Category: statusreport

STS-120
Report #10
2 p.m. CDT Saturday, Oct. 27, 2007
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – Astronauts at the International Space Station now have a little more room to float around in – 2,666 cubic feet more, to be exact.

The hatch of Node 2 – or Harmony, as the module was named by school children – was opened at 7:24 a.m. CDT today. Station Commander Peggy Whitson and Mission Specialist Paolo Nespoli – who is from Italy, where the module was built – were the first to enter, and took advantage of the opportunity to remark on the appropriateness of its name.

“We think Harmony is a very good name for this module,” Whitson said, “because it represents the culmination of a lot of international partner work and will allow international partner modules to be added on.”

Crew members spent part of today hooking Harmony systems up for use. Rick LaBrode, lead shuttle flight director, said it was going well.

“It’s beautiful,” LaBrode said. “Bright, shiny. The report from the crew is that it’s as clean as can be. Perfect shape.”

The module won’t be ready for full use while space shuttle Discovery is at the station. It’s been installed in a temporary location because the shuttle’s docking port is currently situated at its final location. The station crew will move the docking port and Harmony, and finish bringing all of its systems online after the shuttle leaves.

After the module’s ventilation system was up and running, some crew members were able to take time out from their work for interviews with a few television stations. They answered questions on subjects ranging from the challenges of the missions to the historic significance of having Whitson, the first female commander of the station, in space at the same time as Pam Melroy, the second female commander for the shuttle.

“We hope to see a woman leading a mission to Mars someday,” Melroy said.

The other major tasks for the day centered around preparations for the mission’s second spacewalk on Sunday. Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski and the station’s newly arrived flight engineer, Daniel Tani, are scheduled to leave the station at 4:58 a.m. They’ll finish disconnecting the Port 6, or P6, truss segment from the top of the station, where it was installed temporarily in 2000, and help direct robotic arm operators as they move the solar array section to its permanent home on the end of the port truss.

In addition, mission managers also have asked Tani to take a look at a rotary joint used to rotate solar arrays on the starboard side of the truss. The joint has been showing some increased friction lately, and mission managers hope Tani may be able to identify the cause.

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

HOUSTON – Today is the grand opening of the International Space Station’s newest module, a connecting node that will host new laboratory complexes from around the world.

The day began with an Italian wakeup song at 12:39 a.m. “Bellissime Stelle” (Beautiful Stars) by Andrea Bocelli was played for European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli of Italy, the country where the new node, Harmony, was built.

This morning Nespoli, a member of the crew on Space Shuttle Discovery, will work with Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson to outfit the vestibule between Harmony and the Unity module, to which it was installed yesterday during the first spacewalk of the mission. They are scheduled to open the hatch into Harmony at 7:58 a.m. CDT, and the crewmembers will get to enter the module for the first time. They will install a ventilation line to circulate the air and begin setup operations.

Harmony will be relocated to the front of the Destiny laboratory after the shuttle departs, and provide the docking ports for laboratory modules from the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency that are to arrive later this year and early next year.

This morning shuttle Commander Pam Melroy, Pilot George Zamka, and Mission Specialists Stephanie Wilson and Doug Wheelock will use the shuttle and station robotic arms to return the Orbiter Boom Sensor System to the starboard payload bay sill. Plans for a focused inspection of Discovery’s thermal protection system were cancelled by mission managers after a thorough review of detailed imagery yielded no evidence of damage that required more examination.

Additional time was added for today’s review of the updated plans for the second spacewalk of the mission, which takes place Sunday morning. In a newly-added task, space station Flight Engineer Dan Tani will visually inspect the truss’ starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint. He will look for possible causes of increased friction in that joint that has been detected for the past month and a half during its rotation for solar array positioning.

Tani also will spend time with astronaut Clay Anderson, his predecessor on Expedition 16, to get acclimated to life on the space station. This afternoon at 1:03 p.m. Anderson will join Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko plus shuttle astronauts Melroy, Zamka, Wilson and Wheelock in the new Harmony node to discuss the mission in interviews with CBS News, FOX News, and WHAM-TV of Rochester, New York, Melroy’s hometown.

At 2:23 p.m. Tani and his spacewalking partner, Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski, will begin their overnight campout pre-breathe inside the Quest airlock as they get prepared for their spacewalk starting at 4:58 a.m. Sunday.

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

STS-120
Report #08
4:30 p.m. CDT Friday, Oct. 26, 2007
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – It proved to be a perfect day for a spacewalk.

In just over six hours, STS-120 Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock installed the Harmony module in its temporary location on the International Space Station, readied the P6 truss for its relocation on Sunday, retrieved a failed radio communications antenna and snapped shut a window cover on Harmony that opened during launch on the space shuttle.

The astronauts plan to enter Harmony for the first time at 8:03 a.m. Saturday after Mission Specialist Paolo Nespoli and Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson open the hatches. The station’s newest pressurized module adds 2,666 cubic feet of volume, increasing the station’s living space by nearly 20 percent (from 15,000 to 17,666 cubic feet).

Mission managers today determined a focused inspection of Discovery’s heat shield is not necessary Saturday following detailed review of the imagery gathered over the last two days. The Mission Management Team declared the shuttle’s Thermal Protection System is cleared for reentry. A routine final inspection focusing on the wing leading edges is planned for late in the mission.

Station managers also decided to add a 360-degree visual inspection of the station’s starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) during the second spacewalk on Sunday. The SARJ has shown increased friction for the past month and a half. Though the increase is not constant and averages less than a tenth of an amp, managers decided to add the inspection because the spacewalkers will be near the joint.

During the spacewalk, astronauts will remove the multi-layer insulation covers on the joint to better see the swing bolts beneath and document their inspection with photographs.

Parazynski and Wheelock began the spacewalk at 5:02 a.m. CDT and wrapped up at 11:16. First, the two removed and stowed the S-band Antenna Structural Assembly which is being returned to Earth on Discovery. Next, they secured a Payload and Data Grapple Fixture onto Harmony that could not be in place during launch, removed contamination covers and disconnected the power cables linking Harmony to Discovery.

Once the spacewalker’s preparations were complete, Mission Specialists Stephanie Wilson and Clay Anderson and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Daniel Tani used the station’s robotic arm to remove Harmony from the payload bay and move it to its position on the port side of Unity. Nespoli coordinated spacewalk activities.

Harmony will be relocated to the front of the Destiny laboratory after the shuttle departs. It will provide the docking ports for laboratory modules from the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency that are to arrive late this year and early next year. Outfitting of the station’s newest module will continue throughout the mission.

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

STS-120
Report #07
1 a.m. CDT Friday, October 26, 2007
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – Delivery of Harmony highlights the day as the crews of Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station prepare for the first of a record five spacewalks planned for a single shuttle assembly mission.

The day began at 12:39 a.m. CDT with the wakeup song “Rocket Man” by Elton John, played for Mission Specialist Doug Wheelock on the day he performs the first spacewalk of his career.

Wheelock and Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski exit the Quest airlock at 5:28 a.m. for a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk. They will retrieve an S-band antenna assembly from the Z1 truss and pack it in the shuttle payload bay for return to Earth for refurbishment, disconnect umbilicals running between the P6 and Z1 trusses to facilitate the demating of P6 later in the flight, and prepare the connecting node Harmony for removal from the payload bay.

After the spacewalkers unplug Harmony from shuttle power, the station’s Canadarm2 will grapple it, lift it from Discovery’s payload bay, and install it on the port side of the station’s Unity node. Leak checks between the two modules will continue the rest of the day and overnight before the astronauts enter Harmony for the first time Saturday.

Harmony will be relocated to the front of the Destiny laboratory after the shuttle departs. It will provide the docking ports for laboratory modules from the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency that are to arrive late this year and early next year.

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

STS-120
Report #06
5:30 p.m. CDT Thursday, October 25, 2007
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – Two female commanders made space history today as they greeted one another with smiles and hugs in the International Space Station’s Destiny laboratory after a flawless rendezvous and docking.

Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson warmly welcomed the Space Shuttle Discovery crew at 9:39 a.m. CDT when STS-120 Commander Pam Melroy and her construction crew floated into the station, joining forces for a mission that is setting the stage for rapid-fire expansion of the international outpost.

The shuttle and space station docked at 7:40 a.m. over the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of North Carolina. Prior to docking, Melroy flew Discovery through an orbital back flip while about 600 feet below the space station, allowing Expedition 16 Flight Engineers Clay Anderson and Yuri Malenchenko to take a series of high-resolution photographs of the orbiter’s heat shield.

Just before bedtime, the combined crew was informed that based on early analysis, mission managers are anticipating no need for a focused inspection of Discovery’s heat shield while it is docked to the station. A final decision is expected to be made tomorrow after the images from the rendezvous pitch maneuver are considered.

On board the station, the official exchange of Anderson for his replacement on Expedition 16 took place at 11:12 a.m. with the installation of Dan Tani’s customized seat liner in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that would return him to Earth in an emergency. Anderson will return home with the STS-120 crew.

Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock will spend tonight “camped out” inside the Quest airlock with air pressure lowered to help purge nitrogen from their bodies in preparation tomorrow’s spacewalk, the first of five planned for this mission. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 5:28 a.m. CDT Friday.

During the spacewalk, Parazynski and Wheelock will go outside to assist with the installation of the Harmony module. The Italian-built hub will be grappled by the station’s robotic arm, lifted from Discovery’s payload bay, and installed in a temporary location on port side of Unity. The spacewalkers also will retrieve a broken S-band antenna for return to Earth and disconnect the utility connections between the station’s first solar array and the station’s truss. The Port 6 solar array section will be moved to its final assembly location on a spacewalk later in the mission.

Parazynski, a veteran of four spaceflights, will serve as the lead on four of the five spacewalks. Wheelock is making his first spacewalk tomorrow.
Inside the space station, Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson, Tani and Anderson will operate the station’s robotic arm for unberthing and installation of Harmony and antenna retrieval during the spacewalk.

The Expedition 16 crew will use Canadarm2 to move and install Harmony to its permanent location on the front of the Destiny laboratory after the shuttle departs. The new addition will increase the living and working space inside the station by more than 2,600 cubic feet and provide docking ports for laboratory modules from the European and Japanese space agencies. Those components are due on orbit late this year and early next year.

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

STS-120
Report #05
1 a.m. CDT Thursday, October 25, 2007
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – A new crew member and a new module are only hours away from arriving at the International Space Station. Space Shuttle Discovery is due to dock to the station at 7:33 a.m. CDT to begin 10 days of docked operations.

Today’s wakeup song at 12:39 a.m. CDT was “Dancing in the Moonlight” by King Harvest for astronaut Dan Tani. He should go to sleep tonight as a flight engineer on the space station Expedition 16 crew. The official exchange of Tani for Flight Engineer Clay Anderson, who arrived at the station in June, is to occur within the first few hours after docking. The transfer becomes official with the installation of Tani’s customized seat liner in the Soyuz.

Commander Pam Melroy and her shuttle crewmates begin rendezvous operations shortly before 2:00 a.m. CDT. At 6:32 a.m., at a range of 600 feet below the station, she’ll command Discovery to perform a back flip so Anderson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko can photograph the thermal tiles on the shuttle’s belly. Those digital images will be sent to Mission Control so specialists can look for evidence of any damage.

After docking at 7:33 a.m. and hatch opening two hours later, the crew members start moving spacewalking equipment into the Quest airlock to prepare for the first excursion on Friday. Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock will go outside to prepare the Harmony module to be grappled by the station’s robotic arm, lifted from Discovery’s payload bay, and installed on the port side of Unity.

Harmony, which will be permanently installed on the front of the Destiny laboratory after the shuttle departs, provides docking ports for laboratory modules from the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Those components are due on orbit late this year and early next year.

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

STS-120
Report #04
5 p.m. CDT Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – The seven-member crew of STS-120 on board Space Shuttle Discovery is ready for tomorrow’s rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station, planned for 7:33 a.m. CDT.

Commander Pam Melroy and her crewmates today completed a five-hour inspection of Discovery’s heat shield using the shuttle’s robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System.

During today’s initial look at Space Shuttle Discovery’s heat shield, mission managers received no reports of visible damage. However, engineers on the ground will add today’s three-dimensional sensor images to imagery and accelerometer data collected at launch and during the climb to orbit and continue their analysis. The images gathered during tomorrow’s back flip will help verify the heat shield’s condition.

Also today, Melroy and the rest of the crew, Pilot George Zamka and Mission Specialists Stephanie Wilson, Doug Wheelock, Scott Parazynski, Dan Tani and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency installed the centerline camera that will be used during docking, extended the outer ring of the Orbiter Docking System, and checked the tools that will be used during rendezvous.

Tomorrow, Melroy will perform the rendezvous pitch maneuver, an orbiter back-flip just 600 feet below the space station that will allow Expedition 16 crew members Clay Anderson and Yuri Malenchenko to take detailed photographs of the orbiter’s underside.

The STS-120 crew is on a two-week mission that will set the stage for delivery of new research laboratories from the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in the upcoming assembly missions. During the mission, the crew will install the Harmony module, a connecting port and passageway for the new laboratories, in a temporary location.

The crew will also relocate the Port 6 (P6) truss segment and solar arrays to the end of the Port 5 truss and then redeploy and reactivate the P6 arrays, increasing the station’s capacity to generate power.

On board the space station, Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Malenchenko and Anderson readied the station for the arrival of Discovery’s crew by conducting a leak check of Pressurized Mating Adapter-2, Discovery’s docking point, and set up spacesuits already in the station’s Quest airlock.

Anderson, now in the 139th day of his flight, charged the batteries, formatted memory the cards, and configured the 400 and 800 milimeter lenses on the cameras that will be used during tomorrow’s orbiter maneuver. Anderson and Malenchenko also did a practice run of the photo shoot.

Anderson will return to Earth aboard Discovery. Tani will stay on the station to work with Whitson and Malenchenko to put Harmony in its permanent location on the front of the Destiny laboratory. The next shuttle mission, targeted to launch in early December, will deliver the European laboratory module Columbus.

Discovery’s crew went to sleep at 4:38 p.m. and will awaken at 12:38 a.m.

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

STS-120
Report #03
1 a.m. CDT Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – The astronauts on board Space Shuttle Discovery have begun their first full day in space on a two-week mission to set the stage for delivery of new laboratory modules from two more of the International Space Station’s partner agencies.

The main payload on STS-120 is a connecting node, named Harmony. It will expand the pressurized volume in ISS to approximately 18,000 square feet and provide the docking ports for labs furnished by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Those components are due to arrive on orbit late this year and early next.

This morning’s wakeup song, “Lord of the Dance,” performed by John Langstaff, was played for Commander Pam Melroy at 12:39 a.m. CDT.

Today Melroy and her crewmates, Pilot George Zamka and Mission Specialists Stephanie Wilson, Doug Wheelock, Scott Parazynski, Dan Tani and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency will perform an inspection of Discovery’s heat shield using the shuttle’s robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System. They’ll also check out the tools they need for Thursday’s rendezvous and docking to the station and install a centerline camera in the shuttle’s orbiter docking system. Spacewalkers Parazynski, Wheelock and Tani will prepare spacesuits that will be worn during the five spacewalks planned during ten days of docked operations.

The International Space Station’s Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Clay Anderson started their day at midnight. Today they will set up spacesuits already in the station’s Quest airlock, and conduct a leak check of the Pressurized Mating Adapter where Discovery will dock to the station Thursday morning at 7:35 a.m. CDT.

Anderson, now in the 138th day of his flight, will spend time exercising to prepare himself to experience the pull of gravity again when he returns to Earth with the shuttle crew. Tani will stay onboard to work with Whitson and Malenchenko to put Harmony in its permanent location on the front of the Destiny laboratory so the next mission, targeted to launch in early December, can deliver the European laboratory module Columbus.

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

STS-120
Report #02
Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007 – 5 p.m. CDT
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON — The Space Shuttle Discovery is headed to the International Space Station, carrying the Harmony module, destined to become the first expansion of the orbiting complex’s living and working space since 2001.

The addition of Harmony, a connector module also known as Node 2, will set the stage for the arrival of new research laboratories from the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on future shuttle missions.

Following a flawless launch today, the seven crew members aboard Discovery opened the shuttle’s payload bay doors, successfully deployed the Ku-Band antenna that provides high-rate communications and television, and checked out the shuttle’s robotic arm. They also transmitted video and photographs of the shuttle’s external tank to the ground for standard post-launch analysis by engineers.

Discovery is commanded by veteran astronaut Pam Melroy. The pilot is George Zamka and mission specialists include Stephanie Wilson, Doug Wheelock, Scott Parazynski, Dan Tani and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency. The crew will awaken at 12:38 a.m. Wednesday to begin their first full day in space.

On Wednesday, the crew will perform a close inspection of Discovery’s heat shield using the shuttle’s robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System. They also will check the spacesuits that will be used for spacewalks during the mission and install a centerline camera in the shuttle docking hatch that is used to help align the vehicle for docking.

STS-120
Report #01
Noon CDT Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON — The Space Shuttle Discovery raced into space this morning with an on-time launch at 10:38 CDT. Onboard are seven crewmembers led by veteran astronaut Pam Melroy. Discovery’s crew will join the International Space Station’s Expedition 16 crew Thursday morning.

Melroy, Pilot George Zamka and Mission Specialists Stephanie Wilson, Doug Wheelock, Scott Parazynski, Paolo Nespoli and Dan Tani began unstowing equipment and checking systems after reaching orbit.

On the way to the space station, Discovery’s crew will oversee a complete checkout of orbiter systems, including the robotic arm which will see extensive use throughout the mission beginning on Wednesday when it will be used to inspect the thermal protection system of the shuttle.

Discovery and its crew will arrive at the station at about 7:30 a.m. CDT Thursday and Tani will swap places with astronaut Clay Anderson. Anderson will come home aboard Discovery after serving 4 ½ months as a station flight engineer.

The launch of Discovery on its 34th mission begins a flight that will see the space station grow in size and capability with the addition of the first U.S. pressurized module since the Quest Airlock was delivered in 2001. The Harmony module, also known as Node 2, will add 2,600 cubic feet of living and working space to the complex. It will serve as the permanent docking port for international laboratories from the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

The shuttle astronauts are set to go to bed about 4:30 p.m. CDT today and awaken at 12:38 a.m. CDT Wednesday to begin their first full day in space.

As Discovery launched, the station crew, commanded by astronaut Peggy Whitson, watched live via a laptop computer as they sailed 218 miles above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland.