STS-87 MISSION ARCHIVE (complete) Updated: 12/05/97 USMP-4, EDFT, SPARTAN Microgravity/solar physics research mission By William Harwood CBS News/Kennedy Space Center The following copy originally was posted on the CBS News "Up To The Minute" Current Mission space page (http://uttm.com/space/missions/current.html). Comments and corrections welcome! TABLE OF CONTENTS -Shuttle Columbia glides to smooth landing (12/05/97) -Astronauts sail through second spacewalk (12/03/97) -Second spacewalk approved; Chawla discusses Spartan deploy (12/01-02/97) -Spartan redeploy ruled out by MMT (11/30/97) -Spartan spacewalk retrieval option timeline (11/29/97) -NASA considers second spacewalk, end-of-mission Spartan redeploy (11/28/97) -Astronauts celebrate Thanksgiving in space (11/27/97) -Crew enjoys time off; orbital research continues (11/25-26/97) -Spartan recaptured; relaunch possible; crew error possible (11/24-25/97) -NASA settles on Spartan spacewalk rescue option (11/23/97) -NASA mulls Spartan retrieval options (11/22/97) -Spartan satellite fails to activate; EVA rescue likely (11/21/97) -Spartan launch delayed one day (11/20/97) -Columbia rockets into orbit (11/19/97) -Pre-launch news conference (11/18/97) -Shuttle countdown on track (11/17/97) -STS-87 mission overview; countdown begins (11/16/97) =================================================================== Shuttle Columbia glides to smooth landing (12/05/97) 3:00 p.m. Update: Shuttle commander discusses mission At a post-landing news conference, shuttle commander Kevin Kregel refused to speculate about what went wrong with the launch of the Spartan-201 sun-study satellite, saying only that NASA will learn from the mishap to prevent similar failures in the future. "We talked on orbit and we're not going to speculate," Kregel said. "All we know is our piece of the pie of what happened. Sure, any time something doesn't go as planned, you're a little bit disappointed. But ... we had a full mission ahead of us. You can't worry about past history, what's done is done. So we got on with the mission and we didn't worry about it and that's what we'll do the next couple of weeks, is try to figure out what exactly happened and make sure it doesn't happen again." Kalpana Chawla, the astronaut responsible for launching and retrieving Spartan, did not attend the afternoon news briefing. Kregel said in one sense, the satellite failure gave NASA a chance to demonstrate its ability to develop alternative procedures in orbit, the kind of flexibility that will be required for space station assembly and operations down the road. "A big success of that incident was in a short time frame, all the folks getting together, coming up with a plan to retrieve a very valuable asset. And if that doesn't show the ability of humans to adapt to changing situations in space, then I don't know what is. So in a lot of ways it was a big success." Asked if the satellite failure put a damper on the rest of the mission or made the crew reluctant - or embarrassed - to come back to Earth, Kregel laughed and said "we weren't downtrodden or thinking 'aw shucks.' We're not that kind of individuals. We pressed on with the day. We had a blast! You are right about one thing: We didn't want to come home. But it's not because we were embarrassed, it's because we were having a super time." They will not have such a super time reading media accounts of the flight. One wire service story included the following: Mission Control skipped the customary congratulations after Columbia and its crew of six swooped through a clear, chilly sky and landed safely just after sunrise. The greeting was short but spoke volumes: "Welcome Home, Columbia. Excellent landing." Commander Kevin Kregel tried to make the best of it. "We had a very interesting and eventful 16 days," Kregel said. "We had a lot of successes. We had a little bit of downtrodden times there. But together as a team ... I think we ended up with a very super mission." Astronaut Scott Horowitz's call to Columbia from mission control after touchdown was, in fact, brief. But implying he deliberately skipped congratulating the crew and that his omission "spoke volumes" is ludicrous in this writer's opinion. It's difficult to imagine any shuttle pilot - Horowitz included - even indirectly criticizing a fellow pilot on live NASA television! And Kregel's comments were made well after landing while addressing reporters and technicians on the runway. He said much the same thing from orbit, i.e., that the mission was marked by both success and failure. Still, regardless of who - or what - might be at fault for Spartan's failure, the mishap was a major disappointment to NASA and a clear blemish an otherwise productive mission. 9:40 a.m. Update: Rick Hieb to lead Spartan investigation Former astronaut Rick Hieb will lead NASA's investigation into what caused the Spartan-201 sun-study satellite to fail after launch from the shuttle Columbia. Engineers believe the failure was the result of crew error or a computer malfunction of some sort that prevented a critical command from reaching the satellite. Shuttle program manager Tommy Holloway said today there is no deadline for the investigation team to report. The satellite, meanwhile, will be impounded to preserve any evidence that might shed light on what went wrong. "We certainly had a problem on orbit and we are in the process of putting a team together to determine what needs to be done to strengthen our system in the future," Holloway said at a post-landing news conference. "Part of that team ... had a preliminary meeting yesterday afternoon. They will go through the normal process of isolating what the cause may be as one normally does in an investigation. "We'll have the opportunity to start looking at the hardware next (week) and I would expect in fairly short order we'll be able to determine the hardware implications. Then we'll look at the computers the crew used and examine those and go on down the fault tree. I don't know how long that will take." Columbia's five-man one-woman crew, meanwhile, left the shuttle during Holloway's news conference and gave their spaceplane a brief inspection before departing for crew quarters. They were greeted on the runway by NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin and representatives of Japan and the Ukraine. "Thanks for greeting us out here," commander Kevin Kregel told reporters and technicians on the runway. "It's another glorious Florida sunshine kind of day. We had a very interesting and eventful 16 days. We had a lot of successes, a little bit of down-trodden time there, but together as a team ... I think we ended up with a very super mission and a bright future for the international space station next year. Thanks very much! Everybody have a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!" All six astronauts looked none the worse for spending 16 days in weightlessness, although they appeared a bit wobbly as they got their land legs back. A crew news conference is scheduled for around 1 p.m. Quotes and details will be posted here as warranted. 7:40 a.m. Update: Shuttle Columbia glides to smooth touchdown The shuttle Columbia glided to a smooth landing today at the Kennedy Space Center, closing out a 16-day mission highlighted by a botched satellite launch, two spacewalks and a smorgasbord of materials science experiments. With commander Kevin Kregel and pilot Steven Lindsey at the controls, Columbia settled to a picture-perfect touchdown on runway 33 at 7:20:04 a.m., ending a marathon voyage spanning 251 complete orbits and 6.5 million miles since blastoff Nov. 19. "Wheels stopped, Houston," Kregel radioed Houston after Columbia coasted to a halt. "Welcome home, Columbia. Excellent landing, Kevin," replied astronaut Scott Horowitz from mission control. Kregel, Lindsey, Winston Scott, Kalpana Chawla, Japanese astronaut Takao Doi and Ukrainian guest astronaut Leonid Kadenyuk planned to fly back to the Johnson Space Center later today after brief physicals and reunions with family members. Mission duration was 15 days 16 hours 34 minutes and four seconds. With Columbia back on the ground and in good shape, an investigation into what went wrong with the Spartan-201 solar physics satellite will get underway in earnest. The satellite itself will be impounded after it is removed from Columbia's cargo bay early next week to preserve any evidence that might indicate what happened Nov. 21 during its checkout and release from the shuttle. Engineers say a review of computer logs shows one critical command failed to reach the satellite during its pre-release checkout, either due to an oversight by the crew or a computer glitch of some sort. As a result, the satellite never got out of idle mode, its attitude control system never turned on and no science data was collected. Chawla was responsible for Spartan's pre-deploy checkout and launch. When Spartan did not execute a pre-programmed maneuver shortly after release, Chawla attempted to regrapple the spacecraft. But in so doing, she appeared to bump Spartan slightly with Columbia's robot arm or its snare mechanism, imparting a 1.9-degree-per-second tumble. The shuttle was unable to "match rates" with Spartan for another capture attempt and the satellite ultimately had to be manually retrieved during an already planned spacewalk Nov. 24 by Scott and Doi. During a crew news conference, Chawla said all the necessary commands were sent to Spartan before its release. If so, the crew will be cleared of any blame for the satellite's initial failure to activate. But that remains to be seen, along with what happened during the subsequent recapture attempt. The exact sequence of events will be determined by the investigation team. Regardless of the ultimate outcome, Columbia's mission will go into the books as a flight with decidedly mixed results. The primary goal of the 87th shuttle mission was to carry out a battery of materials science experiments making up the United States Microgravity Payload, or USMP-4. Those experiments worked well throughout the flight and while one high-tech furnace had to be shut down early, researchers said it still accomplished most of its objectives. The second major goal was to deploy the Spartan-201 satellite for two days of autonomous observations of the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona. The observations were timed to coincide with identical observations by the $1 billion Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO. By comparing data from Spartan's freshly calibrated instruments to those from SOHO, engineers would be able to recalibrate the older spacecraft's sensors to improve the accuracy of future observations. But it was not to be. While Spartan project officials said the satellite was healthy after its manual recapture by Scott and Doi, shuttle mission managers concluded Columbia simply did not have enough fuel left to carry out a second rendezvous. And so, after studying a variety of options for redeploying Spartan for an abbreviated mission, NASA managers reluctantly decided to write off any additional attempts to collect science data. Scott and Doi originally planned to carry out a single spacewalk to test a telescoping crane and other tools intended for space station construction. Several of those tests were eliminated to make way for the Spartan retrieval and NASA managers ultimately approved a second, unplanned, spacewalk on Dec. 3 to complete the original objectives. Both spacewalks went smoothly and engineers were pleased with the results. For complete details, see the CBS News/STS-87 Mission Archive, a 190K plain text archive of all earlier status reports. 6:25 a.m. Update: Shuttle braking rockets fired Shuttle commander Kevin Kregel and pilot Steven Lindsey fired the shuttle Columbia's twin braking rockets at 6:21 a.m. for two minutes and 32 seconds, slowing the spaceplane just enough to drop out of orbit for a planned 7:20 a.m. touchdown at the Kennedy Space Center. There are no technical problems and the weather is "go" for landing. This status report will be updated after touchdown or as conditions warrant. 4:30 a.m. Update: Payload bay doors closed for entry The Columbia astronauts closed the shuttle's cargo bay doors early today, loaded re-entry software and geared up for a 7:20 a.m. landing at the Kennedy Space Center. There are no technical problems with NASA's oldest shuttle and forecasters say good conditions are expected for Columbia's planned touchdown on runway 33 to wrap up a 16-day mission spanning 251 complete orbits and 6.5 million miles since blastoff Nov. 19. A backup landing opportunity is available at 8:55, but NASA officials are optimistic about an on-time landing. Flying upside down and backward over the southern Indian Ocean, commander Kevin Kregel and pilot Steven Lindsey plan to fire Columbia's twin braking rockets at 6:21 a.m. for two minutes and 58 seconds, slowing the shuttle by 198 mph to drop out of orbit. After a half-hour free fall, Columbia will hit the discernible atmosphere 412,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean at more than 24 times the speed of sound. Seventeen minutes before touchdown, Columbia will cross the west coast of Florida, dropping below mach 1 just four minutes before touchdown. Here is the entry timeline: TIME............EVENT 04:01:00 a.m....Shuttle computers loaded with OPS-3 entry software 04:25:00 a.m....Crew reviews entry procedures 04:54:00 a.m....The astronauts begin donning their pressure suits 05:58:00 a.m....Mission control 'go" for deorbit burn 06:21:00 a.m....Deorbit ignition 06:39:00 a.m....The shuttle falls into the discernible atmosphere 07:20:00 a.m....Landing at the Kennedy Space Center Should the weather or some other problem prevent an on-time landing, the astronauts could fire their braking rockets at 7:55 a.m. to set up the 8:55 a.m. landing opportunity. NASA did not activate the landing crew at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Columbia is "really clean," flight director John Shannon said Thursday. "It's the oldest shuttle that we have and it has performed flawlessly. We did the FCS (flight control system) checkout this morning and there were no problems. We did the reaction control system hotfire and there were no problems. You're always anxious to see results like that when you spend two weeks in orbit without those systems turned on. They were turned on, the crew went through all the steps and it looked really good." Once back on the ground, engineers will remove the ill-fated Spartan sun-study satellite and impound it in its current condition for an investigation. The satellite never activated properly during launch Nov. 21 because it did not receive a critical computer command from the shuttle before its release. That lost command was either the result of crew oversight or a computer glitch of some sort. "They have formed an investigation team," Shannon said. "We don't have all the details nailed down yet, but we are planning to impound the Spartan spacecraft after landing and the crew will be part of the investigation process. ... At the Kennedy Space Center, they're not going to open the payload bay doors early. They're going to go through the normal processing. But when they take the Spartan out, they will impound it, make sure the spacecraft stays as it was when we retrieved it and put it in the payload bay. Then the investigative will determine what the next step is." While the Spartan failure was a major disappointment, Shannon said Columbia's other major payload, the United States Microgravity Payload, or USMP-4, worked well and that investigators are "ecstatic about the results they have gotten." "I think the most important thing, though, is this was the last scheduled EVA (spacewalk) prior to the assembly of space station," he said. "And we really needed to go up and do an evaluation of the tools and the procedures for building that station. We were not able to get all of that assessment done on the first EVA. We made a commitment to do an unplanned, second EVA, to go out and test those tools and procedures. I think the flight control team and the space agency as a whole showed a great amount of flexibility to go off and get the right answers we need in order to design and build the space station." =================================================================== Astronauts sail through second spacewalk (12/03/97) 11:00 a.m. Update: NASA managers 'elated' with spacewalk results NASA managers are elated with the results of today's shuttle spacewalk, saying astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi collected enough data on the performance of a telescoping space crane to ensure successful operations during space station assembly. The shuttle crew also carried out a problem-free test flight of the AERCam/Sprint robotic camera, opening the door for development of more advanced models. "When we have a different perspective, it really can help enhance our ability to do the job," said astronaut Greg Harbaugh, manager of NASA's spacewalk office. "Having this kind of floating eyeball in our hip pocket available when we need it for space station is going to be, I expect, worth its weight in gold over the next few years. We're going to come to rely on this, I suspect." Sprint project manager Cliff Hess was equally elated at the small camera's performance. From turn on to turn off, Sprint was operational for one hour and 16 minutes. During that period, it used 65 percent of its on-board nitrogen gas propellant and 8 percent of its battery power, reaching a maximum distance of 40 feet from Columbia. It worked exactly as planned. "The sprint team is on cloud nine today after the wonderful performance that we had with the Sprint," Hess said. "We're elated with the control capability and the video we got back." With today's test flight complete, engineers now will shift their focus to potential designs for a more advanced camera system that could be used aboard the space station to inspect work areas or damaged components. "We think there are some improvements that could be made as we thought there would be," Hess said. "We need to add more autonomy to free up the pilot workload so there's less (work) to actually fly it. More intelligence in the software. We can put on additional sensing in the future, depending on what we use it for. "And then I think we'd like to have the capability to deploy and retrieve it without requiring an EVA crew member," Hess added. "We could fly it into something like a Get Away Special can that could be mounted on the shuttle or a station truss. I think it shows what can be done for the future. We're very happy with the performance." The primary goal of today's spacewalk, however, was to assess different methods for attaching simulated space station components to a telescoping crane. Scott and Doi had problems last week connecting a large orbital replacement unit, or ORU, to the end of the crane because the boom proved to be more flexible than expected. Today, the astronauts used a small 50-pound ORU and the tests went off without a hitch. "We know clearly we can handle the small ORU operations," Harbaugh said. "What we've got to go back and assess (is) how we extrapolate our experience today and map that against what we did the first time and see if there's any area that might be of some concern. "Larger boxes, bigger masses, move more slowly," he said. "That may be something that we'll have to take another look at. It may be we'll have to add some alternate method for larger boxes beyond a certain size to ensure they get the soft dock, get that engagement. We're also going to take a look at these techniques and see if what we demonstrated this morning isn't sufficient to satisfy ourselves that we can do it with any box." Overall, Harbaugh said, the spacewalk "was very successful and we're delighted with the results of the work that Takao and Winston did. This is the completion of the (pre space station) test program and I think we must consider ourselves well positioned now to set our sights on the assembly and maintenance of the international space station starting next summer." 9:10 a.m. Update: Spacewalk ends Astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi ended a four-hour 59-minute and 40-second spacewalk at 9:08:40 a.m. when they began repressurizing the shuttle Columbia's airlock. A mission status briefing is scheduled for 10 a.m. to discuss today's excursion. Quotes and details will be posted here as soon as possible thereafter. 8:30 a.m. Update: AERCam/Sprint slowly zooms through flight test After putting a telescoping crane through its paces, a spacewalking astronaut released a small $3 million robotic camera above the shuttle Columbia's cargo bay today, providing a spectacular bird's eye view of the orbiter against the blue-and-white backdrop of planet Earth. A bit larger than a basketball, the 35-pound AERCam/Sprint is intended for use aboard the space station to give astronauts and ground controllers a way to remotely inspect problem areas or work sites. Astronaut Winston Scott, anchored in a foot restraint in Columbia's cargo bay, checked out and activated the spacecraft in concert with pilot Steve Lindsey, using a laptop computer. "OK. Hold on to it, you may feel some thrusters firing, I'm going to power it up now," Lindsey radioed Scott. "OK," Scott replied. A few moments later he said: "I can feel very tiny thumps on it. I guess those are (nitrogen gas) thruster firings." After getting a "go" from mission control, Scott released the little robot at 7:15 a.m. and Lindsey began flying it above the cargo bay. Television shots from Columbia showed the spherical camera platform slowly rising above the payload bay, moving smoothly on its own. Then, views from a television camera inside AERCam/Sprint were downlinked as the test flight continued. Lindsey, using a joystick, television monitors and a laptop computer, guided the small spacecraft through a series of maneuvers to assess its flying qualities. The tests appeared to go smoothly and because Scott and fellow spacewalker Takao Doi completed their earlier work ahead of schedule, Lindsey was given extra time to put AERCam/Sprint through its paces. "Steve's just raving about the handling qualities," commander Kevin Kregel said at one point. "He says it's just flying just like the simulator." "Hey, pretty cool!" astronaut Bill McArthur replied from Houston. "We're going to get TV here in just a little over seven minutes and we think maybe a view a little bit higher looking down at the orbiter could play real well down here." Before flying it back to Scott for return to Columbia's crew cabin, Lindsey sent the camera high above the shuttle's cargo bay, giving flight controllers another nice view of the orbiter as it sailed above the southern Indian Ocean. Finally, after more than one hour, Lindsey flew the camera back to Scott, ending a successful test flight at 8:27 a.m. "Keep it coming... another couple of inches," Scott said as the sphere slowly approached. "I can feel the thrusters on my glove... OK, I've got the free flyer!" "And Houston, Columbia," Lindsey called. "I'd just like to pass on to the entire Sprint team, it was a real small group of people working on this and they worked very hard. And I think we've got a real winner here, they hit a home run. You can pass on that the flying qualities were definitely Level One, it flew even better than I expected and we're real pleased. I think we've got a real good piece of technology for use maybe on the station and later shuttle flights." See the 3:15 a.m. update below for a detailed look at AERCam/Sprint. 6:30 a.m. Update: Crane tests go smoothly Astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi tested a telescoping space crane today and assessed a variety of techniques for attaching space station components. During a spacewalk last week, Scott had problems attaching a large simulated battery because the crane boom flexed more than expected. When he tried to push the battery onto the end of the crane to engage a set of latches, the force tended to deflect the boom downward, preventing the latches from engaging. Today, Scott worked with a smaller space station component, a simulated cable caddy, or orbital replacement unit (ORU), massing just 50 pounds, and tested a variety of techniques for attaching it to the crane. First, he simply repeated the original procedure, that is, he pushed the cable caddy down onto the crane's latches with the applied force perpendicular to the boom. He then tried shoehorning it into position, mounting the back of the caddy first and then pushing the front down. A third technique had him rotate the assembly 90 degrees and then use a tether to help anchor the boom. A fourth technique called for Scott to push the caddy straight onto the boom so the force he applied would be down the crane itself, not perpendicular to it. The initial tests went smoothly and Scott had no apparent problems. "The first thing I'm going to do is, per the plan, try to dock the cable caddy to the grid facing upward out of the bay," he said. "Let's see how the soft dock mechanism works. This is the same orientation I tried to soft dock the large ORU to a couple of days ago. ... OK, here we go... that was successful, I have a successful soft dock. There is compliance in the crane, it moves a little bit, but not very much. I'd estimate maybe six or eight inches before I got soft dock. I'm going to release it and try the same thing one more time... Now of course I'm looking underneath the cable caddy at the grid and the dogs to be sure they are lined up before I insert it, but here we go again... and I have soft dock. That was good, I'd give it an A with the small ORU, it was real nice." He then locked the caddy down on the crane and that, too, went smoothly. "Three out of three," he said. "This worked real well." "This time I'm going to rotate the handle 90 degrees and try the fore and aft method of soft docking that we talked about in the flight plan," Scott said. "OK, here we go. When it settles out, I'm going to attempt to put the aft dogs in first and then rotate it forward and see how that works... that worked, I got a good soft dock on that one. And I will try to repeat the same test..." Flight controllers then asked him if the shoehorn, or rocking, technique might work with a larger component. "Well, that's a possibility that that would have been successful had we thought about trying it," Scott said. "Again, the problem with the large mass is controlling it. This one is so small, I can precisely position those dogs and then rock it forward. But the answer is yes, it is possible I might have been able to do it with the large ORU by rocking it." But he said trying to force a large component into position on the crane would be a mistake. "I think you'd get in trouble trying to use fast impulses with that large ORU," he said. "Remember, that thing is between 500 and 600 pounds and I deliberately kept my inputs low. I think if you put large inputs, or thought of slamming it home if you will, if it docked, you're going to have this large mass swinging back up at you because of the compliance in the boom. If it doesn't dock, you've got this large mass with a lot of rates. So I would firmly not recommend that." Scott then tried locking the cable caddy to the crane using a semi-rigid tether to keep the boom relatively steady. "This tether technique, I think, is working pretty well. It did prevent crane movement aft. ... If I add a little bit more force, boy, it's nice and stable. I can even push against it if I need to. And there's soft dock again; let's try it a third time... there's soft dock." "I really think that this could be a possibility with the large ORU," Scott said. "I think this might work. Again, the problem might be controlling the large ORU. I can restrain the crane from fore and aft movement with my tether, but part of the problem with the large ORU is up and down movement. ... But the bottom line is I think yes, there is a possibility it could work with the large ORU." Scott and Doi then assessed yet another technique, one in which the caddy was pushed directly onto the end of the arm so the applied force went straight down the boom. "That's easy," Scott said. "I'd give it an A. I did it left handed, and I'm a right-handed person." 4:20 a.m. Update: Spacewalk begins Astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi floated into the shuttle Columbia's cargo bay shortly after 4:15 a.m. today, kicking off a planned four-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to complete testing of crucial space station assembly tools. The spacewalk officially began at 4:09 a.m. when Scott and Doi switched their spacesuits to internal battery power before leaving Columbia's airlock. 3:15 a.m. Update: Scott, Doi gear up for second spacewalk Astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi are suiting up for a planned four-and-a-half-hour spacewalk this morning to complete tests of a crucial space station assembly crane and other construction tools. They also plan to release a small robotic camera called AERCam/Sprint for a brief test flight above Columbia's cargo bay, providing a bird's eye view of the shuttle in space. The spacewalk originally was scheduled to begin around 3 a.m., but it was delayed one hour to give the astronauts a bit more time to prepare. It now is scheduled to begin at 4:16 a.m. and to conclude around 8:46 a.m. While the spacewalkers were donning their suits and going through their pre-excursion checklist, pilot Steve Lindsey was testing a video laser system intended to help automate space station docking procedures. Using Columbia's robot arm, Lindsey positioned the Spartan sun-study satellite in a variety of orientations while a laser beam illuminated reflectors on the spacecraft's hull. Data from the experiment is intended to help engineers develop docking systems that will require only minimal ground support. Scott and Doi originally planned to complete their test program during a single six-hour spacewalk Nov. 24. But the timeline was revised when problems with the Spartan satellite required the astronauts to perform a manual recapture. As a result, several space station assembly tests were curtailed or eliminated, including the release of AERCam/Sprint. On Monday, mission managers approved a second, unscheduled, spacewalk for Scott and Doi to complete their original objectives. During the first spacewalk Nov. 24, they successfully tested a 156-pound telescoping crane that will be used to move space station components from one point to another during assembly. But Scott had problems attaching a simulated station component to the end of the crane because the boom flexed more than anticipated when force was applied. Additional attachment techniques will be tested today that take that flexing into account. "We had a very successful test of the crane during the first EVA," Scott said. "What we did not do was to get a chance to exercise all the options. What we're going to do this time is just expand the knowledge base that we gained the first time. The crane actually operates very, very smoothly. It's meeting most of our expectations. I say most because there's a little bit of flexibility in the boom that we didn't anticipate. What we're going to do is to operate the crane using a small ORU (orbital replacement unit), a small carrier, and just expand on the information we got the other day. But actually, we think the crane is working quite well." The release of the $3 million AERCam/Sprint promises to be interesting in that its two video cameras will provide a unique view of the shuttle in space as Lindsey maneuvers it about by remote control. The idea is to station such robotic cameras on the international space station to provide close-up views of problem areas or to assist in assembly spacewalks. "As far as how high up above the bay we're going to go with it, it will depend on how much time we have," Lindsey said. "The flight envelope goes to 160 feet. If we take it that high or not will depend. That's just kind of a secondary objective. Our primary objective is to test the flying qualities of this at somewhat lower altitudes. So we'll be flying just above the payload bay most of the time, doing a lot of engineering evaluations, some flying qualities evaluations as well as doing some simulated space station-type tasks where we'll be observing and evaluating an EVA crew member at work and trying to use the camera views to help assist them in their work." Scott will manually activate and then release the basketball-sized camera system. "What I'm going to do is retrieve the Sprint from the airlock and I'll make my way up to the foot restraint, mount myself in the foot restraint. Once I've done that, I'll simply power it on and I'll look for a sequence of five flashing lights that tells me the power up went real well and everything's working properly. Then, when Steve gives me the go, I'll rotate it. It has to be rotated about one or more axes to perform another self test. When we get the indication that that self test is complete - three flashing lights - I'll just stand by. Steve will go through a series of tests and checks from his console inside. When he gives me the word, I'll simply release it, sit back and watch and catch it once the flight is over. He will pilot it back to my location, I'll reach out and grab it, put a tether on it, power it down, and that will be the end of what we anticipate being a very successful flight." Here's a bit more background from a story written for Space News: By WILLIAM HARWOOD Space News Correspondent CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A small, free-flying space camera the size of a basketball will be tested aboard the shuttle Columbia in November that could help future astronauts quickly determine the severity of accidents like the one that crippled the Mir space station in June. A larger, more expensive robotic camera system developed in Germany as a commercial venture is scheduled for a test flight in December near the Mir station and both systems ultimately could see use aboard the international space station. NASA's AERCam spacecraft is designed to work within a few feet of spacewalking astronauts or the station itself while the German vehicle, known as Inspector, would operate at greater distances to provide more of a global view. "They're really complimentary," said AERCam project manager Cliff Hess at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Interest in both systems has increased in the wake of an accident June 25 when an unmanned Progress resupply vehicle crashed into the Mir station. One of Mir's research modules was punctured but so far, no potential leaks have been located. "They're limited on the views they can get right now because of where the [station's] windows are located," Hess said. "That's exactly what AERCam is meant for, to give you some other view that you can't get otherwise." AERCam represents a family of robotic vehicles intended for use on the international space station to carry out routine structural inspections, take documentary photographs and to assist spacewalkers by providing close-up views of work areas. Future versions might even be equipped with sophisticated sensors that would enable astronauts to sniff out external coolant leaks or a small mechanical arm that could hold tools for spacewalkers. "One thing you could do is maybe go out periodically and do a scan of the solar arrays, to look maybe for meteoroids that may have hit it," said Hess. "You could automate something like this free flier to do a scan somewhat like a crop duster." But first, engineers must prove the basic concept of an Autonomous EVA Robotic Camera - AERCam - works during a test flight aboard the Columbia during an already planned spacewalk, or extra-vehicular activity. The 0.36-meter-wide wide, 16-kilogram camera, known as AERCam/Sprint, will be carried from the shuttle's airlock into the cargo bay by astronauts Winston Scott and Japanese crewmate Takao Doi. At the end of the spacewalk, Scott will release the camera for a 30-minute flight under the control of shuttle pilot Steven Lindsey, working from Columbia's aft flight deck with a joystick and a laptop computer. "It's kind of unlike anything I've flown before," Lindsey said in an interview, describing his training. "In some ways, the closest thing you could compare it to is flying a radio controlled airplane." If the tests go smoothly, Hess said, the project likely will be funded for additional development to improve AERCam's capabilities for use during the space station era. "Sprint's not meant to fly in its current embodiment on the station," he said in an interview. "You would evolve it, put more intelligence, put more capability in it. ... If this thing works, then it ought to be pretty well cut and dried that you'll have some version of it evolved for station use." NASA engineers at the Johnson Space Center have spent about $3 million designing and building the AERCam/Sprint test unit, taking advantage of propulsion and guidance systems originally designed for small emergency jetpacks that will be used by astronauts during station assembly. The test unit features two color television cameras equipped with six- and 12-millimeter lenses. Propulsion is provided by about one pound of nitrogen gas pressurized to 186 bars. AERCam/Sprint is designed to fly at a maximum speed of 0.08 meters per second. The spacecraft is covered with a soft outer blanket 1.5 centimeters thick to cushion any impacts that could occur. "In concept, it's like a nerfball," Hess said. "If it does impact something, it's fairly benign." The spacecraft is battery powered and can operate about five hours at a time. Hess said multiple AERCams could be mounted on the international space station to carry out specific inspection tasks. "I think it's very useful," Lindsey said. "And there are other applications for it [such as] moving large masses from one part of the station or another. ... It's a really neat project. The potential of this technology is limitless." Taking a different approach, Daimler-Benz Aerospace of Bremen, Germany, developed Inspector as a commercial venture. It will be launched to the Mir station on Oct. 1 and tested around Dec. 17. Inspector masses 70 kilograms and cost about $18 million to develop. Daimler-Benz officials are hopeful later version of the spacecraft, equipped with infrared and visible-light cameras, also will find a home on the international space station. For his part, Hess said the two systems are "apples and oranges." "Sprint is meant to be small and operate close in to either the crew members or the space station or the shuttle," Hess said. "The Inspector is not made to operate close in. When I say close in, I mean just [meters] away." Inspector, operating at a distance of 100 meters or so, would provide "more of a global view of things," Hess said. =================================================================== Second spacewalk approved; Chawla discusses Spartan deploy (12/01-02/97) 6:30 a.m., 12/02/97. Update: Chawla says all necessary comands sent to satellite Astronaut Kalpana Chawla, the shuttle Columbia's robot arm operator, said today all the required commands were sent to the star-crossed Spartan sun-study satellite prior to its deployment Nov. 21. The satellite failed to activate properly because it never received one critical command that would have powered down systems that were activated as part of a routine pre-launch self-test. Engineers say the command in question either was not sent because of crew error or because of a problem with the computer system used to check out the satellite. In any case, the satellite was left in idle mode and unable to accomplish its mission. Making matters worse, Chawla apparently nudged the satellite slightly during a recapture attempt, causing it to slowly tumble out of control. The spacecraft was retrieved three days later by astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi during an already planned spacewalk. During a crew news conference today, Chawla fielded several questions about the botched Spartan deployment, saying it is not yet clear exactly what went wrong. But she said all the required pre-release commands were, in fact, sent. This writer asked her: "To the best of your memory - and I realize there's still troubleshooting and you guys will be talking about this on the ground to figure out exactly what happened - but to the best of your memory, did you send all the required commands, pre-deploy, to the satellite, yes or no?" "We think we sent all the commands that need to be sent to the satellite," she replied. As for what happened during the recapture attempt, when the arm appeared to bump Spartan, Chawla said she initially thought the satellite was carrying out a pirouette maneuver that should have occurred immediately after release as part of a health check. "It all seemed to go real fast," she said. "After I moved the arm back (for recapture), I thought maybe Spartan was doing its maneuver that it was supposed to do earlier. That was really my immediate reaction." Space reporter Phil Chien asked Chawla if she felt "a little bit like (Mir-23 commander) Vasily Tsibliev, with everybody pointing their fingers at you and second guessing and accusing you of causing all the mistakes and everything even before your mission's over?" "I don't know what that first name means, what you said there. And I didn't know everybody was pointing fingers at me until now," she said, laughing. "So there." In response to an earlier question, she said the crew was too busy carrying out the rest of Columbia's mission to dwell on the past. "Are you fairly or unfairly blaming yourself for the mishap when you tried to capture Spartan again and does this put just a little damper on your first space flight?" asked Sue Butler-Hannifen, representing The Associated Press. "You know, we are here on a very long mission, it's a 16-day mission, and there are tasks for every day, scheduled first thing in the morning to the end of the day," Chawla said. "You simply do not have time to dwell on yesterday because you have to finish the whole mission properly. So I think once we get back to Earth we will have a lot of time to talk about this and that's when I really plan to do that." Commander Kevin Kregel said in his view, Columbia's mission has proceeded smoothly since the initial trouble with Spartan and that the shuttle's primary payload, a suite of materials science and basic physics experiments, has chalked up solid results. "It's been highly successful for the United States Microgravity-4 payload and the experiments are really working well," he said. "Of course, we did have a glitch at the beginning of the mission where we had a problem with the Spartan satellite. We're not really sure of the whole facts of that but luckily, due to the hard work of the folks on the ground and the crew here, we put together a plan and, I think, put together a pretty spectacular grab and retrieval of the Spartan. And then tomorrow, we're going to go out and do another spacewalk. We're going to evaluate some more of the tools that they did at the end of the first spacewalk that are going to be used on the international space station. ... So we've had a very long and somewhat eventful 13 days." 8:50 p.m., 12/01/97, Update: Second spacewalk ordered for additional crane tests With time running out before the start of space station construction next year, NASA managers today approved a second, unscheduled spacewalk for the shuttle Columbia's crew to carry out additional tests of a telescoping crane that is crucial for station assembly. The spacewalk, by Winston Scott and Takao Doi, will begin around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday and last five hours. The exercise will have no impact on other experiments aboard the shuttle or on the mission's duration. Landing remains scheduled for around 7:20 a.m. Friday. Scott and Doi received the news shortly after 8:46 p.m. when mission control beamed up the theme song for "Ultra Man," a Japanese science fiction show, to begin the crew's day in space. "Columbia, Houston, good morning and a special good morning to Japan's real Ultra Man, Takao Doi," called astronaut Chris Hadfield from Houston. "Thank you very much for waking us with a great song," said Doi, an amateur astronomer. "Last night, we were watching M-76, uh M-78 in the Orion constellation where Ultra Man came from. Thank you very much." "Copy that. And I hope that music helped everybody wake up this morning because we have good news for you," Hadfield continued. "You are go for an EVA. And today's going to be a bit busy in preparation for clearing the plate. ... It's going to be a good couple of days." "That's a great way to wake up, Chris, and we're all for it," shuttle commander Kevin Kregel replied. Here's the revised schedule for Wednesday: REV...EVENT.....................................MET........EST 216...EVA PREP..................................13/10:00...12:46 AM 217...EVA BEGINS.........................TDRW...13/12:30...03:16 AM 221...EVA ENDS..................................13/17:30...08:16 AM 223...MISSION STATUS BRIEFING.............JSC...13/18:14...09:00 AM 223...FLIGHT DAY HIGHLIGHTS\..............JSC...13/21:14...12:00 PM VIDEO FILE 224...CREW SLEEP................................13/22:00...12:46 PM Before launch, Scott and Doi expected to carry out a single six-hour spacewalk to test the crane and other station assembly aids. Scott also planned to release a small robotic camera system called AERCam/Sprint for a brief test flight. But when the Spartan sun-study satellite went astray Nov. 21, the original spacewalk was revised so Scott and Doi could manually retrieve the errant craft. And they did just that during a seven-hour 43-minute extra-vehicular activity, or EVA, Nov. 24. But several station assembly tests were eliminated, including the AERCam/Sprint flight test. More important, however, Scott had difficulty attaching simulated space station components to the end of the telescoping crane. "This crane and the orbit replaceable units (ORUs) that are handled by it at the end of the boom are fundamental to the success of the station," said astronaut Gregory Harbaugh, manager of the spacewalk office at the Johnson Space Center. "They are used over and over and over again on the station. And it is very important for us to feel confident going into station assembly and maintenance operations that we can rely on the system and that we know how it operates. And the bottom line is, from our assessment, Winston had some difficulty mating the large ORU, the big battery, to the end of the boom. That was not entirely unexpected. But now we have an opportunity to go back and refine our techniques based on what we observed the first time." The original plan was for Scott to bolt a simulated station component on the end of the crane by pushing it down onto latches on the end of the boom. The latches were designed to engage with just seven to 10 pounds of force. But when Scott pushed down, the somewhat springy crane boom deflected downward, too, preventing the latches from engaging. "Winston did a lot of work," Harbaugh said. "He tried it several times with Takao assisting with the technique we thought would work going in, which was basically Winston placing it down from above on top of the crane. When that didn't work, Winston pushed down and Takao tried to pitch up with the crane, sort of a push up-pull down type sequence. And that didn't work. "The technique that did work was one where Winston got a little bit sideways and grabbed the crane from below and the box from above and squeezed them together in a sort of sandwich technique. The concern with that technique is we are not confident that we're going to have the luxury at all the work sites on space station of being in position to grab those two pieces and squeezing them together like that. We want to take advantage of the opportunity to really wring this out while we've got it on this mission. Because this is our last chance to look at this before we have to employ it somewhere down the line on space station." Space station construction is scheduled to begin next June with launch of a Russian-built NASA-financed core module called the functional cargo block. NASA will follow suit in July by launching the first U.S. component, a multi-hatch node. No spacewalks are scheduled on any shuttle flights between now and then. To understand NASA's desire to stage a second spacewalk during Columbia's mission, consider the latest projections for how much EVA time will be required between July and the end of assembly in 2003 (source: Harbaugh; as of Aug. 18): U.S.........RUSSIA.......TOTAL ASSEMBLY...........953.........432..........1,385 MAINTENANCE........200.........144..........344 TOTAL..............1,153.......576..........1,729 That's 1,729 total hours of spacewalk time over about five years! For comparison, NASA has logged just 743 hours of EVA time in the history of the U.S. space program, including moonwalks and the most recent spacewalk by Scott and Takao. Harbaugh and his colleagues at the Johnson Space Center refer to station assembly as "the wall of EVA" and viewed in that light, adding a spacewalk to Columbia's mission is not all that surprising. "We have to recognize that doing EVA is very much fundamental to the success of space station," Harbaugh said. "It is going to be an almost every day occurrence for the next several years, starting next July. So we'd better get used to it. If we have any misgivings about EVA, it's time to get those behind us. "What we're trying to do, in operations, in engineering and within the project/program offices, is to deal with as much as we can up front the variables that we can control. So the intent of this EVA is to knock out one variable that's a question mark, to build in as much probability of success as we can as we head into the space station era. Because after this flight, that is it. We have no more opportunities for doing any further development work for space station. "Starting next July, with STS-88, we are into what we call the EVA wall and we better be ready to step up to it. It's a gigantic undertaking, something like three times (sic) the amount of EVA work that we've ever done in the history of the American space program. But I think we're up to the challenge. I think we're going to be ready for it and we're going to succeed. But the best way to do that is to mitigate the risk as you go along, to gather what information you can as you go along." During Wednesday's spacewalk, Scott and Doi once again will assemble the 156-pound crane, mounting its six-foot-tall support mast along the right side of the cargo bay as viewed from Columbia's aft flight deck. The crane's boom measures four feet long when fully retracted and 17.5 feet long in the fully extended position. The boom can be pitched up or down and yawed to either side. It can be extended manually, by turning a crank, or using a power tool. Once the crane is assembled, Scott will evaluate four techniques for attaching a small ORU. The first will simply duplicate the procedure he used last week, that is, he will push the box down onto the crane's latches. He then will try to shoehorn it into position, mounting the back of the box first and then pushing the front down. A third technique calls for rotating the assembly 90 degrees. Finally, he will attempt to push the box straight onto the boom so the force he applies will be down the crane itself, not perpendicular to it. "We need to come out of this mission with a clear understanding of the technique we expect to employ and confidence the system will be tolerant to that technique so we will be assured that we can move these boxes around, that we can attach boxes to the end and detach them and that we can do useful work with the boom fully extended," Harbaugh said. "The implications for space station are we expect to do a lot of moving around of boxes. We're going to be moving them from one place to another, from the shuttle payload bay to various points on the station and we expect this crane to help us greatly. ... If we can't move these boxes around and use them to replace boxes that have failed out there, then we have a fundamental design flaw in our thinking, our methodology, for how we're going to put this station together." At the end of Wednesday's spacewalk, Scott plans to release the AERCam/Sprint robotic camera for a brief test flight. Shuttle pilot Steven Lindsey, using a laptop computer, a joystick and television monitors on Columbia's aft flight deck, will guide the small spacecraft through a series of maneuvers to test its operation. Scott will return the basketball-size camera to Columbia's crew cabin when the spacewalk concludes. 6:15 p.m. Update: Second spacewalk added to shuttle mission NASA's mission management team late today added a second, unscheduled spacewalk to the shuttle Columbia's mission, giving astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi a chance to complete all of their pre-launch objectives. Scott and Doi originally planned to carry out a single six-hour spacewalk to test space station assembly aids and a small, remotely piloted camera called AERCam/Sprint. But problems with the Spartan sun-study satellite early in the mission required a manual retrieval by Scott and Doi during a spacewalk Nov. 24, forcing them to eliminate some of the lower priority space station tests. A second spacewalk will allow them to complete most, if not all, of those tasks. This status report will be updated after a 6:30 p.m. news conference at the Johnson Space Center. =================================================================== Spartan redeploy ruled out by MMT (11/30/97) 11:45 p.m. Update: Shuttle commander declines to discuss blame for Spartan failure In interviews tonight with CBS News' "Up To The Minute" and The Orlando Sentinel, shuttle commander Kevin Kregel declined to discuss what might have prevented a critical command from reaching the Spartan sun-study satellite last week, ruining its long-planned mission. Flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston say the command failure was either the result of a computer malfunction or an oversight by astronaut Kalpana Chawla. Chawla was responsible for the satellite's checkout and release from Columbia's robot arm. Many engineers believe Chawla was at fault for Spartan's failure to activate, that she did not send the command in question. But it's possible the problem was caused by a software error of some sort that prevented the command from reaching the satellite. Chawla has not addressed the issue, at least on public air-to-ground audio, and no one in mission control has specifically asked whether she sent the required command. Kregel told CBS News "we're really not sure" what went wrong and "we'll wait until we have all the facts on the ground. It didn't do its normal programming and then we gave it a little, slight bump when we were retrieving it and that put it into a spin. But we'll wait until we get all the facts, talk to all the folks on the ground and put the story together." Kregel told The Orlando Sentinel that Chawla had taken events in stride. But again, he declined to discuss blame. "We'd be very foolish if we tried to second guess or tried to figure out what the actual turn of events were without having all the information," he said. "We're six folks up here, we know what happened on our side, we'll get together with the folks on the ground and we'll put the whole story together and make sure it never happens again." The reporter, however, did not follow up and ask Kregel what the astronauts knew about the failure and the question remains unresolved. Putting the best face forward, naturally enough, Kregel and company said the important thing was bringing Spartan back to Earth so it can be relaunched at some point in the near future. "Sure, we're always a bit disappointed if we don't get the full mission accomplished, but we did retrieve the satellite," Kregel said, "and so the important thing is we're bringing Spartan back down to Earth and it'll get to fly another day." Spacewalker Winston Scott agreed, saying "We think it's more important to get the spacecraft back, refurbish it and fly it again. After all, the sun will be there and we don't want to risk losing the satellite altogether." Asked if Columbia's mission should be counted as a success despite the Spartan failure, Kregel said: "I think most space shuttle missions, if you get up, you come down, it's a success and a marvel in itself. Of course, we'd like to get 100 percent of every objective accomplished but you know, sometimes it's just not in the cards and it doesn't happen. I just think we were fortunate to get a second chance to bring the Spartan back. It is a refurbishable satellite so we have kept a valuable asset and it will get to fly again in the future." 7:40 p.m. Update: Spartan redeployment ruled out The Spartan-201 solar physics satellite, victim of a botched deployment earlier in the shuttle Columbia's mission, will not be relaunched during the current flight and instead will be returned to Earth as is, with no scientific data. NASA's mission management team today officially ruled out a redeployment, saying Columbia simply does not have enough rocket fuel to ensure a second successful retrieval. "Spartan, we believe, is in good shape," said Lee Briscoe, a mission operations manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We'll bring it back, see if there's anything we can learn from it." NASA managers have not, however, ruled out a second spacewalk by astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi to complete space station tests that were cut short when they were forced to manually haul Spartan back aboard Nov. 24. But Briscoe said the odds of a second excursion appeared "pretty low" at present. The mission management team is expected to address this issue Monday. The primary goal of Columbia's mission has been to operate a battery of in-cabin and cargo bay experiments making up the United States Microgravity Payload, or USMP-4. The focus of this research is primarily on metallurgy and materials science, research that one day could lead to faster semiconductors and improved manufacturing techniques on Earth. The Spartan satellite was second on the priority list. Equipped with two coronagraphs to study the sun's outer atmosphere, Spartan was to spend two full days operating on its own before being hauled back aboard Columbia for return to Earth. Along with making key observations of its own, Spartan and the $1 billion Solar Heliospheric Observatory - SOHO - satellite were to observe many of the same targets at the same time. By comparing data from Spartan's new instruments with those aboard SOHO, launched in 1995, engineers could recalibrate the older satellite's sensors to improve overall accuracy. But it was not to be. Spartan was launched Nov. 21 by astronaut Kalpana Chawla without being properly activated. When the satellite failed to execute a pre-programmed pirouette maneuver, the crew realized something was wrong and Chawla attempted to recapture it with Columbia's robot arm. In so doing, she somehow nudged the spacecraft, imparting a 1.9-degree-per-second tumble. After a rendezvous three days later, Scott and Doi manually hauled Spartan back aboard during an already planned spacewalk Nov. 24. After telemetry links were re-established, engineers quickly discovered Spartan was perfectly healthy and that it had failed to activate properly because a single command in the pre-release checklist failed to reach the satellite. Many engineers at the Johnson Space Center believe that was due to an oversight by Chawla - if so, an unprecedented error by a shuttle astronaut. But Briscoe said today it's possible the payload general support computer - PGSC - used by Chawla malfunctioned, somehow preventing the command from getting to the satellite. "The guys have gone back and looked at the data, they've dumped the PGSC log files and when they look at the log files, they don't see some of the indications there that the command was issued to the spacecraft that puts it in the mode to be ready to deploy," Briscoe said. "Did the crew miss that step? That's a possibility. Was there something in the PGSC software that didn't issue it? That's a possibility." With Spartan apparently healthy, engineers examined a half-dozen options for redeploying the spacecraft for an abbreviated set of solar observations. The issue came down to the amount of rocket fuel in Columbia's nose tanks. Only one rendezvous was planned for this mission and the fuel budgeted for that purpose was used up Nov. 24. Even using strict fuel conservation, engineers concluded, the astronauts would not be able to save enough fuel in the nose tanks to ensure a successful recapture. "No matter what we did, as we were to come up and pick up the Spartan, we would have to anticipate some amount of gas being used for some station keeping and some possible flyaround just like we did the other day," Briscoe said. "And so we were off looking at our propellant margins to see if we could comfortably accommodate that and see just how much propellant we could buy back. We did buy back forward margin, we did buy back some in the aft, it just wasn't enough." During all satelltite-launching missions, flight controllers make sure enough propellant is on board to ensure success even if critical systems fail during the rendezvous that might require a commander to use more fuel than planned. For example, if the shuttle's KU-band radar failed during final approach, the crew could not make a high-precision approach and more fuel would be expended as a result. "In computing our margins for this particular case, we just didn't have that kind of propellant," Briscoe said. "The kinds of things we were looking at here were doing strictly a mean rendezvous, we were not protecting the KU-band failure case or even one sigma's worth of dispersions on the rendezvous itself. And then we were having to allow for some bit of flyaround and some bit of station-keeping gas. That's not necessarily an easy thing to do and if you were deploying a brand new, fresh spacecraft, you wouldn't do it under those circumstances. "So here's a case where we have the Spartan in the bay, we have it, it's a healthy spacecraft, we can bring it back," Briscoe went on. "If you were to deploy it under these kinds of propellant margins, you could stand a 40- or 50-percent chance of not bringing it back if you had dispersions or failures as you tried to re-rendezvous with it. Based on that, and the fact that we talked to the USMP folks about payload impacts ... the management team decided we would go ahead and forego another deploy and retrieval of Spartan. The flight control team wasn't really comfortable with the amount of propellant that we had." =================================================================== Spartan spacewalk retrieval option timeline (11/29/97) The Columbia astronauts were awakened at 6:46 p.m. this evening for another day of orbital research. Today's wakeup music was "California Dreaming" for shuttle pilot - and Arcadia, Calif., native - Steve Lindsey. "Good morning, Columbia, and just in case the pilot is California dreaming, in Arcadia today it's 68 degrees and sunny," astronaut Chris Hadfield radioed from mission control. "Copy that, Chris. I was just thinking about California. Thanks for the music," Lindsey replied. The astronauts face yet another day of microgravity research while engineers on the ground continue working out the details of a possible redeployment of the Spartan sun-study satellite later in the mission. The leading option at present calls for Columbia's mission to be extended one day, pushing landing from Dec. 5 to Dec. 6. By extending one day, the mission's primary cargo, the United States Microgravity Payload, or USMP, could complete all of its pre-launch objectives. Under this scenario, Spartan would be released into open space next Thursday, Dec. 4, shortly after 1 a.m. After a day of high-priority solar observations, the spacecraft would be hauled back on board Dec. 5 by spacewalkers Winston Scott and Takao Doi in a repeat of the manual capture they made last Monday. Here is the proposed Spartan deploy/retrieval/spacewalk timeline (times in EST and subject to change): TIME...............EVENT 12/03 07:46 p.m..........Crew wakeup 10:16 p.m..........Spartan pre-deploy checkout 12/04 01:16 a.m..........Spartan is released from the robot arm 05:46 a.m..........The crew begins packing up for landing 11:46 a.m..........Crew sleep begins 07:46 p.m..........Crew wakeup 10:16 p.m..........Spartan rendezvous operations begin 11:16 p.m..........Scott and Doi begin spacewalk preparations 12/05 12:46 a.m..........Scott and Doi pre-breathe pure oxygen 01:31 a.m..........Terminal initiation burn to begin final rendezvous 02:31 a.m..........Scott and Doi begin their second spacewalk 02:51 a.m..........Scott and Doi are positioned for Spartan capture 03:06 a.m..........Spartan grapple within next hour or so 04:16 a.m..........Columbia's robot arm berths Spartan in cargo bay* 05:31 a.m..........Spacewalk ends** 07:46 a.m..........Cabin stow resumes 12:46 p.m..........Crew sleep begins (nine hours) 09:46 p.m..........Crew wakeup 12/06 02:26 a.m..........Transition to deorbit prep timeline 06:26 a.m..........Deorbit ignition (time approximate) 07:26 a.m..........Landing at KSC (time approximate) * There is no projected time for Spartan grapple; it will depend on its orientation and a variety of other factors. ** The spacewalk could end earlier than this if the recapture goes smoothly. NASA's mission management team is scheduled to meet early Monday at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to assess this and other Spartan redeploy/spacewalk options. =================================================================== NASA considers second spacewalk, end-of-mission Spartan redeploy (11/28/97) NASA's mission management team met today to consider options for possibly re-launching the Spartan solar physics satellite later in the shuttle Columbia's mission. One scenario under discussion calls for a one-day mission extension, a Spartan redeploy and a second spacewalk by Winston Scott and Takao Doi to haul it back aboard the day before landing. No decisions one way or the other are expected before Monday. Earlier this week, two scenarios were under consideration: Launching the satellite for an abbreviated mission lasting just a few hours; or deploying the spacecraft overnight for an extended set of solar observations. In both cases, the spacecraft would be hauled back aboard by Columbia's robot arm. And in both cases, the limiting factor is the amount of fuel available aboard Columbia for a second re-capture rendezvous. While the astronauts could use Columbia's robot arm to pick Spartan up for tests of a new laser ranging system, no solar observations can be performed unless the satellite is released into open space. While the shuttle can be oriented with great precision, it's not good enough to aim Spartan's instruments with the required accuracy. On Friday, a third option emerged. First, Columbia's flight would be extended one day. Then, on Thursday morning, Spartan would be released into open space by the shuttle's robot arm. The astronauts then would press ahead with work to check out Columbia's re-entry systems and to begin packing up for entry. Thursday night and Friday morning, Columbia would rendezvous with Spartan. Shortly after the terminal initial rocket firing to begin final approach, Scott and Doi would float into Columbia's cargo bay to manually pluck the satellite out of orbit just like they did Nov. 21. That's because the satellite could begin tumbling if its battery power runs out during its observing run. As with the first retrieval, robot arm operator Kalpana Chawla then would berth Spartan on its mounting pallet. The spacewalk would last just 2.5 hours and the shuttle would land the next day, on Dec. 6. But it is not at all clear as of this writing whether Columbia will have enough fuel for a second rendezvous or whether the mission management team will approve any deploy scenario. It also is unclear why planners would not let Scott and Doi extend the spacewalk to complete space station assembly tasks that were eliminated to make way for the first Spartan recovery. The duo trained for a year to test a telescoping space crane and other space station assembly aids during a single six-hour spacewalk. But those plans were quickly modified when robot arm operator Kalpana Chawla accidentally nudged Spartan during an attempt to re-capture the satellite after it failed to activate properly Nov. 21. The satellite was deployed in idle mode because it never received a critical command from a payload general support computer being operated by Chawla. Engineers say either the computer malfunctioned in some manner or Chawla made a mistake. Scott and Doi than carried out a manual re-capture three days later, plucking the satellite out of open space with their gloved hands. The Spartan retrieval, however, forced them to eliminate several of their origional space station test objectives, including the release of a small robotic camera called AERCam/Sprint. The remotely piloted basketball-sized camera system is intended for use during space station operations to give astronauts close-up views of work sites or problem areas. Even if NASA managers approve a second Spartan deploy and a subsequent spacewalk, it would appear AERCam/Sprint will not be tested on Columbia's mission. Aboard Columbia this evening, the astronauts are pressing ahead with a full slate or research. The five-man one-woman crew was awakened at 5:46 p.m. by a recording of the Florida State fight song beamed up from mission control as the shuttle sailed 174 miles above the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii. "Good morning, Columbia. And we hope Winston appreciated the flight song from his alma mater, Florida State," said Chris Hadfield in Houston. "Good morning from Columbia!" Scott replied. "I can't think of a better way to start the day than hearing the Florida State (Seminoles) fight song. I know the game with Florida is coming up, I say good morning to everybody and go 'Noles!" Unfortunately for Scott, however, the Florida-Florida State game was last weekend. And Florida State lost. =================================================================== Astronauts celebrate Thanksgiving in space (11/27/97) While NASA managers mull over the possibility or relaunching the Spartan solar physics satellite, the Columbia astronauts pressed ahead with a full plate of Thanksgiving Day research today, focusing on materials science and basic physics. The five-man one-woman crew was awakened at 4:46 p.m. by a recording of "America the Beautiful" beamed up from mission control in Houston. "Good morning, and happy Thanksgiving, Columbia," called astronaut Ellen Ochoa from mission control. "Good morning Houston, good morning America and good morning the world. Happy Thanksgiving," commander Kevin Kregel replied from space. Before they went to bed early this morning, the astronauts downlinked a Thanksgiving Day message and enjoyed a traditional holiday meal in space, chowing down on turkey, cranberries, pumpkin cookies and pecan pie. On the Russian Mir spacestation, meanwhile, U.S. astronaut David Wolf and his two cosmonaut crewmates - Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov - also enjoyed a turkey day meal of sorts. "We have smoked turkey up here and we're going to make some hot sandwiches," Wolf told NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin in a morning phone chat. "The mashed potatoes are great, they're rehydratable. We have good corn, it's really good, we have peas in milk sauce. And that's our meal. We're missing the apple pie." "A little whipped cream?" Goldin asked. "Oh gosh. I'll tell you what, everything I think about on the Earth is what I miss at that moment, if you know what I mean," Wolf said. "There are so many neat things down there. That's probably the best part of the flight, getting a whole new appreciation." During a late afternoon mission status briefing Wednesday, operations manager Lee Briscoe said a decision on whether or not to relaunch the Spartan satellite may not be made until Monday. If redeploy for an abbreviated mission is, in fact, approved, Columbia's mission likely would be extended one day, setting up a Kennedy Space Center landing on Dec. 6. The limiting factor for any redeploy is the amount of fuel required for a second rendezvous. There's plenty of fuel in Columbia's aft tanks. But there is only between 115 to 120 pounds of excess propellant in the forward tanks that could be used for a rendezvous. "Right now we have about 115 to 120 pounds in the forward," Briscoe said. "We're looking for on the order of something like 200 pounds to be able to go do (a second rendezvous). So right now, we're short a little bit. If we can (conserve) propellant and things go very well then we can see what we've got. In the next two or three days we'll be watching that, see what our propellant situation will be in the forward before we will be able to tell managers just what we have the ability to do. "So right now, we're keeping our options in front of us," Briscoe said. "We'll probably be talking with the managers initially on what we think some of the options might be probably on Friday morning. It's not necessary that we make a decision Friday morning. Probably as late as Monday morning we could do that." Spartan project engineers believe the spacecraft went into what is called a minimum reserve "safe mode" shortly after deploy from the shuttle last Friday. The satellite was released from Columbia's robot arm without being properly activated, presumably because of a mistake by arm operator Kaplana Chawla. The satellite was hauled back aboard Monday during a spacewalk by astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi. Spartan-201 originally was to spend two full days on its own observing the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona. Engineers believe the satellite is healthy has enough battery power left for an abbreviated set of solar observations later in the mission. "With respect to just how long that mission would be, that's a variable," Briscoe said. "The way we're approaching it is what kind of mission could you do that takes the minimum amount of propellant? Is that a five, six-hour, seven-hour mission, is that a mission where you stationkeep out in front or out back for a number of (orbits) and then go back and pick them up? Or is it better to deploy them on one day and then ... come back and get them the next day? So we're looking at two or three options. I think they're looking for something at least about six or eight hours and would like something on the order of 18 or so if they could." But any such mission likely would require a one-day mission extension. The top priority of Columbia's flight has always been operation of the United States Microgravity Payload, or USMP, a suite of materials science experiments in Columbia's cargo bay. Nothing will be done with Spartan that might impact USMP science, which has been proceeding smoothly throughout the flight. Here are the morning status reports from the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the USMP Payload Operations Control Center at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Houston: ---------------------------------------- Mission Control Center Report # 16 Thursday, November 27, 1997 - 7 a.m. EST Columbia's six-member crew celebrated Thanksgiving with a special meal while continuing work with the microgravity science investigations in a special glovebox facility on the middeck. As the halfway point in the STS-87 mission approached, commander Kevin Kregel, pilot Steve Lindsey, mission specialists Kalpana Chawla, Winston Scott and Takao Doi, and Ukrainian payload specialist Leonid Kadenyuk celebrated Thanksgiving with a meal of turkey, cranberries, pumpkin cookies and pecan pie. The meal was scheduled between 5 and 7 this morning. Throughout the eighth flight day for the crew, investigations continued in the microgravity glovebox studying the characteristics of creating composite materials in space, and also understanding why different components of certain alloys tend to separate during the melting and freezing process. Potential applications of many of these alloys include ball-bearing, electronic and semi-conductor materials. Also on the middeck, Kadenyuk continued his work with the plant growth experiment called CUE for the Collaborative Ukrainian Experiment. School students both in the U.S. and the Ukraine also are participating in comparative plant growth studies here on Earth. The autonomous operations with the mission's prime payload continue in the payload bay of Columbia with no interaction by the crew required. Yesterday's small engine firing will maintain the proper altitude for the next four days in support of the United States Microgravity Payload experiments mounted on a support structure in the rear of the orbiter's payload bay. Earlier this morning, Kregel, Scott and Doi discussed the mission during an interview broadcast around the world on CNN International. ---------------------------------------- Payload Operations Control Center Report #08 Thursday, November 27,1997 - 8:00 a.m. EST As many in America began celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday, researchers aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia and in the Spacelab Mission Operations Control Center at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., continued to reap a harvest of scientific knowledge from the fourth flight of the United States Microgravity Payload. Mission Specialist Dr. Kalpana Chawla and Mission Specialist Dr. Takao Doi worked well into the morning on material mixing experiments in the glovebox. The first, called "Particle Engulfment and Pushing by a Solid/Liquid Interface," provided investigators with some unexpected observations. They watched as floating loose particles bunched together to form larger particle clumps -- as commonly observed during ground experiments. But for the first time, they observed the large particle clumps being pushed in front of the solidifying mass, rather than being engulfed by it. Investigators think the understanding of this complex mixing process is the key to plastics, ceramics and alloys of the future. The experiment is a studying how liquid metals solidify and why some particles are engulfed and others pushed along -- in the liquid -- in front of the solidifying mass. Investigators hope to understand this process to design stronger and lighter composite materials. After completing several of the particle experiment runs, the glovebox was reconfigured for the Wetting Characteristics of Immiscibles experiment. Dr. Barry Andrews of the University of Alabama in Birmingham, Ala., leads the investigation to discover how to create a uniform mixture of certain metal alloys which do not normally mix well. Results from this experiment may lead to improved materials on Earth ranging from simple ball bearings to complex semiconductors. Andrews said that the low-gravity processing conditions are necessary to see the results of the experiment. Though still early, he described last night's results as, "Fantastic, exactly what we wanted to see." The glovebox -- a contained workplace for hazardous material -- experienced overheating problems that somewhat slowed the pace of the research last night. In the early hours of the holiday morning, investigators studying the Confined Helium Experiment, finished recording over 14 hours of very sensitive temperature measurements of liquid helium. Co-investigator Dr. Talso Chui, from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said the experiment's thermometers performed so well that they did not drift by even one nano-degree -- or a billionth of a degree. "We have to take many measurements to prove our thermometers are stable and we have done it," Chui said. "It has to be this stable or we cannot use the information." Results from the experiment are expected to explore the limits of how microprocessors can be reduced in size and how electrical performance is affected. Better understanding of miniaturization may lead researchers to the development of even smaller electronic devices with better capabilities. For the first time -- by using the low-gravity environment of space -- the MEPHISTO team has been able to observe two separate processes of solidification. Results have shown that solidification occurs a little bit below the melting point of a material and depends upon -- the material composition -- and how atoms from the liquid material attach themselves to the forming solid. As the furnace experiment continued to perform melting cycles of the bismuth and tin sample throughout the morning, researchers strive for understanding that can improve the quality of superconductors and electronic structures. The experiment is a joint effort of the United States, France and Australia. "We are very happy with the performance of the MEPHISTO hardware," said Dr. Gerard Cambon of the French Space Agency. "The French team has participated in this experiment for the last 18 months and we have worked in a cooperative effort to enhance the science gains," Cambon said. Since last night, Columbia has been drifting in an orientation best suited to support a time consuming and sensitive Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace investigation. It will take one day to melt the mercury, cadmium and telluride alloy sample and two days to solidify it in order to produce a single, unique electrical crystal with exceptional compositional uniformity. From this, researchers hope to understand metallic crystal structures and enhance their performance in electronics, computers and infrared detectors. "The science teams are getting terrific science data from space that will improve life on Earth in areas that extend from computers to the medicine," said NASA's USMP-4 Mission Program Scientist Dr. Michael Wargo. Looking ahead to the next 24 hours, Columbia's crew members will resume metal mixing investigations in the glovebox. Science teams will continue liquid helium measurements as the Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace begins mixing the infrared crystal sample. =================================================================== Crew enjoys time off; orbital research continues (11/25-26/97) NASA managers continue to assess the health of the Spartan solar physics satellite, but no decisions on whether or not to attempt a relaunch are expected until after additional analysis. So far, sources say, Spartan project managers have not approached their shuttle program colleagues with an official request for a relaunch. While two possible options are under study, sources say, Columbia's on-board fuel supplies are limited and neither option appears all that likely at present. Option One calls for Spartan to be deployed and retrieved the same day. Columbia would stationkeep 2,000 feet away, out of the satellite's field of view, while Spartan carried out an abbreviated, high-priority set of solar observations. Option Two calls for a release on one day and a pickup the next. Again, Columbia would remain within several thousand feet of the satellite throughout to minimize the propellant needed to move back in for retrieval. While both options may be technically feasible at present, Columbia's forward fuel supply is very tight and NASA managers may take the conservative approach and write off any relaunch scenarios. See the STS-87 Mission Archive above for detailed coverage of Spartan's retrieval Monday evening. The Columbia astronauts, meanwhile, took a bit of time off today and pressed ahead with on-board experiments associated with the United States Microgravity Payload, or USMP-4. While Spartan's trials and tribulations have generated most of the headlines, USMP-4 remains the central focus of Columbia's mission and the top priority for the crew and researchers on Earth. Late today, the astronauts were scheduled to carry out lengthy sessions of melting and solidifying composite metals using a glovebox facility in the crew cabin. Researchers on the ground, meanwhile, are continuing remotely operated experiments with the USMP pallet in Columbia's cargo bay, carrying out metal mixing experiments with two high-tech furnaces. Here's the morning USMP-4 status report from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center: STS-87 Report #06 Tuesday, November 25, 1997 - 7:00 a.m. CDT Researchers at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., continued during the past 24 hours with the scientific investigations to study metallic crystal formation and the properties of materials for future electronics -- even as Space Shuttle Columbia's crew successfully retrieved the Spartan satellite. "During the intensive part of the space walk, we had to pause some of our experiments," said USMP-4 Assistant Mission Manager Jimmie Johnson. "But we picked them right back up after the satellite was captured and secured," Johnson said. He added that the Spartan recovery did not have a major impact on the mission's original plan and that it primarily involved shifting the order of some events. "The original flight plan included a spacewalk to practice International Space Station assembly procedures," he said. "So after this short break, we're continuing on with our planned timeline." The next nine days of the mission are designated as the prime period for the microgravity science experiments. And, beginning on Wednesday, Columbia will be oriented in the optimum attitude for one of the microgravity facilities, the Advanced Automated Solidification Furnace. This morning, preparations were under way to use the furnace for melting of a mercury, cadmium and telluride alloy sample. Dr. Donald C. Gillies of the Marshall Center, co-investigator of that experiment, said "The furnace is operating normally and we're looking forward to the experiment run. We've changed the furnace settings and by Wednesday afternoon, we will bring it up to our experiment temperature of over 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit." The experiment is called "Growth of Solid Solution Single Crystal." The almost 70-hour melting and solidification experiment is designed to produce a single, unique electrical crystal with exceptional compositional uniformity. Researchers hope to improve metallic crystal structure and to enhance their performance in electronics, computers and infrared detectors. On Tuesday, in anticipation of the Shuttle's thrusters firing and vibrations associated with the space walk, the Confined Helium Experiment team cycled through a slow cooling period. "We don't want to cool too fast, otherwise we lose accuracy," said Dr. Talso Chui, a co-investigator from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The experiment "squeezes" helium very flat until it becomes two-dimensional. "We are studying the novel properties of matter when it becomes very thin," said Chui. "Hopefully, we'll learn some secrets of nature," he said. Through this study of helium, researchers hope to understand the effects of miniaturization and how electrical performance is affected by sheer size, thickness and surface irregularities. Results may lead to even smaller electronic devices. The MEPHISTO team also used the spacewalk time to their advantage by entering a melting cycle of their bismuth and tin sample in the furnace experiment. "When we're melting, we want to mix the sample really well so that it is homogeneous and all the astronaut activity actually helped," said William Foster, project manager from NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. "But," he added, "when we solidify a sample, we need a low G-level with no disturbances." By early this morning, the shuttle crew ended their day and Foster's team began their almost two-hour solidification cycle. MEPHISTO is a French acronym describing the metal-mixing experiment that is helping researchers understand what happens when materials go from a liquid to a solid. They want to know how to control this process to improve the quality of semiconductors and electronic structures. The experiment is a cooperative United States, French and Australian effort. The Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment continued with growth of their tiny dendrite crystals aboard Columbia, during the space walk. Researchers are studying the dendrite formations for better understanding of new ways to manufacture steel, aluminum and superalloys for use in automobile and airplane construction. In addition to remotely monitoring and controlling the orbiting Shuttle experiment from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., the dendrite-growth team began hosting school group visits to their control center at Rensselaer. "The experiment's visitors room provides the opportunity for us to speak directly to teachers and their students," said the dendrite-growth investigation's lead scientist, Dr. Matthew Koss of Rensselaer. "We share with them the excitement of NASA space flight operations. At the same time we're teaching them the rudiments of microgravity and materials science," said Koss. =================================================================== Spartan recaptured; relaunch possible; crew error possible (11/24-25/97) 4:00 a.m. Update: Spartan satellite capable of relaunch Data from the recaptured Spartan science satellite indicates the spacecraft did not receive a key computer command prior to release from the shuttle Columbia on Friday. That missing command, the result of crew error or a software glitch, prevented the satellite for activating normally and left it idling in space. Robot arm operator Kalpana Chawla, who was responsible for issuing the pre-deploy commands, then appeared to bump the spacecraft during a recapture attempt, imparting a 1.9-degree-per-second spin. That, in turn, led to a dramatic overnight spacewalk for two astronauts to manually pluck the satellite out of open space. Spartan mission manager Craig Tooley said early today data from the Spartan satellite indicates it is perfectly healthy and capable of carrying out an abbreviated series of solar observations later in Columbia's flight. About half the satellite's battery power has been expended and the shuttle does not have enough rocket fuel for another full-up rendezvous. But it may be possible to deploy Spartan for a six- to 20-hour observing run before Columbia returns to Earth. Tooley said it is not yet known why a critical command failed to reach Spartan before deploy Friday. It was either due to an oversight on Chawla's part, engineers believe, or perhaps because of a computer error. The software will be tested on the ground over the next few days to make sure. "The records show the spacecraft didn't get one command in the initialization sequence," Tooley said. "The command that we didn't receive on board the spacecraft would have powered down some of the systems that were up in a stand-by health-check mode. We basically power up a bunch of the subsystems and check their status and then bring them back down into a quiescent state to await deploy where the sequence is then picked up again and the flight program kicks in. "That step that brought those down into a quiescent state and had them waiting for deployment wasn't received by the spacecraft," he said. "Therefore, the attitude control system was still there warming up, but not configured to deal with the error signals from the sensors or fire some pyrotechnic gas valves which would have turned on the thrusters. So it was basically idling and it never got out of idle mode." While some engineers at the Johnson Space Center believe Chawla failed to send the command for some reason, Tooley said "we have not ruled out the possibility of an internal failure. But our indications are the spacecraft is healthy so I believe we're heading for the conclusion that we don't have anything that's not functional." In the meantime, engineers plan to thoroughly check the satellite's telemetry and to test the software running on the computer Chawla used to carry out the pre-deploy activation sequence. "We can see the steps that were sent out to the spacecraft from the PGSC (payload general support computer)," Tooley said. "Why a command didn't go out through the twisted-pair wires, it could have been due to something in the procedure that wasn't done right, it could have been perhaps just because of the software. We're going to test the software to see if we can find a scenario where you could trip it up and not send the commands he thought he did. The records we have only show what went out." Regardless of what caused the original command problem, Tooley said as long as the satellite passes its initialization the second time around, engineers will have high confidence of successful operation. "If I re-initialize the spacecraft and all the indications on the PGSC come up good and I haven't found anything from the flight performance that leads me to believe ... the spacecraft performed off nominal, then I think we'd conclude we were good to go," he said. "All I really know is my spacecraft either didn't get the command it needed or somehow it wasn't sent," he said. "I'm confident that if we do run the software through again and initialize it and we can send that command, based on that we'd (re-launch Spartan)." But that remains to be seen. Shuttle mission manager Lee Briscoe said Columbia's top priority now is operation of the United States Microgravity Payload. If enough fuel is left toward the end of the flight, it may be possible to briefly redeploy Spartan, but no such decision will be made until later in the flight. 3:20 a.m. Update: Spacewalk ends; astronauts congratulated (correcting record EVA length) Spacewalkers Winston Scott and Takao Doi wrapped up a successful seven-hour 43-minute spacewalk this morning, floating back in the shuttle Columbia's airlock at 2:45 a.m. Along with manually retrieving the errant Spartan science satellite, Scott and Doi carried out a series of cargo bay tests to assess the operation of a telescoping space crane that will be used during space station construction. Both astronauts gave the crane high marks, saying it worked smoothly and was easy to position. "On behalf of all of us here on the ground, congratulations," astronaut Chris Hadfield radioed from Houston. "That was a long and challenging spacewalk. It was the first one on Columbia and Winston, you've now been outside for 10 times around the world and Takao's definitely got more EVA time than any Japanese citizen in history." "Thank you very much," Doi replied from Columbia's airlock. "Thank you for your help, Chris, and everybody else on the ground," Scott said. The spacewalk officially began at 7:02 p.m. Monday when the astronauts switched their suits to internal battery power. It ended at 2:45 a.m. today when airlock repressurization began. Official duration was seven hours 43 minutes (the record for a shuttle space walk is eight hours and 29 minutes). Scott now has 14 hours and 36 minutes of spacewalk time over two flights. "Winston, have a look up at camera A, we can see you real clear," Hadfield called as Scott headed for the airlock. "Hello!" Scott replied. "Well, it's been a busy day for us. ... I'll tell you, it's been spectacular out here; I've enjoyed it tremendously. I especially enjoyed working with Takao." "We had a great time," Doi agreed. "We certainly did. And I know you have a lot of exciting things to tell your countrymen back home." "That's true!" said Doi, the first Japanese to walk in space. While the Spartan retrieval provided most of the drama, engineers were especially keen to find out how the space station assembly crane worked in the actual space environment. Putting the device to the test, a large simulated station battery was attached to the end of the crane and then maneuvered to various positions. While the crane proved somewhat difficult to move from side to side in a yawing motion, the spacewalks still gave it As and Bs for design and performance. Both men's wives enjoyed the show from mission control in Houston. "I just wanted to tell you that in the viewing room here, Marilyn and Hitomi are wearing their EVA shirts and proudly watching you fellows at work," astronaut Chris Hadfield radioed the crew from Houston. "All right! Tell Marilyn and Hitomi both hello from Winston," Scott replied from orbit. "We're glad they're there." "And hello from Takao," Doi chimed in. "Thanks for watching us." "And for Marilyn," Scott joked, "I just had to stop by and pick up a satellite, I'll be home by supper time." The only problem during the space station tests was a jammed torque multiplier used to tighten down the mock battery in its cargo bay mount. Scott finally got it free following instructions radioed up from mission control. After that, they broke down and stowed the crane, cleaned up the payload bay and re-entered Columbia's airlock. A news briefing to discuss the results of the spacewalk, along with the health of the Spartan satellite, is expected later this morning. Details will be posted here as soon as possible thereafter. 11:45 p.m. Update: Astronauts test station construction aids Astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi, now four hours and 45 minutes into an extended seven-hour spacewalk, are in the process of testing a telescoping space crane for use during space station assembly. The recovered Spartan satellite, meanwhile, is locked down on its berth in Columbia's cargo bay following a dramatic space rescue earlier tonight. As it turns out, the satellite appears to be healthy and fully functional, raising the prospect of a relaunch later in the flight for an abbreviated set of solar observations. The satellite's health also raises the possibility that astronaut error might have played a role in Spartan's initial failure to activate properly after launch Friday. Many enginers at the Johnson Space Center already believe robot arm operator Kalpana Chawla accidentally bumped Spartan with the space crane Friday, imparting a spin that ultimately led to this evening's manual recapture by Scott and Doi. Whether or not Chawla or her crewmates missed a step in Spartan's predeploy activation checklist remains to be seen. But it's difficult to imagine how such an oversight could have happened or how another crew member could have failed to notice. In any case, Scott and Doi were able to manually recapture the errant satellite without any major problems, but they had trouble getting it locked down on its mount. Chawla then used Columbia's robot arm to lower it into position so latches could lock the spacecraft down. Scott and Doi, meanwhile, pressed ahead with long-planned tests of space station assembly tools, giving the telescoping crane high marks for ease of use. The spacewalk was extended from six to seven hours to get in as many tests as possible. Once Spartan was back on its mount, commander Kevin Kregel was able to read telemetry down to the ground to help engineers characterize its overall health. "Based on the data you sent us (on) the status of the Spartan, it looks like we have a fully functional Spartan," radioed astronaut Marc Garneau from mission control. Engineers have not determined, however, if the satellite went into safe mode during its two-day stay in space and it's unclear as of this writing what impact that might have. Will advise. 9:40 p.m. Update: Spacewalkers capture Spartan satellite Astronaut Winston Scott and Japanese spacewalker Takao Doi reached out an grabbed the errant Spartan-201 satellite this evening at 9:09 p.m. as the shuttle sailed 175 miles south of Hawaii over the Pacific Ocean. The manual capture came two hours and seven minutes into a planned six-hour spacewalk, pretty much right on NASA's prediction. The spacewalkers took their time, waiting for commander Kevin Kregel to manually re-orient the shuttle to properly position the satellite for an easy capture. "OK, I'm free drift, you've got a go," commander Kevin Kregel radioed his crewmates. "OK. Takao?" Scott asked. "Yes." "Now, one more time, can you reach the scope?" "Yes, I can reach it." "OK. On my signal, I'm going to grab a pin and the VGS target. And as I understand it, you're goig to grab the scope. Is that correct?" "That's correct." "OK. I'm going to give you a 'standby, standby,' countdown. That's what I will say. OK? Is that clear? "Yes." "OK, are you ready?" "Roger." "OK. Standby... standby... capture!" "OK." "I've got my end..." "I've got my end..." "OK. Now. Now that we've got it, Mr. Doi, let's decide what we're going to do with it." The capture went smoothly, but the two spacewalkers ran into problems lowering the satellite into its berth in Columbia's cargo bay. Flight controllers then ordered the crew to use the shuttle's robot arm to grapple Spartan and drive it down into its latches. Chawla, who bumped the satellite with the arm Friday, imparting a slow tumble, was at the controls again this evening. "OK, KC's got it," Kregel told the spacewalkers at 9:40 p.m. "You guys can let go." The astronauts were in position for capture shortly after 8 p.m. The satellite was spinning very, very slowly and the crew took its time positioning the spacecraft for retrieval. "And Winston, I think if we're patient, it looks like the telescope is rotating, the top end of the longitudinal axis looks like it will come down to you and the bottom one right up to Takao if we just wait, it'll come right to us," Kregel radioed. "OK, copy that Kevin," Scott said. "We'll just be patient and see what happens." A few moments later: "It's perfect, the telescope is right between us," Scott said. "It's maybe four feet above my head, maybe more like six feet. I suggest we hold..." "Yeah, I'm not going any closer to it," Kregel said. "OK." A few moments after that: "OK, we'll center it up here and we'll just sit back and wait," Kregel said at 8:17 p.m. "Sounds like a plan," Scott said. 7:40 p.m. Update: Satellite rescue spacewalk begins; satellite relatively stable Astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi switched their spacesuits to battery powr at 7:02 p.m., officially beginning a planned six-hour spacewalk to wrestle the wayward Spartan satellite back aboard for return to Earth. By 7:20 p.m., as the duo was exiting the airlock and setting up, Spartan was about 700 feet directly above the shuttle as commander Kevin Kregel slowly pulled up to the satellite. "Houston, Columbia, Spartan in sight," Kregel radioed mission control at 6:51 p.m. Kregel reported later that Spartan appeared to be relatively stable, indicating a backup attitude control system had activated at some point after the shuttle's departure Friday, damping out a potentially hard-to-handle 1.9-degree-per-second rotation. Kregel said it might be possible to simply fly up to the satellite without performing any kind of fly-around to match its spin. Will advise. There have been no problems of any significance, other than a minor communications glitch at the beginning of the excursion. The shuttle's KU-band antenna will be switched from radar to television mode at 7:40 p.m. and video of Spartan may then become available at some point shortly thereafter. There has been no video as of this writing. "Nice view over the Earth," Takao radioed after floating into the cargo bay. "Wonderful!" "It sure is," Scott replied. See the entry below for a timeline of this evening's events. 2:00 p.m. Update: Crew awake; updating spacewalk timeline The Columbia astronauts are gearing up for a high-stakes six-hour spacewalk this evening to manually recapture an errant science satellite that failed to activate during launch Friday. The star-crossed sun-study satellite then was sent into a slow tumble by an accidental nudge from the shuttle's robot arm, setting the stage for a dramatic rescue spacewalk by astronaut Winston Scott and first-time Japanese flier Takao Doi. "Good morning, Columbia. We're looking forward to today's events, including the spacewalk by Winston and Takao," astronaut Ellen Ochoa radioed at 1:46 p.m. "And good morning, Houston," Scott replied. 'We're looking forward to that also. I haven't been out yet, but I think it's a great NASA day for a spacewalk!" "We think so to." In what promises to be one of the more dramatic moments in shuttle spacewalk history, Scott and Takao plan to reach overhead at the same moment to grab the wayward Spartan satellite, plucking it out of open space. They then will manhandle the 3,000-pound spacecraft onto its mounting platform before pressing ahead with already planned tests of space station assembly tools. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and end at 1 a.m. A news briefing will be carried on NASA television arount 2 a.m. Equipped with two instruments to study the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, Spartan-201 originally was scheduled to spend two full days operating on its own before being hauled back aboard Columbia by robot arm operator Kalpana Chawla (KUHLP'-nah CHAHV'-lah). During the satellite's launch, however, its attitude control subsystem never activated and the spacecraft failed to perform a routine pirouette maneuver to demonstrate its overall health. Chawla then attempted to haul it back aboard, but she ended up bumping Spartan with the arm, imparting a 1.9-degree-per-second tumble. The crew was unable to recapture the tumbling spacecraft and Columbia was forced to back away while engineers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston evaluated a variety of options for retrieving the $10 million instrument carrier. Scott and Takao were already scheduled to carry out a six-hour spacewalk tonight to test a telescoping crane and other tools intended for use during space station construction. Flight controllers ultimately decided to keep the spacewalk on schedule but to add a manual satellite rescue to me crew's workload. Both astronauts trained for a manual capture prior to launch to protect against the possibility of a robot arm failure in orbit. But in those scenarios, the satellite was at the end of a normal two-day observing mission and in a stable orientation. Even though Spartan is slowly tumbling, engineers believe the spacewalkers will have no trouble grabbing it and only about 10 pounds of force per astronaut will be required to stop Spartan's wobble. And the satellite might not be tumbling at all. Engineers suspect Spartan actually is healthy, the victim of a mechanical or human error that may have done nothing more than prevent the attitude control system from initializing properly. A backup attitude control system may have been activated by Spartan's on-board computer after Columbia moved away Friday. If so, the satellite's tumble may be quite glacial by the time Columbia arrives this evening, providing Scott and Doi with the exact scenario they trained for before launch. In any case, here is a timeline of this evening's activity: TIME...........EVENT 04:00 p.m......Scott and Doi begin preparing their suits and other tools for this evening's spacewalk 05:51 p.m......Terminal phase of Spartan rendezvous begins; Columbia is eight nautical miles behind the satellite at this point 05:56 p.m......Columbia's robot arm is powered up and put in observation position by Chawla 07:00 p.m......Scott and Doi exit Columbia's airlock 07:15 p.m......The shuttle arrives on the r-bar directly below Spartan 07:40 p.m......The shuttle's KU-band antenna is switched from radar to TV mode; live video is possible at any time after this point 08:26 p.m......Commander Kevin Kregel maneuver's Columbia to a point just below the Spartan satellite 08:30 p.m......Scott and Doi are positioned for grapple; an attempt to grab the satellite will be made at some point in the next hour or so 08:34 p.m......KU-band TV coverage available 08:58 p.m......KU-band TV coverage ends for 13 minutes 09:11 p.m......KU-band TV coverage resumes 09:26 p.m......KU-band TV coverage ends; resume time TBD 10:15 p.m......The spacewalkers unberth a space station component carrier for tests 10:30 p.m......The telescoping space crane is tested 11:46 p.m......The equipment carrier is stowed 12:00 a.m......The crane is stowed 12:30 a.m......Tools are stowed 01:00 a.m......Scott and Doi re-enter Columbia's airlock 02:00 a.m......News briefing at Johnson Space Center This evening's rendezvous with Spartan begins at 5:51 p.m. when Kregel will make the first in a series of rocket firings to bring Columbia to a point directly below Spartan on an imaginary line between the satellite and the center of the Earth. Columbia then will move slowly up this radius vector, or r-bar, using the planet's gravity as a natural brake (the same approach is used during dockings with the Mir space station). During final approach, Scott and Doi will exit the shuttle's airlock and spend a few minutes getting a feel for spacewalking. They also will break out the foot restraints they'll use during the satellite's capture. For identification purposes, Scott's spacesuit has a red stripe running around the legs. Doi's suit is unmarked. The foot restraints will be mounted on both ends of Spartan's carrier pallet, called an MPESS (for multi-purpose experiment support structure). By 8:30 p.m. or so, when Kregel stops Columbia's slow approach to Spartan, Scott and Doi should be standing in the foot restraints, leaning back slightly and ready for their dramatic capture attempt. If Spartan's backup attitude control system never turned on, the satellite will still be spinning at roughly two degrees per second, or one complete revolution every three minutes. The crew is expected to watch a couple of complete rotations to figure out when instrument housings will be within easy reach. Then, following voice commands from Scott, they'll simply reach out at the same time and grab onto the satellite. It could take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour for everyone to get comfortable enough to make a capture attempt. But from there, it should be relatively easy. The spacewalkers will carefully lower the satellite into its berth and clamps will lock it down for return to Earth. Scott and Doi then will attempt to complete as many of their already planned space station tests as possible before time runs out. The highest priority task is to check out a telescoping crane that will be used during station construction to move heavy components from one point to another. A simulated space station battery is on board for mass handling tests and other exercises are planned as well. One casualty of the compressed timeline, however, is the release of a basketball-sized robotic television camera called AERCam/Sprint. The camera was developed for possible use during the station era to inspect damage or to aid spacewalkers. But the camera now will remain stowed because not enough time will be available to put it through its paces. =================================================================== NASA settles on Spartan spacewalk rescue option (11/23/97) As expected, NASA's mission management team (MMT) met early today and approved a plan for Columbia astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi to manually pluck the errant Spartan-201 satellite out of open space during an already planned spacewalk Monday. The astronauts, anchored in foot restraints mounted on the satellite's cargo bay support structure, will simply reach overhead and grab the slowly tumbling satellite after commander Kevin Kregel moves the shuttle within range. "We feel very confident this is going to work, the crew is quite capable of doing this," said Bob Castle, a senior flight director at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "The flying tasks of bringing the orbiter up close to the tumbling spacecraft I think are very doable. I'm very confident this will all come off." Once the satellite is berthed, engineers will regain limited telemetry to gain some insight into what might have gone wrong Friday when Spartan was launched. In an interview today, mission manager Craig Tooley said it is possible the satellite is perfectly healthy and that its attitude control subsystem failed to engage for some reason during deployment Friday. In that case, it may be possible to redeploy the satellite later in the flight for an abbreviated science mission. While Columbia likely would not have enough fuel to carry out another full-up rendezvous, it may be possible to release Spartan for a few hours of nearby high-priority observations to salvage at least a portion of its mission. But all of that is strictly speculation at this point and Spartan may, in fact, be a dead spacecraft. Either way, NASA wants it back. "We want to retrieve a valuable scientific satellite for future flights, future use, whatever," Castle said. "We have the capability to do it, we can do it without impact to the other payloads on the flight with virtually no risk. It's something the program ought to go do." Equipped with two coronagraphs to study the sun's outer atmosphere, Spartan was launched Friday evening by astronaut Kalpana Chawla, operating Columbia's 50-foot robot arm. But the satellite's attitude control subsystem never activated and during an attempt to recapture the spacecraft, Chawla somehow bumped of nudged Spartan slightly, imparting a 1.9-degree-per-second spin. Despite attempts by Kregel to match the satellite's rotation to permit another capture attempt, the crew was ordered to back away after one hour to conserve fuel. After an intensive analysis in NASA's virtual reality lab and in a giant water tank used to simulate weightlessness, astronauts and engineers settled on a retrieval plan known as Option One, calling for Scott and Doi to attempt the manual capture anchored to the satellite's support structure. Another option, in which one of the astronauts would have been anchored to the end of Columbia's's robot arm, was ruled out because A) it required complex crew coordination and B) it was not a scenario the spacewalkers practiced before launch. Option One, however, was rehearsed prior to liftoff as a standard contingency procedure in case the robot arm malfunctioned in orbit. While the practice scenario featured a stable, non-tumbling satellite, NASA managers believe Spartan's spin rate will not pose any major problems. In fact, it may be hardly spinning at all. If the spacecraft is still healthy, a backup attitude control system might have gone into action to damp out the tumble. "The spacecraft is essentially going to end up in one of two configurations," Castle said. "It's either going to be spinning at about the same rate, and about the same axes as we saw it when we deployed it, which would be around two degrees per second - 1.9 is what we actually measured - or it has gone into a safe mode, which would take those rates down quite a bit lower, on the order of a tenth or two tenths of a degree per second. We don't know which. It could be either one and we need to be prepared for either one. "The only way we've got to capture something moving at a two-degree-per-second rate with any reliability is through EVA," he said. "So the plan is to put two crewmen out EVA on Monday. The shuttle will approach the spacecraft, we'll bring it down over the bay. It will eventually precess around to where the crew can grab it and then they will be able to berth the spacecraft back in the berthing mechanism. "It's very close to what they've already trained for," Castle continued. "They trained to do a manual capture and retrieve of the Spartan, they've already done this type of training in the water tank. The only difference here is the spacecraft is tumbling. They trained to capture it essentially for an RMS (robot arm) failure when the spacecraft would be stable. So we've added that complication to it, but beyond that it's very similar to what they've already done. If the rate was very much lower, the job would be a whole lot easier. Other options would be available. But we elected to have one plan (that can handle any scenario)." The spacewalk is scheduled to last six hours, beginning at 7:16 p.m. Recapturing Spartan is expected to take about two hours. With the spacecraft spinning at 1.9 degrees per second, Scott and Doi will only have to exert about 10 pounds of force to grab and stop it. If the backup attitude control system activated at some point, the satellite will be relatively stable, duplicating the manual berthing scenario the astronauts trained for before launch. "We don't think the rates are too particularly high that it will present any difficulty," said Mike Hess, the lead spacewalk officer at the Johnson Space Center. Once the satellite is in hand, Scott and Doi will lower it onto its support platform where it will be locked down. The remaining four hours will be devoted to a compressed schedule of already planned activities in support of the international space station. The top priority is to test a telescoping space crane and other station assembly tools. But it appears the crew will not have enough time to deploy a small robotic camera called AERCam/Sprint for a brief test flight. "The timeline is set up to give us hopefully about four hours out of the proposed six hours to do our space station tasks," said Hess. " So we expect to get our prime priorities taken care of on this EVA. We're going to still have a chance to check out the crane, work with it with mass handling. We hope to be able to use (a simulated station battery) as a large mass and get some handling characteristics done on the crane. "So the only items that have fallen off the EVA timeline are the lower priority ones," he said. "So we'll still get a lot of excellent data for space station. We are a little bit disappointed that Sprint and a couple of the lower priority things will not be able to be used on the EVA, but perhaps we might get a chance to do those at some other time." As for Spartan, Tooley said that even if the spacecraft cannot be relaunched on Columbia's flight it probably will fly again in the future. "I wouldn't characterize it as coming home empty handed," he said. "We have a reusable spacecraft that we've flown very successfully three times prior on the space shuttle. By all indications, we're going to bring that instrument back with us to fly again." Aboard the shuttle, meanwhile, Columbia's crew was awakened at 12:46 p.m. today by a recording of "The Air Force Song" beamed up from mission control for Kregel, a retired Air Force test pilot, and shuttle pilot Steve Lindsey, an Air Force major. "And good morning Columbia, as you're going well past the wild blue yonder," radioed Bill McArthur from Houston. "Good morning, Bill. That song sounded vaguely familar to me," Lindsey replied. "Great to hear your voice." "Well, we're ready for another exciting day here in the space business," McArthur said. "For right now, though, we're going to TMBU up a fuel cell purge for you." And so it goes. =================================================================== NASA mulls Spartan retrieval options (11/22/97) 11 p.m. Update: Chawla declines to discuss grapple failure In a crew interview this evening, shuttle astronaut Kalpana Chawla, Columbia's robot arm operator, offered no explanation for what happened Friday in an unsuccessful attempt to recapture an apparently malfunctioning science satellite. For whatever reason, Chawla was unable to grapple the spacecraft, which was rock steady at the time, and at some point, the arm apparently nudged it, imparting a 1.9-degree-per-second spin. The Columbia astronauts now plan to attempt a manual retrieval Monday during an already planned spacewalk (see the next entry for details). In a live interview with NBC's Asia Network, Chawla was asked what happened during the aborted grapple attempt. "OK, this question to Ms. Chawla," the interviewer said. "What happened during your attempted retrieval of Spartan? Was it mechanical, human error, what happened? "We don't really know yet," Chawla replied with no elaboration. "OK," the interviewer, briefly flustered, said after a pause. "We'll let the scientists figure it out. Let me ask you on a more personal level, Ms. Chawla, how amazing is it to you that you're sitting where you are right now, starting from a childhood in northern India to a spot on the U.S. space shuttle?" "Very far fetched. It's like a dream." "I think you called it your 'ultimate adventure.' I mean, is it just unbelievable to you? I would guess it is." "You're right, yes, it is unbelieveable." "Your own niece ... says that she may now want to become an astronaut. How would you want your experience to be taken by people - friends, family, supporters - in India, especially women?" "I would say if you have a dream, follow it." "Good advice." "It doesn't really matter whether you are a woman or from India or from wherever." "OK." Spacewalker Winston Scott said in an earlier interview that he and crewmate Takao Doi do not anticipate any problems capturing the Spartan satellite Monday. "I think the option we're leaning toward is Takao Doi and myself being positioned on the left and right sides of the Spartan MPESS," Scott said. "The MPESS is the mounting structure the Spartan will fit into. We're thinking that that is going to be the best positon for us and we'll both station ourselves on each side of the MPESS and we'll fly the space shuttle up to Spartan, we'll analyze its (spin) rates and if it looks like it's slow eough and safe enough to do, Takao and I will grab it. "We have a lot of people taking a look at this. We've got astronauts on the ground who are practicing or testing the scenario in our neutral buoyancy lab, we have folks looking at it in the virtual reality laboratory, we're taking a good, long, hard look at this event before we put it into action. I feel pretty confident that we can pull it off and pull it off safely." He said Spartan was spinning primarily around one axis and "if indeed that is the case, then Takao and I will be able to grab the satellite and we shouldn't have any trouble with it." 09:30 p.m. Update: Spartan retrieval options firm up; satellite health considered Astronauts and engineers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston have settled on a specific scenario for two Columbia spacewalkers to pluck the wayward Spartan satellite out of orbit Monday. While a formal decision will be made Sunday by NASA's mission management team (MMT), the proposed rescue plan calls for Winston Scott and Takao Doi to grab the satellite while they are both firmly anchored in foot restraints in Columbia's cargo bay. Under this scenario, shuttle skipper Kevin Kregel would fly Columbia up to the spinning Spartan satellite and align the orbiter's Z axis - an imaginary line that runs perpendicular to the cargo bay - with the spin axis of the satellite. The two spacewalkers then would reach overhead and grab the Spartan satellite, stopping its spin and holding it steady so Columbia's robot arm could lock onto a grapple fixture. The satellite then could be berthed normally. Spartan was launched Friday afternoon for what was to have been two days of autonomous observations of the sun's corona, or outer atmosphere. But the satellite never turned on properly after release from Columbia's robot arm. Arm operator Kalapana Chawla then attempted to recapture the satellite but in so doing, she apparently nudged the satellite in some fashion, giving it a two-degree-per-second spin. The crew ultimately was ordered to break off and to put off another capture attempt until a spacewalk Monday. There is an interesting wrinkle in all this. It is possible that Spartan is still alive and capable of functioning normally. Consider this scenario, one that has been discussed in Houston. It is possible the satellite's attitude control subsystem never activated (for whatever reason) and that other systems are healthy. There is some indication of that because the astronauts reported seeing a door open on Spartan's main telescope after it was deployed. If this scenario is correct, an internal timer began ticking when Spartan was deployed. After one hour without a regrapple, the satellite was programmed to assume the science mission had begun. If the shuttle's robot arm locks on from that point forward, the satellite's attitude control system will be disabled for the remainder of the mission as a safety precaution. And that is presumably what would happen if Columbia's robot arm is used to berth Spartan on Monday. But if Scott and Doi manually berth Spartan on its support structure, it may be possible to re-initialize the satellite's on-board systems, including the attitude control subsystem. Still, Columbia will not have enough propellant after Monday's rendezvous to make another approach. So even if Spartan is, in fact, healthy - and that's a big if - the crew can't relaunch it for a delayed science mission. Could they, perhaps, let it go and stay close by for a few hours of high-priority science observations? Probably not. But it's fun to consider all the possibilities! Getting back to the recovery operation, astronaut James Wetherbee, deputy director of the Johnson Space Center, briefed Kregel and company tonight on which recovery scenario seems most feasible. Option One calls for Scott and Doi to grab the satellite while anchored in the cargo bay. Option Two calls for one spacewalker to ride on the robot arm. "In our final analysis ... the crew work load goes up significantly (with Option Two) because you have three people now in the loop: The crew members outside, the arm operator and you flying the vehicle. ... The bottom line was the crew coordination was just a little bit tougher and so our recommendation is going to be that we focus on Option One with the two crew members on the MPESS (multi-purpose experiment support structure) grabbing onto the (satellite's) instrument canisters. That's an overview. We'll continue working the procedures tonight so that we have something for you to look at tomorrow. We'll make a recommendation to the MMT (mission management team) and see what they say. And it looked like it was doable to us." "OK. Thanks for the hard work there, Wex," Kregel replied, using Wetherbee's nickname. "We've already been talking about that and we thought that you were leaning toward the Option One. We went ahead and made ourselves a little Spartan model and rotated it in different axes and agree with your thoughts, to try to get the spin axis parallel to the Z axis. We've also been talking with the EVA crew members about the right words and who's in control and what actions to take depending on what we're told. We'll be looking forward to the procedures. I think we're thinking along the same lines." 11:20 a.m. Update: Crew awake; spacesuit checkout; Spartan options debated The Columbia astronauts were awakened at 10:56 a.m. for a busy day of orbital research and work to check out the spacesuits Winston Scott and Takao Doi expect to use during a dramatic satellite rescue spacewalk Monday. Today's wakeup music was a recording of the theme to "Galaxy Boys," a science fiction puppet show Japanese astronaut Takao Doi once enjoyed as a boy. "Good morning Columbia," called astronaut Bill McArthur from mission control. "We sure have a lot of work ahead of us. Time to roll up our sleeves and gosh, maybe it would help if we had the Galaxy Boys with us." "Hello Houston, thanks very much," Doi replied. "This is my very favorite song from my childhood and actually I sang this song to the launch pad with my crew members. Thank you, Houston." Doi and Scott face a busy day of spacesuit checkout, a routine pre-spacewalk exercise to inspect various suit components and the tools the astronauts plan to use during their excursion. The spacewalk is expected to take place Monday evening, as originally scheduled. The goal is to test a telescoping crane-like device and other space station assembly aids, along with an experimental robotic camera system. While all of that would be challenging enough, the astronauts likely will be asked to manually retrieve a small astronomy satellite that was launched from Columbia Friday. The Spartan-201 satellite never turned on after its release from Columbia and to make matters worse, the shuttle's robot arm somehow bumped it during a recapture attempt, imparting a two-degree-per-second spin (see the CBS News Reporter's Notebook below for a complete recap of Friday's events). The crew had to break off subsequent retrieval attempts after about one hour to conserve fuel and to give engineers on Earth time to figure out what might be done. While no final decisions have been made, it's likely Scott and Doi will attempt to manually pluck the Spartan out of orbit during the first hour or two of their spacewalk Monday. There are several ways this could be done, but the leading candidate is for Columbia to fly right up to Spartan so Scott and Doi, anchored to foot restraints in the cargo bay, can simply reach out and grab the satellite. The same technique was used in 1992 to capture an Intelsat relay station and it is the method Scott and Doi trained for before launch. Another option is for one of the astronauts to capture the spacecraft while riding the robot arm. In either case, some of the original objectives of the spacewalk likely will be curtailed for lack of time and it is not yet known whether the AERCam/Sprint robotic camera system will remain a priority. But all of that is up in the air, so to speak, as of this writing. Engineers at the Johnson Space Center are evaluating a wide variety of options and scenarios to determine the best possible course of action and a final decision on how to proceed probably will not be announced before Sunday. In the meantime, the crew will press ahead with on-board materials science experiments associated with Columbia's primary payload, the United States Microgravity Payload, or USMP-4. Those experiments appear to be working smoothly and researchers are pleased with preliminary results. =================================================================== Spartan satellite fails to activate; EVA rescue likely (11/21/97) 11:50 p.m. Update: Satellite retrieval spacewalk likely Monday NASA engineers do not yet know what prevented the Spartan astronomy satellite activating properly today after its deployment from the shuttle Columbia or what went wrong during a subsequent attempt to recapture the spacecraft. Astronaut Kalpana Chawla, operating Columbia's robot arm, tried to regrapple the malfunctioning sun-study satellite, but in so doing, the arm somehow nudged the spacecraft, imparting a two-degree-per-second spin. Mission director Lee Briscoe said a tiger team of flight controllers and engineers under flight director Phil Engelauf are evaluating a variety of options for recovering the reusable satellite later in the mission. The leading candidate as of late Friday, Briscoe said, is to let astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi manually haul it back aboad during an already planned spacewalk Monday evening. While one of the astronauts could attempt to grab the satellite on his own while anchored to the end of Columbia's robot arm, Briscoe said controllers were leaning toward a two-man capture, with the astronauts firmly anchored in foot restraints in the shuttle's cargo bay. In that case, commander Kevin Kregel would fly Columbia up to the satellite so Scott and Doi could simply reach out and grab it. Scott and Doi trained for a manual recovery before launch, but the scenarios they rehearsed assumed the spacecraft was in a stable orientation. Spartan's primary attitude control system obviously failed to activate but a backup system, which reacts against Earth's magnetic field, may still damp out the current spin. If so, Briscoe said, there should be no problem hauling the satellite back aboard. If it is still spinning, however, the procedure could prove challenging. Even so, Briscoe said he is optimistic Scott and Doi will be able to muscle it back on board. "We've done satellite retrieves manually on many occasions," he said. "We've done it with two people, we've done it with three even. We've done it with a man on the arm with payloads that weigh more than this one. With the procedures we have in place and the team looking at it, I'm very confident we'll just go up and pick this thing up ... and bring it home. That way we'll be able to analyze it and make sure what really happened." But he would not rule out an additional option: Leaving the satellite behind in space and foregoing any more attempts to retrieve it. Spartan is relatively inexpensive, no science was recorded and it does not represent the primary goal of Columbia's mission. In any case, no final decisions will be made before Sunday, after enginers brief NASA's mission management team on the available options. But Briscoe said only one rendezvous will be attempted, the sooner the better. As with any such problem, speculation about who might have been at fault is inevitable. But Briscoe downplayed the possibility of operator error on Chawla's part during the initial regrapple attempt. "I wouldn't call it operator error," he said. "We're still looking at the video and we're trying to match the video up with the telemetry we have so we can see exactly when the snares closed, when they opened, things like this. This particular grapple is not as easy as a normal grapple where you fly up ... and you have multiple camera angles to tell you exactly how far you are from the base plate of the grapple fixture. In this particular case, you have to go in and you don't have that side look to see how close you are to grapple. ... We may have missed the grapple fixture because we weren't quite in close enough. We're not sure of that yet. It may be we missed it when we closed and when we opened up, a snare might have hit the grapple fixture and put the rate on it. We won't know that for a little while." But the grapple operation appeared far from smooth to this observer, at least, and one suspects Chawla may face some uncomfortable questions during upcoming media interviews. One final point. After the news briefing, Craig Tooley, the Spartan mission manager, clarified exactly how the satellite's on-board timer worked - or didn't - during the initial release. The spacecraft was programmed to perform a 45-degree pirouette 90 seconds after deploy to demonstrate its attitude control system was working properly. The pirouette, as everyone knows, never happened. In addition, the satellite was programmed to assume its mission was complete if the shuttle's robot arm locked on to it any time after 60 minutes. After 60 minutes, a grapple would trigger routines that would disable the attitude control system as a safety precaution. That's why the crew tried so hard to recapture Spartan before the 60 minutes passed. Had they done so, the attitude control system would have remained intact, permitting a possible second relaunch. 8:55 p.m. Update: Video of botched Spartan regrapple downlinked NASA mission managers continue to assess their options for retrieving the errant Spartan-201 sun-study satellite. A news briefing to outline possible options is planned for around 11 p.m. and notes will be posted here as soon as possible thereafter. It is not yet clear whether the satellite is, in fact, dead. While Spartan's attitude control system did not activate immediately after release, the astronauts reported a door on the satellite's main telescope opened at some point after release, indicating some systems were, in fact, working. The status of the attitude control system is unknown at this point and it is not yet clear whether there is any chance it might damp out an unwanted spin imparted by the shuttle's robot arm during an unsuccessful attempt to recapture the satellite. Videotape of the failed capture attempt showed a fairly rapid, jerky motion of the shuttle's robot arm as it moved in to grapple the errant satellite and then pulled away. Astronaut Kalpana Chawla was operating the arm at the time. A camera mounted on the end of the 50-foot-long arm showed it moving in to capture the satellite shortly after Kalpana originally released the boxy spacecraft into open space. Based on similar views from past shuttle missions, the arm's motion appeared surprisingly rapid, to this writer at least, and somewhat uneven. After a moment when the arm's end effector was positioned directly over Spartan's grapple fixture, Kalpana suddenly pulled back. Either at that point or immediately thereafter, the arm apparently brushed against the satellite's grapple fixture, imparting a two-degree-per-second spin. While operator error would appear to be the cause of the unwanted tip-off rate, there is little hard data at present and other explanations may be possible. The snares in the arm's end effector may have malfunctioned or not operated symmetrically, causing an unexpected motion. Around 8:45 p.m., the crew inspected and tested the snares, using a cargo bay camera to look for signs of trouble. No obvious problems were visible and engineers in Houston said the snares operated properly. 5:25 p.m. Update: Shuttle crew unable to recapture wayward satellite Initial attempts to recapture a small astronomy satellite that failed to activate after release from the shuttle Columbia today were unsuccessful, ending any chance for high-priority solar observations during the current mission. There were two problems: First, the reusable satellite failed to activate itself after release. Then, astronaut Kalpana Chawla, operating Columbia's robot arm, did not get an indication of contact while trying to regrapple the spacecraft. In the process of backing the arm away for a second attempt, she apparently brushed it against the Spartan's grapple fixture, imparting a two-degree-per-second spin. Commander Kevin Kregel then attempted to reorient the shuttle so Kalpana could position the arm for another capture attempt. But after about one hour he was forced to break off and back away because of fuel contraints. At that point, Spartan's science mission had already been written off. The crew only had an hour to recapture before a timer would have disabled Spartan's attitude control system as a safety precaution. That alone would have ended any prospect of science observations during Columbia's mission. Flight controllers now are considering a plan to let astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi manually recapture the Spartan satellite Sunday during an already planned spacewalk or even during a later, unplanned excursion. "Kevin, what we're thinking of doing is a little later on today performing a phasing burn and tomorrow, carrying on with our original plan, which is to do (spacesuit) checkout and the following day, performing a rendezvous with Spartan and an EVA (spacewalk) recapture," said astronaut Marc Garneau in Houston. "We would like you to do a little thinking about it. It's obviously very early in our own thinking and we'd appreciate any feedback from you. We'll keep you abreast of any developments in this plan." "OK, copy all. Thanks, Marc," Kregel replied. "And we can see the Spartan, it's aft and about 30 degrees of the starboard wing, a little bit high." Mission managers also are considering other options, including another robot arm grapple on Monday. Will advise. The failure today was a major disappointment for the solar physics community, which had hoped to use Spartan-201's two instruments to learn more about the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona. In addition, data from Spartan would have helped engineers recalibrate instruments aboard the much more ambitious $1 billion Solar and Helospheric Observatory, or SOHO. But it was not to be. Already running one day late because of electrical problems with the SOHO satellite, Spartan was released today at 4:04:43 p.m. as the shuttle sailed 174 miles above the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii. Release should have started an on-board timer to set up a self-test maneuver to demonstrate the spacecraft was operating normally. That maneuver never took place and at that point, Chawla made the first regrapple attempt, imparting the relatively high spin. While the loss of Spartan's science data is a major disappointment, the major objective of Columbia's mission is materials science research with the United States Microgravity Payload mounted in the shuttle's cargo bay. Those experiments are proceeding smoothly and the USMP-4 hardware is operating normally. The real question now is whether the astronauts will be able to retrieve the reusable Spartan satellite, a small instrument platform making its fourth flight. Spartan "only" cost a few million dollars and given the success it enojoyed during its first three flights, loss of the spacecraft itself would not be a major setback for NASA. But it would certainly be a major disappointment and one suspects the crew will feel quite a bit of self-imposed pressure to get it back one way or the other. As of this writing, Chawla has not yet discussed her initial attempt to capture the satellite or what happened during the backout to impart a spin. See below for details of the deployment and initial efforts to recapture Spartan. This status report will be updated after a news briefing later this evening with shuttle managers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. 4:20 p.m. Update: Spartan-201 satellite malfunctions; initial regrapple attempts fail Astronaut Kalpana Chawla, operating the shuttle Columbia's 50-foot robot arm, released the Spartan-201 solar physics satellite into open space today at 4:04:43 p.m. for two days of solar observations. But the satellite failed to perform a post-release self-test maneuver, prompting mission control to order Chawla to regrapple the apparently malfunctioning satellite. The release, at orbital noon, went smoothly, with no signs of any problems. "Deployment confirmed," NASA commentator Rob Navias said from mission control as Chawla slowly pulled the Canadian-built arm away from the satellite. "Spartan is a free flier once again. Robot arm officer reports a good, clean release." The release should have kicked off a timer on the satellite for a self-test maneuver in which the spacecraft was to pirouette 45 degrees to indicate its operational readiness to proceed with the free flight. But the satellite remained rock steady in its original release orientation. "Houston, Columbia," Chawla called. "It's D1 plus three-and-a-half minutes and we do not see Spartan doing a pirouette. So at D1 plus four we plan to regrapple." "Columbia, we concur," astronaut Marc Garneu replied from Houston. During the subsequent attempt to recapture the satellite, however, the robot arm failed to achieve the proper contact indication. As Chawla pulled the arm back for another attempt, it apparently brushed against the satellite's grapple fixture, imparting a slow spin. The astronauts then stood by, waiting for the satellite to swing all the way around for another capture attempt. Will advise. 1:15 p.m. Update: SOHO incident details Here is an explanation of what went wrong with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite - SOHO - Wednesday and the current state of the spacecraft as posted at the project's web site: November 19, 1997 at 14:38 UT, there was a sharp reduction in power to SOHO's Attitude Control Unit A-side (ACU-A) which probably initiated a gradual drift in the pointing of the spacecraft. This led to an Emergency Sun Reacquisition (ESR). The ESR is an automatic reconfiguration of the Attitude and Orbit Control System to the redundant side. All experiments went into safe mode as programmed. The Flight Operations Team started the recovery script a couple of minutes afterwards. Seven hours into the recovery procedure, at 21:50 UT, a 'spacecraft emergency' was declared in order to get additional coverage from 34m stations of the Deep Space Network and complete the script. The ACU-A was powered back on at 23:35 UT, and put again in control of the attitude of the spacecraft at 00:11 UT, November 20. The ACU-A is nominal. At 05:00 UT it was decided to delay the deployment of Spartan 201 by 24 hours, until 21:00 UT November 21, to give enough time to UVCS to be back in normal mode, and carry out the joint science programme with Spartan 201 as planned. Since 15:49 today, November 21, SOHO is nominal again. ESA and Matra-Marconi Space engineers are still assessing the data to determine the cause of the anomaly. 11 a.m. Update: Crew awake; updating Spartan launch preparations The Columbia astronauts geared up to launch a small astronomy satellite today that will study the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, during a two-day free flight. The Spartan-201 satellite also will make observations in concert with the $1 billion Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite - SOHO - to help engineers re-calibrate the older spacecraft's instruments. SOHO has been in orbit since Dec. 2, 1995, and the accuracy of its high-tech instruments and sensors has slowly degraded over time. By comparing the readings from Spartan's freshly calibrated instruments with those aboard SOHO, engineers can send up commands to recalibrate the older satellite, improving the accuracy of future observations. Astronaut Kalpana Chawla, operating Columbia's 50-foot-long robot arm, is scheduled to release the Spartan-201 spacecraft at 4:03 p.m. Assuming the satellite successfully performs a routine self-test, Columbia will back away and take up a position about 40 nautical miles behind for the next two days. Chawla will retrieve the satellite Sunday evening around 8 p.m. "Spartan looks like a big cube essentially," Chawla said in a NASA interview. "We pick up the Spartan, bring it up, and take it to it's deploy location. It is critical that the location be right, because it's supposed to be looking at the Sun at that time. And at that time we let it go, and we watch it for about two minutes when it does a pirouette. And that tells us that all the automated tasks that were supposed to go on have started on time. "If that does not happen," she added, "then we'll take it back and put it in the bay for another try on another day. But it would hopefully work fine the first time, and then we let it go for two days. It collects science on the corona of the Sun, and then we take it back." For retrieval, the shuttle will approach from directly below much like shuttle crews rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir during docking missions. "It looks very small," Chawla said of Spartan-201. "And we look at it from the aft window and the overhead window, and we have cameras positioned at it. Finally it comes into the camera view. The camera is mounted on the arm. And when it's close enough, then I go and grapple it. And then there are actually other tests planned with Spartan. But after the grapple, pretty much we do those tests, and bring it back to the payload bay and latch it for its journey back home." The crew originally planned to deploy Spartan on Thursday, but the operation was put on hold 24 hours after SOHO experienced an apparent voltage spike Wednesday in its attitude control system. The satellite's on-board computer, following pre-programmed instructions, shut the spacecraft down, putting its systems into a sort of electronic hibernation until engineers on Earth could resolve the problem. As it turned out, the satellite was back in operation Thursday afternoon and all systems are go for today's release of Spartan. The astronauts were awakened today at 10:46 a.m. by a recording of Frank Sinatra belting out "New York, New York" in honor of shuttle commander Kevin Kregel, who was born in Amityville, N.Y. "Good morning, Columbia. And Kevin, we know the folks back home are real excited to watch the deploy today," radioed astronaut Bill McArthur from mission control. "Good morning, Billy Mac! What a great way to wake up," Kregel replied from orbit. "I've got the rest of the crew standing at attention." There are no technical problems of any significance with Columbia or its payloads. =================================================================== Spartan launch delayed to Friday (11/20/97) 6:45 p.m. Update: SOHO back in action Engineers successfully brought the $1 billion Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite - SOHO - back to life today after a power surge Wednesday that put the spacecraft into electronic hibernation. With SOHO back on line, the Columbia astronauts plan to launch a small sun-study satellite called Spartan Friday afternoon that will make collaborative observations of the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, during a 48-hour free flight. "We are now in nominal operations," Spartan project scientist Richard Fisher said late today. "The flight operations team has recovered the SOHO, it is on line and we're ready to go." The astronauts originally planned to deploy the Spartan-201 satellite today but they re-arranged their schedule to give engineers time to recover SOHO. The goal of the Spartan project is twofold: Two study the corona with two onboard instruments; and to make observations in concert with SOHO that will enable engineers to recalibrate the older satellite's instruments. To salvage the collaborative observations, Spartan's deployment was delayed one day, forcing shuttle flight controllers to juggle the astronauts' schedule somewhat to accommodate the change. The primary goal of Columbia's mission is operation of the United States Microgravity Payload, or USMP-4, a suite of sophisticated instruments and experiments devoted to studies of materials science and basic physics. To accommodate the Spartan-201 launch delay, some experiments were moved up one day but all in all, the impact on the mission was minimal. "USMP systems are up and operating, power distribution is nominal, the cooling system is nominal, the command and data management system is operating nominally," said mission manager Sherwood Anderson. "Instrument health is excellent. ... There has been a replanning effort going on with us to support the Spartan delay. At this point, there's been no impact to our science and we have no requirements to extend the mission." A spacewalk by astronauts Winston Scott and Japanese flier Takao Doi remains on schedule for Monday evening to test space station construction tools and an experimental robotic camera system. They originally planned to check out their spacesuits and tools on Sunday, but because of Spartan retrieval operations, they now will move that work up to Saturday. Along with gathering data to help recalibrate SOHO's instruments, the Spartan-201 satellite also will help researchers answer a variety of questions about the corona by providing a second set of electronic eyes. "No satellites flying today are exactly identical," Fisher said. "And the collaborative programs usually are aimed at looking at the same thing on the sun with two different instruments and value is added to both data sets. We have some new vision, some insight, that we didn't have before and this is always very exciting for scientists. One of the things about this mission is it takes place on the rise of the solar cycle when we've been in a very magnetically quiet condition for the past four or five years. We're now in a period of time when the sun's magnetic activity is increasing so all the instruments we have available to us in orbit right now are returning things that we haven't seen before." Unlike the Spartan satellite, which moves into Earth's shadow every 45 minutes or so, SOHO is located in a gravitational eddy one million miles from Earth where its dozen instruments can look at the sun 24 hours a day. During Spartan's 48 hours away from Columbia, SOHO will look at the same targets on the sun as Spartan when the shuttle satellite is in daylight. By comparing readings from the two satellites, engineers will be able to recalibrate SOHO's instruments to ensure accuracy in future observations. Should additional problems crop up with SOHO before Spartan's planned deployment, the astronauts would go ahead and launch the reusable satellite. "If SOHO did have a problem right now, the thinking is we would go ahead and deploy Spartan tomorrow and they could still go ahead and do their science mission," said Lee Briscoe, a mission operations representative. "There's both a science program and a joint science program," Fisher said. "I can't exactly quantify for you what percentages (between them) are, but we would go ahead and complete the Spartan-specific science program and we'd expect there would be no disruption of that. And that would give us a considerable yield. We would be very happy with that." If all goes well, astronaut Kalpana Chawla, operating Columbia's robot arm, will deploy the small Spartan satellite around 4 p.m. Friday. After initial self tests, the shuttle will drop behind "and then the next sunrise, we will acquire the sun and begin our program plan," Fisher said. "The program plan is something we cannot alter, it's stored on board. We anticipate having a series of pre-programmed observations of the corona with the two instruments that are on board." 10:00 a.m. Update: Spartan launch delayed to Friday The Columbia astronauts were awakened at 9:46 a.m. today to begin their first full day in orbit by a recording of "Hitchin' a Ride" beamed up from mission control. "Good morning, Columbia, and what a ride," called astronaut Bill McArthur in Houston. Columbia's five-man one-woman crew faces a revised timeline today because of a one-day delay in the deployment of the Spartan-201 satellite. Launch was postponed 24 hours, to 4 p.m. Friday, because of electrical problems with the $1 billion SOHO sun-study satellite launched two years ago. One of the goals of Spartan's mission is to observe the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, at the same time as SOHO. By comparing data from the newer, freshly calibrated Spartan with the older SOHO, engineers will be able to recalibrate SOHO's instruments to improve the accuracy of future observations. But SOHO went into emergency safe mode Wednesday at 9:40 a.m., apparently because of a voltage spike in its attitude control system. Based on the progress of work at the Goddard Space Flight Center to reactivate the spacecraft, shuttle flight controllers decided early today to delay Spartan's deployment by one day. That should give engineers enough time to reactivate and checkout SOHO before pressing ahead with the collaborative observation program. The Spartan launch delay will have a minimal impact on Columbia's mission. A spacewalk by astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi remains on schedule for Monday evening and most science operations with the United States Microgravity Payload, the major objective of the mission, will proceed as planned. A few experiment runs, originally planned for Friday, were moved up to today. There are no technical problems of any significance with the shuttle or its payloads. =================================================================== Columbia rockets into orbit (11/19/97) 7:00 p.m. Update: Spartan deploy decision expected after midnight meeting NASA engineers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston are scheduled to meet around midnight to assess the health of the joint NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite - SOHO - and to decide when a smaller sun-study satellite aboard the shuttle Columbia might be launched. The $1 billion SOHO spacecraft, launched aboard an Atlas rocket Dec. 2, 1995, went into an emergency shutdown mode earlier today because of high voltage in its attitude control system. Flight controllers at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., are attempting to bring the spacecraft out of electronic hibernation and restore it to normal operation. All of this has an impact on Columbia's flight because the Spartan-201 satellite scheduled for launch from the orbiter Thursday afternoon is intended to study the sun at the same time as SOHO. By comparing data from the newer Spartan with the older SOHO, engineers will be able to recalibrate SOHO's instruments to improve the accuracy of future observations. Columbia's crew originally planned to launch Spartan at 4 p.m. Thursday. However, if the SOHO spacecraft is not operational by the end of the midnight meeting in Houston, Spartan's deployment will be delayed one day. In that case, release would be rescheduled for Friday afternoon and the satellite would be hauled back aboard Columbia early Sunday evening, one day later than originally planned. Under this scenario, a spacewalk by astronauts Winston Scott and Takao Doi would take place Monday night as planned. Work to prepare for the spacewalk, however, would be moved up from Sunday to Thursday. If SOHO's recovery proceeds fast enough, however, flight controllers will ask Columbia's crew to launch Spartan on schedule Thursday. As of this writing, however, that appears to be an unlikely prospect and a one-day launch delay is considered likely. This status report will be updated when a decision is made or as developments warrant. 4:15 p.m. Update: SOHO sun-study satellite shuts down; possible impact on shuttle science operations The joint ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite - SOHO - went into emergency safe mode today at 9:40 a.m. after an apparent malfunction of some sort. The 11 science instruments on board were safely powered down and engineers are lookling into what might have caused the incident. It is expected to take at least 24 hours to get the spacecraft back into normal operation, assuming engineers can quickly track down the problem and correct it. The Columbia astronauts plan to launch a small satellite called Spartan-201 Thursday evening to study the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, at the same time SOHO's instruments are looking at the same thing. By comparing readings between the newer and the older spacecraft, engineers will be able to re-calibrate instruments aboard SOHO that have been slowly degrading since launch two years ago. Because of today's unexpected shutdown, however, SOHO managers have asked NASA to consider the possibility of delaying Spartan's deployment by one day or so to allow time for recovery and to ensure engineers complete all planned co-observations with the two spacecraft. No final decisions have been made, pending additional troubleshooting. Will advise. "They're working that issue as we speak as to what impact that may have on being able to correlate the two instruments and operating together and there won't be a plan for that for another few hours, I suppose," Don McMonagle, chairman of NASA's mission management team, said at a post-launch news conference. McMonagle praised the Kennedy Space Center launch team for getting Columbia off the ground on time today, giving the agency an eight-for-eight record this year for launching shuttles on their assigned days. "This launch was pretty much a textbook (exercise)," he said. Added launch director James Harrington: "What I told the team is they did a fantastic job this year. We had eight-for-eight on time and that's quite an accomplishment. There's no doubt in my mind this is the world's greatest launch team." As for Columbia's much-discussed 180-degree roll to heads up during launch (see below for details), McMonagle said the maneuver came off without a hitch and that Columbia rolled left at five-degrees per second exactly as planned, resulting in a minimal 15-second loss of communications. Again, as expected. "We were anticipating the unique part of this ascent to include a roll to heads up at about six minutes into flight, that occurred right on time," he said. "In the roll, we transitioned from ground station telemetry to TDRS (satellite) telemetry. That transition occurred in less than 15 seconds, which is precisely as we expected. We're very satisfied that unique aspect of this ascent trajectory went as planned." 2:50 p.m. Update: Shuttle Columbia rockets into orbit The space shuttle Columbia corkscrewed into orbit today on a multi-national 16-day science mission highlighted by a U.S.-Japanese spacewalk, the launch and retrieval of a sun-study satellite and a variety of high-tech materials science experiments. With commander Kevin Kregel and pilot Steven Lindsey at the controls, NASA's oldest shuttle thundered away from pad 39B on time at 2:46 p.m. after a smooth countdown. Two minutes later, the orbiter's twin solid-fuel boosters fell away and six-and-a-half minutes after that, Columbia slipped into its planned preliminary orbit. A short rocket firing about 43 minutes after liftoff circularized the orbit at an altitude of 172 miles. Columbia's ascent was unique in that the orbiter rolled 180 degrees to a heads-up orientation five minutes 57 seconds after launch at a velocity of 13 times the speed of sound. NASA wants to shut down a tracking station in Bermuda to save some $5 million a year and by rolling heads up, the shuttle's cockpit antennas can "see" a NASA communications satellite overhead. Telemetry indicated the maneuver, which took place 300 miles down range at an altitude of about 70 miles, went smoothly but it was not visible on long-range tracking cameras. "Nice roll," astronaut Scott Horowitz radioed from Houston. "Copy and concur," Kregel replied a Columbia raced toward orbit. The roll maneuver prompted quite a bit of interest in the news media but officials stressed that analysis proved the procedure was safe to execute. "We do not characterize this as a risky maneuver," said Donald McMonagle, a former shuttle astronaut. "This was analyzed so we would make this roll to heads up after we're outside the atmosphere so the concerns about aerodynamic loads on the vehicle are not a problem. This occurs about six minutes into the launch, so we're well out of the atmosphere and the roll to heads up is completely unaffected by air. ... To quote Kevin Kregel, he expects it to be an E-ticket ride. But it's predictable and it's completely certified." See the archived mission preview for additional details about the roll maneuver. Joining Kregel and Lindsey aboard Columbia are flight engineer Winston Scott, India-born Kalpana Chawla, Japanese astronaut Takao Doi and Ukrainian guest researcher Leonid Kadenyuk, a cosmonaut making his first space flight. All are rookies except Kregel, making his third flight, and Scott, making his first. This is the 88th mission in shuttle history, the eighth and final flight of 1997 and the eighth in a row to take off on the assigned day. Landing is scheduled for 7:20 a.m. on Dec. 5. The goal of Columbia's mission is to carry out microgravity research and to study the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona. The former will be accomplished by the United States Microgravity Payload, a suite of high-tech experiments mounted in the shuttle's cargo bay, while the latter will be carried out by a small satellite called Spartan-201. "The microgravity research to be conducted on STS-87 will add new light and unique information to that age old question: What determines how matter behaves?" said Joel Kearns, a program manager at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "The answer to that question is not only important to scientists who want new information about how the universe works, buyt should be important to the lives of all our citizens because much of our economy and standard of living is based on that scientific knowledge." The USMP experiment carrier has flown three times before. For this mission, it is equipped with a variety of experiments, including a high-tech semiconductor furnace, a device to study how helium behaves in highly confined spaces, another devoted to the physics of crystallization and one to study the behavior of liquids in weightlessness. The astronauts also will study the propogation of flame in the absence of gravity. "There are a number of firsts on this mission," Kearns said. "This will be the first time we'll be running studies on the physics of crystallization in materials that mimic the crystal structure of everyday materials like copper and aluminum. It will be the first time we'll be doing studies on the nature of matter when it's confined to very low dimensions. It'll be the first time we'll be looking at studies in analogue materials to look at particle pushing and wetting, studies, again, of processes that influence how materials behave in day-to-day manufacturing. And one last point, it'll be the first time we'll be looking at combustion processes, looking at the unique physics of diffusion flames." In addition, Kearns said, "we'll be continuing our work in remote operations on this flight, in effect doing a dry run on how research will be conducted less than three years from now on the international space station, with the majority of the science team for the isodendritic growth experiment located not at a NASA field center, but up in Troy, N.Y., at the principle investigator's home university." The second major objective of Columbia's flight is the launch and retrieval of the Spartan-201 science satellite, a reusable instrument pallet making its fourth flight. "This has two instruments on it," said George Withbroe, a senior NASA manager. "They are coronographs, which are devices that provide an artificial eclipse of the sun so you can see the fain outer atmosphere called the corona. The corona has three important properties. One, it's very hot - one-and-a-half-degrees Centigrade, or about three million Fahrenheit - it flows away from the sun at very high speeds - about a million mph - and third, it's very gusty. And so Spartan-201 is designed to address three questions: Why is the corona so hot? How does it get accelerated to such high speeds? And why is it so gusty?" Scientists are interested in learning more about the corona because it will shed light on how stars seed nearby interstellar space with material. In addition, Withbroe said, "the solar wind is gusty and when these gusts hit the Earth they cause a variety of effects. One spectacular example are the aurorae." "When you get these strong gusts, they can occasionally pump up the Van Allen radiation belts and the particles in these belts can affect spacecraft," he added. "For example, during a strong gust in April, a communications satellite lost 15 percent of its power. And a third effect of these gusts on the Earth is when they hit Earth's magnetic field, they move it around. When you move a magnetic field and you have long conductors, like pipelines and electric powerlines, you generate currents. Most of the time these are just a nuisance. But occasionally, when you get a really strong gust, you can damage power transformers in electric power stations. And in March 1989, in a particularly spectacular event, Hydro-Quebec was knocked out for nine hours, affecting six million people." And finally, Spartan will be used to help calibrate instruments aboard the SOHO sun-observation satellite. "We're worried about (SOHO's) sensitivity," Withbroe said. "So with Spartan, we can calibrate before we launch, fly it and then re-calibrate when it gets back down to the ground, use that data to calibrate the SOHO spacecraft." Spartan is scheduled for launch at 4 p.m. Thursday and if all goes well, it will be hauled back aboard Saturday night, setting the stage for a six-hour spacewalk Monday evening by Scott and Doi. The goal of the excursion is to test a telescoping manually operated space crane that will be used during space station assembly to move large components from one point to another. The astronauts also will test a variety of other power tools and construction aids. "The EVA is definitely challenging," Scott said before launch. "We are evaluating, among other things, an EVA crane. This crane is to be used on space station for moving large masses from place to place aboard the station. The challenge is that the thing has never been tested. On Earth, it won't even hold its own weight. In space, we expect to move masses between 500 and 600 pounds. The first test will actually be a test in zero G. That in itself is a challenge. "This thing is folded up, it's bolted onto the side of the orbiter. Takao and I are going to deploy it, we'll take it out, we'll set it up, we'll unfold it, we'll put the large masses on it, we'll move it around, we'll test its stability. ... We'll have to take it down, we'll have to restow it. That is a monumental task and heaven forbid if something goes wrong. But we're very confident everything is going to go right." One of the highlights of the spacewalk will be a test of a small robotic camera known as AERCam/Sprint. About the size of a basketball, the small spacecraft is equipped with two television cameras and a pressurized nitrogen gas propulsion system. Scott will release the AERCam/Sprint and Lindsey, using a joystick and television monitors on Columbia's aft flight deck, will fly it about the payload bay. NASA wants to use similar technology during station construction to provide remote views of work sites and problem areas. 2:10 p.m. Update: Countdown enters planned hold at T-minus 20 minutes The shuttle Columbia's countdown has entered a planned 10-minute hold at the T-minus 20-minute mark. There are no technical problems at pad 39B and all systems remain "go" for liftoff at 2:46 p.m. The only question mark remains the weather, but the launch team is optimistic conditions will permit a liftoff during Columbia's 2.5-hour launch window. This status report will be updated after Columbia takes off or as conditions warrant. 1:20 p.m. Update: Shuttle hatch closed for flight The shuttle Columbia's five-man one-woman crew has strapped in for launch and the closeout crew at pad 39B has shut the orbiter's hatch in preparation for a planned 2:46 p.m. liftoff. The countdown is proceeding smoothly with no major technical problems and despite extensive cloud cover, chief astronaut Ken Cockrell, flying weather surveillance in a NASA jet, says the clouds are thin, contain no moisture and exhibit no vertical development. The launch window opens at 2:46 p.m. and closes at 5:16 p.m. 12:10 p.m. Update: Astronauts strap in for launch The Columbia astronauts are strapping in aboard the space shuttle at pad 39B. Today's 2.5-hour launch window opens at 2:46 p.m. and closes at 5:16 p.m. There are no technical problems and forecasters are cautiously optimistic the weather will cooperate. At this writing, however, there is extensive cloud cover over the Kennedy Space Center and fairly high winds on the surface. As has become standard practice with Columbia, small in-cabin television cameras were in place to give the public a view of the astronauts strapping in on both the upper flight deck and on the middeck. Videotape shot during ascent will be downlinked later, well after the crew reaches orbit. 07:15 a.m. Update: Shuttle fueled for launch Engineers began fueling the shuttle Columbia today, starting liquid hydrogen slow fill at 6:32 a.m. There are no technical problems at pad 39B and if all goes well, Columbia's external tank should be loaded with a half-million gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen rocket fuel by around 9:30 a.m. The only question mark remains the weather, with forecasters continuing to predict a 60 percent chance of thick clouds, rain showers or both that could delay liftoff. Today's 2.5-hour launch window opens at 2:46 p.m. and closes at 5:16 p.m. The forecast is the same for Thursday should launch be delayed 24 hours. Launch coverage on NASA television will begin at 9 a.m. A traditional crew breakfast photo opportunity is scheduled for 10:21 a.m. and Columbia's five-man one-woman crew plan to head for the launch pad at 11:31 a.m. to strap in for liftoff. Here is a brief mission timeline: DATE/TIME....EVENT 09:00 a.m....NASA TV coverage begins 09:26 a.m....Fueling complete 10:21 a.m....Crew photo op 11:31 a.m....Crew walkout 12:01 p.m....Crew boarding 01:16 p.m....Hatch closed 02:06 p.m....T-20 hold begins 02:16 p.m....Countdown resumes 02:27 p.m....T-9 hold begins 02:37 p.m....Countdown resumes 02:46 p.m....STS-87 Launch 11/20 04:00 p.m....Spartan solar research satellite deployed 11/22 07:31 p.m....Spartan retrieval operations complete 11/24 06:36 p.m....Spacewalk start 11/25 12:46 a.m....Spacewalk end 12/05 03:39 a.m....Close cargo doors 04:01 a.m....OPS-3 transition 05:58 a.m....Mission control 'go" for entry 06:20 a.m....Deorbit ignition 07:20 a.m....Landing =================================================================== Pre-launch news conference (11/18/97) Engineers have made up lost time and despite an uncertain forecast, the shuttle Columbia is on track for blastoff Wednesday at 2:46 p.m. to kick off a 16-day science mission. This will be the eighth and final shuttle flight for 1997 and the 88th in program history. The only major technical snag in an otherwise smooth countdown has been an elusive helium leak in a launch pad system that delayed the start of fuel loading Monday for Columbia's three electrical generators. Shuttle operations manager Bob Sieck said today the problem was corrected after several hours of troubleshooting and that as of this morning, the countdown was back on schedule. "We've had a few glitches, but nothing significant," he said. "We're essentially on the timeline now and not working any issues with the launch count." Forecasters continue to predict a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather during Columbia's 2.5-hour launch window. But the weather system affecting central Florida is difficult to predict and this one might go down to the wire. Should launch be delayed a day, forecasters say it will still be a 60-40 proposition Thursday. But all seven previous 1997 shuttle missions took off on the day they were scheduled and NASA managers are optimistic about chalking up another success Wednesday. "This is the eighth mission of the calendar year '97 and we are hopeful that this mission will demonstrate one more time our capability to launch on the day that we say we'll launch because all seven missions we've launched to date in this calendar year have been launched on time," said Donald McMonagle, chairman of NASA's mission management team. "We only had one (sic) exception to launching on the minute this year and that's STS-83 and STS-94, where we launched within our launch window on the day we planned to launch." Columbia's flight will mark the first use of pad 39B since January. The launch complex has been refurbished, equipped with new elevators, electrical cables and other upgrades, prompting Sieck to quip: "We have a lot of new paint out there. It's our goal to burn off some of that paint tomorrow afternoon with an on-time launch." Sieck said it's been five years since NASA launched eight missions in a calendar year. He credited the smooth lanch record to increased efficiency and the transition to a consolidated shuttle processing contract with United Space Alliance. "This is the eighth flight this year, the 88th of the program," he said at a pre-launch news conference. "The last time we flew eight missions in a calendar year was five years ago. The team and the capability of this system has improved greatly in the last five years. The efficiency at which we operate, the schedule predictability and all the indicators that management looks at says this is, in some respects, a different program than it was then and operating in a much more efficient manner." =================================================================== Shuttle countdown on track (11/17/97) The shuttle Columbia's countdown is ticking smoothly toward liftoff Wednesday at 2:46 p.m. There are no technical problems at pad 39B, the orbiter's cargo bay doors are closed and all systems are go for launch. The only question mark as of this writing is the weather, with forecasters continuing to predict a 40 percent chance of heavy clouds and showers that could delay blastoff. Shuttle weather officer Ed Priselac said the odds remain 40 percent "no go" for a Thursday launch but conditions are expected to improve to 80 percent go on Friday. Based on payload and orbiter servicing requirements, Columbia's crew can attempt a launch on any day up to and including Nov. 23. After that, the launch team would stand down five days, until Nov. 28, in order to service a cargo bay experiment and to reload liquid oxygen and hydrogen for the shuttle's on-board electrical generators. For readers who follow such things, the Air Force Eastern Range, the network of radar and telemetry systems that supports all east coast rocket launches, is clear through Dec. 6. NASA engineers are hopeful it won't come to that. "We're not working any significant issues or concerns and ground systems are go," said NASA test director Doug Lyons. "The launch team is looking forward to a successful launch Wednesday." =================================================================== STS-87 mission overview; countdown begins (11/16/97) With little fanfare, engineers at the Kennedy Space Center started the shuttle Columbia's countdown today at 3 p.m., setting the stage for launch Wednesday afternoon on a planned 16-day microgravity and solar physics research mission. Liftoff is scheduled for 2:46 p.m. and while there are no technical problems at pad 39B, forecasters are predicting a 40 percent chance of bad weather that could cause a delay. Hoping for the best, Columbia's five-man one-woman international crew - commander Kevin Kregel, pilot Steven Lindsey, Winston Scott, Kalpana Chawla, Japanese astronaut Takao Doi and Ukrainian guest flyer Leonid Kadenyuk - flew to KSC from the Johnson Space Center today, arriving around 3:30 p.m. "It's a beautiful day here in Florida, isn't it," commander Kevin Kregel asked reporters. "The crew of STS-87 is looking forward to launching Wednesday on the fourth United States Microgravity Payload mission. It's going to be a real exciting one, we're doing a lot of great science. Winston and Takao are going to get to do a spacewalk, Takao is going to be the first Japanese to do a spacewalk. Leonid will be the first Ukrainian to fly on the space shuttle. ... It's really going to be a super mission." The primary goal of the year's last shuttle flight is to perform a suite of materials science experiments making up the United States Microgravity Payload, or USMP. The second major objective is the launch and retrieval of the Spartan-201 satellite, a reusable instrument platform making its fourth flight. For Columbia's mission, Spartan has been equipped with a telescope and other instruments to study the sun. A variety of other experiments also are on board the shuttle, including an experimental sodium sulfur battery intended for space station use, a high tech space radiator and instruments that will help monitor ozone levels in Earth's atmosphere. But the clear highlight of the 87th shuttle flight, at least from the public's perspective, is a six-hour spacewalk by Scott and Doi to test a telescoping space crane and other equipment intended for use during space station construction. And at the end of the excursion, Scott plans to release a small, basketball-size satellite that Lindsey will fly by remote control from the shuttle's flight deck. The AERCam/Sprint is equipped with two television cameras and a pressurized nitrogen gas propulsion system. The idea is to develop a small, robotic camera system that can be used aboard the space station. "It's going to be exciting, we're looking forward to it and we think we're going to bring back some valuable information for future crews when we start constructing the space station," Scott said during a news conference in Houston. "We're doing a lot of different things," Kregel said, summing up the flight. "We're doing a lot of microgravity-type experiments in the payload bay and also in the middeck. We're also going to perform a spacewalk to evaluate tools we're going to use to build the space station starting next year. This is a spacewalk we were unsuccessful doing last year, but we're going to get it completed this year. Thirdly, we have a Spartan satellite that is going to look at the sun's corona to tell us more about a star that helps to keep life viable on Earth. Lastly is the Collaborative Ukrainian Experiment. Those are our four major payloads." Columbia will be launched into a 150-nautical-mile-high orbit tilted 28.45 degrees to the equator. In a first for the shuttle program, Columbia will roll "heads up" six minutes after launch, putting the orbiter on top of its external tank instead of underneath it. Here are details from a story I wrote for Space News: By WILLIAM HARWOOD Space News Correspondent CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In a bid to save some $5 million per year, NASA wants to shut down a shuttle tracking station in Bermuda, a move that will require shuttle crews to make a dramatic roll maneuver during ascent to establish satellite communications instead. The maneuver, requiring the shuttle to roll 180 degrees about its long axis, will be tested Nov. 19 when the crew of the shuttle Columbia blasts off on a 16-day microgravity research mission. If the test goes well, all subsequent shuttle flights using current model external tanks also will use the maneuver. "We feel confident this is perfectly safe, even if you have something ... bad happen in the middle of it or after it," said ascent flight director Wayne Hale. "I am very much satisfied it's a safe thing to do. [But] until we demonstrate it for the first time, there will be a level of concern." For a variety of technical reasons, the shuttle originally was designed to make the climb to space positioned under the vehicle's large external fuel tank, putting the astronauts in a heads-down position. In that orientation, however, the tank can block signals from the shuttle's radio antennas from making contact with NASA's communications satellites. As a result, ground stations in Florida, Bermuda and other sites provide communications until satellite support is possible. NASA now wants to shut down the Bermuda tracking station, but the only way to do that is to develop a method for providing satellite communications earlier in the ascent. And so, about six minutes into Columbia's flight, when the orbiter has achieved a velocity of 3,660 meters per second - well after the orbiter's two solid-fuel boosters have been jettisoned - the shuttle's three main engines will move, or gimbal, to roll the vehicle 180 degrees. That will put the crew on top of the external tank in a "heads up" position allowing the shuttle's antennas to transmit directly to a NASA Tracking and Data Relay System satellite overhead. "It'll be pretty neat to see from a piloting perspective because here you are upside down and then you're going to roll to rightside up," said Scott Horowitz, a veteran shuttle pilot. "It may actually make the ride a little bit more comfortable." The crew will not know in advance whether the shuttle will roll to the right or the left. The decision will be made by the shuttle's flight computers based on velocity and the shuttle's orientation at the time. The 180-degree maneuver will take about 20 seconds to complete. "We have analyzed it to death, I hope, for whatever aerodynamic forces there are at that altitude," Hale said. Horowitz, who will not be aboard Columbia, agreed, saying "once we're up at the point where we're going to do this roll to heads up, we're pretty much out of any reasonable atmosphere at that point so the aerodynamic effects are actually pretty minimal." The analysis indicates that even with various electrical failures or the shutdown of one or even two main engines during the maneuver, "it never goes what you would call out of control, even if you were to have a major failure right in the middle of the roll," Hale said. Engineers decided early on that any such roll should be delayed until after the shuttle is beyond the point where an emergency return to the Kennedy Space Center launch site is possible. "We had to go off and do a fair amount of analysis to ensure that we weren't doing something dumb," Hale said. "And one of the things we did not want to perturb was the return to launch site abort mode." A return to launch site abort could be required due to a major engine or systems failure during the first four minutes or so of flight. The demanding procedure calls for the shuttle to flip about and fly backward briefly before returning to Kennedy. "That is a fairly intricate maneuver, it's been analyzed to death and we spent a lot of money making sure it would work if we ever had to do that and it is based on a heads-down trajectory," Hale said. "So we picked a point in time that was after negative return [the launch site]." As an additional safety factor, the new roll maneuver will be carried out before the shuttle moves out of range of NASA's Florida tracking station. In so doing, flight controllers can maintain contact throughout until satellite communications are established. And for the first test at least, the Bermuda station will still be active. "If there is anything going on other than an absolutely normal flight, we will hand [communications] back to Bermuda because we know that works, there is no question," Hale said. "On the other hand, if everything is perfectly normal, we'll proceed to do the test." Without Bermuda, all flights launched to the east will require the roll maneuver. Flights to the Mir space station or the international space station, which take off on northeasterly trajectories, could still be launched in the heads-down orientation, using East Coast tracking stations for communications. NASA currently plans to certify a new super lightweight external fuel tank for heads-down ascents when launching to the northeast. All other flights will include the new roll maneuver. Once in orbit, the astronauts will settle down to a fairly busy first week in space, with Chawla using Columbia's robot arm to launch the Spartan-201 satellite at 4 p.m. on Nov. 20. The shuttle will trail Spartan by about 40 nautical miles for the next two days before the astronauts move back in to haul the spacecraft back aboard. On Nov. 23, Scott and Doi will checkout their spacesuits and tools before venturing into Columbia's payload bay around 6:36 p.m. on Nov. 24. "The EVA is definitely challenging," Scott said. "We are evaluating, among other things, an EVA crane. This crane is to be used on space station for moving large masses from place to place aboard the station. The challenge is that the thing has never been tested. On Earth, it won't even hold its own weight. In space, we expect to move masses between 500 and 600 pounds. The first test will actually be a test in zero G. That in itself is a challenge. "This thing is folded up, it's bolted onto the side of the orbiter. Takao and I are going to deploy it, we'll take it out, we'll set it up, we'll unfold it, we'll put the large masses on it, we'll move it around, we'll test its stability. ... We'll have to take it down, we'll have to restow it. That is a monumental task and heaven forbid if something goes wrong. But we're very confident everything is going to go right." Here is the timeline for the spacewalk: ELAPSED TIME.....SCOTT.....................DOI H:MM-H:MM 0:00-0:05........Post depress..............Same 0:05-0:15........Airlock egress............Same 0:15-0:25........Translation adaptation....Same 0:25-0:55........Crane setup...............Same 0:55-1:15........PAD/PFR setup.............Crane checkout 1:05-1:35........Tool setup................Same 1:35-2:05........Subcarrier unberthing.....Same 2:05-3:35........Large ORU ops with crane..Same 3:35-4:05........Subcarrier berth..........Small ORU operations 4:05-4:35........Large ORU ops.............Small ORU ops with crane 4:35-5:05........Crane stowage.............Same 5:05-5:55........AERCam ops and stowage....BRT/Power tool evaluation 5:55-6:15........Tool stowage..............Same 6:15-6:25........Airlock ingress...........Same 6:25-6:30........Pre-repress...............Same At the end of the spacewalk, Scott plans to release the AERCam/Sprint robotic camera. Here are details from a story I wrote about the project earlier this year for Space News: By WILLIAM HARWOOD Space News Correspondent CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A small, free-flying space camera the size of a basketball will be tested aboard the shuttle Columbia in November that could help future astronauts quickly determine the severity of accidents like the one that crippled the Mir space station in June. A larger, more expensive robotic camera system developed in Germany as a commercial venture is scheduled for a test flight in December near the Mir station and both systems ultimately could see use aboard the international space station. NASA's AERCam spacecraft is designed to work within a few feet of spacewalking astronauts or the station itself while the German vehicle, known as Inspector, would operate at greater distances to provide more of a global view. "They're really complimentary," said AERCam project manager Cliff Hess at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Interest in both systems has increased in the wake of an accident June 25 when an unmanned Progress resupply vehicle crashed into the Mir station. One of Mir's research modules was punctured but so far, no potential leaks have been located. "They're limited on the views they can get right now because of where the [station's] windows are located," Hess said. "That's exactly what AERCam is meant for, to give you some other view that you can't get otherwise." AERCam represents a family of robotic vehicles intended for use on the international space station to carry out routine structural inspections, take documentary photographs and to assist spacewalkers by providing close-up views of work areas. Future versions might even be equipped with sophisticated sensors that would enable astronauts to sniff out external coolant leaks or a small mechanical arm that could hold tools for spacewalkers. "One thing you could do is maybe go out periodically and do a scan of the solar arrays, to look maybe for meteoroids that may have hit it," said Hess. "You could automate something like this free flier to do a scan somewhat like a crop duster." But first, engineers must prove the basic concept of an Autonomous EVA Robotic Camera - AERCam - works during a test flight aboard the Columbia during an already planned spacewalk, or extra-vehicular activity. The 0.36-meter-wide wide, 16-kilogram camera, known as AERCam/Sprint, will be carried from the shuttle's airlock into the cargo bay by astronauts Winston Scott and Japanese crewmate Takao Doi. At the end of the spacewalk, Scott will release the camera for a 30-minute flight under the control of shuttle pilot Steven Lindsey, working from Columbia's aft flight deck with a joystick and a laptop computer. "It's kind of unlike anything I've flown before," Lindsey said in an interview, describing his training. "In some ways, the closest thing you could compare it to is flying a radio controlled airplane." If the tests go smoothly, Hess said, the project likely will be funded for additional development to improve AERCam's capabilities for use during the space station era. "Sprint's not meant to fly in its current embodiment on the station," he said in an interview. "You would evolve it, put more intelligence, put more capability in it. ... If this thing works, then it ought to be pretty well cut and dried that you'll have some version of it evolved for station use." NASA engineers at the Johnson Space Center have spent about $3 million designing and building the AERCam/Sprint test unit, taking advantage of propulsion and guidance systems originally designed for small emergency jetpacks that will be used by astronauts during station assembly. The test unit features two color television cameras equipped with six- and 12-millimeter lenses. Propulsion is provided by about one pound of nitrogen gas pressurized to 186 bars. AERCam/Sprint is designed to fly at a maximum speed of 0.08 meters per second. The spacecraft is covered with a soft outer blanket 1.5 centimeters thick to cushion any impacts that could occur. "In concept, it's like a nerfball," Hess said. "If it does impact something, it's fairly benign." The spacecraft is battery powered and can operate about five hours at a time. Hess said multiple AERCams could be mounted on the international space station to carry out specific inspection tasks. "I think it's very useful," Lindsey said. "And there are other applications for it [such as] moving large masses from one part of the station or another. ... It's a really neat project. The potential of this technology is limitless." Taking a different approach, Daimler-Benz Aerospace of Bremen, Germany, developed Inspector as a commercial venture. It will be launched to the Mir station on Oct. 1 and tested around Dec. 17. Inspector masses 70 kilograms and cost about $18 million to develop. Daimler-Benz officials are hopeful later version of the spacecraft, equipped with infrared and visible-light cameras, also will find a home on the international space station. For his part, Hess said the two systems are "apples and oranges." "Sprint is meant to be small and operate close in to either the crew members or the space station or the shuttle," Hess said. "The Inspector is not made to operate close in. When I say close in, I mean just [meters] away." Inspector, operating at a distance of 100 meters or so, would provide "more of a global view of things," Hess said.