Month: November 2007

STS-120
Report #30
Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007 – 3 p.m. CST
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – The seven astronauts on board space shuttle Discovery completed final preparations today for their return home with landing planned for the first of two opportunities to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, at 12:02 p.m. Wednesday.

In preparation for the return home, the crew tested flight control systems and thruster jets, stowed equipment and installed a special reclining seat for Clay Anderson, who is returning after more than five months on board the International Space Station. Later, the crew oversaw an orbit adjust maneuver to optimize landing opportunities with weather forecasts indicating favorable conditions for Wednesday’s landing.

Early Wednesday morning, Entry Team Flight Director Bryan Lunney and his team will oversee Discovery’s reentry and landing with the deorbit burn set for 10:59 a.m. The 1 minute, 58 second burn will slow Discovery by 148 miles per hour (217 feet per second) for the reentry across the heartland of the United States traveling from the northwest to southeast.

A second landing opportunity also is available about 90 minutes later. Lunney will consider Florida only for Wednesday’s landing attempts with plenty of consumables on board to stay in space through Saturday, if necessary.

After its final on-orbit wakeup call from Mission Control at 1:38 a.m. Wednesday, the crew will begin landing preparations at 7:03 a.m. and close Discovery’s payload bay doors at 11:42 a.m. for reentry.

Aboard the space station, Commander Peggy Whitson, and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Dan Tani had some off duty time before their full-court press toward Friday’s spacewalk by Whitson and Malenchenko to prepare Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 for its relocation Nov. 12.

The next STS-120 status report will be issued Wednesday morning or earlier if events warrant.

Important Reminder: All Times are CST! Add 1 hour for EST!

STS-120
Report #29
Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007 – 4 a.m. CST
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – Landing preparations are the order of the day for the seven astronauts on space shuttle Discovery, who are planning to conclude a two-week mission with a Wednesday landing at the Kennedy Space Center.

The crew’s 1:38 a.m. CST wakeup call was “Space Truckin’” by Deep Purple, played for Mission Specialist Clay Anderson, who will wrap up a five-month mission to the International Space Station when Discovery lands. The crew will start routine deorbit preparations and cabin stowage three hours later.

At 4:23 a.m. Commander Pam Melroy, Pilot George Zamka and Mission Specialist and Flight Engineer Stephanie Wilson will power up an auxiliary power unit to conduct a checkout of the orbiter’s flight control surfaces. At 5:33 a.m. they start a test firing of each of the shuttle’s reaction control system jets.

The shuttle astronauts take a break from packing at 8:43 a.m. to talk about the flight with the Associated Press, Space.com, and the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star, before they return to packing. At 1:18 p.m. mission specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock will set up a recumbent seat on the middeck for Anderson to use during entry and landing. Zamka is scheduled to stow the Ku-band communications antenna at 3:03 p.m.

The International Space Station’s crew is enjoying a day off duty before starting a heavy schedule of spacewalks and robotics activities which kick off with a spacewalk by Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko Friday morning. NASA-TV will host an Expedition 16 Mission Status Briefing at 11 a.m. today featuring the lead flight director, increment manager and lead spacewalk officer to preview the activities. The goal of the work is the relocation of the Harmony module so the station will be ready to receive the European laboratory module on the next shuttle flight, targeted to launch in early December.

The next STS-120 status report will be issued Tuesday afternoon or earlier if events warrant.

STS-120
Report #28
Monday, Nov. 5, 2007 – 5 p.m. CST
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – Space shuttle Discovery’s crew left the International Space Station this morning after almost 11 days of joint operations with the Expedition 16 crew. After inspecting the orbiter’s heat shield for any micrometeoroid damage, the astronauts turned their attention to returning home on Wednesday.

Tuesday the shuttle crew will spend its last full day on orbit testing Discovery’s flight control systems and maneuvering thrusters while final packing winds up a memorable assembly flight to the station.

With all systems checked out, the STS-120 crew will bring Clay Anderson home after 152 days in space on Wednesday to one of two landing opportunities available at the Kennedy Space Center at 12:02 p.m. and 1:36 p.m. CST. Weather forecasters predict favorable landing conditions once a cold front passes through late Tuesday night. The backup landing sites at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and White Sands Space Harbor, N.M., will not be considered Wednesday.

Under the control of Pilot George Zamka, Discovery backed away from the station at 4:32 a.m., completing 10 days, 21 hours and 52 minutes of docked operations. The historic flight saw Discovery’s crew deliver the Harmony Node and relocate a solar array to increase power generation. Unforeseen damage to the array was repaired during a dramatic spacewalk following three days of engineering analysis, testing and plan preparation on the ground.

The mission sets the stage for the next component of the station to be delivered. Space shuttle Atlantis is prepared to roll to the launch pad this weekend for final processing toward launch of the European Space Agency science laboratory “Columbus.” The STS-122 launch remains targeted for early December.

The next STS-120 status report will be issued Tuesday morning or earlier if events warrant.

STS-120
Report #27
2:45 a.m. CST Monday, Nov. 5, 2007
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – All systems are go for this morning’s undocking of Space Shuttle Discovery from the International Space Station, completing 11 days of joint docked operations that saw the successful delivery of a new pressurized module and the repair of a damaged solar array wing.

The shuttle crewmembers got their wakeup call at 1:08 a.m. CST with “Roll Me Away” by Bob Seger, played for Pilot George Zamka, who will be at the controls of Discovery when it undocks from the station at 4:32 a.m.

Discovery will move in front of the station to a range of 400 feet, and then Zamka will begin a full one lap flyaround so his crewmates can get video and digital still imagery of the newly-configured station. The new features include the Harmony module docked to the Unity node, and the P6 Truss element, with both solar array wings fully deployed, at its permanent location on the port end of the truss.

When the shuttle again crosses directly in front of the station, Zamka will fire the reaction control system jets to begin Discovery’s separation. He’ll make the final separation jet firing at 6:15 a.m. to start Discovery’s trip home.

Late this morning Zamka will join Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski, Stephanie Wilson and Paolo Nespoli and Commander Pam Melroy at the controls of the shuttle robot arm to conduct a late inspection of the shuttle’s thermal protection system using the Orbiter Boom Sensor System. The crew will re-examine the reinforced carbon-carbon panels on both wings and the nose cap for any evidence of damage from orbital debris.

Mission Specialist Clay Anderson, who has been in space since his launch to the International Space Station in June, is scheduled for exercise today and tomorrow to help prepare his body to feel the pull of gravity again. Discovery is targeted to land at the Kennedy Space Center Wednesday at 12:02 p.m. CST.

The next STS-120 status report will be issued Monday afternoon or earlier if events warrant.

STS-120
Report #26
2:15 p.m. CST Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON –Spacefarers aboard Discovery and the International Space Station congratulated one another on a successful docked mission, shared hugs and farewells and closed the hatches 210 miles above the Pacific Northwest at 2:03 p.m. CST.

With Dan Tani now a member of the station’s Expedition 16 crew and Clay Anderson now a member of the STS-120 crew, the two teams then began getting ready for Monday’s 4:32 a.m. CST undocking.

Before closing the hatches, Commander Pam Melroy and her STS-120 crew – Pilot George Zamka, Mission Specialists Paolo Nespoli, Scott Parazynski, Doug Wheelock, Stephanie Wilson and Anderson – transferred final items to the shuttle. A total of 2,020 pounds of equipment and scientific samples is being returned to Earth. Included among the cargo are metal filings that may help engineers narrow down the cause of resistance in the starboard solar arrays rotary joint.

Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson, and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Tani made sure that all 33,834 pounds of items delivered by Discovery – including the 31,648-pound Harmony module and 2,186 pounds of supplies and equipment – were accounted for on the station.

The port solar array repaired by Parazynski and Wheelock during a Saturday spacewalk is generating electricity but flight controllers are continuing tests before they begin using power from the relocated, repaired and redeployed 4B array to the station’s systems. The station already is using power from the other relocated and redeployed array, 2B.

Whitson and Malenchenko will have a day-and-a-half of rest wrapped around a day of preparations for their first of three spacewalks on Friday. That spacewalk will be devoted to preparing Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 for its move from the end of the Destiny module to the Harmony module. Whitson and Malenchenko were scheduled to do the work while Discovery was docked, but schedule adjustments due to the solar array repair spacewalk moved it later.

The next STS-120 status report will be issued Monday morning or earlier if events warrant.

STS-120
Report #25
2 a.m. CST Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – The astronauts on space shuttle Discovery got up this morning prepared to complete the final cargo transfers between the two vehicles and bid farewell to the Expedition 16 crew.

Farewells are scheduled to begin at 12:28 p.m. CST, followed by hatch closing at 12:43 p.m. CST.

The crews of Discovery and the International Space Station were awakened before the change from daylight to standard time. The crew was roused at 1:08 a.m. CDT with the song “The Presence of the Lord,” written by gospel musician Kurt Carr, originally recorded by Byron Cage. Cage’s rendition was played for Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson.

After the transfers are complete the two crews will enjoy some well-deserved time off before they bid farewell. The most important transfer from station to shuttle is the return of astronaut Clay Anderson. Anderson, who joined the station’s Expedition 15 crew in June, is being replaced by Dan Tani, who arrived at the station with the STS-120 crew.

Yesterday, Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski repaired a damaged solar array during a spacewalk that lasted 7 hours, 19 minutes. Fellow spacewalker Doug Wheelock helped from the truss by keeping an eye on the distance between Parazynski and the array.

The repair was completed at just after 10 a.m. Friday and then the crew deployed the P6 array to its full extension. The array repair became the priority of space shuttle Discovery’s mission on Tuesday after two tears were noticed during the array’s unfurling.

The spacewalk was the 4th of the STS-120 mission and the 96th in support of station assembly and maintenance.

Monday will be another busy day with undocking scheduled for 4:32 a.m. CST followed by a fly around of the station and an inspection of the shuttle’s heat shield. Landing is set for just after noon on Wednesday.

The next STS-120 status report will be issued Sunday evening or earlier if events warrant.

STS-120
Report #24
Saturday, Nov. 3, 2007 – 4 p.m. CDT
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – With a few pieces of aluminum and a little bit of wire, Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski today repaired a damaged solar array during a spacewalk that lasted 7 hours, 19 minutes.

Parazynski and fellow spacewalker Doug Wheelock left the International Space Station at 5:03 a.m., and spent about an hour and a half riding the station’s robotic arm out to the torn array – about 165 feet down the station’s truss and 90 feet up to the damage.

Once there, Parazynski cut a snagged wire and installed homemade stabilizers designed to strengthen the array’s structure and stability in the vicinity of the damage. Wheelock helped from the truss by keeping an eye on the distance between Parazynski and the array.

They completed the repair just after 10 a.m., and then stood back to watch for complications as flight controllers on the ground finished the deploy, which began on Tuesday. The delicate deploy sequence called for the array mast to be deployed one half bay at a time. Fifteen minutes and 13 computer commands later, the array was fully extended.

“One of the most satisfying days that I’ve ever had in Mission Control,” Derek Hassman, lead station flight director, said of the operation.

Parazynski and Wheelock then made their way back to the station’s airlock, to end the spacewalk at 12:22 p.m.

The array repair became the priority of space shuttle Discovery’s mission on Tuesday, after two tears were noticed during the array’s unfurling. Teams on the ground worked around the clock to develop a plan for the repair, and the crew spent much of the past two days studying and making tools.
complete final transfer work, say their farewells, and close the hatch between the shuttle and the station at 12:43 p.m. CST Sunday.

Monday will be another busy day with undocking scheduled for 4:32 a.m. followed by a fly around of the station and an inspection of the shuttle’s heat shield.

The next STS-120 status report will be issued Sunday morning or earlier if events warrant.