end of the Zvezda service module. The antenna is one of four that eventually will allow space station crew members to make "ham" radio contacts from the comfort of their living quarters inside Zvezda. Currently, the amateur radio station is inside the Zarya module.

  The next spacewalk of the expedition - to be conducted by Onufrienko and Bursch - is targeted for Jan. 25. The plan for this spacewalk currently includes installation of the remaining three amateur radio antennae and thruster deflector shields on the end of Zvezda.

• 2002 Jan 18 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-04 

  The Expedition Four crew of the International Space Station wrapped up a busy week Friday, installing a new, more robust computer storage device and preparing for the second spacewalk of its duty tour a little more than a week after the first.

  Flight Engineer Carl Walz worked with computer experts on the ground to install and activate a new solid state mass memory unit for one of the station's three main command and control computers, known by its acronym of "C&C1." It took Walz about two hours to remove the older mass memory unit, which used a spinning disk design, and another two hours for flight controllers on the ground to complete the reactivation of C&C1. Computer experts on the ground are continuing to evaluate data on the health of the computer, but expect to place it in the backup spot to the primary computer, C&C2, on Jan. 23. C&C2 had its mass memory unit upgraded earlier this month. The final new mass memory unit is to be installed in C&C3 on Feb. 1. In addition, flight controllers this week also installed new software in two guidance, navigation and control computers on the station.

  Meanwhile, Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Dan Bursch continued preparations for the next spacewalk, scheduled for Jan. 25. This week, they replenished space suit consumables used by Onufrienko and Walz on Monday, dried out the suits and readied the hardware items they will install on the outer skin of the station. The spacewalk is expected to begin at 9:35 a.m. CST next Friday, and last about 5 1/2 hours. Onufrienko and Bursch will wear Russian Orlan spacesuits and exit the station through the Pirs module, which serves as a docking module and airlock. Walz will provide support inside, monitoring their progress and moving the robotic Canadarm 2 for television coverage of their activities. It will be the 33rd spacewalk in support of space station assembly, and the eighth conducted from the station itself.

  The two space-age construction workers will install 11 different systems on the outside of the Zvezda Service Module, including six thruster plume deflectors, the second of four ham radio antennae, a replacement experiment for studying contaminating particles from control jets, and a physics experiment. The Efflux Protection Assembly deflectors are designed to redirect plumes from the jets that help control the station's orientation so that they do not leave potentially harmful residues on the outside of the station where spacewalkers must work. The suitcase-like Kromka 1 experiment will replace the existing Kromka 1-0 experiment package, placing new materials samples where they can collect contaminants from the thrusters for future analysis (the Kromka 1-0 samples will be bagged and returned to the station for delivery to Earth aboard a Soyuz return craft). The Platan-M package is a physics experiment designed to search for natural low-energy heavy nuclei of solar and galactic origin.

  The amateur radio antenna is one of four that eventually will allow space station crew members to make "ham" radio contacts from the comfort of their living quarters inside Zvezda.

  While crew members concentrated on construction and maintenance tasks, inside the Destiny Laboratory, a host of scientific experiments continued to collect information about the effects of long-term space flight on humans, biotechnology, medicine, agriculture, electronics and pharmaceutical compounds.

• 2002 Jan 25 - EVA ISS EO-4-2  Crew: Bursch , Onufrienko. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.26 days.

  The astronauts installed plume deflectors around the Zvezda thrusters and set up some exposure experiments. The Pirs airlock was depressurized probably about 1510 UTC, with hatch open at 1519 UTC; hatch close was at 2118 UTC and repressurization began at 2120 UTC.

• 2002 Jan 25 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-05 

  Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Astronaut Dan Bursch completed a five-hour, 59-minute spacewalk outside the International Space Station today, installing six thruster deflectors at the rear of the Zvezda Service Module, retrieving and replacing a device to measure material from the thrusters and installing a ham radio antenna and its cabling. They also installed three materials experiments on Zvezda's exterior and a physics experiment.

  With Onufrienko and Bursch working outside, Astronaut Carl Walz served as intravehicular crewmember, helping to coordinate the spacewalk and maneuvering the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, to allow its television cameras to view the spacewalk. This was the 33rd spacewalk for station assembly and outfitting and the eighth conducted from the station itself. Onufrienko and Bursch, wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits, installed six plume deflectors around attitude control thrusters at the rear of the Zvezda module. The deflectors are designed to limit deposits on the outside of the station that result from the firing of those thrusters.

  The spacewalkers also removed an experiment called Kromka situated near one of the thruster groups. The experiment captured material that results from thruster firings. It will be returned to Earth in early May aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. By studying the captured materials, engineers will gain a better understanding of the nature of the deposits. Onufrienko and Bursch installed a virtually identical new Kromka experiment in the same place. Future analysis of the materials it captures will provide information on the effect of the plume deflectors. They also installed a ham radio antenna and associated cabling at the rear of Zvezda. The antenna is the second of four that eventually will be situated around the back of the module. Onufrienko and Walz had installed the first antenna during a Jan. 14 spacewalk.

  Onufrienko and Bursch also attached a physics experiment called Platan to Zvezda. Platan is designed to capture low-energy heavy nuclei from the sun and from outside the solar system. In addition, they installed three materials experiments, called SKK for their Russian acronym, on Zvezda. The experiments examine effects of the harsh environment of space on a wide range of materials. The spacewalkers also installed fairleads on Zvezda handrails. The fairleads, called pigtails, keep spacewalkers' tethers from fouling equipment or experiments on the module's exterior. Throughout the spacewalk, they took photos to document their work.

• 2002 Feb 1 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-06 

  Finishing up a month which saw the crew conduct two spacewalks, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Astronauts Dan Bursch and Carl Walz spent a quiet week aboard the complex this week, completing a host of maintenance tasks, physical exercise and evaluations, and science experiments.

  The crewmembers took a few breaks from their schedule during the week to field questions from a Cleveland, Ohio, television station and a New York, N.Y., radio station during an event on Thursday and to address more than 650 educators from across the United States on Friday that were gathered in Houston for the Eighth Annual International Space Station Educators Conference.

  Maintenance activities included some minor repairs on the Active Rack Isolation System (ARIS), replacing the hard drive of one of the command and control computers, troubleshooting the slight echo usually heard during space-to-ground communications, removing the automated docking system from the Russian Progress resupply vehicle and installing a laptop computer in the Quest airlock. The ARIS dampens the vibrations caused by movement by the crew in an effort to isolate the sensitive science experiments located in the Destiny Laboratory. A shock absorber pushrod was replaced after malfunctioning because of normal wear and tear on the system.

  The crew replaced the hard drive on the third and final command and control computer with the new solid-state mass memory unit that is expected to operate better in the microgravity environment than the spinning disk type hard drive. The new unit is now activated and operating well.

  Ground controllers in Mission Control Houston and Moscow are guiding the crew through several tests of the station's communications system. The crew is trying several configurations of the system to help find a solution to an echo. The echo does not impact flight operations, but slightly decreases the quality of the audio heard on the ground.

• 2002 Feb 4 - ISS goes out of control. 

  The International Space Station lost attitude control on for several hours. After Zvezda computers developed communications problems and failed to transfer data to the US gyros on the Z1 module, the GNC MDM computer on the US side stopped stabilizing the station. The computer problems also prevented Z1 from handing over control to the backup thruster system on Zvezda.. At 1318 UTC the Station tumbled, in danger of losing electrical power, and experiments were shut down as systems were put in emergency mode. The crew were able to manually point the US solar arrays, preventing any loss of power. The station was restored to operation later in the day, with attitude control resuming at 1843 UTC on thrusters and 1920 UTC on gyros.

• 2002 Feb 4 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-07 

  The Expedition Four crew's normal work was interrupted this morning when a main computer in the International Space Station's Russian Zvezda living quarters module unexpectedly went off-line, disrupting the system which controls the spacecraft's orientation for a few hours. The computer is now back on-line and all station systems are operating normally.

  The crew -- Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz -- was never in any danger, but began quickly powering down backup equipment and several experiments in case the power generated by the station's solar arrays began to decrease. With the station's orientation not controlled, the solar arrays were not able to autonomously point directly at the sun to generate full power for the complex. The computer went off-line at about 7 a.m. CST.

  Flight controllers in Houston and Moscow worked together to restore all operations of the station during the morning, and, at one point, the crew sent manual commands to ensure the solar arrays remained directed at the sun. Russian controllers have not yet determined the cause of the computer problem and are continuing to analyze it.

  By 9:30 a.m., flight controllers at the control center in Korolev, Russia, had successfully restarted the computer, and, by 11:30 a.m., the station's orientation control system had begun to be restored to operation.

  The crew began its sleep period as normal at around 3:30 p.m. CST. They will awaken at about midnight CST, and they will spend some time tomorrow continuing a recovery of the equipment that was powered down as a result of today's problem.

• 2002 Feb 8 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-08 

  This week the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch - worked with several of the science experiments aboard the International Space Station. They tested the ultrasound instrument in the Human Research Facility rack, activated the EarthKam experiment and the seventh sample cylinder in the Protein Crystal Growth - Single-locker Thermal Enclosure System, and tested the Zeolite Crystal Growth Furnace, which will be used to grow crystals beginning in April. The crew also completed their periodic physical fitness tests.

  In addition, Walz and Bursh prepared a set of three dosimeters each that will be used to measure any radiation they might receive during their scheduled Feb. 20 spacewalk. The dosimeters are part of the EVARM experiment, which is studying the amount of radiation astronauts receive during spacewalks to better design future radiation shielding in spacesuits.

  Today, the crew spent their 64th day in space doing an inventory of the supplies aboard the station. The inventory will help planners determine how much and what kind of supplies the next station crew will need. The crew began the inventory process today and will complete it as time permits.

  On Monday, the crew's normal work was interrupted for a few hours when a main computer in the station's Zvezda module unexpectedly went off-line, disrupting the system that controls the spacecraft's orientation. The computer was quickly brought back on-line and all station systems have operated normally since then. Russian controllers are still working to determine the cause of the disruption.

  On Wednesday, Onufrienko celebrated his 41st birthday. He and his crewmates have been in space since Dec. 5. The crew has a light weekend of planned activities ahead, but usually takes time to complete a variety of odd jobs on their task list, a list of work aboard the station that does not need to be done at any specific time.

• 2002 Feb 15 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-09 

  Activity on board the International Space Station this week focused on preparations for next week's spacewalk - the first to be conducted from the U.S. Quest airlock without a space shuttle docked.

  Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, beginning their 10th week on orbit, received volumes of information and training materials from the flight control team on the ground, participated in computer-based training sessions, and checked out the spacesuit, airlock and experiment systems that will be used Feb. 20. A full dry-run of the airlock depressurization is planned Friday.

  The excursion will mark the first use of the station's airlock since July 2001 and will test equipment and techniques that will be used during the April STS-110 assembly mission, when four spacewalks out of the Quest airlock will install the first piece of the station's structural and electrical "backbone." Bursch and Walz will perform a checkout of the airlock's systems, connect and disconnect several electrical cables, remove insulation blankets from the Z-1 truss structure and bring inside several tools to expedite the work planned for STS-110.

  They will use U.S. space suits, with Walz, wearing a suit with red stripes on the legs and Bursch wearing an all-white suit. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at about 6 a.m. CST Wednesday. NASA Television coverage will begin at 5:30 a.m. CST Wednesday. Experiment work also continued aboard the station, as crew members set up and activated the second Advanced Astroculture experiment. The investigation will grow mustard plant seeds harvested on board the station by the Expedition Two crew and returned after analysis on Earth, making them a true second generation of space-grown plant life. The University of Wisconsin-sponsored experiment studies Arabidopsis thaliana, which is renowned in genetic research circles as a key to identifying genes and determining their functions for entire classes of similar organisms.

  The crew disassembled the Active Rack Isolation System, which suffered a push-rod failure, and will soon conduct repairs that will enable the system to resume its work. The system protects sensitive microgravity experiments from the motions caused by everyday crew life aboard the station.

  The crew also worked with flight controllers on the ground to complete some unplanned maintenance work after Sunday's failure in a Remote Power Conversion Module (RPCM) that distributes power to a variety of station systems. Full functionality was restored to the non-critical systems that were affected in the Destiny laboratory module after Bursch and Walz replaced the glorified breaker box with an onboard spare. To access the module, they removed Bursch's temporary sleep station and replaced it, installing additional high-density plastic radiation protection bricks while they had the opportunity.

  A planned upgrade of the station's software was postponed until after the Feb. 20 spacewalk to allow software engineers on the ground to perform one last set of tests to verify all aspects of the software load. The new software will prepare the station's computer systems for the arrival of the truss structure and other components to be delivered on STS-110 and future flights.

• 2002 Feb 20 - EVA ISS EO-4-3  Crew: Walz, Bursch. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.24 days.

  The spacewalk was made from the Station's Quest airlock. Depressurization was at around 1134 UTC and repressurization was at 1725 UTC. The spacewalk involved some preparatory work with cables and thermal covers in advance of the EVA's planned for STS-110 and the installation of the S0 truss. It was also intended to check out proper functioning of the Quest airlock, which had some minor problems on its first use in July 2001.

• 2002 Feb 20 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-10 

  Expedition 4 astronauts Carl Walz and Dan Bursch completed a successful 5-hour, 47-minute spacewalk Wednesday, testing equipment and procedures for the Airlock Quest and performing other tasks to prepare for Space Shuttle Atlantis' STS-110 mission to the International Space Station in April. The spacewalk, which began at 5:38 a.m. CST and ended at 11:25 a.m., notched some firsts.

  It was the first spacewalk from Quest without the presence of a space shuttle at the station, earning it the designation of U.S. EVA 1. It also marked the first U.S. use of an Intravehicular (IV) officer, Astronaut Joe Tanner, working from Houston's Mission Control Center instead of from onboard the spacecraft, as has been the case up to this point. Also, new procedures were used to expedite airlock depressurization at the start of the spacewalk.

  STS-110 will bring the S0 Truss to the station, the first segment of what will be the station's backbone. Four spacewalks will be conducted during that flight, all from the airlock and all using an oxygen/exercise protocol to purge nitrogen from the spacewalkers' bloodstreams. Walz and Bursch used that protocol today.

  During the spacewalk today, Walz and Bursch deployed two electrical cables from their stowage area on the U.S. Laboratory Destiny and connected them to a cable tray near the base of the Z1 Truss. Plans to disconnect and restow the cables were put on hold while engineers evaluated unexpected readings from current conversion units in the circuit the cables completed. Walz removed four thermal blankets from the Z1 Truss and stowed them inside the truss, while Bursch retrieved tools to be used on STS-110 spacewalks and brought them to the airlock. The two also secured looser-than-expected latches on two oxygen tanks and two nitrogen tanks, on the airlock.

  Walz and Bursch removed adaptors on which a Russian cargo crane had been mounted and attached one of them to the Zarya module's exterior. They brought the other, U.S.-made, adaptor into the airlock. They also inspected cable connectors outside the station and photographed the MISSE (Materials International Space Station Experiment). Some of the materials samples being exposed to the harsh conditions of space apparently were peeling back off their mountings.

  Scientists used the spacewalk to gather additional data for an experiment looking at the effects of spacewalks and long-term exposure to microgravity on lung function. Also, Walz and Bursch will wear radiation sensors for the EVARM experiment, a study of radiation doses experienced by spacewalking astronauts.

  Walz and Bursch each had made one previous spacewalk from the station last month, and Walz also made a spacewalk on STS-51 in September 1993. During today's spacewalk, Expedition 4 Commander Yury Onufrienko operated cameras on the station's Canadian provided robotic arm to document activities.

  A planned upgrade of the station's software is scheduled for late this week to prepare station computers for arrival of the S0 Truss and other equipment to be delivered on subsequent flights.

• 2002 Feb 20 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-11 

  The International Space Station Expedition 4 crew was kept awake about two hours later than planned today after reporting a strong, unpleasant odor apparently originating from a system that cleanses spacesuit air scrubbers in the complex's Quest airlock.

  The crew was immediately given approval to shut the suspect system down. About thirty minutes after the crew first reported the smell, flight controllers asked the crew to close the interior hatch of the airlock to prevent the odor from further spreading through the station. Controllers then shut down some of the station's ventilation fans and powered on a system in the Destiny Laboratory to cleanse the station's atmosphere of any trace contaminants.

  Flight controllers suspect the odor was caused by outgassing from a system that bakes metal oxide canisters to cleanse them of carbon dioxide. The canisters are used in U.S. spacesuits to cleanse the suit's atmosphere of carbon dioxide and can be recycled using the Quest airlock system. Some crew members did report briefly experiencing a slight headache that could have been a result of exposure to the odor. However, any symptoms quickly cleared and flight surgeons have initially determined that the odor, although unpleasant, did not pose any health problem for the crew.

  The crew first reported the odor just after 4 p.m. CST. The interior Quest airlock hatch was closed at about 4:30 p.m. CST, and the crew began their sleep period at about 5:30 p.m. CST. Because of the slight lingering odor in the U.S. segment of the station, all crew members were expected to sleep in the Zvezda living quarters module tonight.

• 2002 Feb 22 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-12 

  The International Space Station Expedition 4 crew returned to normal activities today after Wednesday's successful spacewalk and what largely was a day of rest on Thursday. Commander Yury Onufrienko and astronauts Carl Walz and Dan Bursch participated in a number of medical tests, including post-spacewalk checkouts for Walz and Bursch.

  Also today, Houston's Mission Control Center and the crew began a transition to new software for the station's computers, a process that is proceeding well and will continue with checkouts for several days.

  Many of today's medical tests on crewmembers were done in the U.S. laboratory Destiny, in which the crew resumed work early this morning. As a precaution, they had spent much of the past 48 hours in the Russian segment while an air freshening system removed a musty odor that had spread through U.S. modules Wednesday. The odor originated from a Quest Airlock system that was being used to cleanse spacesuit air scrubbers Wednesday afternoon. The crew reported few remnants of the smell in the station this morning.

  Russian flight controllers reboosted the station Thursday using the Progress vehicle docked at the rear of the Zvezda living quarters module. The reboost, performed in two segments, raised the altitude of the station by a little less than three statute miles to an average altitude of about 239 miles.

• 2002 Mar 1 - STS-109 Mission Status Report #01 

  With the Hubble Space Telescope orbiting high overhead, the shuttle Columbia lifted off this morning on a complex mission to replace and upgrade key telescope systems through five challenging spacewalks.

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

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

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

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

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

• 2002 Mar 1 - STS-109 Mission Status Report #02 

  Following Columbia's on-time launch from the Kennedy Space Center this morning, flight controllers in Mission Control noticed a degraded flow rate in one of two freon cooling loops that help to dissipate heat from the orbiter.

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

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

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

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

• 2002 Mar 1 - STS-109 Mission Status Report #03 

  The crew of Columbia was awakened for its first full day in space at 8:22 p.m. CST with the song "Blue Telescope" by John Hiatt. In its morning mail, the crew received news that mission managers are optimistic the full mission will go forward as planned in spite of low flow in a shuttle cooling line.

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

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

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

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

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

• 2002 Mar 2 - STS-109 Mission Status Report #04 

  As Columbia's crew completed preparations today for the capture of the Hubble Space Telescope, mission managers confirmed that a degraded shuttle cooling system will pose no problems for Columbia's flight.

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

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

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

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

• 2002 Mar 2 - STS-109 Mission Status Report #05 

  To the theme of "Mission Impossible," Columbia's astronauts awakened this morning to the news that all systems are go for their mission, a week characterized as the most challenging flight ever to maintain and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.

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

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

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

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

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

• 2002 Mar 3 - STS-109 Mission Status Report #06 

  The Hubble Space Telescope is secure in Columbia's payload bay following its capture at 3:31 a.m. central time today, as the two spacecraft soared 350 miles above the Pacific Ocean southwest of the Mexican Coast.

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

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

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

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

• 2002 Mar 3 - STS-109 Mission Status Report #07 

  The crew of the space shuttle Columbia awoke for its first spacewalking day in orbit to "Five Variations on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," performed by Jeno Jando. It was played for John Grunsfeld. Spacewalkers Grunsfeld and Rick Linnehan will step out into space for the first time during this mission at about 12:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.

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

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

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

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

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

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

• 2002 Mar 4 - STS-109 Mission Status Report #08 

  The Hubble Space Telescope has a new starboard solar array after a seven hour-one minute long spacewalk by Columbia astronauts John Grunsfeld and Rick Linnehan.

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

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

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

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

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

• 2002 Mar 4 - STS-109 Mission Status Report #09 

  Rested and ready for another day of spacewalking, the crew of the space shuttle Columbia was awakened at 7:53 p.m. by the children's song "Floating in the Bathtub," by Tonya Evetts Weimer. It was played for Jim Newman who is to step out into space for the second spacewalk of this mission at about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday.

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

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

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

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

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

• 2002 Mar 5 - STS-109 Mission Status Report #10 

  The crew of Columbia completed the second of five planned spacewalks this morning with the successful installation of a new port solar array and a new Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA) on the Hubble Space Telescope.

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

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

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

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

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

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

• 2002 Mar 5 - STS-109 Mission Status Report #11 

  Columbia's crew is preparing tonight for the third space walk of the mission, a complex, seven-hour excursion that will include the unprecedented step of turning off the Hubble Space Telescope to replace the heart of its power system.

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

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

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

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