STS-88 MISSION ARCHIVE (complete) Updated: 12/15/98 Shuttle Endeavour and the First Space Station Assembly Mission By William Harwood CBS News/Kennedy Space Center The following copy originally was posted on the CBS News "Up To The Minute" Current Mission space page (http://uttm.com/space/missions/current.html). Comments, suggestions and corrections welcome! TABLE OF CONTENTS -NASA poised for first space station assembly mission (11/21/98) -Shuttle crew arrives for launch (11/29/98) -Shuttle countdown begins; weather could pose problems (11/30/98) -Weather remains marginal for Thursday launch; updated launch time (12/01/98) -Shuttle Endeavour grounded 24 hours by countdown snafu (12/02-03/98) -Shuttle Endeavour blasts off on second try (12/03-04/98) -Node installed on shuttle docking port (12/05-06/98) -Zarya module attached to Unity node (12/06-07/98) -Spacewalkers wire up space station modules (12/07-08/98) -Shuttle crew takes time off; reboosts station (12/08-09/98) -Ross, Newman stage second spacewalk (12/09-10/98) -Endeavour astronauts board space station (12/10/98) -Endeavour astronauts exit space station (12/11/98) -Astronauts stage third and final spacewalk (12/12/98) -Shuttle Endeavour undocks from international space station (12/13/98) -Shuttle astronauts prepare for landing (12/14/98) -Crew conference: Ross says rescue jet pack needs more work (12/14/98) -Shuttle Endeavour returns to Earth (12/15-16/98) =================================================================== NASA poised for first space station assembly mission (11/21/98) Fifteen years after President Reagan proposed building an $8 billion international space station, the shuttle Endeavour stands poised for blastoff Dec. 3 to begin assembly of what has evolved into a $54 billion orbital laboratory that will usher in the new millennium in human space exploration. When complete in 2004, the permanently manned laboratory complex will mass one million pounds and stretch the length of a football field while moving through space at five miles per second, a brilliant man-made "star" visible to most of the planet's population. "After years of discussing, planning and replanning, we're about to launch hardware and embark on one of the most complex engineering projects in human history," said Gretchen McClain, deputy associate administrator for space station. Viewed as a bold step into the future by some and a financial black hole by others, all agree the international space station represents the most challenging space project since the Apollo moon program, a technically - and politically - high-stakes gamble that has virtually zero margin for error. More than 40 U.S. shuttle flights and Russian rocket launches will be required to ferry the station's components into orbit and more than 1,700 hours of U.S. and Russian spacewalk time - 162 EVAs - will be required for assembly and maintenance through completion in July 2004. That's twice the total time American spacewalkers have logged in the history of the U.S. space program. "We are about to undertake the equivalent spacewalk activity as has been done in the history of mankind," said astronaut Gregory Harbaugh, in charge of spacewalk planning at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "So it's a daunting task, but I'm here to tell you I think we're well prepared. We know how to do this job and working with our Russian colleagues, we are eager to get underway." And so, after years of redesigns, cost overruns and a 1993 Clinton administration decision to invite the Russians to participate, the international space station era finally began at 1:40 a.m. on Nov. 20 when the Russian Space Agency launched the station's first component, a NASA-financed, Russian-built control and propulsion module called Zarya. Now it's NASA's turn. The first U.S. space station assembly mission is set for blastoff at 3:59 a.m. on Dec. 3 to ferry a $300 million 25,600-pound multi-hatch node called Unity into orbit. Simply catching up to Zarya and docking it with Unity will be difficult enough. But three spacewalks over six days will be required to make more than three dozen electrical connections between the two modules and to position tools and other construction equipment inside and outside the station for future use. "This is a very complex and exciting mission," said lead flight director Robert Castle. "I was asked to rank this mission with other shuttle missions and it easily ranks up there in complexity with any mission the shuttle program has flown, with large robotics operations, three EVAs [spacewalks] doing constructions things, rendezvous. At the same time, it's probably one of the simpler ISS assembly missions. So it's an indication of things to come, the type of things we're going to be doing as we assemble the international space station." Said commander Robert Cabana, making his fourth shuttle flight: "It's definitely the most challenging flight I've ever flown. We've got one of the most complicated payloads we've had to deal with in terms of learning all its systems. We're really looking forward to this." If all goes well, Cabana, pilot Rick Sturckow, flight engineer Nancy Currie, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and spacewalkers Jerry Ross and James Newman will blast off Dec. 3 five minutes into a 10-minute launch window as Earth's rotation carries pad 39A into the plane of Zarya's orbit. The day after launch, Currie, an Army helicopter pilot charged with operating Endeavour's 50-foot-long robot arm, will pluck Unity out of the orbiter's cargo bay and position it for mounting atop the shuttle's airlock-docking system. "This is a dream flight for a robotic arm operator," she said. "We're essentially going to be using the robotic arm on almost every day of the mission with the exception of the day we launch and the day we land. And the arm operations on this flight are exceptionally critical. "The node is quite large, not only in mass - a little over 25,000 pounds - but also in diameter," she said in a pre-flight news conference. "So we'll be very, very careful. We'll take it straight up and do a positioning maneuver to position it directly over the orbiter docking system." Unity is a relatively short, cylindrical module with hatches on each end and four hatches around its circumference. Each end hatch is occupied by what NASA calls a pressurized mating adapter, or PMA. Currie will position Unity so the end of PMA-2 is poised about four inches above Endeavour's docking system latches. Then Cabana will fire small downward-pointing maneuvering jets to drive the shuttle into Unity with enough force to engage the docking latches. Docking is scheduled for 6:14 p.m. on Dec. 4 "Our positioning tolerance is just two inches in two degrees when we install the node," Currie said. "We don't take it all the way down to the orbiter docking system with the arm, we take it four inches apart and then we'll fire the thrusters on the orbiter to provide ... the contact necessary for the [docking system] to work properly." With Unity mounted firmly on the shuttle's docking module, Cabana and Sturckow will focus on catching up with Zarya. The 44,000-pound Russian module, equipped with 16 fuel tanks, features three docking ports and measures 41.2 feet long and 80 feet wide across its two extended solar arrays. The $240 million Zarya will provide the station's initial propulsion and control, using on-board fuel and small rockets to keep the station at a safe altitude. Even at an altitude of 240 miles, a trace atmosphere still exists that otherwise would slowly erode the space station's orbit and eventually cause it to fall back to Earth. Zarya was never intended to provide propulsion for the finished space station. Rather, it was designed to serve in that capacity only until the Russians could launch a much more capable element called the service module. The refuelable service module, a Russian contribution to the station project, will provide quarters for the station's initial three-person crews and the long-term propulsion needed to maintain the proper orbit. But the service module is more than a year behind schedule because of on-going funding problems in Russia. NASA is pumping about $60 million into the Russian space program [in return for goods and services] to ensure completion of the service module in time for a launch in late July 1999. While NASA is optimistic about the service module's eventual completion, the agency earlier had Zarya modified to permit orbital refueling just in case the service module is delayed again. If all goes well, Cabana and company will catch up with Zarya on the third day of the mission. Cabana plans to guide Endeavour to a point directly above the Russian module before beginning his final approach. Unlike Mir docking missions, in which the shuttle approached from below, Endeavour will approach from above to prevent any possible interference between Zarya's antennas and Russian ground stations. Because the Unity node will block the crew's view out the shuttle's rear windows, Cabana will use television cameras in the cargo bay to guide Endeavour to a point where Zarya will be directly behind and slightly below the top of Unity's PMA-1, which is equipped with the Zarya docking interface. At that point, Currie will use the robot arm to grapple the big module almost at the limit of the arm's reach. She then will move Zarya's forward docking port to a point within about six inches of PMA-1. The job is especially difficult because Currie will not be able to directly see the interface. Instead, she will have to rely on television cameras and a Canadian optical alignment device called the Space Vision System. "Day four is probably our busiest day on orbit," Cabana said. "We have the rendezvous with Zarya followed by grapple and berthing of Zarya and joining it with Unity. It's unique in that once we fly Zarya down into the payload bay we actually have to rely on camera views to keep it centered and line it up on the arm. Then Nancy's going to do something nobody's ever done before and that's grab a payload in space without having a direct view of it out the window, strictly relying on camera views. And then, using the space vision system, [she] will position Zarya over Unity and again using the close contact thrusters as we docked with the Mir space station, we'll fire the thrusters on the orbiter to join the two pieces together. The linkup is targeted for somewhere around 8:19 p.m. on Dec. 5. Currie said she will rely heavily on the Space Vision System to achieve the proper alignment before Cabana drives the shuttle and Unity into Zarya. "As we press on to future space station assembly missions, those tolerances we have will get tighter and tighter, in the vicinity of two inches and two degrees," she said. "So a lot of the robotic tasks will not be so much of a crane operation as very, very fine manipulations. Remember, this is a 45,000-pound mass and we need to put it within four inches and four degrees." Once Zarya is attached to Unity, "I'm going to feel kind of relieved," Cabana said. "But actually we're just beginning. The next day is our first spacewalk and probably the most challenging of the three. We'll be connecting all the electrical and data connectors that provide power to Unity and provide commanding through the computers on board the space station. Once Jerry and Jim have those connectors mated up and we have power, we'll actually be sending commands through a portable computer system from the aft flight deck of the orbiter to power up the space station." Ross and Newman, both spacewalk veterans, have spent some 540 hours training for their three EVAs. Of that total, 240 hours were spent in a giant water tank used to simulate weightlessness where they practiced procedures using full-scale mockups of Unity and Zarya. Harbaugh, a veteran spacewalker himself, said the EVAs planned for Endeavour's mission are well within the crew's capabilities. "EVA is always a challenge and there are always surprises," he said. "But this is certainly within the range of what I would consider a pretty doable set of tasks. This is not incredibly demanding. ... This is handling hardware that was designed to be handled in EVA. It's robust, it's strong. This is construction work we're doing and these are two very capable engineers going out to do this work. Having said that, the complexity level is probably medium." Scott Bleisath, STS-88 lead EVA officer, said the objective of the first spacewalk is to make 40 electrical connections between Unity and the two pressurized mating adapters and between PMA-1 and Zarya. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 5:54 p.m. on Dec. 6. Ross will be anchored in a foot restraint on the end of the robot arm while Newman will work from a portable foot restraint that will be positioned as required at various points. Newman will detach stowed cables and pass them to Ross, who will make the actual connections. Ross will hook up two umbilicals, each made up of four cables, between Unity and PMA-2. The duo then will move to the upper end of Unity to install two more sets of four-cable umbilicals between PMA-1 and Unity. After installing a slidewire needed for tethering future spacewalkers, Ross and Newman will connect six four-cable umbilicals between Zarya and PMA-1 and then wrap up the first EVA by removing protective covers from the station's avionics system. The avionics computers, mounted on PMA-1, use Intel 386 chips that have been "hardened" to withstand the harsh space environment. "If you design spacewalks appropriately and pay attention to the details, no one task on any one of the spacewalks should be very difficult," said Ross, set to become only the fourth man in history to fly in space six times. "However, when you look at the number of tasks we have, especially on our first spacewalk, and all those tasks have to go in sequence and have to go successfully, I think ... the first spacewalk we have is a pretty challenging one. It's not overly challenging from a physical standpoint, but if we did run into very many stumbling blocks or problems out there, Jim and I would really be scrambling to try to get it all done within the amount of time that's permitted by the suit expendables." After a day off to recharge their spacesuits and to boost the station to a slightly higher altitude, Newman and Ross will venture back into the shuttle's cargo bay for their second spacewalk, starting at 4:44 p.m on Dec. 8. The objective this time around is to install two 24-inch-wide, 100-pound antennas in Unity's initially unoccupied port and starboard docking ports to provide the station's early communications capability. This time around, Newman will ride the robot arm while Ross works from a portable foot restraint. The spacewalkers also will install several handrails and foot restraints that will be used by future assembly crews. In addition, the spacewalkers will install a shade over the avionics computer that faces the sun to keep it from getting too hot. Ross described the second spacewalk as "fairly straight forward." But if anything goes wrong, both astronauts are cross trained to handle each other's tasks if any problems crop up. "If Jim and I at some point during any one of the three spacewalks find out that the way we planned to do them pre-flight ... we are fully prepared to have the other guy stop what he's doing and come over and assist. We're fully knowledgeable and capable of doing any task out there." The day after the second spacewalk, around 3:09 p.m . Dec. 9, the astronauts will open hatches between the shuttle and Unity and float into the international space station for the first time, "transferring hardware, removing panels, powering it up, installing the early communications equipment inside, essentially outfitting the station for its early phases of operation," Cabana said. A major objective is activation and checkout of the station's television system. And while some sort of christening ceremony is planned at some point, Cabana would not discuss what the crew has in mind. "In Unity, there's a whole rack full of equipment that we'll be transferring to different places," Newman said. "We have a bunch of tools, for example, that will be used by the [first permanent space station] crew and we also have some early communications equipment and in general, just equipment going back and forth." Transfer operations will take two days. Then, on flight day 10, the station will be sealed off again so Newman and Ross can stage their third and final spacewalk beginning at 4:49 p.m. on Dec. 11. This excursion is primarily devoted to positioning handrails, tools and other EVA aids that will be used by subsequent assembly teams. A 27-inch-square, box-like tool bag will be mounted and strapped down on Unity's hull near PMA-1. While the spacewalk is relatively simple by station standards, it will afford Ross and Newman their most spectacular views of the shuttle-space station complex. "Jim and I will be going all the way to the top of the [Zarya], where we'll be installing a handrail, which will be used by other crews in the future," Ross said. "It'll also give us a good chance to inspect what we can see of the outside of the [Zarya] surfaces and to take pictures to document the condition of it after it arrived on orbit." If time permits, Ross also plans to test the operation of a small emergency jet fanny pack known as SAFER that all station spacewalkers will wear. Should a spacewalker somehow become untethered while the shuttle was docked to the station, the jetpack could be used to fly back to safety. "The third EVA is really a lot of get-ahead work," said Harbaugh. "If we didn't get the third EVA done, this would still be a very successful mission." Assuming all has gone well to this point, Endeavour will undock from the international space station at 2:48 p.m. Dec. 12, leaving Unity and Zarya behind in orbit, the core of the growing international space station. The station's motion control system will be activated, sensors will acquire the Earth and the station will be oriented in a vertical gravity gradient position with Unity on the bottom and Zarya on top. The station will be placed in a slow spin for temperature control, taking 30 minutes to complete one revolution. Cabana and company are scheduled to glide to a rare late-night landing at the Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 14, touching down around 11:47 p.m. Another shuttle crew will visit the station next May, delivering more supplies and equipment. Then, in one of the more critical station flights, the Russians are scheduled to launch the long-delayed service module, which will dock at the other end of Zarya. Whether the Russians can meet that schedule or not is not yet known, but NASA managers say they are optimistic the financially strapped Russians can hold up their end of the bargain. "Space exploration's not for any one country anymore, it's incumbent upon all of us to participate," said Cabana. "Space exploration is our future. We can choose to participate and be a leader or we can fall behind and be second rate or third rate. And I think we've all chosen to participate. This is important. We're going to go beyond the confines of Earth's gravity. We're going to go back to the moon and on to Mars and beyond and when we do that, we're going to do it as a united team. "We have partners from Russia, the European Space Agency, Canada, Japan, Brazil, and we're continuing to grow. To bring all that hardware from all over and all those people and all those cultures and get us to work together as one is no small task. And I think that's the real promise of the space station. It's working together in space for the benefit of everyone. "Space is our future and it's going to happen," Cabana said. "What we're doing here on international space station is we're laying the groundwork, this is a stepping stone to the future. And we can't wait until Dec. 3 when we blast off." =================================================================== Shuttle crew arrives for launch (11/29/98) The shuttle Endeavour's five-man one-woman crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Center late Sunday to prepare for blastoff Thursday on NASA's first space station assembly mission. Commander Robert Cabana, pilot Rick Sturckow, flight engineer Nancy Currie, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and spacewalkers Jerry Ross and James Newman touched down shortly before 11:30 p.m. to begin final preparations. Endeavour's countdown is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Monday, leading to a launch attempt at 3:59 a.m. Thursday. The goal of the flight is to carry a U.S.-built multi-hatch node called Unity into orbit and to connect it with a Russian module called Zarya that was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan on Nov. 20. Three spacewalks are planned to make electrical connections between the two modules, to install antennas and to stow tools for future space station assembly teams. "Hey, this has been a long time coming," Cabana said. "We've got Zarya on orbit, Unity's in the payload bay, Endeavour's on the pad, a lot of folks all over the world have been working really hard to get to this moment and this crew is ready to go, believe me. They're up to the challenge." Added Currie, a helicopter pilot and the shuttle's robot arm operator: "It's fantastic to be back here at the Cape. Zarya's waiting for us up on orbit and we can't wait to go meet with it and get it mated with Unity and get this whole program started off on a great note." This status report will be update after a 9 a.m. countdown status briefing at the Kennedy Space Center. In the meantime, see the mission preview below for complete details about Endeavour's flight or download the CBS News Space Reporter's Handbook for additional background and up-to-date shuttle statistics. =================================================================== Shuttle countdown begins; weather could pose problems (11/30/98) The space shuttle Endeavour's countdown began at 7 a.m. today and while there are no technical problems at pad 39A, low clouds and rain showers could pose trouble for Thursday's pre-dawn launch attempt. Endeavour's five-man one-woman crew has just 10 minutes to get off the ground, beginning at 3:54 a.m. Thursday, in order to catch up with a target Russian space station module. The preferred launch time is 3:59 a.m., but shuttle forecaster Ed Priselac said today there's a 60 percent chance low clouds and rain showers will force a 24-hour delay. More of the same is on tap Friday - 60 percent "no-go" - while conditions improve to 60 percent "go" on Saturday. Shuttle test director Doug Lyons said Endeavour must be off the ground by Dec. 8, or the flight will be put on hold while NASA launches a new Mars orbiter atop an unmanned Delta rocket on Dec. 10. It is doubtful NASA would make an attempt to squeeze Endeavour's launch in between then and Christmas because of holiday conflicts. The launch team, of course, hopes the weather will improve and in the meantime, the shuttle's complex countdown is ticking smoothly through its initial stages. "I'm pleased to report both the ground and flight systems are in excellent shape," Lyons said. "We're not working any issues or concerns and we're right on schedule." Engineers are testing Endeavour's avionics systems today and gearing up to close the shuttle's cargo bay doors later this evening. At 11 p.m. tonight, technicians will clear the launch pad for routine ordinance tests and work Tuesday to load liquid oxyen and hydrogen aboard the shuttle to power the ship's three electricity producing fuel cells. The pad will be re-opened for normal work by 11 a.m. Tuesday. Main engine preparations will commence Tuesday afternoon, followed by activation of the shuttle's communications systems early Wednesday. A protective gantry will be pulled away from the orbiter around 8 a.m. Wednesday, setting the stage for fueling to begin at 7 p.m. Endeavour's crew will begin strapping in around 12:35 a.m. Thursday to await liftoff. The goal of the flight is to rendezvous with a Russian space station module called Zarya and to attach a U.S. component called Unity, a multi-hatch node that will serve as a gateway to future modules. The preferred launch time for Endeavour remains 3:59 a.m., when Earth's rotation carries the shuttle into the plane of Zarya's orbit. But Lyons said flight controllers may elect to move launch up two minutes or so to around 3:57 a.m. A final decision on precisely when to launch Endeavour during its 10-minute window will be made about one hour or so before liftoff based on last-minute radar tracking of Zarya. In the meantime, CBS News shuttle status reports will continue to track 3:59 a.m. as the preferred launch time until NASA makes an official change one way or the other. =================================================================== Weather remains marginal for Thursday launch; updated launch time (12/01/98) Work to replace a cockpit computer display power supply aboard the shuttle Endeavour delayed launch preparations by about three hours Monday, but officials said today the lost time will be made up during a built-in hold and that the orbiter remains on track for blastoff Thursday, weather permitting. Forecasters, however, continue to predict a 60 percent chance of low clouds and possible showers that would force a 24-hour delay. More of the same on tap Friday, but the forecast for Saturday improves to 60 percent "go." There has been a bit of confusion about exactly when NASA plans to launch Endeavour within its 10-minute launch window Thursday. Here's one attempt to clarify matters. The launch window in this case is defined by the shuttle's ability to catch up with a target Russian space station module called Zarya, which circles the globe at an altitude of about 240 miles in an orbit tilted 51.6 degrees to me equator. Ideally, the shuttle would launch at the instant Earth's rotation carried the launch pad into the plane of Zarya's orbit. That would minimize the amount of fuel needed to reach the target, but it would leave no margin for error in case of delays. As it turns out - and this is true for all space station shuttle launchings - an empty orbiter can launch roughly five minutes before or after the so-called planar crossing and still catch up with the target. In other words, an empty shuttle carries enough fuel to reach the correct orbital plane as long as it takes off within five minutes of the pad's passage through the target's orbital plane. But Endeavour is carrying a 25,600-pound space station module and other equipment, which limit its ability to reach the desired plane and altitude. In addition, NASA has a flight rule that requires launch windows be at least five minutes in duration. For Endeavour's launch, planar crossing occurs about five minutes into the theoretical 10-minute window, or around 3:59 a.m. Thursday. In order to protect a full five-minute window, as required by the flight rules, the actual window for Endeavour will open about 3:56:50 a.m. Thursday and close around 4:02 a.m. The actual launch time will not be set until a few hours before takeoff, based on final radar tracking of the Zarya module. Launch times in various tables below reflect the ideal planar crossing launch time of 3:59 a.m. Thursday. These numbers will be updated after takeoff based on the actual launch time. To prevent confusion, I have deleted the original launch window chart from this page. For readers concerned about possible delays, Endeavour's launch time will move up about 25 minutes each day the flight is delayed. =================================================================== Shuttle Endeavour grounded by countdown snafu (12/02-03/98) 06:30 a.m., 12/02/98, Update: Bad weather in Africa and Spain could affect shuttle launch The shuttle Endeavour's countdown continues to tick smoothly toward a sky-lighting pre-dawn launch Thursday while forecasters monitor threatening weather in Florida and at all three of the shuttle's overseas emergency landing sites. Hoping for the best, technicians plan to begin pumping a half-million gallons of supercold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fuel into Endeavour's external tank beginning around 7 p.m., setting the stage for a launch attempt at 3:59 a.m. The exact launch time will not be set until shortly before takeoff based on final radar tracking of the Russian space station module the shuttle crew plans to rendezvous with Saturday. But as of this writing, the latest estimate from flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston shows launch at 3:58:56 a.m. "We'll continue to count down and get our final launch window update about an hour and 30 minutes prior to launch," said NASA test director Steve Altemus. While launch preparations are going smoothly, forecasters say the weather is not being particularly cooperative. In order to catch up the Russian Zarya module, Endeavour's crew only has about five minutes to get off the ground. But forecasters are predicting scattered-to-broken clouds at 4,000 feet and showers within 20 nautical miles. That adds up to a 60 percent chance the flight will be delayed. The local forecast is pretty much the same for Friday, improving to 60 percent "go" on Saturday. Compounding NASA's weather problems, the Spaceflight Meteorology Group in Houston predicts all three of the shuttle's emergency overseas landing sites will be "no-go" Thursday. Should one of the shuttle's three liquid-fueled main engines fail between two minutes 17 seconds after launch and four minutes 21 seconds, commander Robert Cabana and pilot Rick Sturckow would be forced to attempt a landing at one of two emergency runways in Spain or one in Africa. At least one of those sites must be acceptable for Cabana and company to be cleared for launch. At Zaragoza, Spain, a broken deck of clouds at 3,000 feet is expected Thursday, along with winds at 16 knots gusting to 24 - well beyond shuttle safety limits. At Moron, Spain, scattered clouds and fog is expected and at Ben Guerir, Morocco, a broken deck of clouds is predicted at 3,000 feet. All three landing sites are expected to be no-go Friday, while Zaragoza alone will be go on Saturday. "It looks like we've got a lot of weather issues to contend with," said shuttle weather officer Ed Priselac. The last time a space shuttle flight was delayed by weather was mission STS-94, which blasted off July 1, 1997. Launch originally was scheduled for 2:37 p.m., but it was moved up 47 minutes, to 1:50 p.m., due to threatening weather. The actual liftoff was delayed 12 minutes because of rain showers north of the pad. The last time a space shuttle flight was postponed 24 hours or more by weather was mission STS-80, which blasted off at 2:55:47 p.m. on Nov. 19, 1996. The flight was delayed from Nov. 15 to Nov. 19 because of conflicts with another launch and because of a dismal weather forecast. NASA has five days to launch Endeavour before standing down while a new Mars probe is launched atop a Delta rocket from the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Station on Dec. 10. This status report will be updated after fueling begins and regularly throughout the night as launch approaches. In the meantime, see the mission preview below for additional details about Endevour's flight. 06:30 p.m., 12/02/98, Update: Shuttle launch forecast improves; fueling set to begin The forecast for the shuttle Endeavour's planned pre-dawn launch Thursday has dramatically improved, shifting from 60 percent "no go" to 70 percent "go" during the shuttle's 10-minute launch window. At the same time, conditions at two emergency landing sites in Spain have improved as well, increasing the likelihood at least one of them will be acceptable for launch. The improving forecast prompted NASA managers to proceed with fueling, which should get underway shortly. 7:10 p.m., 12/02/98, Update: Shuttle fueling underway Engineers began pumping a half-million gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen rocket fuel into the shuttle Endeavour's external tank shortly before 6:30 p.m. If all goes well, the shuttle will be loaded for launch by around 9:30 p.m. Here's the schedule for the rest of the night's activity: 10:30 p.m........NASA television launch commentary begins 11:00 p.m........The astronauts pose for a lunch/photo op 11:30 p.m........The crew receives a final weather briefing 11:40 p.m........The astronauts don their bright orange pressure suits 12:10 a.m........The crew departs the Operations and Checkout Building 12:40 a.m........The astronauts begin strapping in aboard Endeavour 01:55 a.m........The shuttle's hatch is closed 02:45 a.m........A 10-minute hold begins at the T-minus 20-minute mark 02:55 a.m........The countdown resumes 03:06 a.m........A final 40-minute hold begins at the T-minus nine-minute mark 03:50 a.m........The countdown resumes 03:59 a.m........Launch 09:35 p.m., 12/02/98, Update: Shuttle fueling complete The shuttle Endeavour has been fueled for launch and currently is in stable replenish, or top-off, mode at pad 39A. There are no technical problems of any significance and NASA managers are hopeful the weather will cooperate for an on-time liftoff around 3:59 a.m. NASA commentary will begin at 10:30 p.m. and the shuttle's five-man one-woman crew will be seen for the first time this evening around 11 p.m. as they pose for a traditional pre-launch photo op. All six will begin donning their bright orange pressure suits at 11:40 p.m. and head for the pad to strap in a few minutes past midnight. 12:45 a.m., 12/03/98, Update: Astronauts strap in for launch (12/03/98) Wearing bright-orange pressure suits, the shuttle Endeavour's five-man one-woman crew began strapping in for launch at 12:35 a.m. today, setting the stage for a launch attempt around 3:59 a.m. to begin assembly of the international space station. Endeavour only has a short, 10-minute launch window this morning and as with all such flights, the astronauts were taken to the pad earlier than usual to strap in and prepare for takeoff. Shuttle countdowns normally include a pair of 10-minute holds at T-minus 20 minutes and T-minus nine minutes. For space station and Mir flights with short launch windows, however, the final hold runs for 40 minutes to provide extra time to correct any problems that might develop that otherwise could prevent a shuttle from getting off the ground. There are no technical problems of any significance at pad 39A and forecasters say the weather appears to be cooperating at the Kennedy Space Center. But flight controllers continue to monitor threatening weather at three emergency runways in Spain and Africa that would be needed in the event of a main engine failure early in flight. Two of those sites - Ben Guerir, Morocco, and Zaragoza, Spain, are expected to be "no go" at launch time due to low clouds. But a runway at Moron, Spain, currently is forecast "go" and NASA managers are cautiously optimistic about making an on-time launch. The exact launch time will be set around 2:30 a.m. based on final tracking of the Russian Zarya space station module. But it is expected to be within a minute or so of 3:59 a.m. Will advise. 2:45 a.m., 12/03/98, Update: Shuttle launch time set Flight controllers have set 3:58:19 as the launch time for shuttle Endeavour on the first space station assembly mission. The five-minute launch window will close at 4:03:19 a.m. There are no technical problems at pad 39A, but a line of showers is approaching the Kennedy Space Cengter that could cause problems as launch time approaches. This status report will be updated as soon as possible after launch or as conditions warrant. 04:30 a.m., 12/03/98, Update: Shuttle launch delayed to Friday An alarm went off in the shuttle Endeavour's cockpit this morning with less than five minutes to launch and while engineers ultimately decided the orbiter was ship-shape and ready for flight, they were unable to get the countdown restarted before the shuttle's five-minute launch window expired. They missed it by two seconds in one of the most dramatic, tension-filled shuttle countdowns in recent memory. "We wanted to make sure we had the right technical decision," launch director Ralph Roe said at a news conference. "By the time we got the right technical decision we had missed the performance window for this particular mission. ... We missed the performance window by between one and two seconds." As a result, NASA's first space station assembly mission will be delayed at least 24 hours, to 3:36:21 a.m. Friday, in a disappointing setback for Endeavour's five-man one-woman crew and to thousands of aerospace workers who have labored 15 years to get the station project off the ground. "We have had to cut off the countdown. We did not pick up the countdown in time to meet our launch window," launch commentator Bruce Buckingham when the countdown was called off. "Again, we have stopped the countdown clock at T-minus 19 seconds, we were not able to pick up the count in time to meet the very end of our launch window." The alarm in question sounded shortly after pilot Rick Sturckow fired up Endeavour's three hydraulic power units, or APUs, the systems that provide the energy to move the main engine nozzles for steering and to move the shuttle's wing flaps and rudder. In the launch control center, data indicated the pressure in hydraulic system No. 1 dropped briefly from 2,400 pounds per square inch to 1,600 psi. "Countdown clock will hold at T-minus four minutes due to a failure," said Janine Pape, the engineer running the ground launch sequencer, or GLS, computer that controls the countdown. "At this point, we have a master alarm." Commander Robert Cabana told NASA Test Director Doug Lyons the crew saw the alarm but saw no signs of any problems. But anytime an alarm like that goes off, the problem that triggered it must be explained and, if necessary, corrected before a shuttle can be cleared for flight. "According to what we're seeing, it looks like [the alarm] occurred at the same time the hydraulic system came up," an engineer reported. But the hydraulic system appeared to be operating normally with no indications of any problems. "NTD, Houston flight [director] concurs, we've got three good APUs and hydraulic systems," flight director John Shannon said from mission control in Houston. After a bit more discussion, Lyons ordered the countdown to resume at the four-minute mark with the understanding the clock would hold again at T-minus 31 seconds if the problem remained unresolved. And that's exactly what happened. "The countdown clock is holding at T-minus 31 seconds," Pape reported. By then, only about one minute remained in the shuttle's five-minute launch window. As tension mounted, engineers agreed the alarm did not indicate any major problem and that Endeavour could be safely launched. At that point, however, only a few seconds remained to pick up the countdown in time to meet the end of the launch window. "There's nothing here, everything looks nominal," an engineer told Lyons. "NTD, Houston flight, we think it was system one," Shannon interrupted, speaking quickly. "We are go for launch." "ISL (instrumentation engineer) concurs." "And SPE?" Lyons asked shuttle processing engineer Terri Herst. "ISL feels comfortable," Herst told Lyons, "it was a hydraulic and it was because of the system starting up and..." "Gotta pick it up, NTD," Shannon loudly interrupted. "That's affirmative," Lyons said. "OK," Herst said. "Let's go." "GLS, pick up the count on your mark," Lyons immediately said. Three seconds went by with no response. "GLS, pick up the count on your mark... "NTD, we're no longer go for launch," Shannon interrupted again as time ran out. "Copy that. And GLS, NTD," Lyons called. "Yes sir, we've picked up the count, we're at 24 seconds. Request cutoff?" "Please cut off," Lyons said. "Yes sir. GLS safing is in progress," Pape said. Roe dismissed questions about a possible communications foul up, saying Pape restarted the countdown after the first call from Lyons and that if his team had erred, it was on the side of caution. "We want to err on the conservative side," he said. "And the best thing we can do is have discussions and make sure we understand it and if that means we don't launch today and we launch tomorrow, I'm perfectly happy with that. ... We don't want to launch with something we don't understand." As it turned out, the countdown was restarted two seconds late, meaning Endeavour would have taken off two seconds after the close of its launch window had the flight not been scrubbed. It's still not clear why the launch team was unable to get the countdown restarted in time given Shannon's vocal calls from Houston that mission control was go for flight. In any case, another launch attempt will be made around 3:36:21 a.m. Friday, weather permitting. The forecast calls for generally good conditions much like those this morning, with a chance of showers and low clouds in the area. NASA can make three more launch attempts between now and Dec. 8 before the team would have to stand down for launch of an unmanned Delta rocket Dec. 10 to send a new probe to Mars. =================================================================== Shuttle Endeavour blasts off on second try (12/04/98) 09:00 p.m., 12/03/98, Update: Shuttle fueled for second launch attempt With forecasters predicting only a 40 percent chance of low clouds and rain that might delay launch, NASA managers this evening cleared engineers to refuel the shuttle Endeavour for a second launch attempt Friday at 3:35:41 a.m. Running about 30 minutes behind schedule, tanking began around 7 p.m. and should be complete around 10 p.m. As for the weather, two of NASA's three emergency runways in Spain and Africa, where the shuttle crew would have to attempt a landing in case of an engine failure early in flight, are expected to be "go" for launch on both Friday and Saturday. Assuming Endeavour gets off the ground Friday during its five-minute launch window, the astronauts will rendezvous and capture a Russian space station module called Zarya around 7:29 p.m. Sunday. The first of three spacewalks would begin around 5:30 p.m. on Monday and Endeavour would return to Earth at 10:35 p.m. on Dec. 15. Here's the schedule for this evening's activity: TIME.............EVENT 10:00 p.m........Fueling complete 10:00 p.m........NASA television launch commentary begins 10:30 p.m........The astronauts pose for a lunch/photo op 10:55 p.m........The crew receives a final weather briefing 11:09 p.m........The astronauts don their bright orange pressure suits 11:41 p.m........The crew departs the Operations and Checkout Building 12:09 a.m........The astronauts begin strapping in aboard Endeavour 01:24 a.m........The shuttle's hatch is closed 02:25 a.m........A 10-minute hold begins at the T-minus 20-minute mark 02:35 a.m........The countdown resumes 02:46 a.m........A final 40-minute hold begins at the T-minus nine-minute mark 03:27 a.m........The countdown resumes 03:36 a.m........Launch A launch attempt Thursday was scrubbed just 19 seconds before liftoff when Endeavour's five-minute launch window ran out during a discussion about what triggered a master alarm just inside of T-minus five minutes. As the seconds ticked away, launch engineers discussed the alarm and a dip in hydraulic pressure that was noticed shortly after the shuttle's auxilliary power units, or APUs, were fired up. As it turned out, the alarm was caused by an overly sensitive cockpit switch that caused a brief power spike and the shuttle was good to go. But there appeared to be a bit of confusion as the issue was debated during the final seconds of the countdown. Flight director John Shannon in Houston, convinced the shuttle was ready for flight, pressured the Kennedy Space Center launch team to pick up the countdown, interrupting the engineering discussion to insist Endeavour was go for launch. "Gotta pick it up, NTD," Shannon loudly interrupted at one point, all but ordering NASA Test Director Doug Lyons to restart the countdown. His emphatic remarks appeared to this observer, at least, to be out of line, putting undue pressure on the engineers charged with ensuring a safe launch. One can only imagine the reaction of a Houston flight director if a launch director in Florida interrupted a discussion of return-to-launch-site weather to say "gotta pick it up, flight." At the same time, launch director Ralph Roe appeared to allow the engineering discussion to continue longer than necessary when, perhaps, it could have been concluded a few seconds earlier, in time to permit a liftoff. But with six lives and an irreplaceable space shuttle on the line, discretion is the better part of valor and the launch team clearly was not in synch as the final seconds ticked away. In any event, the launch day snafu will be discussed in depth in the days ahead to ensure similar problems don't crop up in the future. 12:15 a.m., 12/04/98, Update: Shuttle astronauts strap in for launch The shuttle Endeavour's five-man one-woman crew began strapping in at 12:11 a.m. today for a launch attempt at 3:35:41 a.m. Forecasters continue to predict a fair chance of acceptable weather, although there's a possibility of rain showers in the area. Winds do not appear to be a concern. Commander Robert Cabana, pilot Rick Sturckow, Nancy Currie, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and spacewalkers Jerry Ross and James Newman appeared in good spirits when they departed for launch pad 39A, smiling and waving to NASA workers and a throng of photographers. Based on Endeavour's 24-hour launch delay, NASA says the shuttle will dock with the Russian Zarya module around 6:48 p.m. Sunday at a mission elapsed time of two days 15 hours and 12 minutes. Undocking is targeted for Dec. 13 at 3:26 p.m., or MET 9/11:50. Deorbit ignition is expected at 9:51 p.m. Dec. 15 with landing on tap at 10:56 p.m., or an MET of 11 days 19 hours and 20 minutes. These numbers likely will change again depending on when Endeavour actually takes off and as a result, timelines below will not be updated until after the shuttle is in orbit. 02:10 a.m., 12/04/98, Update: Updated launch time set Flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston have set the shuttle Endeavour's official launch time. Based on final radar tracking of the Russian Zarya module, Endeavour's launch window will open at 3:33:07 a.m. and close at 3:40:34 a.m. The preferred launch time, which is based on the shuttle's performance, is 3:35:34 a.m. This status report will be updated after Endeavour takes off or as conditions warrant. 03:50 a.m., 12/04/98, Update: Shuttle Endeavour rockets into orbit By WILLIAM HARWOOD CBS News Space Consultant Turning night into day, the space shuttle Endeavour rocketed away up the east coast this morning and set off after a Russian-built space tug called Zarya to begin assembly of the $54 billion international space station. Putting on a spectacular sky show visible for hundreds of miles around, Endeavour blasted off from pad 39A at 3:35:34 a.m., climbing away atop a 600-foot tongue of white-hot flame from its twin solid-fuel boosters to mark the dawn of a new era for the U.S. space agency. "We're ready to start on a new era in international cooperation in space and get this space station built," commander Robert Cabana told launch controllers moments before liftoff. Over the next five years, 34 shuttle flights and nine major Russian launches will be required to ferry the international space station's myriad components into orbit in the most complex space project since the Apollo moon program. When the outpost is complete in July 2004, it will stretch the length of a football field and mass nearly one million pounds. "...three, two, one, we have booster ignition, and liftoff of the space shuttle Endeavour with the first American element of the international space station," said NASA spokesman Bruce Buckingham as Endeavour lifted off on the first U.S. space station assembly mission. Ten seconds after liftoff, the 4.5-million-pound spacecraft wheeled about to line up on the proper trajectory and arced away to the northeast on a course roughly paralleling the East Coast. Running 24 hours behind schedeule because of a countdown glitch Thursday, Endeavour's fiery ascent lighted up the night sky like a false dawn, thrilling thousands of tourists and area residents crowding nearby roads and beaches. Two minutes after launch, the shuttle's two boosters were jettisoned and the orbiter continued its climb to space on the power of its three liquid-fueled main engines. Looking like a brilliant, fast-moving "star," Endeavour headed over the horizon and slipped into its planned preliminary orbit eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. The 20th night launch in shuttle history occurred as Earth's rotation carried Endeavour's launch pad into the plane of Zarya's orbit, minimizing the amount of fuel needed to catch up with the 44,000-pound propulsion module. As Endeavour took off, the $240-million U.S.-financed Zarya, launched from Kazakstan on Nov. 20, was sailing 240 miles above the Kennedy Space Center on a trajectory carrying it 51.6 degrees to either side of the equator. Over the next two days, Cabana and pilot Rick Sturckow will fire Endeavour's maneuvering rockets in a carefully choreographed sequence to catch up with Zarya for a planned docking Sunday. But first, astronaut Nancy Currie, operating Endeavour's 50-foot-long robot arm, plans to pluck the first U.S.-built station module from its perch in the shuttle's cargo bay Saturday so it can be mounted atop a docking fixture in the forward section of the payload bay. The American module, a multi-hatch node called Unity that cost some $300 million and weighs more than 25,000 pounds, will serve as a gateway between the Russian portion of the growing space station and other U.S., European and Japanese research modules. Unity's two end hatches are connected to crawlways called pressurized mating adapters, or PMAs. If all goes well, Currie will position Unity vertically above the cargo bay so the far end of PMA-2 can be connected to the shuttle's docking module. That will set the stage for the Zarya rendezvous and capture on Saturday. Cabana plans to approach the Russian module from directly above to avoid blocking line-of-sight communications between Zarya and Russian flight controllers. Currie then will grapple Zarya with the robot arm and position it just above Unity's PMA-1. When the two modules are about four inches apart, Currie will "relax" the robot arm and Cabana will fire small steering jets to drive the two modules together. Then the fun begins. Astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman plan to stage three spacewalks over six days to make 40 electrical connections between the PMAs, Unity and Zarya and to install antennas that will be used by flight controllers to operate the complex. They also plan to position tools and other aids for future spacewalkers and to test a small jet-powered fanny pack that could help an errant astronaut get back to the station if he or she somehow became untethered. The first spacewalk is scheduled to begin around 4:36 p.m. Dec. 7 with the second following two days later. Before the third excursion, the astronauts plan to enter the international space station Dec. 10 to configure the modules for long-term flight. The final spacewalk is planned for Dec. 12 and if all goes well, Endeavour will undock from the station the next day for a rare night landing on Dec. 15. A detailed 3,000-word STS-88 mission preview, posted on this page earlier this week, is available from our FTP site for readers who want a bit more detail about the upcoming rendezvous, docking and spacewalks. In the meantime, this page will be updated throughout the morning as conditions warrant. See the CBS News Reporter's Notebook below for earlier status reports. 06:30 a.m., 12/04/98, Update: Albright congratulates launch team The Endeavour's successful launch today gained NASA at least one influential Washington supporter. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, watching her first shuttle launch, congratulated control room engineers for the on-time liftoff after a delay Thursday, saying "That was truly, truly fantastic." "I want to congratulate all of you for the most amazing launch," she said. "It was really inspirational. I've obviously seen it on TV, but this was my first in person. We came yesterday and we all debated about coming back and we all knew we were hooked on you. I was thrilled. In foreign policy, we have our version of launches and we don't get it right the second time often. So all my admiration to you, amazing job. I do believe in the space program, I want to do everything I can to help. As Secretary of State, all day long I deal with disputes on the ground, countries that can't get along and it's great to look at this space station endeavor." NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, serving as Albright's escort, then presented NASA's highest award to former launch director and amateur race car driver Robert Sieck, a legendary figure at the Kennedy Space Center who plans to retire soon. "I don't know of anyone who has done more for America's space program than Bob Sieck," Goldin said. "He was the launch director for 52 launches, we've relied upon him for making sure the shuttle is safe because that's the most important thing. I don't know if he's going to go out and smell the roses, play golf or race cars, but we hope he's going to be there with us. And on behalf of the whole agency, we have decided to give Bob Sieck the highest medal NASA can give, the Distinguished Service Medal." For his part, Sieck told the shuttle launch team "I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with being a spectator at a shuttle launch from the other side of these windows. But I know the launch and the mission are in the hands of the greatest team ever assembled and I know it will be just fine." =================================================================== Node installed on shuttle docking port (12/05-06/98) 04:00 a.m., 12/05/98, Update: Shuttle crew tests robot arm; discusses flight with Russian reporters The Endeavour astronauts unlimbered and checked out the shuttle's 50-foot-long robot arm overnight Friday to ensure the space crane will be ready to help connect the first two components of the international space station this weekend. They also tested a Canadian computerized television system that will be used to precisely position the two modules, Unity and Zarya, for docking and depressurized the cabin to 10.2 psi in preparation for three assembly spacewalks next week. Early this morning, astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman checked out the spacesuits they will use to make electrical connections between the two modules and install antennas and other equipment. No problems were found with any of the equipment. "Today, we've been busy checking out all our tools," commander Robert Cabana said early today while narrating a video tour of Endeavour. "Everything has checked out really well and we're really looking forward to pulling Unity out of the payload bay [later today] and attaching it to the ODS [orbiter docking system]." "Yeah, we're really happy the arm checked out OK and everything looks great," said arm operator Nancy Currie. "We're all set." Currie will use Endeavour's robot arm around 5:06 p.m. today to lift the 25,600-pound Unity module out of the shuttle's cargo bay so it can be attached to the orbiter's docking system around 5:51 p.m.. Then on Sunday, she will pluck the 44,000-pound Zarya out of open space and position it for docking to Unity. But the size of the modules will prevent her from directly seeing the docking interface. She will instead have to rely on camera views for the tricky job of aligning Zarya's docking port to within four inches of Unity's and with less than four degrees of tilt. Cabana then will drive the two together using Endeavour's steering jets. "For me, the most difficult part is when we rendezvous and bring Zarya down into the payload bay behind the node and Nancy has to grab it with the arm," Cabana told reporters in Moscow early today. "And when she grabs it, she's using cameras to see it and then positioning it over Unity for joining the two pieces together, all done with cameras, the space vision system, and I'll be very happy when it's over and we're ready to start the spacewalks." Said Currie: "It's certainly a great honor to be part of this team, the entire team building the international space station We're greatly looking forward to the next few days of putting the first two pieces, Unity and Zarya, together." Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, a Mir space station veteran making his second shuttle flight, said Endeavour's flight is especially complex, posing a technical - and psychological - challenge to the crew "There are no such things as simple flights in space," said Krikalev, who will return to the international space station in 2000 as part of its first permanent crew. "This is one of the more complex ones because I have to work with both the shuttle and station systems and we have both Russian and American equipment to deal with, so in that regard this is one of the more complex flights I've been involved in." At the same time, he said through an interpreter, "there are some concerns that have to deal with the fact that you're responsible for culminating the work of so many people on the ground. On the other hand, we've all trained very well for this flight. Although I've recently joined this crew, it has been training for a long time. Everything is executing right now pretty much the way it was in training." On a lighter note, Marine Col. Cabana, a 1971 Naval Academy graduate, and Army Lt. Col. Currie, a veteran military helicopter pilot, downlinked a greeting that will be aired by CBS Sports during the Army-Navy game this afternoon. "We're here aboard the space shuttle Endeavour laying the cornerstone for the international space station, a bright new star on the horizon, paving the way for future exploration to the moon, Mars and beyond," Cabana said. "We're proud to be a member of the wonderful team building the international space station," Currie said. "And we have a message for two other teams. Go Army! Beat Navy!" "Go Navy! Beat Army!" Cabana said. "That was great, Endeavour," mission control astronaut Janet Kavandi said when they finished. "Well, it was good enough," Cabana joked. "I hope those guys win, that's all I can say. My team!" Early this morning, Endeavour was 16,000 miles behind Zarya and closing in at 670 nautical miles per orbit. There are no technical problems of any significance and the crew appears in good spirits. 07:00 p.m., 12/05/98, Update: Astronauts mount station module for assembly work Astronaut Nancy Currie, operating the shuttle Endeavour's 50-foot robot arm with a jeweler's touch, picked up a 25,600-pound space station module today and precisely positioned it within four inches of the orbiter's airlock docking port. Working from Endeavour's aft flight deck, the 110-pound Army helicopter pilot grappled the 12.8-ton Unity node a few minutes before 5:30 p.m. and slowly lifted it from its berth in the shuttle's 60-foot-long cargo bay as the orbiter sailed 178 miles above the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. She then rotated it to a vertical orientation relative to the shuttle and positioned it directly above the orbiter's docking port toward the front end of the cargo bay. Unity is a relatively compact, cylindrical module with hatches on each end and four hatches around its circumference. Each end hatch is occupied by what NASA calls a pressurized mating adapter, or PMA. Currie positioned Unity so the end of PMA-2 was poised about four inches above Endeavour's docking system latches. Then she relaxed the robot arm and Cabana fired small downward-pointing maneuvering jets at 06:45 p.m. to drive the shuttle into Unity with enough force to engage the docking system latches. The powerful latches then retracted, pulling Unity snugly into place at 6:50 p.m. as the shuttle began a pass over the north Pacific Ocean. "Houston, [this is] Endeavour. We've got Unity firmly attached to Endeavour and we're off to a great start on building the international space station," Cabana radioed mission control. "Thanks to everybody down on the ground for such excellent training." "Endeavour, Houston, congratulations to all the members of the crew," Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield replied. "It's a beautiful sight." Currie had to position the Unity module with an accuracy of two inches and two degrees, meaning its orientation relative to the docking system had to be within two inches side to side with a tilt of less than two degrees. But Currie, who spent countless hours practicing the procedure in simulators at the Johnson Space Center, made it look easy as she manhandled the bulky module into position. "Nancy's a real pro," Cabana said. Before launch, Currie described Endeavour's mission as "a dream flight for a robotic arm operator. We're essentially going to be using the robotic arm on almost every day of the mission with the exception of the day we launch and the day we land. And the arm operations on this flight are exceptionally critical." With Unity mounted firmly on the shuttle's docking system, commander Robert Cabana and pilot Rick Sturckow will focus on catching up with a Russian-built NASA-financed module called Zarya, or sunrise, that was launched Nov. 20 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan. The 44,000-pound Zarya module, equipped with 16 fuel tanks, features three docking ports and measures 41.2 feet long and 80 feet wide across its two solar arrays. Zarya will provide the station's initial propulsion and control, using on-board fuel and small rockets to keep the station at a safe altitude. After Cabana completes the shuttle's rendezvous, Currie will use the robot arm to pluck Zarya out of open space. She'll then position it vertically above Unity's PMA-1 docking port, using television cameras to properly orient the 22-ton Zarya. Again, Cabana will fire steering jets to drive Unity and Zarya together. When the two space station modules are finally connected, the space station will tower nearly eight stories out of Endeavour's cargo bay. Starting Monday, astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman will carry out the first of three spacewalks to make electrical connections between Zarya and Unity and to install antennas enabling mission control to command the station's computer systems. "It's definitely the most challenging flight I've ever flown," Cabana said before launch. "We've got one of the most complicated payloads we've had to deal with in terms of learning all its systems. We're really looking forward to this." 01:00 a.m., 12/06/98, Update: Flight director pleased with initial success Lead flight director Robert Castle says he was "pleasantly surprised" by how smoothly the shuttle Endeavour's crew maneuvered and attached the first U.S. space station component to the orbiter's docking port Saturday evening. With the Unity module now mounted vertically in the shuttle's cargo bay, the stage is set for a rendezvous and docking with a Russian station module later today. "It went very smoothly, I was very pleasantly surprised and very happy with the way things have gone," Castle told reporters. "I was very happy with the performance of everything, the docking system performed exactly as expected and we've now configured it so it's controlling the docking system on the other end of Unity so it's prepared for the berth of the Zarya module tomorrow." 04:00 a.m., 12/06/98, Update: Astronauts dodge space debris Endeavour commander Robert Cabana carried out a six-second rocket firing early today to put a bit more distance between the shuttle and part of a Delta 2 rocket launched last month from California that otherwise would have passed within a scant 1.6 nautical miles of the orbiter. As a result of the rocket firing, Endeavour and the spent Delta third stage were expected to pass no closer than 4.4 nautical miles from each other, well outside NASA's debris avoidance zone. The rocket firing will have no impact on today's rendezvous with the Russian Zarya module. Before going to bed, the astronauts downlinked a six-minute videotape showing flight deck activity during yesterday's mounting of the Unity connecting node atop the shuttle's docking port. The videotape also showed the crew working inside the pressurized mating adapter attached to Unity's lower hatch. =================================================================== Zarya module attached to Unity node (12/06-07/98) 04:30 p.m., 12/06/98, Update: Shuttle crew begins final rendezvous with Zarya module Shuttle commander Robert Cabana fired the Endeavour's steering jets today at 4:15 p.m. to begin the terminal phase of the crew's rendezvous with a Russian space station module called Zarya. Trailing the module by about eight miles, the terminal initiation firing, or TI burn, was designed to lower Endeavour's orbit slightly, enabling the shuttle to overtake Zarya over about an hour and a half. "Hosuton, [this is] Endeavour, we see an excellent TI burn, no trim required, " commander Robert Cabana radioed when the rocket firing was complete. "We concur, you are on an intercept with Zarya," replied astronaut Chris Hadfield in mission control. If all goes well, the shuttle should by within 1,000 feet of the target by 5:39 p.m., passing directly beneath the big module 10 minutes later at a distance of 800 feet. Looping up from below, the shuttle will pass directly in front of Zarya at 5:59 p.m., continuing the sprialing approach to a point 250 feet directly above the Russian spacecraft at 6:10 p.m. Unlike rendezvous missions to the Russian Mir space station, in which the shuttle always approached from directly below, Endeavour will make its final approach from above to prevent blocking radio signals to Zarya from Russian ground stations. He will guide Endeavour to a point where the Russian module is floating directly behind and slightly below the top of the Unity connecting node mounted on the shuttle's airlock. Robot arm operator Nancy Curry then plans to reach out and lock the robot arm onto the Russian module around 6:46 p.m. Here's the timeline: TIME............EVENT 04:14:42 p.m....Terminal initiation burn: Final rendezvous begins 05:34:36.p.m....Range: 1,500 feet 05:39:06 p.m....Range: 1,000 feet 05:41:21 p.m....Range: 800 feet 05:44:36 p.m....The shuttle passes directly below Zarya at 800 feet 05:47:06 p.m....The shuttle's KU-band antenna switched to low-power mode 05:49:06 p.m....Range: 400 feet 05:58:36 p.m....Endeavour passes directly in front of Zarya 06:10:06 p.m....The shuttle is directly above Zarya; Range: 250 feet 06:14:58 p.m....Orbital sunset 06:15:46 p.m....Range: 170 feet 06:32:56 p.m....Range: 30 feet 06:37:06 p.m....Range: 10 feet 06:38:48 p.m....Zarya within grapple range of shuttle robot arm 06:45:34 p.m....Zarya is grappled 06:50:11 p.m....Orbital sunrise 06:56:34 p.m....Grapple window closes At 44,000 pounds, Zarya is some 9,000 pounds heavier than the Gamma Ray Observatory, the most massive known satellite previously maneuvered by the shuttle's robot arm. But flight director Robert Castle said that shouldn't pose any problems for arm operator Nancy Currie. "It really shouldn't be any harder on the arm moving Zarya than lighter payloads because you move them slower," he said. "You grapple with the joints all limp, there are no loads anywhere, and then once you try to move things around you move it a little slower. So you apply the same force and the same loads, you just result in a slower motion so you never get velocities up, you never put big loads on it. So we don't see any problem handling Zarya, it's going to be handling very slow and moving very slow." All in all, he said, "we're going to take our time and be careful." Once Zarya is locked onto the robot arm, Currie will maneuver it to a point just six inches above Unity's upper docking port. When the two ports are in precise alignment, Cabana will fire small steering jets to drive Unity into Zarya with enough force to engage their docking latches. Unlike any other docking in shuttle program history, Currie will be unable to see the docking interface because her view out the shuttle's aft flight deck windows will be blocked by Unity, towering three stories out of the cargo bay. Instead, she'll rely on camera views, a Canadian computerized TV measurement system and digital readouts showing the precise position of each joint in the robot arm. But if things don't go well, the astronauts and Castle's flight control team have rehearsed a variety of contingency scenarios to handle just about anything that crops up. "The thing we've probably worked the most is just being able to make sure we align Zarya with Unity together so we can dock the two together," Castle said. "Because it is a blind docking, you can't directly see it, you have no exact centerline targets like we do for all other dockings. "We have several levels of contingencies on that. We've got three different sensing systems, if you will, that we believe each has enough accuracy to put things in the correct position. One is RMS (robot arm)O digitals, which we checked today [Saturday]. The digitals showed exactly what they should have shown when we picked up the node, installed Unity and surveyed it. The Space Vision System is another, and it checked out very well today. The third is the camera views and all the cameras are working. So I feel pretty comfortable we're going to get that done. "We do have contingencies in that if it takes longer than we expect, we can take more than one or two (orbits) to do it. And in the end, if we have problems doing it, we can park Zarya on the RMS overnight and go out and do an EVA-assisted berthing tomorrow. There are plans in place to do all of that." Playing it safe, Castle built plenty of time into the crew's flight plan to handle potential problems. "The main thing I've tried to do the last two years working on this flight is make sure we have time, we have margin on everything," he said. "The time from when we grapple Zarya until when we have to get it berthed or park it overnight, there are several orbits of pad. And we are prepared for problems installing Zarya, we're prepared for several levels of problems." 06:50 p.m., 12/06/98, Update: Zarya grappled by shuttle Endeavour Shuttle robot arm operator Nancy Currie, a 110-pound helicopter pilot, plucked the 44,000-pound Zarya module out of open space today after a flawless rendezvous, setting the stage for one of the most difficult orbital dockings ever attempted. Approaching from directly above, Endeavour commander Robert Cabana positioned the shuttle just a few feet from the Russian module, with its lower docking port just behind and below the upper port of the Unity connecting node, a U.S. space station component mounted atop Endeavour's airlock. By 6:25 p.m., Zarya was within capture range of the shuttle's robot arm. But the flight plan called for Currie to wait about 20 more minutes until both spacecraft were within range of a Russian ground station so flight controllers could verify Zarya's health. Then, with a formal "go" from flight controllers in Houston and the Russian Korolev control center near Moscow, Currie locked the robot arm onto Zarya at 6:47 p.m. as the spacecraft sailed 242 miles above central Asia. "Houston, [this is] Endeavour. We have Zarya firmly attached to the orbiter, we're halfway home for the day," Cabana radioed. "A lot of people exhaling down here, that's great. And we had a terrific view from Zarya watching Nancy's great work," replied astronaut Chris Hadfield from mission control. But capturing Zarya was the easy part. Working with a jeweler's precision, Currie must maneuver the bulky module to within six inches of the upper docking port on the Unity connecting node, a U.S. space station component mounted atop the shuttle Endeavour's airlock. She must align the module vertically to within four inches side to side and to with less than four degrees of tilt. And she must do it without being able to directly see the docking interface. That's because the Unity node, towering three stories out of the shuttle's cargo bay, blocked the crew's view of the two docking ports. So Currie has to rely on television views, digital readouts from the robot arm and a Canadian computerized TV system that precisely measures the orientation of both modules. This status report will be updated after Zarya is docked to Unity or as conditions warrant. 09:50 p.m., 12/06/98, Update: Zarya docked to Unity module Assembly of the $54 billion international space station officially began today at 9:07 p.m. after the shuttle Endeavour's crew plucked a 44,000-pound Russian propulsion module out of open space and attached it to the first U.S. station component, a multi-hatch node called Unity. Flight controllers got a bit of a scare during the final docking procedure when the modules mysteriously became misaligned as they were being clamped together. As it turned out, the resistance of the shuttle's robot arm, still attached to the Russian module, was causing the slight misalignment and after the arm was released, the two modules were locked together without incident at 9:48 p.m., creating an 80,000-pound space station towering 76 feet - nearly eight stories - above Endeavour's cargo bay. "Houston, [this is] Endeavour, we show ourselves complete with the manual docking sequence and we're off the card at step 25," pilot Rick Sturckow reported. The last-minute glitch added a moment of drama to an otherwise textbook rendezvous and grapple. Astronaut Nancy Currie, operating Endeavour's robot arm with glacial precision, grabbed the Russian Zarya module at 6:47 p.m. and slowly positioned it a scant six inches from Unity's upward-facing docking port three stories above the shuttle's cargo bay. After making sure Zarya was lined up side to side within four inches of perfect and tilted less than four degrees to local vertical, Currie relaxed the arm and shuttle commander Robert Cabana fired small steering jets to drive Unity into Zarya with enough force to engage powerful docking latches. The historic linkup, shown live on NASA television, happened at 9:07 p.m. as the spacecraft were sailing 240 miles above the south Pacific Ocean. "Houston, Endeavour, we have captured Zarya!" Cabana radioed mission controllers. "We copy. Congratulations to the crew of the good ship Endeavour, that's terrific," said astronaut Chris Hadfield in Houston. The docking was one of the most challenging in shuttle history because Currie and her crewmates were unable to directly see the two docking ports. With the 25,600-pound Unity mounted atop the shuttle's airlock near the front of Endeavour's cargo bay, the crew's line of sight was blocked, forcing Currie to rely on television views, data from a Canadian computer TV system and digital readouts showing the exact positions of each joint in the robot arm. But it all come off like clockwork and Currie was able to position the module with a jeweler's precision. At that point, the two space station modules were "soft docked," that is, the latches were engaged but not yet locked down. After waiting for residual motion to damp out, the crew sent commands to retract a docking ring to firmly lock the two spacecraft together. But as the retraction process began, flight controllers saw telemetry data indicating a slight misalignment building up as the docking ring pulled in. The docking ring was re-extended to the soft dock position and then retracted again. And again, indications of good alignment were lost. "It looks like it's heading the same way, we show two cues that both agree together that it is a slight misalignment building up, both the loss of the light and the slight change in the angles at the base, so obviously something is driving it a little bit (skewed) and we'd like some time to think about whether this is something we need to worry about or not, so just hold here, please," Hadfield called. "Yes sir," astronaut Jerry Ross replied. After mulling the issue a few minutes, flight controllers had the crew re-extend the docking ring to the point where indications of good alignment were regained. At that point, instead of continuing ring extension all the way, the ring was retracted again. The hope was that by incrementally retracting, extending and retracting the docking ring, the interlocking petals on both sides would line up for a hard docking. Ross initially questioned that approach, saying "my only concern is that if we have some kind of a mechanical bind up, the more times we drive this in alternating directions we may be creating more of a problem. Just a thought that's in the back of my head." "We're thinking the same thing, Jerry, however it's not the only possible culprit," Hadfield replied. "We'd like to try it once and see if this works." "OK, understand, we'll pick up with step seven and drive out till we get a ring aligned [indication] and we'll do a power cycle and we'll talk to you," Ross agreed. A few moments later, Ross reported: "Houston, we have agreement within one percent with a ring aligned light now." He then began another retraction cycle and again, the misalignment returned. Based on the way the misalignment developed, controllers concluded it was being caused by the shuttle's robot arm. Even though the arm was in "limp" mode, the thinking went, it was providing just enough resistance to cause a slight misalignment during the hard docking process. When Currie released the arm, Ross reported indications of good alignment. After letting minor vibrations damp out, another retraction cycle was ordered and this time, it worked like a charm. Unity and Zarya were locked together around 9:48 p.m. Later, Currie used the arm to inspect an automatic docking antenna on Zarya, one of two that failed to properly deploy after Zarya's launch. The antennas are not needed for the current mission, but repairs likely will be required at some point. 12:45 a.m., 12/07/98, Update: Station, shuttle managers, elated with initial success Fifteen years after President Reagan first proposed building an International space station, assembly is finally underway with the first two modules now connected and towering seven stories out of the shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay. As one might suspect, NASA managers were elated at the successful linkup Sunday. "Today certainly was an exciting day for us and it was a major milestone for the program," said Randy Brinkley, space station program manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We had a little bit of excitement during the day and [flight director] Bob Castle and the flight team certainly did an outstanding job. As a result, we're looking at a space station that is seven stories high and 35 tons of mass. So it's a major step for us and we look forward to the activities [Monday] and our first spacewalk." A retired Marine jet fighter pilot and "Topgun" graduate, Brinkley served as mission manager for a make-or-break 1993 shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. That flight was a major success for NASA and resulted in Brinkley's appointment as space station program manager, a career move akin to jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Now, five years later, he is savoring the moment. "It's been a long five years," Brinkley said in an interview late Sunday. "It is a major first step in terms of having those two modules berthed and tomorrow, with the EVA [spacewalk] connections, we've got a space station. Looking out of the payload bay at seven stories, 35 tons of mass, it's impressive to see how big it is. You're right, it was a special day. ... Everybody feels pretty good. They worked very hard and there's a great satisfaction for everybody concerned to see it on orbit." Sunday also was a "big day" for Frank Culbertson, who successfully managed the shuttle-Mir docking program and who currently serves as operations manager for the international space station. "We have a lot ahead of us yet, though, and of course we've got about 15 hours of EVA to conduct and attach the cables and all the other activities that are planned," he said at a late night news conference. "This is history and bringing these two components together, dealing with the problems that we did and showing the team is working together and ready to deal with things is, I think, a good omen for what's coming ahead. "All these flights are going to have challenges, many will have some difficulties, but we've proven once again that we've got good flight teams on both sides, we've got the engineering support that can deal with problems realtime and we are communicating," he continued. "And I think that's the most important aspect of all this, that people are able to talk to each other, to solve problems and to move forward. I'm very proud of the way the team operated. I'm very optimistic about the operations to come. I think we've all got a lot to look forward to. We're building something for all of you that you're going to be proud of." 01:20 a.m., 12/07/98, Update: First space station spacewalk on tap The first of three spacewalks to activate systems in the growing international space station is on tap today. The six-hour excursion by Jerry Ross and James Newman is officially scheduled to begin at 5:31 p.m. NASA managers briefly debated delaying egress about 45 minutes, to 6:15 p.m., to improve ground station communications coverage. But Ross said he and Newman would prefer starting earlier, not later, to make sure they have enough time to complete all their tasks. Flight director Phil Engelauf ultimately agreed and while 5:31 p.m. remains the official start time, Ross and Newman could begin up to 45 minutes early if preparations go smoothly. The goal of the first spacewalk is to connect electrical cables between the Unity and Zarya modules and between Unity and two offset docking ports called pressurized mating adapters, or PMAs. That will permit flight controllers to activate computers and other avionics systems to bring the station to life. "Their major task will be mating the 40, that's four-zero, electrical connectors between the PMAs and Unity and between Unity and Zarya, which will get power, data, everything required to bring essentially the nervous system of the space station to life," lead flight director Robert Castle said late Sunday. "That'll all be hooked up [Monday]. And I'm anticipating that about this time {Monday], we'll be activating Unity and as I say, the nervous system, if not the heart of the space station, will be coming alive." While not as complex as the spacewalks required to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, they are nonetheless critical to the success of Endeavour's mission. "If we can't get the avionics powered up, then we can't proceed with ... the rest of the assembly sequence," he said. "So the assembly sequence stops if we can't get these avionics working. However, we've got three EVAs on this flight and we've got EVAs on [the next flight in May] as an opportunity to get it all working." Ross and Newman also plan to visually inspect two small antennas on the Zarya module that failed to deploy properly after launch Nov. 20. The antennas are part of a backup system the Russians can use to help other modules dock with Zarya down the road. No decision has been made yet on whether Newman and Ross might be asked to attempt a repair during the second or third spacewalk. No such repair will be attempted today. But the crew will be busy enough. Ross and Newman, both spacewalk veterans, have spent some 540 hours training for their three EVAs. Of that total, 240 hours were spent in a giant water tank used to simulate weightlessness where they practiced procedures using full-scale mockups of Unity and Zarya. Gregory Harbaugh, a veteran spacewalker himself, said the EVAs planned for Endeavour's mission are well within the crew's capabilities. "EVA is always a challenge and there are always surprises," he said. "But this is certainly within the range of what I would consider a pretty doable set of tasks. This is not incredibly demanding. ... This is handling hardware that was designed to be handled in EVA. It's robust, it's strong. This is construction work we're doing and these are two very capable engineers going out to do this work. Having said that, the complexity level is probably medium." Ross will be anchored in a foot restraint on the end of the robot arm while Newman will work from a portable foot restraint that will be positioned as required at various points. Newman will detach stowed cables and pass them to Ross, who will make the actual connections. For orientation, the Zarya module is docked to PMA-1, which in turn is attached to Unity. The U.S. module is attached to the shuttle's docking system via PMA-2. Ross will hook up two umbilicals, each made up of four cables, between Unity and PMA-2. The duo then will move to the upper end of Unity to install two more sets of four-cable umbilicals between PMA-1 and Unity. After installing a slidewire needed for tethering future spacewalkers, Ross and Newman will connect six four-cable umbilicals between Zarya and PMA-1 and then wrap up the first EVA by removing protective covers from the station's avionics system. The avionics computers, mounted on PMA-1, use Intel 386 chips that have been "hardened" to withstand the harsh space environment. "If you design spacewalks appropriately and pay attention to the details, no one task on any one of the spacewalks should be very difficult," said Ross, set to become only the fourth man in history to fly in space six times. "However, when you look at the number of tasks we have, especially on our first spacewalk, and all those tasks have to go in sequence and have to go successfully, I think ... the first spacewalk we have is a pretty challenging one. It's not overly challenging from a physical standpoint, but if we did run into very many stumbling blocks or problems out there, Jim and I would really be scrambling to try to get it all done within the amount of time that's permitted by the suit expendables." =================================================================== Spacewalkers wire up space station modules in successful outing (12/07-08/98) 05:15 p.m., 12/07/98, Update: First space station assembly spacewalk begins Astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman floated out of the shuttle Endeavour's airlock today at 5:10 p.m. to begin the first of three spacewalks to hook up electrical cables and begin bringing the international space station to life. The planned six-hour excursion, the first of more than 160 that will be required over the next five years to assemble and maintain the space station, began about 35 minutes ahead of schedule at the crew's request. "What a beautiful sunset. Oh my!" Ross exclaimed as the shuttle passed into darkness 240 miles above the south Atlantic Ocean. The goal of the first spacewalk, or EVA in NASA-speak, is to make 40 electrical connections between NASA's Unity connecting node and a Russian module called Zarya that was attached to the U.S. node late Sunday. The cables will carry computer data between the two modules as well as electrical power generated by Zarya's two solar arrays. "It's more than some cables; it's quite a few," Ross said in a NASA interview. "The first EVA is by far the most critical one, it's the one that is required to hook together the elements of the station that are up there and to permit us to start activating the U.S.-built parts of that station." After setting up tools and putting a foot restraint on the end of the shuttle's 50-foot-long robot arm, Ross will be moved to the first work site by arm operator Nancy Currie. Newman will anchor himself nearby using a portable foot restraint that can be mounted at various points around the station. The Unity connecting node features hatches on each end and four more around its circumference. Mounted on each end port is a pressurized mating adapter, or PMA. PMA-2 is connected to the shuttle's airlock while PMA-1 is connected to the Russian Zarya module. Ross and Newman first will hook up two umbilicals, each made up of four cables, between Unity and PMA-2. They then will move to the upper end of Unity to install two more sets of four-cable umbilicals between PMA-1 and Unity. "It's not as easy as just taking an electrical cord and putting it into a socket," Ross said. "We have both a primary and a backup set of cables that go from PMA-2 up to the Node, four cables in each of those. We'll do those, and then Jim and I will string a safety tether slide wire along one side of the Node and that will provide us with the capability to have a continuously tethered translation path along the side of the Node so that we can go to the other end and continue our work. "Once that's installed, then Jim and I will transition to the topside of the Node, if you will, the side that's closest to the Russian-built hardware. This time we have again two cable bundles to release and attach to the Node, but this time each of the cable bundles has eight cables in it. And so we go back through the same process again of releasing the bolts, opening the clamps, removing the connectors from their launch configuration, stringing them across to where we need to connect them up, removing the dust caps, mating the connectors, and pulling down the thermal covers. We do that for a total of sixteen connectors on that end. Ross and Newman then will float up to the Zarya module and remove six more cables that were launched in place on the outer hull of the Russian module. "We'll bring those across and hook them up again through the same process to six locations on the PMA-1 side of the U.S. hardware," Ross said. "And those are the cables that will transfer the power between the U.S. part of the station and the Russian part of the station. Once those six cables have been mated and all the others are complete, then we can give the OK to the ground to have the Russian ground control facility in Moscow power-up the U.S.-built part of the station, to transfer power over to us. Then we can start powering-up our hardware." The final item on the agenda this evening is for Ross and Newman to remove two thermal covers from two computers mounted on PMA-1. Called "multiplexer-demultiplexer units," or MDMs, the computers will be used to control the space station after the shuttle departs. If all goes well, this evening's spacewalk will end roughly six hours after it began. After a day off Tuesday, Ross and Newman will venture back into the cargo bay Wednesday for a second spacewalk to install antennas, tools and other equipment that will be used by future astronaut construction crews. 06:30 p.m., 12/07/98, Update: Cable connections begin Astronaut Jerry Ross, anchored to the end of the shuttle's robot arm, began making electrical connections this evening at the lower end of the U.S.-built Unity module to bring the growing international space station to life. It took Ross and Newman longer than expected to set up their tools and work platforms, but there have been no major problems and the initial connection work appears to be going smoothly. Ross and Newman were strictly business as they went about their work, but they paused briefly during a daylight pass over the south Pacific Ocean to marvel at the view. "Is that a tropical storm down there?" Newman asked. "What ocean are we over?" "It's a good wind-up of clouds, isn't it?" Ross said. "It's got to be the Pacific, it's the only thing we've seen in daylight." 07:45 p.m., 12/07/98, Update: Astronauts on schedule wiring up space station Astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman, nearly two-and-a-half hours into a planned six-hour spacewalk, are methodically working through their timeline, hooking up electrical cables between two space station modules to route power from the Russian Zarya module to the U.S.-built Unity connecting node. The have completed hooking up eight cables at the base of the U.S. module and are in the process of making connections between Unity and its upper pressurized mating adapter. "Hey, Jerry, what'cha doing?" Newman asked, floating up to Ross. "Oh, I'm up here just hanging around, building a space station." The work is going smoothly and the spacewalkers appear to have made up time lost at the beginning of the excursion setting up their tools and work platforms. "Houston, this sure is a beautiful piece of hardware," Newman said at one point. The astronauts have not made much smalltalk during the outing, concentrating instead on the work at hand. But they've taken a few moments here and there to joke and take in the view. "It seems like we're going around the world awful fast," Ross said during a brief pause. "We are," Newman replied. "It gets light and dark quick. And frequently." "I was smiling at the guys in the cabin and they didn't smile back. Then I realized they couldn't see me!" Newman said. "Had your visor down, huh?" "That was a bunch of grim guys in there," Newman laughed. 12:35 a.m., 12/08/98, Update: Astronauts wrap up busy spacewalk Bringing the international space station to life, spacewalkers Jerry Ross and James Newman successfully hooked up 40 electrical cables between the Russian-built Zarya module and NASA's Unity connecting node, allowing data and power to flow through the station's electronic nervous system. During a pass over a Russian ground station shortly before 10:30 p.m., ground controllers sent commands to turn on Russian power converters, allowing electricity from Zarya's solar arrays to flow into the American module. Data received in the shuttle initially indicated lower power levels than expected, but Russian flight controllers said the system was operating normally, clearing the way for shuttle commander Robert Cabana to begin activating the station's myriad systems. "We have a good connection with good data," Cabana reported around 10:49 p.m. Then about a half-hour later, he told Houston "We are complete with step 26. We have successfully activated the space station with no anomalies! The software worked perfect." Translation: Russian power was flowing into the American module and the shuttle's computers were able to send and receive data from the station, one of the primary goals of the 93rd shuttle mission. "We copy, Bob, that's really great news, outstanding effort," replied astronaut Mike Gernhardt from mission control. Running ahead of schedule, Ross and Newman completed the bulk of their work by 9:30 p.m. The had no problems of any significance and all 40 cables fit together perfectly. Before calling it quits for the day, they also installed a handrail and removed thermal covers from two computers mounted on the upper end of the Unity module. And finally, Newman visually inspected two automatic docking system antennas on Zarya that failed to deploy fully after launch. NASA managers are assessing whether or not to attempt a repair later in the mission. "All day we've had a lot of people in the back room watching, some of them are related to you, proud of all the stuff you're doing," astronaut Chris Hadfield called from Houston. "And [space station program manager] Randy Brinkley's back there as well and he's really pleased you folks are building a space station, also." "Well we couldn't be more proud that this thing is going as smoothly as it is and we're just going to keep pressing on and doing our jobs," replied shuttle pilot Rick Sturckow. The only glitches in an otherwise textbook spacewalk came when one of Ross's anchor sockets, used to mount a foot restraint at various points on the station, somehow slipped free of its tether and floated away into space. "Houston, I lost a ... socket and a retractable," Ross reported around 10:15 p.m. "I don't know how it came off. I saw it drifting about five feet away from me. It's not been a good day." "It's floating about 20 feet above the nose of the orbiter," Cabana said, "directly in front of us. It has very little rate on it, but it looks like it might be moving out in front of us and up slightly." Earlier, an access panel floated free after it somehow became untethered. In both cases, however, no hard was done the the spacewalkers simply pressed ahead with their timeline. While the spacewalkers encountered no major problems, Ross reported at one point that when the larger electrical cables got cold, they were difficult to connect. The pins in each connector will only fit when both sides are properly oriented, or "clocked." Depending on how cold a cable was, Ross found it a bit tough to twist the two sides into the correct position. "It's amazing, I can feel the difference in warmth between the front side of the bay and the back side," Newman said. "No doubt about it," Ross replied. "And in the bay and out of the bay. ... I am here to tell you, clocking is critical on cables. If you have cold cables that you don't have clocked right, you don't have a chance." But the work went smoothly and shortly before 10:30 p.m., Russian flight controllers activated the station's Russian-American Converter Units, or RACUs, to send electricity to the Unity module. The two 31-pound RACUs convert the 28.5-volt DC power used in the Russian module into 123-volt DC power for use in the Unity node. The RACUs will be used through station construction flight 5A in February 2000. Cabana initially reported lower than expected power. "We are not receiving good data," Cabana said. "RACU 5 input is 11.5 [volts], RACU 5 out is 99.5 volts, amps 4.6. RACU 6 input is 12.0 volts, output is 100 volts and output 4.8 amps." "OK, we copy, Bob," said Gernhardt. "We're seeing the same numbers here in Houston. Moscow is seeing the expected numbers and we're talking about it." A few minutes later he reported, "we've looked at the data, we think we've got a good RACU status." Cabana then began activating on-board computers to monitor various space station systems. At the same time, Ross and Newman were in the final stages of stowing tools and preparing to re-entry the shuttle's airlock. The spacewalk officially ended at 12:32 a.m. for a total duration of seven hours and 22 minutes. Ross, the fourth person to fly in space six times, completed his fifth spacewalk this evening, in the process logging more spacewalk time than any other U.S. astronaut. He eclipsed the previous cumulative total of 29 hours 41 minutes shortly after midnight. He now has 30 hours and eight minutes of cumulative EVA time. The spacewalk originally was scheduled to last just six hours, but it ran a bit longer due to the the antenna inspection work and the installation of additional handrails. Newman and Ross did not engage in much idle banter, but they occasionally took a break to enjoy the view. "That's a beautiful sunset," Ross said as the shuttle crossed into orbital darkness over southern South America. Said robot arm operator Nancy Currie: "Houston there are some beautiful views up here with sunrise as they mate Zarya and Unity." 01:50 a.m., 12/08/98, Update: NASA managers pleased with first spacewalk Initial activation and checkout of the international space station's computer system is going smoothly as flight controllers monitor the health of various components and begin warming up the first American space station module after two days in the cold of space. Lead flight director Robert Castle said the first of three planned station assembly spacewalks aboard the shuttle Endeavour Monday went so smoothly astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman were able to complete a half-dozen tasks originally planned for the second excursion Wednesday. "It was a very, very good day," Castle said at an early morning news briefing. "Yesterday, as I look at it, we put the skeleton together of the beginnings of the space station and today we hooked up the first parts of the nervous system. The EVA went very well. All the essential work got done in the first four hours." Today, the astronauts will take a half-day off and catch their collective breath before staging the second spacewalk Wednesday. During the first excursion, Newman and Ross installed six handrails and four work station anchors that will be used by future assembly crews, mostly work originally planned for the second spacewalk. They also inspected two antennas on the Russian Zarya module that failed to fully deploy after launch Nov. 20. Castle said engineers are debating whether Newman and Ross should attempt a repair during their third spacewalk or whether they should leave well enough alone. The antennas, while not fully deployed, are working as is and it might make more sense to leave them alone. On another front, Ross, Newman and other shuttle crew members reported strange movements in Zarya's two solar arrays during the spacewalk. The arrays operate independently to track the sun in unison, but one did not appear to move as promptly as the other. In an interview this morning, Castle said he believes the array drive system is working normally and that sun sensors used by one of the arrays were in the shuttle's shadow during two sunrises, which would explain the array's behavior. "I'm convinced there's nothing wrong," he said. "I'm convinced it was just that the shuttle was in the way. ... The charging currents on Zarya have been excellent the whole previous mission, so there can't be any serious flaw or if there was, it just developed right now. And I find that hard to believe." On yet another front, Castle said a lost socket and a wayward aluminum panel cover that somehow became untethered and floated away pose no problem whatsoever to the astronauts or their mission. Orbital mechanics will ensure there's no chance of a future collision and the hardware itself is not needed to complete the assembly work. As for the station's computer system, both machines "came up and are operating properly, all the power control units came up and are operating properly," Castle said. "We have not checked out all of the equipment on the Unity yet, that is continuing tonight through early morning. But everything we've checked so far is working fine." The shuttle crew plans to board the space station Thursday, after it warms up a bit. "The first thing, we're going to try to get the temperatures up," Castle said. "The node has been unpowered in space for several days so it's cold, the shell temperature's around freezing. So we're going to be running the heaters for a couple of days to get everything warmed up. Then we're going to be equalizing the pressure in all the modules. There are six or seven hatches and it's a fairly involved procedure to equalize the pressure between them. "Once we have that one volume, the crew will be inside it, we'll set up some ducting, which will route air from the shuttle into Unity," he said. "We'll also have ducting that routes air from Zarya into Unity and Unity will be the mixing area where the air will mix up. The shuttle will be doing the actual carbon dioxide removal, the humidity removal and the temperature control." And so, space station assembly appears to be off to a running start, giving mission managers renewed confidence NASA will be able to pull off the most complex engineering job in space history. "Although we have a lot of challenges ahead of us and additional EVAs, tonight is a good indication of our training, our readiness and our capability to meet the EVA challenge we face during the forthcoming five years of assembly of the space station," said program manager Randy Brinkley. =================================================================== Shuttle crew takes time off; reboosts station (12/08-09/98) 04:30 p.m., 12/08/98, Update: Space station's orbit raised Enjoying a relatively light day in space, shuttle commander Robert Cabana fired Endeavour's primary reaction control system thrusters today to boost the international space station's altitude by about four miles. The reboost maneuver was carried out in steps with repeated rocket firings that caused the station's two solar arrays to bounce back and forth a full foot at their tips. But the motion, which was expected, damped out as planned after about 40 seconds - well before the next rocket firing in the sequence - and the procedure worked as planned. "My compliments to ... the folks who did the analysis and came up with the procedure," Cabana radioed. "It worked perfect, just like in the sim on the attitude control. The stack and solar arrays were all damped out prior to each pulse going in. It really worked slick, thanks a lot." Why raise the station's orbit? All spacecraft in low Earth orbit are affected by their passage through the tenuous extreme upper atmosphere. While that atmosphere is pretty much a vacuum by normal Earthly standards, enough atoms and molecules exist to cause a sort of friction, or drag, as spacecraft plow through them at 17,000 mph. Without rocket firings from time to time, this atmospheric drag eventually would cause a spacecraft to fall out of orbit. While the Russian Zarya module of the international space station is equipped with rocket engines for just that reason, fuel is a precious commodity. By using the shuttle's thrusters for what amounted to a free ride, the station's on-board fuel was conserved. Otherwise, the Endeavour astronauts are working through a relatively light day after Monday's spacewalk to electrically connect Zarya and NASA's Unity module. A second spacewalk is on tap Wednesday and if all goes well, the astronauts will float aboard the space station for the first time Thursday to activate its communications system. In the meantime, the five-man one-woman crew will enjoy a half-day off later this evening to relax and take in the view from about 244 miles up. The astronauts will participate in two media interviews at 6:41 p.m. and a mission status briefing is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. 09:20 p.m., 12/08/98, Update: Astronauts discsuss station mission Robot arm operator Nancy Currie, charged with precisely positioning two space station modules and moving a spacewalking astronaut about the shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay, admits to a bit of nervousness given the sky high stakes involved. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. "If I didn't admit I was a little bit nervous, I'd be lying," the Army helicopter pilot told an interviewer Tuesday. "I think everybody on the crew was a little bit nervous and that's probably pretty good, too, because that just makes us all the more cautious." Currie operated the shuttle's Canadian-built robot arm with glacial precision Sunday, positioning the 44,000-pound Russian Zarya module a scant six inches above the docking port of NASA's Unity module so commander Robert Cabana could drive the two together with a brief rocket firing. Currie had to position Zarya within four inches side to side and with less than four degrees of tilt. "It's probably not so difficult as it is time consuming," she said today. "These guys were kind of kidding me a little bit about how slowly I was moving, but that was part of the key, to just move very, very slowly, steadily, not put any fast rates into the vehicle. ... And everything worked just great." At this point in the mission, the crew has accomplished most of its primary goals. They captured the Zarya module Sunday and staged a seven-hour spacewalk Monday to make critical electrical connections, allowing electricity generated by Zarya's solar arrays to flow into the U.S. module. The station's computer system is up and running and so far, no problems of any significance have been encountered. "We have been very busy today sending commands to Unity in preparation for ingress to check out some of the systems that need to be checked out early on," said space station flight director Sally Davis. "In particular, the MDMs [avionics system] we powered on yesterday have been performing flawlessly." The only problem in Unity's activation so far - and it's very minor - involves two of the module's four radial hatchways. The four ports are unoccupied at present, but other modules eventually will be attached using so-called common berthing mechanisms, or CBMs. Each CBM features 16 motorized bolts. In a routine test, flight controllers verified they could command 62 of the 64 bolts in question to move. But the movement of one bolt on the zenith port and one on the station's left-side hatchway could not be immediately confirmed due to a data error of some sort. Davis said she's confident engineers will be able to resolve the problem without great difficulty. "As I've probably said too many times, everything's going very well," she said. The astronauts aboard Endeavour echoed her sentiments. "We're going into a new era in space exploration, one of international cooperation," Cabana said. "We've got a lot of folks all over the world pulling together, doing this. It's amazing! Here we've got two huge pieces of hardware behind us, one built in the United States, one built in Russia, computers that have never talked to each other actually together, software that's been tested only in models. And we put the whole thing together and it worked. I just feel this is the way we're going and it's going to continue to progress." Cabana summed up his crewmates' mood with their initial success, saying "we're feeling outstanding. We've still got a lot ahead of us, but it really feels good to have everything we need for mission success under our belts. It's really been an outstanding flight. If you could have seen us on the flight deck after the rendezvous, when we successfully grabbed Zarya, there were a lot of big hugs and smiles up here, believe me." On Wednesday, astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman will venture back out into Endeavour's cargo bay for the second of three planned spacewalks. The primary objective is to install a pair of antennas on the Unity node so ground controllers in Houston can operate the station and monitor its myriad systems after the shuttle departs. The astronauts will float into the space station Thursday to activate its communications system and to transfer equipment over from the shuttle that will be used by the station's first crew in early 2000. "We've still got a lot ahead of us, a couple of more EVAs, and we're actually going inside the space station [to] turn on more equipment, transfer stuff back and forth between the middeck of the orbiter and the space station and prepare it for future habitability and experimentation," Cabana said. A third and final spacewalk is on tap Saturday to mount tools and other assembly aids on the growing station for future construction crews. More than 160 spacewalks will be needed over the next five years to assemble the station, but Cabana said he believes NASA is up to the challenge. "If somebody falls off a big building and they're not wearing a safety tether, they're going to get hurt," he said. "We double tether the astronaut, they have an EVA rescue device that should they become detached from their tethers and fly free, they can activate it and actually fly themselves back to the space shuttle and space station. So we try to protect against all that. "If we have problems with the suit, we terminate the EVA immediately and get back into the airlock and repressurize," he added. "I don't think we'd ever lose an astronaut on orbit. Then again, there's no gain without risk. We minimize the risk and take every precaution we possibly can to ensure success and safety of our people. If it's not safe, we're not going to do it." 02:10 a.m., 12/09/98, Update: Mars briefings on tap; spacewalk details Revision G of the NASA television schedule has been released with details about how the space agency will cover the shuttle Endeavour's ongoing space station assembly mission and Thursday's planned launch of the Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft from the Cape Canaveral Air Station. At 11 a.m. today, NASA will televise a pre-launch news conference from the Kennedy Space Center outlining the latest Mars mission, including animation. At 12:30 p.m., another briefing will be carried on NASA television to review the "top 10" photographs taken by the Mars Global Surveyor, currently in orbit around the red planet. The Mars Climate Orbiter is scheduled for take off at 1:56 p.m. Thursday. In other news, flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston have briefed the Endeavour astronauts on a proposal to have spacewalker James Newman, wielding a long boat-hook type tool, tap on a jammed antenna aboard the Russian Zarya module during a spacewalk later this evening in a bid to coax it open. Zarya is equipped with two such antennas, which are part of a backup manual docking system. Both should have unrolled like party favors shortly after launch Nov. 20, but neither made it more than a couple of inches. The antennas work satisfactorily as is, but flight controlllers want to resolve the matter now to prevent them from unrolling unexpectedly at some point in the future when other spacewalkers might be nearby. NASA's mission management team is expected to approve the repair attempt during a meeting later today. =================================================================== Ross, Newman stage second spacewalk (12/09-10/98) 03:35 p.m., 12/09/98, Update: Ross and Newman begin second spacewalk Astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman opened the shuttle Endeavour's airlock hatch today and began a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to continue assembly of the international space station. The spacewalk officially began at 3:33 p.m. when the astronauts switched their spacesuits to internal battery power. The goal of the excursion is to install two 100-pound antennas on the U.S. Unity space station module to enable ground controllers to command and control the spacecraft after Endeavour departs. The astronauts also will release launch restraints on two node hatches, install a sunshade on one of the station's external computers and attempt to deploy a jammed antenna on the Russian Zarya module. Zarya is equipped with an automatic system to control dockings of visiting Russian spacecraft. A backup, manually operated, system also is available that could be operated by an on-board crew if something happened to the automatic system. The manual system uses two teleoperated robotic, or "TORU," antennas to send navigation data to an approaching spacecraft. The two metal antennas are rolled up like party favors at launch and then released in orbit by small detonators. The detonators fired, but the antennas did not fully unroll. Russian flight controllers say the antennas are working fine as is. But after discussions with NASA controllers, both sides agreed the astronauts should attempt to unroll them to make sure they don't unexpectedly deploy during some future spacewalk. Newman, wielding a long boathook-like tool, plans to tap on one of the antennas in a bid to coax it open. If he succeeds, the spacewalkers will attempt to open the other antenna during a third and final spacewalk Saturday. The astronauts first must break out tools and install a foot restraint on the end of Endeavour's robot arm. Newman will ride the arm today while Ross assists, using a portable foot restraint that can be anchored at various points. The first item on the agenda is installation of the two antennas on the Unity node. Here's a timeline for today's outing (PET: elapsed event time; CBM: hatchway Common Berthing Mechanism; APAS: Docking system): PET.......ROSS...........................NEWMAN 00:00.....Begin..........................Begin 00:15.....Sortie setup...................Same 01:15.....Node antenna installation......Same 03:00.....Zenith CBM restraints..........Zenith Node MDM sunshade install 03:15.....Nadir CBM restraints...........Trunnion pin covers 04:00....."Get ahead" tasks..............Trunnion pin covers 04:45.....TORU nadir antenna deploy......Same 05:00.....APAS umbilical disconnect......Same 05:45.....Sortie cleanup.................Same 06:30.....Airlock repress................Same 09:35 p.m., 12/09/98, Update: Spacewalker frees jammed Russian antenna Spacewalkers Jerry Ross and James Newman installed two boxy antennas on the international space station this evening, a pair of electronic ears that will let flight controllers in Houston send commands and receive data from the orbital outpost after the shuttle Endeavour departs. Then, in a dramatic moment 243 miles over the Pacific Ocean, Newman used a boathook-like tool to coax a jammed antenna open on the Russian Zarya module. "It's moving," Ross said, watching the operation from a few feet away. The tape measure-like antenna was rolled up at launch like a party favor and failed to unroll after reaching orbit. Another antenna on the other side of the module also failed to deploy. "OK, it does move and it does not jump back," Newman said, floating on the end of Endeavour's 50-foot-long robot arm. "It's like the spring wasn't working. It feels like it will deploy if I continue a gentle pull." Mission control told him to do just that, but Newman had mixed success. "Here it goes... almost there... ah, good and bad news," Newman reported. "It's full up, but it didn't pop." "So it's locked in the 90-degree position, right?" pilot Rick Sturckow asked from Endeavour's cockpit. "Almost." "OK, stay clear," commander Robert Cabana instructed. After discussing the matter with flight controllers in Houston, Newman put a bit more pressure on the antenna and suddenly, with no warning, it sprang free and unrolled. "There goes! Gone!" someone called. "Pretty fast for the camera." "Congratulations, crew, you got it deployed," astronaut Chris Hadfield called from Houston. "All right, good to see!" "I blinked and missed it," Newman laughed. "I hope the camera caught it." "It went straight up," Ross said. The antenna deploy was the final chore for today's spacewalk as Ross and Newman accomplished all of their planned objectives. Along the way, the shuttle's television cameras captured spectacular views of the spacewalkers and the international space station framed against the brilliant blue of the Pacific Ocean. "Jerry, it looks like you're standing on a mountain top," Hadfield radioed as the shuttle crossed high above eastern China. "A tremendous view, Chris," Ross replied from his lofty perch. Earlier, Cabana called down to say "I hope you're getting some good TV down there because it's pretty neat up here." "Bob, it's been spectacular," Hadfield replied. The spacewalk began at 3:33 p.m. Ross and Newman spent the first part of the outing installing two 100-pound antennas in two unused hatches of the Unity module. The antennas will enable U.S. ground controllers to communicate with the station after Endeavour undocks. Antenna installation went smoothly and the spacewalkers turned their attention to installing a sunshade over a computer mounted on Unity, removing launch restraints on hatch hardware and installing thermal blankets over the large posts, or trunnions, used to mount Unity in the shuttle's cargo bay for launch. But one of the covers managed to escape its tether and float free of the shuttle, beyond the crew's reach. It was the third item in two spacewalks to get away from Ross, who went to great lengths today to make sure everything was properly tethered. "Jerry, one of the thermal covers got away from you," Cabana radioed. "How did it do that?" Ross asked. "Jim saw a tether, I'll guarantee you. Where did it go?" "It's out my window." "I don't believe this," Ross said, sounding dismayed. "Jerry, which t ether did it come off of?" Newman asked a few moments later. "I need to knwo which one not to trust." "My regular wrist tether," Ross replied. But that was the only miscue in an otherwise flawless spacewalk and Ross went out of his way to thank his training team at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "I'd just like you to pass on to a lot of friends back there that spent a lot of long hours working hard to get us ready to go fly ... I just really do appreciate it," he said. "All the training they went through to get us ready is really paying off." But he and Newman briefly commented that no matter how good the training, there's no substitute for the real thing when it comes to weightlessness. "I think the guys do everything they can on the ground, but they can't quite replicate what God can give us up here," Ross said. As with their first spacewalk, the astronauts were mostly business as they worked through their timeline, pausing only occasionally to marvel at the view from 243 miles up. Unfortunately for them, the shuttle's daylight passes were over the Pacific Ocean and there was little to see in the way of landmarks. "No wonder they call it the blue planet. All I've seen is ocean," Ross said at one point. But toward the end of the spacewalk, just before the successful work to release the jammed antenna, the astronauts enjoyed a morning view of western Russia and China. "Wow. What are we over," Newman asked. "It looks very cold down there." "Mid Russia, we're coming to China," cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev responded from the cockpit." "I wish I'd brought my camera," Ross said a few moments later. 10:40 p.m., 12/09/98, Update: Successful spacewalk comes to conclusion Astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman ended a successful seven-hour two-minute spacewalk at 10:35 p.m. this evening. The excursion began at 3:33 p.m. when the astronauts switched their spacesuits to internal battery power. It officially ended when they began repressurizing the shuttle Endeavour's airlock. This was the second of three planned spacewalks to connect and activate the first two modules of the international space station. The astronauts plan to float into the station for the first time Thursday to activate its communications system. A third and final spacewalk is on tap Saturday starting at 4:06 p.m. =================================================================== Endeavour astronauts board space station (12/10/98) 12:00 p.m., 12/10/98, Update: Shuttle crew set to enter space station Fifteen years after President Reagan first proposed building an international space station, the shuttle Endeavour's crew is set to float inside the orbital outpost for the first time today to install communications gear and other equipment. "I think it's a very significant event," said lead flight director Robert Castle. "I think it's the first entrance of a combined Russian-American crew into an international space station. You're going to see all nationalities fly to it, you're going to see all nationalities participating in it, it's a very large program. This is the very first step in that. Even though this is a very small beginning, a small part of what the station's going to look like, I think this is a very significant and almost momentous event." The astronauts were awakened today at 11:41 a.m. by a recording of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA," requested by robot arm operator Nancy Currie's husband. If all goes well, the crew will open hatches and enter the darkened U.S. Unity module around 2:16 p.m. And as one might expect, the first item on the agenda is turning on the lights. "The dew point is going to be about 45, we need to be about 10 degrees above that and we want some margin, so the temperature's probably going to be on the order of 60 to 70 degrees," Castle said. "They will probably use flashlights as they go in and they will actually physically turn on the lights when they go into Unity. It will be dark when they first go in. There are three light switches, they know where they are." The astronauts will enter the Russian Zarya module around 3:36 p.m. and begin installing communications equipment in both modules around 4:01 p.m. In addition, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and Nancy Currie will install a replacement battery conditioning unit in Zarya to replace one that hasn't worked properly since launch Nov. 20. During a spacewalk Wednesday, astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman installed two large S-band radio antennas in two of Unity's four currently unused docking ports. The antennas and gear that will be installed later today will enable flight controllers in Houston to control the space station after the shuttle departs. The system is referred to as "early comm" because it is strictly temporary. It will be replaced by a much more capable KU-band system during a 2000 mission. "The equipment for the communications gear consists of three boxes, three large electronic boxes," Castle said. "They're packaged up on an aluminum cold plate that the crew will take out of the middeck [of the shuttle] and install in Unity on the starboard side. They'll then hook up a bunch of cabling between those three boxes and the pass through, feed through, ports on the starboard and port hatches where the antennas are. "That's the basic installation," he said. "It interconnects those antennas then to the black boxes, to the power supply and into the data bus network for the computers. There are also cables that run back to Zarya that will be used for [permanent] crew communications so when they first arrive they'll be able to use a terminal essentially, a laptop PC, in Zarya to communicate with the ground." Zarya is a propulsion module equipped with fuel tanks and storage lockers. It will be used as a fuel depot and warehouse after a more sophisticated Russian control module is launched next summer. The Unity node is intended to serve as a gateway to other U.S. modules. It is equipped with six hatches, one on each end and four radial ports. The U.S. laboratory module, for example, will fit on the end now occupied by Endeavour. "It is pretty much outfitted for what it's intended to be, which is a feed through area," Castle said. "There are four stowage racks of which one is fully installed, one will have the early comm system in it, the other two will be set up for soft stowage and filled up on [a shuttle supply flight in May]. It also has the appropriate ventilation systems, power distribution, all those things are there with the exception of the cooling system, the fluid loops don't have any water in them [yet]." So far, Unity's checkout has proceeded smoothly. The only problem was a lost thermal blanket that got away from Ross during Wednesday's spacewalk. The blanket was one of four being installed over the large metal attach pins, or trunnions, used to mount Unity in the shuttle's cargo bay for launch. Castle said the lost blanket poses no major problem. "We will probably figure out a way to put an alternate thermal cover over that and even if we don't, it's not a big deal," he said. "We really need those thermal covers for downstream flights where we try to keep the structure very warm. Right now, we don't keep it warm for very long so if you have a heat leak into space it's not a big deal." The lost thermal blanket was the third item that managed to escape Ross's safety tethers. During a spacewalk Monday, a socket tool and an access panel floated away, much to Ross's chagrin. "We're going to look at the [tether] hardware and that process has already been initiated," said Gregory Harbaugh, a veteran astronaut in charge of spacewalk planning. "But I can tell you these hooks have been tested to minus 200 degrees. ... So I don't expect that is the cause. But that doesn't mean there wasn't some mechanical contribution to these hardware losses. We're going to have to go study that and debrief the crew to understand exactly what they perceived the configurations to be when the individual pieces of hardware were lost. "Beyond that, certainly we're going to reinforce the idea of strict tether protocol in the future to make sure that is emphasized in the training process so it doesn't reoccur," he said. "I can tell you, absolutely guarantee you, nobody feels worse about any of those items being lost than the crew members. I guarantee you also they're going to be very diligent in the future on EVA 3. And certainly all future crews will have their consciousness sort of re-raised as a result of this couple of losses. "But in the greater scheme of things, these are small failings, we're going to have bumps in the road as we go along, and we're learning as we go," Harbaugh said. "We know an awful lot about EVA but that doesn't mean we know everything." 03:05 p.m., 12/10/98, Update: Astronauts enter space station Shuttle commander Robert Cabana and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev opened a hatch leading into the Unity node of the international space station today at 2:54 p.m., floating in side by side to symbolically open a new era in space exploration and cooperation. "This is just an absolutely super place!" Cabana exclaimed, floating in Unity's roomy interior. "It's unbelievable! If you've got live coverage, look at the volume Sergei's floating around in. We are so pleased and excited and proud to be part of the team that made this happen. And our special thanks to all the ISS folks, all their hard work. We remember when Unity was just an aluminum shell and it is truly a fine piece of hardware. Thanks to everybody in the space station program for all their hard work." They plan to enter the Russian Zarya module shortly, kicking off a busy two days of activity to install communications equipment, transfer supplies and to rig the station for normal operations. Krikalev and astronaut Nancy Currie also plan to install a replacement battery conditioner in the Zarya module. See the 12 p.m. entry below for details. 05:50 p.m., 12/10/98, Update: Station crew marks historic moment in Russian module Shuttle commander Robert Cabana and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev opened a sixth and final hatch at 4:12 p.m. today and floated into the Russian Zarya module as the crew begins activation and checkout of the international space station. Cabana and Krikalev shook hands and hugged moments before opening the hatch, clearly elated to be opening a new era in space exploration. Cabana, Krikalev and their four shuttle crewmates - Nancy Currie, pilot Rick Sturckow and spacewalkers Jerry Ross and James Newman - took a moment to pose in the cramped confines of Zarya to mark what for NASA was a historic moment. "Well Houston, from the deepest part of the international space station, we'd just like to take a moment to commemorate an historic moment in space exploration," Cabana said. "The beginning of the international space station, where countries from all over the world are exploring together in space for everyone's benefit." Clearly caught up in the moment, Cabana said the space station would lead to "exploration that's going to take us beyond the confines of low Earth orbit, where we're going to learn to work together and do everything we possibly can to expand our knowelege in all areas of science. It's fantastic, I can't say how much this means to all of us. "It's the culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of folks," Cabana continued. "We'd like to congratulate all the folks [with Zarya-builder] Krunichev who worked so hard putting this fine vehicle together, all the folks at Boeing and all the contractors in the United States who worked to put Unity together. We've joined our countries together in this effort, we're joining more countries as we continue to build, we've got people from all over working on this. It's just a fantastic vehicle and it's going to benefit everybody. We just can't wait to see the outcome of what we've started. "I'm probably dragging on here, but I just see us in the embryonic stage of this, it's just a small beginning and it's only going to grow," Cabana concluded. "Roger that," replied Chris Hadfield from mission control. "You've opened the doors to a whole new era of spaceflight. It's great to see you there on the Zarya. Congratulations to the whole crew." The astronauts spent the next few hours breaking out equipment and arranging air ducts throughout the station to ensure a fresh air supply. This status report will be updated after today's mission status briefing at 8 p.m. 10:30 p.m., 12/10/98, Update: Astronauts, managers hail space station work NASA managers don't normally express great emotion, preferring instead to discuss how "nominal" an otherwise flawless mission might be proceeding or how few "anomalies" have cropped up. But there was a clear feeling of excitement at the Johnson Space Center as the shuttle Endeavour's crew floated into the international space station for the first time earlier today. "As we watched the crew go in, the feeling of excitement in the control center was elevated as every hatch was opened," said space station flight director Sally Davis. "I have to tell you it was really a feeling of gratification. ... Certainly it was a very meaningful moment for the people in the control center." Space station program manager Randy Brinkley, who seems more at home in NASA-speak than in common English, described the boarding as "truly a historical moment for the international space station." "We had U.S. astronauts and Russian cosmonauts talking from the international space station and they were communicating with the space station team here in Houston and subsequently with the team in Moscow," Brinkley said. "And they were communicating from a functioning international space station. So to me, that was very gratifying and, I believe, a very historic moment for all of us. ... We've had a tremendous flight so far and it has met or exceeded all of our expectations." Virginia Barnes, a Boeing manager in charge of the Russian Zarya module, was clearly elated with the day's events, saying "what an incredible journey that is continuing yet today. What happened today and what has been happening the last few weeks signifies not only tremendous engineering but also an emotional journey." The Endeavour astronauts spent most of the evening installing and checking out the station's early communications system, which will allow NASA flight controllers to monitor station system after the shuttle departs. Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and Nancy Currie also worked to install a replacement battery conditioning unit aboard Zarya that was not performing up to snuff. "Congratulations to the group that did the maintenance," astronaut Chris Hadfield called from Houston around 9:30 p.m. "We had a pass over the ground sites and it looks like everything's working perfectly now. So complete success, well done." Installation of the communications system also went smoothly, allowing the astronauts to carry out a successful test of the station's video teleconferencing system. Permanent station crews will use the system down the road to chat with family members and flight controllers. On hand for tonight's test was William Shepherd, commander of the frist pemanent crew, scheduled for launch in early 2000. Shepherd will be joined aboard the station by Krikalev and cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko. "The early comm system allows us, through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite - the same one we use for shuttle communications - to be able to command the node systems," said Davis. "Without it, we were going to have to rely on sending commands from Houston to Moscow and through their Russian ground stations. We still have that capability and we use it as a backup. The node systems that we're commanding include a couple of power modules, we can monitor and control the two MDMs [flight computers] that are on board and we can manage the early comm system itself." The S-band communications system is strictly temporary. It will be replaced in 2000 by a more powerful KU-band system similar to the space shuttle's. Until then, NASA can talk to the station via radio links, but television will be possible only when the station is over a Russian ground station or when a shuttle is attached. All in all, Davis said, "we think the activities have gone very well today." The astronauts will wrap up work inside the station Friday and close all its internal hatches as they float back into the shuttle Endeavour. Astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman plan to carry out a third and final spacewalk Saturday to cache tools on the station's hull for future assembly teams and if all goes well, Endeavour will undock Sunday for a planned landing Tuesday night at the Kennedy Space Center. =================================================================== Endeavour astronauts exit space station (12/11/98) 03:00 p.m., 12/11/98, Update: Shuttle crew wraps up work inside new space station The Endeavour astronauts are in the final stages of rigging the international space station for normal operations, preparing to seal the outpost back up prior to a third and final spacewalk Saturday. The flight plan called for the astronauts to close six internal hatches and to exit the station around 6:36 p.m. today, leaving it dormant under radio control from Earth until the next shuttle visit in May. A news briefing to discuss the day's activity aboard the space station is scheduled for 7 p.m. The astronauts will be interviewed by CBS News at 8:36 p.m. The only problem encountered so far today involved an apparently clogged ventilation system in the Russian Zarya module. Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and shuttle skipper Robert Cabana noticed that one of the module's flexible air ducts, used to ensure good circulation between modules, was collapsed, indicating negative or no pressure. Krikalev began troubleshooting and, after removing an access panel, found a plastic cap over the line where the hose was attached. The cap apparently was installed before launch to keep debris out of the system and then inadvertently left in place. After removing the cap and reattaching the hose, the air system worked properly. "So that small, minor problem appears to have been corrected and the crew members will proceed on through their morning's activities, completing all the necessary activity in the modules before backing out of them, closing the hatches, before the arrival of the next shuttle mission," said NASA spokesman Kyle Herring at the Russian control center near Moscow. This status report will be updated as warranted. In the meantime, NASA's latest status report is posted below and earlier CBS News updates are available in the Reporter's Notebook at the end of this page. 09:10 p.m., 12/11/98, Update: Astronauts shut down space station Dogging the hatches behind them, the Endeavour astronauts backed out of the international space station late today, turning out the lights and leaving the orbital outpost dormant but shipshape for its next set of visitors in May. At the same time, the shuttle crew lowered the orbiter's cabin air pressure to 10.2 pounds per square inch to set the stage for a third and final spacewalk Saturday evening to complete the station's initial setup and outfitting. "It's been an outstanding mission so far, a great team effort by everybody," commander Robert Cabana told an interviewer. "We achieved everything we set out to do plus a lot of get-ahead tasks inside the space station. We're feeling pretty good, but we've still got another EVA [spacewalk] to go. So there's no time to let up yet." The hatch farthest from Endeavour, an internal hatch inside the Russian Zarya module, was closed at 5:41 p.m. The hatch leading to the U.S. Unity module was shut at 7:26 p.m. A final two hatches then were shut, completing the crew's exit from the station. "And Houston, we can confirm all the lights in Unity are out, it's dark in there," Cabana radioed at 7:43 p.m. During their 28-hour 32-minute stay aboard the station, Cabana and his five crewmates removed and replaced a faulty battery conditioning unit in the Zarya module; installed and successfully tested an S-band communications system in the Unity module that will enable U.S. flight controllers to monitor the station after the shuttle departs; tested a videoconferencing system that will be used by future station crew members; installed a wireless antenna system and various mobility aids to help future visitors make their way through the station; and removed launch restraints and panels that are no longer needed. The astronauts also transferred a backup flight computer to the Unity node and stored a spare current converter unit in Zarya. "The international space station is the beginning of something even greater to come," Cabana told CBS News. "And we hope that as the space station grows from our beginning, joining Unity and Zarya together, that international cooperation is going to grow and that we're going to go beyond low-Earth orbit and continue to explore. It's just a fantastic opportunity, we're really pleased to be a part of this team and we're really pleased with how well it's gone so far. But we've still got a lot of work ahead of us." The final major item on the flight plan is a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk Saturday by astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman. The excursion is scheduled to begin at 4:06 p.m. The primary goals are to mount a canvas tool bag on the station's hull for future assembly crews; to remove no-longer-needed docking system cables; install a handrail for future spacewalkers; deploy a second jammed antenna on the Zarya module; and test a small gas-powered jetpack known by its acronym SAFER. The jetpack will be worn by all future assembly spacewalkers as an emergency rescue device in case an astronaut ever somehow slips free of his or her safety tethers. "It's expected to be months before anybody comes back," Newman said in a pre-launch NASA interview. "So the plan is to take out a large bag, we call it the Node bag, or the bag for Unity. That bag has in it a whole lot of tools and foot restraints and PFR [portable foot restraint] attachment devices that the subsequent crews can use. By leaving it there it's ready for them and they don't have to bring it up and back every time on the space shuttle so we save a lot of payload mass by doing that. That's one of the primary tasks is putting this large stowage bag on the outside. "We're also going to be unhooking the cables which we used to lock the two modules together, and I think that's actually a very symbolic act, because when we do that, then the two modules, Zarya and Unity, will no longer be able to be separated," Newman said. "They will be permanently fixed, and very symbolic, I think, as a representation of our partnership and our commitment to making this happen for the long term with our international partners." Finally, the astronauts will photograph every square inch of the station to document its exact condition. "We want to set up our training facilities precisely as we left the hardware up there so that [future crews are] knowledgeable of what to expect," Ross said. "We also have one last task which will be to configure whatever hardware is on the outside of the station in a way that is most advantageous for the future crews to use it. In other words, they can hit the road running and get out there and go right to work." During the first two spacewalks, Ross lost a socket fitting, a thermal blanket and an access panel cover that somehow slipped free of their safety tethers. He told an interviewer tonight he has no idea how the hardware got away. Asked what his advice might be to fellow spacewalkers, he said: "Don't do what I did!" "I don't have the slightest idea what happened," he said. "I did four previous spacewalks, never lost an item. I tried to train very hard to do the proper tether protocols to make sure that nothing comes loose in the water tank at home. I thought I'd done all the proper things here and I have absolutely no explanation for why things came loose." Despite the hard work and obvious frustration over the tether problem, Ross said spacewalks give him a chance to reflect on the bigger picture when he has a few moments to enjoy the view. "Whenever there's a chance to reflect back and just look at what we're doing and what we're experiencing, it's just to marvel at the beauty of the beautiful Earth that God created for us to live on, the fragility of the atmosphere and the Earth itself, the fact that you cannot see any boundaries between countries and that there are millions and millions of people down there who are under very poor living conditions," he told CBS News. "And I'm hoping that the things we do through the space program can help enhance their lifestyles everywhere across the surface of the Earth." =================================================================== Astronauts stage third and final spacewalk (12/12/98) 01:45 p.m., 12/12/98, Update: Astronauts gear up for final spacewalk Astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman are preparing to venture back out into the shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay to complete the international space station's initial outfitting. During a planned six-and-a-half-hour excursion, Ross and Newman plan to mount a large tool bag on the station's hull for future assembly crews; remove unneeded umbilical cables from a docking port; deploy a jammed antenna and install a handrail on the Russian Zarya module. They also plan to conduct a detailed photo survey to document the station's condition. In addition, Ross plans to test a small emergency jetpack known as SAFER that all station spacewalkers will wear as a sort of orbital life vest in case an astronaut ever slips free of his or her safety tether. Ross, however, will remain tethered throughout the brief test flight. Here is a timeline of today's activity: ELAPSED TIME...ROSS.............................NEWMAN HH:MM 00:15..........Airlock egress...................Same 00:45..........Tool/tether setup complete.......Same 00:45..........Position tool bag for install....Install tool bag 01:45..........Tool bag install complete........Same 01:45..........APAS umbilical stow..............Same 02:30..........Install dust caps on connectors..Same 02:45..........Umbilical stow complete..........Same 02:45..........TORU antenna deploy..............Same 03:15..........Antenna deploy complete..........Hook stow 03:15..........FGB handrail install.............Same 03:45..........Handrail install complete........Same 03:45..........Final work site closeout.........Same 04:15..........Work site closeout complete......Same 04:15..........Station photo survey.............Same 05:15..........Photo survey complete............Same 05:15..........SAFER jetpack test flight........Observe 05:45..........SAFER test complete..............Observe 05:45..........Sortie cleanup...................Same 06:15..........Sortie cleanup complete..........Same 06:15..........Airlock ingress..................Same 06:30..........Airlock repressurization.........Same The TORU antenna is one of two mounted on Zarya that failed to fully deploy after launch Nov. 20. The antennas are part of a backup manual docking system that could be used by future crews to help guide a Progress or Soyuz spacecraft to the space station if Zarya's automatic system failed. During a spacewalk Wednesday, Newman used a Russian grapple tool to pull up on one rolled-up antenna, successfully coaxing it to unwind. Ross will attempt to deploy the second antenna today. If he fails, the astronauts will not attempt to install the Zarya handrail because of its proximity to the wound up - and potentially dangerous - antenna. The bulk of the work is aimed at rigging the station for future assembly work. "It's expected to be months before anybody comes back," Newman said in a pre-launch NASA interview. "So the plan is to take out a large bag, we call it the Node bag, or the bag for Unity. That bag has in it a whole lot of tools and foot restraints and PFR [portable foot restraint] attachment devices that the subsequent crews can use. By leaving it there it's ready for them and they don't have to bring it up and back every time on the space shuttle so we save a lot of payload mass by doing that. That's one of the primary tasks is putting this large stowage bag on the outside. "We're also going to be unhooking the cables which we used to lock the two modules together, and I think that's actually a very symbolic act, because when we do that, then the two modules, Zarya and Unity, will no longer be able to be separated," Newman said. "They will be permanently fixed, and very symbolic, I think, as a representation of our partnership and our commitment to making this happen for the long term with our international partners." The photo survey will help improve training on the ground. "We want to set up our training facilities precisely as we left the hardware up there so that [future crews are] knowledgeable of what to expect," Ross said. "We also have one last task which will be to configure whatever hardware is on the outside of the station in a way that is most advantageous for the future crews to use it. In other words, they can hit the road running and get out there and go right to work." If all goes well, Endeavour will undock from the international space station around 3:25 p.m. Sunday. 03:40 p.m., 12/12/98, Update: Third spacewalk begins Astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman began their third and final spacewalk today at 3:33 p.m. to complete the international space station's initial outfitting. The planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk officially started when the astronauts switched their spacesuits to internal battery power. It will take them about 45 minutes to rig their safety tethers and set up the tools they'll need. Ross will spend most of the excursion anchored to the end of the shuttle Endeavour's 50-foot-long robot arm while Newman will work from portable foot restraints that can be anchored at various positions. One of their first tasks, which is not listed in the timeline below, is to loosen cable ties on four cables installed earlier as part of the station's initial communications system. Based on television views of the station, flight controllers are concerned the cables might be too tightly bound to cope with the expansion and contraction cycles they will experience as the station moves into and out of Earth's shadow. Ross and Newman also will visually inspect the targets used by a computerized television system used during shuttle dockings. Television views indicate the paint used in the targets may be bubbling up slighly, which could affect the system's performance in the future. 08:00 p.m., 12/12/98, Update: Astronauts install tool bag, deploy jammed antenna Spacewalkers Jerry Ross and James Newman installed a large tool bag on the international space station today, inspected a set of antenna cables to make sure they were not too tight - they weren't - and removed docking system cables between the Unity and Zarya modules that are no longer needed. Ross then used a 10-foot-long Russian grappling hook to free up a jammed antenna on the Zarya module. "Go ahead and give it a pry, Jerry," shuttle pilot Rick Sturckow told Ross, anchored on the end of Endeavour's robot arm. "OK, here we go," Ross said. As Ross applied the grapple tool, the antenna stem rotated away from the hull as if it was going to unwind normally. But instead, the antenna remained rolled up like a tape measure. "It looks full up to me, doesn't it to you, Jim?" Ross asked. "Yep, I saw it hit the back." After more discussion and repeated pulls and tugs by Ross, the antenna suddenly popped free and unrolled. "There it goes!" Newman said, watching a protective cap sail past and into open space. "It came off really slow, it's well over the tail." "That's great news," astronaut Chris Hadfield radioed from Houston. "There it goes, you can see it in the sun," Newman continued, referring to the cap. "You blinked, didn't you Jerry?" "I saw it go," Ross insisted. "Did you? Good." "Good job, Jerry," shuttle commander Robert Cabana radioed from Endeavour's flight deck. "All right!" "All it took was for all of us to look away for a second. Well done," Hadfield called. During a spacewalk Wednesday, Newman freed an identical antenna on the other side of Zarya that also failed to deploy after the module's launch Nov. 20. The two antennas are part of a backup docking system that future crews could use to manually guide Progress supply ships to the station should its automatic docking system fail. Both antennas are now fully extended. The Russian-built grapple tool used to free the jammed antennas was strapped down on Zarya's hull after today's repair work, making it available to future spacewalkers if needed. Ross and Newman then moved to the top of Zarya, more than seven stories above Endeavour's cargo bay, to install a handrail that could not be put in place before launch. Along the way, the duo discovered an open experiment tray in Zarya's hull. "One of their material display trays is not fully deployed and latched down," Ross reported. "Imagine a medicine cabinet, Chris," Newman explained to the ground. "The door to the medicine cabinet just swings freely." "All the other ones here are lashed down. This one's not," Ross said, adding it appeared to have vibrated open during launch. While flight controllers discussed whether to have the spacewalkers close the panel, Ross took a moment to marvel at the view from his perch 76 feet above the shuttle. "We're quite a ways up here," Ross commented. Then, studying the open tray, he said: "Looks like all you're going to have to do is squeeze that handle and slide it, isn't it?" "Well, you don't even have to do that. The tray, I think the whole tray slides," Newman said. "Oh, OK. ... Well, I doubt it was meant to be like that." "Half closed? Three quarters closed?" Newman asked. "Yeah." While they waited for U.S. and Russian flight controllers to make a decision on what to do, Ross and Newman simply floated atop the space station against the black of space as they sailed into sunlight over central Asia. "Wow," Ross exclaimed at one point. "That's got to be Russia, going toward China, I guess." "Right." "It's not very often you get to do this," Ross commented. Finally, after discussions with Russian flight controllers near Moscow, Hadfield told Ross and Newman to pull the tray fully open instead of closed. "We would like you to open it," Hadfield radioed, "we want you to fix it in the open position and if for some reason the mechanism won't let you do that, then we'd like you to leave it as is. And of course when you're done, get some photographs of it in its final config." Newman then did just that and both spacewalkers worked their way back down the station toward the cargo bay where Ross planned to test a small emergency jetpack known as SAFER. 11:30 p.m., 12/12/98, Update: Astronauts test jet pack; wrap up spaceewalk Astronaut Jerry Ross wrapped up a third and final spacewalk this evening by testing a small emergency jet pack that will serve as a life vest of sorts for future space station assembly workers. Floating in the shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay but still attached to a safety tether, Ross fired small pressurized nitrogen gas thrusters while fellow spacewalker James Newman looked on. While the jet pack clearly worked, it appeared to consume its propellant at a higher-than-expected rate. "Attitude hold is off," Ross commented a few minutes after the testing began. "Wow. 28 percent [nitrogen remaining] already." "Understand 28 percent remaining" shuttle pilot Rick Sturckow asked from Endeavour's cockpit. "Yeah." "That can't be right," Newman commented. Ross then cut short tests of the jet pack's automatic attitude hold system and pressed on with directed movements. "What's your percent remaining?" Sturckow asked a few minutes later. "Well, looks like it's time to stop," Ross said. "Coming forward." "Just give me the percent you've got," Sturckow asked. "It's not giving me a percent," Ross replied. "Tank pressure's basically gone." "OK. Is it still bringing you forward?" "Yep." "It's still working," Newman chimed in. "Yeah, it does look like it's still working pretty good," Sturckow said. In typical NASA-ease, the jet pack is called the Simplified Aid for Extra-Vehicular Activity Rescue device - SAFER for short. Developed by NASA engineers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, SAFER uses pressurized nitrogen from 24 small jets to provide thrust in three directions: Forward and backward, up and down and side to side. Using combinations of jets, an astronaut also can control rolls about the body's vertical axis; head-over-heels pitching motions; and cartwheel-like tumbles. The boxy jet pack clips on to the base of a spacewalker's normal backpack. A joystick is provided to control jet firings and a liquid crystal display gives the user information about battery power and the amount of nitrogen left. In addition, a push button can be used to activate a small internal computer that will attempt to fire whatever jets are necessary to stabilize a tumbling astronaut. No more than four jets can fire at the same time to produce straight-line motion. Maximum velocity, which could only be achieved by firing four jets wide open until the unit's nitrogen was exhausted, is about 6 mph. The normal operating velocity, however, will be less than 1 mph. A SAFER unit was tested during a late 1997 visit to the Russian space station Mir, but a stuck valve prevented the jets from firing. The system was overhauled and engineers ordered another test during Endeavour's mission. "There were some things that we didn't anticipate," said Gregory Harbaugh, a veteran astronaut in charge of spacewalk planning at the Johnson Space Center. "It seemed to use the propellant a lot more quickly than it had done in the simulations and I don't know at this point ... if that was a true indication of the consumption of the gas or whether it was an erratic pressure transducer or something else. "We have to go do some homework and some study there before we can declare this a complete victory in the sense that the SAFER worked perfectly," Harbaugh said. "But clearly, it was worth doing. It's always important to demonstrate the parachute and that's why I pushed so hard to have this test done. We may find we want to do some more testing on orbit as a result of this." Earlier, Ross and Newman completed a detailed photo survey of the new space station and locked open a partially deployed experiment tray near the top of the Russian Zarya module. They accomplished all of their objectives before heading back to the safety of Endeavour's airlock. "I just tried to scratch my nose," Ross said at one point. "It doesn't work very well." "I had no problem," Newman joked. The spacewalk officially began at 3:33 p.m. and ended at 10:32 p.m. for a duration of six hours 59 minutes. All three station assembly spacewalks added up to 21 hours and 22 minutes, giving Ross, NASA's most experienced spacewalker, a record 44 hours and nine minutes of EVA time over seven excursions dating back to 1985. Another 159 spacewalks will be needed to complete station assembly over the next five years with 10 on tap during four shuttle flights next year. But Harbaugh said Endeavour's mission proves the team is up to the task. "We have set in place the third brick in the EVA wall and done it with a flourish," he said at a news briefing. "We have gone above and beyond the call of duty, for the third time demonstrating we knew how to plan for, train for and execute EVAs that are demanded ... by the space station assembly program. So I think this is a great start. We obviously have a long way to go and we are learning things as we go along and the challenge for us for the longer term will be to carry the lessons learned forward to improve the processes as we go along. But so far so good, and we're just delighted with the results of STS-88." =================================================================== Shuttle Endeavour undocks from international space station (12/13/98) 12:10 p.m. Update: Astronauts gear up to undock from space station The Endeavour astronauts are gearing up to undock from the international space station later this afternoon, leaving the 35-ton orbital outpost on its own until the next shuttle crew visits in May. The undocking window opens at 3:24:34 p.m. as the two spacecraft pass over a Russian ground station. Shuttle pilot Rick Sturckow plans to guide Endeavour through one-and-a-half loops around the space station for a detailed photo survey before firing the shuttle's maneuvering jets at 4:52 p.m. to move away for good, leaving the station on its own. A detailed undocking timeline will be posted here later this afternoon. Early this morning, the astronauts downlinked videotape of spacewalker Jerry Ross testing an emergency jet pack intended to serve as a high-tech life preserver for future space station assembly crews. Here's Ross's description of the jet pack's performance (see the CBS News Reporter's Notebook below for complete coverage of the shuttle crew's third and final spacewalk). "Started out with some very small duration inputs to see what would happen," Ross narrated. "I didn't get to fly as long as I'd hoped to, partly because of the time constraints you told us about, also I was getting some types of funny messages on the display that was leading me to believe that I was out of gas, or just about out of gas. At one point, we read something like 28 percent nitrogen and then I started receiving these display messages I'd never seen before." Ross said the jet pack worked fine moving him in one direction. "You could literally hear, inside the suit, the thruster firings," Ross said. "My initial cut at it is it didn't feel like it flew like the simulator, but we'll have to talk about that some more. I think the fact that we did this DTO [test flight] on this flight is very significant, I think it was very important to do it. We'll have to look at the data we've learned from this. But the hardware did work. Within the confines if the payload bay, it was quite easy to fly pretty precisely with respect to a target. "I did use larger inputs than what I had practiced because of the time constraints that we had," Ross concluded. "That helped to contribute to using gas faster than normal." This status report will be updated as warranted throughout the day. NASA's latest status report is posted immediately below and earlier CBS News updates are available in the Reporter's Notebook at the bottom of this page. 02:15 p.m. Update: Shuttle undocking timeline The shuttle Endeavour's undocking from the international space station is scheduled for 3:24:24 p.m. The first live television from the shuttle is not expected until around 3:28 p.m. through NASA's western communications satellite. The eight-minute television "window" will close at 3:36 p.m. Another TV window will open at 3:50 p.m. and close at 4:22 p.m. These times are guidelines and assume the shuttle crew is downlinking a signal. Here's an updated timeline for the afternoon's events: TIME............EVENT 03:01:34 p.m....Orbital sunset 03:24:34 p.m....Undocking window opens over Russian ground station 03:24:44 p.m....Shuttle performs 0.2 fps separation burn 03:27:50 p.m....NASA's western tracking satellite acquires the shuttle 03:28:20 p.m....Live television from the shuttle begins 03:35:58 p.m....Live television from the shuttle ends 03:37:31 p.m....Orbital sunrise 03:37:34 p.m....Endeavour moves out of Russian ground station range 03:42:34 p.m....Begin station flyaround; range: 450 feet 03:50:33 p.m....Live television from the shuttle begins 03:54:07 p.m....The shuttle is directly behind the space station 04:05:40 p.m....The shuttle is directly below the station 04:17:13 p.m....Endeavour is directly in front of the station 04:22:31 p.m....Live television from the shuttle ends 04:28:46 p.m....The shuttle is directly above the station 04:34:02 p.m....Orbital sunset 04:40:20 p.m....The shuttle is directly behind the station 04:51:53 p.m....The shuttle is directly below the station 04:51:53 p.m....A rocket firing to move away from the station 04:52:23 p.m....Range to station: 500 feet 04:54:54 p.m....Range to station: 1,000 feet 04:57:52 p.m....Range to station: 2,000 feet 05:09:56 p.m....Orbital sunrise 06:06:27 p.m....The station's guidance system is re-activated 03:30 p.m. Update: Shuttle undocks from space station Sailing 245 miles above Kazakstan in orbital darkness, the shuttle Endeavour undocked from the international space station today at 3:25 p.m., leaving the outpost dormant but shipshape for the next station assembly crew in May. "Houston, Endeavour. Physical separation, executing sep burn," commander Robert Cabana radioed as the docking latches released. With pilot Rick Sturckow at the controls, Endeavour slowly moved to a position about 450 feet directly above the space station. From there, the flight plan called for the shuttle to make one-and-a-half loops around the station for a detailed photo survey before leaving the area for good with a rocket firing at 4:52 p.m. "This has just been an awesome experience," Cabana radioed shortly before undocking. "I just can't express how excellent this has all been. This is going to be one heck of a space station when we get it all done." "You folks have done it right," mission control replied. 05:00 p.m. Update: Endeavour completes station flyaround; departs The Endeavour astronauts undocked from the international space station today, completed a fly-around photo survey and fired their steering jets around 4:49 p.m. to depart the area, leaving the station on its own. The astronauts said little as pilot Rick Sturckow guided Endeavour through a loop-and-a-half flyaround, but they beamed down spectacular video of the station against the deep black of space and the brilliant blue and white of planet Earth. The astronauts are taking four hours off to relax and catch their collective breath before launching a small science satellite for Argentina at 11:31 p.m. Before that, at 9:31 p.m., the entire crew will answer questions from ABC Radio and The Associated Press. A mission status briefing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. This status report will be updated as warranted. =================================================================== Shuttle astronauts prepare for landing (12/14/98) 03:05 p.m., 12/14/98, Update: Shuttle crew monitors Florida weather Shuttle forecasters are monitoring threatening weather at the Kennedy Space Center that could cause problems for the shuttle Endeavour's planned landing Tuesday night. According to the latest estimate, Endeavour's five-man one-woman crew is scheduled to wrap up a 184-orbit, 4.9-million-mile voyage with a rare nighttime landing at 10:54 p.m. Tuesday. But forecasters say there's a fair chance of low clouds and rain showers within 30 nautical miles of the runway that would prevent an on-time landing. But the outlook appears to be improving somewhat and NASA managers are hopeful Endeavour will make it back to Florida as planned. There are no plans to staff Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Tuesday night. But if the Florida weather refuses to cooperate Tuesday, Edwards would be activated for Wednesday's attempt. "We have a chance of broken clouds at about 4,000 [feet]. We'll be looking at that, hoping for that to scatter out," astronaut Scott Horowitz told shuttle commander Robert Cabana from Houston. "The next day, the weather looks even better at the Cape and for the next few days it's beautiful at Edwards on all attempts." "Sounds like a suit-up and let's see how things work," Cabana commented. "Yeah, we're going to obviously try real hard for the Cape tomorrow and if that doesn't work, then we'll bring up both sites." "Copy." This afternoon, Cabana, pilot Rick Sturckow and flight engineer Nancy Currie are scheduled to test the shuttle's re-entry systems to make sure the orbiter is shipshape and ready for its fiery re-entry. Along with cranking up one of Endeavour's hydraulic power units and putting the shuttle's wing flaps, rudder and other aerosurfaces to the test, the astronauts also planned to test fire a series of small steering jets. The astronauts are scheduled to participate in a traditional in-flight news conference at 5:51 p.m. before launching a small satellite called MightySat at 9:09 p.m. Entry flight director John Shannon will discuss the latest weather forecast and other landing issues during a mission status briefing at 10:45 p.m. =================================================================== Crew conference: Ross says rescue jet pack needs more work (12/14/98) A $7 million jet pack intended to serve as a Buck Rogers-style life preserve for future space station assembly workers, needs more work before it can be certified safe for use, says astronaut Jerry Ross, who flight tested one of the units during a spacewalk Saturday. The jet pack, known by the acronym SAFER, appeared to use up its nitrogen gas propellant much faster than expected, raising questions about its ability to rescue an untethered spacewalker. And with space station construction finally underway, "it is a little bit frustrating that we don't have a fully functional SAFER at this point," Ross said during an orbital news conference. "It is our life saving capability for a person should they become disconnected from the station. And we'll need to pursue this fairly vigorously." Known as the Simplified Aid for Extra-Vehicular Activity Rescue, or SAFER for short, the jet pack uses 24 small pressurized nitrogen gas jets to provide low-level thrust. Each pack clips on to the base of a spacewalker's normal backpack. A joystick is provided to control jet firings and a liquid crystal display gives the user information about battery power and the amount of nitrogen left. In addition, a push button can be used to activate a small internal computer that will attempt to fire whatever jets are necessary to stabilize a tumbling astronaut. But during the test flight Saturday, the device "seemed to be consuming nitrogen, that's the propellant gas, faster than I expected it to," Ross said. "I'm not sure if it was. In fact, the readings I had outside at one point said I was down to 24 percent nitrogen. After we got back inside ... it was back up to 48 percent. So I think there's some problem in the software that tells me the quantity of the nitrogen." No more than four jets can fire at the same time to produce straight-line motion. Maximum velocity, which could only be achieved by firing four jets wide open until the unit's nitrogen was exhausted, is about 6 mph. The normal operating velocity, however, is less than 1 mph. A SAFER unit was tested during a late 1997 visit to the Russian space station Mir, but a stuck valve prevented the jets from firing. The system was overhauled and engineers ordered another test during Endeavour's mission. The need for such a device was driven home during the first two Endeavour spacewalks when a socket fitting, a thermal blanket and an access panel somehow became untethered and were lost in space. "That is precisely the reason I pushed so hard for the SAFER in the first place," Ross said. "I felt that with the orbiter being attached to the station and all the construction that would be going on ... it would be a terrible scene for somebody to be drifting over the horizon with no way to get back to them and the orbiter unavailable, or at least delayed, in an attempt to come and rescue them. So I think it's a very important piece of hardware, that's why I pushed hard for the flight test. After all the engineering analysis is done and maybe some rework is done on the hardware, we may have to go back and test it again." The SAFER problem was a minor distraction in an otherwise near-flawless mission. In fact, shuttle commander Robert Cabana said the crew felt a sense of unreality looking out at the space station 15 years after it was first proposed in 1984. "Every minute, every time we looked out those overhead windows and saw that huge stack [space station] sitting there in the payload bay, those were our exact thoughts," Cabana said. "We kept pinching ourselves and saying 'it can't be real, it's going so well and everything is so right and it just looks so good.' Yeah, there was a little sense of unreality about it." He said "it was an extremely emotional moment for all of us when we went inside. Once we got set up that evening and were accomplishing all the tasks we had to for that first day inside and we had a little time to appreciate where we were, we were kind of overcome with what had been accomplished. It was truly amazing. "It was really great for all of us to see it all come together and all of it work," he continued. "The computer system, for example, we never tested it directly between Unity and Zarya, it was all done with some flight hardware and some emulators simulating the other hardware on the ground. The first time these two pieces ever saw each other working together was in space. And it all worked. I think that's outstanding, it's a tribute to all the hard work by the folks on the ground." With their space station assembly work behind them, the Endeavour astronauts are hoping to land at the Kennedy Space Center Tuesday night, weather permitting, to bring their mission to a close. And also to find time for a bit of Christmas shopping. "My husband's already bought the Christmas tree, I think they're going to wait to decorate it until I get home," said robot arm operator Nancy Currie. "I do have some shopping to do when I get home, considering we went into [medical] quarantine on Thanksgiving Day. I wasn't looking that far ahead." Ross said he and his wife had already bought a new computer while pilot Rick Sturckow said only that "I'm not much of a shopper to tell you the truth." "I think the best Christmas present I could have is having my whole family together, all the kids home from college and the military, and having everybody back together for Christmas," said Cabana. "And that'll be a great present as far as I'm concerned." =================================================================== Shuttle Endeavour returns to Earth (12/15-16/98) 05:30 p.m., 12/15/98, Update: Weather improves for shuttle landing With forecasters now predicting a 70 percent chance of acceptable weather, the Endeavour astronauts are preparing to close the shuttle's cargo bay doors for a landing attempt at 10:53:35 p.m. Flying upside down and backward over the Indian Ocean, commander Robert Cabana and pilot Rick Sturckow plan to fire Endeavour's twin braking rockets for three minutes and eight seconds starting at 9:47 p.m., slowing the ship by 238 mph to set up re-entry. Here's this evening's timeline: TIME............EVENT 07:11 p.m.......Close cargo bay doors 09:25 p.m.......Mission control "go" for re-entry rocket firing 09:47 p.m.......Deorbit ignition 09:50 p.m.......Rocket firing complete 09:45 p.m.......NASA"s western tracking satellite acquires shuttle telemetry; time to atmospheric entry: 36 minutes 51 seconds 10:22 p.m.......Endeavour falls into the discernible atmosphere; altitude: 398,700 feet; velocity: Mach 25 range to touchdown: 4,995 statute miles 10:47 p.m.......The shuttle slows to Mach 2.5; altitude: 84,500 feet 10:49 p.m.......The shuttle slows to Mach 1; altitude: 51,500 feet 10:50 p.m.......Endeavour reaches the runway alignment cylinder 10:54 p.m.......The shuttle lands at the Kennedy Space Center Cabana and company have two Florida landing opportunities this evening, the first at 10:54 p.m. and another at 12:30 a.m. If Endeavour misses both of those opportunities, the shuttle will remain in orbit an additional 24 hours and land Wednesday at either Kennedy or Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. "We're going to bring up the Kennedy Space Center like we usually do on the first end-of-mission day," said entry flight director John Shannon. "We have plenty of cryogenics for the [electricity generating] fuel cells, plenty of water, plenty of propulsion to go through Thursday. So we'll bring up KSC ... for these two opportunities. If for some reason the weather or a problem precludes us from landing tomorrow, we will bring up Edwards out in California. Then we'll have two opportunities at Kennedy and two opportunities at Edwards on Wednesday." Here are the latest deorbit and landing times for Tuesday and Wednesday DATE/TIME.......ORBIT...EVENT................NOTES 12/15/98 09:46:36 p.m....185.....Deorbit ignition.....dV: 349 fps; dT: 3:08 10:53:35 p.m....186.....Landing..............Kennedy Space Center 11:23:59 p.m....186.....Deorbit ignition.....dV: 352 fps; dT: 3:09 12:30:17 a.m....187.....Landing..............Kennedy Space Center 12/16/97 (exact times TBD) 08:51:00 p.m....200.....Deorbit ignition.....TBD 09:57:00 p.m....201.....Landing..............KSC 10:27:00 p.m....201.....Deorbit ignition.....TBD 11:33:00 p.m....202.....Landing..............KSC 11:58:00 p.m....202.....Deorbit ignition.....TBD 01:04:00 a.m....203.....Landing..............Edwards Air Force Base 01:35:00 a.m....203.....Deorbit ignition.....TBD 02:41:00 a.m....204.....Landing..............Edwards Air Force Base This will be only the 10th night landing in shuttle history and only the fifth at the Kennedy Space Center. For those of you scoring at home, here are the numbers for Kennedy, Edwards Air Force Base and White Sands in New Mexico: ................KSC........EAFB........WS........Total Night landings..04.........05..........00........09 Day landings....41.........40..........01........82 TOTAL...........45.........45..........01........91 Most recent.....11/07/98...03/31/96....03/30/82 This status report will be updated throughout the night as warranted. NASA's latest status report is posted immediately below and earlier CBS News updates are available in the Reporter's Notebook at the end of this page. NASA STS-88/SPACE STATION STATUS REPORTS Editor's Note... The following status reports are from NASA's space station web page and/or the shuttle web page. They are edited as warranted. STS-88 MISSION CONTROL CENTER Status Report #26 Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998 - 1 p.m. EST Endeavour's astronauts awoke to the sounds of Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" today, and are now preparing for a return trip to Earth. The wake-up call came at 12:36 p.m. EST, and was chosen by the flight control team to energize the six crew members in anticipation of tonight's landing in Florida, marking the 10th nighttime Shuttle landing in the program's history. If weather cooperates, Endeavour will touch down at the Kennedy Space Center at 10:54 p.m. EST after completing 185 orbits of the Earth. A deorbit firing of the Shuttle's maneuvering engines will occur at 98:47 p.m. to slow the spacecraft's forward velocity, allowing it to drop back into the Earth's atmosphere. Returning as an unpowered, hypersonic glider, Endeavour will follow a ground track that takes it over the Mexico-Guatemala border and across the Gulf of Mexico, making U.S. landfall over the Ft. Meyers/Sarasota, Florida, area before heading in for a landing at runway 33. If all goes as planned, Endeavour's cargo bay doors will swing shut at 7:07 p.m., after which the astronauts will climb into their launch and entry suits and strap into their seats. Commander Bob Cabana, Pilot Rick Sturckow and Flight Engineer Nancy Currie will be joined on the flight deck for entry by Mission Specialist Jim Newman, while crew mates Jerry Ross and Sergei Krikalev will be seated down on the middeck. Forecasters are keeping a close watch on weather in the vicinity of the landing site, with current predictions calling for scattered clouds at 3,000 feet with a chance of showers within 30 miles of the Shuttle Landing Facility. Forecasters predict about a 70 percent chance of acceptable weather for the first of tonight's two landing opportunities. If the forecast holds, Entry Flight Director John Shannon will give the green light to fire Endeavour's two orbital maneuvering system engines at 9:47 p.m. The deorbit burn will slow the shuttle by 349 feet per second, allowing it to descend back to Earth. Landing is scheduled at 10:54 p.m., completing a 4.6-million-mile mission. Weather conditions are expected to be somewhat better for tonight's second landing opportunity at KSC, with forecasters indicating an 80 percent chance of favorable weather. For the second opportunity, a deorbit burn at 11:24 p.m. would see Endeavour land at 12:30 a.m. Mission managers have decided not to call up landing support at the backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for this evening's opportunities. However, Edwards will be called up for backup landing support on Wednesday should landing at KSC tonight be waved off. The crew will remain at KSC on Wednesday, returning to Houston's Ellington Field about 3 p.m. Thursday. Endeavour is orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 246 statute miles with all of its systems in excellent shape. 09:55 p.m. Update: Shuttle braking rockets fired for on-time landing Flying upside down and backward over the Indian Ocean just northwest of Australia, commander Robert Cabana and pilot Rick Sturckow fired the shuttle Endeavour's twin braking rockets at 9:47 p.m. to slow the ship by about 238 mph, dropping out of orbit for an on-time landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Touchdown on runway 15 is expected at 10:53:35 p.m. to wrap up NASA's first space station assembly mission. "Endeavour, good burn, no trim required," astronaut Scott Horowitz radioed after the firing was complete. "Endeavour, roger," commander Robert Cabana replied. A detailed status report will be posted after Endeavour lands or as conditions warrant. 01:00 a.m., 12/16/98, Update: Shuttle Endeavour returns to Earth Leaving the international space station behind in orbit, the shuttle Endeavour glided to a ghostly late night landing at the Kennedy Space Center this evening (12/15/98) to close out NASA's first space station assembly mission. After a fiery, hour-long glide to Earth, commander Robert Cabana guided the 110-ton orbiter to a picture-perfect touchdown on runway 15 at 10:53:29 p.m. to wrap up a 184-orbit mission spanning 4.8 million miles since blastoff Dec. 4. "Houston, Endeavour, wheels stopped," Cabana radioed in a traditional post-landing call to Houston. "Endeavour, welcome home!" called astronaut Scott Horowitz, himself a shuttle pilot, from mission control, . "Bob, that was a beautiful landing. And Bob, C.J., Jerry, Nancy, Jim and Sergei, thanks a lot for an awesome job starting our space station adventure. We have no post-landing deltas." "Roger, no deltas," Cabana said. "It's great to be home after such an exciting mission, Scott. Our congratulations to all the folks who worked so hard to make it happen. I'm so proud of everybody and this crew. You all have done an outstanding job." Mission duration was 11 days 19 hours 17 minutes and 55 seconds. Entry began over the Indian Ocean northwest of Australia during orbit 184 when Cabana and pilot Rick "C.J." Sturckow fired Endeavour's twin orbital maneuvering system rockets for three minutes and eight seconds, slowing the shuttle by 238 mph. That had the result of lowering the other side of Endeavour's orbit into the atmosphere to set up re-entry. Approaching from the southwest at the start of orbit 185, Endeavour crossed the coast of Florida over Fort Meyers and then descended across Central Florida before banking through a 245-degree left-overhead turn to line up on runway 15. Endeavour then floated out of the darkness and into the glare of runway spotlights as Cabana guided the ship to a smooth touchdown. Because of problems with the shuttle Discovery's braking parachute during launch last month, Endeavour's parachute was not used during this evening's landing. But Cabana and Sturckow had no problems and the shuttle's rollout appeared normal. Cabana, Sturckow, flight engineer Nancy Currie, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and spacewalkers Jerry Ross and James Newman climbed out of the spaceship about an hour or so after touchdown. They were greeted by NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, along with Apollo astronauts Jim Lovell, William Anders and Eugene Cernan. The shuttle crew plans to remain in Florida Wednesday and to fly back to Houston on Thursday. "What can I say after a mission like that!" Cabana said. "I'm just so proud of this crew and what they accomplished and the team on the ground and everybody. We are just so happy to have gotten the international space station off to such a super start. Exploring in space is our destiny. It's a dream I had when I first came to NASA to build an internaational space station, where everybody could work together for the benefit of all. It took us a while, but dreams come true. And we're experiencing it now. This was definitely a dream flight for all of us. I just can't tell you how happy and proud and exited we are to have been a part of this program. "We are going to build a space station," he continued. "It is going to be the biggest, brightest new star on the horizon and it's going to do great things for everybody. We got it started and now it's up to everybody else to keep it going. Don't give up the dream, keep exploring, and let's do this thing and get it done. Because it's the right thing to do." Shuttle program manager Tommy Holloway praised Cabana and his crewmates, along with the flight control team and everyone else who labored to make mission STS-88 a success. "STS-88 was really a great flight," Holloway said. "Rendezvous and the grapple seemed routine, the berthing of the station elements appeared to be easy, the EVAs [spacewalks] were smooth, there was team coordination across the entire system. ... Although it appeared easy, I can assure you it took a lot of hard work." His congratulations were tempered somewhat by a recent memo in which he cautioned shuttle workers across the country to guard against mistakes and complacency in the wake of three "close calls" over the past year, including the door that fell off the shuttle Discovery's braking parachute housing last month during launch. Holloway said the shuttle incidents, along with the destruction of two Delta rockets and an Air Force Titan 4B over the past 12 months prompted him to urge the shuttle team to leave no stone unturned when it comes to flight safety. Endeavour's landing was only the tenth nighttime touchdown in shuttle history and the fifth on the Kennedy Space Center's three-mile-long shuttle runway since flights began in 1981. Of the 92 landings to date, Florida now holds the record with 46. Forty-five missions ended at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and one at White Sands, N.M. Finally, this was the 17th landing in a row in Florida. NASA's next shuttle flight is tentatively scheduled for March 25 when NASA's first female shuttle commander, Eileen Collins, leads a crew into orbit aboard the Columbia to launch NASA's $2.4 billion Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility. While launch currently is targeted for March 25, the flight could slip into April because of ongoing software problems with the Hubble-class X-ray telescope. In any case, space station assembly will resume May 13 when the shuttle Discovery delivers hardware and supplies to the international outpost, setting the stage for a make-or-break Russian launch in late July to put the station's long delayed command module into orbit. Endeavour's crew helped NASA close out 1998 on a high note, successfully docking the first two space station components, a Russian control module called Zarya and a multi-hatch U.S. node called Unity. During three spacewalks, Ross and Newman made 40 electrical connections between the modules, installed two U.S. antennas and mounted tools and other assembly aids for future construction crews. Cabana and company also installed early communications gear inside the station and removed various launch restraints that were no longer needed. NASA managers say the astronauts accomplished 100 percent of their pre-flight objectives and even found time to carry out a few unplanned tasks, including the manual deployment of two jammed antennas on the Zarya module. Whether one supports the space station project or not, Endeavour's flight was a major success and an equally major morale boost for the space agency. But another three dozen shuttle missions will be needed to carry station components into orbit over the next five years, along with another dozen Russian, European and Japanese flights. In addition, some 160 more spacewalks will be required to assemble and maintain the orbital outpost, nearly twice the total spacewalk time logged by U.S. astronauts since the dawn of the space age. "We obviously have a long way to go and we are learning things as we go along," Greg Harbaugh, NASA's chief spacewalker, said during an earlier news conference. "The challenge for us for the longer term will be to carry the lessons learned forward to improve the processes as we go along. But so far so good, and we're just delighted with the results of STS-88." ===================================================================