STS-86 MISSION ARCHIVE (COMPLETE) Updated: 10/08/97 Shuttle-Mir docking mission No. 7 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 and corrections welcome! TABLE OF CONTENTS -Foale defends Mir-23 commander (10/07/97) -Foale faces rehabilitation, family reunions (10/07/97) -Shuttle Atlantis glides to day late touchdown (10/07/97) -Shuttle braking rockets fired (10/07/97) -Cargo bay doors closed; Florida forecast improves (10/07/97) -Progress undocking delay blamed on minor crew oversite (10/07/97) -Shuttle landing delayed 24 hours due to high winds (10/06/97) -Shuttle crew undocks; leak found at base of Spektr array (10/03/97) -Shuttle-Mir crews say farewell; undocking on tap (10/02/97) -Astronauts stage spacewalk; new Mir computer installed (10/01/97) -Shuttle-Mir logistics transfer going smoothly (09/30/97) -Mir crew marks 40th anniversary of Sputnik launch (09/30/97) -Mir commander looks forward to Spektr repair (09/30/97) -Foale optimistic about Spektr leak repair (09/29/97) -Shuttle crew presses ahead with Mir transfer work (09/29/97) -Wolf and Foale discuss Mir safety (09/28/97) -Wolf replaces Foale aboard Mir station (09/28/97) -Shuttle Atlantis docks with Mir space station (09/27/97) -Shuttle Atlantis rockets into space (09/25/97) -Launch preparations on track (09/25/97) -Goldin clears Atlantis - and Wolf - for launch (09/25/97) -Shuttle crew arrives at KSC for launch (09/22/97) -Shuttle crew looks forward to Mir flight (09/12/97) -STS-86 mission preview =================================================================== 07:00 a.m. Update: Foale defends Mir-23 commander Looking a bit shaky after 145 days in space, Michael Foale today offered an emotional defense of Mir-23 commander Vasily Tsibliev, the man blamed in some quarters for the June 25 collision that wrecked the station's Spektr research module. IN the wake of that accident and a subsequent miscue in which a computer cable was accidentally unplugged, Russian flight controllers decided not to let Tsibliev and flight engineer Alexander Lazutkin carry out a spacewalk, or EVA, to attempt repairs. Speaking to a NASA interviewer early today, Foale appeared to choke up when asked about his most memorable moment during 134 days aboard Mir. "To be really honest, one of the most memorable was when Vasily realized he was not going to do the EVA and that he felt responsible for the whole accident, which I didn't quite feel," Foale said, his voice trailing off. After a long pause, he shook his head slightly and said, "No, this is too hard to talk about." Posing with his wife and two children at the Kennedy Space Center's astronaut crew quarters, Foale said he felt "not particularly heavy, but a little uncertain in terms of walking and balance." "I just want to ... get strong enough to be able to go outside and walk," he said. "That will be my goal for the next day." Asked about his accomplishments aboard Mir, Foale pointed to a bit of orbital programming he did to solve a specific problem. "This hasn't hit the newspapers yet," he joked, "but they had a very, very laborious way of taking their messages from the control center over the packet radio, it involved like an hour's process every night, printing all the radiograms and messages out. So I thought it's time someone put this in order. I wrote a program that does that for them." Foale and his six Atlantis crewmates plan to fly back to the Johnson Space Center in Houston later today. =================================================================== Foale reported in good shape (10/07/97) Michael Foale, feeling the tug of gravity for the first time in 145 days, made the trip back to Earth in good shape and flight surgeons expect no problems with his rehabilitation, officials say. "We'd like to welcome home Mike Foale, who has done a great job on board the Mir and who I'm sure is happy to be seeing his family," said Frank Culbertson, director of the shuttle-Mir program for NASA. "I talked to Mike a few minutes ago, he's happy to be back on Earth and he said it was a great adventure." Roger Billica, chief of medical opeations at the Johnson Space Center, said Foale will return to Houston with the rest of Atlantis's crew Tuesday afternoon. "At that time, Michael Foale will begin typically what would be several weeks of a recovery and rehabilitation program that ... primarily will focus on rest, good nutrition as well as some time to reunite with family and friends and re-establish a normal routine back here," Billica said. "He'll also have supervised exercise in a physical rehabilitation program during this time and a certain amount of medical data collection and science investigations. But overall, Michael did very well during his mission, he participated fully in his countermeasure program and we expect him to do very well and have a very smooth and uneventful recovery here on Earth." The "acute phase" of rehabilitation takes a few weeks, to "really get his strength and his endurance back and get his nervous system functioning back to normal," Billica said. "On the average, by about 30 days, we've been able to clear the crew member for a return to duty." Billica would not say whether Foale walked off Atlantis or was carried off, saying instead that it did not matter from a medical standpoint. "The report from the crew surgeon is that Mike did very well and did as expected," he said. "The method of them getting off the orbiter isn't a metric of any significance, it doesn't have a bearing on how well they did during the flight. If they're able to and feel like it, we encourage them to try with assistance and if they're feeling a little light headed or weak or whatever, we give them whatever assistance is required." =================================================================== Shuttle Atlantis glides to day late touchdown (10/07/97) The shuttle Atlantis glided to a day-late sunset landing at the Kennedy Space Center today, bringing astronaut Michael Foale back to planet Earth after 134 occasionally perilous days aboard the Russian Mir space station. Flying upside down and backward over the Indian Ocean, commander James Wetherbee and pilot Michael Bloomfield fired Atlantis's twin orbital maneuvering system rockets at 4:48 p.m. for three minutes and 32 seconds, slowing the 110-ton shuttle by 370 feet per second to drop out of orbit. Approaching the Florida spaceport from the west, Wetherbee manually guided Atlantis through a sweeping overhead turn to line up on runway 15. After a steep 21-degree dive toward the landing strip, the commander pulled the shuttle's nose up, Bloomfield dropped the landing gear and the shuttle settled to a smooth touchdown at 5:55:09 p.m. Despite a brisk crosswind with gusts up to 13 knots - two knots below NASA's safety limit - Wetherbee had no problems and rollout was normal. "Wheels stopped, Houston," Wetherbee radioed after the shuttle came to a rest. "Copy, wheels stopped, Atlantis," replied Scott "Doc" Horowitz from mission control. "Welcome home, excellent job, nice crosswind landing." It was the 11th Florida landing in a row for the shuttle program, the 18th out of the last 19 shuttle flights to end at the Kennedy Space Center and the 40th overall. The mission duration was 10 days 19 hours 20 minutes and 50 seconds - 169 complete orbits and 4.3 million miles - since blastoff Sept. 25. Left behind in space aboard the aging Russian space station was astronaut David Wolf, the sixth of seven NASA astronauts making long-duration stays aboard Mir. Wolf replaced Foale on Sept. 28 and with touchdown this evening, Foale had logged 144 days 13 hours 47 minutes and 21 seconds in space since he blasted off on May 15. Of that total, 134 days and 45 minutes were spent aboard the Mir space station. Foale made the trip back to Earth resting on his back on Atlantis's lower deck to minimize the stress of returning to gravity. A medical team was standing by to assist him as necessary, although based on past experience no problems were expected. His crewmates - Wetherbee, Bloomfield, Scott Parazynski, Wendy Lawrence, Frenchman Jean-Loup Chretien and Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Titov - were expected to climb out of the shuttle on their own about an hour after touchdown. All seven astronauts planned to fly back to the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Tuesday. But first, Foale was expected to make an appearance on NASA television at some point late tonight, in a brief interview by a NASA public affairs officer. In the meantime, "Mike's doing fine," Wetherbee told NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin during a phone chat before the crew left Atlantis. "It was a wonderful mission and you and your crew did the country proud," Goldin said in a call from Turin, Italy, where he was attending a conference. "It was a perfect mission." Before launch, Goldin endured quite a bit of congressional criticism on the wisdom of continuing long-duration Mir visits by U.S. astronauts. Goldin cleared Atlantis and Wolf for launch after two independent review teams concurred with NASA's own assessment. Wetherbee today thanked Goldin for "your leadership and allowing us to go on the trip. We really appreciate all the work you did in the week prior to launch. We know it was tough for you." "The actual decision wasn't hard, it was very logical," Goldin said. "When I spoke to (your crew the night before launch) it was very clear that if the people whose lives were involved felt comfortable, I was hoping that all the outside committees would come to the same conclusion. And by God, they did. ... The feeling I had is if the world's experts tell me it's safe to go up, and we looked at it four or five different ways, how could I go tell the American people it's safe to go up but we're afraid?" Golding said "I was prepared, if it wasn't safe, to pull the plug," Goldin said. "But we had the data, it was the right thing to do and God, it was wonderful watching this mission." Atlantis originally was scheduled to land at 6:59:01 p.m. Monday, but the flight was extended one orbit because of low clouds, rain and high winds over the Kennedy Space Center. Forecasters hoped the clouds would dissipate for the second and final opportunity at 8:36 p.m., but nature did not cooperate and flight director Linda Ham ordered the crew to remain in space an additional 24 hours. Along the way, at a mission elapsed time of nine days 20 hours and one minute - a few minutes past 6:30 p.m. Monday - Atlantis set a new record, giving the shuttle program exactly two years of cumulative time in space since the first shuttle flight in 1981. "We thought you'd like to know that we're about to come upon a new milestone for the shuttle fleet," Horowitz called. "In three seconds, we will have flown two years in space. Ready, mark..." "Well that's quite an accomplishment, Doc, and we're all proud to be part of it," Bloomfield replied. Atlantis's flight was the seventh of nine planned shuttle-Mir dockings making up what NASA calls Phase One of the international space station program. The idea is to use Mir as a training ground before beginning construction of the much more ambitious international station next June. Wetherbee guided Atlantis to a textbook docking with Mir on Sept. 27. Over the next five days, the combined 10-member crew transferred 5,650 pounds of repair equipment, science gear and supplies to Mir and another 1,717 pounds of fresh water. In addition, the crew moved 2,780 pounds of U.S. and Russian equipment from Mir to the shuttle for return to Earth and delivered a new attitude control computer. In the midst of the resupply operation, Parazynsky and Titov, a veteran cosmonaut making his second shuttle flight, staged a five-hour spacewalk , retrieving U.S. experiments mounted on Mir's hull last year and leaving repair equipment behind in its place. "It was a pleasure watching this crew," Wetherbee told Goldin today. "They did a wonderful job transferring. Volodya (Titov) was awesome getting all that equipment transferred from the shuttle over to Mir and back and stowing everything," Wetherbee said today after landing. This was the last visit to Mir by Atlantis, which is headed for an extensive overhaul and inspection prior to beginning international space station operations. The shuttle Endeavourwill be used to pick up David Wolf in January and to drop off his replacement, Andrew Thomas. The Discovery then will make the ninth and final trip to Mir next May to pick up Thomas and close out the Phase One program. =================================================================== Shuttle braking rockets fired; landing on tap at 5:55 p.m. (10/07/97) Flying upside down and backward over the Indian Ocean just south of the equator, Atlantis commander James Wetherbee and pilot Michael Bloomfield fired the shuttle's twin orbital maneuvering system rockets at 4:48 p.m. for three minutes and 32 seconds to set up a day-late landing. Touchdown on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center was expected at 5:55 p.m. to wrap up an extended 11-ay mission, bringing astronaut Michael Foale back to planet Earth after 145 days in space. This status report will be updated after touchdown. =================================================================== Cargo bay doors closed; Florida forecast improves slightly (10/07/97) Running a day late because of low clouds and high winds, the Atlantis astronauts closed the shuttle's cargo bay doors again today and geared up to fire the orbiter's braking rockets at 4:48 p.m. for a landing at the Kennedy Space Center at 5:55 p.m. There are no technical problems with the shuttle and the weather appears to be somewhat more favorable than initially expected. While high crosswinds remain a concern, the cloud cover is more scattered than broken with little or no vertical development. For non weather types, that means no storms are brewing in the immediate area. Yet. At 3:35 p.m., astronaut Scott "Doc" Horowitz in mission control told shuttle skipper James Wetherbee crosswinds at the shuttle runway were 13 knots gusting to 17 knots, "currently no-go for crosswinds." "The winds are forecast to go down to zero-six-sero at 10, gusts 15," he continued. "So you can expect 10 to 15 knots of crosswind there. That's in limits. We still have a chance of (clouds at) 4,000 broken in our forecast, so we're working on that. That pretty much tells you where we stand, weather wise." In other words, wait and see. The astronauts originally were scheduled to touch down Monday at 6:59 p.m., but low clouds blocked two landing opportunities on successive orbits and entry flight director Linda Ham was forced to keep Atlantis in orbit an extra day. As with Monday's landing opportunities, the first shot at KSC is a daylight landing while the second, at 7:31 p.m., is classified as a night landing. The crosswind limit for daylight operations is 15 knots, dropping to 12 knots for night landings. Atlantis has four landing opportunities today on successive orbits, the first two at Kennedy and the final two at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Edwards is fully staffed and on call, but high crosswinds in the Mojave Desert would appear to make that site no go today. The shuttle has enough water (for cooling) and enough hydrogen and oxygen (for electricity) to remain in orbit until Wednesday. At that point, however, they must land somewhere. If the weather prevents landing in Florida or at Edwards today, and if the forecast for both sites is "no go" Tuesday, NASA managers may consider adjusting the crew's sleep schedule and shooting instead for a pre-dawn landing at Kennedy on Wednesday. This is just a guess, but the forecast at the only other certified shuttle landing site, White Sands, N.M., is not good Tuesday. Pre-dawn weather at the cape, on the other hand, has been near perfect the last few days. Stay tuned! Here are the latest landing times for Monday at both KSC and Edwards Air Force Base: TIME........ORBIT....EVENT..................SITE 04:48 p.m...169......Deorbit ignition 05:55 p.m...170......Landing................Kennedy Space Center 06:25 p.m...170......Deorbit ignition 07:31 p.m...171......Landing................Kennedy Space Center 07:55 p.m...171......Deorbit ignition 09:01 p.m...172......Landing................Edwards Air Force Base 09:32 p.m...172......Deorbit ignition 10:37 p.m...173......Landing................Edwards Air Force Base This status report will be updated as warranted. In the meantime, earlier status reports are available in the CBS News Reporter's Notebook below. =================================================================== Progress undocking delay blamed on minor crew oversite (10/07/97) After two aborted attempts to jettison a trash-filled Progress supply ship, the Mir space station's crew reopened the spacecraft and discovered that one of 16 or so clamps that must be removed prior to undocking had accidentally been left in place. That, in turn, prevented a set of latches from unhooking properly for a normal undocking. After the clamp was removed, the cosmonauts resealed the spacecraft and depressurized the docking interface. They plan to release the vehicle Tuesday around 7 a.m. EDT and no problems are expected. This was a minor oversight on the crew's part and should have no impact on Mir's mission. Another Progress, loaded with additional supplies and equipment, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome Sunday. It had been scheduled to dock Tuesday morning but it now will be directed to "park" nearby. Assuming the Progress currently attached to the Kvant-1 port is jettisoned Tuesday as planned, the new Progress will dock on Wednesday. The exact time is TBD. Will advise. =================================================================== Shuttle landing delayed 24 hours due to high winds 6:30 p.m. Update Already running one orbit late because of low clouds and high winds, the Atlantis astronauts were ordered to delay re-entry and to remain in orbit an additional day when conditions did not improve enough to permit a landing this evening on the crew's second and final opportunity. "The Cape is about six-eighths cloud coverage now and it doesn't look like it's going to get a lot better," Scott Horowitz radioed from mission control at 7:19 p.m. "You are no go for deorbit burn." Atlantis's astronauts originally were scheduled to land at 6:59:01 p.m., but they were ordered to remain in space for one additional 91-minute orbit because of low clouds, rain and high winds at the shuttle landing strip. The second and final opportunity for a landing this evening called for a three-minute 34-second deorbit burn at 07:30:31 p.m. and a touchdown at 08:36:04 p.m. While forecasters initially were optimistic the clouds would move out of the area as the evening wore on, they remained concerned about high crosswinds and as the decision point approached, it became clear Mother Nature was not going to cooperate. Entry flight director Linda Ham had no choice but to order a one-day wave off. For astronaut Michael Foale, the one-day extension will increase his time in space to 145 days since blastoff May 15 (134 days aboard Mir). And setting another record, at a mission elapsed time of nine days 20 hours and one minute - a few minutes past 6:30 p.m. - the shuttle program logged a cumulative two years in space since the first shuttle flight in 1981. "We thought you'd like to know that we're about to come upon a new milestone for the shuttle fleet," "Doc" Horowitz radioed. "In three seconds, we will have flown two years in space. Ready, mark..." "Well that's quite an accomplishment, Doc, and we're all proud to be part of it," Bloomfield replied. In other news, a Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rocket successfully boosted a commercial communications satellite into orbit this afternoon from the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Station. The rocket blasted off on time at 5:01 p.m. and about a half-hour later, ejected the Echostar comsat into its planned preliminary orbit. This launch marked the first time the Air Force's Eastern Range, which provides telemetry and tracking support for all East Coast launch and landing operations agreed to orchestrate a takeoff and shuttle landing so close together. 3:30 p.m. Update: Cargo bay doors closed for entry The shuttle Atlantis's crew closed the orbiter's 60-foot long cargo bay doors today shortly after 3 p.m., setting the stage for landing at 6:59:01 p.m. at the Kennedy Space Center. There are no technical problems with the shuttle and forecasters are optimistic the weather will be acceptable. But high crosswinds could pose problems (see below for details). 11:15 a.m. Update: Astronauts watch Progress launch; prepare for entry Leaving David Wolf behind aboard the Mir space station, the Atlantis astronauts readied their shuttle for re-entry and landing today at 6:59:01 p.m. to close out a near flawless 10-day mission. Bringing astronaut Michael Foale back to Earth after 144 days in space, the shuttle's international crew enjoyed a rare treat this morning, watching a Russian Progress resupply ship blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan at 11:08:54 a.m. The astronauts, orbiting in darkness 200 miles behind the Mir supply craft, caught the last two minutes or so of the launcher's ascent as they sailed 233 miles above the Sinai Peninsula. "Tally ho, Houston," called shuttle commander James Wetherbee. "Oh, glad to hear it," astronaut Chris Hadfield replied from mission control. "This is mission control, Houston," said NASA commentator Eileen Hawley. "The crew on board Atlantis confirming that they have indeed observed the launch of the Progress resupply vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, headed for a rendezvous with the Mir space station." The Progress spacecraft will take two days to reach Mir, docking on Tuesday at the station's Kvant-1 port. Among the supplies on board is another attitude control computer identical to the one ferried to Mir aboard Atlantis. That computer was installed Friday and is operating normally. The new machine will give Mir additional redundancy. The Progress currently docked with Mir, now loaded with trash and no-longer-needed equipment, will be jettisoned Monday to burn up in the atmosphere. The Atlantis astronauts began their day at 7:34 a.m. with a recording of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" by Huey Lewis and the News beamed up from mission control. "Good morning, Atlantis, time to shake, rattle and roll that spaceship back to Earth," Hadfield radioed. "Well OK, if we have to," drawled Wetherbee. Flying upside down and backward over the equator south of Sri Lanka, Wetherbee and pilot Michael Bloomfield plan to fire Atlantis's twin braking rockets for three minutes 34 secondsl, slowing the shuttle by 255 mph to begin the hourlong descent to Earth. After a half-hour freefall, Atlantis will hit the discernible atmosphere 400,000 feet above the southern Pacific Ocean west of Chile, following a northeasterly tracjectory back to Florida. Touchdown is tentatively planned for runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center. Today's landing is unique in that a Lockheed Martin Atlas rocket carrying a telecommunications satellite is scheduled for blastoff from the Cape Canaveral Air Station at 5:01 p.m. Because the shuttle and commercial launchers use the same Air Force telemetry and tracking equipment, a special arrangement had to be reached between NASA, Lockheed Martin and Air Force officials to permit a launch and landing so close together. As a result, the Atlas launch window was split into two "panes." The first pane opens at 5:01 p.m. and closes at 5:49 p.m., just before NASA must decide whether to clear Atlantis for an on-time re-entry. The second Atlas pane then opens at 7:09 p.m. - after Atlantis's first landing opportunity - and closes at 7:28 p.m. The forecast for the Atlas launch is favorable, but the issue is a bit more uncertain for the shuttle. Entry flight director Linda Ham said crosswinds at the shuttle runway will be close to NASA's 15-knot limit for the first landing opportunity. A second opportunity is available at 8:36:04 p.m. and while the winds are expected to abate somewhat by then, the crosswind limit is just 12 knots for a night landing. "The weather ... is looking pretty reasonable," Ham said Saturday. "Clouds will be about 4,000 feet, scattered, so we don't have a cloud concern, and there is no rain forecast at this time. What we will be looking at closely is the crosswinds. Right now for the first opportunity, which is day lit, we're going to be right at the crosswind limit. So we'll be at about 15 knots. It will come down some for the second opportunity, down to about 12 knots cross. However, our limit for a night landing is 12 knots, so we're going to be right at the limit for both those opportunities." Here's the entry timeline: 07:34 a.m....Crew wakeup 01:51 p.m....Begin deorbit timeline 03:11 p.m....Close payload bay doors 03:33 p.m....OPS-3 entry software is loaded 03:57 p.m....The crew reviews entry procedures 04:26 p.m....The astronauts don pressure suits 05:30 p.m....Mission control "go" for entry 05:51 p.m....Deorbit burn: dT: 3:34; dV: 374 fps; orbit: 154 06:11 p.m....Atlantis falls into the discernible atmosphere 06:59 p.m....Landing on runway 33, Kennedy Space Center Should landing be delayed one orbit, deorbit ignition would occur at 7:30:31 p.m. for a landing at 8:36:04 p.m. NASA will not activate the Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., landing site today and if necessary, Atlantis would remain in orbit an extra day and try again on Monday. The forecast for Monday, however, is much the same with crosswinds again a concern. Atlantis has enough fuel, food, water and other consumables to stay in orbit until Wednesday if absolutely necessary. =================================================================== Shuttle crew undocks; sees apparent leak at base of Spektr array (10/03/97) 06:00 p.m. Update: Mission status briefing; Spektr leak site assessed Looking on as air was released inside the punctured Spektr module today, the Atlantis astronauts saw small particles being blown away from the base of a damaged solar array, possibly indicating the source of an elusive leak. If so, the prospects for eventually plugging the leak and repressurizing the now-airless module would appear to be much more favorable. In fact, one of the items ferried to Mir aboard Atlantis was a plug designed for just such a repair job. But NASA managers said additional analysis will be needed to precisely pin down the source and to determine whether any given repair scenario might actually work. "There is a good chance there is a hole that can be probably located a little more closely than it was during (a Sept. 6 spacewalk) and I think it'll probably give them a good idea what direction they should go in in attempting to repair it," said Frank Culbertson, manager of the shuttle-Mir program. Asked if the observations make an eventual repair and repressurization more likely, he said: "Particles drifting away from a spacecraft don't change my view of the ability to man-rate a repair. We're a long way from that." The test came during a flyaround of Mir after Atlantis's undocking at 1:28 p.m. The first jet of air was released into the module at 3:41 p.m. and shuttle cosmonaut Vladimir Titov reported seeing debris emerging from near the base of the damaged array, consistent with a leak in that area. He said the debris appeared to move away at a 45-degree angle toward Mir's Soyuz escape vehicle. "...Titov reporting to the crew aboard the Mir space station that whatever particles were seen came from the base of the solar array on the Spektr module ... and that nothing appeared to be emanating from the area underneath a radiator, which was also damaged in the June 25 collision with a Progress resupply ship," said NASA commentator Rob Navias. "Russian flight controllers now measuring the rate of the drop of pressure inside the Spektr module, which was expected..." This writer observed two distinct bits of debris, one moving toward the upper right of the television view toward the Soyuz module as indicated by Titov and the other moving toward the upper left of the television view. The source of the debris, however, was unclear. But a few moments later, Mir flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov reported "that he definitely saw particles emanating from the base of the damaged solar array," Navias said. "When I was watching it with several people in mission control, I saw three particles on the first venting, one of which appeared to come from the base of the solar array, one of which we didn't pick up on quick enough to say where it came from and one that I didn't think came from the solar array," said Bob Castle, a senior flight director. Going into the test, he added, "the two major areas where we think there may be a leak, and the Russians think there may be a leak, is either the base of the solar array, because the Progress hit the solar array and obviously damaged it, and then the Progress rotated in and struck the radiator on the Spektr module. So the two areas to look, really, are the base of the solar array or the radiator panel. "The crew reported seeing several things that didn't show up on video, but they reported them coming from the base of the solar array and of the particles I saw the only ones I saw that were consistent were from the base of the solar array," Castle said. "We need to put all this together. But we've got several indicators that say they came from the base of the solar array and I'm aware of none that say they came from the radiator area. So if you eliminate one of the major areas to look at, that's a significant piece of information." The Spektr module was punctured June 25 when an out-of-control Progress resupply ship crashed into one of its four solar arrays. The spacecraft then bounced into a radiator assembly and away into space. Spektr's hull was punctured, but the exact site of the damage was unclear. Before today's test, they suspected the leak might be at the base of the damaged solar array, which was bent to one side by the impact with the Progress. Today's observations appeared to confirm that hypothesis, although additional analysis will be required to make absolutely sure. The first pulse of air was released at 3:41 p.m. A second pulse was released at 4:03 p.m. "Vladimir Titov reporting from aboard Atlantis that he does not see any debris or any particles coming out of the Spektr module this time," Navias said after the second pulse. "A commenty made from a flight controller at the Russian mission control center that the first pulse of air probably cleared away any debris existing in the module..." The Atlantis crew broke off the flyaround as planned shortly before 4:30 p.m., leaving David Wolf, Solovyev and Vinogradov behind after a successful six-day docking mission. If the leak is confirmed to be at the base of the solar array, the cosmonauts aboard Mir may be able to make repairs using the 121-pound solar array cap ferried to the station aboard Atlantis. The cap was stowed outside Mir during a shuttle spacewalk earlier this week. To plug a leak in that area, the damaged array first would have to be cut away or unbolted from Spektr's hull. The repair cap then could be placed over the array attach point, sealing the area. It's not yet clear when such a repair job might be attempted, but departing Mir astronaut Michael Foale said earlier the module probably could be fixed within six months if the leak was, in fact, located at the base of the solar array. 1:30 p.m. Update: Shuttle Atlantis undocks from Mir space station After resupplying Russia's Mir space station, the shuttle Atlantis's crew undocked and dropped away today, leaving astronaut David Wolf behind aboard the aging outpost for a planned four-month stay. Running one orbit late because of a last-minute equipment test aboard Mir, Atlantis undocked at 1:28:20 p.m. as the two spacecraft sailed 250 miles above southeastern Russia in orbital darkness. During the initial flyaway to a point 600 feet below Mir, the astronauts and cosmonauts planned to test a European tracking system. Pilot Mike Bloomfield then planned to re-approach Mir, stopping again at a distance of 240 feet below the station. After a 54-minute wait for orbital sunrise, the shuttle was scheduled to carry out a 46-minute Mir flyaround before leaving the area for good at 4:16 p.m. See the 9:30 a.m. Status Report below for complete details. Here is a revised timeline of today's activities (second revision): TIME (EDT)......EVENT 01:28 p.m.......Atlantis undocks from Mir station 01:35 p.m.......Atlantis stops 90 feet below Mir 01:40 p.m. .....Shuttle continues moving away 01:53 p.m.......Atlantis stops 300 feet below Mir 01:58 p.m.......Shuttle continues moving away 02:08 p.m.......Atlantis stops 600 feet below Mir 02:13 p.m.......Atlantis moves back toward Mir 02:36 p.m.......Atlantis stationkeeps at 240 feet below Mir for 54 minutes 03:30 p.m.......Atlantis begins a fly around of the Mir station 03:40 p.m.......Gas is injected into the punctured Spektr module 04:03 p.m.......A second gas pulse in the Spektr module 04:16 p.m.......Atlantis leaves Mir for good Today's undocking was delayed one orbit, from 11:43 a.m. to 1:28 p.m. Russian flight director Victor Blagov asked NASA flight director Paul Dye to delay the separation to give the Mir cosmonauts additional time to check out an electronic relay they installed earlier today. The relay, used to route commands from Mir's new attitude control computer to stabilizing gyrodynes in the Kvant-1 module, replaced a unit that exhibited a few data drop outs several weeks ago. No problems were expected, but the new unit could only be tested when Mir was in contact with a Russian ground station and a final health check could not be completed before the station moved out of contact. The one-orbit undocking delay permitted an additional ground pass to verify the health of the new unit. It checked out just fine and Blagov gave Dye a "go" to proceed with undocking at 1:28 p.m. 09:30 a.m. Update: Shuttle crew set for undocking, Mir inspection The Atlantis astronauts readied the shuttle for undocking from the Russian Mir space station today and geared up for a close-up flyaround to look for signs of leaks in the punctured Spektr module. Leaving astronaut David Wolf behind aboard Mir, commander James Wetherbee and pilot Michael Bloomfield planned to undock from Mir at 11:43 a.m., moving in stages to a position 600 feet directly below the station to test a European ranging system. Bloomfield then will guide Atlantis back up to a position 240 feet below Mir where the 46-minute flyaround will commence at 1:57 p.m. The shuttle will fly in a circle around Mir, moving in front, over the top and behind the station before returning to its starting point directly below. Along the way, Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev plans to open a valve in the hatch leading into Spektr, allowing about 7.3 pounds of air to flow into the depressurized module, punctured in a June 25 collision. Engineers are hopeful the shuttle crew will see signs of the gas leaking out into space to help them pinpoint the locations of any leaks in Spektr's hull. Two gas releases are planned, at 2:08 p.m. and 2:31 p.m. "The gas venting out might displace (insulation) blankets or might have some ice particles or other evidence of the leak source visible to the crew on board the shuttle," said James Van Laak, deputy director of the shuttle-Mir program. "They'll be taking photography, video and of course, eyeballs looking out the window to see what can be found. And I'm certain the Mir crew will also be looking from every available hatch and window." Once the flyaround is complete, Atlantis will leave Mir for good with a separation burn at 2:43 p.m. If all goes well, the shuttle will land Sunday at the Kennedy Space Center around 6:48 p.m. Here is the latest timeline for today's activities: TIME (EDT)......EVENT 10:43 a.m....Orbital sunrise 11:43 a.m....Atlantis undocks from Mir 11:43 a.m....Sunset 11:50 a.m....Atlantis stops 90 feet below Mir 11:56 a.m....Separation resumes 12:08 p.m....Atlantis stops 300 feet below Mir 12:13 p.m....Separation resumes 12:15 p.m....Sunrise 12:23 p.m....Atlantis station keeps 600 feet below Mir 12:28 p.m....Atlantis approaches to 240 feet of Mir 12:32 p.m....Mir maneuvers for photo survey 12:51 p.m....Atlantis at 240 feet from Mir for flyaround 12:55 p.m....Mir maneuver 01:15 p.m....Sunset 01:47 p.m....Mir maneuver 01:47 p.m....Sunrise 01:57 p.m....Begin shuttle flyaround 02:08 p.m....Atlantis directly in front of Mir 02:10 p.m....Mir maneuver 02:20 p.m....Atlantis directly above Mir 02:31 p.m....Atlantis directly behind Mir 02:43 p.m....Atlantis directly below Mir; final separation 02:48 p.m....Sunset When an out-of-control Progress resupply vehicle hit Mir in June, it first struck one of Spektr's four solar arrays. It then bounced into a radiator assembly on the hull before careening into space. During a spacewalk last month, Solovyev was unable to find any obvious signs of leakage near the radiator. Engineers now suspect the leak is located at the base of the damaged solar array where the central beam joins the hull. While engineers are hopeful about the results of the Spektr leak test, no one expects to see anything particularly dramatic. "What they're going to do is open the pressure equalization valve in the hatch that goes into the Spektr and the pressure differential across that will be the net pressure that's on board Mir right now, roughly 15 and a quarter pounds per square inch. They're going to get approximately 1 psi absolute in the Spektr as a peak pressure. That's the maximum pressure they'll see. There won't be a lot of flow ... through the external leak. We might see a blanket move if it happens to be in the vicinity of the radiator. If it's not there, particles we might see include ice that might be formed. There's also the possibility some dust or shampoo or other contaminants that are present in trace amounts might be visible as very small particles." Whether the crew sees anything or not, the loss of a few pounds of air will have no impact on Mir's crew. "There really are no cons other than the fact that a few pounds of air will be lost from the Mir," Van Laak said. "We had had discussions along these lines several times over the last couple of months and to be honest, it's not clear what visual indications there may be on the outside and some people were rather skeptical that it would be worthwhile to pump very much air overboard in this attempt. Once the folks got down to the nitty gritty, they discovered a few pounds of air would be all that would be required in order to conduct the experiment. And since we just carried up three repressurization units to the MIr and we also pumped them back up with nitrogen and oxygen from the shuttle, they felt that was a worthwhile investment to make." The Undocking and fly around will cap what so far has been a very smooth shuttle mission. Van Laak said the combined 10-member crew completed 100 percent of the planned logistics transfer operations, moving 5,650 pounds of equipment and supplies from the shuttle to Mir, along with 1,717 pounds of fresh water. In addition, some 980 pounds of Russian hardware was moved from Mir to Atlantis for return to Earth and another 1,800 pounds of U.S. gear. "We're absolutely amazed by the recovery that's been achieved by the team," Van Laak said. "Anyone who's been paying attention since the collision earlier this year will certainly recognize what a monumental achievement it has been. ... We have a fine science program in place, Dave is well trained and ready to go. So we feel we're in great shape and we're looking forward to moving on." As for future problems aboard Mir, Van Laak said "I don't really have any particular concerns. They do have a number of minor failures that are on board right now. One of the Vozdukh (carbon dioxide removal system) vaccum valves has yet to be repaired, that sort of thing. But in terms of the robustness of the life support systems and so on, we don't see any problem. "The challenge that remains ahead of us is the orchestration of the repair work they want to do to further restore power from Spektr by reconnecting the cables that will hopefully allow the solar arrays to track the sun and do some of the external EVAs. Orchestrating that work into the timeline without impacting the science plan we have is the biggest challenge." =================================================================== Shuttle-Mir crews say farewell; undocking on tap (10/02/97) 6:50 p.m. Update: Hatches closed between Atlantis and Mir station Hatches between the shuttle Atlantis and the Russian Mir space station were closed a final time today, setting the stage for the shuttle's undocking Friday. For astronaut David Wolf, launched to Mir aboard Atlantis Sept. 25, hatch closing shortly before 6:45 p.m. marked the beginning of a four-month stay aboard Mir before returning to Earth in January. If all goes well, Atlantis will drop away from Mir at 11:43 a.m. Friday, ending six days of joint activity. "You wouldn't believe the delay" closing the hatch, shuttle commander James Wetherbee told mission controllers. "We had to wait for David, who was busily working, he didn't want to say goodbye. In any event, we've completed booster fan removal and we just initiated 10.1." "And we copy, Wex," replied astronaut Marc Garneau in Houston. "And the hatch is closed," Wetherbee continued. See below for details about a Mir photo survey planned by Atlantis's crew during a post-undocking flyaround. And for planning purposes, here is a timeline for Friday's undocking: TIME (EDT)......EVENT 10:42:58 a.m....Orbital sunrise 11:43:19 a.m....Atlantis undocks from Mir 11:43:32 a.m....Sunset 11:50:19 a.m....Atlantis stops 90 feet below Mir 11:56:19 a.m....Separation resumes 12:08:19 p.m....Atlantis stops 300 feet below Mir 12:13:19 p.m....Separation resumes 12:15:19 p.m....Sunrise 12:23:19 p.m....Atlantis station keeps 600 feet below Mir 12:28:19 p.m....Atlantis approaches to 240 feet of Mir 12:31:00 p.m....Mir maneuver 12:51:19 p.m....Atlantis at 240 feet from Mir for flyaround 12:54:00 p.m....Mir maneuver 01:15:52 p.m....Sunset 01:47:43 p.m....Mir maneuver 01:47:43 p.m....Sunrise 01:57:43 p.m....Begin shuttle flyaround 02:10:13 p.m....Atlantis directly in front of Mir 02:10:43 p.m....Mir maneuver 02:20:43 p.m....Atlantis directly above Mir 02:32:13 p.m....Atlantis directly behind Mir 02:43:43 p.m....Atlantis directly below Mir; final separation 02:48:11 p.m....Sunset 4:15 p.m. Update: Crew news conference and farewell ceremony The combined 10-member crew of the shuttle-Mir complex - three Russians, one Frenchman and six Americans, including British-born Michael Foale - bid each other farewell today, staging a final news conference before sealing hatches between the two spacecraft later this evening. "I would like to thank (Mir-24 commander) Anatoloy Solovyev and flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov for inviting us into their home for the last several days," said shuttle skipper James Wetherbee, floating with his crewmates in the Mir core module. "They have been very gracious, they are a tremendous team, they work well together, they have taught us a lot and we thank them for being so gracious. "It requires a lot of teamwork to pull one of these missions together. ... The teamwork started, of course, with our two crews once we got aboard. We proceeded to transfer about 7,000 pounds worth of water, experiments, back and forth and up and down. Our most important transfer, of course, was the two crew members, bringing Dr. David Wolf up and we'll return Michael Foale." For his part, Solovyev said "I wouldn't want to talk about how many tons of cargo has been deliverred by the shuttle to the Mir. The most important thing is the two crews, American and Russian, are working together." Atlantis is scheduled to undock from Mir on Friday at 11:43 a.m. and to land Sunday evening at the Kennedy Space Center. At touchdown, Foale will have logged 143.6 days in space since blastoff May 15. "We never know when we go into space as astronauts and cosmonauts whether this is our last flight," he said today. "I sure do not want this to be my last flight. I want my bosses to hear this! But given that it could be, you always appreciate the good things you have as well as flying in space. I have, of course, thought a lot about my family and my young children. And my priority now is to spend more time with my young children over the next year or two." He said his four months in weightlessness, away from his family, made returning to Earth an adventure in its own right. "I'm really looking forward to having a new adventure in a way," he said. "I've been here four-and-a-half months, which is quite a long time to be in one place. I'm looking forward to the adventure of learning how to walk again and live in my house with my wife and my children, get to know my wife again, date her again, maybe marry her again. Once I've done that and gotten my life basically re-established, I would enjoy some of the hobbies that I enjoy, like wind surfing." Shortly after undocking Friday, shuttle pilot Michael Bloomfield plans to fly Atlantis around the Mir station, giving his crewmates a chance to carry out a detailed photo-survey, focusing on the punctured Spektr module. The goal is to find signs of damage that might help engineers locate punctures in its hull. To aid that search, flight controllers are expected to approve a plan calling for Solovyev to pump small amounts of air into the sealed-off module. As it escapes into space, it may blow small bits of insulation or paint away, helping engineers pinpoint the source of any leak(s). In 1995, during a Mir rendezvous mission commanded by Wetherbee, one of the shuttle's small steering jets leaked and "you can see leaks for many, many miles," Wetherbee said. "If there is the possibility of injecting something into Spektr, given the proper lighting conditions, I think it's very possible that we might be able to identify the source of the leak." In the meantime, Wolf, who plans to spend 120 days in space before returning to Earth in January, closed out the joint news conference by saying, "We just want to say be careful down there on Earth. It's awful close to the ground and somebody could get hurt." 11:00 a.m. Update: Progress launch on tap; shuttle crew wraps up docking mission The Atlantis astronaut and their three Mir crewmates are putting in a final day of joint activity today, transferring final pieces of equipment, fresh water and other supplies from one spacecraft to the other. A joint crew news conference is on tap at 3:09 p.m. and if all goes well, hatches between Atlantis and Mir will be shut at 6:09 p.m. Crew wakeup is scheduled for 7:34 a.m. Friday with undocking set for 11:43 a.m. Following undocking, Atlantis will fly around Mir for a detailed, high-resolution photo survey to help Russian engineers look for signs of damage on the punctured Spektr module where one or more leaks might be present. This morning, Russian flight controllers and their NASA counterparts are debating a plan to let Mir-24 commander Anatoloy Solovyev pump a small amount of air into the sealed-off module while Atlantis's crew looks on. The hope is that as the air escapes through whatever leaks are present, small bits of paint, insulation or other material might blow away into space, allowing engineers to pinpoint the elusive leak(s). This plan has not yet been approved, but it appears likely. Russian flight controllers, meanwhile, say a replacement attitude control computer installed and programmed Wednesday is working well and that the station's stabilizing gyrodynes are in the process of spinning back up today. The process should be complete later this afternoon, allowing the new computer to control Mir's attitude after Atlantis undocks Friday. A Russian Progress resupply vehicle carrying a backup computer and other critical supplies is scheduled for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:09 a.m. Sunday and docking two days later. =================================================================== Astronaut, cosmonaut stage spacewalk; new Mir computer installed (10/01/97) 09:00 p.m. Update Astronaut Scott Parazynksi and Russian cosmonaut Vladimir "Volodya" Titov retrieved four experiment packages from the Mir space station's hull today, tested emergency jetpacks and moved repair equipment from the shuttle to the station in a successful five-hour spacewalk. The duo also tested space station assembly aids before returning to the safety of Atlantis's airlock. Aboard the Mir space station, meanwhile, commander Anatoly Solovyev and flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov successfully installed a new attitude control computer. The station's primary computer ran into problems last month and a replacement cobbled together from spare parts had trouble of its own. The new unit passed its initial self test today and Russian flight controllers began uplinking software that will enable the computer to assume control of Mir after Atlantis departs. The aging station "is certainly healthier now" than at any time in recent weeks, said Frank Culbertson, director of the shuttle-MIr program. "We have a newly checked out computer on board and there's no reason to believe it won't work as well as the other one did two years ago when it was first installed." A second backup computer will be launched in the next few days aboard a Russian Progress resupply vehicle and overall, "I'm very happy with the way the mission is going right now," Culbertson said. "The combined crew is working extremely well." The spacewalk, the 39th in shuttle history, began at 1:30 p.m. and ended five hours and one minute later, at 6:31 p.m. when Parazynski and Titov began repressurizing Atlantis's airlock (this time was provided by spacewalk controller Jerry Miller; NASA said earlier the spacewalk began at 1:29 p.m.). Parazynski was the 66th American to walk in space while Titov was the 44th Russian and the first non-American to participate in a NASA spacewalk. "We know you're busy getting ready to repress, but we just wanted to say outstanding job on the EVA today," Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau radioed from Houston. "And for Scott, congratulations on becoming a member of that exclusive club of spacewalkers. ... Outstanding Job. Also for Volodya, you're making history today of course as the first non-America to wear an EMU (U.S. spacesuit). You both worked fabulously out there. Welcome back." "Thanks a lot, Marc," Parazynski said. "This is the thrill of a lifetime. I've waited my entire life to do something like this and it was even better than what I had imagined. I appreciate all the work you guys did on the ground and of course my good friend Volodya (Titov) and Bloomer as well for helping orchestrate this. It's nice to have Mike Foale aboard, too, he helped out quite bit during the EVA prep." "And Marc, thank you very much," Titov chimed in. The only problems to mar an otherwise flawless spacewalk were minor glitches at the beginning and end of the outing. First, Parazynski's safety tether takeup reel did not work to take slack out of the line. After a few minutes of troubleshooting, Parazynski simply stowed the takeup reel and used an alternative method of tether management, disconnecting and reconnecting two waist tethers as he moved about to maintain a solid link. At the end of the spacewalk, a valve in the airlock was briefly left in the wrong position, causing a small amount of nitrogen to be dumped overboard. The oversight was quickly corrected with no impact other than a slight delay in the repressurization procedure. Shortly thereafter, the airlock hatch was opened and by 9:15 p.m., the two crews had reopened hatches between Atlantis and Mir for one final round of logistics transfers. At bedtime Thursday, the hatches will be closed for good and on Friday, around 11:43 a.m., Atlantis will undock from the station, leaving astronaut David Wolf behind aboard Mir for a planned 120-day stay. "It'll be a pretty emotional farewell, I expect," Culbertson said. See the initial entry below for details about the goals of today's spacewalk. 6:00 p.m. Update: Parazynski tests emergency jetpack Astronaut Scott Parazynski and cosmonaut Vladimir Titov are wrapping up a smooth five-hour spacewalk, retrieving a quartet of experiments from the Mir space station's hull and moving a 121-pound piece of repair equipment from the shuttle to the station. In addition, Parazynski tested a small emergency jetpack that will be used in the future by astronauts building the planned international space station. Should an asssembly worker somehow become untethered, the fanny packs, known by the acronym SAFER, could be used to fly back to the station or the shuttle (see below for details). Today's test, however, was carried out with Parazynski firmly anchored in a foot restraint in Atlantis's cargo bay. "Here go the thrusters... I see the AH light on. Now I'm going to move, just a slight pitch... we got thruster firing, AH light is firing," Parazynski said. "It's still illuminated. It looks like we've got a good unit." "Can you hear the thrusters firing?" pilot Mike Bloomfield asked from the aft flight deck. "That's one of the questions here..." "Yes I can," Parazynski reported. "And I think we'll end the test there. We've have 98 percent GN2, 93 percent power." "Understand you could hear the thrusters firing," Bloomfield said. "Could you feel them pushing at all?" "Not at all." "You can't feel any of the force from them?" "Not at all." A few moments later, Parazynski took time out to marvel at the view. "Awesome view, huh Scott?" Bloomfield asked as the shuttle sailed high above the south Pacific Ocean. "Oh, I'm just taking it all in: The shuttle-Mir complex, all together here flying in space ... over our beautiful home planet, it's just incredible," Parazynski replied. I've never seen anything so beautiful." In one slight departure from the timeline, Titov went out of his way to batten down a bit of insulation on the Russian docking module used by Atlantis that had somehow come loose. It did not appear to be a serious issue, but Russian fight controllers asked the spacewalkers to stand by while they evaluated the situation. "Vladimir tried his best to put it back on and it looks like it's going to work as is," Bloomfield radioed Houston. "We have a good view of it here, we're assessing it," astronaut Marc Garneau replied from mission control. "We know the EV crew is probably anxious to get back in the airlock, but if we could have them hold off a bit while Moscow assesses the picture..." "I think you could talk us into that, Marc," Parazynski joked. But a few moments later, they were cleared to press ahead with payload bay cleanup and ingress into the airlock. 4:25 p.m. Update: Spacewalk proceeding smoothly Astronaut Scott Parazynski and cosmonaut Vladimir Titov are back on schedule, working through a planned five-hour spacewalk. As of 4:25 p.m. - about three hours into the excursion - the duo was wrapping up the retrieval of four experiment packages from Mir's hull, bolting them into racks in the shuttle's cargo bay for return to Earth. Other than a minor snag with Prazynski's safety tether at the beginning of the spacewalk, the work has proceeded smoothly with no major problems. "And if you guys look off in the direction we're flying, you'll see the country of Italy," pilot Mike Bloomfield radioed during a night pass over Europe. "Unbelievable," Parazynski replied. "That's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Look at that!" 2:55 p.m. Update: Experiment retrieval underway; tether problem resolved After sorting out a problem with his safety tether (see below), Scott Parazynsky climbed up the side of Mir's bright orange shuttle docking module where four MEEP experiment packages were mounted last year during an earlier shuttle spacewalk. The four packages making up the Mir Environmental Effects Payload are suitcase-size pallets housing various materials intended for use on the international space station. Engineers want to find out how such materials hold up to long-term exposure to the harsh space environment. The MEEPs also will be used to measure the effects of collisions with micrometeors and space debris. "I can see several small little impacts," Parazynski said when he reached the first MEEP package. "Folks will be excited about that." A few moments later, Titov looked up at Mir and saw commander Anatoly Solovyev looking back through a porthole. "Anatoly!!!" Titov radioed. Then, in an aside to Parazynski, "A picture from this side!" 2:15 p.m. Update: Spacewalker encounters minor tether problem Scott Parazynski's safety tether takeup reel, a spring-loaded device used to take up slack in his tether line, is not working properly. Single-frame television shots from Atlantis showed quite a bit of tether floating freely behind Parazynski, an obvious safety concern for flight controllers. "In the still video that we're getting down we're seeing, of course, an awful lot of tether that's floating around," astronaut Bill McArthur radioed from Houston. "And we are concerned about that and would like Scott and Vladimir to see if they can't secure that in a fashion that it won't interfere with any structures, the doors, or translation paths." Parazynski was expected to stow the faulty takeup reel and to use instead a Russian tether system. While no impact to the overall goals of the spacewalk is expected, they appear to be slightly behind schedule. "Wow!" Parazynski said as the sun rose above the horizon. "Nice sunrise, huh?" quipped pilot Mike Bloomfield. "Yeah. Unbelievable." "A popular word these days," Bloomfield said. Aboard the Mir space station, a new attitude control computer installed earlier this morning has passed a self test, clearing the way for ground controllers to begin a lenthy procedure to uplink control software. The new computer replaces a machine that has broken down repeatedly in recent weeks. 1:40 p.m. Update: Spacewalk begins Astronaut Scott Parazynski and Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Titov, making his second shuttle flight, floated into the shuttle Atlantis's cargo bay today shortly after 1:35 p.m. to kick off a planned five-hour spacewalk. The excursion officially began at 1:29 p.m. when the astronauts switched their spacesuits to internal battery power. About 10 minutes later, Parazynski left Atlantis's airlock and the spacewalk began in earnest. "You look good out there, Scott," shuttle pilot Mike Bloomfield radioed. "It is amazing," Parazynski replied. "And I haven't even looked up yet." Aboard the Mir station, meanwhile, a new attitude control computer was installed and at 1:46 p.m., Russian flight controllers said the Mir crew was in the process of activating the machine for a self test. See below for details on the computer installation and programming process. 1:30 p.m. Update: Revised KU-band TV windows Thanks to an attitude maneuver, NASA expects to provide more live KU-ban television coverage of today's spacewalk than originally planned. Four windows are available as follows: WINDOW OPEN.....WINDOW CLOSED 02:24 p.m.......03:18 p.m. 04:01 p.m.......04:55 p.m. 05:37 p.m.......06:32 p.m. 07:16 p.m.......08:13 p.m. In addition, the astronauts will provide single-frame video as possible using the shuttle's S-band system. 11:30 a.m. Update: Parazynski, Titov gear up for spacewalk Astronauts Scott Parazynski and Vladimir Titov, a Russian cosmonaut making his second shuttle flight, are suited up and breathing pure oxygen in preparation for a planned five-hour spacewalk this afternoon. The lengthy oxygen prebreathe procedure is required to prevent the bends when working in the shuttle's low-pressure spacesuits. The astronauts are running about 45 minutes ahead of schedule and while they are scheduled to leave Atlantis's airlock around 2:44 p.m., they could begin the outing as early as 2 p.m. or so. Contrary to an attitude timeline provided by NASA Tuesday, Mir's current orientation will reduce the amount of live television expected during the spacewalk. NASA now expects about one hour of KU-band TV starting shortly after 3 p.m. Nothing is expected after that until about 7 p.m., although flight controllers are looking for alternative attitudes that might permit additional coverage. Will advise. Aboard the Mir station, meanwhile, commander Anatoly Solovyev, flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov and astronaut David Wolf began a lengthy procedure to replace and program a new attitude control computer ferried up to the station aboad Atlantis. The motion control computer is used to keep the Mir station - and its solar arrays - properly oriented toward the sun. The machine currently in use has suffered repeated breakdowns in recents weeks and a replacement was added to Atlantis's cargo at the last minute. More about all this in a moment. The primary goal of today's spacewalk by Titov and Parazynski is to remove four suitcase-size experiment packages mounted on Mir's hull. They are known collectively as the Mir Environmental Effects Payload, or MEEP. The individual MEEP pallets consist of materials used to measure and capture space debris and others intended for use on the international space station. "This is a very delicate task," Parazynski said before launch. "As Vladimir and I approach these experiments, we have to be very, very careful not to touch the surfaces of these MEEP pallets. If we do, if we brush our glove against them or our tethers inadvertantly come in contact with them, we've compromised 18 months of science. So we're going to be very, very careful when we do this." Parazynski and Titov also plan to test space station assembly aids designed for U.S. and Russian spacesuits and to check out production modules of small jet fanny packs that could be used in an emergency should an astronaut somehow slip free of his or her safety tether. The jetpack is known by the acronynm SAFER, for Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue and the tests will be carried out while the astronauts are firmly anchored to a foot restraint. "Anytime the orbiter is docked, whether it's to Mir or eventually the international space station, we're going to want to use the SAFER," said lead spacewalk flight controller Jerry Miller. "The reason being that when the vehicle is docked you don't have the ability to quickly release and go after a crew member who may have become untethered. Certainly, during the space station era when the shuttle is not around, we're going to be wearing the SAFER all the time." Shuttle spacewalks officially begin when spacesuits are switched to internal battery power, 10 to 15 minutes before the airlock is fully depressurized. Spacewalks offically end when the astronauts begin repressurizing the shuttle's airlock. Here is a detailed timeline: ELAPSED TIME....TASK......................EVENT TIME...NOTES 0:00-0:15.......Post depress..............0:15 0:15-0:25.......Tunnel adapter egress.....0:10 0:25-0:35.......Translation adaptation....0:10.........EVA familiarization 0:35-1:00.......MEEP No. 2 removal........0:25 1:00-1:15.......MEEP No. 2 stowage........0:15 1:15-1:40.......MEEP NO. 1 removal........0:25 1:40-1:55.......MEEP No. 1 stowage........0:15 1:55-2:15.......Swap MUT/BRT..............0:20.........Multi-use tether 2:15-2:40.......MEEP No. 4 removal........0:25 2:40-2:55.......MEEP No. 4 stowage........0:15 2:55-3:20.......MEEP No. 3 removal........0:25 3:20-3:35.......Meep No. 3 stowage........0:15 3:35-3:55.......SSAC transfer.............0:20.........Spektr array cap 3:55-4:15.......SAFER evaluation..........0:20 4:15-4:25.......Payload bay cleanup.......0:10 4:25-4:45.......Tunnel adapter ingress....0:20 4:45-4:50.......Pre repress...............0:05 Hatches between Mir and the space shuttle were closed prior to the spacewalk. They will be reopened after its conclusion for one final day of joint activity. If all goes well, Atlantis will undock from Mir at 11:43 a.m. Friday and return to Earth Sunday, touching down just before 7 p.m. Installation of the new computer aboard Mir was expected to take about 90 minutes. Another 10 to 12 hours was required, however, for ground controllers to uplink the necessary control software during four passes over Russian ground stations. The Russians decided to press ahead with the computer installation while Atlantis was docked, in part because during such joint missions the shuttle's steering jets are used to keep the station properly oriented. Shutting the computer down and replacing it will thus have no impact. "They chose to do it for two basic reasons," said James Van Laak, deputy director of the shuttle-Mir program. "The first reason is the reliability of the computer that's installed is not as great as it would be if they had the new one in there. There are a lot of activities coming up in the near future beginning, for example, with the Progress (docking) in just a few weeks, that they would like to not have to fool around with another computer failure. The second reason, equally important, is when the shuttle is attached, it is able to maintain the attitude of the station and current flows to the batteries." The computer was expected to be installed and tested by the time Parazynski and Titov exited Atlantis's airlock. Shortly thereafter, Russian ground controllers planned to begin uplinking the necessary software. The procedure should be complete by around 7:30 p.m. Problems with the attitude control computer prompted heated debate in the United States prior to Atlantis's launch on the wisdom of continuing to send U.S. astronauts to the aging station. Departing Mir astronaut Michael Foale said Tuesday the computer malfunctions and other problems, while annoying, were not life threatening. "I think the interest in safety, the very open discussions that the Senate and congressional interests have provoked in both NASA and in Russia, has been very helpful," Foale said. "I think there has been progress as a result of all this scrutiny by Congress. "However, I've always felt safe here because behind us is a spacecraft called Soyuz. And the Soyuz in any event can allow us to leave the station in a real emergency. The problems of power management, too much condensation, things which have been reported, they are real problems that we have to deal with. But they're not life threatening. They can make your life a little uncomfortable, and if they went on for a long time, your life could become miserable. So we generally surpass these things and put them to the side." =================================================================== Shuttle-Mir logistics transfer going smoothly (09/30/97) The Atlantis astronauts and their three Mir counterparts today completed the bulk of the required equipment and supply transfers from the shuttle to the space station, setting the stage for a spacewalk Wednesday and critical work to install and program a new attitude control computer. "All indications are things are proceeding extremely well and we're looking forward to tomorrow, with the EVA that's planned and also the changeout of the motion control computer on the Mir," said James Van Laak, deputy director of the shuttle-Mir program for NASA. "We've had extended discussions over the last few days to ensure that's the right thing to do. The technical team is very happy and it looks like it folds into the timeline very well. So it's been a very easy day, a very pleasant day." As of this morning, the combined 10-member crew had moved 11 bags of fresh water to Mir, or about 1,200 pounds, and another 5,186 pounds of hardware, repair equipment and station supplies. Another 1,557 pounds of gear was moved from Mir to Atlantis for return to Earth. All told, about 73 percent of the transfer work was complete as of crew wakeup this morning and by the end of the day, flight director Paul Dye told reporters, most of the remaining material was expected to be on the proper spacecraft. =================================================================== Mir crew marks 40th anniversary of Sputnik launch (09/30/97) Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev, flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov, shuttle commander James Wetherbee and astronauts David Wolf and Michael Foale took time out today to celebrate the upcoming 40th anniversary of Sputnik's launch on Oct. 4, 1957. "Forty years ago we had a new word: Sputnik," Solovyev said from the Mir core module. "We today call it an artificial Earth satellite and every person could hear the signals from space, the short radio beeps, but they meant very much for each person on Earth. It opened a new era and undoubtedly all people who participated in this project can be proud. "And together with them, we are happy the great epoch of space began, starting on that day. Thanks to that small Sputnik, today we have large volumes inhabited by astronauts and cosmonauts. We have craft such as Atlantis and today we wish to greet all people who started this great enterprise: Health, happiness, great success. "We know that the labor of many people who work on something remains unnoticed," he continued. "But we astronauts and cosmonauts understand this very well and we are today talking to these people, a great thanks to them for their great labor that was the basis of our work and which would not be possible otherwise. Thank you very much. Health to you, happiness to you personally, to your families and great success to our common cause, the opening of the exploration of space." =================================================================== Mir commander looks forward to Spektr repair (09/30/97) Echoing astronaut Michael Foale's comments Monday, Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev today said he is optimistic the station's punctured Spektr module can, in fact, be repaired and repressurized. During a news conference with reporters at the Russion mission control center, Solovyev's flight engineer, Pavel Vinogradov, said even without Spektr, the aging Russian station is in good shape, thanks in large part to suppliesequipment ferried up aboard Atlantis. "Undoubtedly, the condition of the station is a lot better than it was one and a half or two months ago," he said. "We've brought it to a very high reliability, we also have a great deal of margin for our on-board systems." He said NASA's decision to proceed with Atlantis's mission and to replace Foale with astronaut David Wolf was "absolutely correct. ... My gratitude to all those who fought for this decision. A great thank you to the commander, to Mr. (James) Wetherbee, that he's here, we're happy to see him and all subsequent shuttles that are planned." Solovyev agreed, saying "I think the best decision was made, to continue the expedition, not only just using Russian resources but also to enlist the NASA specialists in this effort. We in our next mission have David Wolf, who will be performing a science program set forth by NASA and, of course, we will have a great deal of work to perform recovering portions of the station. "Of course, we cannot absolutely, sharply, resolve operational and repair questions because who has ever operated such a station over such a period of time? It has been 12 years we have been exploiting engineering work by people in space. This is also a test. If we were to throw this over half way, it wouldn't make sense. And I think this is very well understood here and in Russia. That is why Atlantis is next to us right now and why the NASA crew is working together with us. We are all hoping we will obtain good results from it all." As for repairing and repressurizing Spektr, Solovyev said several spacewalks are planned over the next few months and that if all goes well, the leak or leaks in Spektr's hull will be sealed and the module recovered for use. But he offered no guarantees. "We have very good chances that we'll be able to recover the pressurization in the module," he said. "A lot of equipment was delivered by the shuttle, with the help of which we hope to restore the pressure tightness of the module. But we must perform a great deal of work to precisely identify the place where the breach occurred. It may be, possibly, it's not just one place, in which case, of course, we'll have quite a bit of work. On 16 October we have planned yet another internal (spacewalk) inside the Spektr. And then there will probably be an EVA to examine the exterior surface and we will perform work to pressurize the station from the exterior. I think in this year there will be several such EVAs and then after that, we will be able to more exactly talk about recovering the Spektr." Even if the repair work fails, Vinogradov said, "it's no big deal ... because we have three other modules in which we could perform a science program." =================================================================== Foale optimistic about Spektr leak repair (09/29/97) Departing Mir astronaut Michael Foale says he's optimistic that within six months, the battered station's punctured Spektr module will be repaired, repressurized and reopened for scientific research. The module was holed June 25 when an unmanned Progress resupply craft crashed into one of Spektr's four solar arrays. The unmanned spacecraft then hit and dented a radiator assembly on the module's hull before careening away into space. Foale and Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev carried out a detailed external inspection earlier this month during a spacewalk. The hull appeared to be intact, but a measurably asymmetric gap was noticed at the base of the damaged solar array, where the panel's central support is attached. The array apparently was bent to one side in the collision, which may have opened a leak path at its base. Asked about the prospects for plugging any such leaks, Foale said "it depends on how easy it is to find the hole and repair it." "The EVA (spacewalk) I did with Anatoly, the commander on station Mir, Anatoly worked very hard to look for the hole in an obvious place and he did not find it, he found the whole hull was in good condition. It leads us to suspect a very, very important area at the base of the solar array and it's very likely that is where the leak is." Among the supplies launched to Mir aboard Atlantis is a 121-pound seal designed to fit over the attach point after the damaged array is cut free and plug whatever leaks might be present. Russian space officials have not yet officially announced plans to remove the array, but Foale said such a repair attempt is likely. "There are materials on board now that Jim (Wetherbee) and his crew brought up that will be used by Anatoly during a future EVA to try and repair that area, to seal it up, basically," he said. "I think that attempt will certainly take place fairly soon and if it's successful, then the chances of restoring Spektr I think are very high." If that approach fails, however, "I can't hazard a guess" as to what other options might be available, Foale said. The base of the solar array "does seem to be the smoking gun of the whole issue because that is where the Progress hit and that's where the greatest force was transmitted to the station." In the weeks ahead, Foale said, Solovyev "has an enviable number of EVAs to do outside and also inside into Spektr, again, to repair that module. So I think there's a good chance that in the next few months, maybe six months, you'll see a pretty much re-established space station Mir." =================================================================== Shuttle crew presses ahead with Mir transfer work (09/29/97) The 10-member international crew of the shuttle-Mir complex spent a busy day in space today, moving equipment, supplies and fresh water to the Russian station. As of crew wakeup this morning, 139 of 298 transfer items had been moved from one ship to the other, about 47 percent of the total planned. That works out to 607 pounds of equipment moved from Mir to Atlantis and 4,133 pounds of material moved from the shuttle to the station. In addition, by late today, the astronauts had transferred nine water bags to Mir, or about 900 pounds of fresh water. NASA managers said the joint crew was ahead of schedule and that the work was proceeding smoothly. "Things are going very, very well," said Robert Castle, a mission operations representative at the Johnson Space Center. "The shuttle is in excellent shape." The only anomaly so far in the flight is a burned out floodlight in Atlantis's cargo bay. In addition, two laptop computers on board for a Global Positioning System navigation experiment failed earlier in the flight, but pilot Mike Bloomfield wired around a short circuit and brought one of the machines back to life. One of the highest priority transfer items was a new attitude control computer to replace a unit already aboard Mir that has suffered repeated breakdowns in recent weeks. Shuttle commander James Wetherbee presented the computer to Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev as soon as hatches between the two vehicles were opened Saturday. Russian flight controllers are assessing plans that call for the cosmonauts to actually install the computer Wednesday morning, just before a planned-but-unrelated spacewalk by astronauts Scott Parazynski and cosmonaut Vladimir Titov. The physical installation of the computer is expected to take less than two hours. But it will take several more hours from ground controllers to uplink the software necessary to control Mir. Those uplink sessions are planned during passes over Russian ground stations and as a result, the entire process of installing and programming the computer is expected to take more than 12 hours. During the entire period, however, the shuttle's maneuvering jets will be providing attitude control so the operation is relatively transparent from NASA's viewpoint. It takes the crew about an hour and a half to change the computer out," said mission operations representative Robert Castle. "But then it takes four sets of ground station passes to send up all the software to it. So that's four orbits right there. And then bringing up attitude control, getting a new navigation base established, bringing up the gyrodynes again is what adds up to to all the time. It's essentially the same plan they would use if the computer simply failed." While Atlantis has enough on-board supplies to remain docked to Mir for an additional day, no such plans are in the works and it appears likely the shuttle will depart Friday as scheduled. "Right now, it looks to me the normal timeline, even allowing for some problems, would allow us to undock on Friday," Castle said. "If it turns out that it takes several days to (replace the computer) and we know that in advance, I think we'd go ahead and undock and do this changeout after the shuttle left. I'll be up front, if we did get into the middle of this and the computer failed or there's another failure that leaves the Mir without attitude control, I don't think we're going to undock without attitude control on the Mir. It would really depend on what the failure was. ... But we're not going to leave them in a bad spot if we can help it." As of today, U.S. astronauts have logged 672 days in space on long-duration Mir missions, the last 556 days in a row. By the completion of the final Mir visit next May, NASA will have accumulated 971 days of long-duration space flight. Appropriately enough, Valery Polyakov, the world record holder for a single spaceflight - 439 days - and total time in space - 679 days during two flights - visited mission control today and chatted briefly with NASA commentator Rob Navias. Polyakov said the joint shuttle-Mir missions represent a bonanza for U.S. researchers, giving them a first-hand look at the medical problems and countermeasures associated with long-duration spaceflight. "I think this is a great achievement for U.S. astronautics," he said. "I know that U.S. specialists, due to the flight of U.S. astronauts on Mir, have access to many new data and they can gain a lot of experience and a lot of expertise through these flights." He said American researchers now "know how to provide medical support to long-term flights. Now they know from their own experience that the system of countermeasures used on Mir is really very efficient. We know very well that all U.S. astronauts who spent many months on Mir, they returned back to Earth in very good shape, both physically and emotionally. I think we have acquired very good experience and expertise that will certainly help us provide adequate medical support to the international space station." As for pre-launch concern about Mir's overall health and the risks faced by U.S. astronauts aboard the aging station, Polyakov said the benefits outweigh the risks and that NASA was correct to send astronaut David Wolf to replace Michael Foale. "I believe in spite of problems, engineering, technical hardware proglems, which are unavoidable in a system of such tremendous complexity, David will certainly be sure that Mir can provide a very good opportunity for solving many important science, medical problems," Polyakov said through an interpreter. "Now David has a lot of sophisticated hardware available, he has a very good science research program. "You know, I'm an optimist and that's why I'm pretty sure the Progress cargo ship won't hit the station again at the same site! And actually, even when you're facing a problem, you should be sort of positive, you could say 'oh, but what if that were a meteorite and not a cargo vehicle? From the bottom of my heart I would like to wish good luck to the crew, to wish great success to your U.S. astronauts." =================================================================== Wolf and Foale discuss Mir safety (09/29/97) Astronaut Michael Foale, wrapping up a four-and-a-half-month stay aboard the battered Mir space station, defended the safety of the aging outpost today, saying the benefits of continuing joint work with the Russians outweigh the risks. In an interview with CBS News, Foale said he thought "long and hard about American involvement in this program and also whether someone should follow behind me." "And I think it's very important that it continue," he said, floating in the Mir core module. "The work here is not always easy and some of the experiments are interrupted by the repair work and the necessary maintenance that's done on this station. But the value in working together with our Russian colleagues is, I think, priceless. The results of that work that we're doing right now and the experience we're gaining ... we will do so much better, great space projects together, internationally, with Russia." Foale was officially replaced aboard the Mir station today by astronaut David Wolf, who plans to spend 120 days in space before being replaced himself in January. While he defended the shuttle-Mir program, Foale admitted to some anxious moments when debate erupted in the United States about whether or not to continue the project or to replace Foale with Wolf. "There was some tension, I felt some tension with regards to when the shuttle could come and get me," Foale said. "I knew that there were some discussions about whether David should stay. I wasn't sure exactly when this handover would occur. As I said (earlier), I really do look forward to seeing my family soon, so that caused some tension with me. However, once the shuttle has docked, the (tension) is all over and I'm now just steadily working away here, making sure David is comfortable, settled in, and that we have all the equipment he will be working with on board station Mir before we leave." For his part, Wolf said "I'm happy to report that I'm still as positive as I was" before launch. "There's a lot of good equipment up here, we're busy moving in, Michael's doing a great job ... introducing me to be oriented up here. So I still feel very good about the mission." Wolf said his stay will be the "experience of my life" because "this is just an amazing outpost of scientific civilization where Russians meet Americans in orbit at 18,000 miles an hour. It's just an incredible place. I wish you could get a panorama of the equipment and the gear and the people working behind us, shuttling gear back and forth. This is just an incredible event going on." When Atlantis lands on Oct. 5, Foale will have logged 143.6 days in space since launch May 15. Despite being cooped up in relatively cramped quarters, Foale said the time went by quickly, especially given all the problems that cropped up in recent weeks. "Interestingly enough, I think the time has gone very, very fast," he said. "And one of the reasons the time went fast for me is because we had the problems. They were new problems, they were unexpected and they were very interesting in the way we solved them. And I learned far more in recovering from those things than if I had just had a steady, constant science program to execute. "One of the things I get asked is how many days have you been in space? I don't know. I don't count the days and I would recommend to David, actually, not to count days. You just spend a week and then a month. And you notice how the months go by. But really, it's best not to count them, the time goes by fast enough. It was only the weekends, when I wasn't busy working, that sometimes I thought things were going slowly. But again, we'd watch a Russian movie or something on the TV here, we'd do something together as a crew and the time goes by just fine." Foale then described what he felt back in June when an unmanned Progress resupply vehicle slammed into Mir, depressurizing the Spektr research module. "The collision was unexpected. We were expecting the Progress to not dock with us for another 15 minutes or so," he said. "When I heard the collision there was kind of a dull rumble in the station, it was a bit like distant thunder. At that time, I thought it was behind us ... where the Progress was expected to dock. Other than that, nothing much else happened. Over about five or so more seconds, we have an alarm signal and that went off, telling us the pressure was decreasing, which confirmed my fear that we had had a breach of the station's hull. Very quickly after that, my feelings were asuaged because I realized the pressure in my ears was not dropping very fast. And so I knew immediately, just by the feeling in my ears, that we had time to try to find the leak and close it off. And that's how it turned out." =================================================================== Wolf replaces Foale aboard Mir station (09/29/97) Astronaut David Wolf moved aboard the Russian Mir space station today, officially replacing astronaut Michael Foale, who is wrapping up a marathon 144-day voyage. Wolf formally joined the Mir-24 crew when a custom-built Soyuz seatliner carried up aboard Atlantis was installed in Mir's re-entry vehicle. The seatliner, which was custom built to fit Wolf's body, would be needed to cushion the shock of ground impact if the Mir crew was forced to bail out in the Soyuz at some point after Atlantis's departure. After the seatliner was in place, Wolf officially joined the crew of Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev and flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov. From this point on, Wolf will sleep aboard the station and remain behind when Atlantis departs. Foale, meanwhile, has officially joined Atlantis's crew for the remainder of the mission. It is not clear exactly when the crew transfer took place. Shuttle commander James Wetherbee told mission control around 3:45 p.m. that the exchange took place "three or four hours ago." Astronaut Bill McArthur, calling from Houston, then called Foale, who was exercising on the shuttle's treadmill. "I'd like to welcome you on behalf of the ground as the newest crew member on board Atlantis," McArthur radioed. "It's a great pleasure to be treading on U.S. metal, if not soil," Foale quipped. "Thank you very much." U.S. astronauts visiting Mir used to live and work in the Spektr module, which lost pressure and had to be sealed off June 25 when a Progress resupply vehicle slammed into the station. As a result, Wolf will use the Kvant-2 module's airlock for his personal quarters. Earlier today, he told ground controllers in Houston his new digs will suit just fine. "Talk about a room with a view," he said. "There's windows on four quadrants with (shades or curtains) you can close." He said he and Foale spent 15 minutes there Saturday night, enjoying a spectacular nighttime pass over the United States. The crew exchange was just one milestone in a busy day aboard the shuttle-Mir complex. After Saturday's rendezvous and docking, the 10 astronauts and cosmonauts hit the deck running today, beginning to the complex task of moving some 7,000 pounds of equipment, supplies, repair gear and fresh water from Atlantis to Mir. A new Russian-built attitude control computer to replace one that has suffered repeated failures in recent weeks was passed over to Mir minutes after docking Saturday. Russian flight controllers are considering the possibility of asking the cosmonauts to install the device Wednesday. But there's no real hurry. During docked operations, the shuttle's maneuvering jets provide stability and attitude control for the combined spacecraft and the Mir computer will not be needed until after Atlantis departs. "My own personal preference is that it be done while we're docked," said James Van Laak, deputy director of the shuttle-Mir program. "We have attitude control, we can ensure the batteries maintain charge, there's no impact to the science. It's almost entirely a Russian timeline issue with essentially no impact to the U.S. side whatsoever. So technically, we think it's the right thing to do." Whenever the work takes place, the actual installation will take two workers about 90 minutes to complete. After that, ground controllers will need several hours to uplink control software. The entire process is expected to take about 10 hours. Most of the items being transferred to Mir are Russian supplies and equipment, along with more than 1,000 pounds of U.S. science gear that will be used by Wolf for orbital research during his stay on Mir. Among the items being shipped back to Earth is a broken Elektron oxygen generator and nearly 1,500 pounds of U.S. experiment samples and hardware. Here is the breakdown: MATERIAL............TO MIR............BACK TO EARTH Water...............1,400 lbs.........N/A U.S. science........1,034 lbs.........1,446 lbs European science....N/A...............22 lbs Russian logistics...3,980 lbs.........942 lbs Miscellaneous.......354 lbs...........2,712 lbs TOTAL...............6,768 lbs.........5,122 lbs For readers unfamiliar with shuttle operations, the water is produced throughout the flight by the shuttle's three electricity generating fuel cells. These compact powerplants combine oxygen and hydrogen in a sort of reverse electrolysis, generating electricity in the process and fresh water as a byproduct. Normally, the excess water is dumped overboard but during Mir missions, it is manually transferred to storage tanks on Mir to replenish on-board supplies. When the Spektr module was sealed off in June, most of the scientific equipment used by American astronauts was sealed off as well. Since then, NASA planners have devised a revised research schedule for Wolf that should allow him to complete about 80 percent of the science program's original objectives. Here is a bit of background from a story I wrote for Space News: John Uri, chief scientist of the shuttle-Mir program, said 31 scientific investigations are planned for Wolf in six disciplines ranging from advanded technology development and Earth science to fundamental biology and human life sciences. The program will use virtually all of the 550 hours Wolf has available for research during his 120-day stay. Solovyev and Vinogradov will chip in another 207 hours over the same period. But several previously planned experiments will be deferred or eliminated because critical U.S. equipment is now sealed off in the airless Spektr module. "We lost our big freezer - we have two smaller ones that are in the Priroda [module] that are OK to use - and we lost our centrifuge, we lost the bicycle ergometer and we lost ... a gas analyzer we use for metabolic studies," Uri said. NASA hopes to launch a new centrifuge aboard a Russian Progress supply ship scheduled for launch in October. Another, larger freezer to replace the one currently sealed off in Spektr will be launched to Mir in January aboard the space shuttle. "We're looking at roughly 80 percent of the science we originally planned for Dave's flight," Uri said. "The biggest hit is going to be where we lost the gas analyzer. And because of the smaller freezers, we've had to do some reduction in the number of blood samples and urine samples we're trying to collect." =================================================================== Shuttle Atlantis docks with Mir space station (09/27/97) 9:15 p.m. Update: NASA managers pleased with Mir docking After weeks of media hype, technical problems and congressional criticism, supporters of the shuttle-Mir docking program finally had their way today with the shuttle Atlantis's "picture-perfect" linkup with the battered Russian space station. Frank Culbertson, NASA manager of the shuttle-Mir project, said the station's balky attitude control computer worked flawlessly during the rendezvous and docking phase, a major relief after repeated problems and shutdowns over the past few weeks. "We had an extremely successful docking this evening," Culbertson said. "Jim Wetherbee did his usual outstanding performance, brought it right down the pipe, and docked very smoothly with the Mir station. ... All America can be proud of the way folks can come through and make our space program look good." Immediately after shaking hands with Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev, Wetherbee passed over a new attitude control computer to replace the balky unit already on board. While the old computer has worked normally since the cosmonauts began providing additional cooling earlier this week, getting the replacement on board was a major priority. "When you go visit somebody, you like to bring a gift to let them know you're happy to have the hospitality," Culbertson joked. "I think that's the best gift you could think of for the crew, to bring them a new computer, because they had so many problems with the one that was up there." Lead flight director Paul Dye said the docking went by the book and that other than a minor, quickly correctly misalignment during final approach, "the docking was picture perfect and all the mechanisms behaved exactly as they should." The docking took place late in the combined crew's day and after a joint meal and a quick safety briefing, the astronauts and cosmonauts called it a day. Astronaut David Wolf is spending his final night aboard Atlantis before officially joining the Mir-24 crew early Sunday, replacing astronaut Michael Foale. From that point forward, Foale will sleep aboard Atlantis as a member of the shuttle's crew while Wolf sets up shop aboard Mir. The crew transfer is expected around 10 a.m. Sunday, after Wolf's Soyuz seat liner is moved from the shuttle to the station. 06:45 p.m. Update: Mir crew welcomes shuttle astronauts aboard About 90 minutes after docking with the Russian Mir space station, Atlantis skipper James Wetherbee cranked open a final hatch between the two spacecraft, shook hands with Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev and presented him with a new attitude control computer to replace the balky unit currently in use. Hatch opening occurred around 5:45 p.m. as the two spacecraft sailed high above Asia. Moments later, the shuttle's crew members began floating through the hatch into Mir, shaking hands and congratulating each other on the successful linkup. "You guys have done a great job up here," said Wetherbee, who rendezvoused, but did not dock, with Mir in 1995. "For years I've waited for this, to see the inside of (Mir)." Amid laughter and grins, Wendy Lawrence, who was bumped from a long-duration Mir visit because of her height, exclaimed "I finally got here!" and then greeted Solovyev with obvious affection, yelling "Anatoly!!!" before breaking into Russian. Lawrence was replaced by astronaut David Wolf, who will officially join Mir's crew on Sunday when he takes over from astronaut Michael Foale. Shortly after hatch opening, one of the Mir-24 crew members told Wolf the station is "like home," prompting Wolf to reply: "I'm going to like this place." During a formal welcoming ceremony staged in Mir's roomy core module, Wetherbee said "Houston, you cannot believe the number of times several of us on board said 'unbelievable' on our way up here, either with the scenes, the views, the procedures we had, just the fact that we were doing this, none of us can still believe it. And I just got a shock when I looked out the window over here and saw Atlantis. It took us a while to get to the Mir core module here, I didn't realize how far away Atlantis was. "We'd like to thank all the people down on Earth," he continued. "There was a tremendous amount of teamwork required to put something like this together. We had discussions all the way up when we were in crew quarters, in quarantine, just before coming up regarding the procedures and what do we do if we have failures. Both sides of the ocean worked on this flight for a long time and we want to thank everybody who worked on it. "There was a lot of discussion about the risks. We're here to tell you, all 10 of us, that we think the benefits far outweigh the risks and that's why we're here and we're really enjoying it. This is a great ship. I can't believe it, I saw it two years ago from 30 feet, which is not very far away, but it turns out it was really far away compared to the last 30 feet and then coming all the way into the Mir base block." Solovyev congratuled the shuttle crew on "a wonderful docking" and said he had no doubt the combined crew will complete all the mission's objectives. Wetherbee, paying tribute to his U.S., French and Russian crewmates, said "This is your crew of the future. Several of us have flown together before, we hope to fly together in the future and for the next six days we're working together as a single crew to transfer equipment and this is the wave of the future. You see the different international shirts we have on - Russian, American and French - and this is what will take us into the next century in space." A few minutes later, Wolf took the microphone to chat with astronaut Bill McArthur in mission control. "Hey Bill, this is Dave," Wolf called. "I'm here in the base block and I thought I'd pass along a first impression to you. I think you'd really like it up here because there is more equipment and gizmos and ham radios and computers to play with and work with than you can believe. It's just the kind of place you'd love, Bill. I'm going to like this. There's a lot to work with here." "It's just fantastic, we're awfully proud of you being up there," McArthur replied. "I think I'm going to have to kick Mike out of here, he's not going to want to go," Wolf joked. "No, he's anxious to see his family and all that, but there are things he's said he's going to miss." Foale then chimed in, saying "I'd just like to thank everybody for doing such a super job, getting these guys off the ground and up in space and to the space station Mir. I do actualy want to go home. They've just informed me how my son has grown up to about twice the height that he was when I was on the Earth and I want to have him talk to me in person. But these are great guys and I'm looking forward to working with them in the next few days and returning to my family." All in all, a busy day in space and on the ground. Shortly before 6 p.m., mission controllers told the astronauts they were going to take a five-minute break after several unbroken hours at their consoles. Thanks a lot, Houston," Wetherbee said. "Sorry you had to stay there so long. Plus, it takes us a long time to get in here anyway, with the size of this vehicle. It's unbelievable." "We're not complaining, there's no place we'd rather be today," McArthur said. "Well, maybe one place we'd rather be." 05:10 p.m. Update: Shuttle Atlantis docks with Mir space station Rising from below, the shuttle Atlantis glided to a picture-perfect docking with the Russian Mir space station at 3:58 p.m. to complete a textbook two-day rendezvous that began with blastoff Thursday. Commander James Wetherbee, guiding Atlantis manually from the shuttle's aft flight deck, had no problems with final approach, deftly guiding the 110-ton spaceplane to a gentle docking with the more masive Mir. "We've got it, Houston," one of Atlantis's crew members radioed radioed. The shuttle's Russian-built docking system appeared to work normally, locking the two spacecraft together during a nighttime pass over Central Asia. The shuttle then took over control of the orientation of the combined vehicles, giving Mir's problem-plagued attitude computer a much-needed break. The shuttle's computers and vernier jets will be used throughout the docked phase of the mission to provide stabilization. A new computer to replace the one currently aboard Mir, will be transferred to the station later today. It will not be installed, however, until after Atlantis departs. Shortly after 4 p.m., Wetherbee took time out to thank flight director Paul Dye and the crew's trainers, "who developed all the procedures and helped to beat it into our little brains. It was much appreciated when we did it for real." "Paul was just over here discussing what a great rendezvous that was," astronaut Bill McArthur replied from Houston. "Everybody has nothing but big smiles down here." "Well great. The tools worked extremely well. Our simulators do a very good job. Of course, I've always said the vehicle is just a little bit easier to fly than the sims and that's the way you want it." Wetherbee then thanked pilot Mike Bloomfield and flight engineer Scott Parazynski for their help during final approach. "Houston, I also don't want to forget to thank publicly Scott and Mike," he said. "They were incredible. They continued to try to drive me up the r-bar in the sims. I had a tendency as you know to be a little slow getting up the r-bar and they pushed me all the way. And so I appreciate all the work they've done for this last year, too." "Well Jim, obviously you've got a great team up there," McArthur said. Hatches between Mir and Atlantis are expected to be opened around 5:30 p.m. Will advise. 03:05 p.m. Update: Shuttle 600 feet below Mir With commander James Wetherbee at the controls, the shuttle Atlantis reached a point 600 feet directly below the Mir space station at 03:02 p.m. Arrival on the so-called "r-bar" marks a major milestone in today's rendezvous procedure. From this point on, Wetherbee plans to fly Atlantis straight up to a docking at 3:56:19 p.m. So far, Mir's cantankerous attitude control computer continues to operate smoothly, keeping the station in the desired orientation for docking. Should the computer fail after Atlantis is within 30 feet of Mir, Wetherbee will simply press ahead and dock as planned. However, if the computer should fail before the shuttle is 30 feet out, Wetherbee will break off the rendezvous and park Atlantis nearby while Russian engineers assess the difficulty. In that case, docking likely would be delayed to Sunday. But again, so far the computer is operating flawlessly and docking remains on schedule. 02:07 p.m. Update: Final rendezvous procedure underway Commander James Wetherbee fired the shuttle Atlantis's maneuvering jets at 1:31:50 p.m. to begin the final stages of today's rendezvous. At 2:06 p.m., the shuttle was 35,000 feet behind Mir and closing at 16 feet per second. If all goes well, Atlantis will be positioned 600 feet directly below the station at 3:02 p.m. where Wetherbee will begin the final approach. There are no technical problems aboard the shuttle and Mir's attitude control computer is working smoothly today, keeping the station in a stable orientation. 11:30 a.m. Update: Atlantis closes in on Mir station The Atlantis astronauts closed in on the Russian Mir space station, on track for a docking at 3:56:19 p.m. There are no technical problems of any significance with the shuttle and the rendezvous procedure is going smoothly as Atlantis slowly but surely catches up with Mir from behind. The terminal initial burn, which will begin the final phase of the two-day rendezvous, is scheduled for 1:31:50 p.m. "Good morning, Scott," astronaut Bill McArthur radioed Atlantis flight engineer Scott Parazynsky from Houston. "The rendezvous gang is ready to start the dance with you guys." "We are ready to go," Parazynski replied. "We've been training for several months for this and we're real excited. I know Dave is excited to get his mission started as well." He was referring to astronaut David Wolf, who will replace Michael Foale aboard Mir on Sunday for a planned 120-day stay aboard the Rusian station. Foale, who was launched to Mir on May 15, will have logged 143.6 days in space when he returns to Earth aboad Atlantis on Oct. 5. Atlantis's crew spent the morning setting up their rendezvous tools and carrying out a series of small rocket firings to fine-tune their approach to Mir. The shuttle's systems are in good shape, although a computer glitch prevented the crew from carrying out an experiment to test the accuracy of systems using navigational data from Global Positioning System satellites. The data is not required for the rendezvous and the problem will have no impact on today's docking procedure. Unfortunately for NASA television viewers, live TV from Atlantis during final approach and docking is not expected because of antenna blockage. NASA officials are hopeful television shots from Mir showing the shuttle during final approach will be available through Russia's Altair satellite and relayed through NASA television. The first opportunity for shuttle video of the docking begins at 3:00:44 p.m. Just FYI. The flight plan calls for Wetherbee to approach Mir from directly below, along the imaginary line joining the station and the center of the Earth. This is known as the r-bar, or radius vector, and shuttles approaching from below are said to be carrying out a "plus r-bar rendezvous (it would be a negative r-bar approach if Atlantis came in from above Mir). By approaching from below, the shuttle can utilize the natural braking provided by Earth's gravity to minimize the use of upward firing thrusters that could damage Mir's fragile solar arrays. Unlike previous +r-bar Mir approaches, Wetherbee will attempt to carry out the final stages of the rendezvous in such a fashion that Atlantis will simply drift up to Mir with exactly the right closing velocity. In previous approaches, the shuttle would cross the +r-bar about 2,000 feet below the station, overshoot and then move back onto the proper trajectory. "This time around, "the aim is to do nothing very precisely," Wetherbee said. "If we do it just right, then we really don't have to do very much. The key to doing this is teamwork. We must have folks who know what they're doing and equipment that is working." The goal is to minimize fuel usage. Similar rendezvous approaches will be used for the international space station and every pound of fuel saved translates into additional payload that can be carried to orbit. Here is the latest timeline for today's rendezvous, in both mission elapsed time and EDT: EVENT.............................MET.............EDT TI burn...........................1/14:57:31......01:31:50 p.m. Mir in docking attitude...........1/16:02:00......02:36:19 p.m. Sunrise...........................1/16:02:35......02:36:54 p.m. Atlantis on + r-bar...............1/16:27:25......03:01:44 p.m. TDRS-E comm pass begins...........1/16:29:25......03:03:44 p.m. Altair comm pass begins...........1/16:34:34......03:08:53 p.m. Atlantis stops at 170 feet........1/16:49:25......03:23:44 p.m. Resume approach...................1/16:50:00......03:24:19 p.m. Atlantis 150 feet from Mir........1/16:51:40......03:25:59 p.m. Atlantis 100 feet from Mir........1/16:56:40......03:30:59 p.m. Sunset............................1/17:04:06......03:38:25 p.m. Atlantis 50 feet from Mir.........1/17:05:00......03:39:19 p.m. Atlantis stops at 30 feet.........1/17:11:10......03:45:29 p.m. Resume approach...................1/17:16:10......03:50:29 p.m. Russian ground station comm pass..1/17:18:00......03:52:19 p.m. Docking window opens..............1/17:20:00......03:54:19 p.m. Atlantis docks with Mir...........1/17:22:00......03:56:19 p.m. TDRS-E loss of signal.............1/17:24:19......03:58:38 p.m. U.S. TV pass begins...............1/17:26:25......04:00:44 p.m. Altair loss of signal.............1/17:28:26......04:02:45 p.m. Sunrise...........................1/17:34:59......04:09:18 p.m. Docking window closes.............1/17:38:00......04:12:19 p.m. U.S. TV pass ends.................1/17:41:55......04:16:14 p.m. The combined crews will do little more after docking Saturday than carry out leak checks, a brief welcoming ceremony and routine safety briefings to make sure everyone understands the necessary emergency procedures. Wolf will not officially join the Mir-24 crew until Sunday, after a custom Soyuz seatliner is moved from Atlantis to the space station. From that point forward, Wolf will sleep aboard Mir while Foale will become a member of the shuttle's crew. "The rendezvous and docking will be fairly late in the crew day compared to some of the other shuttle-Mir missions simply because of the way things timed," said lead flight director Paul Dye. "It'll be fairly late in the Russians' crew day. We'll get docked, do the leak checks, which takes a while, do a welcome ceremony and safety briefings. The crew exchange will actually be performed on flight day four (Sunday) because the Mir crew will be going to bed fairly soon after the welcome ceremony, there's not time to get the crew exchange completed, so we will still have Mike Foale sleeping on the Mir that night and Dave Wolf sleeping on the shuttle." =================================================================== Shuttle Atlantis rockets into space (09/25/97) With a ground-shaking roar, the shuttle Atlantis blasted off into the night sky this evening, putting on a spectacular show as it streaked away up the east coast and set off after the Russian Mir space station. With commander James Wetherbee and pilot Mike Bloomfield at the controls, Atlantis's three hydrogen-fueled main engines ignited with a sparkling flash at 10:34:19 p.m. - right on time - and about six seconds later, the 4.5-million-pound spacecraft vaulted skyward on the 87th shuttle mission. Lighting up the night sky for hundreds of miles around, Atlantis quickly climbed above its launch tower, wheeled about to line up on the proper 51.6-degree trajectory and rocketed away to the northeast through a hazy, partly cloudy sky. Despite a handful of nuisance alarms from faulty transducers, the ascent was virtually flawless and eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, Atlantis slipped into its planned preliminary orbit. "Back in space again," Wetherbee said softly, returning to orbit for the first time in two years. "Atlantis, welcome to space and we're with you," replied astronaut Scott Horowitz from mission control in Houston. Forty four minutes into the mission, Wetherbee and Bloomfield fired the shuttle's twin orbital maneuvering system rockets to put the craft in the proper preliminary orbit while the rest of the crew doffed their suits and begin setting up shop in space. "Atlantis, we see a good OMS-2, good residuals, no trim required, welcome to orbit," Horowitz called. "Thank you much," Wetherbee replied. "Scott, Bloomer keeps saying things like 'incredible.'" "Tell Bloomer it's real now," Horowitz said of the shuttle's only rookie. For astronaut David Wolf, who did not know for sure he would be joining the crew until late last night, Atlantis's liftoff marked the start of a voyaage to the battered Mir station where he will relieve astronaut Michael Foale. Docking is scheduled for 3:55 p.m. Saturday and if all goes well, Wolf will officially replace Foale, who is wrapping up a 143.6-day mission, on Sunday. Wolf plans to return to Earth in January after a 123-day stay. "I think we're demonstrating the space shuttle is a vehicle that's getting more reliable," said Donald McMonagle, chairman of NASA's mission management team. "We're demonstrating we can launch it when we want to and support vehicles in space like the Mir and hopefully in the future, the international space station." Along with ferrying Wolf to Mir, Atlantis also will deliver nearly 7,000 pounds of repair equipment, supplies, scientific hardware and fresh water to the station, along with a new attitude control computer. Mir's current computer has repeatedly failed in recent weeks, possibly because of high temperatures and humidity aboard the station. The new computer will be transferred to Mir during Atlantis's visit but Russian flight controllers now say there are no plans to hook it up while Atlantis is docked to the station. Concern about what might happen if the control computer failed during Saturday's rendezvous prompted quite a bit of concern in recent days and resulted in new flight rules to ensure all parties will know exactly what to do in the event of another failure. The control computer keeps Mir and its solar arrays properly aimed at the sun; without it, the station cannot maintain a stable orientation and the station can lose power. From NASA's perspective, the immediate issue is Mir's stabilization during the rendezvous. After a detailed analysis, U.S. and Russian flight controllers agreed that if the computer should fail after Atlantis is within 30 feet of Mir, Wetherbee will simply continue his approach and dock normally. Analyis indicates the station would not move out of proper orientation before Wetherbee could complete his final approach. There are no longer any plans for Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev to be standing by in the crew's Soyuz vehicle to provide jet-assisted stabilization. If a failure occurred at some earlier point, however, Wetherbee would break off the approach and move to a station-keeping position well away from Mir while engineers looked into the issue. Based on past failures, the cantankerous computer likely could be returned to service in a day or so. For a detailed overview of Atlantis's flight, see the CBS News STS-86 Mission Archive. =================================================================== Launch preparations on track (09/25/97) Running slightly behind schedule, engineers fueled the shuttle Atlantis for blastoff tonight at 10:34:19 p.m. on a dramatic flight to the Russian Mir space station. Commander James Wetherbee, pilot Michael Bloomfield, Scott Parazynski, Wendy Lawrence, David Wolf, Frenchman Jean-Loup Chretien and Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Titov arrived at the launch pad shortly before 7 p.m. to strap in and await liftoff on the 87th shuttle mission. Forecasters are predicting good weather during Atlantis's 11.5-minute launch period, following a brief bout of afternoon rain. There are no technical problems of any significance with the shuttle or its payload, although engineers have had to deal with several ground equipment glitches. None of them, however, is expected to impact launch. NASA's flight dynamics officer, meanwhile, has updated this evening's launch period bsed on the latest radar tracking of the Mir station. Atlantis's actual launch window now opens at 10:29:19 p.m. and close at 10:40:57 p.m. But NASA plans to launch Atlantis at 10:34:19 p.m., just as the Kennedy Space Center rotates into Mir's orbital plane. This will minimize the propellant required to rendezvous with the station and demonstrate a possible strategy for future space station assembly flights where a pound of saved propellant translates directly into a pound of additional cargo. The launch window has two so-called "panes." If Atlantis takes off between 10:34:19 p.m. and 10:37:48 p.m., docking will take place Saturday. If launch occurs between 10:37:48 p.m. and 10:40:57 p.m., docking till happen Sunday. The launch time may be adjusted again slightly during a final hold in Atlantis's countdown. This status report will be updated after Atlantis takes off or as conditions warrant. =================================================================== Goldin clears Atlantis - and Wolf - for launch (09/25/97) NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin has cleared the shuttle Atlantis - and astronaut David Wolf - for launch this evening, at 10:34:10 p.m., on a dramatic flight to the crippled Mir space station. During a news conference at NASA headquarters, Goldin, former Apollo astronaut Thomas Stafford and aerospace executive Thomas Young, both of whom headed independent reviews on Mir safety, agreed that Atlantis's mission should proceed as planned. "It is only after carefully reviewing the facts, thoroughly assessing the input of independent advisors ... that I approve the decision to continue the next phase of the shuttle-Mir mission," Goldin said. "Tonight, the shuttle Atlantis will launch, sending David Wolf to replace Mike Foale and to continue the American presence on board Mir. "We have heard the calls of some who say it's time to abandon Mir," Goldin continued. "We at NASA - especially Michael Foale - are deeply touched by the outpouring of emotion. However ... a decision should not be based on emotion or politics. It should not be based on fear. A decision should be based, and is based, on a scientific and technical assessment of the mission safety and the agency's ability to gain additional experience and knowledge that cannot be gained elsewhere." Goldin said he personally called Wolf and "asked him if he's confident in NASA's safety review and if he thought we should go ahead. He answered with a resounding 'yes.' I have concluded shuttle-Mir has a thorough review process that assures continued American participation aboard Mir and does not put human life in unnecessary peril." Stafford, a veteran of the Gemini and Apollo programs, said his team studied the shuttle-Mir program both in the United States and in Russia. After what he described as a multi-level, detailed analysis, "We found that productive work could still be done on Mir, that the risk of going to Mir was no greater than it has been before. ... Certainly there's a risk. But the biggest risk is still the launch phase and the recovery phase." He was referring to the odds of a catastrophic failure during any given shuttle launch or landing. Depending on which type engines a shuttle uses, the odds of such a failure are roughly 1-in-100 or a little better. After the incorporation of so-called Block Two engines late next year, the odds are expected to improve to around than 1-in-200. As for Mir, Stafford said the station is now generating 23 kilowatts of electricity, which is an "adequate margin with respect to doing adequate science, productive work." "The basic systems are in decent shape," he said. "Everything is go and there's no more risk for this mission than there has been for the previous missions." Young, who reviewed NASA's safety assessment procedures, agreed, saying Mir generally is in good condition. He said failures and problems aboard the station fall into two categories: Those that can lead to catastrophic, life-threatening situations and those that are merely annoying or could perhaps prompt a crew to abandon ship at some pont. Recent computer problems fit in the latter category, Young said, and NASA engineers have developed detailed flight rules to deal with a similar malfunction during rendezvous and docking Saturday. Young and Stafford said only two problems fit the first category: A fire in February and the collision in June with a Progress resupply vehicle. Stafford said procedures had been improved in the wake of the fire to make sure a similar failure cannot happen again. As for the collision, "no more experiments like that will be conducted" and "I can nearly assure you you won't have another collision like this." The collision occurred when Mir-23 commander Vasily Tsibliev, remotely piloting the Progress to test new docking software, lost control of the craft, which then plowed into the station, depressurizing the Spektr module. Stafford said the accident was the result of a combination of factors. He said ground controllers failed to provide proper coordination and trajectory analysis; the Progress vehicle's thrusters performed at lower than expected power; that the vehicle's velocity during approach to the station was at the high end of the allowable range; and that Tsibliev had not carried out such a piloting task since a simulation some 135 days earlier. Complicating the issue, Tsibliev was trying to fly the rendezvous against the brilliant Earth backdrop without reliable data on how far the spacecraft was from Mir or how fast it was moving relative to the station. Stafford said even with good data, such an approach is extraordinarily difficult and that NASA years ago ruled out such dockings in its program. "The only simulation the commander had was to look at a black sky when actually he was looking at the ground coming past with clouds," Stafford said. "So you had a whole series of circumstances there that made it most difficult. The problem was all in the setup. So, you learn from every event and we said no more experiments like this in any proximity with respect to Mir or the international space station will be coordinated and understood by all members involved. Period. "So there was a lot to be learned from that. When they singled out the commander, saying 'crew error,' after I really dug into it and found out what was going on, it was a whole series of things that contributed to that. We understand it and be assured that will not happen again." Goldin said the risk of flying in space is inherently high and "like all Americans, I know every time an astronaut travels into space there is risk. When we build the international space station we will encounter similar problems and there will be danger. But NASA is ready. ... Americans press forward. We overcome the unexpected, we discover the unknown. That's been our history and that's America's destiny." =================================================================== Shuttle crew arrives at KSC for launch (09/22/97) With the countdown underway, the shuttle Atlantis's crew flew to the Kennedy Space Center today for final preparations and launch Thursday to the Russian Mir space station. "I look at this a little different than a typical space flight, I guess," said astronaut David Wolf, bound for a four-month stay aboard Mir. "I'm moving in up there and someday I'll move back. So I look forward to the landing here and it's a little early to predict the landing weather for me, but see you in January or some time there after! I feel real ready and very happy to do this flight, privileged in fact." Liftoff is scheduled for around 10:34 p.m. Thursday and forecasters are predicting a 70 percent chance of acceptable weather during Atlantis's brief launch window. The forecast for Friday calls for a 40 chance of acceptable weather, primarily because of high winds. "Right now it looks like Thursday is our best day to try to get off the ground," Priselac said. The countdown began on time at 2 p.m. There are no technical problems at pad 39A and all systems appear "go" for launch. Final clearance from NASA management, however, will not be given until after a final readiness review Tuesday. Will advise. "I have a lot of help from my friends and people back home," Wolf said. "I think I got the oven turned off and refrigerator closed and all that, iron's unplugged, feel good about the flight." =================================================================== Shuttle crew looks forward to Mir flight (09/12/97) The shuttle Atlantis's international crew reviewed emergency procedures this week and participated in a dress-rehearsal countdown that sets the stage for blastoff to the Mir space station Sept. 25. Launch is scheduled for 10:34 p.m. with docking on tap two days later. This will be the seventh of nine planned shuttle-Mir missions, the primary goal of which is to replace astronaut Michael Foale with astronaut David Wolf. Assuming an on-time touchdown Oct. 5, Foale will have logged 143.6 days in space since his launch aboard Atlantis on May 15. Wolf, a physician astronaut, plans to remain aboard Mir until late January, returning to Earth on Jan. 24. NASA originally planned to replace Foale with astronaut Wendy Lawrence. But last month, mission managers decided that all Mir crew members should be qualified to participate in possible repair spacewalks. Because Lawrence is too small to wear a Russian Orlan spacesuit, she was replaced by her backup, Wolf. Lawrence will, however, serve as a member of Atlantis's crew, returning to Earth with the rest on Oct. 5. "Due to my lack of vertical stature, I'm still a member of the STS-86 crew but in a different capacity," she said Sept. 9. "Nonetheless, I'm excited to be a part of this crew. I don't think in the history of NASA we've had such a collection of uniquely talented individuals who bring a great deal of experience to this mission." Originally scheduled for flight next January, Wolf said he is more than prepared to begin a planned four-month stay aboard Mir four months earlier than expected. To make sure, Atlantis delayed Atlantis's launch from Sept. 18 to Sept. 25 to give the physician-astronaut enough time to complete a crash course in operating the Russian spacesuit. "I'm a latecomer to this crew and it's a real pleasure," Wolf said. "I'm doing exactly what any backup would be expected to do when called up. I've been training as Wendy's backup all along and she's been feeding me information that's helped keep me up with her. I'm perfectly ready to go." Joining Wolf and Lawrence for the 87th shuttle mission will be Wolf, commander James Wetherbee, pilot Mike Bloomfield, flight engineer Scott Parazynski, Frenchman Jean-Loup Chretien and Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Titov. Chretien few aboard the Russian Salyut-7 space station in 1982 and again, aboard Mir, in 1988. Titov, who spent a full year aboard Mir in 1987 and 1988, flew aboard the shuttle Discovery in 1995. "It's almost 10 years since I stepped on board station Mir for the first time and almost nine years since I left the station," Titov said. "Now, I have the very great opportunity, with this very nice crew, to be on board the station again." Said Chretien: "It's a great honor, not only for me but for my country, to have been invited to participate in such a flight. I hope we keep that in mind for a long time and that we encourage our country and other European countries to participate strongly, through cooperation with the two big countries that are now going into space, the United States and Russia. We have a fantastic crew, a fantastic mission and I am very excited to go back to Mir nine years after my last flight. That's a long time ago." Along with replacing Foale, the Atlantis crew plans to deliver several tons of water, repair equipment, scientific gear and other supplies to Mir. Wetherbee said the equipment being carried to the station will "hopefully help the station get back in working order." "It's a tremendous space station and we're thrilled to be going," he said. "We have a lot of equipment that we're going to carry up - about 7,000 pounds of equipment we'll transfer back and forth - and we're going to perform a spacewalk." He was referring to a spacewalk by Titov and Parazynski to retrieve U.S. experiments on Mir's hull and to test space station construction tools. "This is perhaps a final exam before the initial phases of the international space station construction," Parazynski said. "You'll have Russian crew members, you'll have American crew members, you'll have Canadians, Frenchmen, all different nationalities performing spacewalks, performing robotics, living and working in space together." =================================================================== CBS NEWS STS-86 MISSION PREVIEW Amid concern about the safety aboard the aging Russian Mir space station, the shuttle Atlantis is poised for blastoff Sept. 25 to rendezvous with Mir, drop off astronaut David Wolf and to ferry Michael Foale back to Earth after 143 action-packed days in space. In addition, Atlantis will carry nearly 7,000 pounds of equipment, supplies and fresh water to the Russian outpost and bring another 2,712 pounds of Russian gear and U.S. science equipment back to Earth. "We have a unique opportunity here," Wolf said during a recent news conference. "Our time on the Mir is like a crystal ball looking into the future, 10 years, eight years, 12 years into the life of our next space station, the international space station." The 87th shuttle mission also features a spacewalk by two shuttle crew members to remove U.S. experiments from Mir's hull and to test space station assembly tools. The spacewalkers also will test emergency jet backpacks and move repair equipment from the shuttle to Mir for possible use later this fall plugging suspected leaks in the punctured Spektr module. "This is perhaps a final exam before the initial phases of the international space station construction," said flight engineer and spacewalker Scott Parazynski. "You'll have Russian crew members, you'll have American crewmembers, you'll have Canadians, Frenchmen, all different nationalities performing spacewalks, performing robotics, living and working in space together." But Mir has been a difficult proving ground of late, with one problem after another since a near-catastrophic fire last February and a collision in June that wrecked and depressurized the Spektr module. Lately, problems with Mir's attitude control computer have been hampering the crew. But Wolf downplayed those difficulties, saying that while such shutdowns "are unfortunate, this is the very time we want to be looking closest at the Mir, feeding all this information back into the design process for ISS and into our operations plan to preclude similar types of problems occurring on ISS. We're going to get a better space station out of this cooperation and out of everything we observe on the Mir." Final clearance to proceed with mission STS-86 and to replace Foale with Wolf was granted Sept. 25, just hours before liftoff, by NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin after detailed internal and external safety reviews. Keeping the heat on NASA to justify Wolf's mission, the station's cantankerous attitude control computer malfunctioned Monday morning, once again forcing Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev, flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov and Foale to shut down non-essential systems to conserve power. This time around, the computer was repaired in short order and a replacement is scheduled for launch aboard Atlantis. But the week before launch, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) strongly urged NASA not to replace Foale because of concerns the station is no longer a safe spacecraft. "Congress shouldn't make the final decision on whether or not Mir is safe," he said in a press release. "But clearly, the risks on board Mir have increased while the scientific benefit has decreased. I don't have any problem with NASA sending the space shuttle to resupply Mir. But let's suspend long-term visits by U.S. astronauts until the problems on Mir can be resolved. That's my preferred policy." NASA and Russian Space Agency officials, as one might expect, strongly disagree, arguing temporary computer failures and the like have been blown out of proportion by the news media and that Mir is, in fact, relatively safe, especially given the presence of a Soyuz escape module. "We've come to me conclusion that for this particular flight everything will be completely safe and we have no worries," said Valery Ryumin, RSA manager of joint shuttle-Mir missions. "We've carefully examined all the situations, all the possible off-nominal situations, and have come to the conclusion jointly that this flight will be conducted in a safe manner. "Of course, Mir will probably continue to have some problems considering its 12-year-old flight time," he continued. "However, we have over this time also developed the ability to escape or emerge from these problems and we will continue to do so in the future. The safety of the crew is paramount and we have come to the conclusion their safety is indeed assured." Joining Wolf and Parazynski aboard Atlantis will be veteran shuttle commander James Wetherbee, pilot Mike Bloomfield, Wendy "Too Short" Lawrence, French astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien and Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Titov. Chretien flew aboard the Russian Salyut-7 space station in 1982 and again, aboard Mir, in 1988. Titov, who spent a full year aboard Mir in 1987 and 1988, flew aboard the shuttle Discovery in 1995. "Too Tall" Parazynski and Lawrence also have Mir experience, albeit only from the ground. Parazynski was disqualified from a possible Mir flight because he is too tall to safely fit into a Soyuz re-entry vehicle. Lawrence, who originally was to replace Foale, was bumped from the flight in August when managers decided all Mir crew members should be able to participate in repair spacewalks if necessary. Lawrence is too short to work in a Russian Orlan spacesuit. She was replaced by her backup, Wolf, and assigned to Atlantis's crew as a mission specialist. "I'm very happy to be on this mission," she said. "As you know, in the last six weeks my role on this flight has changed. The past six weeks I've been working very hard to get up to speed as a full fledged crew member of the STS-86 flight. It really is a priviledge to be part of such a rare and remarkable crew. I don't think we've every put together such a collection of talent from various countries on one mission." Atlantis's flight is the seventh in a series of nine planned shuttle visits to the Mir station and Wolf is the sixth NASA astronaut selected for a long-duration stay aboard the Russian outpost. The joint missions are known collectively as Phase One of the international space station project. The primary goals are to test equipment and procedures needed for assembly and operation of the much more ambitious $50 billion international station before construction begins next summer. Given more than three decades of Cold War competition, the Phase One program is aimed in large part at helping both sides learn to work together on the high frontier, a daunting task given the language barrier, different engineering approaches and a nine-timezone difference between both mission control centers. Other Phase One objectives include risk mitigation experiments to learn more about the space environment; helping the Russians keep Mir properly supplied; and giving NASA experience with long-duration spaceflight. Assuming an on-time landing by Atlantis Oct. 5, Foale will have logged 143.6 days in space since blastoff May 15. The overall goal is for U.S. astronauts to log a cumulative 970 days in space by the time the program ends next May. "Can you imagine starting the ISS program at this point without having had any of this Phase One experience?" Wolf asked. "It's almost unthinkable." On Atlantis's mission, more hardware and supplies will be ferried to Mir than ever before. Here's the breakdown: MATERIAL............TO MIR............BACK TO EARTH Water...............1,400 lbs.........N/A U.S. science........1,034 lbs.........1,446 lbs European science....N/A...............22 lbs Russian logistics...3,980 lbs.........942 lbs Miscellaneous.......354 lbs...........2,712 lbs TOTAL...............6,768 lbs.........5,122 lbs Since these numbers were published, however, NASA has added a 60-pound Russian attitude control computer to Atlantis's manifest because of ongoing problems with the computer currently aboard Mir. A second computer will be launched in October aboard a Russian Progress resupply ship. "Everybody's got their bit of nervousness," Wolf said of Mir's safety record. "I think the more you learn about the vehicle the more you come to the right decision, that this is a perfectly acceptable mission within a perfectly acceptable range of risks. "You have a parachute, you have the Soyuz vehicle," he said. "Now you have to reduce the problem to what would be so catastrophic and so quick that you can't get to a Soyuz vehicle. We've had both of those in the last few months. And we survived even those. I don't anticipate such catastrophic events being reasonably probable to occur again. I'm very comfortable with the risk level." As with previous Mir docking missions, Wetherbee will approach the station from directly below, along the imaginary line joining Mir and the center of the Earth. This is known as the r-bar, or radius vector. Flying a somewhat modified approach, Wetherbee will attempt to carry out the final stages of the rendezvous in such a fashion that Atlantis will simply drift up to Mir with exactly the right closing velocity. In previous approaches, the shuttle would cross the r-bar about 2,000 feet below the station, overshoot and then move back onto the proper approach. "The aim is to do nothing very precisely," Wetherbee said. "If we do it just right, then we really don't have to do very much. The key to doing this is teamwork. We must have folks who know what they're doing and equipment that is working." The goal is to minimize fuel usage. Similar rendezvous approaches will be used for the international space station and every pound of fuel saved translates into additional payload that can be carried to orbit. The combined crews will do little more after docking Saturday than carry out leak checks, a brief welcoming ceremony and routine safety briefings to make sure everyone understands the necessary emergency procedures. Wolf will not officially join the Mir-24 crew until Sunday, after a custom Soyuz seatliner is moved from Atlantis to the space station. From that point forward, Wolf will sleep aboard Mir while Foale will become a member of the shuttle's crew. A spacewalk by Parazynski and Titov is scheduled for Oct. 1. The primary goal of the planned four-and-a-half-hour excursion is to remove four experiment packages mounted on Mir's hull. They are known collectively as the Mir Environmental Effects Payload, or MEEP. The individual MEEP pallets consist of materials used to measure and capture space debris and others intended for use on the international space station. "This is a very delicate task," Parazynski said. "As Vladimir and I approach these experiments, we have to be very, very careful not to touch the surfaces of these MEEP pallets. If we do, if we brush our glove against them or our tethers inadvertantly come in contact with them, we've compromised 18 months of science. So we're going to be very, very careful when we do this." Parazynski and Titov also plan to test space station assembly aids designed for U.S. and Russian spacesuits and to check out production modules of small jet fanny packs that could be used in an emergency should an astronaut somehow slip free of his or her safety tether. The jetpack is known by the acronynm SAFER, for Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue. "Anytime the orbiter is docked, whether it's to Mir or eventually the international space station, we're going to want to use the SAFER," said lead spacewalk flight controller Jerry Miller. "The reason being that when the vehicle is docked you don't have the ability to quickly release and go after a crew member who may have become untethered. Certainly, during the space station era when the shuttle is not around, we're going to be wearing the SAFER all the time."