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

• 02/20/08: Space shuttle Atlantis returns to Earth
• 02/20/08: Shuttle crew set for landing
• 02/19/08: Deorbit timelines
• 02/19/08: Good weather expected in Florida for Wednesday landing
• 02/19/08: Astronauts pack for re-entry, test critical systems; shuttle reoriented to warm thruster with failed heater
• 02/18/08: Engineers troubleshoot vernier thruster heater glitch
• 02/18/08: Shuttle crew begins final heat shield inspection
• 02/18/08: Atlantis undocks from space station
• 02/18/08: Shuttle crew gears up for undocking
• 02/17/08: Shuttle astronauts bid station crew farewell
• 02/17/08: Astronauts wrap up joint operations; farewell ceremony on tap
• 02/16/08: Station, shuttle commanders say satellite shoot-down no threat
• 02/16/08: Station reboost, crew news conference on tap
• 02/15/08: NASA will activate Florida, California landing sites to ensure shuttle return before satellite shoot down
• 02/15/08: Spacewalk ends; all major objectives accomplished
• 02/15/08: Spacewalk begins
• 02/15/08: Astronauts suit up for final spacewalk
• 02/14/08: 'Love Crater,' starboard SARJ inspections added to Friday spacewalk
• 02/13/08: Spacewalk ends; mission extended one day
• 02/13/08: Spacewalk begins
• 02/13/08: Walheim, Schlegel suit up for spacewalk
• 02/12/08: Schlegel 'anxious' about spacewalk Wednesday; won't discuss illness but says he's good to go
• 02/12/08: European astronauts begin Columbus activation
• 02/11/08: Astronauts gear up for Columbus ingress, outfitting
• 02/11/08: Spacewalk ends
• 02/11/08: Columbus module attached to space station
• 02/11/08: Astronauts told to wrap up spacewalk
• 02/11/08: Station arm pulls Columbus module from cargo bay
• 02/11/08: Spacewalkers work to install robot arm fixture on Columbus module
• 02/11/08: Spacewalk begins
• 02/11/08: Walheim, Love suit up for Columbus install spacewalk
• 02/10/08: Schlegel expected to participate in Wednesday spacewalk
• 02/10/08: Revised flight day 4 timeline
• 02/10/08: Flight plan revised; equipment transfers, blanket inspection on tap
• 02/09/08: Spacewalk delayed 24 hours by crew medical issue; Schlegel to be replaced by Love on first spacewalk; Shannon confirms mission extension, refuses to discuss reasons for delay
• 02/09/08: Engineers assessing pulled-up insulation blanket; computer issue
• 02/09/08: Shuttle Atlantis docks with space station
• 02/09/08: Shuttle crew begins terminal phase of space station rendezvous
• 02/09/08: Astronauts gear up for rendezvous and docking
• 02/08/08: No obvious debris damage; shuttle performance near flawless going into Saturday docking
• 02/08/08: Astronauts inspect heat shield
• 02/07/08: Shuttle Atlantis rockets into space (UPDATED at 5:25 p.m. with quotes from post-launch news conference; initial debris report)
• 02/07/08: Griffin pleased with ECO recovery work; downplays concern about Ares 1 rocket
• 02/07/08: Astronauts strap in for launch
• 02/07/08: Fueling complete; ECO sensors operating normally
• 02/07/08: ECO sensors pass initial health checks
• 02/07/08: Shuttle fueling begins; weather remains a concern
• 02/06/08: Weather forecast now 70 percent 'no go' for Thursday launch
• 02/05/08: Cain confident ECO sensors will work properly
• 02/05/08: Countdown on track
• 02/04/08: Countdown begins
• 02/04/08: STS-122 mission preview
• 02/04/08: Astronauts arrive for Thursday launch; weather an issue
• 02/01/08: NASA managers opt to press ahead for 02/7 launch pending successful flex hose retraction, final engineering analysis
• 01/30/08: Satisfied ECO sensor issue resolved, engineers troubleshoot kink in Freon hose; decision expected Saturday on Feb. 7 launch
• 01/11/08: Russian Progress launch moved up; Atlantis retargeted for Feb. 7; station spacewalk on tap
• 01/08/08: Connector upgrade ready for installation; lab testing continues
• 01/03/08: Shuttle launch no earlier than Jan. 24 as NASA pursues parallel ECO testing/hardware replacement
• 12/27/07: NASA orders external ECO sensor plug/socket replacement with soldered components; launch date under review
• 12/21/07: Hale hopeful near-term fix possible for ECO sensors; engineers tentatively cleared to remove suspect connector, plug
• 12/18/07:Sensor problem tracked to external tank wiring connector; corrective actions, impact on launch date not yet known
• 12/18/07: Initial sensor troubleshooting work complete; engineers ready to drain tank
• 12/18/07: ECO sensor 1 fails; sensors 2 and 3 show intermittent problems
• 12/18/07: Shuttle fueling test begins
• 12/13/07: Launch no earlier than Jan. 10; station spacewalk, tanking test on tap Dec. 18
• 12/11/07: Tanking test planned to help pinpoint ECO sensor problem
• 12/09/07: Launch delayed to January; station crew told to plan for possible spacewalk to inspect stalled rotary joint
• 12/09/07: ECO sensor No. 3 fails initial health chec
• 12/08/07: NASA clears Atlantis for Sunday launch try
• 12/08/07: Engineers troubleshoot circuit breaker trips on space station solar arrays
• 12/07/07: NASA tentatively resets shuttle launch for Sunday pending final analysis
• 12/07/07: Engineers assess launch options
• 12/06/07: Launch delayed at least 48 hours; engineers trying to develop rationale to fly as is
• 12/06/07: Launch director hopeful about ECO sensor fix
• 12/06/07: Shuttle launch scrubbed
• 12/06/07: ECO sensor background
• 12/06/07: Engine cutoff sensor issue
• 12/06/07: Shuttle Atlantis fueled for launch
• 12/05/07: Weather still 90 percent 'go;' countdown proceeding smoothly
• 12/03/07: Atlantis crew flies to KSC; countdown begins
• 11/30/07: Atlantis cleared for Dec. 6 launch
• 11/10/07: Atlantis hauled to launch pad

09:30 AM, 2/20/08, Update: Space shuttle Atlantis returns to Earth (UPDATED at 12:30 p.m. with quotes from Frick; news conference; bad weather in Pacific may delay satellite shoot down)

Taking advantage of calm weather, the shuttle Atlantis dropped out of orbit and glided to a smooth Florida landing today, closing out an extended 13-day mission to deliver a new European research lab and a French astronaut to the international space station.

Bringing outgoing space station flight engineer Dan Tani back to Earth after 120 days in space, Atlantis commander Steve Frick guided Atlantis through a sweeping 235-degree left overhead turn, lined up on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center and swooped to a picture-perfect touchdown at 9:07:10 a.m.

"Houston, Atlantis, wheels stopped," Frick radioed as the shuttle rolled to a halt.

"Copy, wheels stopped," astronaut Jim Dutton replied from mission control in Houston. "Welcome home, Atlantis, welcome home, Dan, and congrats on delivering (the) Columbus (module) to its new world."

"It's been a great mission," Frick said. "We're extremely happy to be home, it's such a beautiful day in Florida. We can't wait to see our families, who hopefully were all at the (grand)stands here watching. We appreciate all the great help and support from the folks here at Kennedy and all over NASA, and especially at Johnson Space Center, mission control, for keeping us safe when we were airborne and bringing us safely home,"

"We really appreciate those words, Steve," replied astronaut Jim Dutton in mission control.

Mission duration was 12 days 18 hours 21 minutes and 40 seconds, covering 202 complete orbits and 5.3 million miles since blastoff Feb. 7. Bill Gerstenmaier, director of space flight operations at NASA headquarters in Washington. said Tani came through re-entry and the return to Earth's gravity in good shape.

"He's doing great," Gerstenmaier said. "He'll go back to Houston and start some rehabilitation, start doing some weight training, some water training, those kind of things, and eventually get back into a pretty routine lifestyle."

With Atlantis and its seven-member crew safely home, the Pentagon was clear to proceed with plans to destroy a falling spy satellite with a dramatic missile shot from a Navy cruiser west of Hawaii.

The unprecedented intercept had been planned for this evening, but Pentagon officials said this morning high seas near Hawaii threatened to delay the launching. A second opportunity was available Thursday.

Launched in December 2006, the classified National Reconnaissance Office satellite, believed to be an experimental spacecraft intended to test new sensor technologies, suffered a catastrophic malfunction shortly after reaching orbit. It has been out of contact and out of control ever since, slowly falling back to Earth due to the long-term affects of atmospheric friction.

Left on its own, the 5,000-pound NROL-21 spacecraft would re-enter the atmosphere and break apart in mid March. About 2,400 pounds of debris could be expected to survive re-entry and make it all the way to the surface. The risk of injury from satellite debris is considered minimal, but the Bush administration, worried the satellite's full load of toxic, now-frozen hydrazine rocket fuel might make it to the ground, ordered the Navy to attempt a shoot down.

The avoid any risk of debris that might threaten Atlantis and its crew, the shot was held up until Atlantis could return to Earth. Playing it safe, NASA staffed a backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to get the shuttle down today, on one coast or the other. As it turned out, the weather cooperated in Florida and Edwards wasn't needed.

Flying upside down and backward 212 miles above the Indian Ocean, Frick and pilot Alan Poindexter fired Atlantis' twin braking rockets at 7:59:52 a.m. for two minutes and 43 seconds, slowing the ship by about 198 mph to drop out of orbit (ground-track mapss).

A half hour later, descending through 76 miles above the south Pacific Ocean, Atlantis plunged back into the discernible atmosphere around 8:36 a.m., entering the zone of peak heating a few minutes later.

Following a southwest-to-northeast trajectory that carried the ship high above central America just south of the Yucatan Peninsula, Atlantis skirted the western tip of Cuba before crossing the southwest coast of Florida near Fort Myers.

Frick took over manual control as the shuttle descended through 51,000 feet and dropped below the speed of sound around 9:03 a.m. Approaching the Kennedy Space Center the southwest, he and Poindexter guided the ship through a sweeping left overhead turn to line up on runway 15.

Frick, Poindexter, flight engineer Rex Walheim, Leland Melvin, Stan Love and European Space Agency astronaut Hans Schlegel were expected to doff their pressure suits and climb out of the shuttle an hour or so after touchdown. Tani made the return to Earth strapped into a reclining seat on the shuttle's lower deck and flight surgeons were standing by to provide assistance as needed.

After medical exams and reunions with friends and family members, all seven astronauts were expected to fly back to the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Thursday.

Tani was launched to the space station aboard the shuttle Discovery last October to help commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko prepare the outpost for the attachment of the European Space Agency's Columbus research module. The new lab module was scheduled to be carried aloft aboard Atlantis in December along with Tani's replacement, French astronaut Leopold Eyharts.

But Atlantis was grounded by problems with hydrogen fuel sensors, Columbus' delivery was held up and Tani's stay in space ultimately was extended for two months. As such, he missed the holidays with his family and was off the planet when his 90-year-old mother was killed in a Dec. 19 car wreck.

After extensive modifications to a suspect fuel sensor wiring connector, Atlantis blasted off at 2:45:30 p.m. on Feb. 7 to kick off the delayed assembly mission.

Over the next 13 days, the astronauts staged three spacewalks, delivered and installed the 26,627-pound Columbus module, two external experiment packages totaling 1,409 pounds and a fresh tank of high-pressure nitrogen for the station's ammonia cooling system that tipped the scales at 1,.069 pounds.

The shuttle brought 2,242 pounds of station hardware back to Earth in its cargo bay, including a spent nitrogen tank and a faulty control moment gyroscope. Some 1,299 pounds of supplies and equipment were transferred from the shuttle cabin to the space station, including a new solar alpha rotary joint drive motor, and 1,343 pounds of equipment was moved from the station to the shuttle's cabin for return to Earth.

The astronauts transferred 1,386 pounds of fresh water to the space station, 95 pounds of oxygen and 27 pounds of nitrogen.

"It's great... to be back on the ground here at the Kennedy Space Center on our first try," Frick said from the runway. "As you can see, the weather is gorgeous and it looked just as nice from up high as it does down here. Atlantis is a great ship, itÊbrought us home without any troubles, everything worked just beautifully. We're obviously very excited that our mission is complete and successful, we got everything done that we had hoped to get done."

With Atlantis safely home, NASA engineers will set their sights on launching the shuttle Endeavour March 11 on a marathon 16-day five-spacewalk mission to attach the first of two Japanese research modules to the space station. Endeavour's crew is scheduled to fly to the Florida space center Saturday to participate in a dress-rehearsal countdown Monday.

If all goes well, Endeavour will rocket away around 2:28 a.m. on March 11 and return to Earth around 7:40 p.m. on March 26.

The next flight in the sequence, a mission by Discovery to carry Japan's huge Kibo module to the station, has slipped from the end of April to around May 25 because of unfavorable orbital conditions and time needed to complete external tank processing.

After that, Atlantis is scheduled to return to space Aug. 28 on a long-awaited flight to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Two more flights, by Endeavour and Discovery in October and December, will ferry supplies to the space station and a final set of solar arrays.

4:45 AM, 2/20/08, Update: Shuttle crew set for landing

Commander Steve Frick and his six crewmates are rigging the shuttle Atlantis for re-entry and landing at the Kennedy Space Center today around 9:07 a.m. to close out an extended 13-day space station assembly mission. There are no technical problems of any significance and forecasters continue to predict good weather at the Florida spaceport.

"We're really looking forward to entry day today and landing on the first rev at Kennedy Space Center," pilot Alan Poindexter radioed when the crew was awakened around 12:45 a.m. "We want to thank everyone for all the hard work they've done to get us ready for today. We're ready to get to work."

Chief astronaut Steve Lindsey, flying a NASA training jet over the Kennedy Space Center around 4:45 a.m., reported "starry skies and light winds, no weather issues at all, at least at this hour," said mission control commentator Rob Navias. "Everything continuing to shape up weather wise."

Assuming no dramatic changes, Frick and Poindexter plan to fire Atlantis' twin braking rockets at 7:59:54 a.m. for two minutes and 39 seconds, slowing the ship by about 198 mph to drop out of orbit (ground-track mapss).

After a half-hour fall to an altitude of about 76 miles above the south Pacific Ocean, Atlantis will plunge back into the discernible atmosphere around 8:36 a.m., entering the zone of peak heating a few minutes later. Following a southwest-to-northeast trajectory that will carry the ship high above central America just south of the Yucatan Peninsula, Atlantis will skirt the western tip of Cuba before crossing the southwest coast of Florida near Fort Myers.

Frick plans to take over manual control of the shuttle as it drops below the speed of sound at an altitude 50,700 feet around 9:03 a.m. Approaching from the southwest, he will guide the ship through a sweeping 301-degree right-hand overhead turn to line up on runway 33 for a landing around 9:07:39 a.m.

Frick, Poindexter, flight engineer Rex Walheim, Leland Melvin, Stan Love and European Space Agency astronaut Hans Schlegel will be joined for the trip home by space station astronaut Dan Tani, returning to Earth after 120 days in space. To ease his return to the unfamiliar tug of Earth's gravity, Tani planned to make the trip home strapped into a reclining seat on the shuttle's lower deck.

Frick and his crewmates have four landing opportunities today on successive 90-minute orbits, two at Kennedy followed by two at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert. The shuttle has enough supplies to remain in orbit until Friday in a worst-case scenario, but NASA managers activated Edwards today to get Atlantis down, on one coast or the other, to clear the way for a Navy attempt to destroy a falling spy satellite.

Based on the satellite's orbital track and a variety of government advisories establishing a restricted zone west of Hawaii, amateur satellite trackers believe the first opportunity for a Navy cruiser to fire a missile at the crippled satellite is around 10:30 p.m. EST this evening.

Given the forecast in Florida, it would appear the Atlantis astronauts have a good shot at making it home on the first landing opportunity today to close out a 5.3-million-mile mission spanning 202 complete orbits since blastoff Feb. 7.

Here are timelines for the first two Florida landing opportunities (in EST; deorbit burn time subject to minor changes):

EST...........EVENT

FIRST FLORIDA OPPORTUNITY: Rev. 202 Deorbit to Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

04:00 AM......Deorbit timeline begins
04:15 AM......Radiator stow complete
04:25 AM......Mission specialists seat installation
04:31 AM......Computers set for deorbit prep
04:35 AM......Hydraulic system prepared for entry
05:00 AM......Flash evaporator cooling system checkout
05:06 AM......Final payload deactivation
05:20 AM......Payload bay doors closed
05:30 AM......Mission control 'go' for OPS-3 entry software load
05:40 AM......OPS-3 transition
06:05 AM......Entry switchlist verification
06:15 AM......Deorbit maneuver update
06:20 AM......Crew entry review
06:35 AM......Commander/pilot don entry suits
06:52 AM......Inertial measurement unit alignment
07:00 AM......CDR/PLT strap in; mission specialists don suits
07:17 AM......Shuttle steering check
07:20 AM......Hydraulic power system prestart
07:27 AM......Toilet deactivation
07:35 AM......Payload bay vent doors closed for entry
07:40 AM......Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn
07:46 AM......Mission specialists seat ingress
07:55 AM......Single hydraulic power unit start

07:59:54 AM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 197.7 mph; dT: 02:39)
08:02:33 AM...Deorbit burn complete (altitude: 211.6 sm)

08:35:59 AM...Atmospheric entry (altitude: 75.6 sm)
08:40:59 AM...1st roll command to left
08:52:05 AM...1st left-to-right roll reversal
08:54:00 AM...C-band radar acquisition
09:01:06 AM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (altitude: 84,200 feet)
09:03:18 AM...Velocity less than mach 1 (altitude: 50,700 feet)
09:03:42 AM...Shuttle banks 301 degrees to line up on runway 33
09:07:39 AM...Landing

SECOND FLORIDA OPPORTUNITY: Rev. 203 Deorbit to Kennedy

09:15 AM......Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn
09:21 AM......MS seat ingress
09:30 AM......Single APU start

09:35:20 AM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 195.7 mph; dT: 02:38)
09:37:58 AM...Deorbit burn complete (altitude: 214.5 sm)

10:11:00 AM...Entry interface (altitude: 75.6 sm)
10:15:57 AM...1st roll command to right
10:27:46 AM...1st right-to-left roll reversal
10:36:05 AM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (altitude: 84,700 feet)
10:38:18 AM...Velocity less than mach 1 (altitude: 50,200 feet)
10:38:55 AM...Shuttle banks 269 degrees to line up on runway 33
10:42:35 AM...Landing

2:20 PM, 2/19/08, Update: Deorbit timelines

Here are detailed deorbit timelines for all four of the shuttle Atlantis' landing opportunities Wednesday (in EST throughout; times may change slightly; best viewed with fixed-width font):

EST...........EVENT

FIRST FLORIDA OPPORTUNITY: Rev. 202 Deorbit to Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

12:45:00 AM...Crew wakeup
03:59:54 AM...Begin deorbit timeline
04:14:54 AM...Radiators stowed
04:24:54 AM...Mission specialists seat installation
04:30:54 AM...Computers set for deorbit prep
04:34:54 AM...Hydraulic system prepared for entry
04:59:54 AM...Flash evaporator cooling system checkout
05:05:54 AM...Final payload deactivation
05:19:54 AM...Payload bay doors closed
05:29:54 AM...Mission control 'go' for OPS-3 entry software load
05:39:54 AM...OPS-3 transition
06:04:54 AM...Entry switch list verification
06:14:54 AM...Deorbit burn update
06:19:54 AM...Crew entry review
06:34:54 AM...Commander/pilot don entry suits
06:51:54 AM...Inertial measurement unit alignment
06:59:54 AM...Commander/pilot strap in; others don suits
07:16:54 AM...Shuttle steering check
07:19:54 AM...Hydraulic power system prestart
07:26:54 AM...Toilet deactivation
07:34:54 AM...Payload bay vent doors closed for entry
07:39:54 AM...MIssion control 'go' for deorbit burn
07:45:54 AM...Mission specialists seat ingress
07:54:54 AM...Single hydraulic power unit start

07:59:54 AM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 197.7 mph; dT: 02:39)
08:02:33 AM...Deorbit burn complete (altitude: 211.6 sm)

08:35:59 AM...Atmospheric entry (altitude: 75.6 sm)
08:40:59 AM...1st roll command to left
08:52:05 AM...1st left-to-right roll reversal
08:54:00 AM...C-band radar acquisition
09:01:06 AM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (altitude: 84,200 feet)
09:03:18 AM...Velocity less than mach 1 (altitude: 50,700 feet)
09:03:42 AM...Shuttle banks 301 degrees to line up on runway 33
09:07:39 AM...Landing

SECOND FLORIDA OPPORTUNITY: Rev. 203 Deorbit to Kennedy

09:15:20 AM...Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn
09:21:20 AM...MS seat ingress
09:30:20 AM...Single APU start

09:35:20 AM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 195.7 mph; dT: 02:38)
09:37:58 AM...Deorbit burn complete (altitude: 214.5 sm)

10:11:00 AM...Entry interface (altitude: 75.6 sm)
10:15:57 AM...1st roll command to right
10:27:46 AM...1st right-to-left roll reversal
10:36:05 AM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (altitude: 84,700 feet)
10:38:18 AM...Velocity less than mach 1 (altitude: 50,200 feet)
10:38:55 AM...Shuttle banks 269 degrees to line up on runway 33
10:42:35 AM...Landing

FIRST CALIFORNIA OPPORTUNITY: Rev. 204 Deorbit to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

10:45:15 AM...MCC 'go' for deorbit burn
10:51:15 AM...MS seat ingress
11:00:15 AM...Single APU start

11:05:15 AM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 195.7 mph; dT: 2:38
11:07:53 AM...Deorbit burn complete (altitude: 213.4 sm)

11:41:01 AM...Entry interface (altitude: 75.6 sm)
11:46:00 AM...1st roll command to left
11:55:55 AM...1st left-to-right roll reversal
12:06:06 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (altitude: 81,800 feet)
12:08:19 PM...Velocity less than mach 1 (altitude: 49,400 feet)
12:09:24 PM...Shuttle banks 205 degrees to line up on runway 22
12:12:31 PM...Landing

SECOND CALIFORNIA OPPORTUNITY: Rev. 205 Deorbit to Edwards

12:21:25 PM...MCC 'go' for deorbit burn
12:27:25 PM...MS seat ingress
12:36:25 PM...Single APU start

12:41:25 PM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 195.7 mph; dT: 02:38)
12:44:03 PM...Deorbit burn complete (altitude: 216.9 sm)

01:16:09 PM...Entry interface (altitude: 75.6 sm)
01:21:06 PM...1st roll command to right
01:32:39 PM...1st right-to-left roll reversal
01:41:10 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (altitude: 82,700 feet)
01:43:25 PM...Velocity less than mach 1 (altitude: 48,800 feet)
01:44:34 PM...Shuttle banks 189 degrees to line up on runway 22
01:47:34 PM...Landing

01:45 PM, 2/19/08, Update: Good weather expected in Florida for Wednesday landing

The Atlantis astronauts checked out the shuttle's re-entry systems today and packed for landing Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center to close out a successful space station assembly mission. Forecasters are predicting near ideal conditions at the Florida spaceport, with scattered clouds, light winds and good visibility expected.

"The weather forecasts, I've been looking at them almost the last week, the models and the weather forecasts have all been real consistent on what today and tomorrow are going to look like," said entry Flight Director Bryan Lunney. "Today panned out exactly as they said it would and I've got every expectation tomorrow will as well."

He said Atlantis is in good condition and that problems with a heater circuit affecting four small vernier rocket thrusters would have no impact on the shuttle's re-entry. Engineers are equally confident a kinked Freon coolant line in the shuttle's cargo bay will not cause any problems.

Atlantis has enough supplies on board to remain in orbit until Friday in a worst-case scenario. But NASA has activated its backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in a bid to get the shuttle down Wednesday, on one coast or another, to clear the way for a Navy attempt to shoot down a falling spy satellite.

It's not known when the shoot-down attempt will be made, but amateur satellite trackers monitoring the descent of the crippled NROL-21 satellite say a "notice to airmen," or NOTAM, issued by air traffic control in Honolulu Monday (https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/distribution/center.html) establishes a restricted zone west of Hawaii that NROL-21 will pass over Wednesday evening East Coast time. But the NOTAM does not specify the reason for the restricted airspace and the subject line of an email alerting satellite trackers ended with a question mark.

(Editor's note: Interested readers can check the current location of NROL-21 (also known by its orbital designation USA 193) at the Heavens Above web site: http://www.heavens-above.com/orbitdisplay.asp?satid=29651)

Commander Steve Frick and his six crewmates - pilot Alan Poindexter, flight engineer Rex Walheim, Leland Melvin, Stan Love, European Space Agency astronaut Hans Schlegel and returning station flier Dan Tani - have two opportunities on successive orbits to land in Florida Wednesday, followed by two opportunities at Edwards.

The wind is expected to kick up in Florida for the second opportunity, making crosswinds a potential issue, while forecasters are predicting a slight chance of rain within 30 nautical miles of Edwards.

Lunney said the astronauts likely will only have enough water on board for cooling after the cargo bay doors are closed to support three of the four opportunities.

"If in the morning we realize we're only going to have three consecutive opportunities ... we'll assess the weather, and if the weather looks good at KSC, we'll shoot for those first two opportunities with the third being Edwards," Lunney said. "If the weather at KSC goes really bad for us against all the forecasts we've had so opportunities as our backups."

Asked if he was under any pressure to get Atlantis down before the satellite shoot-down attempt, Lunney said "no pressure. I'm not going to land the vehicle until its safe to do so for the crew and we're not going to alter any of our rules because it's not safe. So if the weather's good on Wednesday, we're going to land on Wednesday. If not, then I'll push to Thursday."

Here are the latest deorbit and landing times for Wednesday (in EST/GMT and mission elapsed time):

07:59:54 AM...12...17...14...Deorbit ignition (orbit 202)
09:07:39 AM...12...18...22...Landing at KSC

09:35:20 AM...12...18...50...Deorbit ignition (orbit 203)
10:42:35 AM...12...19...57...Landing at KSC

11:05:15 AM...12...20...20...Deorbit ignition (orbit 204)
12:12:31 PM...12...21...27...Landing at Edwards Air Force Base

12:41:25 PM...12...21...56...Deorbit ignition (orbit 205)
01:47:34 PM...12...23...02...Landing at Edwards Air Force Base

Asked what he thought about the satellite shoot-down effort, Frick said "my first thought when we talked about that was 'go Navy!'"

"But Capt. Poindexter and myself are obviously very excited about the upcoming event they're going to have with the satellite, we're interested to see how it happens," Frick told CNN. "We're not concerned about it, certainly we're going to be safely on the ground and the space station is going to be safely well above the deorbiting satellite. But we'll be interested to watch it and see what happens."

He described the risk of space debris as minimal, to either the shuttle or the space station.

"The only reason we're concerned about the space shuttle is because ... that satellite is below us," he said. "We, of course, have to descend through its altitude on our re-entry. The space station is up at about 185 nautical miles, well above any debris, and once they break the satellite up, the debris is just going to slowly descend ... and drop into the atmosphere and burn up."

Over the course of the mission, the Atlantis astronauts staged three spacewalks, delivered and installed the 26,627-pound European Space Agency Columbus research module, two external experiment packages totaling 1,409 pounds and a fresh tank of high-pressure nitrogen for the station's ammonia cooling system that tipped the scales at 1,.069 pounds.

The shuttle is bringing 2,242 pounds of station hardware back to Earth in its cargo bay, including a spent nitrogen tank and a faulty control moment gyroscope. Some 1,299 pounds of supplies and equipment were transferred from the shuttle cabin to the space station, including a new solar alpha rotary joint drive motor, and 1,343 pounds of equipment was moved from the station to the shuttle's cabin for return to Earth.

The astronauts transferred 1,386 pounds of fresh water to the space station, 95 pounds of oxygen and 27 pounds of nitrogen.

4:45 AM, 2/19/08, Update: Astronauts pack for re-entry, test critical systems; shuttle reoriented to warm thruster with failed heater

The Atlantis astronauts are putting in a busy final day in space today, testing the shuttle's re-entry systems packing up loose gear and rigging the ship for landing Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center. Forecasters are predicting good weather for the shuttle's return, but NASA plans to staff its backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in a bid to get Atlantis down, on one coast or the other, before a U.S. Navy attempt to destroy a falling spy satellite.

It's not known when the shoot-down attempt will be made, but amateur satellite trackers monitoring the descent of the crippled NROL-21 satellite say a "notice to airmen," or NOTAM, issued by air traffic control in Honolulu Monday (https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/distribution/center.html) establishes a restricted zone west of Hawaii that NROL-21 will pass over around 10:30 p.m. EST Wednesday. But the NOTAM does not specify the reason for the restricted airspace and the subject line of an email alerting satellite trackers ended with a question mark.

(Editor's note: Interested readers can check the current location of NROL-21 (also known by its orbital designation USA 193) at the Heavens Above web site: http://www.heavens-above.com/orbitdisplay.asp?satid=29651)

Shortly after crew wakeup today, commander Steve Frick was asked to re-orient Atlantis, putting the ship's tail toward the sun to provide additional heating to four aft vernier thrusters that lost heater power late Monday due to a circuit failure. One of those thrusters, a left-firing jet on Atlantis' left-side aft rocket pod, dropped to 40 degrees overnight. prompting concern about possible freezing that could damage fuel lines. In a tail-toward-sun orientation, the thruster should stay warm enough to prevent any such damage.

Loss of the aft vernier thrusters will have no impact on the remainder of Atlantis' mission. Due to the redundancy built into the system, the shuttle can use various combinations of thrusters to operate normally in the event of failures.

Space shuttles are equipped with two large orbital maneuvering system - OMS - rocket engines in two pods at the back of the ship that are used to make major orbit changes, including the rocket firing needed to drop the ship back into the atmosphere at the end of a mission.

For smaller changes and adjustments to a shuttle's orientation, 14 reaction control system, or RCS, jets are mounted in the nose, along with two smaller vernier engines. Another 12 primary RCS jets, and two vernier thrusters, are mounted in each aft OMS pod and it is those four aft vernier jets that are affected by the failed heater circuit.

The primary RCS thrusters produce about 870 pounds of push in space while the vernier engines generate a thrust of just 24 pounds each. It's not clear what went wrong with the heater circuit Monday, but flight controllers suspect problems with a so-called "hybrid driver."

The astronauts were awakened around 12:45 a.m. by a recording of Monty Python's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" beamed up from mission control in Houston.

"Good morning, Atlantis. A special good morning to you, Steve," astronaut Shannon Lucid called from mission control.

"Good morning, Shannon," Frick replied. "And thanks very much to my wonderful wife Jennifer for that little touch of Monty Python in the morning. We get really busy up here, but it's easy to look at the bright side of life when you look out the window and see the Earth traveling beneath us once every 90 minutes. ... But even with that great view, I think we all believe the bright side of life is when we get home, hopefully tomorrow, and get to see our families."

Lucid then briefed Frick on the result of an overnight investigation into the thruster problem.

"The investigations that we had overnight indicate that a hybrid driver may have failed, resulting the loss of the heater power to the aft vernier thrusters," she said. "So the remainder of the mission will be conducted 'loss of verns.' The propellant margins support all the activities and all planned deorbit opportunities through end of mission plus two (days). Now, there is a potential to perform some unplanned maneuvers and attitude hold in the effort to maintain the aft vernier jets above their non operating limits."

"OK, Shannon, thanks a lot for those words," Frick said. "We kind of figured we'd be down verns from now on. But it's good to hear we don't have any power or prop concerns and I'm glad we have enough prop to fly those attitudes to keep the jets from being a turnaround concern."

He was referring to time lost from work that would be required to fix any fuel line damage after Atlantis returns to Earth. The shuttle's next flight is a high-profile mission in August to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EST and mission elapsed time; includes revision M of the NASA television schedule):

EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

02/19/08
12:45 AM...11...10...00...Crew wakeup
03:45 AM...11...13...00...Cabin stow
05:10 AM...11...14...25...FCS checkout
06:20 AM...11...15...35...RCS hotfire
06:35 AM...11...15...50...PILOT landing practice
08:05 AM...11...17...20...Deorbit review
08:35 AM...11...17...50...PAO event
08:35 AM...11...17...50...Crew meal
09:35 AM...11...18...50...Cabin stow
12:30 PM...11...21...45...Launch/entry suit checkout
12:30 PM...11...21...45...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
12:45 PM...11...22...00...Ergometer stow
01:15 PM...11...22...30...Recumbent seat setup
01:25 PM...11...22...40...Laptop network teardown
01:35 PM...11...22...50...KU-band antenna stow
04:45 PM...12...02...00...Crew sleep begins
05:00 PM...12...02...15...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV

6:25 PM, 2/18/08, Update: Engineers troubleshoot vernier thruster heater glitch

Engineers are troubleshooting problem s with heaters used by four of the shuttle Atlantis' aft steering thrusters. Flight controllers noticed problems with one aft vernier thruster - L5L - around 4:30 p.m., at the end of the crew's day. Shortly thereafter, controllers saw similar symptoms with the heaters of three other aft vernier jets. Officials said the problem was not a safety issue and the crew will get up as planned around 12:45 a.m. Tuesday to rig the ship for landing Wednesday.

"The propulsion officer a little over an hour ago noticed a sign that one of those heaters was failing," said NASA mission control commentator Pat Ryan. "Subsequently, heaters for all four of those aft vernier jets have either failed or appear to be failing. It's not an issue for crew safety and, in fact, the team has made the determination that they will not call up any further instructions to the crew, they don't want to disturb them. But the teams will continue working, different disciplines are consulting with one another, trying to run down a cause for these heater failures.

"One late call to the crew, that is to say just after their sleep period (began), was to have commander Steve Frick throw the switch on the flight deck that would cycle those heaters and the propulsion officer has reported no joy in recovering the heaters in that fashion. The heater temperatures are still well above the level where they would pose any threat to that system. But they will be watched overnight by members of the planning team as they work through changes to the upcoming day on orbit for Steve Frick and his six shuttle crewmates."

Space shuttles are equipped with two large orbital maneuvering system - OMS - rocket engines in two pods at the back of the ship that are used to make major orbit changes, including the rocket firing needed to drop the ship back into the atmosphere at the end of a mission.

For smaller changes and adjustments to a shuttle's orientation, 14 reaction control system, or RCS, jets are mounted in the nose, along with two smaller vernier engines. Another 12 primary RCS jets, and two vernier thrusters, are mounted in each aft OMS pod and it is those four aft vernier jets that are affected by the heater problems under discussion in mission control.

The primary RCS thrusters produce about 870 pounds of push in space while the vernier engines generate a thrust of just 24 pounds each. Due to the redundancy built into the system, the shuttle can use various combinations of thrusters to operate normally in the event of failures.

09:10 AM, 2/18/08, Update: Shuttle crew begins final heat shield inspection (UPDATED at 12:05 p.m. with flight director briefing)

The Atlantis astronauts undocked from the international space station today, looped around the outpost to collect spectacular pictures and video and then pulled out ahead of the lab complex before starting a final heat shield inspection to clear the way for re-entry and landing Wednesday.

Using a laser scanner and high-resolution camera on the end of a boom attached to the shuttle's robot arm, the astronauts carried out out a detailed survey of the ship's reinforced carbon carbon nose cap and wing leading edge panels, which experience the most extreme heating during re-entry, to look for any signs of damage that might have occurred since a similar inspection just after launch Feb. 7.

"We cleared Atlantis' heat shield from the flight day two ascent inspections," Flight Director MIke Sarafin said today. "RIght now, we're looking to see if there were any orbital debris impacts along the reinforced carbon carbon. The imagery right now is in the process of being analyzed and we should have an answer from the imagery and engineering experts within the next day."

Nothing obvious could be seen in downlinked video and assuming no problems are found in the analysis, the crew will pack up and test Atlantis' re-entry systems Tuesday before landing Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center. Entry flight director Bryan Lunney, son on legendary Apollo flight director Glynn Lunney, will discuss NASA's landing strategy Tuesday at a 12:30 p.m. news briefing.

This morning's forecast from the Spaceflight Meteorology Group at the Johnson Space Center in Houston predicts virtually ideal weather at the Kennedy Space Center for the first landing opportunity Wednesday with scattered clouds at 3,000 and 30,000 feet and light winds from the northeast. A slight chance of showers within 30 nautical miles is expected at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

"The crew tomorrow will be preparing the cabin for re-entry and just making sure that any stowage items aren't loose during the re-entry timeframe," Sarafin said. "They will prepare a special seat for (returning space station astronaut) Dan (Tani), who has been on station for about four months. ... Tomorrow, the crew will also check out the flight control systems to make sure that they're healthy and there are no problems that occurred over the course of the mission."

The shuttle has enough on-board supplies to stay in orbit until Friday if necessary, officials said. NASA normally would concentrate solely on Florida the first landing day, waving off for 24 hours if bad weather or some other problem forced a delay.

But agency officials announced last week that NASA's backup landing site at Edwards will be staffed Wednesday and for an attempt to get Atlantis down on one coast or the other, weather permitting. NASA said in a statement the strategy is intended to "give the military the biggest possible window and maximum flexibility to ensure the success" of an attempt to shoot down a falling spy satellite.

The National Reconnaissance Office satellite (NROL-21) malfunctioned shortly after launch in December 2006. The out-of-control satellite has been slowly descending ever since and barring intervention, it is expected to plunge back into the thick lower atmosphere early next month.

Because the satellite failed so soon after launch, it is carrying a virtually full load of now-frozen hydrazine rocket fuel, a good portion of which could be expected to reach the ground after a normal atmospheric breakup. The Pentagon last week announced plans to fire a missile at the spacecraft in an attempt to break it apart and disperse the toxic fuel before it can pose a threat.

The Heavens Above website is providing tracking maps showing the satellite's current location based on observations by a network of amateur satellite observers (http://www.heavens-above.com/orbitdisplay.asp?satid=29651):

Atlantis commander Steve Frick and his crewmates will have two opportunities on successive orbits to land in Florida Wednesday and two shots at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert. Here are updated landing times for all four opportunities (in EST/GMT and mission elapsed time):

ORBIT.EVENT...................................DD/HH:MM...EST........GMT

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20

202...1st KSC OPPORTUNITY DEORBIT BURN........12/17:16...08:01 AM...13:01
203...1st KSC OPPORTUNITY LANDING.............12/18:22...09:07 AM...14:07

203...2nd KSC OPPORTUNITY DEORBIT BURN........12/18:52...09:37 AM...14:37
204...2nd KSC OPPORTUNITY LANDING.............12/19:57...10:42 AM...15:42

204...1st EDW AFB OPPORTUNITY DEORBIT BURN....12/20:22...11:07 AM...16:07
205...1st EDW AFB OPPORTUNITY LANDING.........12/21:27...12:12 PM...17:12

205...2ND EDW AFB OPPORTUNITY DEORBIT BURN....12/21:58...12:43 PM...17:43
206...2ND EDW AFB OPPORTUNITY LANDING.........12/23:02...01:47 PM...18:47

But because of the time required to prepare the shuttle for re-entry, the 90 minutes it takes to go around the world for a second chance and the time needed to back out if entry is delayed for the day, NASA is unlikely to take advantage of all four possible Wednesday landing opportunities.

"A normal day, just to do a deorbit prep and landing is five hours," Sarafin said. "That doesn't account for just standard crew wakeup activities and cabin stow.ÊIf we're going to try multiple attempts, it takes another 90 minutes to go around and if we're going to do three or four orbits, that really does extend the length of the (crew's) day considerably. ... If you still cannot land and you have to back out, open the payload bay doors, turn off all the navigational aids, it does become a significant driver in decision making."

Based on past practice, NASA likely would make two back-to-back attempts to land in Florida and then pick the more favorable of the two Edwards opportunities if the shuttle could not make it back to Kennedy. But if the current forecast holds up, Frick and his crewmates should have a good chance of bringing Atlantis back to Florida as planned.

4:40 AM, 2/18/08, Update: Atlantis undocks from space station

With pilot Alan Poindexter at the controls, the shuttle Atlantis undocked from the international space station today after a successful three-spacewalk assembly mission to attach a new European research lab to the outpost.

"Alpha and Houston, (this is) Atlantis, we have physical separation," an astronaut radioed as the the docking systems disengaged. Following naval tradition, station commander Peggy Whitson rang the ship's bell to signal Atlantis' departure.

Leaving European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts behind with Whitson and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Atlantis separated from the space station's forward docking port at 4:24 a.m., about three minutes ahead of schedule. Joining the shuttle crew for the trip home is outgoing station flight engineer Dan Tani, who is wrapping up an extended four-month stay in space.

"We just wanted to thank you again for being a great host and letting us enjoy your station for about a week," shuttle commander Steve Frick radioed Whitson a few minutes before undocking. "We had a great time over there, we learned a lot and we really, really enjoyed working with your crew, one quarter of which we have here and we're happy to take Dan home. But just again, to you and to Yuri and to Leo, thanks very much."

"Well thank you guys," Whitson replied. "it's a great new room you've added on and we really appreciate it. Get Dan home safe, and thanks!"

The flight plan called for Poindexter to guide Atlantis to a point about 400 feet directly in front of the station before looping up, over, behind and underneath the lab complex in a full loop for photo documentation of the station and the new Columbus research module. Back at his starting point, Poindexter plans to depart the area with a rocket firing just after 6 a.m.

As the shuttle drops behind the station, the astronauts will fire up a sensor boom attached to the ship's robot arm for a final inspection of the shuttle's reinforced carbon carbon nose cap and wing leading edge panels to make sure they have not suffered any damage since a similar inspection on the second day of the mission. Today's inspection was scheduled to begin around 8:20 a.m. and end shortly after noon.

"This is a very busy day," said lead flight director Mike Sarafin. "We have the undock and then ... a fly around. Following that, we're going to do our late inspection to ensure that if any orbital debris struck Atlantis during the course of its mission we'll detect it and have the opportunity to determine if it's of critical size before committing to re-entry.

"We'll separate to a safe distance from station, to about 400 feet, we'll perform a series of piloting maneuvers ... up and over the top of the station, all the time they'll be taking imagery of station, back behind station and then underneath completing a full lap. We get back 360 degrees out from where we started and then complete a separation burn to fly up and away from station."

3:30 AM, 2/18/08, Update: Shuttle crew gears up for undocking

As the shuttle Endeavour creeps toward the launch pad in Florida, the Atlantis astronauts, along with outgoing space station flight engineer Dan Tani, are gearing up to undock from the international space station after a successful three-spacewalk assembly mission.

With pilot Alan Poindexter at the controls, undocking is targeted for 4:27 a.m., although the crew has asked permission to depart a few minutes ahead of schedule to improve lighting. Poindexter plans to guide the shuttle through a full loop around the station before leaving the area around 6 a.m.

At the Kennedy Space Center, meanwhile, engineers are hauling Endeavour from the Vehicle Assembly Building to pad 39A, reaching the midpoint of the six-hour trip around 2:30 a.m. Endeavour is targeted for launch March 11 on the next space station assembly mission.

Here is a timeline of today's activities (in EST and mission elapsed time; includes rev. L of the NASA TV schedule):

EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

02/18/08
12:45 AM...10...10...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
02:15 AM...10...11...30...ISS daily planning conference
02:45 AM...10...12...00...Group B computer power up
03:13 AM...10...12...28...Sunrise
03:38 AM...10...12...53...Station in undocking attitude
03:40 AM...10...12...55...Undocking operations begin
03:43 AM...10...12...58...Noon
03:50 AM...10...13...05...Forward port prepped for undocking
03:54 AM...10...13...09...ISS KU antenna parked
04:14 AM...10...13...29...Sunset
04:15 AM...10...13...30...Russian solar arrays feathered
04:20 AM...10...13...35...U.S. solar arrays feathered

04:27 AM...10...13...42...UNDOCKING

04:29 AM...10...13...44...ISS holds attitude
04:32 AM...10...13...47...Range: 50 feet
04:34 AM...10...13...49...Range 75 feet
04:39 AM...10...13...54...Russian arrays resume sun track
04:40 AM...10...13...55...Forward docking port depressurized
04:44 AM...10...13...59...Sunrise
04:56 AM...10...14...11...Range: 400 feet; start fly around
05:06 AM...10...14...21...Range: 600 feet
05:08 AM...10...14...23...Shuttle directly above ISS
05:15 AM...10...14...30...Noon
05:19 AM...10...14...34...Shuttle directly behind ISS
05:31 AM...10...14...46...Shuttle directly below ISS
05:42 AM...10...14...57...Shuttle direcly in front of ISS
05:42 AM...10...14...57...Separation burn No. 1
05:45 AM...10...15...00...Sunset
06:12 AM...10...15...27...Separation burn No. 2
06:15 AM...10...15...30...Sunrise
06:15 AM...10...15...30...Group B computer power down
06:15 AM...10...15...30...Videotape replay of undocking
06:20 AM...10...15...35...Post undocking network reconfiguration
06:50 AM...10...16...05...Crew meal
07:50 AM...10...17...05...Spacesuit installation
08:10 AM...10...17...25...Heat shield sensor boom (OBSS) sensor powerup
08:20 AM...10...17...35...Starboard wing survey
08:20 AM...10...17...35...EVA unpack and stow
08:50 AM...10...18...05...Post-ISS EVA entry preps
10:00 AM...10...19...15...Nose cap survey
11:00 AM...10...20...15...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
11:15 AM...10...20...30...Port wing survey
12:35 PM...10...21...50...OBSS berthing
01:20 PM...10...22...35...Shuttle robot arm (SRMS) powerdown
02:00 PM...10...23...15...Laser scanner downlink
03:30 PM...11...00...45...Post-MMT update on NASA TV
04:30 PM...11...01...45...ISS crew sleep begins
04:45 PM...11...02...00...STS crew sleep begins
05:00 PM...11...02...15...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV

1:24 PM, 2/17/08, Update: Shuttle astronauts bid station crew farewell

The Atlantis astronauts gathered for a final time aboard the international space station today, bidding the lab crew farewell in a tearful ceremony that marked the end of a complex assembly mission. After one last round of hugs and handshakes, the shuttle crew floated back into Atlantis and hatches were sealed at 1:03 p.m. to set the stage for undocking early Monday.

The brief farewell was particularly poignant for Dan Tani, returning to Earth after an extended four-month stay in space. Originally scheduled to return in December, Tani's stay aloft was extended two months after Atlantis was grounded in December with fuel sensor problems. Along with missing the holidays with his family, Tani was in orbit when his 90-year-old mother was killed in a Dec. 19 car wreck.

"Dan has done a phenomenal job over the last several months," said station commander Peggy Whitson. "He was here a few months more than he had originally planned on, but he's really made up for it and done an incredible job while he was here."

Tani took a moment to describe his impressions of the space station, saying "today I feel very optimistic about our space program and our society because I'm here, I've spent time with a man from France, from Italy and from Germany and from Russia. Nations that have not always been friendly are now cooperating and we're doing great things."

"That was the first thing I was thinking about today," he said. "The other thing I was thinking about today was women, and it's been a very big topic on this flight because when I flew up there were two women commanders and for whatever reason, that was huge news. The unspoken news there was they were both fantastically great commanders and it was a privilege to fly with both of them.

"The other thing I was thinking about today was my mother... my inspiration," Tani said, choking back tears. "And of course, my job is easy compared to my wife's. Jane's the love of my life and she had the hard work while I was having fun. So I can't wait to get back to her and my two little girls.

"If we were in Russia, this would be the third toast - the toast for the women in our lives. I've enjoyed all my time here and I can't wait to get back with all my pictures and videos. So thank you so much for all your help on the ground and really, we couldn't have done it without you. We're doing magnificent things up here and it's not us, of course, we're just the tip. It's the solid foundation everybody on the ground provides for us and makes us look good. Thank you very much."

Tani was replaced aboard the space station by European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who plans to remain aboard the outpost until late March activating and carrying out experiments in Europe's new Columbus research module.

Taking the microphone from Tani, Eyharts said "Dan is a great guy, I've been very impressed by the experience he acquired here in the space station. It was really a pleasure and an honor to receive the handover from him and I hope that in a few weeks, I will be able to do one hundredth of what he is able to do today."

Said Atlantis commander Steve Frick: "For the shuttle crew of Atlantis, STS-122, it was our privilege to bring Leo up to his new home. ... And it's very much our privilege to take Dan home after such a long stay up here and so much hard work. We're looking forward to a very short rest of the flight and a successful landing at the Kennedy Space Center (Wednesday).

"It's been an amazing experience for us," Frick said. "We were very privileged to bring up the European Columbus laboratory module and we're incredibly excited to see it with the lights on and ready for action. So Peggy, thanks very much for being our host. We raced as hard as we could trying to keep up with you and now we need to go take a rest!"

"All right, guys, it's been great having you hear," Whitson replied. The two crews then separated and hatches betwen Atlantis and the station were closed.

The shuttle astronauts are scheduled to go to bed at 4:45 p.m. Wakeup is scheduled for 12:45 a.m. Monday. For readers interested in looking ahead, here is the latest undocking timeline (in EST and mission elapsed time):

EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

02/18/08
03:13 AM...10...12...28...Sunrise
03:38 AM...10...12...53...Station in undocking attitude
03:43 AM...10...12...58...Noon
03:54 AM...10...13...09...ISS KU antenna parked
04:14 AM...10...13...29...Sunset
04:15 AM...10...13...30...Russian solar arrays feathered
04:20 AM...10...13...35...U.S. solar arrays feathered

04:27 AM...10...13...42...UNDOCKING

04:29 AM...10...13...44...ISS holds attitude
04:32 AM...10...13...47...Range: 50 feet
04:34 AM...10...13...49...Range 75 feet
04:39 AM...10...13...54...Russian arrays resume sun track
04:44 AM...10...13...59...Sunrise
04:56 AM...10...14...11...Range: 400 feet; start fly around
05:06 AM...10...14...21...Range: 600 feet
05:08 AM...10...14...23...Shuttle directly above ISS
05:15 AM...10...14...30...Noon
05:19 AM...10...14...34...Shuttle directly behind ISS
05:31 AM...10...14...46...Shuttle directly below ISS
05:42 AM...10...14...57...Shuttle direcly in front of ISS
05:42 AM...10...14...57...Separation burn No. 1
05:45 AM...10...15...00...Sunset
06:10 AM...10...15...25...Separation burn No. 2
06:15 AM...10...15...30...Sunrise

"I look forward to some odd things," he added. "I look forward to putting food on a plate and eating several things at once, which you can't do up here. I'm looking forward to spitting my toothpaste out in a sink rather than swallowing it. And of course, the most (significant) thing I'm looking forward to is seeing my (two) girls and my wife."

05:15 AM, 2/17/08, Update: Astronauts wrap up joint operations; farewell ceremony on tap

The Atlantis astronauts and their space station counterparts are wrapping up a final day of joint activity today, hustling to finish supply transfers and activate critical science payloads in the new Columbus lab module before closing hatches between the two spacecraft in preparation for undocking Monday.

A brief farewell ceremony is planned for 12:15 p.m. when station commander Peggy Whitson, cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts will say goodbye to shuttle commander Steve Frick, pilot Alan Poindexter, Leland Melvin, Stan Love, Rex Walheim, Hans Schlegel and outgoing station astronaut Dan Tani.

Tani, launched to the lab complex last October aboard the shuttle Discovery, originally planned to return to Earth in December, but his ride home - Atlantis - was grounded by fuel sensor problems and his stay aloft was extended for two months. As a result, he missed the holidays with his family and was off the planet when his 90-year-old mother was killed in a car wreck Dec. 19.

During today's daily planning conference, flight controllers jokingly observed that Tani would be on the shuttle side of the hatches at the end of the day and reminded him he would still be able to chat with his station crewmates over an audio loop that ties the shuttle, station and flight controllers together.

"Finally for Dan, we know this is your last DPC on board. Kind of brings a tear to your eye," said astronaut Hal Getzelman in space station control. "You'll be on the other side of the hatch here for the evening DPC, but we'll always have the big loop to talk if you just, you know, want to say something."

"Thanks, Hal, and I guess I'll be saying this a lot today, thanks for everybody for making such an exciting and useful couple of months here," Tani said. "I really appreciate the support and the friendship and I can't wait to get back and see everybody. We'll talk to you on the big loop."

"Yeah, that's great, Dan, and no pressure, you don't have to try to outdo the Husker here in the farewell comments and Peggy might have the Kleenex hanging by there for the hatch closure."

Getzelman was referring to the astronaut Tani replaced last year, Nebraska native Clay Anderson, and a tearful farewell ceremony dubbed a "blubberfest" by The New York Times.

Here is a timeline of today's activities (in EST and mission elapsed time; includes rev. K of the NASA TV schedule):

EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

02/17/08
01:45 AM...09...11...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
03:40 AM...09...12...55...ISS daily planning conference
03:45 AM...09...13...00...Flight director update on NASA TV
03:55 AM...09...13...10...Columbus module outfitting continues
05:05 AM...09...14...20...Logistics transfers
06:50 AM...09...16...05...Post-EVA transfers
08:50 AM...09...18...05...Crew meals begin
09:50 AM...09...19...05...Rendezvous tools checkout
09:50 AM...09...19...05...Logistics transfers
10:00 AM...09...19...15...Columbus module 3D photography
11:30 AM...09...20...45...Oxygen system teardown
12:15 PM...09...21...30...Farewell ceremony
12:30 PM...09...21...45...Hatches closed
01:00 PM...09...22...15...Leak checks
01:00 PM...09...22...15...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
01:15 PM...09...22...30...Centerline camera setup
04:15 PM...10...01...30...ISS crew sleep begins
04:45 PM...10...02...00...STS crew sleep begins
05:00 PM...10...02...15...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV

"We've got a little bit more of that for them to do today," he said. "Specifically, they're going to be setting up the Fluid Science Laboratory and Biolab, continuing to check out the scientific equipment so that we can begin science operations right after undock."

Spencer said the astronauts were virtually done transferring supplies and equipment to and from the station.

"It was 32,000 pounds, of which 27,000 pounds was the Columbus module and then we've got the external payloads that went on it, 2,000 pounds of (shuttle) middeck cargo, which was just resupply of food, clothes, things like that, and of course, a crew member," he said. "There was also 2,000 pounds of cargo transferred from the station to the shuttle on this mission."

With pilot Alan Poindexter at the controls, Atlantis is scheduled to undock at 4:26 a.m. Monday. A photo-documentation flyaround is planned, along with a final inspection of the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edge panels to make sure they have not suffered any damage since a post-launch inspection.

Weather permitting, Atlantis is scheduled to glide back to Florida early Wednesday, landing at the Kennedy Space Center around 9:06 a.m. to close out an extended 13-day mission.

10:00 AM, 2/16/08, Update: Station, shuttle commanders say satellite shoot-down no threat

The commanders of the shuttle Atlantis and the international space station said today they have no safety concerns about an upcoming attempt to destroy a falling spy satellite. The dramatic shoot-down will be attempted after Atlantis returns to Earth Wednesday and to give the Pentagon as much time as possible, NASA will staff a backup landing site in California in case of problems that might prevent a Florida touchdown.

"We don't have any concerns," shuttle commander Steve Frick told reporters today. "It's obvious to us the DOD and NASA have worked closely together to make sure there are no problems with the plan that they're going to do to make sure the satellite is not a risk to anyone on the ground. We're going to be safely on the ground before they take any action and the satellite is going to be well below the space station, so we don't expect any problems."

The permanently manned space station's orbit was raised an average of one mile today by a 36-minute firing of the shuttle's maneuvering thrusters. The reboost maneuver, one of two needed to set up the proper rendezvous and docking conditions for upcoming visits by the shuttle Endeavour, a European supply ship and a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, left the station in an orbit measuring 215.5 by 203.2 statute miles.

A U.S. Navy cruiser will fire a missile at the falling spy satellite, known as NROL-21, when it reaches an altitude of around 160 miles. A successful strike could blast a few pieces of debris into orbits with high points, or apogees, above the station. But experts say any such debris will rapidly fall back into the atmosphere and that the additional risk to the station is minimal.

"NASA and the DOD loves the station crew as much as they love (the shuttle)," commander Peggy Whitson joked, laughing with her crewmates. "So no, we're not worried about it, either."

Frick said the crews heard about the Pentagon plan "through the normal operational channels," adding the astronauts were informed "in plenty of time and NASA made sure our families found out within that first day of when we found out."

Frick and his crewmates - pilot Alan Poindexter, flight engineer Rex Walheim, Leland Melvin, Stan Love and European Space Agency astronaut Hans Schlegel - will be joined by outgoing space station astronaut Dan Tani for the trip back to Earth. Tani was replaced aboard the station by European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who will remain aboard the lab complex with Whitson and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko when Atlantis undocks early Monday.

Tani, launched to the station aboard the shuttle Discovery last October, originally planned to come home in December. But his ride home, Atlantis, was grounded by fuel sensor problems and his stay in space was extended two months. Along with missing the holidays with his family, Tani was in orbit when his mother was killed in a Dec. 19 car accident.

Tani said today he is preparing notes that might help future long-duration space fliers cope with personal tragedies, as well as nuts-and-bolts advice about living and working in space, tips on "what I think people on the space station might think about if they have a family tragedy similar to what I had, more administrative kind of stuff, things I think will help them communicate with their family more."

"So I am sort of developing some advice that I will leave up here," he said. "But it's mainly how to maximize communications with the ground and that kind of thing. ... And certainly, I'll talk to our office about it when I get home."

On a lighter note, Tani said he's had a great time in space and that he will leave the station with mixed emotions.

"I love living here on the station, it's comfortable, it's fun, it's exciting, the view, of course," he said. "So it's going to be tough leaving here, but obviously, I want to get back to see my family.

"I look forward to some odd things," he added. "I look forward to putting food on a plate and eating several things at once, which you can't do up here. I'm looking forward to spitting my toothpaste out in a sink rather than swallowing it. And of course, the most (significant) thing I'm looking forward to is seeing my (two) girls and my wife."

06:15 AM, 2/16/08, Update: Station reboost, crew news conference on tap

The Atlantis astronauts and their space station crewmates are working through an extension day in orbit today, concentrating on work to activate the European Columbus science laboratory. Atlantis commander Steve Frick plans to oversee a reboost operation this morning, firing Atlantis' rocket thrusters to increase the station's altitude, and the combined crews will hold a joint news conference at 8:40 a.m. to discuss the progress of the flight.

"As you can expect, anytime you move to a new location or, in this case, the new location is added to your existing home, you've got a lot of unpacking to do," said space station Flight Director Ron Spencer. "In this case, a lot of that is science equipment (in the Columbus module). So the crew is still setting up the science equipment and checking out the instruments, making sure the computers can command to the instruments and that they function properly in anticipation of firing these up for science activities as soon as the shuttle leaves.

Atlantis' mission was extended two days, once to replan a spacewalk and then to give the crew additional time to commission Columbus. Today is the second extension day and the crew will spend part of its day setting up science racks in the new lab module.

"These activities were scheduled for next week after the shuttle had left, so we're getting significantly ahead in the timeline," Spencer said. "They should be able to start doing science operations a lot earlier than we'd originally planned inside the Columbus module. So even though we added two extra days to the mission, we're really getting a lot more ... because of the fast pace of the crew's work."

In addition to the Columbus outfitting, the shuttle crew plans to fire Atlantis' rocket thrusters for 36 minutes starting just before 7:20 a.m. to boost the station's altitude.

"We're also going to transfer some of the extra oxygen from the space shuttle to the space station to help fill up our tanks so that we can support additional spacewalks after the shuttle leaves," Spencer said.

Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EST and mission elapsed time; includes revision J of the NASA television schedule):

EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

02/16/08
02:45 AM...08...12...00...Crew wakeup
04:45 AM...08...14...00...ISS daily planning conference
05:00 AM...08...14...15...Columbus outfitting continues
05:15 AM...08...14...30...Flight director update on NASA TV
05:55 AM...08...15...10...Spacewalk tools deconfigured
07:16 AM...08...16...31...Reboost operations
08:40 AM...08...17...55...Crew news conference
09:20 AM...08...18...35...Joint crew photo
09:40 AM...08...18...55...Logistics transfers
09:40 AM...08...18...55...Post-spacewalk transfers
10:00 AM...08...19...15...Crew conference replay with translation
10:50 AM...08...20...05...Joint crew meal
11:50 AM...08...21...05...Logistics transfers
11:50 AM...08...21...05...Crew off-duty time begins
01:00 PM...08...22...15...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
05:15 PM...09...02...30...ISS crew sleep begins
05:45 PM...09...03...00...STS crew sleep begins
06:00 PM...09...03...15...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV

"It may seem like everything's weightless up there in space and it'll stay up there forever, but really there's still (atmospheric) drag going on and over many months, the space station's orbit ends up getting lower and lower," Spencer said. "And so we have to reboost it occasionally to keep it in orbit.

"So a lot of the shuttle missions, we'll take advantage of their extra gas before they leave to do that and then when the shuttle's not there, we'll use the Russian propellant to do that. But we like to save as much of that as possible, so we make use of the shuttle's extra resources. That's what we're doing today."

Atmospheric drag is responsible for the slow decay of the orbit of a crippled U.S. spy satellite that is plunging back to Earth. The U.S. Navy is finalizing plans to fire a missile at the satellite in an attempt to break it up and disperse its load of toxic hydrazine rocket fuel to prevent any possible ground contamination.

The dramatic shoot-down will not be attempted until after Atlantis lands. The shuttle is scheduled to return to Florida on Wednesday and NASA officials announced Friday that the agency also will staff its backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to "ensure we land at the earliest opportunity. The reason is to give the military the biggest possible window and maximum flexibility to ensure the success of the satellite intercept."

7:30 PM, 2/15/08, Update: NASA will activate Florida, California landing sites to ensure shuttle return before satellite shoot down

The shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to land Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida but NASA officials said today they will staff the agency's backup landing site in California to get the shuttle down as soon as possible and "give the military the biggest possible window" for destroying a falling satellite.

Pentagon planners are fine tuning plans to fire a missile from a Navy cruiser in the Pacific Ocean in a bid to break up the crippled NROL-21 satellite, which malfunctioned shortly after launch in December 2006. The out-of-control satellite has been slowly descending ever since and barring intervention, it is expected to plunge back into the thick lower atmosphere early next month.

Because the satellite failed so soon after launch, it is carrying a virtually full load of now-frozen hydrazine rocket fuel, a good portion of which could be expected to reach the ground after a normal atmospheric breakup. The Pentagon announced plans Thursday to fire a missile at the spacecraft in an attempt to break it apart and disperse the toxic fuel before it can pose a threat.

Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday the unprecedented intercept would not be attempted until after Atlantis returns to Earth on Wednesday to minimize the risk of debris that might pose a threat to the orbiter.

Normally, NASA would not staff its backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for the shuttle's first landing attempt. If the weather or some other problem prevented a Florida landing, the crew would simply remain in orbit another 24 hours and try again the next day. In that case, Edwards would be an option.

But space station Flight Director Sally Davis today read a prepared statement during an afternoon briefing saying Edwards will be staffed for the first landing attempt Wednesday.

"The shuttle is scheduled to land on Feb. 20," she said. "We're going to open up Dryden (Flight Research Center) at Edwards Air Force Base to ensure we land at the earliest opportunity. The reason is to give the military the biggest possible window and maximum flexibility to ensure the success of the satellite intercept."

It typically costs nearly $2 million to service a shuttle at Edwards and ferry it back to the Kennedy Space Center atop a 747 jumbo jet. It also adds a week or more to the time necessary to prepare a shuttle for its next flight.

But NASA managers are hopeful it won't come to that. The preliminary long-range forecast for Wednesday calls for acceptable conditions in Florida and the crew will have two shots at Kennedy on successive orbits before any diversion to Edwards. NASA's second alternate landing site near White Sands, N.M., will not be staffed.

Atlantis, currently docked to the international space station, is in a roughly circular orbit at an altitude of about 210 miles. Pentagon planners want to hit the falling satellite at an altitude of about 160 miles. Depending on the timing of the shot and the relative positions of the spacecraft, the shuttle could interfere with those plans or be exposed to potentially dangerous debris if the ship was still in orbit.

A landing Wednesday would take the shuttle out of the equation and give military planners a longer window to deal with the errant satellite.

The space station, NASA officials say, is not in any danger. While a successful strike would create a cloud of debris, including some that might reach or exceed the station's altitude, most of it would quickly re-enter and burn up.

"We've analyzed it and it has negligible additional risk to the space station," said Kirk Shireman, deputy space station program manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "So we're not concerned at all about any risk to the space station and at this point in time have no plans to do any operations in conjunction with that activity."

4:00 PM, 2/15/08, Update: Spacewalk ends; all major objectives accomplished

Astronauts Rex Walheim and Stan Love completed a seven-hour 25-minute spacewalk today, installing two experiment packages on the space station's new Columbus research module and moving a faulty gyroscope back to the shuttle Atlantis for return to Earth.

With the primary objectives of the excursion successfully accomplished, the astronauts took a moment to carry out a "roughness test" on an astronaut handrail that runs around the Quest airlock's main hatch. Love reported during a spacewalk Monday that he had noticed a small crater, possibly due to impact with space debris, in the handrail.

Over the past several months, flight controllers have been concerned about small tears in the gloves used by spacewalkers, apparently caused by rubbing across a rough surface somewhere on the station. As a precaution, all spacewalking astronauts now pause periodically to inspect their gloves and wear bulky overgloves, when possible, as an additional precaution.

To find out if "Love crater" might be responsible for at least some of the previous glove damage, Walheim and Love rubbed an improvised tool across the damage site featuring a spare suit glove wrapped around a socket wrench.

Veteran spacewalker Jerry Ross, in mission control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, told Walheim to "draw it across the crater site to see if you're getting any significant snaring or tearing ... as you do it."

"I can feel a little bit of rough," Walheim reported. "It's not really grabbing or anything. It is rough. ... I can feel a little bit of snagging as it moves across, I think. Everything else is smooth until you get there."

But he said he could not see any noticeable damage to the glove material on the tool. He then pressed on the crater with his index finger, while wearing an overglove, but reported, "nothing, Jerry."

"OK, copy, you didn't see or necessarily feel much of anything?"

"No."

He then tried a variety of other techniques, rubbing various parts of the glove across the damage site but was unable to generate any noticeable damage.

By the time they had finished the glove tests, the astronauts were well beyond the planned six-and-a-half-hour duration planned for today's spacewalk. They opted not to press ahead with a "get-ahead" inspection of the station's right side solar array rotary joint, a decision flight controllers seconded.

While the astronauts were mostly business as they worked through their busy flight plan, they paused a few times to marvel at the view.

"Now there's San Francisco, Oh!" Walheim exclaimed as the shuttle-station complex passed 210 miles above the California coast. "San Francisco, Monterey, all the way down to LA, up the state. I finally get to see San Francisco from EVA (a spacewalk). ... Wow, what a way to come over the West Coast. Oh my goodness!"

"Wow," Love said.

"Isn't that amazing?" Walheim exclaimed. "See the bridges? Berkeley? I can see San Carlos where I grew up. Absolutely amazing!"

8:30 AM, 2/15/08, Update: Spacewalk begins

Astronauts Rex Walheim and Stan Love switched their spacesuits to battery power at 08:07 a.m. to officially kick off a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk. The first item on the agenda today is to move a sun-monitoring instrument from the shuttle Atlantis' cargo bay to a mounting fixture on the hull of the new Columbus research module. Once the SOLAR instrument is in place, Walheim and Love will move a failed space station gyroscope back to the shuttle for return to Earth and then haul another science package, known by the acronym EuTEF, to Columbus.

Here is an updated timeline for today's spacewalk based on the actual start time (in EST and event elapsed time):

EST........HH...MM...EVENT

08:07 AM...00...00...EVA-3: Spacesuits to battery power
08:12 AM...00...05...EVA-3: Airlock egress
08:22 AM...00...15...EVA-3: SOLAR transfer from shuttle to Columbus
11:02 AM...02...55...EVA-3: Gyro transfer to shuttle
12:17 PM...04...10...EVA-3: EuTEF transfer from shuttle to Columbus
01:52 PM...05...45...EVA-3: Cleanup and ingress
02:32 PM...06...25...EVA-3: Airlock repressurization

05:30 AM, 2/15/08, Update: Astronauts suit up for final spacewalk

Astronauts Rex Walheim and Stan Love are gearing up for a third and final spacewalk today, a planned six-and-a-half-hour excursion to mount a pair of science packages on the hull of the new Columbus research module and to move a faulty space station gyroscope to the shuttle Atlantis for return to Earth.

The spacewalk, the 104th devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, is scheduled to start around 8:40 a.m. when Walheim and Love, floating in the Quest airlock module, switch their spacesuits to battery power.

"The three main goals are to bring the two exposed payloads that the Europeans want on the outside of Columbus and attach them to Columbus," Walheim said in a NASA interview. "Also, we're going to bring back a control moment gyro, or a CMG, that had failed earlier in the space station program. (An earlier crew) replaced it, so there's a new one that's working, but we have to take the failed one back home.

"Stan's going to have quite the (robot) arm rides around taking these payloads back and forth, and I'm going to assist him."

If time is available at the end of the spacewalk, the astronauts plan to rub an improvised tool featuring a spacesuit glove wrapped around a socket wrench across a small impact crater seen earlier on an airlock handrail. The goal is to find out if rough edges around the tiny crater could be responsible for glove damage noted during recent spacewalks.

One other possible "get-ahead" task involves a quick inspection of the station's right side solar alpha rotary joint, or SARJ, one of two that rotate outboard solar arrays to track the sun. The starboard SARJ has been shut down since late last year because of excessive vibration and internal contamination. If time is available today, Love and Walheim will inspect and photograph an area of the 10-foot-wide bearing race ring where engineers have spotted what appears to be a small defect.

It's not clear whether the defect might be a tiny crater or the result of some sort of debris resting on the surface of the race ring.

Here is a timeline of today's activity (in EST and mission elapsed time; includes revision I of the NASA television schedule):

EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

02/15/08
03:45 AM...07...13...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
04:20 AM...07...13...35...EVA-3: Airlock repress to 14.7 psi
05:15 AM...07...14...30...Flight director update on NASA TV
05:30 AM...07...14...45...EVA-3: Airlock campout preps
05:35 AM...07...14...50...Space station daily planning conference
06:00 AM...07...15...15...Columbus module activation continues
07:00 AM...07...16...15...EVA-3: Spacesuit purge
07:15 AM...07...16...30...EVA-3: Spacesuit oxygen pre-breathe
08:05 AM...07...17...20...EVA-3: Airlock depressurization
08:35 AM...07...17...50...EVA-3: Spacesuits to battery power (spacewalk begins)
08:40 AM...07...17...55...EVA-3: Airlock egress
08:55 AM...07...18...10...EVA-3: SOLAR transfer from shuttle to Columbus
11:10 AM...07...20...25...Crew meals begin
11:35 AM...07...20...50...EVA-3: Gyroscope transfer to shuttle
12:50 PM...07...22...05...EVA-3: EUTEF transfer from shuttle to Columbus
02:25 PM...07...23...40...EVA-3: Cleanup and ingress
03:05 PM...08...00...20...EVA-3: Airlock repressurization
03:15 PM...08...00...30...Spacesuit servicing
04:30 PM...08...01...45...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
06:15 PM...08...03...30...Station crew sleep begins
06:45 PM...08...04...00...Shuttle crew sleep begins
07:00 PM...08...04...15...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV

"First will be SOLAR, which is a solar telescope that mounts on the outside of Columbus. It's like a little satellite ... but it gets its attitude control, its power and its data feed all through the space station, so it's a little satellite that mounts on the outside of space station. We will pick it up from the payload bay, there's one bolt that holds it in place, then riding the arm I will carry it up to Columbus. Once it's bolted in place - and driving that bolt connects all its power and data connections all at the same time - we'll back away."

The SOLAR instrument package will be mounted on the upper of two attachment platforms on the outboard bulkhead of the Columbus module. At that point, the station arm will move Love to an external storage platform near the Quest airlock so he and Walheim can move the faulty gyroscope back to Atlantis for return to Earth.

"The space station holds its attitude in space using big, heavy gyroscopes and over the history of station we've had two of these fail," Love said. "The STS-118 crew removed the CMG-3, the CMG of interest here, and put it on a platform for us; we're bringing it home. So we'll go over by the airlock, grab that CMG, unbolt it, the arm will swing me over to the shuttle payload bay and we'll plunk it down in the exact same slot that we pulled SOLAR out of because it's the same structural interface there."

The space station uses four 500-pound control moment gyros to change its orientation in space without having to fire rocket thrusters. The devices are critical to space station operations and NASA wants to get the failed unit back to Earth so engineers can figure out what went wrong.

"Stan will come underneath that stowage platform and we'll remove some of the insulation that's around it so he can grab onto some handrails. Then I'll do the bolt and release it and then he can take it off back to the payload bay. When he gets a ride to the payload bay, I'll go scurry down there, free-floating as we call it - basically just walk with my hands - and get down there and help him put it back on the space shuttleÕs carrier so that we can bring it home."

With the CMG safely bolted down in the shuttle's cargo bay, "we'll move over to EuTEF (the European Technology Exposure Facility), which is an external exposure facility, basically, looking at how materials respond to being exposed to space for a long period of time; another little satellite that mounts on the outside of Columbus," Love said. "I'll pick it up, we'll unbolt it, we'll drag it up, riding the arm, up to Columbus and stick it on another External Payload Facility, bolt it in place, and then our EVA is done."

The EuTEF package will be mounted on Columbus' lower external attachment bracket.

"We have some cleanup work - we have to move the toe clip off the arm, we're not allowed to leave it there; we have some safety tethers that we had strung on previous EVAs, we have to clean all that up since it's the last EVA of the flight. If there's any extra time we may do extra tasks."

6:20 AM, 2/14/08, Update: 'Love Crater,' starboard SARJ inspections added to Friday spacewalk (UPDATED at 7 a.m. with SARJ problem resolution)

The Atlantis astronauts are working through a relatively light day today, continuing work to outfit and activate the European Columbus research module before enjoying a few hours of off-duty time. Early today, European flight controllers told the crew they had successfully completed initial activation with the module's computer systems. Later this morning, the astronauts will get a call from German Chancellor Angela Merkel at 9:55 a.m. and field questions from reporters at 11:15 a.m.

Flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston told space station commander Peggy Whitson early today that the station's left-side solar alpha rotary joint, or SARJ, had unexpectedly shut down. The station is equipped with two SARJ joints to turn outboard solar arrays to keep them face on to the sun. For the past few months, engineers have been troubleshooting a mysterious problem in the right-side SARJ that has higher-than-normal vibration and internal metallic contamination.

The port SARJ has been working normally and today's shutdown was related to computer commanding to lock the port-side solar arrays in place before a space shuttle water dump. By 7 a.m., the problem had been resolved and the arrays were properly positioned.

Atlantis astronauts Rex Walheim and Stan Love plan to carry out a third and final spacewalk Friday to install two science packages on the outboard hull of the Columbus module. They also plan to move a faulty space station gyroscope back to Atlantis for return to Earth and pre-position tools needed by the next shuttle assembly crew.

Flight controllers have now added two additional "get-ahead" tasks to the spacewalk if time is available: An additional inspection of the starboard SARJ and a test to find out if damage seen on a handrail Monday by Love - and now dubbed "Love Crater" - might be responsible for recently observed damage to spacesuit gloves.

For the SARJ inspection, the astronauts will photograph a specific point on the 10-foot-wide bearing race ring where engineers studying previous photographs have spotted what might be a small impact crater or defect. The astronauts will photograph the site from different angles to help engineers assemble a three-dimensional image.

"What we've seen in some of the pictures is another damage point we want a closer look at," said Flight Director Ron Spencer. "So if we get time, we'll have the crew go out there and remove one of the covers in a specific area and take some more pictures of this one particular area of potential damage."

In photographs uplinked to the crew as part of the daily "execute package" of flight plan revisions, notes and instructions, the damage site appears as a small light-colored dot on one side of the race ring. It is not clear whether the point of interest is a defect in the metal of the race ring or some sort of contamination resting on the surface.

For the handrail inspection, the astronauts will use a spare spacesuit overglove wrapped around a wrench handle and rub it over the damage site to see if it causes the sort of tears in a protective covering that has been noted in recent spacewalks. The handrail circles the outer hatch of the Quest airlock module and as such is frequently handled by astronauts.

"On EVA-1 when they were coming in at the end of their EVA, they noticed a possible micrometeoroid damage on one of the handrails that is the primary translation path out of the airlock," Spencer said. "So today, we're going to have the crew build this little tool, which is the use of an EVA overglove and a socket. The crew's going to go out there and rub this against that handrail and see if it causes any damage on the glove, to see if this is the cause of some of the glove problems we've been having lately."

Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EST and mission elapsed time; includes revision F of the NASA television schedule):

EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

02/14/08
03:45 AM...06...13...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
05:15 AM...06...14...30...Flight director's update on NASA TV
05:25 AM...06...14...40...ISS daily planning conference
05:50 AM...06...15...05...Columbus module outfitting/activation
07:10 AM...06...16...25...Logistics transfers
08:25 AM...06...17...40...Spacesuit swap
09:15 AM...06...18...30...Equipment lock preps
09:55 AM...06...19...10...ESA PAO event with German chancellor
10:00 AM...06...19...15...Crew meals begin
11:00 AM...06...20...15...Shuttle crew off duty (staggered)
11:15 AM...06...20...30...PAO event (NBC News, WOI-TV, WBBM)
02:30 PM...06...23...45...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
03:45 PM...07...01...00...EVA-3: Procedures review
06:00 PM...07...03...15...EVA-3: Mask pre-breathe for campout
06:55 PM...07...04...10...EVA-3: Campout begins (10.2 psi depress)
07:15 PM...07...04...30...ISS crew sleep begins
07:45 PM...07...05...00...STS crew sleep begins
08:00 PM...07...05...15...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV

04:45 PM, 2/13/08, Update: Spacewalk ends; mission extended one day (UPDATED at 6:30 p.m. with resolution of computer glitch; landing time update)

Astronauts Rex Walheim and Hans Schlegel staged a successful six-hour 45-minute spacewalk today, replacing a nitrogen tank needed to maintain pressure in the space station's ammonia cooling system. Mission managers, meanwhile, officially gave the shuttle Atlantis' heat shield a clean bill of health and decided to extend the mission one more day to give the crew additional time to activate the new Columbus research module. The extra day will be inserted Saturday with landing now targeted for around 9:06 a.m. on Feb. 20.

"Steve, a number of things to tell you here, all good news," astronaut Steve Robinson radioed shuttle commander Steve Frick from mission control in Houston. "Based on the inspection we've had so far, and all the other types of imagery, Atlantis' thermal protection system is currently cleared for entry. The programs came together and decided to add an additional one-day extension to your mission. ... You do have sufficient (carbon dioxide-absorbing lithium hydroxide) aboard the ship. We'll have to be checking on food, we're having our folks check on what was stowed, but we're going to need your input on that. We are looking forward to an O2 (oxygen) transfer (to the station), probably on flight day nine."

"Thanks very much for the big picture," Frick replied. "Great news, certainly we look forward to another day on the space station and happy to do whatever works best for the station and the station crew to put them in a good position when we leave. ... That's great news, we appreciate the heads up and also the good news that our TPS (thermal protection system) has been cleared for entry."

"That's exactly the intent of staying up an extra day, is getting Columbus that good head start with a trained crew," Robinson said.

The new Columbus module was attached to the space station Monday and within hours, European Space Agency engineers began working through a complex activation process. But they quickly ran into problems uplinking commands through the station's U.S. command and control system and into the computers inside Columbus. Late today, U.S. and European flight controllers decided the problem likely involved "stale commands" in a queue used by the station's primary U.S. computer system.

To flush out the queue, controllers shifted the active U.S. computer system into standby mode and designated a backup system as primary. Just before 6 p.m., engineers reported success, saying they finally were able to command the European computer systems. The Columbus activation process, which had been on hold, resumed but engineers decided to suspend the work overnight while the astronauts slept in case of any additional problems that might disturb their sleep or require their attention.

During today's spacewalk, Walheim and Schlegel successfully replaced a 550-pound nitrogen tank on the international space station's main solar power truss, installed four thermal covers on the keel pins used to secure the Columbus module in the shuttle's cargo bay for launch and worked to tie down micrometeoroid shields on the U.S. Destiny lab module. There were no problems of any significance and Schlegel, a German astronaut who became ill earlier in the mission and had to sit out a spacewalk Monday, appeared to have no problems today.

"It was great working with you today, you guys did an outstanding job," shuttle pilot Alan Poindexter, the spacewalk coordinator, radioed as Walheim and Schlegel returned to the station's airlock. "It really was a pleasure working with you."

"Awesome job, Dex, thanks for all the help," Walheim replied. "And thanks to the ground for all of our prepearion to get this done. It was really a great help in the execution."

This was the 103rd spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, the fourth for Walheim and the first for Schlegel. Total station EVA time now stands at 646 hours and 18 minutes with Walheim's cumulative total increasing to 28 hours and 58 minutes.

Walheim and astronaut Stan Love plan to stage a third and final spacewalk Friday to attach external instruments to the Columbus module and to move a faulty space station gyroscope back to Atlantis for return to Earth.

9:30 AM, 2/13/08, Update: Spacewalk begins

Astronauts Rex Walheim and Hans Schlegel switched their spacesuits to internal battery power at 9:27 a.m. to officially begin a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to replace a high-pressure nitrogen tank on the international space station's main solar power truss.

Here is a revised timeline for today's spacewalk based on the actual start time (in EST and event elapsed time):

EST........DD...HH...EVENT

09:27 AM...00...00...EVA-2: Spacesuits to battery power
09:32 AM...00...05...EVA-2: Airlock egress
09:32 AM...00...05...Station robot arm (SSRMS) ready to support
09:47 AM...00...20...EVA-2: New nitrogen tank removal from payload bay
11:37 AM...02...10...EVA-2: Nitrogen tank installation on P1 truss
01:42 PM...04...15...EVA-2: Old nitrogen tank stowed in payload bay
03:22 PM...05...55...EVA-2: Cleanup and airlock ingress
03:57 PM...06...30...EVA-2: Airlock repressurization

http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html

Readers interested in checking the space station's current location are encouraged to check out this interesting page:

http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/lab/googlesat/googlesat2.php

7:00 AM, 2/13/08, Update: Walheim, Schlegel suit up for spacewalk

Astronauts Rex Walheim and Hans Schlegel are suiting up for a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk today to swap out a 550-pound nitrogen tank used to push ammonia through the station's main cooling system during start up.

Walheim, anchored to the end of the space station's robot arm, will carry the new tank, about the size of a small refrigerator, from the shuttle Atlantis' cargo bay up to the left side of the station's main solar power truss. He and Schlegel will temporarily mount the tank on an attachment fitting, remove the old tank and "temp stow" it to one side. After installing the new tank and hooking up electrical cables and flex hoses, Walheim will carry the old unit back to the shuttle for return to Earth.

Today's spacewalk is the 103rd devoted to space station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998. It is the fourth EVA for Walheim and the first for Schlegel, a 56-year-old father of seven who became ill earlier in the mission. He had to sit out a spacewalk Monday to prepare the new Columbus module for installation but he said Tuesday he was ready to go for the second excursion.

"I feel really great right now," he said. "I'm, of course, a little bit anxious because (this) will be my first EVA."

Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EST and mission elapsed time; includes revision E of the NASA television schedule):

EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

02/13/08
04:45 AM...05...14...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
05:20 AM...05...14...35...EVA-2: Airlock repressurized for hygiene break
06:15 AM...05...15...30...Flight director's update on NASA TV
06:30 AM...05...15...45...EVA-2: Airlock depress to 10.2 psi
06:35 AM...05...15...50...ISS daily planning conference
06:55 AM...05...16...10...Columbus outfitting continues
08:00 AM...05...17...15...EVA-2: Spacesuit purge
08:15 AM...05...17...30...EVA-2: Spacesuit oxygen pre-breathe
08:25 AM...05...17...40...Columbus SSC activation
09:05 AM...05...18...20...EVA-2: Airlock depressurization to vacuum
09:35 AM...05...18...50...EVA-2: Spacesuits to battery power (begins spacewalk)
09:40 AM...05...18...55...EVA-2: Airlock egress
09:40 AM...05...18...55...Station robot arm (SSRMS) supports
09:55 AM...05...19...10...EVA-2: Nitrogen tank removal from payload bay
11:15 AM...05...20...30...Crew meals begin
11:45 AM...05...21...00...EVA-2: Nitrogen tank installation on P1 truss
01:50 PM...05...23...05...EVA-2: Old nitrogen tank stowed in payload bay
03:30 PM...06...00...45...EVA-2: Cleanup and airlock ingress
04:05 PM...06...01...20...EVA-2: Airlock repressurization
04:15 PM...06...01...30...Spacesuit servicing
05:30 PM...06...01...45...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
05:35 PM...06...02...50...EVA-3: Tool prep
07:15 PM...06...04...30...ISS crew sleep begins
07:45 PM...06...05...00...STS crew sleep begins
08:00 PM...06...05...15...Daily video highlights reel

"Today, the crew's going to be moving some of the racks from their launch locations to the permanent location in the module and continuing to move other equipment," said station Flight Director Ron Spencer. "On the ground commanding side, we're a little bit behind. We had a problem yesterday commanding to some of the computers inside the Columbus module and we're still trying to work through those problems and determine what the cause is and figure a solution. So right now, we're about two-and-a-half hours behind on the ground commanding side from what we expected to have finished yesterday. But the crew is way ahead."

Walheim and Schlegel spent the night inside the Quest airlock module at a reduced pressure of 10.2 pounds per square inch. The so-called "camp out" helps purge nitrogen from the bloodstream and prevent the bends after working in NASA's low-pressure spacesuits. If all goes well, the astronauts will switch their suits to battery power around 9:35 a.m. to officially begin today's spacewalk.

"It sounds so simple, just exchange a nitrogen tank," Schlegel said in a NASA interview. "(But) itÕs about a yard times a yard times one and a half yards, and the weight is roughly 500 pounds. ItÕs quite a heavy thing. You cannot just put it on your back and move and get it there. ... The installation includes mechanical connections, electrical connections and then nitrogen (lines), highly pressurized, and after that, you have to close thermal covers to keep it protected from thermal influences by the environment."

The nitrogen tank assembly, or NTA, is loaded with about 80 pounds of nitrogen pressurized to 2,500 pounds per square inch. After exiting the airlock, Walheim and Schlegel will make their way over to the shuttle's cargo bay. Leland Melvin and Stan Love, working at a robotics control station inside the Destiny laboratory module, will operate the station's robot arm.

"I will get the arm ready to ride and then jump in and basically clip my heels into the robot arm," Walheim said in a NASA interview. "Leland and Stan will have a chance to drive me around to my work site. My first work site is in the payload bay where I'll take the brand-new nitrogen tank and extract it from the payload bay ... and then we'll take it out to the P1 (port 1) truss where we're going to swap it out.

"We'll put it on a ballstack, which basically holds it in place, and then ... we'll pull out the empty nitrogen tank. I'll pull that out on the arm and then we'll temp-stow that one, also on a ballstack. So we'll have the two of them basically temporary stowed. Then I go back and grab the new one and put it into the truss and then we can start doing the electrical and nitrogen connections in the front and the back of that tank. Once I'm done with that, I take the empty nitrogen tank and we put it back in the shuttle payload bay so we can bring it back home and use it again."

Asked about the difficulty of manually carrying a 550-pound component, Walheim said "it's not too hard. I've found in space things are fairly stable when you hold on to them, especially if they're big, a large mass, you know, several hundred pounds, up to over a thousand pounds. They're fairly stable.

"If you want to get them moving, you just give them a little bit of force and they start moving, but then you've got to stop them, too," he said. "So the main thing is just to hold them loosely - a loose grip, don't over control them - and just hang on and be aware when you're starting and stopping on the arm."

If time is available today, the astronauts will place thermal covers over the keel pins that held the Columbus module in Atlantis' cargo bay during launch.

6:15 PM, 2/12/08, Update: Schlegel 'anxious' about spacewalk Wednesday; won't discuss illness but says he's good to go

German astronaut Hans Schlegel, a 56-year-old father of seven who was replaced on a spacewalk Monday because of an undisclosed medical problem, told CBS News today he's feeling fit and ready for a spacewalk Wednesday to service the space station's cooling system.

In an interview that was scheduled before launch, Schlegel, Atlantis commander Steve Frick and pilot Alan Poindexter said they were pleased with the progress of the mission and the successful installation of the European Columbus research module Monday, a day later than planned because of Schlegel's illness.

"It's been an interesting mission," Frick said from the shuttle's flight deck. "Every flight always seems to offer new challenges, it never goes quite the way you plan it. But I've been really happy and excited we were able to do a little replan and still get EVA-1 (spacewalk No. 1) off very successfully. The Columbus module is out that way about eight feet or so and the station crew and Hans have been busy all morning opening it up, activating it, getting it going."

Asked if Columbus had "that new car smell," Schlegel said it "definitely has it."

"It's just a huge volume that we have now," he said. "We couldn't be happier. But of course, you don't forget, we still have a lot of activation to go."

Because of medical privacy concerns, NASA managers provided no details earlier in the mission when Schlegel became ill. The mission's first spacewalk was delayed one day, from Sunday to Monday, and Schlegel was replaced by astronaut Stan Love. It was the first time a U.S. spacewalk had been delayed by a medical issue since the fifth shuttle mission in 1982.

Today's interview was the first chance reporters had to ask Schlegel about what happened. Frick, however, answered the first medical question, saying "every space flight is different and a lot of times crew members haveÊtemporary conditions that are an issue for a little while and they clear right up."

"We were just really happy we always have backups trained," he said. "You know, Alan Poindexter here is trained on all my tasks so if anything happens to me he can do everything I'm trained to do. And all the EVA crew members have trained to do everyone else's tasks. So it all worked out and we were able to get EVA-1 off and get all our major tasks done. Hans will be going out tomorrow on EVA-2 to get our next most important task done as we work through our mission."

Asked for a direct response about how he felt, Schlegel said: "I feel really great right now. I'm, of course, a little bit anxious because tomorrow will be my first EVA. I fully respect the decision (to put Love on the first spacewalk) to make the most success out of our mission so far. Nobody could have been happier than me when we finished EVA-1 with the major objectives all done. That's all I want to say because medical issues are private."

Asked how disappointed he was to miss a spacewalk after years of training, Schlegel said "that must be your point of view, but I've been training as a mission specialist since 10 years and I worked several missions as a CAPCOM (spacecraft communicator) and a lead CAPCOM. And the major thing is our big mission. And it's not NASA's mission, it's a mission of the international community and no matter who does the job, main thing is it has to be done and done in the right way and I think we, the two crew members outside and here inside and the ground teams, did an excellent job during EVA-1. And of course, personally, I don't, how do you say it, I don't deny it's a little bit bitter when that decision is the best decision, but that's only personal. The bigger scheme is what's important."

The shuttle-station astronauts spent the day opening up and activating Columbus. Alan Thirkettle, the space station program manager with the European Space Agency, said engineers encountered a few minor hiccups, including a computer that did not initially synchronize with a backup and a water pump in the cooling system that indicated possible problems. NASA flight controllers, meanwhile, ran into problems of their own getting the new module hooked into the station's primary cooling system.

But Thirkettle characterized the problems as typical of what could be expected when activating complex systems for the first time.

"We can echo the happiness everyone else has alluded to," Thirkettle said. "We are very pleased indeed to see crew finally inside the laboratory. They're doing the first thing that the crew does, which is to make a complete mess of what was a beautiful piece of clean hardware inside! But that's to get access to all the things that are going to be useful for the module."

Schlegel said Columbus represents "the beginning of manned space flight for Europe."

"We have all the sudden the opportunity to do experiments around the clock, throughout the year, we have a control center in Germany, a European control center close to Munich, which is operating around the clock to do many experiments and control the systems of Columbus," he said. "And even more, you know, we have also gained obligations. From now on, we have to participate in the costs and the operation of the international space station. And (next month), we'll launch (the first) ATV, the automated transfer vehicle, from a European Ariane 5 and that clearly marks that Europe is as engaged in human space flight as it has never been before. We are looking forward to it."

Schlegel and astronaut Rex Walheim are spending the night in the space station's Quest airlock module at a reduced pressure of 10.2 psi, part of a so-called camp-out procedure to help flush nitrogen from their bodies to prevent the bends after a spacewalk in NASA's low-pressure suits.

If all goes well, they will float outside around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday for a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to replace a nitrogen tank used to pressurize the station's ammonia coolant lines. Thirkettle told reporters today NASA and the European Space Agency were in agreement about the original decision to replace Schlegel with Love for the first spacewalk and the decision to let the German astronaut proceed with the second.

"As far as I know, everybody's looking forward to Hans doing this," he said. "There's not an ESA-NASA conflict over this, there never has been and I very much doubt there ever will be. Hans is looking forward to this. ... I think we're all in synch on this."

11:14 AM, 2/12/08, Update: European astronauts begin Columbus activation

Newly arrived French astronaut Leopold Eyharts and German shuttle flier Hans Schlegel opened hatches and partially entered the European Space Agency's Columbus research module today, marking the moment with a call to flight controllers in Houston, Moscow and now, Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, Germany.

"Houston, and Munich, Hans and I are both together here, ready to ingress the Columbus module," Eyharts radioed at 9:08 a.m. "We have a special thought at this moment for all the people in Europe and the U.S. who have contributed to the make up of Columbus. Especially to the space agencies, of course, the industry, but also all the citizens who are supporting space flight. This is a great moment and Hans and I are very proud to be here and to ingress for the first time the Columbus module."

Schlegel, looking comfortable and in good spirits after being ill earlier in the mission, added: "We are very proud. I think it starts a new era now, the volume of the European scientific module, Columbus, and the ISS are connected for many, many years of research in space in cooperation, internationally. It's a great moment for us."

After congratulations from mission control in Houston, the German control center came on the line to say "thanks a lot, Leo and Hans, for these very kind words. That's the great news we've been waiting for. Let me also take this chance to thank you all, ISS and shuttle crew members, and congratulate you for the fantastic job you did yesterday for the Columbus installation. So now bon chance and good luck to you."

The astronauts are busy today hooking up power lines, data cables and coolant loops to carefully bring the new science lab to life. The astronauts won't fully enter the module for normal work until this afternoon, after allowing time for fans and filters to clean the air in the lab.

While the activation work was proceeding, mission control in Houston told shuttle commander Steve Frick engineers had completed an analysis of a slightly pulled up insulation blanket on the ship's aft right orbital maneuvering system rocket pod.

"It's good news on the right OMS pod blanket," astronaut Keven Ford radioed from the control center. "They did the analysis that clearly shows there's no safety-of-flight issue. That's based on a very conservative modeling of that anomaly. So the right OMS area has been officially cleared for entry."

"OK, that's great news, Kevin," Frick replied. "Thanks a lot to the inspection folks and the analysis folks that did the thermal on that and cleared it for us. It's a relief knowing we don't have to go back there and mess with it."

"We agree, Steve. We've got plenty on our plate."

6:45 PM, 2/11/08, Update: Astronauts gear up for Columbus ingress, outfitting

Wearing a protective mask and safety goggles, European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts plans to enter the new Columbus science lab today, kicking off a busy month of activation and commissioning for the space station's newest module.

"There is a sight that everybody in Europe has been looking forward to for a very, very long time: Columbus now attached to the (station), ESA Program Manager Alan Thirkettle said Monday after the lab was successfully installed. "February the 11th was another great day for the European Space Agency, a great day for our European industry and a great day for Europe in general.

"The mechanical guys have done their bit," he said. Today, "we get the electricians and the plumbers in to hook it up ... and go through activation and go through ingress into the module. Leo will get himself nicely dressed up in his goggles and his mask and everything, but he'll go inside and see that the inside looks just as good as the outside of this thing.

"So now we have four of the international partners with their elements on the station," Thirkettle said. "It's really becoming the 'international' space station and we're very, very much looking forward to having the fifth partner (Japan) join us next month. ... It's really a nice partnership."

The bus-size Columbus module was attached to the right-side hatch of the forward Harmony connecting module (also known as Node 2). The station's robot arm remained attached to the new module overnight, providing power to internal heaters until the astronauts can plug in normal station power, along with data lines and ammonia coolant loops, later today.

The flight plan called for Eyharts to make a so-called partial ingress into the module around 8:50 a.m., although that could move earlier. The crew will officially enter the module to begin its outfitting around 2:55 p.m.

"Today's the big day where we're going to activate the Columbus module," station Flight Director Ron Spencer said early today. "Right now, it's just structurally attached to station. The crew actually started part of this last night before they went to bed. There's a small pressurized volume in between the Columbus hatch and the Node 2 hatch and so they did a leak check of that to make sure that area can hold pressure before they enter that area this morning.

"This morning what they're going to be doing is, first they're going to start by hooking up power jumpers, fluid lines, data lines to allow Columbus to receive power and other resources from space station," Spencer said. "Once that's done, they'll open up the hatch and go inside. ... The ground, once they get these power jumpers hooked up and the data lines and fluid lines to allow it to talk to station, the ground teams are going to start turning on systems inside Columbus, turning on the power boxes, computers, life support systems, et cetera. So it's a busy day for the station crew to get that going."

Station commander Peggy Whitson and Atlantis astronaut Hans Schlegel, a European Space Agency specialist in Columbus systems, will oversee connection of power, data and coolant lines.

"As soon as Peggy and Hans get the jumpers hooked up to allow Columbus to receive ground commands, then it's the Columbus flight controllers (near Munich, Germany) who are actually going to be turning on the systems and they'll have control of it from that moment," Spencer said.

Here is an updated timeline of today's activities (in EST and mission elapsed time; includes revision E of the NASA television schedule):

EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

02/12/08
04:45 AM...04...14...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup
06:15 AM...04...15...30...Flight director update on NASA TV
06:35 AM...04...15...50...ISS daily planning conference
07:45 AM...04...17...00...Logistics transfers
07:55 AM...04...17...10...Station robot arm (SSRMS) ungrapples Columbus module
08:45 AM...04...18...00...Power jumper installed
08:53 AM...04...18...05...PAO event (Frick, Melvin, Walheim, Love)
08:50 AM...04...18...05...Partial ingress into Columbus module
09:15 AM...04...18...30...Shuttle KU-band antenna redeploy
11:05 AM...04...20...20...Cooling system jumper installed
11:30 AM...04...20...45...Crew meals begin
01:00 PM...04...22...15...EVA-2: Airlock preps
01:45 PM...04...23...00...EVA-2: Tools prepped
02:55 PM...05...00...10...Columbus module ingress
03:30 PM...05...00...45...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
04:35 PM...05...01...50...PAO event (Frick, Poindexter, Schlegel)
04:55 PM...05...02...10...EVA-2: Procedures review
07:00 PM...05...04...15...EVA-2: Mask pre-breathe for campout
07:55 PM...05...05...10...EVA-2: Campout begins (10.2 psi depress)
08:15 PM...05...05...30...ISS crew sleep begins
08:45 PM...05...06...00...STS crew sleep begins
09:00 PM...05...06...15...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV

"You build it in a clean environment and you take great steps to keep from generating foreign object debris," said Kirk Shireman, deputy space station program manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "It can be something as simple as metal shavings when you're drilling a hole into a bracket. So we go through great efforts to keep that stuff as clean as we can. ... But when you build in a one-(gravity) environment, you can have FOD that falls down behind (something) and is not visible to you. When you get in zero G, it all floats up and floats around.

"And so we have the crew wear protective goggles and masks until we have a certain amount of air recycling," he said. "When we turn the fans on and recycle that air, all that debrisÊthat's floating around will make its way to filters in front of the fans. There's a certain number of times we turn over the atmosphere in the module and after that, the requirements to wear goggles and masks is relieved."

Once inside the new module, Eyharts and his crewmates will get busy with commissioning activities, re-arranging science racks in preparation for the start of normal science operations over the next few weeks.

"When everything is up and running we'll be able to ingress the module and do the first installation of equipment inside the module," Eyharts said in a NASA interview. "This is, of course, a very important part of our work because, for instance, the scientific racks (were) not be launched in their final position because of some issues with the center of gravity of the shuttle. So once the module is attached to the station we have to move a few of the scientific racks into their final location, and, in addition, install other equipment."

This afternoon, the astronauts will review plans for a spacewalk Wednesday to replace a spent nitrogen tank used to pressurize the station's ammonia coolant system. Rex Walheim and Schlegel are scheduled to spend the night in the station's Quest airlock module to help purge nitrogen from their bloodstreams before working in NASA's lower-pressure space suits.

Schlegel was replaced by astronaut Stan Love for the first spacewalk of the mission Monday due to a medical problem. Spencer said today Schlegel will participate in the second spacewalk as originally planned.

5:02 PM, 2/11/08, Update: Spacewalk ends

Astronauts Rex Walheim and Stan Love closed the outer hatch of the Quest airlock and began repressurizing the module at 5:11 p.m. to officially end an extended seven-hour 58-minute spacewalk. This was the 102nd spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, the third excursion for Walheim and the first for Love, who replaced German astronaut Hans Schlegel.

"Congratulations on an outstanding EVA 1," outgoing station astronaut Dan Tani radioed. "You guys did a great job."

5:00 PM, 2/11/08, Update: Columbus module attached to space station

The European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory module was successfully removed from the shuttle Atlantis' cargo bay today and bolted to its permanent home on the front right side of the international space station to accomplish the primary goal of the year's first shuttle mission. "Columbus is touching the station for the first time," French astronaut Leopold Eyharts radioed at 4:29 p.m. as the station's robot arm, operated by shuttle astronaut Leland Melvin, moved Columbus into position for bolting.

"All right!" someone exclaimed. "Good job, guys!"

A few minutes later, motorized bolts in the common berthing mechanism engaged to pull Columbus firmly into place on the right-side port of the Harmony connecting module.

"Houston and Munich, the European Columbus laboraory module is now part of the ISS," Eyharts radioed at 4:44 p.m.

"Beautiful work," astronaut Chris Cassidy called from mission control in Houston.

"We see a good A bolting and that finishes our CBM (common berthing mechanism) procedure," Eyharts concluded.

"We see the same on the ground, Leo," Cassidy agreed. "Nice job to all involved."

After leak checks and preparations inside Harmony, the astronauts plan to open hatches to the new module Tuesday to begin activating the laboratory and its complex systems.

Astroantus Rex Walheim and Stan Love, meanwhile, are in the final stages of stowing tethers and tools before repressurizing the Quest airlock module to end an extended spacewalk.

4:00 PM, 2/11/08, Update: Astronauts told to wrap up spacewalk

Running a bit behind schedule, astronauts Rex Walheim and Stan Love were told to defer a few minor tasks to a spacewalk Wednesday and to begin wrapping up a successful spacewalk while crewmate Leland Melvin, operating the space station's robot arm, continued moving the new Columbus module toward its home on the international lab complex.

Commander Steve Frick radioed congratulations to Walheim and Love, saying "man, you guys have done an amazing job. We're looking out our window here at Columbus about halfway there. I can't believe how much work you've gotten done on a tough EVA. This has just gone awesome. Can't wait to see you guys back inside."

Walheim and Love attached a grapple fixture to the Columbus module, hooked up electrical cables and removed protective covers over the lab's docking mechanism, clearing the way for Melvin to pull the bus-sized module out of the shuttle's cargo bay.

After recharging their spacesuit oxygen supplies in the Quest airlock module, the flight plan called for the spacewalkers to make preparations for replacing a nitrogen tank used to pressurize the station's ammonia coolant system. The actual swap out is planned for a second spacewalk Wednesday.

But because they were a bit behind schedule, flight controllers asked them to defer disconnecting electrical cables and two ammonia flex hoses. That work will be carried out later this week. Walheim did, however, press ahead with work to unfasten bolts on the tank assembly.

Love, making his first spacewalk, was asked to loiter at the airlock a few moments after recharging his oxygen supply, giving him a chance to marvel at the view.

"Columbus is on the move!" he exclaimed. "I was not expecting to be watching th e install from this perspective."

A few minutes later, he alerted flight controllers to what appeared to be a debris impact on an astronaut handrail around the Quest airlock module's outer hatch.

"Looks to me like a little impact crater," he said. "It is right where everybody grabs on the way out of the airlock."

In recent months, flight controllers have been concerned about unseen sharp edges on the station believed to be responsible for causing small tears in the protective covering on spacesuit gloves. Love was asked to take pictures of the damage, but it's not yet known whether the presumed crater he reported could be responsible for any such glove damage.

03:00 PM, 2/11/08, Update: Station arm pulls Columbus module from cargo bay

Astronaut Leland Melvin, a former college football star drafted by the Detroit Lions, used the international space station's robot arm today to carefully pull the European Space Agency's Columbus research module out of the shuttle Atlantis' cargo bay.

Working with careful deliberation, Melvin, assisted by outgoing station astronaut Dan Tani and his replacement, Leopold Eyharts, slowly inched the 28,200-pound module out of the cargo bay at 2:56 p.m. using a grapple fixture that was attached to the bus-size laboratory earlier today by spacewalkers Rex Walheim and Stan Love. It was the first step in a carefully choreographed sequence of maneuvers to move the module to the front of the station for attachment to the right side of the Harmony connecting module.

"Columbus has started its trip to the new world," Tani quipped as the Canadian-built robot arm slowly pulled the module free.

"All right," one of the spacewalkers replied.

The 22.5-foot-long Columbus will add some 2,600 cubic feet of volume to the station after it is pulled into place by motorized bolts. Built by EADS Space Transportation, Columbus was launched with four European science racks and one European storage rack in place. NASA later will install five racks of its own. The European Space Agency has spent about $2 billion building Co