STS-105 MISSION ARCHIVE (COMPLETE) Updated: 08/22/01 Space Station Assembly Mission 7A.1: ISS Crew Rotation and Resupply By William Harwood CBS News/Kennedy Space Center The following copy originally was posted on the Current Mission space page at http://cbsnews.cbs.com/network/news/space/current.html. Comments, suggestions and corrections welcome! TABLE OF CONTENTS Engineers troubleshoot booster problem (08/03/01) Additional analysis ordered on booster issue (08/04/01) NASA puts off Discovery launch decision to Monday (08/05/01) Shuttle cleared for flight; countdown begins (08/06/01) Weather remains a concern for shuttle launch (08/07/01) Shuttle on track for launch (08/08/01) Launch delayed 24 hours by bad weather (08/09/01) Discovery rockets into orbit (08/10/01) Shuttle closes in on space station (08/11/01) Shuttle docks with space station (08/12/01) Expedition 3 crew moves in; Culbertson takes command (08/13/01) Supply transfers begin in earnest (08/14/01) Station resupply complete (08/15/01) Astronauts stage smooth spacewalk; ammonia unit installed (08/16/01) Astronauts wrap up equipment transfers (08/17/01) Astronauts stage second spacewalk (08/18/01) Leonardo module reberthed aboard Discovery (08/19/01) Discovery undocks from space station (08/20/01) Astronauts test re-entry systems (08/21/01) Discovery returns to Earth (08/22/01) =================================================================== Engineers troubleshoot booster problem (08/03/01) NASA and contractor engineers are troubleshooting a possible problem with the hydraulic system in one of the shuttle Discovery's two solid-fuel boosters. Discovery currently is scheduled for liftoff on mission STS-105 at 5:38 p.m. on Aug. 9. If the booster hydraulic power unit, or HPU, in question has to be replaced, launch would be delayed. Just how much is not yet known. The issue cropped up late this week during inspections of parts from a booster hydraulic system used during a recent shuttle flight. Engineers discovered cracks and corrosion in a critical part called an injector. The injector in question comes from a specific product "lot" number and hardware from the same lot number is present in one of Discovery's two boosters. All told, about 20 percent of the booster hydraulic system injectors across the shuttle fleet come from the same lot. Each shuttle booster is equipped with a hydrazine-powered hydraulic system that generates the force necessary to move the booster nozzles for steering. During the two minutes the boosters are firing, all shuttle steering is provided by the boosters and a hydraulic system failure could have catastrophic consequences. The injectors in question were built in the early 1980s and have flown multiple missions. Officials say the "stress corrosion" discovered this week could have been caused by repeated water impacts after the boosters separate from the shuttle and parachute to recovery points in the Atlantic Ocean. Based on the amount of damage seen, engineers said no astronauts were ever in danger. But stress corrosion in any such system is a clear warning sign of potentially serious problems and engineers want to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Shuttle program manager Ronald Dittemore held a teleconference late Friday to discuss the matter and what, if anything, to do about Discovery's boosters. Engineers associated with the booster program made a preliminary recommendation to replace the hydraulic power unit in question, work that would take eight to 10 days from the point a replacement decision was made. But a second teleconference was scheduled for Saturday to discuss the issue in more detail and no final decisions have been made. =================================================================== Additional analysis ordered on booster issue (08/04/01) NASA managers today ordered engineers to conduct additional tests and inspections to determine the health of critical booster hydraulic system components before making a decision about whether to order a part replacement that would delay the shuttle Discovery's launch Thursday. At issue are small cracks discovered in a hydraulic power system injector stem that last flew on shuttle mission STS-84 in May 1997. An injector from the same production lot number is aboard shuttle Discovery as part of the hydraulic system in the ship's left-hand booster. During a teleconference late today, engineers said the cracked injector from STS-84 apparently was bent during routine ground processing. The bending presumably triggered the cracking phenomenon. The injector aboard Discovery's left-side booster is known to be free of any bends and is thus presumably crack free. Even so, engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, where the booster program is managed, recommended replacing the booster's hydraulic power unit. Such a replacement would take eight to 10 days from the point it was ordered, delaying Discovery's flight form Aug. 9 to around Aug. 12 or 13. The actual impact of a replacement is not yet known. Another teleconference has been scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Between now and then, other injector stems from the same lot number will be flown to the hydraulic system manufacturer for boroscope inspections to look for any signs of cracks indicative of stress corrosion. Results will be presented at the Sunday teleconference when a decision on whether or not to proceed with Discovery's countdown will be made. In the meantime, Discovery's crew will fly to the Kennedy Space Center Sunday as scheduled for the Monday start of the countdown. This status report will be updated when the crew arrives. =================================================================== NASA puts off Discovery launch decision to Monday (08/05/01) NASA managers late today again put off making a decision on whether to replace a critical booster component aboard the shuttle Discovery, work that would delay the ship's planned Thursday blastoff on a space station crew rotation mission. Shuttle program manager Ronald Dittemore, chairing a late afternoon teleconference to discuss the booster issue, told engineers to carry out additional tests overnight and to meet again Monday at 2 p.m. to present their results. Discovery's countdown is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Monday for a launch attempt at 5:38 p.m. Thursday. At issue is the health of the hydraulic power system in the shuttle's left-side booster. The hydraulic system provides the power to steer the shuttle during the first two minutes of flight and a failure could prove catastrophic. During inspections of hydraulic system injectors used during a flight in 1997, engineers discovered cracks from stress corrosion. An injector from the same manufacTyuring lot is in place in the hydraulic system of Discovery's left-side booster and engineers want to make sure it is crack free. But a booster hydraulic system cannot be inspected once it is sealed for flight. So engineers spent the weekend inspecting 38 other hydraulic system injectors to determine if any others showed any signs of stress corrosion. Of the 38 tested this weekend, only one - the same one that triggered the investigation - showed definite signs of cracks. But engineers noticed "suspicious markings" on one other injector and Dittemore ordered a final set of tests overnight to conclusively determine the unit's status. Results will be presented at the 2 p.m. teleconference Monday. In the meantime, Discovery's five-man crew and the three men they are ferrying to the international space station to serve as the lab's third full-time crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Center today in anticipation of the Monday afternoon start of the shuttle's countdown to blastoff. "The 105 crew is real excited to be down here for launch week," said shuttle commander Scott Horowitz. "We've prepared a long time." But they won't know until tomorrow if they're actually launching Thursday or not. If NASA managers order engineers to replace the hydraulic system in the shuttle's left-side booster, launch will be delayed several days. =================================================================== Shuttle cleared for flight; countdown begins (08/06/01) 09:30 a.m., 08/06/01, Update: Forecast 60 percent 'go' for Thursday launch While NASA managers debate the health of the steering system in one of the shuttle Discovery's two solid-fuel boosters, engineers at the Kennedy Space Center are gearing up to start the ship's countdown this evening for a launch attempt at 5:38 p.m. Thursday. Forecasters are calling for a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather during the shuttle's planned five-minute launch window. The goal of the 106th shuttle mission is to ferry a fresh three-man crew to the international space station and to bring the current crew back to Earth after five-and-a-half months in space. The shuttle crew also will deliver four tons of supplies, spare parts and scientific equipment to the outpost and return a ton of gear that's no longer needed. There are no technical problems at pad 39A and the countdown is on track to begin at 5 p.m. today. That's assuming, of course, that NASA managers clear the shuttle for launch after a 2 p.m. teleconference to conclude a discussion about the health of a critical part in the hydraulic power system of Discovery's left-side booster. Engineers recently discovered stress corrosion cracks in an injector stem last used in a 1997 shuttle flight. The injectors direct pressurized gas into a turbine to generate the hydraulic power needed to steer the booster during the first two minutes of flight. An injector from the same manufacTyuring lot as the one found to have cracks is installed in Discovery's left-side booster. It cannot be examined at the launch pad. But out of 38 other injectors inspected over the weekend, only one showed any signs of possible damage. Engineers were ordered to carry out more detailed inspections of that injector overnight Sunday and to present the results at today's teleconference. If shuttle program manager Ronald Dittemore orders the replacement of the left-side booster's hydraulic power unit, launch will be delayed to early next week. Otherwise, engineers will start the countdown this evening for a launch attempt Thursday afternoon. As usual at this time of year in Florida, the only other question mark is the weather. Shuttle forecaster Ed Priselac said he expects a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather during Discovery's short launch window. Conditions are expected to worsen to 70 percent "no go" for launch attempts Friday and Saturday. "All our flight and ground systems are performing well, the team's focused and prepared for launch countdown this evening," said NASA test director Steve Altemus. "If Ed can keep those thunderstorms at bay, we'll see a spectacular launch on Thursday afternoon." 05:00 p.m., 08/06/01, Update: Countdown begins for Thursday launch Countdown clocks at the Kennedy Space Center began ticking backward at 5 p.m. today, setting the stage for launch of the shuttle Discovery at 5:38 p.m. Thursday on a mission to deliver a new crew to the international space station. NASA managers have tentatively agreed to clear Discovery for flight pending a final teleconference at 6 p.m. to discuss last-minute test results of a critical booster hydraulic system part. This status report will be updated after an official decision is announced. 06:30 p.m., 08/06/01, Update: Discovery cleared for launch NASA managers late today formally cleared the shuttle Discovery for launch Thursday after concluding a suspect part in the ship's booster steering system was healthy and in no need of time-consuming repairs. Liftoff is targeted for 5:38 p.m. Thursday to ferry a fresh three-man crew to the international space station and to bring the lab's current occupants home after 5.5 months in space. An official launch decision was held up due to last-minute concerns about possible cracks in critical injectors that route high-pressure gas to turbines at the base of each solid-fuel booster. The turbines generate the hydraulic power needed for steering during the first two minutes of flight. Recent inspections found stress corrosion cracks in an injector used during a flight in 1997. An injector from the same manufacTyuring lot is installed inside the hydraulic power unit used by Discovery's left-side booster. Because the part cannot be inspected at the launch pad, engineers spent the weekend inspecting 39 other injectors available in the shuttle inventory. No cracks were found and after data on a final injector was assessed late today, shuttle program manager Ronald Dittemore cleared Discovery for flight. =================================================================== Weather remains a concern for shuttle launch (08/07/01) The shuttle Discovery's countdown continues to tick smoothly toward launch Thursday on a mission to ferry a fresh crew to the international space station. There are no technical problems this morning with the shuttle or its payload, but forecasters continue to predict a 40 percent chance of rain showers and clouds generated by afternoon sea breezes that could delay liftoff. The launch window opens at 5:32:47 p.m. and closes at 5:42:46 p.m. The preferred launch time within that window, i.e., the moment Earth's rotation carries the pad into the plane of the international space station's orbit, is 5:37:47 p.m. The preferred launch time likely will change by a few seconds based on final radar tracking of the space station. "All our flight and ground systems are working as expected, we're right where we want to be on schedule and the team's ready to launch STS-105 Thursday afternoon," said NASA test director Pete Nickolenko. Should launch slip to Friday or Saturday, the forecast calls for a 70 percent chance of bad weather that could delay the 106th shuttle mission. At the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, meanwhile, engineers are readying NASA's Genesis spacecraft for a one-shot launch attempt Wednesday atop a Boeing Delta 2 rocket. Designed to capture particles of the solar wind and return them to Earth for analysis, Genesis originally was scheduled for launch on July 30. But the flight was delayed, first because of last-minute concerns about the health of its navigation system and then twice more by cloudy weather. This time around, forecasters are calling for a 70 percent chance of good weather. The Genesis launch window opens at 12:13:40 p.m. and closes two minutes later. The launching will be carried live on NASA television. =================================================================== Shuttle on track for launch (08/08/01) The shuttle Discovery 's countdown continues to tick smoothly toward liftoff Thursday afternoon. There are no technical problems at pad 39A and forecasters continue to predict a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather during the shuttle's five-minute launch window. The main concern is a chance of showers generated by afternoon sea breezes. The countdown currently is in a 16-hour 42-minute built-in "hold." Later this morning, the astronauts will visit the launch pad with families and friends. Engineers plan to begin activating the shuttle's communications systems late this afternoon and to roll a protective gantry away from the spacecraft around 9:30 p.m. If all goes well, engineers will begin fueling the shuttle shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday and the astronauts will begin strapping in around 2:15 p.m. for a launch attempt at 5:37:47 p.m. NASA's satellite television coverage is scheduled to begin at noon Thursday. At the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, meanwhile, Boeing engineers are gearing up to launch a Delta 2 rocket at 12:13:40 p.m. today to boost NASA's Genesis probe into space. Genesis is designed to capture particles of the solar wind and bring them back to Earth for analysis. There are no technical problems and the weather appears to be ideal. =================================================================== Launch delayed 24 hours by bad weather (08/09/01) 10:00 a.m., 08/09/01, Update: Shuttle fueling underway Working by remote control, engineers began pumping a half-million gallons of supercold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen rocket fuel into the shuttle Discovery's external tank today at 8:20 a.m., setting the stage for a launch attempt at 5:38 p.m. The goal of the 106th shuttle mission is to ferry a fresh three-man crew to the international space station and to bring the lab's current occupants home after five-and-a-half months in space. There are no technical problems at pad 39A and forecasters continue to predict a 60 percent chance of good weather. At launch time Wednesday, conditions were ideal, but high humidity and afternoon sea breezes could combine to generate showers today as Discovery's launch time approaches. The shuttle's launch window today opens at 5:32:47 p.m. and closes at 5:42:46 a.m. The preferred launch time, that is, the moment Earth's rotation carries pad 39A into the plane of the space station's orbit, is 5:37:46 p.m. The shuttle must take off five minutes to either side of this "in-plane" time to physically reach the station. Launching directly into the station's orbital plane minimizes fuel usage and improves certain East Coast abort scenarios. Here is a timeline of events for the remainder of today's countdown: TIME.........EVENT 11:30 a.m....Fueling complete 11:42 a.m....Countdown enters a 2-hour hold at the T-3 hour mark 12:00 p.m....NASA television coverage begins 12:30 a.m....Astronaut lunch and photo opportunity 01:07 p.m....Astronauts attend a final weather briefing 01:17 p.m....Astronauts suit up for launch 01:42 p.m....Countdown resumes at the T-3 hour mark 01:47 p.m....Astronauts depart crew quarters 02:17 p.m....Crew boarding begins 03:32 p.m....Discovery's hatch is closed 04:22 p.m....Countdown enters a 10-minute hold at the T-20 minute mark 04:32 p.m....Countdown resumes 04:43 p.m....Countdown enters an adjustable hold at the T-9 minute mark 05:29 p.m....Countdown resumes 05:33 p.m....Hydraulic power system start 05:38 p.m....Launch For today's launch, Discovery's four crew members will sit on the shuttle's upper deck while the new space station crew - commander Frank Culbertson and cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin - will be seated on the orbiter's lower deck. Assuming an on-time launch, the astronauts will go to sleep around 12:38 a.m. Friday and wake up at 8:38 a.m. Docking with the international space station is scheduled for 3:32 p.m. Saturday. 12:35 p.m., 08/09/01, Update: Discovery fueled for flight; crew set for boarding Smiling and relaxed, the shuttle Discovery's seven-man crew is gearing up to don bulky bright orange pressure suits and head for the launch pad in a little more than an hour to strap in and await blastoff on a space station crew rotation mission. Liftoff is targeted for 5:37:46 p.m. and while there are no technical problems at pad 39A, forecasters continue to predict a fairly good chance for showers and thunderstorms to develop later today that could keep Discovery on the ground. The sky currently is mostly clear, but high humidity and afternoon sea breezes are expected to generate showers at some point today. The only question is when. At their standard pre-launch photo opportunity, sitting around a table with a large cake emblazoned with the STS-105 mission patch, Discovery's seven crew members appeared in good spirits and eager to get their mission underway. The four shuttle astronauts - commander Scott Horowitz, pilot Frederick Sturckow, Patrick Forrester and Daniel Barry - were decked out in bright red shirts while their space station crewmates - Expedition Three commander Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin - were wearing light blue shirts. All seven flashed a thumbs up at the camera as the scene faded out. After attending a final weather update, the astronauts will begin suiting up for launch around 1:15 p.m. and head for the pad a half hour later to begin strapping in. At the moment of launch, the space station will be passing south of Australia on the other side of the planet. The station's crew - commander Yury Usachev, Susan Helms and James Voss - plans to watch the launching live via satellite from mission control in Houston. 02:55 p.m., 08/09/01, Update: Astronauts strap in for launch The Discovery astronauts and the space station's new three-man crew strapped in today for a planned 5:38 p.m. launch to the orbital outpost. The weather remains generally favorable, although it's not yet clear which will happen first: Discovery's launch or the development of afternoon rain showers. Clouds appear to be building somewhat, but they remain west of the launch site. At pad 39A, meanwhile, engineers have run into a relatively minor problem with a computer console that orchestrates replenishment of liquid oxygen in Discovery's external fuel tank. A backup computer system has been activated, which is expected to correct the problem. In an unrelated issue, the power supply for backup pumps used to recirculate liquid hydrogen has dropped off line. The primary system continues to operate normally, but NASA managers may send a repair crew to the pad just in case. Again, this shouldn't affect Discovery's launch. Otherwise, there is little to report. The astronauts are strapped in and technicians are in the process of closing out the shuttle's cockpit. 04:30 p.m., 08/09/01, Update: Weather currently 'no go;' flight controllers hope for improvement The Discovery astronauts are strapped in for launch, but the weather is not yet cooperating. Heavy clouds with rain and lightning have built up to the west and while the storm cells appear to be dissipating, the shuttle currently is "no go." "Off to the west of the SLF (shuttle landing facility) there's been a line of thunderstorms developing," astronaut Kenneth Cockrell radioed the astronauts from mission control in Houston. "It pretty much started when you entered the cabin and they've been building since then, some building, some dissipating. Right now, the weather is no-go for RTLS (return-to-launch-site abort). But we're continuing to watch it and we have a little time to watch it. You might also see out the front windows the overhang from those thunderstorms, the anvil clouds, which are opaque. We'll keep you updated, but right now we're no go." "I can actually see all that weather out my window," shuttle commnander Scott Horowitz replied. "We'll hope that it rains itself out and we'll be go." 05:25 p.m., 08/09/01, Update: Shuttle launch delayed 24 hours by weather Lingering thunderstorms and heavy cloud cover over the Kennedy Space Center forced NASA's mission management team to scrub the shuttle Discovery's planned launch today on a space station crew rotation mission. Launch was rescheduled for 5:15 p.m. Friday, weather permitting. "Well Doc, we gave it a good shot," launch director Michael Leinbach radioed Discovery around 5:15 p.m. "The vehicle all came together, we worked a couple of problems earlier in the count, we got through those. We had a good sound vehicle, Discovery, under you. The weather is not cooperating with us at all as you know and we will go into a scrub turnaround at this point in time and set up for a launch tomorrow afternoon. So we'll see you out again tomorrow." "We copy all," replied shuttle commander Scott "Doc" Horowitz. "Our thanks to the launch team for a valiant effort. Can't control the weather! We'll follow you through those checklists and try it again tomorrow." But the forecast for Friday and Saturday calls for a 70 percent chance of bad weather that would prevent a launch. NASA normally makes just two launch attempts in a row before standing down to give the ground team a break. But NASA managers could elect to make three attempts in a row given Discovery's convenient afternoon launch time. That, however, remains to be seen. An updated flight plan and NASA television schedule will be posted shortly. =================================================================== Discovery rockets into orbit (08/10/01) 08:30 a.m., 08/10/01, Update: Shuttle Discovery refueled for second launch attempt Despite a gloomy forecast, NASA managers today decided to press ahead with a second attempt to launch the shuttle Discovery on a space station crew rotation mission. Engineers began pumping liquid oxygen and hydrogen rocket fuel back into Discovery's external tank at 8:11 a.m. for a launch attempt at 5:15:12 p.m. The launch window closes at 5:20:12 p.m. Forecasters are predicting only a slight chance for acceptable weather today, saying they expect heavy clouds and rain showers to develop this afternoon as the sea breeze interacts with hot air over the mainland. But the forecast is even worse for Saturday. As a result, NASA's mission management team decided this morning that if Discovery fails to get off the ground today, the launch team will stand down Saturday and make two back-to-back attempts Sunday and Monday. If Discovery isn't off the ground by Monday, launch will slip to Wednesday to give engineers time to top off on-board tanks of liquid oxygen and hydrogen that power the ship's electrical generators. Discovery's astronauts were awakened a few minutes past 7 a.m. to begin a second round of launch preparations. Here are the highlights of today's countdown: TIME.......EVENT 07:07 AM...Crew wakeup 08:11 AM...Shuttle fueling begins 08:20 AM...The countdown resumes at the T-6 hour mark 09:07 AM...Astronaut medical exams 11:20 AM...The countdown enters a hold at T-3 hours; fueling complete 12:00 PM...NASA television coverage begins 12:07 PM...Astronaut photo opportunity on NASA TV 12:44 PM...The crew gets a final weather briefing 12:54 PM...The astronauts don their pressure suits 01:20 PM...The countdown resumes at the T-3 hour mark 01:24 PM...The astronauts depart crew quarters 01:54 PM...The crew begins strapping in for launch 03:09 PM...Discovery's hatch is closed 04:00 PM...Start T-minus 20-minute hold 04:10 PM...Resume countdown 04:21 PM...Start T-minus 9-minute hold 05:06 PM...Resume countdown 05:10 PM...Launch window opens 05:10 PM...Hydraulic power system startup 05:15 PM...Launch The goal of the 106th shuttle mission is to ferry a fresh three-man crew to the international space station and to bring the lab's current occupants back to Earth after five-and-a-half months in space. The Discovery astronauts also are delivering nearly four tons of fresh food, supplies and equipment. Assuming an on-time launching today, Discovery will dock with the space station at 3:09 p.m. Sunday. Two spacewalks by astronauts Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester are on tap next Thursday and Saturday. Under that schedule, Discovery will undock from the station at 11:29 a.m. on Aug. 20 and land back at the Kennedy Space Center at 12:54 p.m. on Aug. 22. There are no technical problems at pad 39A today and weather permitting, the shuttle is ready to go. 01:05 p.m., 08/10/01, Update: Astronauts suit up for launch The Discovery astronauts are donning their spacesuits for a second launch attempt today. There are no technical problems of any significance at pad 39A, but forecasters continue to predict a good chance for development of afternoon showers and thunderstorms that would delay liftoff. As of this writing, conditions appear ideal and satellite imagery shows generally clear skies across the Florida peninsula. But as the afternoon wears on, storms cells likely will develop as hot air over the mainland rises and cools, allowing water vapor to condense out. In a sort of good news, bad news scenario, forecasters say storm cells are not developing as rapidly as originally expected. On the bad news front, the sea breeze needed to keep any such storms to the west of the Kennedy Space Center is weaker than expected. This is an extremely dynamic, hard-to-predict situation. The launch team is simply going to press ahead and hope the weather cooperates. 02:30 p.m., 08/10/01, Update: Astronauts strap in; The Discovery astronauts are strapped in aboard the shuttle Discovery to await blastoff at 5:15 p.m. The countdown continues to tick smoothly toward launch with the only question mark being the weather. Conditions currently appear ideal and thunderstorms have not yet built up west of the space center. Thunderstorms to the south do not appear to be a threat and forecasters are a bit more optimistic conditions will hold long enough for Discovery to get off the ground. But right now, it's too soon to say. 04:45 p.m., 08/10/01, Update: Launch time moved up NASA managers have decided to launch the shuttle Discovery at the opening of its 10-minute launch window - five minutes earlier than planned - because of approaching clouds and storm cells that could interfere with an emergency return to the launch site in the event of an engine failure early in flight. Launch of the 106th shuttle mission is now targeted for 5:10:14 p.m. The weather for launch is ideal, but forecasters are concerned that approaching clouds could move within 20 miles of the shuttle's emergency runway within 30 minutes of liftoff. In the event of an engine failure early in flight, the shuttle crew would have to attempt an emergency return-to-launch-site abort, or RTLS. The shuttle would reach the landing arear about 30 minutes after liftoff, hence flight safety rules forbidding bad weather in the area. The forecast is still "no go" but flight controllers are hopeful the clouds will hold off long enough to get Discovery into orbit. 05:25 p.m., 08/10/01, Update: Shuttle Discovery thunders into orbit The space shuttle Discovery vaulted into orbit today and set off after the international space station to deliver a fresh three-man crew and nearly four tons of supplies before bringing the lab's current crew back to Earth after five-and-a-half months in space. Running a day late because of bad weather, Discovery's twin solid-fuel boosters ignited with a roar at 5:10:14 p.m. - five minutes earlier than planned because of concern about approaching storm clouds - instantly pushing the spacecraft away from pad 39A. In less than 10 seconds, the 4.5-million-pound vehicle cleared the launch gantry, promptly wheeled about its long axis and rocketed away on a trajectory up the East Coast of the United States. Eight-and-a-half minutes later, Discovery slipped into its planned preliminary orbit. At the moment of launch, the international space station was sailing 240 miles above the equator approaching Central America from the southwest. A few minutes later, Expedition Two commander Yury Usachev, Susan Helms and James Voss passed over the Kennedy Space Center where Discovery's booster exhaust plume lingered in the hot summer air. The shuttle's launch originally was timed to coincide with the moment Earth's rotation carried pad 39A into the plane of the space station's orbit: 5:15 p.m., or five minutes after the opening of the shuttle's launch window. But forecasters warned that approaching clouds could be within 20 miles of the shuttle emergency landing strip a half-hour or so after launch when Discovery's crew be attempting an emergency return-to-launch-site abort - RTLS - in the event of an engine failure early in flight. As a result, launch was moved up five minutes to buy a bit of extra time. Strapped in on Discovery's flight deck were commander Scott "Doc" Horowitz, pilot Frederick Sturckow and spacewalkers Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester, a shuttle rookie. Seated on the shuttle's lower deck were Expedition Three commander Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin. If all goes well, Discovery will dock with the space station Sunday afternoon. Because of the ever-present possibility the shuttle could be forced to depart early, the first item on the agenda is for Culbertson's crew to move aboard the station and for the Expedition Two crew to move into the shuttle. For that to happen, the astronauts first must move the new crew's custom-fitted Soyuz seat liners and entry spacesuits from Discovery into the station to permit Culbertson's crew to use the station's Russian landing craft if an emergency develops after the shuttle departs. The seat liners and suits should be on board the station within a day of docking. From that point forward, the Expedition Three crew will begin sleeping aboard the station while Usachev, Helms and Voss take up residence aboard Discovery. The second major objective of the 106th shuttle mission is to transfer nearly four tons of fresh food, clothing and equipment to the station, including a new command-and-control computer. Three such C&C computers control all aspects of station operation, but only one is actually in charge at any given moment. One machine is kept in backup mode, ready to take over if necessary, while the third is kept in standby. Usachev, Voss and Helms have encountered numerous computer problems during their stay in space, virtually all of them related to hard drive failures. The latest such incident occurred overnight Tuesday when C&C-1, which was operating in backup mode, was unable to access its hard drive. C&C-3 continues to operate as the station's primary computer while C&C-2 was switched from standby to backup with C&C-1 suffered its hard drive problem. A spare C&C computer is on board Discovery and it presumably will be wired into the C&C-1 slot as soon as possible. NASA plans to deliver solid-state memory devices to the station on the next shuttle mission, allowing the on-board crew to replace the troublesome hard drives altogether. Along with transferring 6,600 pounds of supplies and equipment to the station, Barry and Forrester plan to move another 1,500 pounds of equipment from Discovery's cargo bay to the station's exterior during two spacewalks next Thursday and Saturday. The major item is installation of an ammonia coolant replenishment system to enable future crews to recover from cooling system leaks. Ammonia is used to carry heat generated by the station's electronics to huge radiators mounted on the truss that supports the lab's main solar arrays. Barry and Forrester also plan to install two materials science experiments on the station's hull and to attach power cables needed after installation of a new truss section scheduled for delivery early next year. If all goes well, Discovery will undock from the station on Aug. 20, bringing Usachev, Helms and Voss back to Earth on Aug. 22 to wrap up a 167-day five-hour stay in space. Culbertson and his crewmates, meanwhile, will face a busy four months in space before their return ride - the shuttle Endeavour - shows up in early December. A new Russian docking module is scheduled to arrive Sept. 17. Dezhurov and Tyurin will carry out two spacewalks Oct. 8 and 14 to hook up the new module. A third spacewalk, by Dezhurov and Culbertson, is targeted for Nov. 5 to activate Russian experiment hardware. Russian Progress supply ships are scheduled for arrival shortly after Discovery departs and on Nov. 15. A fresh Soyuz landing vehicle will be delivered by two Russians and French flier Claudie Haignere on Oct. 23. The Soyuz "taxi" crew will return to Earth Oct. 31 aboard the Soyuz vehicle currently attached to the station. 05:55 p.m., 08/10/01, Update: Shuttle crew circularizes orbit Shuttle commander Scott Horowitz fired Discovery's twin orbital maneuvering system rockets about 40 minutes after launch today to raise the low point of the spaceplane's orbit. The orbit's apogee, or high point, is 145 statute miles while the low point, or perigee, is 97 miles. Payload bay door opening is expected around 6:40 p.m. An updated flight plan has been posted below to reflect NASA's decision to launch Discovery five minutes earlier than originally planned. An updated television schedule will be posted here as soon as possible. 07:20 p.m., 08/10/01, Update: Astronauts in good spirits after climb to space The space station's crew - Expedition Two commander Yury Usachev, Susan Helms and James Voss - was able to see the exhaust plume of the shuttle Discovery's twin boosters as they flew toward the Kennedy Space Center moments after their ride home blasted off. "We're all very happy to be here and doing great and feeling good and happy to be on our way," Expedition Three commander Frank Culbertson radioed mission controllers from Discovery. "Tell Jim, Susan and Yury that we'll be there shortly." "As a matter of fact, I should have mentioned this to you earlier, Jim, Susan and Yury were able to see the smoke trail as Discovery lifted off," astronaut Kenneth Cockrell replied from mission control. "That's good to hear, that's great!" "So they have physical evidence that you're on your way," Cockrell said. "Well I'm sure that'll make them happy," replied Culbertson. "We're all happy here." =================================================================== Shuttle closes in on space station (08/11/01) 08:15 a.m., 08/11/01, Update: Astronauts awakened for docking preparation The Discovery astronauts were awakened shortly after 8 a.m. today to begin their first full day in space. The major activities today include rendezvous rocket firings to fine-tune the shuttle's rendezvous with the international space station; baseline medical measurements conducted on the station's new crew members; and other docking preparations. If all goes well, Discovery will dock with the station at 2:33 p.m. Sunday. Here is a timeline of the day's activities in EDT and mission elapsed time: TIME.......DD...HH...MM...EVENT 08:10 AM...00...15...00...STS crew wakeup 10:40 AM...00...17...30...Ergometer setup 10:45 AM...00...17...35...Rendezvous tools checkout 11:10 AM...00...18...00...Dreamtime setup 11:40 AM...00...18...30...Dreamtime operations 12:15 PM...00...19...05...Docking ring extension 12:50 PM...00...19...40...HR setup 01:00 PM...00...19...50...RMS powerup 01:15 PM...00...20...05...HR MS4 subject 01:15 PM...00...20...05...RMS checkout 01:25 PM...00...20...15...Orbiter Space Vision System checkout 01:50 PM...00...20...40...HR MS3 subject 02:00 PM...00...20...50...RMS payload bay survey 02:25 PM...00...21...15...HR MS5 subject 02:30 PM...00...21...20...RMS powerdown 02:45 PM...00...21...35...Airlock preparation 03:15 PM...00...22...05...Crew meals begin 04:15 PM...00...23...05...Crew off duty time begins 09:10 PM...01...04...00...ISS crew sleep begins 10:10 PM...01...05...00...Crew sleep begins 08/12/01 05:40 AM...01...12...30...ISS crew wakeup 06:25 p.m., 08/11/01, Update: Shuttle crew set for Sunday docking The Discovery astronauts today rigged their ship for docking with the international space station Sunday, setting up rendezvous computers, testing laser range finders and extending the shuttle's docking ring. If all goes well, commander Scott "Doc" Horowitz will guide Discovery to a linkup with the space station a few minutes past 2:30 p.m. Sunday. "The shuttle crew and Expedition Three are spending their first full day in orbit after a beautiful day yesterday," said flight director John Shannon. "I'm happy to report there are absolutely no problems with either the shuttle or the ISS for the docking tomorrow. "Right now, the shuttle is 8,000 nautical miles behind and below the international space station and it's closing at about 790 nautical miles per orbit," he said. "The shuttle crew spent this morning preparing for the docking tomorrow. That consisted of a checkout of their tools, the hand-held radar, the laser system we use when we get in close to measure distances and rates, and also setting up their computer systems to monitor the docking tomorrow. "They also activated the docking system and extended the ring that's used to attach to the international space station. They pulled out the shuttle's robotic arm and did a survey of the payload bay and that all looked really good." The goal of the 106th shuttle mission is to deliver a fresh crew to the station - Expedition Three commander Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin - and to bring the lab's current occupants home after five-and-a-half months in space. Culbertson and his two crewmates spent part of the day today collecting baseline medical data on how their bodies adapt to weightlessness. Faced with an extremely busy schedule Sunday and into next week, the combined crews took the second half of their day off to enjoy a few hours of free time. The astronauts are scheduled to go to bed at 10:10 p.m. this evening and to wake up for docking at 6:10 a.m. Sunday. The terminal phase of Discovery's space station rendezvous begins at 12:16 p.m. Sunday with the shuttle trailing the lab by about eight nautical miles. =================================================================== Shuttle docks with space station (08/12/01) 08:00 a.m., 08/12/01, Update: Shuttle crew gears up for docking The Discovery astronauts are gearing up for docking with the international space station later today to deliver a fresh three-man crew. The linkup is scheduled for around 2:38 p.m. as the two spacecraft are passing 240 miles above the Indian Ocean northwest of Australia. For shuttle skipper Scott "Doc" Horowitz, docking will be a homecoming of sorts. He served as pilot of the shuttle Atlantis in May 2000, a space station repair mission that included the lab's current occupants: Expedition Two commander Yury Usachev, Susan Helms and James Voss. Usachev, Voss and Helms were relaunched to the station last March. They plan to return to Earth aboard Discovery to close out a 167-day stay in space. "To see the Expedition Two crew is going to be pretty interesting for me personally after we dock because I flew with them on STS-101 last year," Horowitz said in a NASA interview. "It's going to be sort of like a reunion in space. "We went up to the space station back when we were doing a lot of repairs, before anybody was living on it," he said. "Now, they will have been up there for several months, and I'll get to go see my old crewmembers again and we'll be reunited as a crew once more. So there's going to be a lot of neat emotions, seeing them again, and it'll be really exciting to be welcomed aboard the International Space Station." The terminal phase of today's rendezvous will begin at 12:16 p.m. At that point, with the shuttle trailing the station by about 9.2 statute miles, Horowitz will carry out a critical rocket firing designed to bring Discovery to a point about 600 feet directly below the station. For orientation, the line connecting the station to the center of the Earth is known as the radius vector, or R-bar. By convention, points on the line below the station are positive while points above it are negative. Here's how flight director John Shannon described the approach: "The rendezvous and docking are going to be just like we've seen on all the flights since STS-102 last March," said Shannon. "The crew is going to be approaching the space station from behind and below. They'll come up below the station with the payload bay facing up toward the station, you'll be able to see it real well at about 600 feet on what we call the r-bar. That's the imaginary line from the space station down to the center of the Earth. "Scott Horowitz will then put in what we call a plus-X burn, or pulse, while the automatic computers are pitching the vehicle up and it will just describe an arc from below the space station to directly in front of it," Shannon said. "And they'll come out about between 400 to 350 feet in front of the space station with the payload bay facing it." The line marking the station's direction of travel is known as the velocity vector, or V-bar. Points in front of the station are positive and points behind it are negative. Horowitz will stop the shuttle on the plus V-bar with its nose pointing up and its cargo bay facing a docking port on the forward end of the U.S. laboratory module, Destiny. "They'll stop there, make sure everything looks OK, they'll get a 'go' from the ground to proceed," Shannon said. "And then Scott Horowitz will fly an eight-degree corridor all the way in, slowly translating with the payload bay directly toward the space station. When he gets about 30 feet away, he'll be flying a five-degree cone into the space station. "He'll stop at 30 feet, make sure everything is lined up perfectly, and then he'll press on in very slowly," Shannon added. "In that final phase, he has about a three-inch lateral margin and you'll see him slowly tweak that out as we come in and dock. "When we dock, there is an automatic sequence the crew initiates through a push button that fires jets that gives us just enough push to make sure the docking system is captured and then we start driving hooks to pull the two vehicles together." NASA does not expect to have live KU-band television coverage of docking from the shuttle due to antenna blockage. At least some video from the station's television system is expected at some point during the shuttle's final approach. Once the two vehicles are docked, hatches will be opened at 4 p.m. and the two crews will enjoy a brief welcoming ceremony - primarily hugs, smiles and handshakes - before participating in a standard safety briefing to bring the shuttle astronauts up to speed on emergency procedures. "We have to be briefed on any particular safety aspects of how they're doing operations on the international space station," Horowitz said. "Almost like you would if you were flying on an airliner or riding on a large ship, where you know where the emergency exit is that takes us back to the space shuttle, where the emergency equipment is - masks and fire extinguishers and all those kinds of things. "After that is done, we are going to get right to work trying to move some of the equipment off the middeck of the space shuttle. I mean, we're going to have all this stuff piled in the middeck to help support transferring the Expedition Three crew. So, some of their most critical items will be transferred very shortly after we dock. The Expedition Three crew will start their handover briefings with Expedition Two, and then we'll start going about getting ready to do all of our joint work together." Here's a detailed timeline of today's activity (in EST and mission elapsed time): EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 05:40 AM...01...12...30...ISS crew wakeup 06:10 AM...01...13...00...Crew wakeup 07:10 AM...01...14...00...ISS: Daily planning conference 08:15 AM...01...15...05...Forrester exercises 08:25 AM...01...15...15...Barry exercises 08:55 AM...01...15...45...Culbertson exercises 08:55 AM...01...15...45...Group B computer powerup 09:25 AM...01...16...15...Dreamtime setup 09:25 AM...01...16...15...Begin rendezvous timeline 09:55 AM...01...16...45...Dreamtime operations 12:20 PM...01...19...10...ISS: Meals 12:16 PM...01...19...06...Terminal initiation rendezvous burn 12:35 PM...01...19...25...1st Russian ground station AOS 12:45 PM...01...19...35...Sunset 12:47 PM...01...19...37...Russian ground station loss of signal (LOS) 12:47 PM...01...19...37...TDRS-W acquisition of signal (AOS) 01:19 PM...01...20...09...Sunrise 01:33 PM...01...20...23...MC-4 rendezvous rocket firing 01:36 PM...01...20...26...Range: 1,500 feet 01:41 PM...01...20...31...Range: 1,000 feet 01:43 PM...01...20...33...KU to low power; range: 800 feet 01:46 PM...01...20...36...Range: 600 feet (+r bar arrival) 01:46 PM...01...20...36...TDRS-W LOS 01:47 PM...01...20...37...Last time to be in "approach ready" config 01:47 PM...01...20...37...Range: 500 feet; start TORVA maneuver 01:48 PM...01...20...38...Noon 01:50 PM...01...20...40...Begin rendezvous approach phase 01:52 PM...01...20...42...Range: 400 feet 01:59 PM...01...20...49...Range: 310 feet (+v bar arrival) 02:00 PM...01...20...50...Range: 300 feet 02:04 PM...01...20...54...Range: 250 feet 02:04 PM...01...20...54...TDRS-W AOS 02:05 PM...01...20...55...Last time to be in dock ready config 02:07 PM...01...20...57...Range: 200 feet 02:10 PM...01...21...00...Range: 170 feet 02:11 PM...01...21...01...Russian ground station AOS 02:12 PM...01...21...02...Range: 150 feet 02:16 PM...01...21...06...Range: 100 feet 02:17 PM...01...21...07...Sunset 02:19 PM...01...21...09...TDRS-E AOS 02:19 PM...01...21...09...Range: 75 feet 02:27 PM...01...21...17...Range: 30 feet; start stationkeeping 02:28 PM...01...21...18...TDRS-West acquissition of signal 02:32 PM...01...21...22...End stationkeeping; push to dock 02:36 PM...01...21...26...Range: 10 feet 02:38 PM...01...21...28...DOCKING 02:50 PM...01...21...40...Leak checks 02:52 PM...01...21...42...Sunrise 02:59 PM...01...21...49...TDRS-West loss of signal 03:30 PM...01...22...20...Group B computer powerdown 03:30 PM...01...22...20...Orbiter docking system prepared for ingress 04:00 PM...01...22...50...Hatch opening 04:25 PM...01...23...15...Handshake and welcoming ceremony 04:45 PM...01...23...35...Safety briefing 05:10 PM...02...00...00...Spacesuit reconfiguration Block A 05:25 PM...02...00...15...Post rendezvous computer reconfiguration 07:10 PM...02...02...00...ISS: Daily planning conference 09:10 PM...02...04...00...STS/ISS crew sleep begins 12:20 p.m., 08/12/01, Update: Terminal rendezvous sequence begins Flying over the Atlantic Ocean just off the northeastern coast of Brazil, one of the shuttle Discovery's orbital maneuvering system rockets fired today at 12:16 p.m. to begin the terminal phase of today's rendezvous and docking with the international space station. Trailing the station by just 9.2 miles, Discovery's left-side engine fired for just 15 seconds in a maneuver that will bring the shuttle to a point about 600 feet directly below the lab complex around 1:46 p.m. There are no technical problems of any significance with the shuttle and docking remains targeted for 2:38 p.m. 02:45 p.m., 08/12/01, Update: Discovery docks with space station With commander Scott "Doc" Horowitz at the controls, the shuttle Discovery gently docked with the international space station today to wrap up a flawless two-day orbital chase. Approaching the station from directly ahead as the two spacecraft sailed 240 miles above Australia, Discovery's docking module engaged its counterpart on the forward end of the station's Destiny laboratory module at 2:42 p.m. "Capture!" pilot Frederick Sturckow radioed as the two spacecraft bumped together. "Discovery, Alpha, station in free drift," space station commander Yury Usachev radioed the shuttle. "Thank you Alpha." It will take another hour or so to complete leak checks and to clear the decks for hatch opening at 4 p.m. A brief welcoming ceremony is officially scheduled for 4:25 p.m., but that schedule could change depending on how fast the two crews complete preparations. The shuttle will not be able to relay Ku-band television views of the hatch opening or welcoming ceremony because of antenna blockage. But television from the space station's video system may be available depending on when events occur. Two station TV "windows" are available during this timeframe, with the first opening at 4:18 p.m. and closing at 4:39 p.m. The second window opens at 4:54 p.m. and closes at 5:07 p.m. 05:30 p.m., 08/12/01, Update: Hatches opened; station crew welcomes replacements on board A final hatch between the shuttle Discovery and the international space station was opened at 4:41 p.m., roughly two hours after the two spacecraft docked. Expedition Two commander Yury Usachev, Susan Helms and James Voss promptly welcomed their seven guests aboard, including their replacements, Expedition Three commander Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin. "Hey, how you doing?" shuttle commander Scott "Doc" Horowitz said to Usachev. "You ready for visitors?" "Good to see you!" someone chimed. "We made it. This is like old times!" "Hello, commander, how you doing?" someone, possibly Culbertson, said. "You look great." "All right. Let's go to station!" "Come on over!" Helms called from the Destiny module. A few moments later, the combined crews gathered inside the roomy lab module for handshakes, hugs and a quick safety briefing from Usachev. The astronauts are scheduled to go to bed around 9:10 p.m. "Spirits are fantastic," said station flight director Mark Ferring. "There's kind of a bittersweet feeling in the air for the Expedition Two guys, of course. They are greeting their replacements ... they're getting ready to go home to see their loved ones, but they're leaving the station that they've come to know and love. They've built a lot of it themselves and kind of made it home. I know that Frank and Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin, who are coming to replace them as Expedition Three, will be very pleased with the home that was left for them by the Expedition Two guys." Today's docking occurred at 2:41 p.m. as the spacecraft sailed high above northwestern Australia. The docking went flawlessly, but the astronauts ran into a minor problem when they first attempted to retract a docking ring to lock the vehicles together. A sort of shock absorber briefly hung up, but the crew simply recycled the system and the ring then retracted smoothly. The real work of the mission begins Monday. The first item on the agenda is to transfer custom-fitted seat liners from the shuttle to the station so Culbertson and his two crewmates can use the station's Soyuz entry vehicle in an emergency. Once the seat liners are in place, the Expedition Two crew will officially take over from Usachev, Helms and Voss. In addition, the astronauts plan to unberth a cargo module in Discovery's cargo bay and attach it to a downward-facing port on the multi-hatch Unity node of the space station. The Leonardo cargo module is loaded with 6,400 pounds of food, clothing, supplies and scientific equipment needed by the Expedition Three crew. The cargo module should be in place before noon Monday. Installation of Culbertson's seat liner is scheduled for 8:10 a.m. with Dezhurov's and Tyurin's following at 10:10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. respectively. =================================================================== Expedition 3 crew moves in; Culbertson takes command (08/13/01) 07:30 a.m., 08/13/01, Update: Astronauts set for crew transfer The international space station's new three-man crew officially moves in today when their emergency spacesuits and custom-fitted Soyuz re-entry vehicle seat liners are transferred from the shuttle Discovery to the lab complex. Expedition Three commander Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin are taking over from Expedition Two commander Yury Usachev, Susan Helms and James Voss, who are wrapping up a five-and-a-half-month stay in space. The Soyuz seat liners provide what amounts to a cushioned, custom fit in the cramped re-entry vehicle should the station's crew ever be forced to bail out and return to Earth. The transfer operation should be complete by around 1:30 p.m. But the official change of command ceremony will not take place until next week, just before Discovery undocks. So from a technical standpoint, Usachev will remain in command until then. The other major activity today is attachment of the Italian-built Leonardo cargo module to a downward-facing hatch on the station's Unity module. The module is loaded with some 6,400 pounds of fresh food, clothing, personal items, supplies and experiment hardware needed by the Expedition Three crew. Another 1,500 pounds of equipment will be stowed on the station's hull Thursday and Saturday during spacewalks by Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester. The Leonardo module, carried into space in Discovery's cargo bay, will be unberthed around 9:20 a.m. and attached to the station about an hour later. Here is a detailed timeline of today's activities (in Eastern time and mission elapsed time): EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 07:25 AM...02...14...15...Unity hatch prepped for Leonardo mating 07:40 AM...02...14...30...Middeck transfers begin 08:10 AM...02...15...00...Robot arm powerup 08:10 AM...02...15...00...ISS: Soyuz seat liner installation (Culbertson) 08:30 AM...02...15...20...robot arm grapples Leonardo MPLM 09:20 AM...02...16...10...MPLM unberthing 09:35 AM...02...16...25...Pilot Frederick Sturckow exercises 10:30 AM...02...17...20...ISS: Soyuz seat liner installation (Dezhurov) 10:30 AM...02...17...20...MPLM installation 11:35 AM...02...18...25...MPLM bolts driven 11:55 AM...02...18...45...Robot arm ungrapples MPLM 12:05 PM...02...18...55...Robot arm powerdown 12:20 PM...02...19...10...STS/ISS crew meals begin 12:55 PM...02...19...45...Culbertson's Soyuz spacesuit is stowed 01:10 PM...02...20...00...ISS: MPLM vestibule pressurization 01:30 PM...02...20...20...ISS: Soyuz seat liner installation (Turin) 01:30 PM...02...20...20...ISS: Sokol Soyuz entry suit leak check (Dezhurov) 01:30 PM...02...20...20...Middeck transfers resume 01:30 PM...02...20...20...Forrester exercises 03:50 PM...02...22...40...Dosimeter deploy; middeck transfers resume 02:10 PM...02...21...00...MPLM vestibule configured; ingress 02:30 PM...02...21...20...Protein crystal growth experiments transferred 02:30 PM...02...21...20...Barry exercises 01:30 PM...02...20...20...APCF transfer 04:05 PM...02...22...55...ISS: MPLM activation part 1 04:30 PM...02...23...20...Dezhurov's Soyuz spacesuit is stowed 05:05 PM...02...23...55...Spacesuit reconfiguration Block A 04:25 PM...02...23...15...ISS: Sokol Soyuz entry suit leak check (Turin) 04:50 PM...02...23...40...PILOT operations (Horowitz) 05:15 PM...03...00...05...ISS: MPLM acticvation part 2 05:20 PM...03...00...10...Horowitz exercises 07:10 PM...03...02...00...ISS: Daily planning conference 09:10 PM...03...04...00...STS/ISS crew sleep begins 05:00 p.m., 08/13/01, Update: Crew transfer complete As the original module of the international space station nears its 1,000th day in space, commander Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin officially replaced the space station's Expedition Two crew today at 3:15 p.m. Expedition Two commander Yury Usachev, James Voss and Susan Helms are now officially members of the shuttle Discovery's crew. For the statistically minded, Usachev and company logged 148 days 16 hours and 43 minutes as the station's second full-time crew, 12 days more than the lab's first three occupants. Here's a breakdown showing total time in space and the official expedition durations of the first three space station crews (from SpaceCalc; as of 5:03:09 p.m. EDT today): DAYS..HH...MM...SS...CREW/EVENT 997...14...22...42...ISS Mission Elapsed Time 140...23...38...56...ISS-1 Time in Space 136...16...10...20...ISS-1 Increment Duration 158...09...21...00...ISS-2 Current Time in Space 148...16...43...00...ISS-2 Increment Duration 167...05...06...51...ISS-2 Projected Total Duration 002...23...52...55...ISS-3 Current Time in Space 000...01...48...09...ISS-3 Increment Duration 120...02...49...46...ISS-3 Projected Total Duration 002...23...52...55...STS-104 Mission Elapsed Time 001...02...25...09...Time since Station Docking 006...18...20...51...Countdown to Station Undocking 008...18...43...51...Countdown to Deorbit Ignition 008...19...45...51...Countdown to Landing 011...19...38...46...Projected Mission Duration In other work today, shuttle astronaut Patrick Forrester used Discovery's robot arm to move the Leonardo cargo module, loaded with 6,400 pounds of supplies and equipment, from the orbiter's cargo bay to a downward-facing hatch on the station's Unity module. The combined shuttle-station crews will spend most of the next week unloading the module and repacking it with about a ton of trash and other no-longer-needed equipment. =================================================================== Supply transfers begin in earnest (08/14/01) The crews of the shuttle Discovery and the international space station are devoting the day to moving equipment and supplies from the shuttle's Leonardo cargo module into the orbital lab complex. The cargo module, loaded with 6,400 pounds of supplies and other gear, was attached to the station Monday. The station's departing Expedition Two astronauts - commander Yury Usachev, Susan Helms and James Voss - plan two exercise periods each today as they face a return to Earth next week after 167 days in weightlessness. Usachev will spend a bit of time this morning loading software into a laptop computer in preparation for the Sept. 17 arrival of a Russian docking module that will be attached to a downward facing port on the Zvezda command module. Overnight, Russian ground controllers will transfer the docking module command-and-control software to six other on-board computers. Here's an updated timeline of today's activity, including media events (in EDT and mission elapsed time): EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 05:10 AM...03...12...00...STS crew wakeup 05:40 AM...03...12...30...ISS: Crew wakeup 07:10 AM...03...14...00...ISS: Daily planning conference 08:10 AM...03...15...00...Equipment transfers resume 08:10 AM...03...15...00...ISS crew handover activities (continues all day) 08:20 AM...03...15...10...Forrester exercises 08:50 AM...03...15...40...Helms exercises on the station treadmill 09:00 AM...03...15...50...Usachev loads docking module software 09:20 AM...03...16...10...Horowitz exercises 09:30 AM...03...16...20...Voss exercises on the station treadmill 10:20 AM...03...17...10...Barry exercises 11:30 AM...03...18...20...Sturckow exercises 12:05 PM...03...18...55...Experiment rack transfer 12:25 PM...03...19...15...Usachev exercises on the station treadmill 03:00 PM...03...21...50...Media interviews: ABC/Fox/National Geographic 01:25 PM...03...20...15...Joint meal 01:50 PM...03...20...40...Reboost operations 03:30 PM...03...22...20...Mission status briefing on NASA TV 03:50 PM...03...22...40...Helms exercises on the station treadmill 04:00 PM...03...22...50...Spacesuit reconfiguration Block A 04:15 PM...03...23...05...Payload science briefing on NASA TV 04:40 PM...03...23...30...Voss exercises on the station treadmill 05:25 PM...04...00...15...Usachev exercises on the station treadmill 06:55 PM...04...01...45...ISS: Daily planning conference 09:00 PM...04...03...50...Flight day highlights reel airs on NASA TV 09:10 PM...04...04...00...STS/ISS crew sleep begins As of 8:11:32 a.m. today, the station's original module, the Russian-built NASA-financed Zarya propulsion module, had logged 998 days five hours 31 minutes and five seconds in space since launch Nov. 20, 1998. =================================================================== Station resupply complete (08/15/01) 07:45 a.m., 08/15/01, Update: Station resupply complete; crew begins station-to-shuttle transfers The Discovery astronauts unloaded the Leonardo cargo module Tuesday and are beginning the slightly more complex task of repacking it with about a ton of trash and no-longer-needed equipment from the international space station. Today marks the 999th day the space station, or at least a piece of it, has been in orbit. Shuttle pilot Frederick Sturckow and spacewalkers Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester will spend much of the morning checking out equipment and preparing for a spacewalk Thursday to install an ammonia coolant refill system on the hull of the space station. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin around 10:15 a.m. Thursday and end at 4:45 p.m. Hatches between the shuttle and the space station will be closed this evening around 5:35 p.m. so the shuttle's cabin air pressure can be lowered to 10.2 psi. This is a standard pre-spacewalk activity to help Barry and Forrester purge nitrogen from their blood prior to working in their 5-psi spacesuits. The station's new crew - Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin - will remain aboard the station when the hatches are closed while Expedition 2 commander Yury Usachev, Susan Helms and James Voss sleep aboard Discovery. In a morning planning conference with mission control, Culbertson indicated he planned to downlink video of some sort around 5 p.m. today, right around hatch-closing time. No word yet on what that might be. In round-robin media interviews Tuesday, Culbertson said he was impressed with the way Usachev, Voss and Helms had adapted to weightlessness after five-and-a-half months in space. "Yury, Jim and Susan are very, very comfortable over here," Culbertson said. "It's quite amazing to watch them operate. We feel kind of clumsy every once in a while. But i suspect after a month or so up here, we'll be as comfortable up here as we are on Earth. "These guys can float from one end of the station to the other without touching the walls. We still have to push off and adjust our trajectory. But it's a great experience to be able to operate in all three dimensions. Sometimes when you're working on the ceiling you get a little disoriented and you have to remind yourself which way the floor is or which way starboard and port are." Culbertson officially took over as commander of the station on Monday. But he said Tuesday he views it more as a joint command, at least until Discovery and the Expedition Two crew depart next week. "I guess you could call it a joint command because Yury has all of the knowledge," he said. "I, however, have his sleeping quarters. We're living on the station and have moved in to where we're going to be staying for the next four months. But Yury, Jim and Susan, of course, know everything about the station and how to handle all the systems. They're helping us learn and if some big problem came up they'd help us solve it. But essentially, we've taken command and if we had to separate the two vehicles we would stay and they would go." Sharon Castle, in charge of overseeing the station's resupply, said the astronauts completed work to move some 6,400 pounds of supplies and equipment from the Leonardo cargo module into the station on Tuesday, well ahead of schedule. The astronauts now must repack the storage module with trash and equipment slated for return to Earth. "This was maybe the easier part of their job, getting all the stuff out of the MPLM," Castle said. "It's going to be a little bit more complicated putting (the down cargo) back." Overnight, Russian flight controllers transferred updated command-and-control software from a laptop computer to six other computers in the Russian part of the station preparation for arrival of a new Russian docking compartment/airlock in mid September. For readers who like to follow along, here's an updated timeline of today's activity from the morning execute package uplinked to the crew and from rev. E of the NASA TV schedule (in EDT and mission elapsed time): EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 05:10 AM...04...12...00...STS crew wakeup 05:40 AM...04...12...30...ISS: Crew wakeup 07:10 AM...04...14...00...ISS: Daily planning conference 08:10 AM...04...15...00...Logistics transfers resume 08:10 AM...04...15...00...Barry exercises 08:25 AM...04...15...15...Forrester exercises 08:55 AM...04...15...45...ISS: Handover activities (continues through day) 08:55 AM...04...15...45...Usachev exercises on the station treadmill 09:25 AM...04...16...15...Spacewalk tools configured 09:55 AM...04...16...45...Helms exercises on the station treadmill 10:30 AM...04...17...20...Powertool checkout 10:35 AM...04...17...25...Horowitz exercises 11:00 AM...04...17...50...Airlock preparation 11:30 AM...04...18...20...Middeck prepared for spacewalk 12:10 PM...04...19...00...Spacesuit battery installation 12:25 PM...04...19...15...Spacesuit battery checkout 12:26 PM...04...19...16...Media interviews: KATU-TV, KOIN-TV, KGW-TV (Helms and Culbertson) 12:25 PM...04...19...15...Voss exercises on the station treadmill 12:40 PM...04...19...30...SAFER checkout 01:25 PM...04...20...15...Crew meals begin 01:40 PM...04...20...30...ISS: Meals 02:25 PM...04...21...15...Spacesuit checkout 02:25 PM...04...21...15...Logistics transfers resume 02:30 PM...04...21...20...Mission status briefing on NASA TV 03:35 PM...04...22...25...Voss exercises on the station treadmill 03:55 PM...04...22...45...Spacewalk procedures review 04:00 PM...04...22...50...Payload status briefing on NASA TV 04:25 PM...04...23...15...Usachev exercises on the station treadmill 04:55 PM...04...23...45...Sturckow exercises 05:20 PM...05...00...10...ISS: Daily planning conference 05:35 PM...05...00...25...STS crew egresses space station 05:35 PM...05...00...25...Helms exercises on the shuttle 06:00 PM...05...00...50...Shuttle cabin depressurized to 10.2 psi 09:00 PM...05...03...50...Daily video highlights reel begins airing 09:10 PM...05...04...00...STS/ISS crew sleep begins Culbertson, a former shuttle commander and station manager making his third flight, is clearing enjoying his first long-duration mission. And he clearly relishes the opportunity to explain what the crew is doing and why he believes the station is worth its high cost. "We're accomplishing a lot of science," he said. "Some of it is things that could be very spectacular in the future, like looking for cures for cancer and other diseases that people are working on, a number of experiments that evaluate potential medical discoveries and pharmaceutical discoveries. "In addition, we're looking at materials processing to make better electronics for computers and cell phones and things we use on a day-to-day basis. In addition, we're doing a lot of Earth observation to see how we're affecting the environment. As you know, it's very visible from space ... we document it and we help the scientists, help the people do a better job of taking care of the planet. "In addition, we are learning better how to operate for long periods in space. The Russians have been doing it for a long time, now we're learning how to do it as partners. And if we're ever going to go beyond low-Earth orbit, we have to be able to operate in space for long periods of time safely." Revision E of the NASA television schedule is posted below. 09:45 a.m., 08/15/01, Update: Change-of-command ceremony on tap In a bit of a surprise, new space station commander Frank Culbertson has scheduled a formal change-of-command ceremony for 4:50 p.m. today. The event will be carried live on NASA television. The ceremony is an after-the-fact event in that Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin actually replaced Expedition Two commander Yury Usachev, Susan Helms and James Voss on Monday. The formal change-of-command ceremony originally was targeted for just before Discovery's departure next Monday. But Culbertson moved it up to this afternoon, just before hatches between the shuttle and the space station are closed in preparation for a spacewalk Thursday by Discovery astronauts Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester. That's appropriate because if anything happens that forces the shuttle to undock and leave, Culbertson and his crew would remain aboard the station. Revision F of the NASA television schedule is posted below. 05:15 p.m., 08/15/01, Update: CHange-of-command ceremony delayed to Friday Faced with a busy workload, new space station commander Frank Culbertson decided late today to delay a formal change-of-command ceremony to Friday, after a spacewalk Thursday by two shuttle astronauts to install a coolant refill system on the hull of the station. A new time for the ceremony has not yet been set. When it is, the NASA television schedule posted below will be amended. The station crew has been busy today reconfiguring computers in the Russian modules of the lab complex after an overnight load of upgraded software that was carried out by Russian flight controllers. The new software is needed to control a Russian docking module scheduled for delivery in mid September. While the station's computers were were successfully loaded with the new software, Russian flight controllers have had problems reconfiguring ground systems. As a result, flight controllers are not yet able to automatically transfer control of the station's orientation from the shuttle to the lab's suite of stabilizing gyroscopes. Until the problem is resolved, Discovery's steering jets will be used to maintain the station's orientation in space. Flight director John Shannon said today that's no problem, that the shuttle has more than enough propellant to control the station's orientation for as long as necessary. Station flight director Mark Ferring said if worse came to worse, the astronauts could manually switch attitude control from the shuttle back to the station. But there's no such hurry and flight controllers believe the Russian ground problem will be resolved overnight. If so, attitude control will be switch back to the station's gyros at crew wakeup Thursday. =================================================================== Astronauts stage successful spacewalk; ammonia unit installed (08/16/01) 08:30 a.m., 08/16/01, Update: Astronauts gear up for spacewalk New space station commander Frank Culbertson and his two Russian crewmates took time out today to mark the 1,000th day in space of the lab's first component, a Russian-built NASA-financed propulsion and storage module called Zarya. "We wanted to say a few words in tribute to all the hard work that has gone into building the station so far, the dedication of the people who built this first component as well as all the others and the success it has achieved to date," Culbertson said. The size of a school bus, the Zarya module, which now serves as a sort of supply depot for the space station, was launched at 6:40:27 GMT on Nov. 20, 1998. NASA's multi-hatch Unity module was launched next, followed by the Russian Zvezda command module; NASA's Z1 structural truss; the P6 solar arrays; the Destiny laboratory module; the Canadarm2 space crane; and most recently, NASA's joint airlock. "I remember the day when this FGB (Zarya) module was launched over three years ago," said flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin. "It was a very important event for all of us engineers, cosmonauts and all the people who were involved in this program. That day, we were very excited and hoped that this program would continue and have a great future. "Actually, now we see it became a reality, now our station contains several modules, it is huge, it is almost a real station, it contains a lot of different equipment, including some scientific equipment, new technology and so on. Lots of people are involved in this program. I hope it will grow and work in the future for all the people in all the world." For readers scoring at home, here is the time in space for each station component as of 7:32:57 a.m. today: DAYS...HH...MM...SS...MODULE 1000...04...52...30...Zarya module 986....02...57...23...Unity module (attached to Zarya) 400....06...36...21...Zvezda command module (attached to Zarya) 308....12...15...57...Z1 truss/PMA-3 (attached to Unity) 258....08...26...56...P6 solar arrays (attached to Z1 truss) 189....12...19...55...Destiny lab module (attached to Unity) 118....16...52...15...Robot arm (attached to Destiny) 035....02...28...58...Joint airlock (attached to Unity) Floating in the Zarya module's long central corridor, Culbertson said "the FGB is a small kernel that began the station. It's very useful to us, it joins the Russian segment and the U.S. segment very securely and soundly and is a very terrific foundation for the station." "We're very proud to be in it at this moment and wishing everybody happiness and congratulations on the first thousand days and we're looking forward to the next thousand days," Culbertson concluded. While Culbertson marked the station's anniversary, astronauts Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester, aboard shuttle Discovery, were gearing up to begin a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk around 10 a.m. to install an ammonia coolant refill system and an experiment package on the hull of the international space station. A second spacewalk is planned Saturday to install cabling needed by a truss scheduled for delivery early next year. Russian flight controllers, meanwhile, successfully completed work to load updated software into computers on the ground and a half dozen aboard the Russian segment of the station. Among other things, the new software provides additional command-and-control functions for a new Russian docking module scheduled for launch in mid September. Yesterday, it took ground controllers slightly longer than planned to reconfigure their systems in the wake of the software update. Anytime such software updates are carried out when a shuttle is docked, the shuttle takes over attitude control of the combined vehicles, using its steering jets to keep the "stack" properly oriented, while the computer work is carried out. Station flight director Mark Ferring said yesterday the shuttle maintained attitude control a bit longer than originally planned because of the computer work. Plenty of fuel was available and that was of no consequence. Overnight, the upgrade and system reconfiguration on the ground was completed and the station's gyroscopes resumed normal control of the lab's orientation. But a Reuters story yesterday said the station "was briefly set adrift ... by what appeared to be a computer glitch, but astronauts used jets on the space shuttle Discovery, which was docked to the station, to restore stable flight." The station was never "adrift" in any sense of the word. The shuttle was in control of its orientation at all times, which is routine during such a software upgrade. At a news briefing Wednesday, Ferring said the astronauts could have manually activated the station's gyroscopes at any time had there been any pressing need. There wasn't. Today's spacewalk will be the 108th by astronauts on U.S. missions, the 67th shuttle-based spacewalk and the 25th EVA devoted to space station assembly. Going into today's excursion, 23 U.S. astronauts, one Canadian and two Russian cosmonauts have logged 155 hours and 39 minutes building the international outpost. Here is a timeline of today's activity in EST and mission elapsed time: EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 05:10 AM...05...12...00...Shuttle crew wakeup 05:40 AM...05...12...30...Station crew wakeup 07:10 AM...05...14...00...Spacewalk preparations begin 07:10 AM...05...14...00...ISS: Daily planning conference 08:10 AM...05...15...00...Helms exercises 08:10 AM...05...15...00...PAO event with ISS-3 crew to mark 1,000 days in space for Zarya 08:40 AM...05...15...30...EVA-1: Spacesuit purge begins 08:45 AM...05...15...35...Usachev exercises 08:50 AM...05...15...40...ISS: Logistics transfer operations resume 10:00 AM...05...16...50...Robot arm powerup 10:05 AM...05...16...55...EVA-1: Airlock depressurization 10:15 AM...05...17...05...EVA-1: Airlock egress and sortie setup 10:45 AM...05...17...35...EVA-1: Ammonia system install (part 1) 10:45 AM...05...17...35...Shuttle cabin repressurized to 14.7 psi 11:40 AM...05...18...30...Voss exercises 11:45 AM...05...18...35...EVA-1: Ammonia system install (part 2) 01:10 PM...05...20...00...ISS: Lunch 01:10 PM...05...20...00...Voss and Usachev eat lunch 02:10 PM...05...21...00...ISS: Logistics transfers resume 02:45 PM...05...21...35...EVA-1: MISSE experiment installation 03:10 PM...05...22...00...Usachev exercises 03:40 PM...05...22...30...Voss exercises 04:00 PM...05...22...50...EVA-1: Cleanup activities 04:30 PM...05...23...20...Robot arm powerdown 04:30 PM...05...23...20...EVA-1: Airlock ingress 04:45 PM...05...23...35...EVA-1: Airlock repressurization 04:45 PM...05...23...35...Helms exercises 04:55 PM...05...23...45...Post-EVA spacesuit servicing 05:30 PM...06...00...20...Mission status briefing on NASA TV 06:10 PM...06...01...00...Hatches reopened between shuttle/station 07:15 PM...06...02...05...ISS: Daily planning conference 09:00 PM...06...03...50...Daily highlights reel airs on NASA TV 09:10 PM...06...04...00...STS/ISS crew sleep begins "The main goal for the first spacewalk is to place the Early Ammonia Servicer onto the space station from the shuttle payload bay," Barry said in a pre-flight NASA interview. "And what that device does is it provides a reservoir of coolant in case there's a leak of coolant onboard the space station. The coolant, which is ammonia, is vital to keeping the space station alive, because you have to be able to cool the instrumentation that is operating in station and the station itself using ammonia that goes through radiators." The station has two redundant ammonia coolant loops "but if there were to be a leak and it were to be severe enough to lose a significant amount of coolant, this device allows us to replenish that coolant," barry said. "The very first thing that we do when we come out the door of the airlock on the first space walk is that I come outside and we arrange a few tools," he continued. "And then go right over to starting to release the Early Ammonia Servicer from the structure that attaches it to the space shuttle. "Once we've actually released the Early Ammonia Servicer from the shuttle bay, the robot arm will lift it, along with Pat and I, up to the installation site, high up, on the zenith side of the space station," he said. "And, when we get up there, Pat and I will get off the robot arm, move into position, and then, since the shuttle arm can't quite reach to install this device completely, it will release the Early Ammonia Servicer into my hands. "And then Pat will give me directions, since I can't see to the other side of it, on how to manipulate it onto a pin, which will secure it in place on the space station. So that's really the primary task right off the bat. Once we've got the Early Ammonia Servicer safely tied down and secured to the station, we then need to hook up some heaters because it needs heat to stay alive in the environment of space." To hook up the heaters, Barry and Forrester will run long power cables from the servicer down to the Z1 truss, which is attached to the Unity module's upward facing hatch. "Following the Early Ammonia Servicer, we will go back down to the payload bay and we will pick up two devices that are going to look at the environment that the space station flies in," Barry aid. "Again, we will ride the robot arm, the shuttle robot arm back up onto the space station. Pat will place his device - his MISSE device - out on the airlock, and I will place mine on a tank also attached to the airlock." The MISSE science packages are about the size of suitcases. Each one contains about 1,500 samples of various materials that will be exposed to space for more than a year and then returned to Earth to study how they fared. "A future crew will go back up, close the boxes up and bring them down," Barry said. "And the idea is to understand how the space environment reacts with a variety of different types of materials to give insight into how to build future devices that will sit out there in space: cables, coverings, even, you know, structural elements. "Once we complete the MISSE task, that effectively wraps up our EVA 1. We will go back down to the payload bay. If there's time, we may take some photo documentation of the things that we did on that EVA. If not, the photo documentation can wait until the second EVA." 10:00 a.m., 08/16/01, Update: Station assembly spacewalk begins Floating in the shuttle Discovery's airlock, astronauts Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester switched their spacesuits to internal battery power at 9:58 a.m. today to officially begin a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk. 12:45 p.m., 08/16/01, Update: Ammonia reservoir installed Spacewalkers Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester have successfully attached a bulky ammonia tank to a truss on the international space station for use refilling the lab's coolant system if it ever springs a leak. After mounting the early ammonia servicer just below the station's main solar arrays, the astronauts began work to run power cables from the reservoir to connectors farther down the truss toward the main lab complex. The space station uses ammonia to carry the heat generated by the lab's electronics up to radiators just below the solar arrays. For redundancy, two independent coolant loops are available. But a space debris impact or a hit from a micrometeoroid could cause a leak at some point over the course of the station's life. The ammonia servicer installed today will allow future crews to refill a ruptured ammonia coolant loop assuming whatever caused the leak can be repaired. A reminder of the ever-present threat of debris impacts came up today when Barry described an impact puncture in a cold plate radiator first noticed during a station assembly mission last December. "I think it's a cold plate," he reported. "It's a mirror sort of structure sitting on the Z1 (truss) next to that handrail. It looks just like a debris hit. It's a one millimeter hole, it doesn't look like it's just on the surface, it looks like it's gone through. It has a crater around it with a diameter of approximately two to three millimeters and there's no indication of any contamination, release from inside or anything like that. It's just a bullet hole in the mirror." The spacewalk is proceeding smoothly with no problems of any significance. 04:30 p.m., 08/16/01, Update: Successful spacewalk ends Astronauts Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester began repressurizing the shuttle Discovery's airlock at 4:14 p.m. today, officially ending a virtually flawless six-hour 16-minute spacewalk to attach two science experiments and an ammonia coolant refill system to the international space station. This was the 25th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and all objectives were accomplished. Twenty-five NASA astronauts, one Canadian and two Russian cosmonauts have now logged 161 hours and 55 minutes in spacewalks devoted to building the space station. "It looked like a really good EVA so we're happy campers here," shuttle commander Scott "Doc" Horowitz radioed mission control. "Thanks a lot." =================================================================== Astronauts wrap up equipment transfers (08/17/01) The Discovery astronauts are racing the clock to complete initial space station resupply operations today before focusing on preparations for a spacewalk Saturday by astronauts Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester. NASA's mission management team met this morning and considered a possible one-day mission extension to give the crew more time to complete the resupply work. But in the end, the team decided to stick with the current flight plan while reserving the option to extend the flight depending on how the astronauts fare completing the resupply work. As it now stands, Barry and Forrester will begin their second and final spacewalk on schedule around 10 a.m. Saturday. Additional work to move supplies and equipment from the shuttle's crew cabin to the station would be carried out Sunday. If all goes well, Discovery will undock from the station on Monday and land back at the Kennedy Space Center next Wednesday. Later today, Barry and Forrester, assisted by shuttle pilot Frederick Sturckow, will put station resupply work on hold and spend several hours preparing their spacesuits and tools for Saturday's excursion. The combined space station-shuttle crews will hold an in-flight news conference at 3:15 p.m. followed by a formal change-of-command ceremony aboard the space station at 4 p.m. Expedition Three commander Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin technically took over from Expedition Two commander Yury Usachev, James Voss and Susan Helms on Monday. Today's ceremony will make that official. Shortly before 6 p.m., the shuttle astronauts will exit the station, hatches will be closed and Discovery's cabin air pressure lowered from 14.7 psi to 10.2 psi. This is a standard pre-spacewalk procedure to help Barry and Forrester purge nitrogen from their bloodstreams before donning their 5-psi spacesuits Saturday. Here's an updated timeline of today's activity: EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 05:10 AM...06...12...00...STS crew wakeup 05:40 AM...06...12...30...ISS: Crew wakeup 07:10 AM...06...14...00...ISS: Daily planning conference 08:10 AM...06...15...00...ISS: Handover activities (all day) 08:10 AM...06...15...00...Reboost operations 08:10 AM...06...15...00...Helms exercises on the station treadmill 08:25 AM...06...15...15...Logistics transfers resume 08:35 AM...06...15...25...Forrester exercises 09:00 AM...06...15...50...ISS: Logistics transfers resume 09:55 AM...06...16...45...Voss exercises on the station treadmill 10:15 AM...06...17...05...Horowitz exercises 10:25 AM...06...17...15...ISS: H-reflex experiment data takes 10:55 AM...06...17...45...Barry exercises 11:55 AM...06...18...45...Middeck prepared for Saturday's spacewalk 12:10 PM...06...19...00...Media event with Russian crew members 12:25 PM...06...19...15...SAFER jet backpack checkout 01:10 PM...06...20...00...STS/ISS joint meal 02:00 PM...06...20...50...Mission status briefing on NASA TV 02:10 PM...06...21...00...Spacewalk tools configured 03:15 PM...06...22...05...Joint crew news conference 03:45 PM...06...22...35...Joint crew photo 04:00 PM...06...22...50...PAO event: ISS change-of-command ceremony 04:10 PM...06...23...00...Spacewalk procedures review 05:10 PM...07...00...00...Sturckow exercises 05:40 PM...07...00...30...ISS: Daily planning conference 05:55 PM...07...00...45...Space station egress; hatches closed 05:55 PM...07...00...45...Voss exercises 06:20 PM...07...01...10...Shuttle cabin depressurized to 10.2 psi 06:50 PM...07...01...40...Helms exercises 09:10 PM...07...04...00...STS/IS crew sleep begins =================================================================== Astronauts stage second spacewalk (08/18/01) 08:45 a.m., 08/18/01, Update: Second spacewalk to install power cables Astronauts Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester are gearing up to begin a planned five-and-a-half-hour spacewalk today to install electrical cables on the hull of the international space station. The cables will be needed early next year during assembly mission 8A to power heaters on a new truss segment. While the flight plan calls for the spacewalk to begin at 10:15 a.m., the astronauts are running about a half-hour ahead of schedule. "The primary task that we have on EVA 2 is to deploy two long cables, two long electrical cables along the laboratory module," Barry said in a pre-flight NASA interview. "Each cable is about 45 feet long; one goes straight down the starboard side of the lab Destiny, the other goes straight down the port side from the forward end to the aft end. "The purpose of these cables is to supply power for a future module that 8A will be bringing up (next year). And, in fact, the cables may not ever get used. The issue for the 8A truss is that it will have to be deployed in a fairly short period of time. If the device that they're bringing up, this big truss with many different types of avionics boxes onboard, stays un-powered for too long, the devices inside will be damaged. So should 8A run into trouble during their space walk and be unable to get the truss completely installed, these cables provide an emergency source of power. "The process of installing them requires us to put handrails in place on the laboratory module, again along the port and starboard side, a total of about eleven or twelve handrails. Once we put those handrails in place, we have a place to tie the cable to. So we'll put the handrails down and then we'll take these cables and run them along the handrails. We'll hook the cables up to three connectors on the starboard side, one connector on the port side on the forward end of the lab. The other end of the cables we're going to leave attached to the space station in bags for 8A to use in a location that's convenient for them should the need arise." Here's an updated timeline of today's activities, including changes from revision I of the NASA TV schedule (in EDT and mission elapsed time): EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 05:10 AM...07...12...00...STS crew wakeup 05:40 AM...07...12...30...ISS: Crew wakeup 07:10 AM...07...14...00...ISS: Daily planning conference 07:10 AM...07...14...00...EVA-2: Preparations begin 08:10 AM...07...15...00...Helms exercises 08:10 AM...07...15...00...ISS: Logistics transfers resume 08:30 AM...07...15...20...PAO event: Tyurin 08:40 AM...07...15...30...EVA-2: Spacesuit purge 09:00 AM...07...15...50...ISS: H-reflex experiment work begins 09:10 AM...07...16...00...Usachev exercises 10:00 AM...07...16...50...Robot arm powerup 10:05 AM...07...16...55...EVA-2: Airlock depressurization 10:15 AM...07...17...05...EVA-2: Airlock egress 10:45 AM...07...17...35...Shuttle cabin repressurized to 14.7 psi 10:45 AM...07...17...35...EVA-2: S0 truss cable transfer and prep work 11:00 AM...07...17...50...ISS: Logistics transfers resume 11:40 AM...07...18...30...Voss exercises 12:15 PM...07...19...05...EVA-2: S0 truss power cable installation 01:10 PM...07...20...00...ISS: Meals begin 01:10 PM...07...20...00...Voss and Usachev eat lunch 02:10 PM...07...21...00...ISS: CPA installation 02:15 PM...07...21...05...EVA-2: Sortie cleanup 03:30 PM...07...22...20...RMS powerdown 03:30 PM...07...22...20...EVA-2: Airlock ingress 03:45 PM...07...22...35...EVA-2: Airlock repressurization 03:55 PM...07...22...45...Post EVA spacesuit servicing 04:05 PM...07...22...55...ISS: Leonardo cleanup 05:00 PM...07...23...50...Mission status briefing on NASA TV 05:05 PM...07...23...55...ISS: Configure MPLM RACS entry 05:10 PM...08...00...00...Space station ingress 05:35 PM...08...00...25...Shuttle middeck supply transfers resume 07:10 PM...08...02...00...ISS: Daily planning conference 09:00 PM...08...03...50...Daily highlights reel airs on NASA TV 09:10 PM...08...04...00...STS/ISS crew sleep begins Here's a blow-by-blow description of the major activity in today's spacewalk: "When we first come out of the airlock, basically I'm the bag man," Barry said. "Pat Forester will hand out to me a total of four bags. Two bags that contain the cables that I've been talking about and two bags that contain handrails that we will be placing. So I'll attach all four of those bags to the robot arm. "Then, Pat will come out of the airlock and he will come on the robot arm. So, EV 1 (Barry) and EV 2 (Forrester) and four bags will all be, kind of, together on the robot arm right off the bat, and we will come out of the payload bay up to a point where we will be able to get off the arm and onto the laboratory Module. "Once we're on the laboratory Module, Pat and I will take the two big cable bags and put them in place where they need to be for when it's time to deploy the cables. Then, we'll come back, and each of us will take a handrail bag, Pat will have five handrails and I'll have six and we will go through the process of laying down the handrails. I will put them down on the starboard side, and Pat will put them down on the port side. "Once we've completed the handrail installation, Pat will come over to the starboard side and we'll go to where I had placed the bag," Barry said. "He will release the straps that hold the bag down and hand it to me and I will be in place on the starboard side of handrails. The cable itself on the starboard side has sort of three components to it. Two components we're gonna leave in bags, and one component is the cable that we're gonna run down the handrails. So really, I will tend and hold onto the cable that's gonna run down the handrails while Pat does this process of unfolding the two bags and getting the straps off and basically moving one of those two bags over into its position. "Then, he'll come join me and the two of us will tend this forty-five foot-long cable together as we lay it along the handrails. I will then, once we have it all laid out, go and connect three connectors on the forward on the lab and that will effectively complete the installation of the starboard cable. We'll tend it up and make sure that it doesn't get in the way of other objects or having a loop that's way out into space. "Once it's properly, configured, we'll then go and do effectively the same thing on the port side switching roles. I'll go over to the bag stowage location, Pat will go down to the handrails, I'll unstrap the cable from the bag, hand it to him, go down and join him, and we will run that cable down. He'll connect the single connector on that cable at the forward end on the port side of the lab and that effectively completes both cable tasks and is the major objective of EVA 2." 09:45 a.m., 08/18/01, Update: Spacewalk begins Astronauts Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester switched their spacesuits to internal battery power at 9:42 a.m. today to officially begin a planned five-and-a-half-hour spacewalk. This is the 109th spacewalk during a U.S. mission and the 26th devoted to space station assembly. Going into today's outing, 23 Americans, one Canadian and two Russian cosmonauts had logged 161 hours and 51 minutes building and maintaining the international outpost. 04:30 p.m., 08/18/01, Update: Successful spacewalk ends with all objectives accomplished Astronauts Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester began repressurizing the shuttle Discovery's airlock at 3:11 p.m. to officially close out a five-hour 29-minute spacewalk. The astronauts successfully installed handrails on the exterior of the international space station's Destiny lab module and ran two 45-foot-long emergency power cables for a truss component scheduled for delivery early next year. With the completion of today's spacewalk, 26 U.S., Canadian and Russian fliers have logged 167 hours and 20 minutes building the international space station. See the EVA stats page for updated statistics. With Barry and Forrester back in the shuttle's airlock, Discovery skipper Scott "Doc" Horowitz planned to reopen hatches leading into the space station around 4:30 p.m. to continue transferring supplies and equipment. Flight director Kelly Beck said the crew is virtually finished repacking the Leonardo cargo canister with trash and no-longer-needed station equipment bound for Earth. If all goes well, the cargo module will be detached from the station Sunday and reberthed in Discovery's cargo bay. "Tonight they'll be doing their last bit of transfer and preparation for MPLM (Leonardo) final closeout tomorrow," said Beck. "So tomorrow, we'll do that closeout, we will demate the MPLM from the station, put it back in the payload bay and we'll also be completing transfer and handover activities. All in all, we had a very good day today and we look forward to the rest of the flight." =================================================================== Leonardo module reberthed aboard Discovery (08/19/01) The Discovery astronauts are gearing up this morning to detach the Leonardo cargo module from the international space station. Loaded with some 2,300 pounds of trash and no-longer-needed station equipment, Leonardo will be reberthed in Discovery's cargo bay for return to Earth Wednesday. Other activities today include a final bit of equipment transfer from the shuttle's middeck to the station; replacement of the motor in the station's treadmill exercise machine; and laptop computer setup for the shuttle's undocking Monday. Astronaut Patrick Forrester, operating Discovery's 50-foot-long robot arm, plans to grapple the Italian-built Leonardo module around 11:30 a.m. But he will not actually begin moving it to its mounting point in the shuttle's cargo bay until around 1:25 p.m. Forrester and Daniel Barry will field questions from Space.com, WVEC-TV and the Springfield, Va., Times at 6:05 p.m. Crew sleep begins at 8:40 p.m. and NASA's daily video highlights reel will begin airing at 9 p.m., repeating on the hour overnight. Today's mission status briefing has been canceled. Here is an updated flight plan for today's activities (in EDT and mission elapsed time): EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 05:10 AM...08...12...00...STS crew wakeup 05:40 AM...08...12...30...ISS: Crew wakeup 07:10 AM...08...14...00...ISS: Daily planning conference 07:55 AM...08...14...45...MPLM egress 08:10 AM...08...15...00...ISS: Handover activities (all day) 08:10 AM...08...15...00...Middeck transfers continue 08:10 AM...08...15...00...Voss exercises 08:10 AM...08...15...00...MPLM deactivation 08:15 AM...08...15...05...Spacesuit reconfiguration block C 08:30 AM...08...15...20...MPLM vestibule configured for undocking 09:10 AM...08...16...00...TVIS motor replacement 09:35 AM...08...16...25...EVA tools transfer 09:35 AM...08...16...25...Sturckow exercises 09:40 AM...08...16...30...Helms exercises 10:00 AM...08...16...50...Vestibule depressurization 10:15 AM...08...17...05...PILOT operations (Horowitz) 10:45 AM...08...17...35...RMS powerup 11:10 AM...08...18...00...ITCS/LTL sampling 11:30 AM...08...18...20...RMS grapples MPLM 11:50 AM...08...18...40...Node 1 CBM demate 12:00 PM...08...18...50...Horowitz exercises 01:10 PM...08...20...00...Voss exercises on the station treadmill 01:25 PM...08...20...15...MPLM uninstall 02:05 PM...08...20...55...MPLM berthing in shuttle payload bay 02:40 PM...08...21...30...RMS ungrapples MPLM 02:55 PM...08...21...45...RMS powerdown 03:15 PM...08...22...05...Crew meal 04:45 PM...08...23...35...Rendezvous computer setup 04:45 PM...08...23...35...Forrester exercises 04:45 PM...08...23...35...Helms exercises on the station treadmill 05:20 PM...09...00...10...Rendezvous tools checkout 05:45 PM...09...00...35...Usachev exercises on the station treadmill 06:05 PM...09...00...55...PAO event: Forrester and Barry (on NASA TV) 06:40 PM...09...01...30...ISS: Daily planning conference 08:40 PM...09...03...30...STS/ISS crew sleep begins 09:00 PM...09...03...50...Daily video highlights reel airs Revision K of the NASA television schedule is posted below. =================================================================== Discovery undocks from space station (08/20/01) 09:00 a.m., 08/20/01, Update: Station crew bids farewell The international space station's new crew bid their predecessors farewell today, sealed hatches between the lab and the shuttle Discovery and prepared for the orbiter's undocking at 10:52 a.m. Floating in the Destiny laboratory module, shuttle commander Scott "Doc" Horowitz, pilot Frederick Sturckow, Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester looked on as incoming Expedition Three commander Frank Culbertson and his crewmates - Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin - make their formal goodbyes. "It's time to say goodbye station and good luck new crew," said outgoing station commander Yury Usachev. "I'd like to say thanks to all the people who supported our mission in Moscow and Houston and Huntsville. Thank you very much and we'll see you soon." Usachev and his Expedition Two crewmates, Susan Helms and James Voss, were launched to the station on March 8. When they land Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center, they will have logged 167 days five hours and seven minutes off the planet. "This is a very important day for everybody in here," Culbertson said this morning. "It's a very proud day for Scott, Rick, Dan and Pat as they finish a very successful shuttle mission. And it's a very emotional day for Yury, Jim and Susan as they're leaving what's been their home for over five months. It's a very significant and challenging day for myself, Vladimir and Mikhail as we begin our new mission." "We wish you soft landings," Culbertson said to Horowitz. "Yury, Jim and Susan, I know it's a tough day, I know it's hard to say goodbye. But we really, really are proud of all you have done. We will do our best to keep up the good tradition you have started and to maintain just as high a standard of excellence if we can. Thank you very much for what you've done." Said Horowitz: "We wish them a great journey as they continue in the exploration of space that will sometime take mankind out through the solar system and beyond." With pilot Sturckow at the controls, Discovery is scheduled to undock from a port on the front of the Destiny lab module at 10:52 a.m. as the two spacecraft approach the southern coast of Chile. Sturckow will fly the shuttle to a point about 450 feet directly in front of the lab and then begin a slow loop that will carry Discovery to points directly above, behind, below and back in front of the station. After moving on to a point directly above the outpost, Sturckow will fire maneuvering jets at 12:12 p.m. to leave the lab behind for good. "As the pilot, I'll be flying the space shuttle Discovery as we back away from the space station," Sturckow said in a pre-flight NASA interview. "We'll move out to about 400 feet, and then we will fly around it and attempt to photograph - in daylight - all sides of the space station. "These photographs are very important for not only general publicity purposes, but we've actually used similar photographs," he added. "During our training, we'll pull out fly-around photos and see the exact configuration of different cables, for example. " Here's a detailed timeline for the rest of today's activity (in EDT and mission elapsed time): EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 09:05 AM...09...15...55...Helms exercises 09:20 AM...09...16...10...Group B computer powerup 10:05 AM...09...16...55...Undocking operations begin 10:47 AM...09...17...37...Station solar array feathering complete 10:50 AM...09...17...40...Sunrise 10:51 AM...09...17...41...Discovery undocks from the space station 10:52 AM...09...17...42...Orbiter separation pulse 10:53 AM...09...17...43...ISS holds current attitude 10:55 AM...09...17...45...Range: 50 feet 10:56 AM...09...17...46...Range: 75 feet 11:16 AM...09...18...06...Range: 450 feet; start fly around 11:19 AM...09...18...09...Orbital noon 11:25 AM...09...18...15...Minus r-bar crossing (shuttle above ISS) 11:36 AM...09...18...26...Russian ground station contact 11:37 AM...09...18...27...Minus v-bar crossing (shuttle behind ISS) 11:42 AM...09...18...32...Russian ground station loss of contact 11:47 AM...09...18...37...Sunset 11:50 AM...09...18...40...Plus r-bar crossing (shuttle below ISS) 12:00 PM...09...18...50...Plus v-bar crossing (shuttle ahead of ISS) 12:12 PM...09...19...02...Minus r-bar crossing (shuttle above ISS) 12:12 PM...09...19...02...Final separation burn 12:12 PM...09...19...02...Group B computer powerdown 12:23 PM...09...19...13...Sunrise 12:40 PM...09...19...30...Crew meal 01:00 PM...09...19...50...Mission status briefing on NASA TV 01:40 PM...09...20...30...Cabin stow begins 02:00 PM...09...20...50...PILOT landing simulator practice 02:05 PM...09...20...55...Simplesat launch 02:20 PM...09...21...10...Voss exercises 02:50 PM...09...21...40...Barry exercises 03:50 PM...09...22...40...CBS Radio/AP crew interviews (on NASA TV) 04:10 PM...09...23...00...Usachev exercises 04:15 PM...09...23...05...Orbit adjust rocket firing 04:35 PM...09...23...25...Helms exercises 08:00 PM...10...02...50...Daily video highlights reel airs 08:10 PM...10...03...00...Crew sleep begins If all goes well, Atlantis will return to Earth Wednesday, landing at the Kennedy Space Center around 12:46 p.m. Here's an updated timeline of landing opportunities Wednesday and Thursday at Kennedy and at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. (all times EDT): ORBIT...ENTRY BURN...LANDING......SITE WEDNESDAY 185.....11:41 a.m....12:46 p.m....Kennedy Space Center 186.....01:12 p.m....02:17 p.m....Edwards Air Force Base 186.....01:18 p.m....02:23 p.m....KSC 187.....02:48 p.m....03:53 p.m....Edwards THURSDAY 200.....10:43 a.m....11:48 a.m....KSC 201.....12:19 p.m....01:24 p.m....KSC 202.....01:50 p.m....02:55 p.m....Edwards 203.....03:27 p.m....04:32 p.m....Edwards While NASA does not normally activate its Edwards landing team for a returning shuttle's first entry opportunity, mission managers are keeping open the option to staff Edwards Wednesday depending on the progress and impact of tropical storm Chantal. 11:00 a.m., 08/20/01, Update: Discovery undocks from space station The shuttle Discovery undocked from the international space station today at 10:52 a.m. As Discovery slowly pulled away, new space station commander Frank Culbertson radioed a final farewell to his departing crewmates. "Thanks a lot, guys, see you later," he called. "Thanks, Frank. Have a great mission," replied shuttle skipper Scott "Doc" Horowitz. "Thank you. And have a wonderful landing." "You bet." With pilot Frederick Sturckow at the controls, Discovery slowly pulled back toward a point aboug 450 feet directly ahead and slightly above the station. He planned to fly the orbiter in a slow loop around the station before departing the area shortly after noon. "Yury, Jim, Susan, dasvidanya," Culbertson radioed to the station's departing Expedition Two crew. "Thanks Frank, and good luck," said Expedition Two commander Yury Usachev. 05:00 p.m., 08/20/01, Update: Astronauts subdued leaving space station; difficult rehabilitation ahead Astronaut Susan Helms says leaving the international space station after a five-and-a-half-month stay proved more difficult, emotionally, than she expected. "It was very difficult," she told CBS Radio during an in-flight interview today. "I was of the mindset that we would be up here six months and I also was of the mindset that six months would be just about right. But to tell you the truth, we were just under six months and I still have this nagging feeling it was a little bit too short. "So today was probably one of the more difficult days I've had on space station where I actually had to turn my back on what has become a very comfortable home. As you would in any home that you've become used to, it is difficult to say goodbye." Helms, James Voss and Expedition Two commander Yury Usachev will return to Earth Wednesday after 167 days in space. They were replaced aboard the space station by Expedition Three commander Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin. Once back on terra firma, Usachev, Helms and Voss will spend a day at the Kennedy Space Center before flying back to Houston to begin extensive medical tests, rehabilitation and debriefs about life aboard the international space station. Voss said he's optimistic he'll be strong enough to walk off the shuttle, saying the crew's daily exercise program kept them in reasonably good shape. "We've all been exercising a lot up here, especially on the treadmill," he said. "We've been running and walking for a little over an hour every day. And this seems to be doing very well because the shuttle crew came up, said that the treadmill exercises we were doing were quite tiring. So we're pleased to hear that because it sounds like the countermeasures we're doing are working." As of today, Usachev has logged 550 days in space during four space voyages, including two long-duration stays aboard the old Russian Mir space station. Voss said the veteran Russian cosmonaut has advised his American crewmates to be patient in the rehabilitation process. "Yury has talked about that extensively," Voss said. "Around our table in the evenings we would talk about different things and about our return to the ground and one of those things is our rehabilitation. He encourages us to take it easy, don't be in a big rush. "There is a big physiological change to the human body that happens when we go to space and when we come back after a long time and I guess his watchword is just to take our time and to take it easy." Usachev, Voss and Helms will make the return to Earth resting on their backs in cushioned recliners bolted to the floor of the shuttle's lower deck. Their four shuttle crewmates - commander Scott "Doc" Horowitz, pilot Frederick Sturckow, Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester - will be seated on Discovery's flight deck. In past missions, a shuttle astronaut rode home on the lower deck with the returning long-duration crew. This time around, Horowitz decided to keep his flight deck crew together for launch and landing. "The Expedition Two crew, as you can tell, is feeling in great shape and we don't expect them to have any problems in re-entry," Horowitz said. "If they did want the assistance of a medical person, that would be my MS-2, Dr. Dan Barry, so we could send him downstairs if they needed some assistance with anything. But we don't expect any problems and we expect it'll actually make egress from the shuttle after we land much easier because there will be an open area near the exit of the shuttle where their seats are down on the middeck." Once back in Houston, the Expedition Two crew faces weeks of medical tests and rehabilitation. Voss said he hopes "we'll be able to go home, be with our families and then do our medical testing during the day." "We have about a six-hour work day including our rehabilitation and all of the debriefings we'll do, plus our medical tests that we'll complete," he said. "Then we have a couple of months total of debriefs, travel to different centers and other place like that, public relations visits, before we'll get a little bit of time off." At a mission status briefing earlier today, NASA managers declared Discovery's mission a complete success. Along with transferring a new crew to the outpost, the shuttle fliers delivered 9,700 pounds of supplies and equipment and nearly 1,000 pounds of fresh water. Discovery will return to Earth Wednesday carrying some 3,700 pounds of trash and other no-longer-needed equipment. "If you look at how much we transferred to the ISS, including water, was about 10,600 pounds and if you include all the hardware we transferred back and forth it was about 14,400 pounds," said launch package manager Sharon Castle. "And of that, we had about 900 pounds of food that we took up, about 900 pounds of clothing and other provisions. "We took systems spares and we took seven payloads in support of Increment Three. And down from ISS, we are taking empty food containers that we will recycle, clothes that we will also recycle, about 900 pounds of Russian hardware that's going to be refurbished and six payloads along with their data for the scientists on the ground." James Van Laak, manager of operations and integration for the station program, praised the combined crews and engineers on the ground for the "very successful completion of this first mission in Phase Three of the space station assembly program." =================================================================== Astronauts test re-entry systems (08/21/01) Shuttle commander Scott "Doc" Horowitz and pilot Frederick Sturckow tested Discovery's re-entry systems today while their crewmates packed up laptop computers and other equipment for landing Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center. If all goes well, Horowitz will fire Discovery's twin orbital maneuvering system braking rockets at 11:37:14 a.m. Wednesday for a landing on runway 33 at 12:45:56 p.m. to close out a 12-day mission spanning 4.9 million miles and 185 complete orbits since blastoff Aug. 10. There are no technical problems and the forecast for entry is generally favorable. Here are all the landing opportunities for Wednesday and Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center and Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. (all times EDT): ORBIT.....DEORBIT BURN...LANDING........SITE 185.......11:37 a.m......12:46 p.m......Kennedy Space Center 186.......01:17 p.m......02:23 p.m......KSC 187.......02:45 p.m......03:53 p.m......Edwards Air Force Base 188.......04:25 p.m......05:30 p.m......Edwards 200.......10:43 a.m......11:48 a.m......KSC 201.......12:20 p.m......01:25 p.m......KSC 202.......01:50 p.m......02:56 p.m......Edwards 203.......03:27 p.m......04:32 p.m......Edwards A detailed forecast and updating landing numbers, if available, will be posted here after today's mission status briefing. Earlier today, at 5:24 a.m., an unmanned Russian Progress 5P spacecraft loaded with supplies bound for the international space station was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. At 2:05 a.m. Wednesday, the Progress 4P vehicle, currently docked to the station and loaded with trash, will be detached for a fiery plunge back into the atmosphere to make room for the 5P vehicle. Docking is targeted for 5:59 a.m. Thursday. The Discovery astronauts spent the morning testing the shuttle's re-entry systems, firing up one of the ship's hydraulic power units and test firing the orbiter's steering jets to make sure they will be ready for use Wednesday. The returning space station astronauts - Expedition Two commander Yury Usachev, Susan Helms and James Voss - will make the trip back to Earth after 167 days in weightlessness resting on their backs in cushioned recliners on the shuttle's lower deck. The astronauts plan to install those seats later today. The Expedition Two crew also will check out their entry suits to regain a bit of familiarity with donning and operating the bulky pressure suits. The trio will field questions from CNN, WMAQ-TV and KPTV-TV at 11:30 a.m. Otherwise, the astronauts will enjoy a half-day off today before turning in around 8:10 p.m. Here is an updated timeline of today's activity: EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 04:10 AM...10...11...00...Crew wakeup 06:05 AM...10...12...55...Horowitz exercises 07:10 AM...10...14...00...Flight control system checkout 07:10 AM...10...14...00...ISS-2 crew launch and entry suit checkout 08:10 AM...10...15...00...Cabin stow resumes 08:20 AM...10...15...10...Steering rockets test firing 08:40 AM...10...15...30...Voss exercises 08:40 AM...10...15...30...Laptop computer stow (part 1) 09:10 AM...10...16...00...Helms exercises 09:20 AM...10...16...10...PILOT landing simulator practice 09:20 AM...10...16...10...Crew off-duty time begins 09:40 AM...10...16...30...Usachev exercises 11:10 AM...10...18...00...Forrester exercises 11:30 AM...10...18...20...Media interviews with Voss, Helms, Usachev 11:45 AM...10...18...35...L-1 communications check (part 1) 12:10 PM...10...19...00...Crew meal 01:10 PM...10...20...00...Crew off-duty time continues 01:10 PM...10...20...00...Voss exercises 01:15 PM...10...20...05...L-1 communications check (part 2) 01:40 PM...10...20...30...Helms exercises 02:10 PM...10...21...00...Usachev exercises 02:30 PM...10...21...20...Mission status briefing on NASA TV 02:50 PM...10...21...40...L-1 communications check (part 3) 03:30 PM...10...22...20...Ergometer stow 04:00 PM...10...22...50...KU-band antenna stow 04:05 PM...10...22...55...Recumbent seat setup 04:40 PM...10...23...30...Deorbit review 08:00 PM...11...02...50...Daily video highlights reel airs 08:10 PM...11...03...00...Crew sleep begins =================================================================== Shuttle returns to Earth (08/22/01) 07:45 a.m., 08/22/01, Update: Shuttle crew prepares for landing The Discovery astronauts are gearing up for re-entry and landing today, leaving a fresh crew behind on the international space station and bringing their three predecessors back to the uncomfortable tug of Earth's gravity after 167 days in weightlessness. Commander Scott "Doc" Horowitz and pilot Frederick Sturckow plan to fire Discovery's twin orbital maneuvering system braking rockets at 11:36:48 a.m., setting up a touchdown on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center around 12:46 p.m. Forecasters predict good weather, with partly cloudy skies and light winds. Rain does not appear to be a threat. But there is a chance for showers to develop within 30 nautical miles of the shuttle's three-mile-long runway later in the day as hot air over the mainland interacts with an expected sea breeze blowing in off the ocean. Discovery's crew has two landing opportunities on successive orbits, but flight director John Shannon said Tuesday forecasters think their best chance is to get down on the first opportunity. "It is pretty typical of what you would expect to see on an August afternoon in Florida," he said. "The weather forecasters are saying that our first opportunity to the Kennedy Space Center should be better than the second. As the day goes along and the heating builds up, that sea breeze front that typically forms around the landing facility will start to fire up and a lot of the things we saw happen during the launch count will begin to occur and we should start seeing some thunderstorms as it gets later in the day." Here is a detailed timeline of events leading up to the first landing opportunity: 07:36 AM......Begin deorbit timeline 07:51 AM......Radiator stow 08:01 AM......Mission specialists seat installation 08:07 AM......Computers set for deorbit prep 08:11 AM......Hydraulic system configuration 08:36 AM......Flash evaporator checkout 08:42 AM......Final payload deactivation 08:56 AM......Payload bay doors closed 09:06 AM......Mission control 'go' for OPS-3 entry software load 09:16 AM......OPS-3 software loaded 09:41 AM......Entry switchlist verification 09:51 AM......Crew entry review 10:11 AM......Commander, pilot don entry suits 10:28 AM......Inertial measurement unit alignment 10:36 AM......Commander, pilot strap in; MS suit don 10:53 AM......Shuttle steering check 10:56 AM......Hydraulic power system prestart 11:03 AM......Toilet deactivation 11:11 AM......Payload bay vent doors closed for entry 11:16 AM......Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn 11:22 AM......Mission specialists seat ingress 11:31 AM......Single hydraulic power unit start 11:36:48 AM...Deorbit ignition 11:38:15 AM...TDRS-West comsat acquisition of signal 11:40:02 AM...Deorbit burn complete 12:14:06 PM...The shuttle hits the discernible atmosphere 12:18:58 PM...75-degree left roll command 12:26:00 PM...55-degree left roll command 12:39:27 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 12:41:28 PM...Velocity less than mach 1 12:42:02 PM...Shuttle circles to line up on runway 33 12:45:56 PM...Landing Discovery blasted off Aug. 10 to ferry a fresh crew to the international space station - Expedition Three commander Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin - along with about five tons of fresh water, supplies and equipment. The station's departing crew, Expedition Two commander Yury Usachev, James Voss and Susan Helms, will ride back to Earth reclining on cushioned chairs bolted to the floor of Discovery's lower deck. A team of U.S. and Russian flight surgeons will be standing by to assess their health. Usachev, Voss and Helms were launched March 8. Assuming an on-time landing, they will have logged 167 days and five hours off planet. Of that total, the trio spent 148 days 17 hours as the station's prime crew. Overall, Usachev will have logged 552 days in space during four missions, including two long-duration stays aboard the Russian Mir space station. Voss will have 202 days in space to his credit while Helms will have 213 days. Both are completing their fifth space mission. All three station fliers will fly back to the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday to begin an extensive rehabilitation program to help them re-adapt to the pull of gravity. "Every individual responds to the return to gravity in different ways," said NASA flight surgeon Teddy Taddeo. "Some people have more vestibular effects, some people have more orthostatic problems. So just being in one G is going to be rehabilitation in and of itself. "But we tend to break it down into one week increments," he said. "The first week is going to involve some fairly light workouts for them. So they'll be doing some jogging in the pool, they'll be doing some active and passive stretching, they'll be getting some massage for muscle soreness because simply walking around in one G, despite the fact they've been doing some exercise in orbit, they're still going to be straining some muscles they haven't used in a while. "They'll be able to do some (stationary) cycling as well," he said. "You ramp up as you go along. The second week, we might start some lap swimming in the pool, we may start some more vigorous walking. We will start some very lightweight resistive exercises, doing some squats, that sort of thing." After about one month, "you can start thinking about some light jogging, adding some additional weight to your resistive regime," Taddeo said. "It's just a ramp up over those 45 days. We're going to tailor it to the individual. Some people may make faster progress, some people may make slower progress." While many long-duration astronauts regain lost muscle mass in short order, it takes many months to recover loss bone mass. "So we need to make sure we follow them six months out, a year out, 18 months out, to be sure they've actually recovered the minerals in their skeleton they've lost while being in space," Taddeo said. But no medial testing or experiments per se are planned. Any of the returning Expedition Two crew members can attempt to walk off the shuttle if they wish, although personnel will be standing by to assist them if necessary. Once back in Houston, Voss will return home while Helms, who gave up her apartment before launch, will move into an apartment with her father. Usachev will stay at NASA crew quarters in Houston for three to four days and then move into a local apartment with Russian flight surgeons and support personnel. He plans to fly back to Moscow in about two weeks. All three crew members exercised vigorously in orbit and Voss said Monday he does not expect any significant problems re-adapting to gravity. It will just take time. "We've all been exercising a lot up here, especially on the treadmill," he said. "We've been running and walking for a little over an hour every day. And this seems to be doing very well because the shuttle crew came up, said that the treadmill exercises we were doing were quite tiring. So we're pleased to hear that because it sounds like the countermeasures we're doing are working." Taddeo agreed, but he said it will take several months for the astronauts to regain their pre-launch health and strength. "Generally, people say they're feeling pretty good by just a couple of days out," he said. "But they'll tell you they've still got some muscle soreness and they may be walking funny. But they're starting to feel back to normal even just a couple of days after being back on Earth again. "People don't really start feeling like their old selves again and being able to exercise like they could until really several weeks or months out. Again, it depends on the individual. But most people don't really start feeling strong again until maybe two to three months out." 11:15 a.m., 08/22/01, Update: Shuttle landing delayed one orbit A persistent rain shower just south of the shuttle runway at the Kennedy Space Center forced NASA managers to delay the shuttle Discovery's return to Earth by one orbit in hopes conditions will improve. Commander Scott Horowitz and pilot Frederick Sturckow now plan to fire Discovery's twin braking rockets at 1:15:09 p.m . for a landing around 2:23 p.m. Here's a revised timeline of re-entry events (exact landing time, exact duration of deorbit burn TBD): 12:55 PM......Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn 01:01 PM......Mission specialists seat ingress 01:10 PM......Single hydraulic power unit start 01:15:09 PM...Deorbit ignition 01:19:34 PM...Shuttle in range of NASA comsat 01:18:16 PM...Deorbit ignition complete 01:51:19 PM...Discovery falls into the discernible atmosphere 01:56:06 PM...77-degree left roll command 02:12:20 PM...33-degree roll reversal 02:16:43 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 02:18:48 PM...Velocity less than mach 1 02:19:47 PM...Shuttle banks to line up on runway 33 02:23:00 PM...Landing 01:20 p.m., 08/22/01, Update: Shuttle braking rockets fired Flying upside down and backward over the Indian Ocean, commander Scott "Doc" Horowitz and pilot Frederick Sturckow fired the shuttle Discovery's twin orbital maneuvering system braking rockets at 1:15:09 p.m., slowing the ship by about 216 mph and setting up a landing at the Kennedy Space Center at 2:23 p.m. Entry flight director John Shannon made the decision to proceed with a one-orbit-late entry after rain showers that blocked the crew's initial entry attempt began dissipating. The crew currently is targeting a landing on runway 15, but Shannon could opt to send the crew to runway 33 depending on cloud cover and sun glare. This status report will be updated after landing or as conditions warrant. 04:00 p.m., 08/22/01, Update: Shuttle Discovery glides to smooth landing Running one orbit late, the shuttle Discovery dropped through a partly cloudy sky to a smooth touchdown on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center today, bringing three space station astronauts back to Earth after five-and-a-half months in weightlessness. With commander Scott "Doc" Horowitz at the controls, Discovery glided to a high-speed touchdown at 2:22:58 p.m. to wrap up a 12-day, 4.9-million-mile voyage spanning 186 complete orbits since launch Aug. 10 from nearby pad 39A. "Houston, Discovery is wheels stopped. And for transfer, items 106, 107 and 108 are complete," Horowitz radioed from the runway, jokingly referring to Expedition Two space station commander Yury Usachev, Susan Helms and James Voss. "Welcome home to all of you and especially Yury, Susan and Jim, it's great to have you back on Earth," replied astronaut Kenneth Cockrell from Houston. Mission duration was 11 days 21 hours 12 minutes and 44 seconds. "This flight has been an outstanding flight," said Linda Ham, director of shuttle program integration at the Johnson Space Center. "We transferred to station about 9.700 pounds of cargo, we transferred down from station about 3,800 pounds of cargo. We exchanged the ISS crew, we had two successful spacewalks. The team's performance was also outstanding, on the ground and in the air. We made all our major mission objectives." Horowitz, pilot Frederick Sturckow, flight engineer Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester climbed out of the orbiter about 45 minutes after touchdown. "We're really happy to have taken part in delivering Expedition Three into orbit and they're having a great mission right now up there on the space station," Horowitz said on the runway. "Expedition Two's doing really great. In fact, we were surprised, some of them looked like they were doing a little better than us when they got off the vehicle today. "So they're real troupers, they had a great mission," he said. "Discovery flew perfect and we wanted to thank everybody for an outstanding job." Usachev, Helms and Voss were launched 167 days ago on March 8. They made the trip back into the unfamiliar tug of Earth's gravity resting in cushioned reclineers on the shuttle's lower deck. Whether one or more attempted to walk off the shuttle under their own power was not immediately known. But a team of U.S. and Russian flight surgeons was on hand to provide assistance. After medical exams and reunions with family members, all three plan to fly back to Houston Friday to continue rehabilitation. See the 7:45 a.m. CBS News Space Update below for additional details about the crew's post-flight rehab program. 11:20 p.m., 08/22/01, Update: Station astronauts thrilled to be home Freshly showered, smiling, but obviously tired, the returning crew of the international space station said they felt a bit shaky after five-and-a-half months in weightlessness. But all three said they were in good shape and looking forward to completing their re-adaptation to gravity after 167 days in space. "I'm pretty tired, to tell you the truth," said James Voss. "It's been a long day and I guess coming back to gravity is pretty hard on your body. So I feel like I've run a marathon, almost. I'm very tired and I'm sleepy. ... I think it's just a natural reaction to coming back to this, the body's loaded much more heavily than it normally is, so I'm just tired. And a little wobbly." The Expedition Two crew - Russian commander Yury Usachev, Voss an Susan Helms - was launched to the space station March 8. At touchdown today aboard the shuttle Discovery, they had logged five-and-a-half months in space. All three face several months of physical rehabilitation. Usachev, who completed two missions aboard the Russian Mir space station, said his initial re-adaptation was easier this time around. "It's hard, of course," said Usachev. "But compared to my previous flights to Mir station, it's much better. I don't know why, maybe it's just we exercised more or maybe it's just the body remembers, but it's much easier." Voss and Helms felt strong enough to walk off the shuttle under their own power. "I had some people at my elbows because I was a bit wobbly, to make sure I didn't fall down," Voss said. "Then I sat down in the crew transport vehicle and rested awhile. That was fine. Then I walked off again to see my family, just a little bit wobbly. I don't like to walk very much, I get tired, that's the main thing." Usachev, following Russian tradition, allowed his flight surgeon to assist him off the shuttle. But Helms said she was "anxious to get off the shuttle." "I did walk off the shuttle by myself with a little help from the flight surgeon," she said. "I was not interested in having them carry me off and I did actually walk myself off and felt really good about doing it." All three said they were thrilled to be reunited with family members. "I told my wife I missed her," Voss said. "And then I told my daughter, who was crying, that I was OK. I was surprised that she was a little bit emotional about my return. But I was, too." While he had "a wonderful experience on the space station," Voss said he looked forward to taking a bit of time off. "I want to do the normal things that I do when I'm at home, I want to work in my garage, my garden, I'd like to go flying my airplane, I'd like to take some vacation," he said. "We've been training for a long time without much vacation and then this long flight. So I'd like to take a little time off and rest up, just relax a little bit. Helms said she looked forward to traveling a bit to visit friends and family across the country and Usachev said he simply wants to spend more time with his family. "To me personally, it was a very good experience," he said. "You know, to have two mission control centers, international crew members, a new station, it was very good. It's a good chance, not just for Americans and Russians, for all the partners to try to understand each other better, to try to work together. "You know, we fight a lot, we know how we can live just fighting. Now we should try, by space, to try to understand each other better. It think there's a very good chance with the international space station." ===================================================================