By William Harwood
CBS News/Kennedy Space Center
The following copy originally was posted on the Current Mission space page at http://cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html.
Comments, suggestions and corrections welcome!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
01:10 PM, 11/7/07, Update: Melroy guides Discovery to a smooth landing (UPDATING at 3:15 p.m. with Melroy quotes; Anderson in good shape; UPDATING at 4:40 p.m. with post-landing news conference)
With commander Pam Melroy at the controls, the shuttle Discovery plunged back to Earth today, streaking across the heartland of America to a picture-perfect landing at the Kennedy Space Center to wrap up an action-packed space station assembly mission.
Banking sharply through a sweeping 195-degree right overhead turn, Melroy lined up on runway 33 and pilot George Zamka lowered the shuttle's landing gear seconds before a tire-smoking touchdown at 1:01:18 p.m. A few moments later, using a red-and-white braking parachute to slow down, Discovery rolled to a halt.
"Houston, Discovery, wheels stopped," Melroy radioed.
"Copy, wheels stopped, Discovery. Congratulations on a tremendous mission and a great landing, Pam," replied astronaut Terry Virts from mission control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Unofficial mission duration was 15 days, two hours, 23 minutes even over 238 complete orbits. Total distance traveled was roughly 6.2 million miles since blastoff Oct. 23.
Melroy, Zamka, flight engineer Stephanie Wilson and spacewalkers Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock doffed their pressure suits for a traditional runway walk-around before returning to crew quarters for medical checks and reunions with family members.
Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, representing the European Space Agency aboard Discovery, and Clay Anderson, returning from a 152-day stay aboard the international space station, remained in a crew transport vehicle for routine medical checks.
"It's great to be out here on this gorgeous day," Melroy said, standing in front of Discovery on the runway. "It's great to be back in Florida, especially, the home of Discovery. We could not have done this mission without Discovery being as clean and beautiful as it was.
"Sorry that Clay and Paolo couldn't be be out here," she said. "They're doing great, they're just doing some extra medical tests so they couldn't join us right now. But I know they feel the same way, particularly Clay. He can't wait to see his wife soon, it's their 15th wedding anniversary."
Anderson, launched to the international lab complex last June aboard the shuttle Atlantis, returned to Earth resting on his back in a recumbent seat on Discovery's lower deck to ease his re-adaptation to gravity after 152 days in space. A team of flight surgeons and support personnel was standing by to assess his condition and help him off the orbiter.
While it varies from one individual to another, it typically takes returning station astronauts a month or so to largely re-adapt to gravity and up to a year to fully recover.
"Physically and mentally, I'm really ready to be home," Anderson said from orbit Tuesday. "I've worked very hard on my physical exercise since I arrived way back in June. So I think that part will be fine. The only part I don't know about is how I will react with my vestibular system and the fact that I've been off the planet with minimal gravity for five months and then I'll come thumping back to the ground - I'm sorry, Pam, smoothly come back to the ground! - and enjoy the comforts of gravity again. So it'll be interesting to find out. I'm kind of optimistic, maybe overly so.
"Regarding what I miss, I think just being able to be outside in the breezes and hear the birds and feel the sunlight and that sort of thing, you can't get that on the international space station. You can imagine it, you can look out the window and see beautiful things, but it's not the same as being outside on the ground on the beautiful planet Earth."
Along with seeing his family again, Anderson said he also plans to enjoy a steak dinner at his earliest convenience.
"I have a special, secret recipe that we like to do at home, so I'm really looking forward to that first time at home with my family," he said. "For other things, I think ice cold drinks, or things like ice cream that we don't have any opportunity to have on the international space station ... are just general cravings that I have.
"But I enjoyed my time up there immensely and it's a kind of a bitter sweet time for me to come home. But I'm ready."
Flying upside down and backward over the southern Indian Ocean, Melroy and Zamka fired Discovery's twin braking rockets at 11:58:49 a.m. for one minute and 53 seconds, slowing the ship by about 147 mph to drop out of orbit for an hourlong glide to Earth.
The original flight plan called for a southwest-to-northeast re-entry trajectory across the south Pacific Ocean, Central America and the Caribbean for a pre-dawn landing. But given the length of Discovery's extended 16-day mission, flight controllers altered the crew's schedule to bring in daylight opportunities using a so-called descending node flight path that carried Discovery across the central United States for the first time since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
"Just like driving, flying and making a landing, I think, is easier in the daylight, you have more visual cues," said Melroy, a former large aircraft test pilot and the second woman to command a space shuttle.
A half hour after the deorbit rocket firing, Discovery plunged into the discernible atmosphere 400,000 feet above the mid Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii and crossed the coast of western Canada just north of Vancouver. Moving from northwest to southeast, Discovery streaked high above Montana and central Nebraska, passing just a few miles south of Anderson's hometown of Ashland.
Flying almost directly above Topeka, Kansas, Discovery's flight computers guided the ship just south of Memphis and across the deep south to Florida. Melroy took over manual control at an altitude of 50,000 feet above north Merritt Island as the shuttle dropped below the speed of sound.
After giving Zamka a few moments of hands-on flying time, Melroy completed a sweeping 195-degree right overhead turn to line up on runway 33.
"Discovery worked perfectly, and I just want to say a big thank you to everybody at the Kennedy Space Center for everything that you do," Melroy said after landing. "Because it takes the entire team to pull it together to launch a shuttle as clean as this. And that goes for the whole agency, I think the whole agency had to pull together for this particular mission.
"We saw a lot of very unusual things happen. We did a pretty amazing (solar panel repair spacewalk) and that was very exciting. It's a thrilling day for both the space shuttle and the space station programs, vindicating both programs and their purpose and their flexibility in space. I just want say thank you, we are thrilled to be back home."
At a post-landing news conference, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said Discovery's mission was a welcome success.
"While all of you know that I think there's no such thing as a good press conference, this one is as good as it can be because the only thing we can talk about up here is how great this mission has been from start to finish and how you've had an opportunity to see and report on NASA at its very best," he said.
Anderson was replaced aboard the space station by Dan Tani, who hitched a ride into space aboard Discovery and who remained behind with Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson and Yuri Malenchenko when the shuttle departed Monday.
Over the course of a dramatic assembly mission, the combined shuttle-station crews successfully attached a new pressurized module to the lab complex and moved a huge set of solar arrays to its permanent mounting point on the far left end of the lab's main solar power truss.
When the arrays were re-extended, one of them was mangled and torn by a guide wire hangup that required a mission extension and a dramatic spacewalk repair job by Parazynski and Wheelock last Saturday. But the work was successful and the array was fully extended and locked in place.
Griffin said the mission reflected a growing maturity in space operations that is difficult to appreciate.
"I think that building the space station is far more difficult, and certainly far more complex, than was executing Apollo," he said. "Apollo was an incredible leap from where we were. But it was simpler than what we are trying to do today.
"We don't have the experience base to appreciate how great it really is. Humans have been building bridges for a thousand years, more, so each new, more exciting bridge is an extension beyond what was done (before), but because it's just an extension, it's an increment, we don't see it. If somebody puts a picture of the new, highest bridge in the world in France on the internet, everybody says wow, that's great.
"Well, building the space station is like building the world's newest and highest bridge, except people can't drive across it," Griffin said. "The only way you can see it is in the photos we bring back or the TV images we send. What we are building here is larger than a football field. And we're doing it in zero gravity. ... What's happening here is extraordinary. I mean, you need to be able to appreciate it. And it's way beyond anything that has ever been done by human beings before, anywhere."
Discovery's landing kicks off a busy month in space for Whitson, Malenchenko and Tani to prepare the lab complex for the long-awaited launch of Europe's Columbus research module aboard the shuttle Atlantis on Dec. 6. Columbus was moved to launch pad 39A late Tuesday and engineers plan to haul Atlantis to the pad early Saturday.
Columbus will be attached to the Harmony module that was delivered by the Discovery astronauts and temporarily attached to the left side of the station's central Unity module.
Before Atlantis can take off, the station astronauts must detach the lab's shuttle docking port from the front of the Destiny lab module, connect it to Harmony and then move the entire assembly back to the front of the station. Three spacewalks will be required, one by Whitson and Malenchenko this Friday to finish initial preparations, and two by Whitson and Tani Nov. 20 and 24 to connect the module to the station's power and cooling systems.
"Once the shuttle leaves, we do some very complex robotic operations and maneuver the node over to its final location. ... and then I would say the big technical part of my stay on station is the EVAs that will follow, where we take fluid trays that have been stored on the station for years and we install them on the lab to provide cooling and power to the node so it can offer it to the Columbus module and the Japanese Experiment Module," Tani said before launch.
"We talk about this as a 45-day shuttle mission in terms of pace," he added. "Shuttle missions are scheduled down to 10-minute increments and generally, usually station timelines are a bit more relaxed. But we are not, we are all 'go' from the moment of launch to probably until (Atlantis) comes to get me to bring me home, we are go, go, go."
Columbus will be attached to Harmony's right-side port in December. Japanese research modules, scheduled for launch in February and April, ultimately will be attached to Harmony's left port.
Here is a schedule of upcoming events:
DATE.......TIME.......EVENT 11/09/07...06:00 AM...Whitson, Malenchenko spacewalk; Harmony outfitting 11/10/07...04:00 AM...Atlantis is moved to launch pad 39A 11/12/07...05:40 AM...Shuttle docking port moved from Destiny to Harmony 11/14/07...04:55 AM...Harmony/docking port moved to Destiny 11/14/07..............Shuttle program flight readiness review concludes 11/20/07...TBD........Whitson, Tani EVA; Harmony connected to ISS power/cooling 11/20/07..............Shuttle practice countdown 11/24/07...TBD........Whitson, Tani EVA; Harmony connected to ISS power/cooling 11/25/07..............Harmony module activated 11/26/07..............Station crew enters Harmony 11/30/07..............NASA senior management readiness review concludes 12/03/07...TBD........Start of countdown to Atlantis launch 12/06/07...04:32 PM...Launch of Atlantis and Columbus module (time approximate) 12/09/07...03:12 PM...Columbus module attached to space station 12/15/07...08:22 AM...Atlantis undocks from space station 12/17/07...12:02 PM...Atlantis lands at the Kennedy Space CenterStation flight director Holly Ridings said the lab crew will have to work through the Thanksgiving holiday to get the work done.
"They are not going to have Thanksgiving off," she said. "Even pre-flight, the crew knew that this month of November was going to be very, very challenging. And so they said right up front, if it works out that we need to work on Thanksgiving, we are more than happy to do that. And it did work out that way. So they will be working on Thanksgiving with a lot of us here working as well to support them."
Pete Hasbrook, the Expedition 16 manager at the Johnson Space Center, said NASA is mindful of falling prey to schedule pressure. But given the Bush administration's order to finish the station and retire the shuttle by 2010, pressure is inevitable.
"As far as schedule pressure, I would say yes and no," Hasbrook said. "Yes, we all know that we want to launch in December if we can. But on the other hand, we are very clear, management is very clear, our crew and medical teams are very clear, we need to give the crew an adequate rest time, we can't run them seven days a week. Some people would like to, but we know that's a bad thing to do.
"So we've put in the work-rest cycle we've talked about in a previous briefing, basically working five and a half, six-ish days a week. Toward the end of the time here before we get into flight 1E (the Columbus mission) we're going to give the crew the right amount of time off. And if that means we have to go into the December window a little bit to do that, we're going to do that. We have permission from our program management, our headquarters management to keep that on the table, protect that, protect the crew's health and also protect the ground teams' health.
"You might have (noticed) how much running the teams have been doing on the ground just to finish the 10A flight (Discovery's mission), pulling the miracle that we did at the end of that flight. There's a lot of work going into that, there are a lot of teams working extra hours, we could not have gone and done that again this week without having some delay. So we're very conscious on the pressure we might put on ourselves on schedules.
"If we find some reason we can't make December, including if something major were to break on orbit between now and then that would cost us extra days, we would have to wait until January," Hasbrook said.
That said, "launching in December is a priority for all of us, not just the U.S. side, but all of the partners."
"You might remember that after Columbia, we did a lot of replanning and our partners were very, very patient in watching us and helping us through that whole mission replanning process," Hasbrook said. "You might remember we changed the order of some of the flights. Again, the partners have been working on these modules and looking forward to their payback, to their countries, the European Space Agency, the Japanese exploration agency. They've been very patient about getting their laboratories into space, getting their science return.
"So it's important to us to recognize the support they've given us and the patience they've given us. It's not just an American mission that we're going into. It's really expanding the station to be more international than it is."
12:01 PM, 11/7/07, Update: Shuttle braking rockets fired
Flying upside down and backward over the southern Indian Ocean, commander Pam Melroy and pilot George Zamka fired Discovery's twin braking rockets at 11:58:49 a.m. for one minute and 53 seconds, slowing the ship by about 147 mph to drop out of orbit.
Discovery will follow a so-called descending node trajectory, plunging across the heartland of America for a landing around 1:01:50 p.m. on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center. This status report will be updated after Discovery lands or as conditions warrant.
7:00 AM, 11/7/07, Update: Astronauts prepare for landing; forecast still 'go'
With good weather expected in Florida, the Discovery astronauts are rigging the shuttle for re-entry and landing today at the Kennedy Space Center, closing out an action-packed space station assembly mission and bringing astronaut Clay Anderson back to Earth after 152 days in orbit.
Flying upside down and backward over the southern Indian Ocean, commander Pam Melroy and pilot George Zamka plan to fire Discovery's twin braking rockets at 11:59:12 a.m. for one minute and 58 seconds, slowing the ship by about 150 mph to drop out of orbit.
Discovery will follow a so-called descending node trajectory, plunging across the heartland of America for a landing at 1:01:50 p.m. on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center. A second landing opportunity is available one orbit later, with a deorbit rocket firing at 1:34:42 p.m. and landing at 2:36:12 p.m.
If the weather or some other problem prevents a landing today, Melroy and company will remain in orbit an extra day and try again Thursday. Depending on the forecast, entry flight director Bryan Lunney could elect to activate NASA's backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. But for today, Kennedy is the only active site.
Forecasters are predicting generally good weather, with scattered clouds at 4,000 feet and winds out of the north at 14 knots with gusts up to 23. For a landing on runway 33, that means a brisk 22-knot headwind but it is not expected to exceed NASA's 25-knot safety limit. The forecast for Thursday calls for a chance of broken clouds at 3,000 feet.
The original flight plan called for a southwest-to-northeast re-entry trajectory and a pre-dawn landing. But given the length of Discovery's extended 16-day mission, flight controllers altered the crew's schedule to bring in a daylight opportunity using a so-called descending node flight path that will carry Discovery across the central United States for the first time since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
"Just like driving, flying and making a landing, I think, is easier in the daylight, you have more visual cues," said Melroy, a former large aircraft test pilot and the second woman to command a space shuttle. "So I have no concerns in that area at all and I can't wait. I'm really excited."
A half hour after the deorbit rocket firing, Discovery will enter the discernible atmosphere 400,000 feet above the mid Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii and cross the coast of western Canada just north of Vancouver. Moving from northwest to southeast, Discovery will streak high above Montana and central Nebraska, passing just a few miles south of Anderson's hometown of Ashland.
Flying almost directly above Topeka, Kansas, Discovery's flight computers will guide the ship just south of Memphis and across the deep south to Florida. Melroy will take over manual control at an altitude of 50,000 feet above north Merritt Island as the shuttle drops below the speed of sound.
After giving Zamka a few moments of hands-on flying time, Melroy will take over and guide the shuttle through a sweeping 192-degree right overhead turn to line up on runway 33.
"On my first flight, we didn't do the program we have now that gives pilots the opportunity to fly a little bit," she said in an interview. "And I really experienced that on my second mission when I got that 20, 30 seconds of flying time, it was a wonderful moment. In a lot of ways, it was the best moment in the mission for me. And part of that is, everything else goes away and it's back to you and your airplane. And that's my job.
"I've been a professional pilot for my entire adult life. And so you kind of shed a lot of the worries about so many other things that are going on in the mission and you have that visceral thrill that all pilots get when they take over the vehicle. You have the feeling yeah, this is something I know how to do, I know how to fly. And it was wonderful, it was really, truly, the best moment on the mission last time. So I'm very excited about this one." Anderson, launched to the international space station last June aboard the shuttle Atlantis, will make the return to Earth resting on his back in a recumbent seat on Discovery's lower deck to ease his re-adaptation to gravity. A team of flight surgeons and support personnel will be standing by to assist.
"Physically and mentally, I'm really ready to be home," he said Tuesday. "I've worked very hard on my physical exercise since I arrived way back in June. So I think that part will be fine. The only part I don't know about is how I will react with my vestibular system and the fact that I've been off the planet with minimal gravity for five months and then I'll come thumping back to the ground - I'm sorry, Pam, smoothly come back to the ground! - and enjoy the comforts of gravity again. So it'll be interesting to find out. I'm kind of optimistic, maybe overly so."
Here is a timeline of today's re-entry events (in EST; repeating from Tuesday):
EST...........EVENT ..............1st Opportunity 07:59:12 AM...Begin deorbit timeline 08:14:12 AM...Radiator stow 08:24:12 AM...Mission specialists seat installation 08:30:12 AM...Computers set for deorbit prep 08:34:12 AM...Hydraulic system configuration 08:59:12 AM...Flash evaporator cooling system checkout 09:05:12 AM...Final payload deactivation 09:19:12 AM...Payload bay doors closed 09:29:12 AM...Mission control 'go' for OPS-3 entry software 09:39:12 AM...OPS-3 transition 10:04:12 AM...Entry switchlist verification 10:14:12 AM...Deorbit rocket firing update 10:19:12 AM...Crew entry review 10:34:12 AM...Commander/pilot don entry suits 10:51:12 AM...Navigation system alignment 10:59:12 AM...Commander/pilot strap in; MS suit don 11:16:12 AM...Shuttle steering check 11:19:12 AM...Hydraulic power unit prestart 11:26:12 AM...Toilet deactivation 11:34:12 AM...Vent doors closed for entry 11:39:12 AM...Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn 11:45:12 AM...Astronauts strap in 11:54:12 AM...Single hydraulic unit start 11:59:12 AM...Deorbit ignition on orbit 238 (dV: 147 mph; dT: 1:58) 12:01:10 PM...Deorbit burn complete (alt: 223.3 sm) 12:30:05 PM...Entry interface (alt: 75.8 sm; vel: 16,979 mph) 12:35:24 PM...1st roll command to left 12:44:14 PM...1st left to right roll reversal 12:48:00 PM...C-band radar acquisition 12:55:16 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (alt: 83,700 feet) 12:57:28 PM...Velocity less than mach 1 (alt: 51,200 feet) 12:58:47 PM...Shuttle banks to line up on runway (alt: 32,200 feet; 192-degree right turn) 01:01:50 PM...Landing on runway 33 ..............2nd Opportunity 01:14:42 PM...Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn 01:20:42 PM...Astronaut seat ingress 01:29:42 PM...Single APU start 01:34:42 PM...Deorbit ignition on orbit 239 (dV: 246 mph; dT: 2:00) 01:36:42 PM...Deorbit burn complete (alt: 217 sm) 02:04:13 PM...Entry interface (alt: 75.7 sm; vel: 16,979 mph) 02:09:33 PM...1st roll command to left 02:25:02 PM...1st left-to-right roll reversal 02:29:41 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (alt: 83,700 feet) 02:31:54 PM...Velocity less than mach 1 (alt: 50,500 feet) 02:32:52 PM...Shuttle on the HAC (alt: 36,300 feet; 228-degree right turn) 02:36:12 PM...Landing on runway 33
5:00 PM, 11/6/07, Update: Shuttle heat shield cleared for entry
NASA managers late today cleared the shuttle Discovery for re-entry and landing Wednesday to close out a dramatic space station assembly mission, giving the ship's heat shield a clean bill of health after analyzing data from a final inspection.
Entry Flight Director Bryan Lunney, son of legendary Apollo flight director Glynn Lunney, said Discovery's entry systems were checked out earlier today and forecasters are predicting acceptable conditions with the only concern being relatively high headwinds on runway 33 at the Florida spaceport.
Given the forecast, NASA is not activating the shuttle's backup landing sites at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., or Northrup Strip, N.M.
"We have KSC for two opportunities on Wednesday," Lunney said. "I do not have Edwards or Northrup called up at all Wednesday. If we wave off for weather or have some other problem, I'll make a determination Wednesday afternoon whether or not to call up Edwards on Thursday. So I'm not going to make that call until then."
Assuming the weather holds and no problems develop, commander Pam Melroy and pilot George Zamka plan to fire Discovery's twin braking rockets at 11:59:12 a.m. for one minute and 58 seconds, slowing the ship by about 150 mph to drop out of orbit for an hourlong glide to Earth.
Crossing the coast of North America just north of Vancouver, Discovery will follow a so-called descending node trajectory, plunging across the heartland of America for a landing at 1:01:50 p.m. A second landing opportunity is available one orbit later, with a deorbit rocket firing at 1:34:42 p.m. and landing at 2:36:12 p.m.
The Spaceflight Meteorology Group at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, which is responsible for shuttle landing forecasts, predicted scattered clouds at 3,000 feet, visibility of 7 miles and winds out of 350 degrees at 14 knots with gusts to 23. That works out to a 22-knot headwind, just 3 mph below NASA's safety limit.
"The weather right now is looking really, really good," Lunney said. "For the last few days, the forecast has been great. We've had mostly clear skies, we're forecasting scattered at 3,000 ... and the winds are going to be blowing right down the runway, peaking up to 23 (knots) with a 14-knot steady state. So real optimistic that tomorrow's landing opportunities we'll play out for us for weather."
Here is a timeline of tomorrow's deorbit opportunities (in EST; the times for deorbit ignition and landing likely will change by a few seconds based on final tracking):
EST...........EVENT ..............Rev. 238 Deorbit to KSC 07:59:12 AM...Begin deorbit timeline 08:14:12 AM...Radiator stow 08:24:12 AM...Mission specialists seat installation 08:30:12 AM...Computers set for deorbit prep 08:34:12 AM...Hydraulic system configuration 08:59:12 AM...Flash evaporator cooling system checkout 09:05:12 AM...Final payload deactivation 09:19:12 AM...Payload bay doors closed 09:29:12 AM...Mission control 'go' for OPS-3 entry software 09:39:12 AM...OPS-3 transition 10:04:12 AM...Entry switchlist verification 10:14:12 AM...Deorbit rocket firing update 10:19:12 AM...Crew entry review 10:34:12 AM...Commander/pilot don entry suits 10:51:12 AM...Navigation system alignment 10:59:12 AM...Commander/pilot strap in; MS suit don 11:16:12 AM...Shuttle steering check 11:19:12 AM...Hydraulic power unit prestart 11:26:12 AM...Toilet deactivation 11:34:12 AM...Vent doors closed for entry 11:39:12 AM...Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn 11:45:12 AM...Astronauts strap in 11:54:12 AM...Single hydraulic unit start 11:59:12 AM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 147 mph; dT: 1:58) 12:01:10 PM...Deorbit burn complete (alt: 223.3 sm) 12:30:05 PM...Entry interface (alt: 75.8 sm; vel: 16,979 mph) 12:35:24 PM...1st roll command to left 12:44:14 PM...1st left to right roll reversal 12:48:00 PM...C-band radar acquisition 12:55:16 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (alt: 83,700 feet) 12:57:28 PM...Velocity less than mach 1 (alt: 51,200 feet) 12:58:47 PM...Shuttle banks to line up on runway (alt: 32,200 feet; 192-degree right turn) 01:01:50 PM...Landing on runway 33 ..............Rev. 239 Deorbit to KSC 01:14:42 PM...Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn 01:20:42 PM...Astronaut seat ingress 01:29:42 PM...Single APU start 01:34:42 PM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 246 mph; dT: 2:00) 01:36:42 PM...Deorbit burn complete (alt: 217 sm) 02:04:13 PM...Entry interface (alt: 75.7 sm; vel: 16,979 mph) 02:09:33 PM...1st roll command to left 02:25:02 PM...1st left-to-right roll reversal 02:29:41 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (alt: 83,700 feet) 02:31:54 PM...Velocity less than mach 1 (alt: 50,500 feet) 02:32:52 PM...Shuttle on the HAC (alt: 36,300 feet; 228-degree right turn) 02:36:12 PM...Landing on runway 33
6:00 AM, 11/6/07, Update: Astronauts test re-entry systems, pack for Wednesday landing (UPDATED at 10:30 AM with quotes from Melroy; adding flight path data)
The Discovery astronauts worked through a busy final day in space today, packing up and testing the shuttle's re-entry systems for landing Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center.
Commander Pam Melroy, pilot George Zamka and flight engineer Stephanie Wilson fired up one of Discovery's three hydraulic power units around 5:45 a.m. as part of a flight control system checkout. Using a laptop flight simulator, Melroy and Zamka planned to practice landing procedures later in the day.
The astronauts also will set up a recumbent seat on the shuttle's lower deck for returning space station astronaut Clay Anderson. He will make the trip back to Earth resting on his back to ease his re-adaptation to gravity after 152 days in space.
In a morning message to the crew, NASA's Mission Management Team said the forecast for landing Wednesday was favorable, with generally clear skies and a brisk headwind for two back-to-back deorbit opportunities. As a result, NASA managers do not plan to activate backup landing sites in California and New Mexico.
If the weather or some other problem prevents a Florida landing Wednesday, the astronauts will remain in orbit an additional day and try again Thursday. In that case, Lunney might opt to activate Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., depending on the weather in Florida. If landing is delayed to Friday, Kennedy, Edwards and Northrup Strip, N.M., will be activated.
"The limiting orbiter consumable will be supply water with at least 7 deorbit opportunities available over 3 days," the MMT told the astronauts. "The remaining orbiter consumables will support EOM (end of mission) +3 (days) with at least 2 opportunities per day.
"The plan is to target two KSC opportunities for EOM on orbits 238 and 239. In the event of an EOM wave-off, EDW may be considered on EOM+1 pending the latest weather forecast and all three sites (KSC, EDW, NOR) will be activated on EOM+2."
Passing just off the east coast Monday, Melroy reported clear skies as cameras on the shuttle beamed down spectacular views of the entire Florida peninsula.
"Well, we could see the runway from orbit," she said. "So we're thinking the weather there is looking pretty good!"
The MMT told the crew a dry front "will pass through KSC early Wednesday morning. This front is forecast to leave behind dry, cool air and a GO forecast with a head wind of (14 knots peaking to 23) on KSC runway 33. EOM+1 has a GO forecast for EDW and NOR while KSC has a chance of precipitation and a chance of ceilings. EOM+2 has a GO forecast for KSC and NOR while EDW has a slight chance for virga (precipitation that doesn't reach the ground)."
Discovery's original flight plan called for a pre-dawn entry and a so-called ascending node approach from southwest to northeast that would carry the shuttle across Central America, the Caribbean and then into Florida.
Ascending node entries require slightly less propellant than descending node, northwest-to-southeast approaches across the heartland of America. Ascending node trajectories also avoid high-altitude, high-latitude clouds of ice crystals that can form in summer months over the Northern Hemisphere.
But Discovery's mission was extended to cope with space station problems and NASA managers ultimately decided to switch to a descending node entry, one that will carry Discovery across the central United States for the first time since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale said Monday that noctilucent clouds don't tend to form at this time of the year and given Discovery has plenty of propellant, "we opted for a descending rev deorbit this time, which allows us to land in the daytime."
"It's a basic fact that landing in the daylight is a safer and easier task than landing in the dark," he said. "And the commander on this flight has definitely expressed a preference for daylight landing."
Asked about that today, Melroy agreed the crew preferred a daylight landing, but primarily because the change required an easier sleeping cycle shift to adapt their body clocks.
"I prefer a daylight landing, i think it's a little easier, but the real reason we asked for the switch is because the sleep shift involved, shifting later instead of earlier (is) a lot easier to do physiologically," Melroy said. "We've been doing pretty well, actually, getting to bed on time and getting good sleep. I think we've been able to maintain the pace pretty well."
In the wake of the Columbia disaster, NASA assessed the risk to the public posed by a returning shuttle that might suffer a catastrophic breakup.
"We have a standard public safety risk which is always computed and for an undamaged orbiter, this constitutes a very minimal ... risk to fly over the middle of the United States," Hale said. "The primary reason we're doing it is to allow us to have a daylight landing."
All shuttle pilots are trained to handle landing in daylight or darkness, but "I think most pilots prefer daylight landings," Hale said. "I don't think this is a really strong impetus from the commander, but it is her preference.
"More than that, we are approaching a very long mission here,' he said. "This will be the longest mission, I believe, by about 24, 26 hours, longer than any mission to the international space station and any mission other than a few we flew in the early 90s with what we called the extended duration orbiter pallet. We flew couple of very long missions with the EDO pallet.
"So this is becoming a long mission and we want to make sure we set up the commander for the very best landing conditions that we possibly can."
Melroy said she hoped people living along the shuttle's ground track "would get a chance to watch us come in. I hope they enjoy the view."
For the first landing opportunity Wednesday, the shuttle could cross the North American coast near Vancouver and then follow a track across (data provided by NASA):
DAY/EST.........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 11/06/07 Tue 02:38 AM...13...16...00...Crew wakeup Tue 05:23 AM...13...18...45...Flight control system checkout Tue 05:38 AM...13...19...00...Cabin stow Tue 06:33 AM...13...19...55...Maneuvering thruster test firing Tue 08:18 AM...13...21...40...Wing leading edge sensors deactivated Tue 09:43 AM...13...23...05...News media interviews Tue 10:03 AM...13...23...25...Crew meal Tue 11:03 AM...14...00...25...Deorbit review Tue 11:33 AM...14...00...55...Entry video setup Tue 12:00 PM...04...01...22...Space station status briefing on NASA TV Tue 01:48 PM...14...03...10...Ergometer stow Tue 02:18 PM...14...03...40...Recumbent seat setup Tue 02:30 PM...14...03...52...Mission status briefing on NASA TV Tue 02:48 PM...14...04...10...Launch/entry suit checkout Tue 02:54 PM...14...04...16...Orbit adjustment rocket firing Tue 03:03 PM...14...04...25...PILOT landing practice Tue 04:03 PM...14...05...25...KU-band antenna stow Tue 04:03 PM...14...05...25...Laptop network teardown Tue 06:08 PM...14...07...30...Crew sleep begins Tue 07:00 PM...14...08...22...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV 11/07/07 Wed 02:38 AM...14...16...00...Crew wakeup Wed 05:43 AM...14...19...05...GIRA stow; OCAC stow Wed 06:58 AM...14...20...20...Group B computer powerup Wed 07:18 AM...14...20...40...IMU alignment Wed 08:03 AM...14...21...25...Deorbit timeline begins Wed 11:59 AM...15...01...21...1st deorbit opportunity (rev. 238) Wed 01:01 PM...15...02...23...1st KSC landing opportunity Wed 01:35 PM...15...02...57...2nd deorbit opportunity (rev. 239) Wed 02:36 PM...15...03...58...2nd KSC landing opportunity BACKUP LANDING OPPORTUNITIES (preliminary estimates) 11/08/07 Thu 10:33 AM...15...23...55...Deorbit to KSC............Orbit 253 Thu 11:33 AM...16...00...55...Landing at KSC Thu 11:58 AM...16...01...20...Deorbit to Edwards........254 Thu 01:00 PM...16...02...22...Landing at Edwards Thu 12:01 PM...16...01...23...Deorbit to Northrup.......254 Thu 01:03 PM...16...02...25...Landing at Northrup Thu 12:09 PM...16...01...31...Deorbit to KSC............254 Thu 01:08 PM...16...02...30...Landing at KSC Thu 01:34 PM...16...02...56...Deorbit to Edwards........255 Thu 02:35 PM...16...03...57...Landing at Edwards Thu 01:37 PM...16...02...59...Deorbit to Northrup.......255 Thu 02:37 PM...16...03...59...Landing at Northrup Thu 03:09 PM...16...04...31...Deorbit to Edwards........256 Thu 04:08 PM...16...05...30...Landing at Edwards 11/09/07 Fri 10:39 AM...17...00...01...Deorbit to KSC............269 Fri 11:39 AM...17...01...01...Landing at KSC Fri 12:04 PM...17...01...26...Deorbit to Edwards........270 Fri 01:06 PM...17...02...28...Landing at Edwards Fri 12:08 PM...17...01...30...Deorbit to Northrup.......270 Fri 01:09 PM...17...02...31...Landing at Northrup Fri 12:15 PM...17...01...37...Deorbit to KSC............270 Fri 01:13 PM...17...02...35...Landing at KSC Fri 01:40 PM...17...03...02...Deorbit to Edwards........271 Fri 02:40 PM...17...04...02...Landing at Edwards Fri 01:43 PM...17...03...05...Deorbit to Northrup.......271 Fri 02:42 PM...17...04...04...Landing at Northrup
7:30 AM, 11/5/07, Update: Shuttle undocking and fly around complete
The Discovery astronauts undocked from the international space station today, looped around the lab complex for a final photo run and then departed, falling back behind the outpost. Pilot George Zamka, manually guiding Discovery from the crew module's aft flight deck, had no problems despite a computer glitch that prevented him from receiving normal trajectory data.
"We're all just cheering Zambo on," Melroy told flight controllers. "I don't think people appreciate how difficult it is to do a fly around with absolutely no trajectory information. ... It's pretty challenging to do this and he's doing a fabulous job."
"We agree whole heartedly," said mission control. "We would never know he doesn't have the data. It looks great."
Astronaut Dan Tani, who hitched a ride to the station aboard Discovery and remained behind on the lab, replacing out-going Expedition 16 flight engineer Clay Anderson, passed along his own praise as a camera on the station showed the shuttle gliding through space 600 feet below.
"Discovery, Alpha on the big loop. Zambo, great job, buddy, great job flying," Tani said. "Really cool to see you out there."
"And Bo-ichi, thanks very much," Zamka replied, using the crew's nickname for Tani. "We're going to miss you, but we know you're going to have a great time up there with Peggy (Whitson) and Yuri (Malenchenko). Have a great expedition and we'll see you on the ground." "I'll do that. And the whole 'Bo crew, I miss you already," Tani said. "Fly safe, get home safe, I'll see you on the ground and thanks for not only the great ride up, but the great year and a half together. I owe you one. ... Take care and we'll see you on the ground."
"Yep, we'll see you o the ground," said Melroy.
5:40 AM, 11/5/07, Update: Shuttle Discovery undocks from space station
With pilot George Zamka at the controls, the shuttle Discovery undocked from the international space station today at 5:32 a.m. as the two spacecraft sailed 213 miles above the south Pacific Ocean.
"Houston and Alpha, Discovery has physical separation," shuttle commander Pam Melroy radioed as the shuttle slowly pulled away from the lab complex.
A few moments later, station commander Peggy Whitson rang the ship's bell in the Destiny laboratory module, saying "shuttle departing."
"Discovery copies," Melroy said. "Thanks, Peggy."
"Thank you guys for the (new) module and all your help," Whitson replied.
4:39 AM, 11/5/07, Update: Astronauts set or undocking; heat shield inspection
The Discovery astronauts prepared the shuttle for undocking from the international space station today to close out a dramatic assembly mission that sets the stage for the long-awaited attachment of European and Japanese research modules over the next three shuttle flights.
With pilot George Zamka at the controls, Discovery was scheduled to disconnect from pressurized mating adapter No. 2 on the front of the Destiny laboratory module at 5:32 a.m. as the two spacecraft sailed high above the south Pacific Ocean.
The flight plan called for Zamka to guide Discovery to a point about 400 feet directly in front of the lab complex before firing thrusters to begin a photo-documentation fly around, looping up above the station then behind and below it before returning to his starting point.
The first of two separation rocket firings is planned at that point with a second burn a few minutes later to begin moving the shuttle away from the station.
"This is very similar to what we've seen in the past," said shuttle flight director Rick LaBrode. "The fly around occurs around 600 feet, all the way around. We essentially do a full lap. We try to time it such that we have good lighting for the entire fly around."
Flight controllers and engineers were looking forward to seeing the station with the newly installed Harmony module in its temporary location on the left side of the central Unity module and the redeployed P6 solar arrays extended and tracking the sun on the left end of the station's main power truss.
"The shuttle crew's continuously taking pictures of the outside of the station (during the fly around) to monitor how the external part of the station's operation," LaBrode said. "We get views during this flyaround that we don't normally get except during shuttle missions.
"Then, after the complete flyaround, we do sep 1. When we get basically right on top of it, we do sep 2. And we're off and away."
After a break for lunch, the astronauts plan to begin a final heat shield inspection using laser scanners and cameras on the end of a 50-foot-long boom attached to the shuttle's robot arm. A similar inspection was carried out the day after launch to look for any signs of ascent debris impact damage.
The goal of today's so-called late inspection is to check the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edge panels for any damage that might have occurred since the first inspection because of impacts by space debris.
Sensors behind the leading edge panels recorded a half dozen or so readings over the coarse of the mission. Similar readings on past flights were chalked up the shuttle's aluminum structure responding to temperature changes. Today's inspection should provide the data necessary to resolve the matter.
The orbiter boom sensor system served as astronaut Scott Parazynski's work platform during a spacewalk Saturday to repair the left-side P6-4B solar array. The four sensors on the boom - two laser scanners, a video camera and a digital camera - were unpowered for about nine hours, but tests after the boom was reconnected to shuttle power showed they were "fully functional and ready to support" the late inspection, NASA's mission management team told the crew in an overnight message.
"The LCS (Laser Camera System) hardware appears nominal, and the unexpected indications from the LCS checkout are likely associated with the software and not thermally related," the MMT told the crew. "If there is time (Monday), the LCS checkout steps, which are part of the STBD survey procedures, will be performed to gather more data on the status of the LCS."
The repaired and redeployed P6 solar array and its port-side counterpart, P4, are now rotating to track the sun. Station flight director Heather Rarick said late Sunday the station is not yet tapping into the power generated by P6, pending final tests and checkout.
"We got the OK to let it rotate, so it's been tracking the sun like it's supposed to," she said. "I haven't heard any issues with it, no problems, everything seems to be working fine. So we're just waiting on a 'go' so we can start drawing the power off of it, using it to power some loads, and we're hoping that could be as early as (today). We have to have our specialists take a good, solid look, that everything's going to be OK when we go to do that."
Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EST and mission elapsed time; includes revision O of the NASA television schedule):
4:22 PM, 11/4/07, Update: Shuttle crew bids tearful farewell to station astronauts; hatches closed for undocking Monday
The Discovery astronauts bid a tearful farewell to their space station crewmates today, hugging and sharing a few final words before closing hatches and making preparations for undocking early Monday.
For Clay Anderson, who was launched to the station last June and who's flying home aboard Discovery after 152 days in space, the moment was especially emotional. Floating in the Destiny laboratory module with his shuttle and station crewmates, Anderson thanked flight controllers in the United States and Russia, stopping three times to collect himself.
"Today's my last day aboard the international space station, Alpha," he said. "Five months ago, I was lying on my back in the middeck of the orbiter Atlantis preparing to launch into orbit for the first time and wondering what the heck I'd gotten myself into. And now I'm poised to return to Earth after having served very proudly on board this magnificent complex as part of two expedition and three shuttle crews.
"And as my time draws to a close here, I'm filled with a lot of different emotions. I have a lot of blood, sweat and tears that I've left on board the international space station, it's a very wonderful place. So I want to take this time to thank each and every one of you. You've been my special family down there on the ground for quite some time and as is true for families on Earth, I sincerely believe we've all created some very fond memories.
"You all kept me safe, you've shown me unwavering patience and professionalism... And you've all overlooked my shortcomings and it's my hope that maybe you've even had a few laughs along the way... What I'd like to say is what we are doing here is very important for all of human kind. It's worth the risk, it's worth the cost and you folks on the ground are the people who make it happen. So I want you to take pride in your work and constantly look toward the heavens, for it is there you will see your future.
"For all the flight control, training and engineering teams in Houston, Huntsville and Moscow... I say thank you," Anderson concluded. "You are indeed the best and the brightest that our world has to offer."
"Hey Clay, we appreciate the words," astronaut Kevin Ford said from mission control as flight controllers applauded. "Great work on your expedition and we're looking forward to having you back here."
Ford then put lead station flight director Derek Hassmann on the line.
"It's really, really great to see everybody together there in the lab," he said. "I just wanted to echo Kevin's comments, it was an honor and a privilege to watch you guys do your work. What an unbelievably successful mission. ... Great job, guys. Thanks."
Discovery carried Anderson's replacement, Dan Tani, into orbit and shuttle commander Pam Melroy teared up herself as she welcomed Anderson and said farewell to Tani and his new crewmates, station commander Peggy Whitson and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko.
"I guess this is the time when Discovery officially welcomes Clay with open arms to our crew," Melroy said. "We can't wait to bring you home to your family and we're very happy to have you. It's not even a question of fitting in, because our crews have matched so well. There's been a lot of laughter and a lot of fun and a lot of really hard work over the last few docked days.
"And it's also our time to say farewell to Dan... he told me not to do this (cry)... Dan has brought us so many wonderful memories and so many wonderful moments. We're going to miss you terribly. We promise we'll send somebody to come pick you up and bring you home. And to Peggy, thank you, it's just been an honor and a privilege to share command of this mission with you. Our personal relationship has just made it all that much better. And Yuri, thank you so much for all the help you gave to us as well."
Saying "we're family now," Melroy embraced Whitson and the two crews shared a few final smiles and hugs before the shuttle astronauts floated back aboard Discovery for good.
If all goes well, Discovery will undock from the space station at 5:32 a.m. Monday. Landing is scheduled for 1:02 p.m. Wednesday, Anderson's 15th wedding anniversary.
5:30 AM, 11/4/07, Update: Astronauts pack for hatch closure, Monday undocking
The Discovery astronauts packed up today, moving equipment back to the shuttle in preparation for closing hatches between the orbiter and the international space station this afternoon. If all goes well, Discovery will undock from the lab complex early Monday, setting the stage for landing Wednesday to close out a dramatic space station assembly mission.
In overnight messages to the crew, flight controllers offered congratulations for Saturday's successful spacewalk by Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock to repair a damaged space station solar blanket, an improvised fix that was needed to keep station assembly on track.
"Congratulations!!! Yesterday "Too Tall" finally found his niche in the cosmos!!!" controllers said, referring to Parazynski.
"Wow!!! Yesterday was an absolutely awesome day! But now you have done it," they said. "This flight has drained our bucket of superlative adjectives absolutely dry. Therefore, it is time for you to think about coming home!"
NASA's mission management team chimed in as well, saying "the entire team was awed by the outstanding work that you performed to make EVA 4 a great success."
"The extended team, both on-orbit and on the ground, deserves congratulations and it is a good day to be a part of the extended NASA family," the team said in the crew's morning "execute package" of instructions and timeline revisions. "The MMT briefly reviewed the status and health of the orbiter, which continues to perform very well. The remaining timeline was discussed at a high level, and the MMT is beginning to turn its attention to undocking, late inspection, and end-of-mission."
Parazynski now ranks fifth in the world for cumulative spacewalk time with 47 hours and five minutes over seven EVAs. Spacewalk planners in mission control found a few superlatives of their own.
"What an AWESOME, history-making EVA!" they said in the execute package. "This one will go down as one of our biggest successes in EVA history. Words can not express how proud you made everyone with the execution by the entire team. Scott, what a way to add to an already impressive EVA career! The summit of Everest will have a hard time competing with the view from the boom."
The astronauts will enjoy a bit of off-duty time this morning before gathering in the space station's Destiny laboratory module for a brief farewell ceremony at 1:28 p.m., about 20 minutes before hatches will be closed between the orbiter and the lab complex.
Astronaut Dan Tani, who hitched a ride to the station aboard Discovery, will remain on the station with Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson and Yuri Malenchenko. The man Tani replaced - astronaut Clay Anderson - will return to Earth aboard Discovery, along with Parazynski, Wheelock, commander Pam Melroy, pilot George Zamka, flight engineer Stephanie Wilson and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli.
Undocking is planned for 5:32 a.m. Monday, followed by a final inspection of the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edge panels. A laser scanner and cameras on the end of Discovery's heat shield inspection boom, used in the solar array repair work Saturday, will be used to look for any signs of impact damage from space debris or micrometeoroids.
During the solar array repair spacewalk, the boom's instruments were unpowered for about nine hours. Overnight tests showed the laser scanner remains fully functional and tests are planned later today to check out the camera system.
Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EST and mission elapsed time; includes revision N of the NASA television schedule):
01:30 PM, 11/3/07, Update: Solar array redeployed after dramatic repair; NASA managers say panel now fully operational (UPDATED at 5:35 p.m. with news conference)
Physician-astronaut Scott Parazynski, working on the end of a boom carried by the space station's robot arm, successfully repaired a mangled solar array today, cutting away a snarled guidewire, installing five suture-like braces and then standing by while his crewmates extended the array its full 110-foot length.
Working with deliberate care, astronaut Dan Tani, sending commands from a computer inside the shuttle-station complex, extended the array's central mast a half bay at a time, stopping and letting Parazynski assess the health of the repairs as tension slowly built up on the just-installed braces.
There were no problems and as the last bay of the array's mast extended and locked into place, sensors indicated full extension and Tani exclaimed, "Oh, we've got deploy discretes, two deploy discretes!"
"Yay, all right!" someone yelled.
"Beautiful."
"Great news," Parazynski said. "What an accomplishment."
"Nice teamwork," congratulated station commander Peggy Whitson.
"Phenomenal," Parazynski agreed.
"Excellent work, guys, excellent," Whitson said.
"But it's not over yet," Discovery commander Pam Melroy said. "We've still got to get you inside."
"That would be nice," Parazynski said.
"Those are the minor details, but thank you guys very much," astronaut Steve Swanson radioed from Houston.
A successful repair was critical to NASA's plans for continuing space station assembly. At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, engineers moved the shuttle Atlantis from its hangar to the Vehicle Assembly Building for attachment to a set of boosters and an external tank. Launch on the next space station assembly mission, a high-profile flight to deliver Europe's Columbus research module, is targeted for Dec. 6.
Because of problems with the station's right-side solar array rotary joint, NASA needed to get the P6 array repaired and fully extended to provide the power necessary to support the attachment of Columbus next month as well as Japanese research modules scheduled for launch early next year.
With today's successful repair job, the December flight should remain on track.
"There is quite a bit of work that has to be done from this point to the point of launch," Suffredini said of Atlantis and the Columbus module. "We are currently asking the shuttle program to hold the sixth of December as a launch date. My guess is we may not quite make the sixth, but we're going to give it a good go. ... We have a good chance of having several (launch) attempts before the (launch window closes) on Dec. 13. And that's outstanding news."
But the schedule is tight and it will be up to station commander Peggy Whitson, Tani and flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko to complete a long list of chores to clear the way for Atlantis' long-awaited mission.
First, Whitson and Malenchenko plan a spacewalk Nov. 9 to finish rigging the newly delivered Harmony module for its move to the front of the space station. Harmony was temporarily attached to the Unity module's left port. On Nov. 12, the crew will use the station's robot arm to move the shuttle docking port from the front of the Destiny lab module to Harmony. Two days later, the Harmony/docking port assembly will be moved to the front of Destiny and bolted in place.
Whitson and Tani plan two more spacewalks, on Nov. 20 and 24, to connect Harmony to the space station's main power and cooling systems. That will set the stage for the Columbus module's attachment to Harmony's right-side port in December. Japanese modules will be attached to Harmony's upper and left-side ports in February and April.
Here is a schedule of major upcoming events (in EST):
Parazynski and Wheelock ended today's spacewalk at 1:22 p.m., seven hours and 19 minutes after they switched their spacesuits to battery power to officially kick off the fourth and final spacewalk of Discovery's mission. Duration of all four EVAs was 27 hours and 14 minutes, moving Parazynski to fifth in the world in cumulative spacewalk time with 47 hours and five minutes over seven EVAs.
"I tell you what, I'm not sure I believe it when I look at this video of what we just did," Melroy said later, narrating footage shot by the astronauts from Discovery's flight deck.
Working at the end of the shuttle's heat shield inspection boom, Parazynski installed a suture-like strap to help stabilize the damaged blanket and cut away a snarled guide wire that hung up during deployment Tuesday. After installing four more so-called cufflinks to hold the damaged blanket together, the array was successfully extended.
"The spacewalk to repair the 4B solar array was just a complete success," said Derek Hassmann, lead space station flight director. "We installed the cufflinks, we completed the deploy of the 4B solar array and we put it in what we call high-tension mode, which puts it in a completely nominal configuration. ... Just a fabulous day, a fabulous shift and one of the greatest things that I personally have ever been involved in in my career here at NASA.
"How smooth today's spacewalk went is a tribute to all the people on the engineering and operations teams who've been working 24/7 since we first tried the 4B deploy and saw the tear in the solar array.
The 17-ton P6 solar array truss segment was launched in 2000 to provide power during the initial stages of assembly. The lab's main power truss is now built and equipped with huge sets of solar panels on each end: starboard 4 (S4) on the right side and port 4 (P4) on the left. The outermost right side S6 arrays, scheduled for launch next fall, will be attached to a short spacer segment known as S5.
During two recent shuttle flights, astronauts retracted the two wings of the P6 array and disconnected it from the station's power system. Spacewalkers had problems retracting the 4B panel, however, encountering a frayed guidewire that repeatedly hung up on grommets during the retraction process.
On Tuesday, P6 was unbolted from its initial mounting point and moved to the far left end of the power truss and bolted to the P5 spacer segment. The first of its two solar array wings, known as P6-2B, extended a full 110 feet as required, but the crew aborted deployment of the 4B wing when one section of hinged blanket slats hung up due to a guide wire snag. Two seams between adjacent slats pulled open, resulting in separate tears, and the edges of several nearby slats were crumpled. The largest rip measured some two-and-a-half feet long.
Eighty percent deployed, the P6-4B array was able to generate more than 95 percent percent of the electricity of a fully extended wing. But without being fully extended, the array did not have the structural stability required for sun tracking. As a result, the station's left-side solar alpha rotary joint, or SARJ, was locked in place until the damage could be fixed.
With today's repair, the left side arrays can once again be turned to track the sun. While a few solar cells in the 4B wing apparently were damaged in the initial hang up Tuesday, Suffredini said the panel would provide all the power the station needs.
"This was just a fabulous effort," he said. "The idea of this was to regain the functionality of the solar array, it wasn't about looking good when it was over with, it just had to provide the power. And in fact, we're under high tension and so we've got full structural capability back.
"When I left the mission evaluation room, they told me the array was providing about 217 amps," he said. "That's about 3 amps from what we normally expect to get from an array, which is much, much higher than what we need to provide the required power to the space station as a whole. That would indicate that perhaps we had some damage, minor damage, to some of the cells. But we're certainly getting more than enough power out of the array, as much as the design requires.
"From a functionality standpoint, we've recovered the array, we can go on to normal operations and expect to get the normal amount of power we had planned for in the ISS program for the life of the program."
With P6 and P4 rotating normally to track the sun, NASA will have a bit of breathing room to troubleshoot a problem with the right-side solar alpha rotary joint, or SARJ. Two massive rotary joints, one on each side of the station's main power truss, slowly turn the port and starboard solar arrays to track the sun as the lab complex circles the globe.
During a spacewalk last Sunday, Tani discovered metallic contamination inside the right-side SARJ, indicating a potentially serious bearing or alignment problem. A planned heat-shield repair demonstration spacewalk originally planned for Thursday was called off to permit a more thorough inspection of the starboard SARJ. Then on Tuesday, the P6 array was damaged during deployment and NASA managers ultimately scrapped the SARJ inspection to make way for today's repair work.
Suffredini said the SARJ issue will be addressed during a future flight, but no decisions have been made about where it might fit into the station assembly sequence. As of today, he said, engineers believe the station will have enough power for normal operations through February, when NASA plans to launch the first of two Japanese modules.
But it's not yet clear whether the starboard SARJ must be operational by the time Japan's large Kibo research lab is launched in April.
10:36 AM, 11/3/07, Update: Snarled wire cut away; Parazynski installs 'cufflink' stabilizers to repair solar blanket; deployment on tap
Performing emergency surgery 213 miles up, astronaut-physician Scott Parazynski cut away snarled guidewire hanging up a mangled space station solar array and installed five long suture-like straps to prevent two rips in the fragile panel from pulling open. The dramatic repair work, conducted high above the far left end of the station's main solar power truss, took a bit longer than expected, but the MacGyver-style fix using homemade brackets, seemed to work as well as engineers had hoped.
After installing a single suspender strap to add support to the torn solar blanket, Parazynski used wire cutters to snip a wire leading to a snag. He used an L-shaped, insulated tool dubbed the hockey still to keep the panels from rebounding into him.
"The big thing here, I think, you are possibly going to release some tension," commander Pam Melroy radioed before Parazynski made the first cut. "So you are going to want to have that hockey stick right close to hand, that's your best friend."
"Here is comes," Parazynski said. "OK, it is cut. And it's really slick. The grommet is retaining the hinge wire. The panel did fold back as we anticipated. no contact with me, there's about eight inches remaining outside the hinge doubler. And it's pointed up towards me so I have easy access with my vice grips."
Next, he cut the guidewire below the damaged section of solar blanket to release the tension mangling the array. Astronaut Doug Wheelock, stationed at the base of the P6-4B array, used needle-nose pliers to slowly guide the wire into a take-up reel.
"Houston, do we have a go to cut the guide wire?" Melroy asked mission control.
"Discovery, you have a go to cut the guide wire," astronaut Steve Swanson replied from Houston.
"Copy that," Melroy said. "OK, Scott, just let Wheels know when you've got it."
"It's a bit of a reach here," said Parazynski, nicknamed "Longbo" by his crewmates.
"That's what those monkey arms are for," Melroy joked.
"They're getting tested today!" Parazynski laughed.
"Not too many people in the office could do what you're doing right now, Scott," Melroy said.
"I hope they don't have to!"
A few moments later, he cut the wire.
"Three, two one, snip," he radioed as the cable wound down into the take-up reel. "OK, it's retracting, beautiful, good braking."
Before installing four more cufflink-clasp suspenders, Parazynski used his cutters to snip a fray toward to top of the array to ensure the cable wouldn't snag on any grommets later as the array was extended.
"Got it... it's free," he radioed. "I'm doing a lay back. It was a nice, clean cut. It looks like everything above is traveling through the grommets very nicely."
At that point, he turned his attention to installing the remaining suspender braces, working from the inner edge of the blanket to the outside. He had no problems and television shots showed the white straps in place like giant stitches, preventing the rips from opening further when the panel was fully deployed and subjected to some 70 pounds of tension.
Around 11 a.m., robot arm operator Stephanie Wilson began backing Parazynsky away from the array, setting the stage for a dramatic attempt to complete the panel's extension.
9:20 AM, 11/3/07, Update: Hinge-stabilizing 'cufflink' installed; Parazynski describes complex wire tangle; debates options for cutting snarl away
Video from spacewalker Scott Parazynski's helmet camera revealed a complex wire snarl hanging up damaged solar array slats on the P6-4B array. The snarl will require Parazynski to cut the cables to clear the snag, but the crew and controllers are discussing the best possible approach.
"I see two major areas of fraying," Parazynski reported. "One at the small damage site, lower to the grommet that was probably, formerly, at the small damage site. And the fray is in excess of one-inch long, which is hard to do with this kind of wire. And then there's another grommet under tension emanating from the large damage site and there are several strands of wire all grouped together there."
"We've got an excellent view of your closeup of the snarl," Melroy said.
"Isn't that amazing?"
"Oh, that's just ugly," Melroy said.
"Yeah," Parazynski said.
A few minutes later, Melroy asked: "Do you see a lot of loose hinge wire kind of curling around there?"
"I think that's not hinge wire, I think that's the guidewire has become unfrayed," Parazynski said. "It's almost like it's been stripped."
"Oh wow," Melroy said. "Oh, that's really frayed!"
The astronauts and flight controllers then debated how best to deal with the wire tangle.
9:00 AM, 11/3/07, Update: Parazynski provides first detailed description of solar array damage
Anchored to the end of a boom on the space station's robot arm, astronaut Scott Parazynski gave flight controllers their first detailed description of damage to a ripped solar array, reporting a complex tangle of guide wires, hinge pins and grommets around an area that was mangled during deployment Tuesday.
"The damage is as anticipated," he reported, examining the damage from a few feet away. "There is a hairball (tangle) with the guidewire, the hinge between (blanket slats) 35 and 36 and a grommet, not sure of the origin of it, but probably at the 35-36 location. That's almost certainly where it came from. There is separation of the doubler, the physical hinge off of the inboard, lower side of panel, let me get this right here, 36. Looks to be about 8 to 10 inches in length, it's ripped clean from the edge of the panel. You can see that the cells are still intact on the back side, it just came off from the edge.
"The hinge wire itself still courses through the doubler and goes out to the edge of the wing. You can see it touching almost the FCC (flat cable connector) at the level of the small damage there. There appear to be numerous sharp edges, I don't see any sparking or anything of that nature at this point. It doesn't look like the damage itself pulled the hinge wire inboard, which is, I think, good news. I reported earlier, I'm not sure if you copied me, but I reported that it looked like the outboard side of the 35-36 hinge line there was intact, there was no separation. And that's consistent with my observation here, that the damage did not pull the whole hinge wire inboard."
"Houston copies all and concurs. Thanks a bunch for that description," replied astronaut Steve Swanson in mission control.
"You're very welcome. Looking at the FCC, it looks like it has held structural integrity the full length. I am looking at a couple of areas on the inboard side of panel 35, it looksõ like some of the Kapton has separated from the wire bundle coming from the panel. But I don't see any separation of wiring, it looks like the wire from that panel has held going into the FCC.
"The most badly damaged panel, which is 36, the wire bundle coming from the panel going to the FCC does appear to be bent, but I don't see it severed. It probably still is generating power, is my guess. Those are the only two areas of real concern that I see FCC wise."
Looking closely, he several hinges between adjacent slats near the main damage area appeared to have pulled apart slightly.
"So there's been a zippering effect at one, two, three, four levels," he said. "Between 36 and 37, though, it appears intact."
Shuttle commander Pam Melroy then summed it up, "So both hinge wires from the large and the small damage sites, the guidewire and one or more grommets are all knotted together?"
"That appears to be what happened, yes," Parazynski replied.
He also reported seeing a few cracked solar cells before beginning work to install a so-called cufflink-like strap between blanket slats well above and below the damage site to prevent any additional separation and keep the two rips from getting worse before addressing the guide wire tangle. Five cufflink straps will be installed in all to carry the tension needed for the array's final extension.
Video from Parazynski's helmet cam showed him threading the homemade 66-inch-long cufflink strap through a reinforced hole in a slat above the damage. Threading the other end into a hole well below the damage, the strap should provide the support needed during the rest of the repair.
"That was a beautiful thing, to see that cufflink go into the hole," Melroy radioed.
"Yes, it was. I just want to apply a little force to get it fully engaged there," Parazynski said, giving the strap a light pull. "That's how you do it."
"Yeah, that tug test looks good," Melroy said.
"Peggy and Zambo, nice handiwork," Parazynski said, complimenting station commander Peggy Whitson and shuttle pilot George Zamka.
"Yeah, that was a really nice job," Melroy said. "It took them all day and now they'll be out there forever, which is kind of fun."
"Yes it is."
"Got big smiles in here," mission control said.
7:45 AM, 11/3/07, Update: Parazynski, on robot arm, begins 45-minute ride to damaged solar array
Spacewalker Scott Parazynski, his feet anchored to the end of a boom on the space station's robot arm, began a slow-motion, 45-minute ride from the lab's main power truss to a damaged solar array on the far left side of the lab complex at 7:27 a.m.
"This is gonna be a great ride," Parazynski said earlier, attaching a foot restraint to the end of the robot arm boom. When the arm began moving him he told fellow spacewalker Doug Wheelock: "Let's get her done."
During the ride over to the P6-4B solar array, Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli read the spacewalkers a long list of warnings, some of them common to all spacewalks and some due to concern about working around the electrically active solar arrays.
"We have a bunch of warnings related to shock hazard," Nespoli radioed. "Here's one about EMU contact with ... solar array panels. EV crew will only contact energized surfaces with approved tools that have been insulated with Kapton tape to prevent molten metal and shock. ... The last box is minimize contact between metal array components and exposed damaged solar cells on active side. Note some sparking may be expected. Avoid contact with solar panels except with insulated tools. Sharp edges likely present at damage locations."
A few minutes later, as the shuttle-station complex sailed up the East Coast of the United States, Parazynski asked, "Can you guys see my wireless video? This is just beyond description!"
"It's fantastic, but it's ratty right now," mission control replied.
"Oh, what a shame."
"Scott, I assure you, from window 1 the view is just as spectacular," shuttle commander Pam Melroy reassured him.
"Oh, man!" Parazynski marveled at the world spread out below him. "Words can't do this justice. No way, at least not mine."
6:40 AM, 11/3/07, Update: Melroy reports solar array wires appear tangled; wires may have to be cut
Shuttle commander Pam Melroy, using binoculars to take a close-up look at a damaged solar array on the left side of the international space station, told spacewalker Scott Parazynski not to expect an easy repair today.
"Hey Scott, this is Pambo, I've got a great view out window 1 of the damage site, I got out the binoculars and took a really close look," she radioed Parazynski as he was making his way to the station's robot arm for transport to the damaged array.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"Well, it looks to me like the hinge wire at the large tear has been busted at about the point, oh let's see, let me make sure I've got the, I'm trying to think of the name of the vertical tape that has the holes in them, it's about halfway from the inboard edge and that tape. So some hinge wire is still left down there, kind of hanging out in the middle of that most inboard section. And then the rest of it has snarled through the (garble) wire and it also looks like... hang on a second... OK, then the upper hinge wire, the small tear, that hinge wire is also snarled. So it looks to me like both hinge wires, the guide wire and a grommet are all snarled up. In fact, I had kind of a back shadow of it on the panel and I could actually see the little fur ball outlined in shadow."
"Well, that sounds like we have to do the whole enchilada for the repair, huh?" Parazynski said, referring to a repair scenario that would have him cut the tangled wires.
"Concur," Melroy said. "It doesn't look like an easy, just rattle-it-and-shake-loose-the-grommet kind of situation."
6:05 AM, 11/3/07, Update: Spacewalk begins
Running about a half-hour ahead of schedule, astronauts Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock switched their spacesuits to internal battery power at 6:03 a.m., officially kicking off a dramatic solar array repair spacewalk.
"Go out there and fix that thing for us," space station commander Peggy Whitson radioed as the astronauts prepared to leave the airlock.
"We will," Parazynski promised.
Here is an updated timeline based on the actual start time of today's spacewalk (in EDT and spacewalk elapsed time; subject to change):
4:00 AM, 11/3/07, Update: Astronauts set for solar blanket repair spacewalk
Astronauts Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock are suiting up in the space station's Quest airlock module this morning for a high-stakes spacewalk to repair a mangled solar array. If the orbital surgery is successful, the partially deployed solar wing will be fully extended and NASA will be clear to press ahead with plans to launch a European research module in December. If the fix falls short, more repair work could be needed and the next shuttle flight likely would slip into next year.
But NASA managers are optimistic Parazynski, a physician trained in emergency medicine and one of the agency's most experienced spacewalkers, will be able to clear a snarled guidewire and install cufflink-like suspenders around two rips in the blanket to strengthen it enough for full extension.
Lead flight director Derek Hassmann said Friday he felt "really good about where we are, about the robotics pieces of the procedures, about the spacewalking techniques, about the hardware, about our understanding of the area of damage, about our approaches to fixing that damage and also about the ground choreography and how the timeline's going to play out in mission control."
Parazynski and Wheelock are scheduled to begin the dramatic spacewalk around 6:30 a.m., but they got off to a fast start today and they could begin the excursion up to a half hour early. This will be the 96th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, the 19th so far this year and the fourth for the Discovery astronauts. Parazynski, Wheelock and station astronaut Dan Tani have logged 19 hours and 55 minutes of spacewalk time so far during Discovery's flight.
After leaving the Quest airlock on the right side of the station's central Unity module, Parazynski and Wheelock will make their way up onto the lab's main solar power truss, which runs right angle to the long axis formed by the station's pressurized modules. Parazynski will attach a foot restraint to a 50-foot boom carried by the station's robot arm and then lock his boots in place for a spectacular 45-minute ride to the damaged array.
Wheelock, meanwhile, will make his way to the base of the P6-4B solar array on the far left end of the main power truss and provide verbal guidance cues for arm operators Stephanie Wilson and Tani, working inside the Destiny laboratory module.
The P6-4B solar array is half a football field from the space station's pressurized modules. The robot arm alone cannot reach the damage site, even when positioned at a work site on the end of the power truss. But using the shuttle's heat shield inspection boom as an extension, the space crane can just barely get Parazynski into position.
After reaching the damage site, Parazynski first will inspect the mangled section of the 4B solar blanket to determine what might be needed to release an apparently snarled guidewire believed to have ripped open two blanket panel hinges during deployment Tuesday.
Because the solar array is generating electricity, Parazynski's tools and the exposed metal on his spacesuit were covered in non-conducting tape to minimize the risk of a shock. NASA managers said that risk was minimal, but the spacewalkers were cautioned not to touch any exposed wires or conducting surfaces.
Before addressing the presumed snarl, Parazynski will attach a homemade clip, dubbed a cufflink, threading clasps on each end through reinforced holes above and below the rips in the blanket. That way, if the tension on the blanket changes because of work to free the snarl, it will not widen the tears that are already there. Five such cufflinks will be installed across the 15-foot width of the blanket before any attempt is made to complete its extension.
If NASA is lucky, Parazynski will be able to simply move the guidewire to one side, freeing the snarl. If the tangle cannot be freed, he will cut the wire and Wheelock will use pliers at the base of the array to control its winding back onto a take-up reel.
"He'll assess the damage, that's his first job, to figure out what is really wrong up there," station flight director Heather Rarick said late Friday. "He'll call down that assessment, then he'll probably be given a go to install the cufflinks, which will provide some stabilization for the solar array. And he'll do that in the middle of the solar array and that'll help prevent any further tears as he's working.
"His next job is then to try to make sure the guide wire is released from its location. We think that's what's caught in the damaged area. So he'll either move it away if he can do it without requiring any cutting, otherwise he'll need to do some cutting. There's also a hinge pin that's sticking out that he'll need to cut and then he'll need to install four additional cufflinks to provide the final amounts of stabilization for the wing."
The spacewalk is timelined to last up to six hours and 30 minutes. But Hassmann said if Parazynski doesn't run into any major problems, the actual repair work could be completed in as little as a half hour. The astronauts inside the space station will attempt to redeploy the repair panel as soon as Parazynski can be moved out of the way.
Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EDT and mission elapsed time; includes revision M of the NASA television schedule, updated spacewalk timeline):
On Tuesday, P6 was unbolted from its initial mounting point and moved to the far left end of the power truss and bolted to the P5 spacer segment. The first of its two solar array wings, known as P6-2B, extended a full 110 feet as required, but the crew aborted deployment of the 4B wing when one section of hinged blanket slats hung up, presumably due to a guide wire snag. Two seams between adjacent slats pulled open, resulting in separate tears, and the edges of several nearby slats were crumpled. The largest rip measured some two-and-a-half feet long.
Eighty percent deployed, the P6-4B array can generate 97 percent of the electricity of a fully extended wing. But with a partially deployed panel, none of the arrays on the left side of the main power truss can be rotated as required to track the sun without risking additional damage. As a result, the station's left-side solar alpha rotary joint, or SARJ, is locked in place until the damage is fixed.
6:45 PM, 11/2/07, Update: NASA says additional risk to spacewalker minimal; optimistic about successful repair
The Discovery astronauts today reviewed plans for a dramatic solar array repair spacewalk early Saturday and appeared confident they have a good shot at fixing the mangled panel to keep space station assembly on track. Lead flight director Derek Hassmann said concern that spacewalker Scott Parazynski could get zapped by an unexpected electrical discharge while working near the charged array was misplaced and that the additional risk was minimal.
"As I left the control center today, I felt really, really good about where we are, about the robotics pieces of the procedures, about the spacewalking techniques, about the hardware, about our understanding of the area of damage, about our approaches to fixing that damage and also about the ground choreography and how the timeline's going to play out in mission control," he said. "I walked away from my shift today very, very impressed with the incredible amount of progress that's occurred over the last 24 hours."
Said lead spacewalk officer Dina Contella: "Having the extra day to prepare for this spacewalk has really been a good thing for the EVA team, we've really hammered flat a lot of the details. ... It's really been a huge, coordinated effort. The big picture really hasn't changed. it's just a matter of the details, really, getting (figured) out in the extra day that we had."
A successful repair is critical to NASA's plans for continuing space station assembly. At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, engineers are scheduled to move the shuttle Atlantis from its hangar to the Vehicle Assembly Building for attachment to a set of boosters and an external tank. Launch on the next space station assembly mission, a high-profile flight to deliver Europe's Columbus research module, is targeted for Dec. 6.
Because of problems with the station's right-side solar array rotary joint, NASA needs to get the P6 array repaired and fully extended to provide the power necessary to support the attachment of Columbus next month as well as Japanese research modules scheduled for launch early next year.
"At this point, we've got problems on both ends of the truss, unfortunately," Hassmann said. "We've got the issues with the starboard truss, with the starboard solar array rotary joint, and now we've got this issue on the port side of the truss with the 4B solar array. ... We need to address one of these two problems before we proceed.
"Based on the discussions I've been involved in, we need to get the solar array addressed and fixed, fully deployed, structurally stable, available for power before we would proceed with 1E (the Columbus mission)."
Parazynski and astronaut Doug Wheelock plan to begin the dramatic spacewalk around 6:30 a.m., floating out of the station's Quest airlock module and making their way up onto the lab's main solar power truss. Parazynski will attach a foot restraint to a 50-foot boom carried by the station's robot arm and then lock his boots in place for a slow but spectacular 45-minute ride to the damaged array.
Wheelock, meanwhile, will make his way to the base of the P6-4B solar array on the far left end of the main power truss and provide verbal guidance cues for arm operators Stephanie Wilson and Dan Tani, working inside the Destiny laboratory module.
The P6-4B solar array is mounted on the far left end of the space station's main power truss, half a football field from the space station's pressurized modules. The robot arm alone cannot reach the damage site, even when positioned at a work site on the end of the power truss. But using the shuttle's heat shield inspection boom as an extension, the space crane can just barely get Parazynski into position.
On Thursday, mission managers said it would take Parazynski more than 30 minutes to reach the safety of the station's airlock in the event of a major spacesuit malfunction, primarily because of time needed to maneuver the robot arm. All NASA suits are equipped with a 30-minute supply of emergency oxygen and NASA has never before planned a station spacewalk that could put an astronaut in a position where he or she couldn't reach the airlock in a half hour.
But Contella said Friday engineers had refined their plans and that she believed Parazynski could get back to the Quest module before running out of air in any credible failure scenario.
After reaching the damage site, Parazynski, one of NASA's most experienced spacewalkers, first will inspect the mangled section of the 4B solar blanket to determine what might be needed to release an apparently snarled guidewire believed to have ripped open two blanket panel hinges during deployment Tuesday.
Before addressing the presumed snarl, the spacewalker will attach a homemade clip dubbed a cufflink, threading clasps on each end through reinforced holes above and below the rips in the blanket. That way, if the tension on the blanket changes because of work to free the snarl, it will not worsen the tears that are already there. Five such cufflinks will be installed across the 15-foot width of the blanket before any attempt is made to complete its extension.
If NASA is lucky, Parazynski will be able to simply move the guidewire to one side, freeing the snarl. If the tangle cannot be freed, he will cut the wire and Wheelock will use pliers at the base of the array to control its winding back onto a take-up reel.
"The problem would come is if we get there and we realize the snag either can't be cleared or maybe the snag has altered the guidewire, for example, in some way that we don't really want to do the deploy with the guide wire in that particular state, we don't think it's a good idea to have the damage as is for a deploy," Contella said.
"So if we get in either of those two cases, then we will cut the guidewire. So the idea is, Wheels would get ready at the bottom of the array. Remember, there's the take-up reel mechanism at the bottom and Wheels will have needle-nose pliers at the base and he'll get ready and basically grip the bottom part of the wire. And this is because we want to have a controlled intake as opposed to something that would accelerate and potentially end up with a big snarl at the base."
The spacewalk is timelined to last up to six hours and 30 minutes. But Hassmann and Contella said if Parazynski doesn't run into any major problems, the actual repair work could be completed in as little as a half hour. The astronauts inside the space station will attempt to redeploy the repair panel as soon as Parazynski can be moved out of the way.
NASA expects to have good video coverage of the repair work, using cameras mounted on the space station and in the helmets of both spacewalkers. But Hassmann said video was not required. It will be up to Parazynski, the man on the scene, to determine the best course of action.
"We don't have fantastic photography of this area, we just don't have the capability to see exactly what's happening," Contella said. "So at that point, Scott's going to have to use his best judgment on what he thinks we're going to do."
In the end, she said, "it's a snag clear; it's not rocket science. So you want him to probably tell you what he thinks would be the best thing and then we'll just discuss it on the groundÊand make sure everybody sort of agrees that yeah, the solar array's not going to have some sort of adverse dynamics because of the way he wants to clear it, something like that."
During a news briefing Thursday, astronaut Dave Wolf downplayed the threat of a shock hazard, but told reporters it was possible, in theory, for an astronaut to get electrocuted in a worst-case short. Today, Hassmann downplayed those concerns saying "a number of things have to happen all at once for there even to be a small risk of any kind of electrical problem or shock hazard while Scott's out there doing his work."
"The thing to remember," he said, "is a pristine solar array, an undamaged solar array is completely isolated. The suit itself, obviously, is completely isolated. ... A spacewalking astronaut could put his hand on that solar array and there would be no risk of any kind of shock of any kind.
"What we do is, we think about the worse case scenarios and any possible way a shock hazard, any kind of electricity incident, could occur. And really what you have to do in your mind to make that happen is to find a metal piece on the suit, which in general is the rings around the gloves, the ring around the waist, the ring around the boots, and you'd have to take one of those metal rings and apply that to a hot part of the solar array. And in order to find a hot part of the solar array, you'd have to find a damaged portion.
"So if you could find that hot wire, a crew could put a metal portion of his suit, which is very limited, on the hot part and then he'd have to complete the circuit. So he'd have to find another part of his suit, the boot ring, for example, or the waist ring, and he'd have to apply that to another part of the solar array in order to complete that circuit in order to come anywhere close to any kind of shock hazard."
Each of the slats making up the folding solar blanket generates about 300 watts of power. The electricity cascades down a strip that runs from top to bottom along the left inboard edge of the panel near where the two rips are present. Control systems at the base of the array send a regulated 160 volts of direct current electricity into the station's power system. That output is converted to 124 volts for use by lab systems.
Playing it safe, Parazynski's tools were wrapped in non-conducting tape, as were the glove, boot and waist rings on his spacesuit.
The 17-ton P6 solar array truss segment was launched in 2000 to provide power during the initial stages of assembly. The lab's main power truss is now built and equipped with huge sets of solar panels on each end: starboard 4 (S4) on the right side and port 4 (P4) on the left. The outermost right side S6 arrays, scheduled for launch next fall, will be attached to a short spacer segment known as S5.
During two recent shuttle flights, astronauts retracted the two wings of the P6 array and disconnected it from the station's power system. Spacewalkers had problems retracting the 4B panel, however, encountering a frayed guidewire that repeatedly hung up on grommets during the retraction process.
On Tuesday, P6 was unbolted from its initial mounting point and moved to the far left end of the power truss and bolted to the P5 spacer segment. The first of its two solar array wings, known as P6-2B, extended a full 110 feet as required, but the crew aborted deployment of the 4B wing when one section of hinged blanket slats hung up, presumably due to a guide wire snag. Two seams between adjacent slats pulled open, resulting in separate tears, and the edges of several nearby slats were crumpled. The largest rip measured some two-and-a-half feet long.
Eighty percent deployed, the P6-4B array can generate 97 percent of the electricity of a fully extended wing. The station is not yet using power from the torn array, but engineers say tests confirm no major damage to its internal wiring.
The immediate concern is figuring out a way to fully extend the P6-4B wing to provide the necessary structural rigidity. With a partially deployed panel, none of the arrays on the left side of the main power truss can be rotated as required to track the sun without risking additional damage. As a result, the station's left-side solar alpha rotary joint, or SARJ, is locked in place until the damage is fixed.
Adding to NASA's problems, the station's right-side arrays also are locked in place because of unexpected metallic contamination inside the starboard SARJ. Parazynski and Doug Wheelock were in the process of gearing up Wednesday for a spacewalk to inspect the starboard SARJ Thursday when NASA managers decided to focus instead on fixing the P6-4B solar blanket.
Engineers initially held out hope for a repair spacewalk Friday, but NASA managers decided early Thursday to wait until Saturday, giving engineers more time to fine-tune the plan.
5:00 AM, 11/2/07, Update: Astronauts prepare for repair spacewalk
The Discovery astronauts prepared equipment today for a dramatic solar array repair spacewalk Saturday while engineers in Houston put the finishing touches on the procedures needed to sew up gashes in the mangled blanket.
Originally planned for today, the excursion was delayed to Saturday to give the ground team more time to work out the details. Early today, in the daily "execute package" of notes and instructions to the crew, the astronauts were told the spacewalk was still on track for Saturday.
"Good Morning Discovery!!! Just in case you are wondering, EVA 4 is still scheduled for tomorrow and the content is still to repair the solar array," flight controllers wrote. "All procedures should be on board before lunch. Undocking is still currently planned for Monday and landing is planned for Wednesday. Have a great day today, preparing for tomorrow!!!"
The repair plan calls for spacewalker Scott Parazynski, anchored to the end of the shuttle's heat shield inspection boom, to be carried to the left-most P6-4B solar array by the space station's robot arm. Astronaut Doug Wheelock, at the base of the array, will provide guidance cues to arm operators Stephanie Wilson and Dan Tani. Once in position, Parazynski will inspect two rips in the fragile blanket and give flight controllers an up-close assessment of what it might take to untangle or cut snarled guidewires.
After the guidewires have been straightened out (or removed), Parazynski plans to install homemade cufflink-like straps to carry the tension that otherwise would tend to pull the rips open as the array is fully extended.
"We've had people in almost around the clock supporting the extra efforts of the console teams so that we could focus on keeping the systems running and performing the plans that we have built," station flight director Heather Rarick said late Thursday. "So we've had at least three or four extra teams running throughout the shifts and they've done a remarkable job to try to pull this all together. It's been a fantastic effort that's gone into what we're hopefully going to be executing on Saturday."
One problem for NASA is the need to minimize the time the shuttle's heat shield inspection boom, called the OBSS, is disconnected from keep-alive power. A laser scanner and camera mounted on one end of the boom are needed to carry out a final inspection of the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edge panels after the ship undocks from the station. If the boom is unpowered too long, the instruments might not work properly.
Today's flight plan called for the space station's robot arm, mounted atop a tram-like mobile transporter, to be moved some 80 feet, from work site 8 on the far left end of the station's main power truss to work site 3 near the center of the beam.
Once in place, the arm will be used to pluck the OBSS from its perch in Discovery's cargo bay. It then will be handed off to the shuttle's robot arm, which is equipped to provide power to the boom. The station arm then will be hauled back to work site 8, the closest it can get to the left-side solar panels.
The OBSS will remain on the shuttle arm overnight and handed back to the station arm, known as the SSRMS, Saturday, just before the spacewalk. NASA's Mission Management Team reviewed the plan Thursday, including the possibility of damage to the sensors on the end of the boom.
"At the time of the MMT, it was estimated that the OBSS would remain unpowered for a total of 12 hours," flight controllers wrote in the morning execute package. "The first 4 hours pertain to the timeframe where the (station arm) has grappled the OBSS and is translating from WS 3 to WS 8. The remaining 8 hours pertain to the timeframe associated with EVA 4. Post-MMT, the operations team further refined the plan. OBSS will now be handed off to (the shuttle arm) prior to (the move) to WS 8, and then handed back to SSRMS on the morning of the EVA. This will minimize the unpowered time to only that required to support EVA 4 (about 8 hours)."
Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EDT and mission elapsed time; includes revision K of the NASA television schedule):
06:00 PM, 11/1/07, Update: Solar array repair plan comes together; officials optimistic dramatic spacewalk will salvage mangled array
Working around the clock, flight controllers, astronauts and engineers are fine tuning a daring plan to put an astronaut on the end of a long boom attached to the space station's robot arm - farther from the safety of the lab's airlock than any spacewalker before him - to perform emergency surgery on a mangled solar array.
Using insulated tools to minimize the risk of shock from the damaged-but-electrically-active solar panel, Scott Parazynski, a former emergency room physician and one of NASA's most experienced spacewalkers, plans to cut snagged guidewires if necessary to release tension before installing cufflink-like clips to strengthen the torn blanket enough to permit its full extension.
The P6-4B solar array is mounted on the far left end of the space station's main power truss, half a football field from the space station's pressurized modules. To reach the site of the damage, Parazynsky, perched on the end of the shuttle's heat-shield inspection boom and carried by the space station's robot arm, will be positioned eight to nine stories from the end of the lab's main power truss.
To put that in perspective, picture the space station's pressurized modules running across a football field at the 50-yard line. Looking down from the press box, Parazynski will be anchored to a boom high above the left end zone goal posts.
"We're faced with a difficult situation," said astronaut Dave Wolf, a Mir veteran who oversees NASA's spacewalk office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "It's a real test of the adaptability of this team, the baseline knowledge, how to work in space. We're pulling that all together, we have a time limit, of course, on this mission, we're working around the clock. And I think we're onto a solution that should work, get us pretty close to a permanently acceptable situation. We'll see how it goes Saturday."
Said lead spacewalk planner Dina Contella: "We have just a huge number of people that are right now trying to help the EVA (spacewalk) team how to go and both clear what snagged on the array and help understand how to fix the structural loading issue we might have with the array. It's been an incredible effort to pull it all together."
The Discovery astronauts successfully moved the 17-ton P6 solar array truss segment Tuesday, bolting it to the far left end of the space station's main power truss. The first of its two solar array wings, known as P6-2B, extended a full 110 feet as required, but the crew aborted deployment of the second P6-4B wing when one section of hinged blanket slats hung up, possibly due to a guide wire snag. Two seams between adjacent slats pulled open, resulting in separate tears, and the edges of several nearby slats were crumpled. The largest rip measured some two-and-a-half feet long.
Eighty percent deployed, the P6-4B array can generate 97 percent of the electricity of a fully extended wing. The station is not yet using power from the torn array, but engineers say tests confirm no major damage to its internal wiring.
The immediate concern is figuring out a way to fully extend the P6-4B wing to provide the necessary structural rigidity. With a partially deployed panel, none of the arrays on the left side of the main power truss can be rotated as required to track the sun without risking additional damage. As a result, the station's left-side solar alpha rotary joint, or SARJ, is locked in place until the damage is fixed.
Adding to NASA's problems, the station's right-side arrays also are locked in place because of unexpected metallic contamination inside the starboard SARJ. Parazynski and Doug Wheelock were in the process of gearing up Wednesday for a spacewalk to inspect the starboard SARJ Thursday when NASA managers decided to focus instead on fixing the P6-4B solar blanket.
Engineers initially held out hope for a repair spacewalk Friday, but NASA managers decided early Thursday to wait until Saturday, giving engineers more time to fine-tune the plan.
"We made a decision last night that we weren't going to get there, that we weren't going to be ready for a Friday spacewalk," station flight director Derek Hassmann said today. "We knew it would be a full court press to get there on Friday. I'm disappointed we didn't get there, but I'm satisfied we made a good call."
On Friday, the station's robot arm will be moved 80 feet, from work site 8 on the left end of the main power truss back to work site 3 near the center of the lab complex. Once in place, it will reach into the shuttle's cargo bay and pull out a 50-foot-long heat shield inspection boom, grappling an attachment fitting in the center.
Pulling the orbiter boom sensor system, or OBSS, clear of Discovery, the station arm will hand it off to the shuttle's own robot arm to provide keep-alive power for heaters and other systems in the boom that support a laser scanner and camera mounted on one end. The instruments will be used after undocking from the station to look for signs of impact damage on the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edge panels.
With the shuttle arm holding the OBSS, the station arm will be moved back out to work site 8, the closest the Canadian-built crane can get to the P6-4B solar arrays. Early Saturday, the station arm will re-grapple the OBSS and position it just to the left of the central section of the power truss to await Parazynski and Wheelock.
The spacewalk is scheduled to begin around 6:30 a.m. Saturday. After attaching a foot restraint and an extension fitting to one end of the OBSS, Parazynski will lock his boots in place and the arm will slowly maneuver him outboard to the P6-4B array. Wheelock, meanwhile, will make his way to the base of the outermost solar array to provide visual cues to arm operators Stephanie Wilson and Dan Tani.
At that point, Parazynski will be farther from the safety of the station's airlock than any astronaut has ever been. NASA's spacesuits are equipped with an emergency oxygen supply good for 30 minutes in case of a major problem that might cut off an astronaut's air supply. Spacewalks typically are designed so an astronaut is never more than a half hour away from the airlock.
But not in this case. Wheelock will be roughly the same physical distance from the airlock as Parazynski, but it would take Parazynski longer to get there in an emergency because of the slow movement of the robot arm.
"There are some things in this spacewalk that are a little higher risk than usual," Wolf said. "One is being very close to a damaged electrical power generating system and perhaps with some free parts as we cut pieces away. We've taken measures with the (tools) and various insulating materials ... Another is when Scott is out in that remote position, it will take longer than usual should he have a suit failure to come back in. We try to make that 30 minutes normally. He won't be within 30 minutes. We're making it as short as we can. But there comes a time when station needs repair, one time events, where we, with good mitigation and knowledge, accept higher risks in some areas. And that's one of them."
Here is a preliminary timeline of major events planned for Saturday's spacewalk (in EDT and elapsed time; subject to change):
"To be honest, we don't have a really great feel for the exact configuration for that snarl," Contella said. "We know there's a snag there, but we're not sure if it's something that's really easy, that you'd be able to clear, or if it's something that's going to be a little bit more complicated."
One major concern is the guidewire that presumably caused the damage when it hung up during deploy.
"If we have any kind of issue where we suspect that we'd have a problem with the guidewire then we'd have to cut the guidewire," Contella said. "And so, currently the idea is you have a pretty big snarl here, you cut at the bottom, you cut at the top and then take the offending part out. It sounds pretty easy, but pulling from the bottom is a guidewire tension mechanism that's pulling with about a pound of force, which is not very much force at all. But when we cut it, we're expecting it to maybe automatically retract down into the lower containment box of the array.
"So it would just pull straight through the grommets and be wound at the bottom," she said. "At this point, we're trying to determine what is the best way to allow that to occur. It might be it doesn't retract at all. ... potentially you couldÊhave it such that it comes down and it doesn't retract enough and you might need to assist it in some way or if it gets caught up, you might need to cut the whole thing off and wrap that up and put it in a trash bag."
Fixing the rips in the blanket is another challenge, but engineers devised a clever solution. The idea is for Parazynski to insert pre-made tabs that work like cufflinks through holes in the blanket slats that were used to secure the panels during launch. Fold-out latches, like the wings of a cufflink, would prevent a tab from pulling back out of a hole. The other end would be inserted through the corresponding alignment hole in an adjacent slat.
The cufflinks should enable the blanket to carry the 70 pounds or so of tension it will experience when the array is fully extended without pulling the ripped seams apart. It is that tension that provides the necessary structural stability and, in this context, the force that could pull the ripped slats apart if nothing was done to strengthen the area.
Throughout the work, Parazynski will take care not to touch the electrically active solar array or allow any of his tools to come in contact with the structure. The tools will be triple wrapped in non-conducting tape. While the risk of a potentially deadly shock is not zero, Wolf said, training, preparation and common sense reduced the likelihood of injury to an acceptable level.
"You can come up with scenarios that would do anything," Wolf said when asked if electrocution was possible. "We have upwards of over a hundred volts DC power on that array. ... It's not the kind of thing that would burn you, but we could get conduction through the heart, let's say, or mild shocks. This is not going to happen, we have very good techniques to insulate and control the array."
2:30 AM, 11/1/07, Update: Solar array repair spacewalk delayed to Saturday
NASA managers today decided to delay a daring solar array repair spacewalk from Friday to Saturday to give engineers more time to develop the tools and procedures needed to fix a rip in one of the outermost solar blankets on the international space station.
The dramatic repair job, carried out by astronauts Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock, calls for attaching cufflink-like clips across the 15-foot width of the torn P6-4B solar array blanket to provide the strength needed to permit its full extension. Parazynski, anchored to the end of a boom carried by the space station's robot arm, will install the clips while Wheelock provides guidance for arm operators inside the station.
"As you can probably imagine, there are some technical challenges associated with
EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT
05:32 AM...12...18...54...UNDOCKING
05:33 AM...12...18...55...Initial orbiter separation (+10 seconds)
05:34 AM...12...18...56...ISS holds current attitude
05:37 AM...12...18...59...Range: 50 feet; reselect -X jets
05:39 AM...12...19...01...Range: 75 feet; low-Z jets
05:48 AM...12...19...10...Sunrise
05:48 AM...12...19...10...ISS: Lab forward CPA install
06:01 AM...12...19...23...Range: 400 feet; start flyaround
06:11 AM...12...19...33...Range: 600 feet
06:13 AM...12...19...35...Shuttle directly above station
06:19 AM...12...19...41...Noon
06:24 AM...12...19...46...Shuttle directly behind station
06:36 AM...12...19...58...Shuttle directly below station
06:47 AM...12...20...09...Separation burn No. 1
06:49 AM...12...20...11...Sunset
07:13 AM...12...20...35...Playback of undocking video
07:15 AM...12...20...37...Separation burn No. 2
EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT
11/05/07
01:38 AM...12...15...00...ISS crew wakeup
02:08 AM...12...15...30...STS crew wakeup
03:38 AM...12...17...00...ISS daily planning conference
04:08 AM...12...17...30...Group B computer power up
04:23 AM...12...17...45...Centerline camera installation
04:48 AM...12...18...10...Undocking operations begin
05:18 AM...12...18...40...Sunset
05:32 AM...12...18...54...UNDOCKING
05:33 AM...12...18...55...Initial orbiter separation (+10 seconds)
05:34 AM...12...18...56...ISS holds current attitude
05:37 AM...12...18...59...Range: 50 feet; reselect -X jets
05:39 AM...12...19...01...Range: 75 feet; low-Z jets
05:48 AM...12...19...10...Sunrise
05:48 AM...12...19...10...ISS: Lab forward CPA install
06:01 AM...12...19...23...Range: 400 feet; start flyaround
06:11 AM...12...19...33...Range: 600 feet
06:13 AM...12...19...35...Shuttle directly above station
06:19 AM...12...19...41...Noon
06:24 AM...12...19...46...Shuttle directly behind station
06:36 AM...12...19...58...Shuttle directly below station
06:47 AM...12...20...09...Separation burn No. 1
06:49 AM...12...20...11...Sunset
07:13 AM...12...20...35...Playback of undocking video
07:15 AM...12...20...37...Separation burn No. 2
07:19 AM...12...20...41...Sunrise
07:23 AM...12...20...45...Post undocking network reconfiguration
07:43 AM...12...21...05...Group B computer power down
08:03 AM...12...21...25...Crew meal
08:23 AM...12...21...45...ISS: CBCS target installation
09:03 AM...12...22...25...Spacesuit installation
09:13 AM...12...22...35...OBSS unberth
09:38 AM...12...23...00...Starboard wing survey
09:53 AM...12...23...15...ISS: Hatch thermal cover installation
11:18 AM...13...00...40...Nose cap survey
12:18 PM...13...01...40...Port wing survey
01:00 PM...13...02...22...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
02:03 PM...13...03...25...OBSS berthing
02:18 PM...13...03...40...ISS: Daily planning conference
02:38 PM...13...04...00...SRMS powerdown
02:43 PM...13...04...05...Laser scanner downlink
04:23 PM...13...05...45...Crew choice downlink
04:28 PM...13...05...50...ISS crew sleep begins
06:38 PM...13...08...00...STS crew sleep begins
07:00 PM...13...08...22...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV
EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT
11/04/07
02:08 AM...11...14...30...STS/ISS crew wakeup
03:08 AM...11...16...30...ISS daily planning conference
03:38 AM...11...17...00...Logistics transfers
03:53 AM...11...17...15...Oxygen system teardown
04:08 AM...11...17...30...Spacesuits prepped for move to shuttle
04:23 AM...11...17...45...Shuttle docking port (PMA-2) ground strap
04:58 AM...11...18...20...Logistics transfers
05:03 AM...11...18...25...Italian media event
05:23 AM...11...18...45...Heat shield boom (OBSS) sensor checkout
06:08 AM...11...19...30...Spacesuits moved to shuttle
07:53 AM...11...21...15...Lab forward CPA installation
08:08 AM...11...21...30...Crew meal
09:08 AM...11...22...30...Shuttle crew off duty
09:13 AM...11...22...35...ISS: CBCS target installation
09:43 AM...11...23...05...ISS: Lab hatch thermal cover installation
11:30 AM...12...00...52...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
12:58 PM...12...02...20...PMA-2 berthing mechanism bolts
01:28 PM...12...02...50...Farewell ceremony
01:43 PM...12...03...05...Hatch closed
01:43 PM...12...03...05...Rendezvous tools checkout
02:23 PM...12...03...45...Orbiter docking system leak check
04:43 PM...12...06...05...Crew choice downlink
05:08 PM...12...06...30...ISS crew sleep begins
06:08 PM...12...07...30...STS crew sleep begins
07:00 PM...12...08...22...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV
10:00 PM...12...11...22...Flight director update on NASA TV
DATE.......TIME.......EVENT
11/05/07...05:32 AM...Discovery undocks from space station
11/07/07...01:02 PM...Discovery lands at the Kennedy Space Center
11/09/07...06:00 AM...Whitson, Malenchenko spacewalk; Harmony outfitting
11/10/07...04:00 AM...Atlantis is moved to launch pad 39A
11/12/07...05:40 AM...Shuttle docking port moved from Destiny to Harmony
11/14/07...04:55 AM...Harmony/docking port moved to Destiny
11/14/07..............Shuttle program flight readiness review concludes
11/20/07...TBD........Whitson, Tani EVA; Harmony connected to ISS power/cooling
11/20/07..............Shuttle practice countdown; headquarters review concludes
11/24/07...TBD........Whitson, Tani EVA; Harmony connected to ISS power/cooling
12/03/07...TBD........Start of countdown to Atlantis launch
12/06/07...04:32 PM...Launch of Atlantis and Columbus module (time approximate)
12/09/07...03:12 PM...Columbus module attached to space station
12/15/07...08:22 AM...Atlantis undocks from space station
12/17/07...12:02 PM...Atlantis lands at the Kennedy Space Center
"We're in great shape," Suffredini said today. The repaired P6 solar array "doesn't quite look like we'd expected, but you know it's just like anybody, you have your baby, your baby's beautiful to you, and our baby is still beautiful to us. Best of all, we're ready to get on with the work to get us to the launch of the Columbus."
EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT
06:08 AM...00...00......Airlock egress
06:38 AM...00...30......Heat shield boom (OBSS) setup
........................1. Move to P1 truss/bay 12; perform tether swap
........................2. Install work site interface extension
........................3. Install foot restraint on WIF extension
........................4. Astronaut gets In foot restraint
07:08 AM...01...00......SSRMS maneuver to P6-4B solar array wing
........................1. Check OBSS stability prior to P1 departure
........................2. Station arm moves astronaut to P6-4B array wing
08:08 AM...02...00......4B SAW troubleshooting
........................1. Assess/report guide wire configuration
........................2. Clear guide wires; cut if necessary
........................3. Install hinge stabilization cufflinks
10:38 AM...04...30......OBSS maneuver to egress point
........................1. SSRMS moves OBSS back to P1 bay 12 for egress
11:08 AM...05...00......Foot restraint egress and OBSS cleanup
........................1. Egress foot restraint; remove/stow OBSS hardware
11:38 AM...05...30......EVA-4 cleanup
........................1. Stow WIF extender on ESP-2; stow tools
........................2. Return to airlock
12:08 PM...06...00......Airlock ingress
12:38 PM...06...30......Airlock repressurization
EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT
11/03/07
01:38 AM...10...14...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
02:13 AM...10...14...35...EVA-4: Airlock repress; hygiene break
03:23 AM...10...15...45...EVA-4: Airlock campout resumes
04:53 AM...10...17...15...EVA-4: Spacesuit purge
05:08 AM...10...17...30...EVA-4: Oxygen pre-breathe
05:13 AM...10...17...35...Shuttle boom (OBSS) handoff to station arm (SSRMS)
05:58 AM...10...18...20...EVA-4: Airlock depress
06:28 AM...10...18...50...EVA-4: Spacesuits to battery power
06:33 AM...10...18...55...EVA-4: Airlock egress
07:03 AM..................SSRMS/OBSS setup
..........................1. Move to P1 truss/bay 12; perform tether swap
..........................2. Install work site interface extension
..........................3. Install foot restraint on WIF extension
..........................4. Astronaut gets In foot restraint
07:33 AM..................SSRMS maneuver to P6-4B solar array wing
..........................1. Check OBSS stability prior to P1 departure
..........................2. Station arm moves astronaut to P6-4B SAW
08:33 AM..................Solar array troubleshooting
..........................1. Assess/report guide wire configuration
..........................2. Clear guide wires; cut if necessary
..........................3. Install hinge stabilization cufflinks
11:03 AM..................OBSS maneuver to egress point
..........................1. SSRMS moves OBSS back to P1 bay 12 for egress
11:33 AM..................Astronaut egress and OBSS cleanup
..........................1. Egress foot restraint; remove/stow OBSS hardware
12:03 PM..................EVA cleanup
..........................1. Stow WIF extender on ESP-2; stow tools
..........................2. Return to airlock
12:33 PM...11...00...55...EVA-4: Cleanup and airlock ingress
01:08 PM...11...01...30...EVA-4: Airlock repressurization
01:13 PM...11...01...35...SSRMS/OBSS handoff maneuver
01:18 PM...11...01...40...Spacesuit servicing
01:58 PM...11...02...20...SRMS grapples OBSS
02:13 PM...11...02...35...SSRMS releases OBSS
02:58 PM...11...03...20...SRMS maneuver
03:00 PM...11...03...22...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
03:38 PM...11...04...00...Crew choice downlink
05:38 PM...11...06...00...ISS crew sleep begins
06:08 PM...11...06...30...STS crew sleep begins
07:00 PM...11...07...22...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV
10:00 PM...11...10...22...Flight director update on NASA TV
The 17-ton P6 solar array truss segment was launched in 2000 to provide power during the initial stages of assembly. The lab's main power truss is now built and equipped with huge sets of solar panels on each end: starboard 4 (S4) on the right side and port 4 (P4) on the left. The outermost right side S6 arrays, scheduled for launch next fall, will be attached to a short spacer segment known as S5.
EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT
11/02/07
01:08 AM...09...13...30...STS/ISS crew wakeup
03:08 AM...09...15...30...ISS daily planning conference
03:43 AM...09...16...05...Shuttle arm (SRMS) powerup
03:58 AM...09...16...20...SRMS moves to shuttle boom (OBSS) grapple position
04:08 AM...09...16...30...Logistics transfers resume
04:08 AM...09...16...30...Mobile transporter moves from WS-8 to WS-3
05:08 AM...09...17...30...OBSS unlatched
06:13 AM...09...18...35...Station arm (SSRMS) moves to pre-grapple position
06:58 AM...09...19...20...SSRMS grapples/unberths OBSS
07:38 AM...09...20...00...EVA-4: Procedures review
07:38 AM...09...20...00...Crew meals
07:58 AM...09...20...20...SRMS grapples OBSS
08:08 AM...09...20...30...EVA-4: On-board conference
08:13 AM...09...20...35...OBSS handoff to SRMS
09:08 AM...09...21...30...Mobile transporter moves from WS-3 to WS-8
09:38 AM...09...22...00...EVA-4: Tools configured
11:08 AM...09...23...30...SSRMS to pre-grapple position at WS-8
11:38 AM...10...00...00...EVA-4: Robotics conference
01:08 PM...10...01...30...EVA-4: EVA/robotics conference with MCC
01:38 PM...10...02...00...EVA-4: Procedures review resumes
02:00 PM...10...02...22...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
03:18 PM...10...03...40...Crew choice downlink
03:53 PM...10...04...15...EVA-4: Airlock campout begins
05:08 PM...10...05...30...ISS crew sleep begins
05:38 PM...10...06...00...STS crew sleep begins
06:00 PM...10...06...22...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV
10:00 PM...10...10...22...Flight director update on NASA TV
EDT........HH...MM...EVENT
06:28 AM...00...00...Spacewalk begins
06:58 AM...00...30...Heat shield boom (OBSS) setup
.....................1. Move to P1 truss/bay 12; perform tether swap
.....................2. Install work site interface extension on station arm
.....................3. Install foot restraint on WIF extension
.....................4. Astronaut gets In foot restraint
07:43 AM...01...15...SSRMS maneuver to P6-4B solar array wing
.....................1. Check OBSS stability prior to P1 departure
.....................2. Station arm moves astronaut to P6-4B solar array wing
08:50 AM...02...22...P6-4B SAW troubleshooting
.....................1. Assess/report guide wire configuration
.....................2. Clear guide wires; cut if necessary
.....................3. Install hinge stabilization cufflinks
11:28 AM...05...00...OBSS maneuver back to egress point
.....................1. SSRMS moves OBSS back to P1 bay 12 for egress
12:08 PM...05...40...Foot restraint egress and OBSS cleanup
.....................1. Egress OBSS; remove/stow OBSS hardware
.....................2. Return to airlock
12:38 PM...06...10...EVA-4 cleanup
.....................1. Stow WIF extender on ESP-2; stow tools
.....................2. Return to airlock
12:58 PM...06...30...Airlock ingress
01:08 PM...06...40...Airlock repressurization
Once in position near the rips in the solar arrays, Parazynski will give engineers their first detailed description of the damage.