Gorie Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married, Two children. Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA. US Navy US Navy

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: NASA Group 15 - 1995. Active Entered space service: 9 December 1994. Number of Flights: 4.00. Total Time: 48.64 days.

NAME: Dominic L. Pudwill Gorie (Commander, USN)

NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:

Born May 2, 1957, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Married to Wendy Lu Williams of Midland, Texas. They have two children. He enjoys skiing, hiking, bicycling, golf and family activities. His mother, Shirley Pudwill, resides in Casselberry, Florida. His adoptive father, William Gorie, resides in Palm City, Florida. His father, Paul Pudwill, is deceased. Her mother, Laura Williams, resides in Midland, Texas. Her father, Deen Williams, is deceased.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Miami Palmetto High School, Miami, Florida, in 1975. Bachelor of Science degree in ocean engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1979. Master of science degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee in 1990.

SPECIAL HONORS:

Distinguished Flying Cross with Combat "V", Joint Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal (2), Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V" (2), Navy Achievement Medal, 1985 Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic Pilot-of-the-Year.

EXPERIENCE:

Designated a Naval Aviator in 1981. Flew the A-7E Corsair with Attack Squadron 46 aboard the USS America from 1981 to 1983. Transitioned to Strike Fighter Squadron 132 in 1983, flying the F/A-18 Hornet aboard the USS Coral Sea until 1986. Attended the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1987 and served as a Test Pilot at the Naval Air Test Center from 1988 to 1990. Then was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 87 flying the F/A-18 aboard the USS Roosevelt until 1992. Participated in Operation Desert Storm, flying 38 combat missions. In 1992 received orders to U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs for two years before reporting to Strike Fighter Squadron 106 for F/A-18 refresher training. Was enroute to his command tour of Strike Fighter Squadron 37 when selected as an Astronaut Candidate.

Gorie has accumulated over 3300 hours in more than 30 aircraft and has over 600 carrier landings.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in December 1994, Gorie reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995. He has completed a year of training and evaluation and is currently qualified for assignment as a shuttle pilot. He was initially assigned to work safety issues for the Astronaut Office. Gorie presently serves as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) in Mission Control for Space Shuttle flights, while awaiting his first flight assignment.

• 2 June 1998 Flight: STS-91. Flight Up: STS-91. Flight Back: STS-91. Flight Time: 9.83 days.

• 11 February 2000 Flight: STS-99. Flight Up: STS-99. Flight Back: STS-99. Flight Time: 11.24 days.

• 5 December 2001 Flight: STS-108. Flight Up: STS-108. Flight Back: STS-108. Flight Time: 11.82 days.

• 11 March 2008 Flight: STS-123. Flight Up: STS-123. Flight Back: STS-123. Flight Time: 15.76 days.

9 June 1995 - NASA Astronaut Training Group 15 selected.. The group was selected to provide pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights.. Qualifications: Pilots: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. Advanced degree desirable. At least 1,000 flight-hours of pilot-in-command time. Flight test experience desirable. Excellent health. Vision minimum 20/50 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 vision; maximum sitting blood pressure 140/90. Height between 163 and 193 cm.

Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm.. 10 pilots and 9 mission specialists, 6 civilians and 13 military officers, chosen from 2,962 applicants, of which 122 screened in June-August 1994. 4 additional international astronauts.

Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dom Gorie, and Mission Specialists Janice Voss, Janet Kavandi, Gerhard Thiele and Mamoru Mohri blasted off 14 minutes into the available 2 hour plus launch window at 11:44 a.m. Central time after a near flawless countdown, and arrived on orbit 8 ½ minutes later. The slight delay in launching Endeavour was due to the launch team needing a few minutes to resolve some minor technical issues before proceeding with the final portion of the countdown.

The STS-99 crew's first tasks were to set up Endeavour for dual shift, round-the-clock operations using a trio of radar systems mounted in the cargo bay for the most comprehensive three-dimensional map of the Earth ever attempted.

Once Endeavour's payload bay doors are opened, the Red Team of Kregel, Kavandi and Thiele will begin to activate the Shuttle radar instruments, and will prepare for the deployment of a 200-foot long boom over the left wing of the orbiter on which two of the radar systems are housed. That boom deploy will begin about 5 ½ hours into the mission.

Kregel, Kavandi and Thiele will conduct a series of jet thruster firings once the boom is deployed to test its ability to flex properly and will set up recorders on board on which the radar data will be stored for downlink to mission scientists on the ground.

Meantime, the Blue Team of Gorie, Voss and Mohri will begin an abbreviated six hour sleep period at 3:44 p.m. They'll be awakened at 9:44 p.m., soon after the radar boom has been checked out, to begin radar mapping operations late tonight.

Endeavour is orbiting the Earth in an orbit inclined 57 degrees to either side of the Equator for the radar mapping of around 80 per cent of the Earth's surface. Endeavour is orbiting the planet every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 127 nautical miles.

Red Team leader Commander Kevin Kregel, and colleagues Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele initiated extension of the radar mast at 5:27 p.m. CST. After 17 minutes, all 87 cube-shaped bays of the carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, stainless steel, alpha titanium, and Invar structure were deployed by 5:44 p.m. Total length of the mast was 60.95 meters, or just under 200 feet.

The crew also maneuvered the shuttle into the proper attitude, or orientation, for mapping. This orientation points the shuttle payload bay - and its inboard and outboard radar antennas - at the Earth. Endeavour's tail is leading the way as the shuttle orbits about 150 statute miles above the surface. The Red Team then began a series of jet thruster firings to test the ability of dampers to absorb the force of planned maneuvering jet firings and keep the inboard and outboard antennas properly aligned. This alignment is crucial for scientists who will need to combine the radar images received by the two sets of antennas.

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission will record radar data in both C-band and X-band radar wavelengths. This data eventually will be processed into 3-D maps of the Earth that are 30 times more exact than those currently available. These maps will be important to scientists in many disciplines, ranging from ecology to geology to hydrology, as well as a number of military and commercial applications. As the Red Team performed the checkout procedures, Blue Team members Dom Gorie, Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri set up the shuttle's network of portable computers and began an abbreviated six-hour sleep period at 3:44 p.m. They'll be awakened at 9:44 p.m. to begin radar mapping operations late tonight.

Endeavour is orbiting the Earth in an orbit inclined 57 degrees to either side of the Equator for the radar mapping of a majority of the Earth's surface. The shuttle completes one orbit every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 150 statute miles.

The Red Team - Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele - took over the mapping operations from their Blue Team counterparts shortly after waking up about 7 this morning Central Time. Dom Gorie, Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri turned in shortly after 2 this afternoon and are to be awakened at 10:14 tonight. For a few minutes this morning - while Japanese astronaut Mohri conducted mapping operations - Gorie and Voss discussed the mission with CNN and NBC's Today Show.

The crew is working around the clock, in two shifts, to collect data that will produce maps of the Earth with unprecedented accuracy and uniformity. Mapping operations will continue for 10 days, and are proceeding very smoothly. SRTM will cover the area between 60 degrees north and 56 degrees south, roughly the area between St. Petersburg, Russia to the north and the tip of South America to the south. The area to be mapped is home to about 95 percent of the Earth's population. In all, more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface will be mapped.

The first X-band image - of the area near White Sands, New Mexico - was released this afternoon, and scientists expressed their delight with the quality of the image. X-band images will be posted to the German Space Agency web site at www.dfd.dlr.de/srtm/html/newtoday_en.htm. Both the C-band and X-band radars continue to perform as expected.

"The data we've seen so far looks just terrific," said Dr. Michael Kobrick, project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. "The mapping plan is right on schedule."

Early this afternoon, Kregel fired the shuttle's thruster jets in a series of pulsed burns to measure the movement of the rigid mast extending over Endeavour's left wing. Flight controllers reported the tip of the mast moved only 11 inches, just as predicted, despite the fact the antenna's dampers remained locked in position. The firings were necessary to determine how they affect the mast, prior to upcoming maneuvers to raise Endeavour's orbit.

Endeavour's crew also downlinked launch video from an in-cabin camera, providing a unique perspective of yesterday's flawless launch.

All of Endeavour's payload and spacecraft systems are continuing to function normally.

Because of the 24-hour-a-day activity aboard Endeavour, the six crewmembers are divided into two teams. Blue Team members Dom Gorie, Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri began the first mapping swath, covering a 140-mile-wide path, at about 11:31 p.m. Friday. It was the beginning of coverage of more than 70 percent of the Earth's land surface. The mapping will cover an area between 60 degrees north and 56 degrees south, where about 95 percent of the Earth's population lives.

The Red Team, led by Mission Commander Kevin Kregel, includes Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele. Their first shift was intense. It included deployment and checkout of the almost 200-foot mast supporting the outboard antenna structure. It is the largest rigid structure ever deployed in space. The Red Team began its sleep period at about 10:45 p.m. Friday and is scheduled to be awakened at 6:44 this morning.

After mast deployment, tests revealed that the mast's damping system, designed as a kind of a shock absorber for the mast, was not working as expected. Flight controllers decided to leave the dampers in their locked position. Calculations showed that the mast was at no risk without the dampers activated.

All planned science data takes have been acquired successfully and all indications from the telemetry show that the radars are performing nominally. Data has been sent to JPL for analysis and early indications are that the data is of excellent quality. Additional reports about mapping results are expected about 12:00 noon CST.

Shortly after 5:30 a.m. Saturday, Voss and Gorie held a news conference with correspondents from NBC and CNN.

Saturday is scheduled to be the first full day of Shuttle Radar Topography Mission mapping. Endeavour systems continued to function normally.

"We are starting to see the first 'quick look' results from the X-band and C-band antennas and the details are fantastic," said Dr. Michael Kobrick, SRTM project scientist. "Even in this lower resolution, quick-look results, we can see many topographic features that were completely invisible in the best maps we have today."

Two members of the Blue Team - Dom Gorie and Mamoru Mohri - spent a few minutes early this morning talking to Dr. Bob Ballard, discoverer of the RMS Titanic and founder of the JASON Foundation, an educational program designed to spark students' interest in science and technology. They also took questions from the Fox News Network.

Endeavour's crew and flight controllers continue troubleshooting a problem with a small nitrogen thruster mounted at the tip of the radar's outboard antenna. Although gaseous nitrogen propellant is flowing, little or no thrust is being produced. Crew members cycled the valve open and closed in an attempt to pinpoint the problem. Controllers plan to leave the valve closed for several hours to attempt to quantify the rate of propellant usage. The thruster was designed to keep the mast from "righting" itself in response to Earth's gravity and remove the need for additional orbiter thruster firings to keep the antenna in its data-taking position. Without the thruster on the antenna, crew members have to fire the orbiter's thrusters more than expected.

As the Blue Team wrapped up its third day in space, the Red Team of Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele took over mapping operations shortly after their wake-up call this morning. Gorie, Mohri and Janice Voss turned in shortly after 2 p.m., with a wake-up call set for 10:14 tonight to begin their fourth day of mapping activities.

Controllers also did some troubleshooting on one of the on-board cameras after Gorie reported the system that records the time at which images are taken was not working. Controllers suspect that the batteries were weakened due to the delay in launching Endeavour. The weak batteries should have no impact on the use of the camera to support NASA's Earth observation program.

After yesterday's repositioning of a camera bracket on the flight deck, EarthKAM operations continue nominally. As of late this afternoon, some 355 images had been downlinked from the EarthKAM. This NASA program allows students to use interactive Web pages to target and select images to be photographed from a camera onboard the shuttle. All of Endeavour's spacecraft systems are continuing to function normally as it circles the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 150 miles.

Mission scientists continue to express delight with the "quick-look" data seen so far. SRTM project scientist Dr. Michael Kobrick notes that Endeavour is mapping 100,000 square kilometers every minute, and that after only three days of flight, the mission has tripled the world's supply of digital terrain elevation data. The low-resolution images processed so far show many topographic features that until now have been difficult to detect on the best maps in existence today.

A continuing problem with a small nitrogen thruster on the end of the 200-foot-long mast has had no impact on mapping operations or data quality. Both radar systems -- C-band and X-band -- continue to perform flawlessly. Flight controllers are continuing to troubleshoot the problem with the thruster, which helps control the mast's attitude. This function currently is being performed by Endeavour's reaction control system. Mission managers are implementing propellant conservation measures and hope to meet the full nine-day science objective. The mast continues to provide an extremely stable platform for the mapping operations.

As their workday concluded, Blue Team members Dom Gorie, Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri spent a few minutes on Endeavour's flight deck discussing various mission activities. The Blue Team turned in shortly after 2 p.m., with a wake-up call set for 10:14 tonight. The Red Team's Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele were awakened a few minutes after 10 a.m. to continue mapping operations.

As of this morning, 525 images had been taken by students using the EarthKAM, which allows photos of Earth to be taken using a camera on the shuttle. So far, 20 of the 84 schools participating in the program have requested and received photos.

All of Endeavour's systems are functioning normally as it circles the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 150 miles.

By early Monday morning, about 20 million square miles had been imaged. By the planned end of the mission, more than 45 million square miles will have been imaged twice.

Processing of the huge amount of data gathered by Endeavour - enough to fill about 13,500 CDs if all goes according to plan - will result in maps 30 times more accurate than the best global data available now. The maps also will be of unprecedented uniformity.

The flycast maneuver reduces stress on the almost-200-foot mast extending from Endeavour's cargo bay. The orbiter flies tail-first during mapping operations. For the maneuver, it was moved to a nose-first attitude with the mast extending upward. A brief reaction control system pulse began the maneuver. The mast rebounded forward after a slight deflection backwards. As it straightened, a stronger thrust stopped its motion while increasing the orbiter's speed.

Endeavour is in a low orbit, and is slowed by the upper atmosphere. The crewmembers make daily flycast maneuver trim burns to keep the spacecraft in the proper altitude for mapping.

Flight controllers and crewmembers are troubleshooting a cold gas jet, a thruster on the SRTM outboard antenna. The jet is designed to help control the mast's attitude, a function now being performed by Endeavour's reaction control system jets. The mapping mission continued uninterrupted as flight controllers worked to develop propellant-conserving strategies.

Members of the Blue Team, Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, continued to manage the Payload High Rate Recorders, changing the high-density tapes that will return the mapping data to Earth. About 270 of those tapes are expected to be filled.

Members of the Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, are sleeping. They are scheduled to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. Central Standard Time.

More than 20 percent of the targeted land had been mapped twice and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission had covered more than 6 percent of it three times. The area surveyed at least once was equal to that of Africa, North America and Australia combined.

Those totals were growing rapidly. Endeavour was gathering mapping data on 40,000 square miles of land each minute. Scientists say the mission already has tripled the world's pool of digital terrain data with this much detail.

Endeavour is gathering data four times faster than its advanced data communications system can send it to Earth. "Quick look" data sent down, with less detail than will be available from the high-density tapes being filled aboard the orbiter, already has revealed features not shown on even the best maps available today.

While Endeavour continued to gather data that will be the basis for maps of unprecedented accuracy and uniformity, flight controllers were troubleshooting the balky cold-gas jet on the outboard antenna structure. The jet helps maintain the attitude of the mast - the longest rigid structure ever deployed in space. The orbiter's reaction control system jets are being used for that function. Flight controllers are developing further procedures to conserve propellant.

Blue Team members Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri sent down television early Tuesday. It showed Voss using an inflatable globe to explain the SRTM mission, Mamoru Mohri, taking photos out the commander's window, and then, with Pilot Dom Gorie, changing a tape on a payload high rate recorder.

Members of the Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel, and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, are in their sleep period. They are scheduled to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. Central Standard Time.

Endeavour's systems are functioning normally as it circles the Earth at a speed of about 5 miles a second and an altitude of about 150 miles.

Mapping operations continued smoothly into the mission's fifth day, with both radar and orbiter systems working flawlessly. By early afternoon, more than 29 million square miles had been mapped, representing more than 61 percent of the planned coverage for the mission. That's equivalent to the combined area of North America, South America and Africa.

Flight controllers continue to troubleshoot a problem with a small nitrogen thruster on the end of the 200-foot-long mast, and are focusing on steps that can be implemented to conserve shuttle propellant. Several steps already have been implemented, including relaxing the requirements for maintaining the mast's attitude due to the better-than-expected stability of the mast. Additional steps are under review for their propellant-saving potential. Optimism is increasing that these measures will enable Endeavour to complete its planned mapping operations.

Blue Team members Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri spoke with reporters from CNN, NBC's Today Show and KGO Radio in San Francisco earlier today. Voss, Mohri and Dom Gorie ended their day early this afternoon, and will be awakened to begin their sixth day on orbit at 10:14 tonight Central Time.

The Red Team -- Kevin Kregel, Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele -- was awakened shortly after 10 this morning and promptly resumed mapping operations. This afternoon, Kregel and Kavandi answered questions from students at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS; Sitting Bull College in Ft. Yates, ND; and Houston High School in San Antonio, TX. This event was part of a NASA effort to encourage students to pursue careers in science, engineering and math.

All of Endeavour's systems are functioning normally as it circles the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 150 miles.

Science operations progressed flawlessly through the halfway point of the 11-day mission. "You have six smiling faces up here," remarked Gerhard Thiele after being told how well the mapping was going. As of noon today, more than 73 percent, or 35 million square miles, of the target area has been mapped once. That exceeds the land area of the Americas, Africa and Australia combined. More than 38 percent of the target area - 18 million square miles - has been mapped with two or more passes. Endeavour collects data on 40,000 square miles every minute it is over land.

New radar images of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East, and of northwestern Mongolia were released today. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission images hold the promise of helping scientists and planners better understand such potential problems as river flooding and soil erosion.

While continuing to troubleshoot the balky small thruster on the tip of Endeavour's 200-foot mast, flight controllers are implementing steps to conserve the propellant used by the orbiter's reaction control system jets to maintain the mast's attitude. With pilot Dom Gorie cycling the cold gas line, Janice Voss reported seeing a small, white object moving out of Endeavour's payload bay. The object is suspected to be a small piece of ice. The remaining Blue Team member, Mamoru Mohri, took some time out of his day to talk with students in his native country of Japan. Later today, Thiele answered questions from reporters at the German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen.

Meanwhile, EarthKam has processed 1,033 images - more than from any other shuttle mission. Using a camera mounted in Endeavour's overhead window, school students are taking pictures of the Earth. On four previous flights, EarthKam took about 2,000 photos.

Endeavour continues to provide an excellent platform for the most accurate and unified topographical mapping of the Earth ever produced.

Scientists reported that 67.2 percent of the target area - 32 million square miles - had been mapped by early Wednesday. That is equal to the area of the Americas, Africa and Australia combined. It is about 56 percent of all the Earth's land surface.

More than 32.5 percent of the target area had been mapped with two passes. That 15.5 million square miles is roughly equal to the combined areas of Africa and Australia. New radar images of Brazil, South Africa and the South Island of New Zealand were released Tuesday afternoon by enthusiastic scientists who said the picture of the Earth obtained by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission will be used for decades to come.

EarthKAM, mounted in the overhead starboard window of Endeavour's aft flight deck, lets middle school students take pictures of the Earth. They use interactive web pages to select photos. On four previous flights, EarthKAM took more than 2,000 photos.

The astronauts completed the fourth trim burn, adjusting the orbiter's altitude using the "flycast maneuver." The carefully choreographed and timed maneuver is designed to adjust Endeavour's orbit while imparting minimal stress to the 200-foot mast protruding from the cargo bay.

Mapping operations continued flawlessly early Wednesday. Endeavour was gathering data on 40,000 square miles of land a minute while it was over land areas.

Flight controllers continue to troubleshoot a problem with a small nitrogen thruster on the end of the 200-foot-long mast. They have implemented a number of steps to conserve the propellant used by Endeavour's reaction control system jets, which are being used to maintain the attitude of the mast in the absence of the jet. Flight controllers and crewmembers are optimistic that they will have enough propellant and power to complete their planned nine-day, nine-hour mapping operations.

Blue Team members, Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, are on duty. Earlier in his shift, Mohri took time out to talk with Japanese students in Tokyo and Kagoshima. Members of the Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, were in their sleep period. They are scheduled to be awakened at 10:14 a.m.

Endeavour's systems are functioning normally as it continues to gather data for unprecedentedly accurate and unified topographical maps of the Earth.

As of noon today, 81 percent, or more than 39 million square miles of the target area had been mapped once. That exceeds the land area of the Americas, Africa and Australia combined. More than 47 percent of the target area - over 22 million square miles - has been mapped with two or more passes. Endeavour images 40,000 square miles of land every minute.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield in Mission Control transmitted the good news to the crew aboard Endeavour while all six astronauts were awake conducting a shift change. The crew is working around the clock on two shifts conducting the detailed mapping operations. Several fuel-saving steps have been implemented, including a change in the way excess water is dumped overboard, and allowing more flexibility in holding Endeavour and the 200-foot mast in the proper attitude. The final conservation measure will be the deletion of the eighth trim burn, which controllers believe can safely be deleted by adjusting the sixth and seventh burns without a disruption to data collection.

Exuberant scientists today released new radar images of the San Andreas Fault in California, the Los Angeles basin, Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains, and the island of Hokkaido, Japan, birthplace of Mission Specialist Mamoru Mohri. "We're well on the way to making the best topographic map of the world ever," said Dr. Diane Evans, chief scientist in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Earth Science Office. "We are ecstatic about this data set." She said the level of detail in maps resulting from this Shuttle Radar Topography Mission should help scientists better understand earthquakes and mudflows.

Science operations continued through the seventh day of the mission, with trouble-shooting a problem with one of six high data-rate recorders on board being the only issue of significance. The recorders are used to capture the masses of data collected during the SRTM mission on 270 tapes.

Earlier today, Mohri spoke about the mission with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and the Minister of State for Science and Technology. Later, he joined Dom Gorie and Janice Voss for interviews with The Weather Channel and two television stations. Janet Kavandi briefly joined them to send greetings to her hometown of Springfield, MO.

Meanwhile, EarthKam continues its record-breaking production of images, having processed 1,355 images. The project allows school students to remotely take pictures of the Earth using a camera mounted in one of Endeavour's windows.

The orbiter continues to perform smoothly and provide a solid platform for the most accurate and unified topographical mapping of the Earth ever produced.

By early Thursday more that 77 percent or 36.4 million square miles of the target area has been mapped once. That is about equal to Asia, the Americas and Australia combined, or about twice the area of the surface of the moon. More than 20.24 million square miles has been mapped with two or more passes. Endeavour collects data on 40,000 square miles every minute it is over land. At that rate, SRTM could map an area the size of Florida in 90 seconds.

Propellant for the shuttle's reaction control system jets became an issue after failure of a small cold-gas jet on the end of the almost 200-foot mast extending from Endeavour's payload bay. The small jet was designed to help control the attitude of the mast. Without the jet, the orbiter's reaction control system jets are doing the job. Their increased propellant consumption has required a number of fuel conservation steps on the orbiter to enable a complete mapping mission.

Mapping operations are not affected, and scientists continue to express delight at the quality of even the rough data, sent down to confirm SRTM function. The radar gathers data at a rate about four times as fast as the orbiter can send it down. It is being collected on about 270 high-density tapes (which hold as much information as 13,500 CDs). But even the early, rough data show scientists features not seen on today's best maps.

Endeavour's Blue Team, Pilot Dom Gorie and mission specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, is on duty until about noon Central Standard Time. Mohri is speaking with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and the Minister of State for Science and Technology, Hirofumi Nakasone, at 6:22 a.m. The Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, is sleeping. Its wakeup call is scheduled for 10:14 a.m.

EarthKAM continued its record-breaking performance. A secondary payload mounted in an upper window on Endeavour's flight deck, EarthKAM is used by middle school students to take digital photos of the Earth's surface. It has sent down a mission record of more than 1,250 photos. On four previous flights, EarthKAM took a total of about 2,000 photos.

Early today, Endeavour completed its sixth "Flycast Maneuver" trim burn, a gentle engine firing that maintains the Shuttle's altitude at around 150 statute miles for the precise mapping work. Today's burn gave the Shuttle a slightly larger boost than previous daily firings, a measure that will allow controllers to save fuel by eliminating a subsequent firing on Sunday. The next trim burn is now planned for midday on Saturday. So far, the Shuttle Radar Topography instruments aboard Endeavour have mapped 83 percent, or almost 40 million square miles, of the target area once, an area larger than the Americas, Africa and Australia combined. More than 50 percent of the target area, over 24 million square miles, has been mapped with two or more passes. Endeavour images 40,000 square miles of land every minute, a rate that would allow the Shuttle to map the state of Alaska in 15 minutes and the state of Rhode Island in less than two seconds.

In addition to the changes in trim burns, other fuel conservation measures aboard Endeavour have included changing the way waste water is dumped overboard, slightly relaxing the spacecraft's stringent attitude control guidelines and limiting the use of some equipment. Early in the mission, the failure of a tiny thruster at the end of the 197-foot mast protruding from Endeavour's cargo bay resulted in increased use of the Shuttle's steering jets and fuel. On Thursday, flight controllers noted that the small nitrogen gas thruster on the mast now appeared to be again providing some thrust, a trend that could further improve the Shuttle's predicted fuel consumption.

While the radar mapping continues, a student-operated camera mounted in one of Endeavour's windows also has set a record pace. So far, the experiment, called EarthKAM, has sent down almost 1,400 photos of Earth to middle school students. On four previous shuttle flights combined, EarthKAM sent down a total of about 2,000 photos.

Working around the clock, Endeavour's crew is divided into two shifts. The Blue Team -- Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri -- are now on duty. Voss and Mohri took time out from their work this morning to provide television of the high-rate recorders used for the mapping operations and a High-Definition Television Camera.

The recorders use high-density tapes to capture the radar mapping data. About 270 tapes will be recorded, containing a volume of data that would fill about 13,500 CDs. The data will allow topographical maps to be created of a majority of Earth that will be several times more accurate than are available today. The HDTV camcorder aboard Endeavour is one of the first steps in NASA's transition to HDTV.

The Red Team, Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele, are sleeping and will awaken at 10:14 a.m. CST. The entire crew will participate in a press conference at 11:59 a.m. today, fielding questions from U.S. and Japanese reporters at NASA centers. Subsequently, Thiele, Kregel, Kavandi and Voss will take a call from German Research Minister Edelgard Buhlmann.

Endeavour continues to function well.

The camera takes pictures for middle school students. Through the Internet, their schools' mission operations centers are linked to the EarthKAM Mission Operations Center at the University of California at San Diego. Except for setup, initial camera pointing and lens changes, no crew involvement is required for normal operations.

Meanwhile, flight controllers continued to successfully conserve fuel and electricity aboard Endeavour and plan an extension of the mapping work.

The nine-hour extension of imaging operations means that mapping will continue until about 6 a.m. Monday. Successful completion of the 9 days, 18 hours of mapping will mean that almost all of the target area will be imaged -- only small areas of the United States, already well mapped, would be missed. The target area is the 80 percent of the Earth's land between 60 degrees north, the latitude of Hudson Bay, and 56 degrees south, Cape Horn at the tip of South America. It is home to 95 percent of the Earth's people. With the current plan, more than 99.9 percent of the area would be imaged at least once. More than 94.6 percent of it would be covered at least twice, and almost half would be imaged at least three times.

Scientists reported that by early Saturday 89.6 percent of the target area, 42.7 million square miles, had been mapped once. About 60.1 percent, or 28.6 million square miles, had been imaged at least twice. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission's sophisticated radar continued to collect surface imaging data at a rate of 40,000 square miles a minute.

Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Gerhard Thiele and Janet Kavandi, the Red Team, and the Blue Team members Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, held their crew news conference Friday. Today Kregel and Thiele will answer questions from German news media representatives and later speak with dignitaries at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

The Red Team is asleep and is to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. The Blue Team remains on duty until 11:59 a.m.

So far, the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission has imaged 44.7 million square miles, or about 93.9 percent of the target area, at least once. About 33.4 million square miles or 70.1 percent of the target area has been imaged at least twice. The target area extends from 60 degrees north latitude to 56 degrees south latitude. That covers all the Southern Hemisphere landmasses except Antarctica and Northern Hemisphere land south of Hudson Bay and St. Petersburg, Russia. It is home to about 95 percent of Earth's population.

At the scheduled end of mapping operations, more than 99.9 percent of the area will have been imaged at least once. More than 94.6 percent of it will be covered at least twice, and almost half will be imaged at least three times. All but about 80,000 square miles of targeted land will have been covered. The areas that will not be covered are in small, scattered segments, mostly in North America and most of them already accurately mapped.

Endeavour's radar, gathering data in 140-mile-wide swaths as the spacecraft orbits at 17,500 miles per hour, images 40,000 square miles each minute. Data from this mission will, after a year or more of processing, produce the most accurate and most uniform global topography maps ever made.

The EarthKAM, a digital camera mounted at an overhead window on Endeavour's flight deck, has sent down about 2,200 images so far, and the number is growing. On four previous shuttle flights, EarthKAM sent down a total of 2,018 images.

The camera takes pictures for middle school students working on projects in Earth science, geography, space sciences and other topics. Through the Internet, their schools' mission operations centers are linked to the EarthKAM Mission Operations Center at the University of California at San Diego, which sends up photo targets and receives the images. Except for setup, initial camera pointing and lens changes, no crew involvement is required for normal operations.

On Saturday, Endeavour's crew carried out the seventh and final trim burn and flycast maneuver of the flight. The maneuver keeps the spacecraft at the proper altitude for mapping and is designed to reduce the stresses on the mast and minimize the loads at the tip.

Blue Team members, Pilot Dom Gorie and Mission Specialists Janice Voss and Mamoru Mohri, are on duty and continue mapping operations. Commander Kevin Kregel and Mission Specialists Gerhard Thiele and Janet Kavandi, the Red Team, are sleeping. They are to be awakened at 10:14 a.m. CST.

Endeavour's systems continue to perform well as it orbits about 150 statute miles above the surface.

After wrapping up mapping operations at 5:54 a.m. Central time today with a final pass over Australia, Endeavour's crew retracted the 200-foot mast into its payload bay canister. The mast, the longest rigid structure ever deployed in space, supported the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission's external antenna structure during more than 222 hours of data gathering.

Mast retraction proceeded smoothly as each of its 86 external sections, or bays, folded into the nine-foot-long canister during the 18-minute retraction procedure. Final mast stowage was delayed when the three latches on the lid of the mast canister failed to engage as expected. The first two efforts failed to secure the latches, but the third attempt succeeded and all three latches on the mast canister were activated at 9:50 a.m. Central time.

The SRTM mapped almost 100 percent of all planned sites around the world, a total area of more than 47.6 million square miles. The area mapped four times represents more than twice the area of the United States. SRTM project scientist Dr. Mike Kobrick called SRTM "a truly outstanding achievement." New images released today showed Fiji; the San Francisco Bay area; Pasadena, CA; the San Andreas Fault near Palmdale, CA; and an animated fly-around from Pasadena to Palmdale along the San Andreas Fault.

This afternoon, Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dom Gorie and flight engineer Janet Kavandi tested Endeavour's flight control surfaces and reaction control system thrusters. Deactivation and stowage of radar mapping hardware and the Ku antenna were completed, and members of the Red Team - Kregel, Kavandi and Gerhard Thiele -- began cabin stowage. The Blue Team - Gorie, payload commander Janice Voss and Japanese astronaut Mamoru Mohri -- will complete stowage tomorrow morning. The Blue Team began its sleep period at 5:44 p.m., and will be awakened at 1:14 a.m. Tuesday.

There are three landing opportunities available tomorrow, two at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the third at Edwards, CA. The first opportunity would bring Endeavour back to KSC at 3:50 p.m. Central. There is another opportunity one orbit later, with a KSC landing at 5:22 p.m. Central. The third opportunity would see Endeavour land at Edwards at 6:48 p.m. Central time. The previous 20 shuttle missions have ended with landings at KSC. The last Edwards landing was STS-76 in March 1996. The primary concerns for a KSC landing are strong crosswinds and a low layer of clouds. Weather conditions at KSC are not expected to improve Wednesday or Thursday, and are expected to deteriorate at Edwards after Tuesday.

During 225 hours of operation during this mission, EarthKam took 2,715 images. Over 75 middle schools from around the world participated. The previous record number of images for a single flight was 670 on STS-86. The total number of images for this flight alone far exceeded the combined total from all previous flights.

With Commander Kevin Kregel at the controls, Endeavour touched down at 5:22 p.m Central time on Runway 33 at the three mile long Shuttle Landing Facility to complete a mission spanning almost 4.7 million statute miles. Pilot Dom Gorie, Flight Engineer Janet Kavandi and Mission Specialist Janice Voss joined Kregel on the flight deck for entry and landing. Mission Specialist Mamoru Mohri from NASDA, the Japanese space agency, and European Space Agency astronaut Gerhard Thiele were seated down in the middeck. The end of the STS-99 mission marked the 21st consecutive landing at the Florida spaceport.

After waving off the first landing opportunity of the day because of high cross winds at the landing site, the crew was given a "go" to perform the deorbit burn which came at 4:24 p.m. Central time and caused Endeavour to fall out of its 150 statute mile high orbit to start the journey home to the Kennedy Space Center.

The data brought home by Endeavour's crew was collected during more than 222 hours of around-the-clock radar mapping operations and is enough to fill more than 20,000 CDs. The information gathered on the STS-99 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission will be used to produce global maps more accurate than any available today.

The STS-99 crew will spend the evening in Florida before returning to Houston on Wednesday. The crew should land at Ellington Field in Houston near the Johnson Space Center at about 1:30 p.m. Central time where the six astronauts will be greeted by JSC management and center employees. The crew return ceremony will occur at Hangar 990 and is open to the general public.

Engineers at the Mission Control Center outside of Moscow conducted a series of tests and verified that the exterior connections made by Commander Frank Culbertson and Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov during Monday's space walk had successfully brought the Pirs Docking Compartment's automated Kurs telemetry system to full functionality.

With the help of Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, they spent Wednesday cleaning up, servicing and storing the Orlan spacesuits they had used on the 5-hour, 4-minute space walk. They also spent about 20 minutes answering questions posed by middle school students in Texas and Kansas as part of a regional education conference.

With those activities complete, the trio of space researchers began getting ready for a series of comings and goings, and packing for their impending return home. The Progress 5 resupply craft currently docked to the Zvezda service module is scheduled to undock Nov. 22; it later will be commanded to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere where it will burn up along with refuse being stored inside by the crew this week. Another supply vehicle, Progress 6, is scheduled to launch Nov. 26 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and dock with the station Nov. 28.

All preparations for the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour and the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yuri Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - are on schedule for launch at 6:42 p.m. CST Nov. 29. Mission managers will meet at Kennedy Space Center this Thursday to review all preparations for launch; an official launch target is expected at the conclusion of that meeting. The shuttle crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani - joined the new station crew in Florida for a final dress rehearsal of the launch last week.

While visiting the station, the shuttle crew will conduct a space walk to install insulation blankets on the beta gimbal assemblies for the station's large solar array wings. These large swivels, which allow the solar arrays to track the Sun's rays and provide maximum power generation, appear to be experiencing adverse effects related to the extreme temperature swings that occur as the station moves in and out of direct sunlight. These multi-layer insulation blankets are expected to reduce the temperature swings and allow normal operation of the solar arrays.

Meanwhile in Florida, the next major component to be launched to the space station has successfully completed acceptance testing and been moved to a work platform for final closeouts. One last software test remains, and that will be completed in January. The S-zero truss, which will serve as the base section of a framework connecting more large solar array wings, is scheduled for launch on STS-110 in March 2002.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (397 km).

Science work aboard the station continues with emphasis on human physiology experiments as the crew nears the end of its time on orbit, and with autonomous microgravity materials research. Overall coordination of the research is the responsibility of the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

The Progress, attached to the docking port at the rear of the Zvezda service module, is the fifth to visit the station. It will undock at 10:06 a.m. CST Thursday, to be deorbited and burn up in the atmosphere with its load of trash and unneeded equipment. Its undocking makes room for Progress 6, scheduled for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:24 p.m. CST Monday. The new Progress, filled with fresh supplies, is planned to dock to the station at 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 28.

The Expedition Three trio also began preparations for their return home after about four months in space. They began packing up gear and readying station equipment in anticipation of the arrival of the space shuttle Endeavour, targeted for a launch to the space station from Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 29 at 6:41 p.m. CST on the STS-108 mission. Endeavour is commanded by Dom Gorie. Pilot is Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists are Linda Godwin and Dan Tani.

The major purpose of the mission is bring the Expedition Four crew, cosmonaut and Commander Yury Onufrienko and Astronauts Dan Bursch and Carl Walz, to the station and bring home Expedition Three. Also during the flight, Godwin and Tani will do a spacewalk to install thermal blankets over the station's beta gimbal assemblies of the orbiting laboratory's solar wings, which stretch 240 feet from tip to tip. The assemblies let the wings track the sun to provide maximum power.

Flight controllers at Houston's Mission Control Center have seen in those mechanisms occasional unexpected surges in the power required to turn the wings. They believe the surges are related to extreme temperature swings that occur as the station moves in and out of direct sunlight. Installation of the blankets is expected to reduce the temperature fluctuations and eliminate the "power spikes" seen as the wings pivot.

The spacewalkers will go out of Endeavour's airlock, then get a 50-foot lift from the shuttle's robotic arm. They will have to climb with the blankets another 30 feet to the worksite, atop the P6 Truss and about 80 feet from Endeavour's cargo bay.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (397 km).

Human physiology experiments continue to be a focus of crew science activities as the crew prepares for its return home. Autonomous microgravity materials research continued to accumulate scientific experiment run time hours in a variety of disciplines. Overall coordination of the research is the responsibility of the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

The Progress 6 craft, which launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Monday, gently docked to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module over Central Asia at 1:43 p.m. CST, completing a two-day automated flight.

On board the station, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin monitored the docking, and prepared for the opening of the hatch between Zvezda and Progress later today.

The Progress is carrying more than a ton of food, fuel and equipment for the Expedition Four crew, Russian Commander Yury Onufrienko and U.S. Astronauts Dan Bursch and Carl Walz, who are scheduled to be launched aboard the shuttle Endeavour tomorrow night on the STS-108 mission to relieve the Expedition Three crew, which has been in orbit since August. They will be ferried to the ISS by Endeavour Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani. Launch from the Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for 6:41 p.m. CST.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (397 km).

Human physiology experiments continue to be a focus of crew science activities as the crew prepares for its return home. Autonomous microgravity materials research continued to accumulate scientific experiment run time hours in a variety of disciplines. Overall coordination of the research is the responsibility of the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

STS-108 cargo bay payload was dominated by the Raffaello (MPLM-2) logistics module with 4 RSP and 8 RSR resupply racks. Also in the cargo bay were the MACH-1 and LMC experiment trusses flown under the Goddard small payloads program. MACH-1 was an MPESS-type Hitchhiker bridge carrying the CAPL-3 capillary thermal control experiment on top. On its forward side was the Starshine-2 launch canister, the CAPL-3 avionics plate, the Hitchhiker avionics plate, and the SEM-15 canister. On the aft side was the G-761 canister containing experiments from Argentina, the PSRD synchrotron detector (a prototype for the AMS antimatter experiment which will fly on Station later), and the COLLIDE-2 and SEM-11 canisters. The SEM (Space Experiment Modules) are collections of high school experiments. LMC, the Lightweight MPESS Carrier carried four canisters with materials science and technology experiments: SEM-12, G-785, G-064 and G-730. In addition, an adapter beam on the starboard sidewall carried G-221 and G-775, with materials science and biology experiments.

Raffaello was transferred back to the Shuttle payload bay on December 14. Endeavour undocked from the Station at 17:28 UTC on December 15 and made a half loop around the station before making a small separation burn at 1822 UTC. The Starshine-2 reflector satellite was ejected from the MACH-1 bridge in Endeavour's payload bay at 1502 UTC on December 16. Endeavour landed on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 1755 UTC on December 17. The Expedition 3 crew of Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin returned to Earth aboard Endeavour, leaving the Expedition 4 crew of Onufrienko, Bursch and Walz in charge of the Station.

The station was about 250 statute miles above the central Indian Ocean as Endeavour rocketed away from Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center, FL, on time at 4:19 p.m. CST. Endeavour will close in on the station for the next two days and dock with the complex on Friday to begin a week-long stay.

Endeavour is commanded by Dom Gorie with Mark Kelly serving as pilot. Mission Specialists are Linda Godwin and Dan Tani. Also aboard Endeavour are station Expedition Four crew members Commander Yuri Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, who are beginning more than five months in orbit.

Endeavour will bring home the Expedition Three station crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, who have been aboard the station since mid-August. In addition to the new crew, Endeavour is carrying more than three tons of food, supplies and equipment in the Raffaello logistics module to the orbiting outpost.

Endeavour's crew will spend the next few hours unpacking equipment, setting up computers and conducting the first of periodic engine firings that will occur over the next two days to refine the shuttle's approach to the station. The shuttle crew will begin a sleep period at 11:19 p.m. CST and will be awakened at 7:19 a.m. CST Thursday. On Thursday, Endeavour's crew will check out the shuttle's equipment and systems that will be needed for Friday's final approach and docking to the International Space Station. Docking is planned for just after 2 p.m. CST Friday. On Saturday, the Raffaello module will be lifted from the shuttle payload bay using Endeavour's robotic arm and attached to a station berthing port to be unloaded. Godwin and Tani are planned to conduct a four-hour space walk on Monday to install insulation around two solar array rotation mechanisms. Raffaello will be returned to the shuttle payload bay later in the mission and brought back to Earth.

In addition to a new station crew and supplies, Endeavour is carrying a host of scientific investigations, including experiments from space agencies, schools and universities across the United States, Europe and South America as well as a small satellite that has involved more than 25,000 students in 26 countries.

The crew, Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko, Flight Engineer Carl Walz and Flight Engineer Dan Bursch, was awakened by the song "Soul Spirit" and "Put a Little Love in Your Life," sung by Bursch's daughter and her second-grade classmates.

The crew will spend the day preparing shuttle systems for docking with the International Space Station, which is scheduled for about 2 p.m. CST Friday. Preparations include powering up the shuttle's robotic arm and checking out the airlock and the space suits that will be used on Monday's planned four-hour spacewalk by Godwin and Tani to place thermal blankets on the motors that rotate the solar arrays atop the P6 truss.

In addition to performing the spacewalk, other activities during the mission include a crew exchange on board the space station Saturday and the transfer of more than three tons of cargo. The cargo, housed in the Raffaello logistics module that will be attached to the Unity module, includes food, supplies and equipment that the Expedition Four Crew will use during its stay on the station. The Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin have been living aboard the space station since mid-August and will return home on Endeavour.

Also on board Endeavour is a host of scientific investigations, including experiments from other space agencies, schools and universities across the United States, Europe and South America. Two experiments located in the Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1) in the shuttle payload bay had already completed 15% and 10% of their mission objectives by the time the crew went to sleep last night. Those experiments are the Capillary Pumped Loop Experiment (CAPL) and the Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector (PSRD) respectively. The CAPL demonstrates a multiple evaporator capillary pumped loop system and the PSRD measures cosmic ray background data.

Endeavour Commander Dom Gorie and Pilot Mark Kelly fired the shuttle's steering engines and jets twice today to adjust course toward the station. Gorie and Kelly also checked out the rendezvous systems and navigation aids Endeavour will require for its final approach to the orbiting complex, finding everything in good shape. Later, Kelly, assisted by Mission Specialist Linda Godwin, powered up the shuttle's robotic arm to check its operation and to use its television cameras to survey the Raffaello cargo module and experiments housed in Endeavour's payload bay. On Saturday, the robotic arm will be used by Kelly to attach Raffaello to a station berthing port so that more than three tons of food, supplies and experiments it holds can be moved aboard the complex.

Godwin and Mission Specialist Dan Tani also powered up and tested the space suits they will wear for a four-hour space walk on Monday, finding all the equipment in good condition. Godwin and Tani will install extra insulation on mechanisms that rotate the station's solar arrays during the excursion. Also today, Godwin powered up Endeavour's docking mechanism and extended it into position to await contact with the station. The Expedition Four crew members aboard Endeavour, en route to begin an almost six-month mission aboard the station, assisted the shuttle crew today with preparations and worked with several secondary scientific investigations.

All crew members on the shuttle had a few hours off-duty this evening, providing a short break in advance of what will be a busy week docked with the International Space Station. Endeavour is scheduled to dock at the station at about 1:59 p.m. CST Friday. The final phase of the approach begins with an engine firing by Endeavour at about 11:44 a.m. CST, when the shuttle is some nine miles behind the complex. Gorie will take over manual control of Endeavour's approach just after 1 p.m. CST, when Endeavour moves within a half-mile underneath the station. Gorie will fly the shuttle closer, maneuvering a quarter-circle around the station to dock at the complex's front port. Hatches will be opened between the two spacecraft and the crews will greet one another around 4 p.m. CST.

Meanwhile, aboard the station today, the Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, spent their final solo day in flight packing for the trip home. The station crew, completing more than four months in space, also continued to unload a Russian cargo supply craft that docked to the station last week.

Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST and awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST on Friday. Endeavour is now about 3,500 statute miles behind the station, closing in 260 miles with each orbit of Earth.

With the new Expedition Four station crew of Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch looking on from Endeavour's flight deck, shuttle Commander Dom Gorie brought Endeavour to a gentle linkup with the ISS at 2:03 p.m. CST as the two craft sailed over England. Within minutes, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani began to conduct post-docking checks of the mechanical interface between Endeavour and the station's Destiny Laboratory prior to the opening of the hatches on the two vehicles. At first, the shuttle's docking ring and the docking mechanism on the ISS did not align properly, but after allowing the two craft to dampen their relative motion against one another, the vehicles were hard mated for a week of joint operations by the ten crewmembers.

On board the ISS in their 119th day in space and their 116th day aboard the station, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin watched as their replacements arrived for the start of more than five months of orbital duty. The only other visitors for the Expedition Three crew during its increment arrived on the ISS in October to deliver a new Soyuz return vehicle.

The hatches were opened between Endeavour and the ISS' Destiny Laboratory at 4:42 p.m. CST, enabling the ten crewmembers to greet one another. Onufrienko, Walz and Bursch will officially take over command of the ISS Saturday afternoon from Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin after transferring custom made Soyuz seatliners and conducting leak checks to their spacesuits.

The crews now begin a busy week of handing over station responsibilities and unloading tons of supplies brought to the complex by Endeavour. Saturday's activities will be highlighted by Kelly's use of the shuttle's robotic arm to hoist the Italian-built Raffaello logistics module from Endeavour's payload bay and attach it to a station berthing port. Raffaello will stay attached to the station for most of the week while it is unloaded. The crews will begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST today and awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST on Saturday.

Endeavour's crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch - will quickly move into their final rendezvous activities today, bringing the shuttle to a position about 9 ½ miles behind the International Space Station about 11:44 a.m. today.

From that position behind the station, Gorie and Kelly will command Endeavour 's jets in a final major rendezvous maneuver to begin the final phase of the approach for docking. Endeavour will close the final miles to the station during the next orbit of the Earth, about 90 minutes.

As Endeavour approaches the station, the on-board rendezvous radar system will begin tracking the station providing distance and closing rate information to the crew. During the approach, the shuttle can perform up to four, small mid-course corrections at regular intervals. Just after the fourth burn, Endeavour will be about one-half mile below the station. Gorie will take over manual control of the approach, slowing Endeavour's approach and maneuvering to a point about 600 feet directly beneath the station. There he will begin a quarter-circle of the station, slowly moving to a position in front of the complex, in line with its direction of travel.

Once Endeavour has firmly docked to the station, and required leak checks are complete, the hatches between the spacecraft will open around 4 p.m. allowing Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin to greet their newest guests.

Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin began their formal residency on the station on August 13 as their custom-made Soyuz seat liners were installed on the Soyuz return vehicle. Their residency will officially end once those seat liners are transferred to Endeavour and the Expedition Four crew's seat liners are installed in the Soyuz on Saturday.

Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Linda Godwin will work together to remove the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module from Endeavour's payload bay and attach it to the Unity node of the International Space Station. Over the course of about three hours, Kelly will use the shuttle's robotic arm to gently lift Raffaello from the payload bay and maneuver it into place, securing it to the Earth-facing berthing port on the Unity module about 12:39 p.m. CST today.

As Kelly works to install the Raffaello module, the formal exchange of space station crews will occur as the Expedition Three crew - Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov, and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin - and the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, exchange their customized seat liners in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. As each Expedition Four crew member's seatliner is installed in the Soyuz and checked out, he officially becomes a resident of the space station with the Expedition Three crew member moving over to become a member of the Endeavour crew. Handover briefings between the crews will continue throughout docked operations.

Mission Specialist Dan Tani will focus his attention on transferring equipment from Endeavour to the space station while Commander Dom Gorie tends to vehicle operations.

The three commanders onboard - Gorie, Culbertson and Onufrienko - along with Endeavour's Pilot Kelly will participate in media interviews at 3:44 p.m. CST. MSNBC, CBS News and WAGT-TV in Augusta, Georgia will have the opportunity to interview the crewmembers in the station's Destiny laboratory.

Two payload bay experiments located in the Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1) facility have already completed 50% and 76% of their mission objectives. Those experiments are the Capillary Pumped Loop Experiment (CAPL) and the Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector (PSRD) respectively. The CAPL demonstrates a multiple evaporator capillary pumped loop system and the PSRD measures cosmic ray background data.

A New York firefighter presented Pilot Mark Kelly with today's wake-up music when Kelly visited the World Trade Center site with former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin shortly after the September 11 attacks. All the astronauts and cosmonauts on board Endeavour and the International Space Station will take time today to remember the victims, their families and rescue workers in a special message from space, at 4:24 p.m. CST today.

Commander Dom Gorie, Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch will all gather in the Destiny laboratory aboard the station to display a U.S. flag and take a moment to honor the victim's families and survivors of the attacks.

Coordinated through the "Flags for Heroes and Families" campaign, which was initiated by Former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, several American flags are being flown aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. Those flags include 6,000 small U.S. flags, one U.S. flag that was recovered from the debris of the World Trade Center, a Marine Corps flag that was retrieved from the Pentagon, and an American flag from the State of Pennsylvania. Also onboard, is a large New York Fire Department flag, 23 replica New York Police Department shields, and 91 New York Police Department patches. Those items are stowed away in the shuttle and will be distributed upon Endeavour's return to Earth.

The crew's activities today will focus on continuing transfer of several hundred pounds of equipment and supplies from the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module that was attached to the station yesterday. Transfer of equipment, supplies and experiments to and from the shuttle mid deck is already complete. Today, Godwin and Tani will also check out and prepare the tools they will use for Monday's scheduled spacewalk.

Aboard Endeavour are 6,000 small United States flags that will be distributed to heroes and families of the victims of the attacks after the shuttle returns to Earth. Also aboard are a U.S. flag that was found at the World Trade Center site after the attacks, a U.S. flag that has flown above the Pennsylvania state capitol, a U.S. Marine Corps Colors flag from the Pentagon, a New York Fire Department flag, and a poster that includes photographs of firefighters lost in the attacks.

Shuttle Commander Dom Gorie said the flag carried aboard Endeavour which came from the World Trade Center elicited especially poignant thoughts among the crew.

"This was found among the rubble and it has a few tears in it. You can still smell the ashes. It is a tremendous symbol of our country," Gorie said. "Just like our country, it was a little battered and bruised and torn, but with a little bit of repair it is going to fly as high and as beautiful as it ever did. And that is just what our country is doing."

International Space Station Expedition 3 Commander Frank Culbertson and his crew -- cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin -- were in orbit Sept. 11 and will be on their way home to Earth when Endeavour departs the station next week. The space station flew above New York the morning of Sept. 11, and the crew could see evidence of the attacks out the windows.

"That was quite a disturbing sight, as you might imagine, to see my country under attack," Culbertson said. "All of us were affected by that day greatly.

"To all of those who lost loved ones, to all of those who worked so hard to help people survive, and to the people who are trying so hard to stop this threat, we wish you the best. We have thought about you often over the last three months that we've been here ... and we will continue to keep you in our thoughts," Culbertson added. "We will continue, I hope, to set a good example of how people can accomplish incredible things when they have the right goals. We will continue to think of how we can improve peace around the world and how we can improve knowledge, and hopefully that will bring people together."

While the unloading of almost three tons of new food, supplies and experiments continued today, Culbertson's crew also conducted a handover of station work to the oncoming Expedition Four crew -- Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz. Also today, Endeavour fired its steering jets gradually over the course of an hour to increase the station's altitude by about two statute miles, the first of three similar reboost maneuvers planned for this week's mission.

The hatches were closed between the shuttle and the station, with only the Expedition Four crew remaining aboard the station, at about 6:43 p.m. CST today in preparation for a space walk planned from the shuttle on Monday. Closing the hatch allows the cabin pressure on the shuttle to be lowered slightly, part of a protocol that protects space walkers from decompression sickness when they go to the low pressure, pure oxygen space suits.

Astronauts Linda Godwin and Dan Tani are scheduled to exit the shuttle airlock at 11:24 a.m. CST Monday to begin four hours of work outside to add insulation to mechanisms that rotate the station's solar arrays. After the space walk is completed Monday afternoon, the hatches between Endeavour and the station will be reopened.

The crews begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. today and awaken at 6:19 a.m. on Monday.

The focus of activities aboard Endeavour today will be on the planned four-hour spacewalk to be conducted by Godwin and Dan Tani. Godwin and Tani will exit the shuttle's airlock about 11:24 a.m. and will be carried about half way up the truss of the space station by the shuttle's robotic arm, operated by Pilot Mark Kelly. Commander Dom Gorie will coordinate efforts as the two spacewalkers maneuver hand-over-hand to their worksite location at the top of the P6 truss, some 80 feet above Endeavour's cargo bay.

The prime objective of the spacewalk is to place insulating blankets on the two Beta Gimbal Assemblies (BGA) that control the rotation of the solar arrays as they track the sun. The thermal blankets will protect the BGAs from temperature variances experienced in space, which has been leading to current spikes from the motors inside the BGAs. Once that task is complete, the spacewalkers will perform some get-ahead-tasks including retrieving tools from an outside pouch and bringing them inside for use during a spacewalk on the next mission to the space station early next year.

With hatches between the two spacecraft closed for today's space walk, the Expedition Four Crew, Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz will continue transferring equipment and supplies from the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station. This is the crewmembers' first day alone on the space station after exchanging places with the Expedition Three Crew, Commander Frank Culberston, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, on Saturday.

Shortly after the crews onboard Endeavour and the International Space Station were awakened, they prepared to take a moment to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the attacks on America on September 11, as part of President Bush's "Anthems of Remembrance" event. The event will take place at 7:46 a.m. CST, the exact moment of the attack three months ago.

The United States and Russian national anthems will be played in the shuttle and station flight control rooms in Mission Control and aboard the shuttle and the space station. The three commanders aboard the two spacecraft - Shuttle Commander Dom Gorie, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, and Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko, will share their personal thoughts as well as play a special pre-recorded message from the rest of the crew currently in orbit.

Onufrienko, along with Expedition Three crew members Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin, will take time today to talk with Russian media located at the mission control center outside Moscow in an interview scheduled to begin at 9:24 a.m. Later in the day, the full crews - Gorie, Onufrienko, Culbertson, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, Expedition Four flight engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, along with Dezhurov and Tyurin - will have an opportunity to talk with American news media during a crew news conference scheduled for 2:04 p.m.

A ceremony to mark the change of command from Culbertson to Onufrienko will take place at 2:48 p.m. today. Culbertson, in his 123rd day in space, will ceremoniously pass command of the space station on to Onufrienko, its newest commander. The official crew exchange occurred Saturday, December 8 with the transfer of Soyuz seatliners for each crew member. Today's event continues the tradition begun by Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd in March of this year, when he relinquished command of the ISS to Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev.

The crews will also continue transferring equipment and supplies from the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the space station for later use by the Expedition Four Crew. About 4,000 pounds of cargo has already been transferred from Raffaello to the station.

When the day began, the crews had already completed unloading more than 4,600 pounds of food, clothes, supplies and equipment from Raffaello, about 95 percent of the module's total cargo. They also had completed moving the 1,000 pounds of station gear and experiments that were launched in Endeavour's cabin to the orbiting complex.

In repacking the cargo module and Endeavour with unneeded equipment bound for Earth, the crews have loaded more than 1,800 pounds of material into Raffaello, almost half the amount expected by the time the packing is completed. Packing of Raffaello and Endeavour will continue on Thursday. On Friday, Raffaello will be detached from the station and moved back into Endeavour's payload bay for the trip home.

In addition, Endeavour's crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, and offgoing station crew members Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin - assisted the new station Expedition Four crew in replacing most components of a station treadmill today. Expedition Four - Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - will use the new treadmill almost daily during their five and a half months aboard the station. The job went smoothly and the crews finished several hours ahead of schedule, loading the old treadmill parts into Raffaello to be refurbished on Earth and, eventually, reused. A third and final scheduled reboost of the station by Endeavour also was completed today. The three boosts performed during the mission, each accomplished by a gradual, hour-long periodic firing of the shuttle steering jets, have raised the station's altitude by a total of almost 9 statute miles. The station's average altitude is now about 241 statute miles.

On Thursday, the crews will continue maintenance work as well as packing, replacing a faulty compressor in a Russian air conditioner on the station. Although the new crew officially took over aboard the station on Saturday, a formal handover ceremony also is planned for the two station crews at 2:04 p.m. CST Thursday.

The crews begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST today and awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST Thursday.

Flight Day 8 for Endeavour's crew began with a wake-up call from Mission Control offering a rendition of "Fly me to the Moon", sung by Oliver "Ollie" O'Regin for Dan Tani.

The astronauts and cosmonauts have transferred more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and material from Endeavour's middeck, and the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station. Today, the crews will focus on packing up the Raffaello module with items bound for a return trip to Earth. Raffaello will be detached from the Unity module of the station onFriday and reberthed in Endeavour's cargo bay for its ride home.

With a one-day extension to the mission, Endeavour's crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Tani - will spend today assisting the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Expedition Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - with maintenance tasks on board the station, including the replacement of some of the components of the on-board treadmill. Tomorrow, the crew will replace a failed compressor in one of the air conditioners in the Zvezda Service Module. As the Expedition Three crew - Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin - prepare for a return to Earth on Monday, they continue a series of handover briefings to acquaint the newest resident crew with their orbital home.

Endeavour is currently scheduled to undock from the ISS on Saturday morning, with landing planned for early Monday afternoon at the Kennedy Space Center.

Today's agenda for the shuttle crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, and Mission Specialists Dan Tani and Linda Godwin - will focus on packing up the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics module with unneeded equipment and supplies for the return flight home. Raffaello will be detached from the Unity module of the International Space Station tomorrow and reberthed in Endeavour's cargo bay for its ride back to Earth. Endeavour is currently scheduled to undock from the station on Saturday morning, with landing planned for early Monday afternoon at the Kennedy Space Center.

The Expedition Three crew will also continue handover activities with the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz.

A ceremony to mark the change of command from Culbertson to Onufrienko will take place at 3:09 p.m. CST. Culbertson, in his 125th day in space, will formally hand command of the space station on to Onufrienko, it's newest commander. The official crew exchange occurred Saturday, December 8 with the transfer of Soyuz seatliners for each crew member. Today's event continues the tradition begun by Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd in March of this year, when he relinquished command of the ISS to Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev.

With the crew completing the stowage of Raffaello for the trip home, work to replace a faulty compressor in an air conditioner unit in the Zvezda Service Module was deferred until tomorrow morning, concurrent with the closing of the hatch to the Raffaello module prior to its detachment from the ISS.

Raffaello has been loaded with unneeded equipment, as well as gear from the returning Expedition Three crewmembers, including their custom Soyuz spacesuits and seat liners. The hatch between Raffaello and the space station will be closed about 10 a.m. CST today once final transfers are complete. About 1:20 p.m., Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Linda Godwin will begin the process of detaching Raffaello from the station using the shuttle's 50-foot long robotic arm. The process of removing Raffaello from the station and carefully placing it back in Endeavour's payload bay is expected to be complete shortly after 3:30 p.m.

The two station commanders - Frank Culbertson and Yury Onufrienko - will continue their handover briefings even as they prepare for Endeavour's scheduled departure Saturday morning. Expedition Three crew member Vladimir Dezhurov will join Onufrienko in some final maintenance work on the station this morning replacing a faulty compressor in an air conditioner unit in the Zvezda Service Module.

All of the crew members - Endeavour Commander Dom Gorie, Kelly, Godwin and Dan Tani, along with Expedition Three crew members Culbertson, Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin and the Expedition Four crew, Onufrienko, Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - will meet late in the day today for a final briefing in preparation for Endeavour's departure tomorrow. Following final farewells tomorrow morning, about 7:30 a.m., the hatches between Endeavour and the station will be closed for a final time during this mission. Endeavour will undock from the station at 10 a.m. Saturday, and after a brief fly-around of the station, a final engine burn will mark Endeavour's departure from the station, leaving the Expedition Four crew on board for a planned five-month stay.

Endeavour's crew was awakened at 5:12 a.m. today by a traditional Russian song, "My Sweetheart," played for Onufrienko, Dezhurov and Tyurin. The Expedition Four crew was awakened about a half-hour later with a wake-up tone on board the station.

Endeavour and the International Space Station remain in good shape, orbiting at an average altitude of 241 statute miles. Wednesday, the crew and flight control teams noted a transient problem with one of the shuttle's three inertial measurement units (IMUs), the primary navigation units for the shuttle. That IMU, designated IMU2, experienced about an hour-long "drift rate," subsequently returning to normal operation. Flight controllers have taken IMU2 off line and declared it "failed," though it has performed normally since the initial problem was observed. The remaining two IMUs on board are performing well and the loss of a single IMU has no impact on Endeavour's mission or planned landing. Endeavour could operate well on only one IMU if required.

Endeavour is scheduled to return to the Kennedy Space Center about 11:55 a.m. CST tomorrow, weather permitting. Preliminary weather forecasts predict generally acceptable conditions at the landing site, with a chance of rain showers in the vicinity. Entry Flight Director LeRoy Cain and his team of flight controllers will oversee the crew's checkout of flight control systems and surfaces this morning from Mission Control. They also will receive updated weather forecasts for Monday's planned landing.

On what should be their final full day in space, Endeavour's crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, along with the returning Expedition Three crewmembers Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin - were awakened at 3:14 a.m. by the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas," sung by Bing Crosby.

About 9 a.m. today, Endeavour's crew will deploy a small satellite called STARSHINE 2 from a canister located in the payload bay. More than 30,000 students from 660 schools in 26 countries will track STARSHINE 2 as it orbits the Earth for eight months. The students, who helped polish STARSHINE'S 845 mirrors, will use the information they collect to calculate the density of the Earth's upper atmosphere.

Endeavour's middeck will carry home the results of several experiments completed during Expedition Three's stay on the station. These include the Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility, the Dynamically Controlled Protein Crystal Growth experiment and cells from the Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support System (CBOSS). The CBOSS equipment aboard the space station will remain active during Expedition Four, growing ovarian and colon cancer cells, as well as kidney cells in microgravity.

Experiments in Endeavour's payload bay also will be coming home, to be returned to investigators around the world. The Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1) is carrying a wide array of experiments, including the Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector, the Collisions Into Dust Experiment-2, the Capillary Pump Loop, and the Space Experiment Module (SEM). The SEM is carrying experiments from Argentina, Portugal, Morocco and Australia, as well experiments from U.S. schoolchildren. Several other canisters in Endeavour's payload bay are also carrying student experiments.

The first KSC landing opportunity today would begin with a deorbit burn of Endeavour's large orbital maneuvering engines at 10:50 a.m. resulting in an 11:55 a.m. central time (12:55 p.m. eastern) landing. If weather precludes landing on that first opportunity, there is a second opportunity, one orbit later, with an engine firing at 12:28 p.m. resulting in a 1:32 p.m. central (2:32 p.m. eastern) touchdown. The alternate landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California has not been called up for launch support today.

Just before 7 a.m., the crew will begin its formal deorbit preparations and by 8:10 a.m., Endeavour's payload bay doors should be closed in preparation for reentry. The crewmembers will begin climbing into their seats at 9:50 a.m., with a final "go, no go" call from the Entry Flight Director expected about 10:30 a.m. A landing today in Florida would conclude a voyage of more than 4.8 million miles for Endeavour and a 129-day stay in orbit for Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin.

Concluding a successful mission to the International Space Station, today's landing brings to an end a voyage of more than 4.8 million miles for Endeavour and marks the 57th shuttle landing at the Florida spaceport.

On Endeavour's flight deck are Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani. On the middeck, strapped into recumbent chairs to reduce the effects of reentry, is the Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin.

Following routine medical examinations, the STS-108 and Expedition Three crewmembers will enjoy a reunion with their families. All seven crewmembers are expected to return to a public welcome home at Hangar 990 at Houston's Ellington Field about 1 p.m. Wednesday.

During their 12 days in orbit, the STS-108 crew worked with both the returning Expedition Three and newly-arrived Expedition Four crews to transfer more than three tons of material, hardware and supplies from Endeavour to the station. Godwin and Tani also conducted a spacewalk to install thermal protection on motor assemblies that control the motion of the station's large solar arrays.

On board the International Space Station, the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - are settling in for a planned five-month stay on orbit, unloading the recently arrived Progress resupply vehicle.

Whitson and Tani began the day with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink. (To monitor the crewmembers' sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan and Peggy wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition. The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary 'job jar' task list.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 12/29/07.

The sampling kit was then stowed away. Leo's next NUTRITION/Repository activity will be his Flight Day 30 (FD30) session. (The current NUTRITION project is the most comprehensive in-flight study done by NASA to date of human physiologic changes during long-duration space flight. It includes measures of bone metabolism, oxidative damage, nutritional assessments, and hormonal changes, expanding the previous Clinical Nutritional Assessment profile (MR016L) testing in three ways: Addition of in-flight blood & urine collection (made possible by MELFI), normative markers of nutritional assessment, and a return session plus 30-day (R+30) session to allow evaluation of post-flight nutrition and implications for rehabilitation.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/27/08.

Progress thrusters (DPO) were inhibited and not involved. (Crew activities focused on TORU activation, inputting commands via the RUO Rotational Hand Controller and close-out ops. TORU lets an SM-based crewmember perform the approach and docking of automated Progress vehicles in case of failure of the automated KURS system. Receiving a video image of the approaching ISS, as seen from a Progress-mounted docking television camera ('Klest'), on a color monitor ('Simvol-Ts', i.e. 'symbol center') which also displays an overlay of rendezvous data from the onboard digital computer, the crewmember steers the Progress to mechanical contact by means of two hand controllers, one for rotation (RUO), the other for translation (RUD), on adjustable armrests. The controller-generated commands are transmitted from the SM's TORU control panel to the Progress via VHF radio. In addition to the Simvol-Ts color monitor, range, range rate (approach velocity) and relative angular position data are displayed on the 'Klest-M' video monitor (VKU) which starts picking up signals from Progress when it is still approximately 7 km away. TORU is monitored in real time from TsUP over Russian ground sites (RGS) and via Ku-band from Houston, but its control cannot be taken over from the ground.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 02/28/08.

CDR Whitson performed the periodic calibration of the two CSA-O2 (Compound Specific Analyzer-Oxygen sensor) instruments #1041 & #1052, using a calibration tank with accurately known pressure. (Partial Pressure Oxygen (ppO2) readings were 21.4% before and 21.3% after calibration on #1041, 23,3%/21.3% on #1052.)

Afterwards, Whitson took the periodic CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) measurements in the cabin atmosphere with the CDMK (CO2 Monitoring Kit, #1013). (Measured levels were 0.45% in the Lab, 0.43% in the SM (Service Module), 0.44% in the COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory). 0.45% = 4,500 ppm (parts per million).)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/06/08.

STS-123/Endeavour (ISS-1J/A) lifted off spectacularly in darkness early this morning right on time (2:28am EDT) with all systems performing nominally, for rendezvous with ISS tomorrow (3/12, Wednesday) and docking at approximately 11:25pm EDT. The Orbiter is carrying the seven-member crew of Commander Dominic L. Gorie, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Richard M. Linnehan, Robert L. Behnken, Michael J. Foreman, Takao Doi and Garrett E. Reisman. Reisman will replace LÃ(c)opold Eyharts as ISS Flight Engineer 2, who returns on 3/26 (nominal) with STS-123. STS-123 is the 122nd space shuttle flight, the 21st flight for Endeavour, the 25th flight to the station and the second of six Shuttle flights planned for 2008 (including the Hubble Service Mission 4). Its primary payloads are the 18,490-lbs Japanese Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section (ELM-PS or JLP) and the 3,400-lbs Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) 'Dextre'. We are off to another great mission!

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/11/08.

Aboard the shuttle are Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Robert Behnken, Mike Foreman, Rick Linnehan, Garrett Reisman and Takao Doi, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut.

Endeavour will deliver the first component of the Japanese laboratory complex, Kibo, to the station. Kibo, which means "Hope" in English, is the major contribution of Japan to the International Space Station. The laboratory complex will take three shuttle flights to assemble. Endeavour also is carrying an intricate robotics system called Dextre that was developed for the station by the Canadian Space Agency. The two-armed robot will be attached to the end of the station's robotic arm to handle smaller tasks that otherwise would require a spacewalk to accomplish.

The STS-123 mission will be the longest mission to date to the station and will include five spacewalks.

International Space Station Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Leopold Eyharts were awake beginning their workday when Endeavour launched. Reisman will become a member of the station crew after docking as he trades places with Eyharts, who will return to Earth aboard Endeavour once it departs the station.

Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period at 7:28 a.m. today and awaken at 3:28 p.m. to begin its first full day in space. The shuttle is scheduled to dock to the station at 10:20 p.m. Wednesday.

The crew was awakened at 3:28 p.m. by the Vince Guaraldi Trio's 'Linus & Lucy.' The song, which is from the album 'A Charlie Brown Christmas,' was played for Mission Specialist Mike Foreman.

The main activity of the day is the standard inspection of Endeavour's heat shield to ensure it is in good condition following launch. Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialist Takao Doi will use the shuttle's robotic arm and orbiter boom sensor system to scan the shuttle's wing leading edges and nose cap. The survey results will be sent to the ground for analysis.

Mission Specialists Robert L. Behnken, Rick Linnehan and Garrett Reisman will check out spacesuits in preparation for the five spacewalks they and Foreman will perform while at the International Space Station. Foreman has several other activities scheduled for the day, including preparations for Wednesday's docking with the station.

The station crew also is preparing for Wednesday's docking. Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Leopold Eyharts started their day at 3 p.m., after a shortened sleep period that allowed them to align their schedules with that of the shuttle crew.

Commander Dom Gorie and his crewmates, Pilot Greg Johnson and Mission Specialists Bob Behnken, Mike Foreman, Takao Doi, Rick Linnehan and Garrett Reisman, early Wednesday completed a five-hour inspection of Endeavour's heat shield using the shuttle's robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System. Imagery analysts and engineers on the ground will add these sensor images to those collected at launch and during the climb to orbit and continue their analysis of the orbiter's heat shield.

Additionally the STS-123 crew checked out the tools that will be used during Wednesday's rendezvous and docking to the station; installed the centerline camera that will be used during docking; and extended the outer ring of the Orbiter Docking System.

Spacewalkers Linnehan, Foreman, Behnken and Reisman checked the spacesuits that they will wear during the mission's five planned spacewalks.

On board the space station, Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Leopold Eyharts readied the station for the arrival of Endeavour by conducting a leak check of the docking port attached to the Harmony node.

About an hour before docking as the shuttle approaches the station, Gorie will perform the rendezvous pitch maneuver -an orbiter back-flip -600 feet below the station that will allow Whitson and Malenchenko to take hundreds of detailed images of the orbiter's underside. With the pitch maneuver complete, Gorie will fly the shuttle to a point about 300 feet in front of the station and then slowly ease the orbiter back to a docking.

STS-123 is budgeted for 16 days -the longest mission to the station -and will deliver the Japanese logistics compartment and the Canadian dextrous robot arm to their permanent home. A record five spacewalks will be performed while Endeavour is docked to the station to assist with the robotic attachment of the small logistics module and the assembly of Dextre -the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator that will extend the reach and capability of the station's robotic arm.

Endeavour's crew is scheduled to go to sleep at about 7 a.m. with the wakeup call from Mission Control scheduled for 2:58 Wednesday afternoon.

Endeavour's crew started their day at 2:59 p.m. Their wakeup call for the morning was a combination of fight scene music from the Japanese movie 'Godzilla Versus Space Godzilla' and the Blue Ã-yster Cult song 'Godzilla.' The songs were played for Japanese Space Agency astronaut Takao Doi.

The shuttle is scheduled to dock with the station at 10:25 p.m., and the crews of both vehicles will spend most of their time today on activities associated with the rendezvous. The shuttle spent the night closing in on the station at a rate of about 515 miles per orbit. By 7:42 p.m., it should be about 9.5 miles away from the station, putting it in place to fire its jets in a terminal initiation burn that begins its final approach to the orbiting complex.

When Endeavour moves to a point 1,000 feet below the station, Commander Dominic Gorie will manually fly the shuttle in a backflip to allow the station crew to photograph the shuttle's heat shield. The photos will be analyzed by engineers on the ground to ensure the heat shield is in good condition.

Once that maneuver is complete, Gorie will fly the shuttle to about 400 feet in front of the station from where it will close in to dock. Following docking, the hatches between the two spacecraft should be ready to open by 12:02 a.m. Thursday.

Once aboard the station, the Endeavour crew will transfer the Soyuz seatliner for Mission Specialist Garrett Reisman. Reisman will stay aboard the station as a crew member of the complex when Endeavour departs. The crew also will begin preparations for the mission's first spacewalk, set to begin Thursday evening.

STS-123/Endeavour docked smoothly last night at 11:49pm EDT at the PMA-2 (Pressurized Mating Adapter-2) port, 24 minutes behind schedule (due to loss of target lock by the CW {Continuous Wave} laser of the Shuttle's TCS {Trajectory Control Sensor} during the manual rendezvous phase, requiring manual lock re-acquisition). The RPM (R-Bar Pitch Maneuver) started at 10:26pm and was successfully completed at 10:34pm, with Whitson and Malenchenko taking 200-300 close-up photographs of Endeavour's bottom heatshield. The station now hosts ten occupants again as Mission 1J/A is underway. (At the point of docking, Peggy Whitson rang the traditional ship's bell and announced 'Endeavour landed!' The combined crew is comprised of ISS CDR Whitson, FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko, FE-2 LÃ(c)opold Eyharts, STS CDR Dominic Gorie, PLT Gregory Johnson, MS1 Robert Behnken, MS2 Mike Foreman, MS3 Takao Doi (Japan), MS4 Rick Linnehan, and MS5/FE-2-16 Garrett Reisman who replaces Eyharts as FE-2, as the latter returns on the Endeavour as MS-5.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/13/08.

Shuttle Commander Dom Gorie started the approach with the Terminal Initiation burn earlier Wednesday evening leading to the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver at 9:26 p.m. From a distance of 600 feet below the station, Gorie manually flew the shuttle through a well-timed backflip allowing the station crew to photograph the shuttle's heat shield. The photos are being analyzed by engineers in Mission Control to ensure the heat shield is in good condition.

Following docking and leak checks, the hatches between the two spacecraft were opened at 12:36 a.m. Thursday.

Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson, joined by Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Leopold Eyharts, welcomed the shuttle crew onboard and provided an orientation of station operations and safety before proceeding to the remaining tasks.

The first 'transfer' item after hatch opening was swapping Mission Specialist Garrett Reisman for Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Eyharts from the European Space Agency.

The transfer was official when the form-fitting Soyuz seatliners were swapped at 2:50 a.m. Eyharts officially spent 33 days as a member of Expedition 16. With an on-time landing March 26, Eyharts will have spent 48 days in space.

The crew also prepared for the mission's first spacewalk, set to begin Thursday evening by Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Reisman.

Linnehan and Reisman transferred spacesuits to the station, and will spend the night in the Quest Airlock as part of the routine "campout" prebreathe protocol. The spacewalk will take about 6.5 hours as they plan to prepare the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section for unberthing from the payload bay. They also will work on some of the initial outfitting and assembly of the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator's two arms.

In preparation for that task, using the Canadarm2, Pilot Gregory Johnson and Mission Specialist Robert Behnken unberthed the Spacelab Pallet containing the Dextre and mated it to a temporary location on the station's Mobile Base System.

Mission Specialists Mike Foreman and Takao Doi commenced with the initial transfer work that will continue throughout the docked phase and set up photo and TV equipment between the two vehicles. The crews are scheduled to go to bed about 7 a.m. and wake up at 3:28 p.m.

Crew sleep cycle today:sleep 8:00am-4:30pm; wake 4:30pm-7:00am tomorrow.

Mission 1J./A's EVA-1 was completed successfully by Rick Linnehan & Garrett Reisman in 7h 1m, accomplishing all its objectives (no get-aheads).
(During the spacewalk, Linnehan (EV1) & Reisman (EV2) -

Prepared the JAXA JLP (JEM Experiment Logistics Module Pressurized Section) for its transfer, i.e. -
opened and secured the protective flap over the Node-2 topside (zenith) hatch viewport for the internal CBCS (Centerline Berthing Camera System),
removed 8 PCBM (Passive Common Berthing Mechanism) contamination protection covers,
demated & stowed JLP LTA (Launch-to-Activation) connectors & installed protective caps on the LTA receptacles;
Performed Part 1 Assembly of the SPDM (Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator), i.e. -
released two OTCMs (ORU Tool Changeout Mechanisms) from the launch locations on the SLP (Spacelab Pallet),
installed the OTCMs on the SPDM,
released the OTP EDFs (ORU Temporary Platform Expandable Diameter Fasteners),
inspected the SLP PDGF (Power & Data Grapple Fixture) horseshoe connectors;
Took photographs of the SPDM, and
Installed a protective wire tie over the sharp edge divot discovered during Flight 1A on the Airlock (A/L) handrail.
Official start time of the spacewalk was 9:18pm EDT, about 5 min ahead of timeline, and it ended at 4:19am. Total EVA duration (PET = Phase Elapsed Time) was 7h 1min. It was the 105th spacewalk for ISS assembly & maintenance and the 77th from the station (55 from Quest, 22 from Pirs, 28 from Shuttle) totaling 472h 22min, and the 9th for Expedition 16 (totaling 64h 30min) and the 6th so far this year. After today's EVA, a total of 131 spacewalkers (99 NASA astronauts, 21 Russians, and 11 astronauts representing Japan-1, Canada-4, France-1, Germany-2 and Sweden-3) have logged a total of 660h 44min outside the station on building, outfitting and servicing. It was also the 127th spacewalk involving U.S. astronauts.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/14/08.

f the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory, was installed on the station early Friday morning.

With Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takao Doi at the controls and assisted by Commander Dominic Gorie, the JLP was gently attached to its interim location on the Harmony Node 2 module at 3:06 a.m. CDT. The module, which primarily will be used for storage space atop the larger Kibo Laboratory, will be relocated to its permanent location after the arrival of Kibo on space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission in May.

Preparations for the move were among the tasks accomplished in today's spacewalk, the first of five planned for the mission. Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman ventured out of the pressurized confines of the station at 8:18 p.m. to begin the 7-hour, 1-minute spacewalk, which ended at 3:19 a.m.

Once outside the Quest Airlock, they first removed a thermal cover to reveal the Centerline Berthing Camera System on top of the Harmony module. The system provides live video to assist with docking spacecraft and modules together and was used for the attachment of the Japanese Logistics Module - Pressurized Section.

Once in the shuttle's payload bay, the two spacewalkers removed contamination covers from the JLP docking mechanism. They also disconnected other power and heater connections, preparing it for its removal.

Next, the two headed to the port truss segment where they worked on the initial assembly of the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, known as 'Dextre.' They installed both the Orbital Replacement Unit/Tool Changeout Mechanisms (OTCMs) -the 'hands' of Dextre's arms. The OTCMs are parallel jaws that can hold a payload or tool. They each also have a retractable motorized socket wrench to turn bolts and mate or detach mechanisms, as well as a camera and lights.

Initial attempts to route power to Dextre were not successful Thursday after its unassembled components were temporarily parked on the station's truss in a pallet structure. Canadian Space Agency engineers spent the day developing a software patch to bypass what was initially believed to be a problem in a communications path from the station's robotic workstation to the new device.

But Pierre Jean, CSA's acting ISS program manager, told a Friday morning briefing that a problem with a cable harness on Dextre's pallet housing, and not the robot itself, might be the cause for the initial power glitch. Jean said the grapple of Dextre by the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm later today should initiate the routing of power to Dextre to set the stage for the rest of its assembly over the next few days.

Pilot Greg Johnson also supported the spacewalk activity, overseeing the video operations and Mission Specialist Mike Foreman served as the intravehicular officer, assisting with the choreography of the spacewalks.

Meanwhile, Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson assisted with the pre- and post-spacewalk activities, while Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko worked in the Russian segment.

Friday's spacewalk marks the 105th devoted to assembly and maintenance of the station with a total cumulative time of 660 hours. The second spacewalk is scheduled for Saturday night.

The astronauts started their day at 3:35 p.m. to the tune of The Byrds' 'Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season).' The song was played for Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan.

Linnehan will be one of the first three crew members to enter the station's new module, the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module, Pressurized Section -or JLP, for short. Preceding him will be Japanese Space Agency astronaut Takao Doi and station Commander Peggy Whitson. That entry is scheduled to take place at 11:18 p.m.

But before that can happen, Doi, Linnehan and Whitson will spend several hours outfitting the vestibule between the station and the module and beginning activation of the module.

Work will also be done on Endeavour's other main cargo, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator. When Dextre, as the robot is known, was removed from the shuttle's cargo bay after the shuttle docked to the station, ground teams ran into problems routing power to the pallet on which the robot is being assembled. The teams tried troubleshooting the problem with a software patch early this morning, but were not successful.

The next round of troubleshooting is scheduled to start at 8:53 p.m. In hopes of showing that the problem is in the pallet, not the robot itself, Mission Specialists Bob Behnken and Leopold Eyharts will grapple Dextre with the space station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, and attempt to power the robot through the robotic arm.

Shuttle Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and station Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman will take about 20 minutes out of their schedule at 12:28 a.m., to talk with reporters from ABC News, Space.com and Florida Today.

The astronauts will wrap up the fifth day of their mission by reviewing procedures for the mission's second spacewalk. Spacewalkers Linnehan and Mission Specialist Mike Foreman will spend their sleep period in the station's Quest Airlock in preparation for that spacewalk on Saturday.

The crew members were awakened at 2:43 p.m. with 'God of Wonders' by Caedmon's Call. The song was played for Endeavour's commander, Dominic Gorie.

Just before the crew went to sleep Sunday morning, flight controllers on the ground began checking out systems on Dextre -the Canadian Space Agency's Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator. Those tests wrapped up at 6:18 a.m., and were all successful.

Mission Specialist Robert L. Behnken and station Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman will pick up where the ground teams left off. Behnken will go through a series of tests to make sure the brakes on the joints on the two 11-foot arms on the robot work. At 10:48 p.m., Behnken will stow Dextre in the configuration needed for the third spacewalk of the mission by him and Rick Linnehan Monday night, when the assembly of Dextre will be completed.

Behnken and Linnehan will be starting their campout in the Quest Airlock for that spacewalk at 3:43 a.m., but before they do that, they'll join Mission Specialists Mike Foreman, Reisman and station Commander Peggy Whitson for a set of interviews with reporters on the ground. KMOX Radio in St. Louis, WEWS-TV in Cleveland and WBZ-TV in Boston will be talking with the astronauts at 9:18 p.m. All three stations are all in cities close to crew members' hometowns: Behnken, Linnehan and Foreman are from Missouri, Massachusetts and Ohio, respectively.

Work inside the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module, Pressurized Section, continues to be ahead of schedule. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takao Doi will be doing get-ahead tasks today for the STS-124 mission, when space shuttle Discovery will bring up the second Japanese component, the large Kibo pressurized laboratory.

on and was the 107th spacewalk dedicated to the assembly of the station.

Linnehan and Behnken focused on installing Dextre's tool holder assembly and a Camera Light Pan Tilt Assembly (CLPA), which will serve as Dextre's eyes. The spacewalkers also prepared the Spacelab Logistics Pallet, on which the robot was assembled, for its return to Endeavour's cargo bay Tuesday evening.

The astronauts also installed spare equipment for the station on an external platform on the Quest airlock, including a yaw joint for the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, and two spare direct current switching units.

The spacewalkers attempted to install the MISSE 6 experiment onto the Columbus module, but were unable to properly engage latching pins used to hold the experiment packages onto the hull of Columbus. MISSE 6 is designed to expose experiments to the space environment for six months and measure how materials and coatings are affected by the extreme environment.

Tuesday night, the crew will again use the station's robotic arm to grapple Dextre and move it to a power and data grapple fixture (PDGF) on the Destiny laboratory where it will reside. The next spacewalk by Behnken and Mike Foreman is scheduled for Thursday, when they will practice shuttle tile repair techniques and replace a failed circuit breaker on the station's truss.

Endeavour Commander Dom Gorie spent part of the day examining minor condensation on a cooling line under the floorboards of the shuttle's mid-deck. The condensation was noted after some noises were detected in that area. Flight controllers say the condensation has no impact on shuttle operations, but the cooling line may be inspected periodically during the remainder of the mission.

Crew sleep cycle today: Sleep 5:00am -1:30pm; wake 1:30pm -5:00am tomorrow.

Three more major mission steps were accomplished:

SPDM (Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator) 'Dextre', with repositioned arms, was successfully stowed on the U.S. Lab PDGF (Power & Data Grapple Fixture) (and is looking very cool);
SLP (Spacelab Pallet) was returned to the Shuttle PLB (Payload Bay) for re-berthing; and
SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) was 'walked off' the Node-2 PDGF onto MT/MBS (Mobile Transporter/Mobile Base System) PDGF-3 and maneuvered into position for today's MT translation from Worksite 6 (WS6) to WS4.
(During commanding of the SPDM's body ('waist') roll joint to stowage mode, it rotated in the opposite direction than expected, due to a sign mistake (polarity inversion, i.e., a plus-sign instead of a minus-sign) in the DMCS (Dexterous Manipulator Control Software) configuration file. Flight Controllers worked around this in real time, and the crew was able to maneuver the SPDM LEE (Latching End Effector) onto the LAB PDGF without further ado. Work is underway at CSA/MDA to write a corrective software patch.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/19/08.

Mission Specialist Takao Doi was joined by shuttle Commander Dom Gorie and station Commander Peggy Whitson for a phone call from Yasuo Fukuda, Japan's prime minister, who conveyed his congratulations for the successful installation of the first component of the Kibo laboratory at the station. The astronauts also answered questions from Japanese students. Afterward, all 10 crew members discussed their flight with CBS News, NBC News and WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H.

Mission Specialists Bob Behnken and Mike Foreman, along with their spacewalk coordinator Rick Linnehan, configured the tools they will use during Thursday night's spacewalk. Behnken and Foreman will employ a tool called the Tile Repair Ablator Dispenser (T-RAD) -a caulk-gun-like device -to apply a substance called Shuttle Tile Ablator-54 (STA-54) into purposely damaged heat shield tiles. Behnken and Foreman will then smooth the substance in place with foam-tipped tools. Those test samples will be returned to Earth to undergo extensive testing on how STA-54 performs in the environment of space. The demonstration is considered important in advance of the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission later this year since that flight will be conducted independently of a 'safe haven' capability at the ISS in the event the shuttle incurs damage to its heat shield.

Additional objectives of the spacewalk include replacement of a failed Remote Power Controller Module (RPCM) on the station's truss, including the temporary shutdown and spinup of Control Moment Gyroscope-2 (CMG). The RPCM replacement is needed to restore redundant power to CMG-2 and CMG-3.

Both crews reviewed procedures for that spacewalk, scheduled to start at 5:28 p.m. on Thursday and last 6.5 hours. Behnken and Foreman will sleep in the station's Quest airlock overnight for the standard spacewalk 'camp out' procedure to purge the nitrogen from their bodies.

The fifth and final spacewalk is scheduled for Saturday to move the shuttle's Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) onto the station. This is caused by the size of the huge Japanese Kibo pressurized laboratory module, which will be delivered to the station aboard Discovery in May, preventing the shuttle from carrying its own OBSS. Once Kibo is installed, Discovery's astronauts will detach the OBSS left behind by Endeavour, use it to perform tile inspections and bring it home.

The wake-up call at 12:41 p.m. CDT was 'Burning Love' by Elvis Presley, played for Mission Specialist Mike Foreman.

For the first part of the day all of the crew members on both vehicles are scheduled off duty, a chance to relax after almost a full week of docked operations. So far they've completed three spacewalks, delivered and outfitted Japan's first space station component, and assembled and delivered a Canadian robotic attachment to its home on the station's U.S. Destiny laboratory.

At 6:08 p.m. shuttle Commander Dominic Gorie and station Commander Peggy Whitson will join Mission Specialist Takao Doi for a congratulatory phone call from Japan's prime minister, and all 10 crew members will gather at 7:58 p.m. to talk about the flight in interviews with CBS News, NBC News and WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H.

This evening Mission Specialists Robert L. Behnken and Foreman will make preparations for Thursday's spacewalk, when they will test a heat shield repair technique. The spacewalkers will set up a caulk-gun-like tool named the Tile Repair Ablator Dispenser, which they'll use to dispense a material called Shuttle Tile Ablator-54 into purposely damaged heat shield tiles. Those test samples will be returned to Earth to undergo extensive testing on the ground.

Today's wake-up call at 12:28 p.m. CDT, 'Blue Sky' by Big Head Todd and the Monsters, was played for Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan, who will serve as the spacewalk coordinator for today's 6.5-hour-long excursion by Mission Specialists Robert L. Behnken and Mike Foreman.

When the hatch on the Quest airlock opens at 5:28 p.m., Behnken and Foreman will translate onto the International Space Station's truss. Behnken will replace a failed circuit breaker called a Remote Power Controller Module, while Foreman reconfigures cables on a nearby switching box to provide a redundant power source for the Control Moment Gyroscopes which control the station's attitude in orbit without the use of propellant.

The major job for Behnken and Foreman on this spacewalk is a demonstration of the Tile Repair Ablator Dispenser -a caulk-gun-like device -to apply a substance called Shuttle Tile Ablator-54 (STA-54) into purposely damaged heat shield tiles. The test samples will be returned to Earth to undergo extensive testing on how STA-54 performs in the environment of space. The work will be done at a worksite the spacewalkers will set up on the nadir side of the Destiny laboratory.

During the spacewalk other members of the crews will continue the transfer of supplies from Endeavour to the space station. Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman has his afternoon blocked out for more handover discussions with his predecessor, European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who is coming home with shuttle Commander Dominic Gorie and his crew.

The crew started its day at 12:28 p.m., with the song 'Enter Sandman' performed by Metallica. The song was played for Mission Specialist Robert L. Behnken.

Shuttle Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialist Takao Doi will start the inspection of the shuttle's heat shield at 3:03 p.m., beginning with the leading edge of the shuttle's right wing. After taking time out for lunch, they'll continue just after 6:30 p.m. with the shuttle's nose cap and left wing leading edge.

The survey's place in the mission's timeline is different than in past flights. Normally the inspection is done after the shuttle has undocked from the space station. But Endeavour's crew is planning to leave the Orbiter Boom Sensor System -or OBSS, an extension attached to the shuttle's robotic arm that includes cameras and a laser system used to look for damage to the shuttle's heat shield -behind for the next shuttle visit, and so is doing the survey earlier than usual.

The OBSS is being left on the station to leave extra room in the cargo bay of space shuttle Discovery, the next shuttle to visit the space station. Discovery will be bringing the Japanese Experiment Module to the station, and there is not enough room in the cargo bay for both it and the OBSS. Discovery will bring the OBSS back to Earth at the end of its mission.

The crew members were awakened at 11:29 a.m. CDT, to Heartland's 'I Loved Her First.' The song was played for Endeavour Commander Dominic Gorie.

Preparations for today's spacewalk are scheduled to resume at 12:08 p.m., and Mission Specialists Mike Foreman and Robert L. Benhken should be ready to begin the spacewalk by 4:23 p.m.

The first task on the astronauts' agenda is to store on the station's truss the Orbiter Boom Sensor System -or OBSS -used in Friday's inspection of Endeavour's heat shield. Normally, the OBSS is brought back by the space shuttle on each trip. This time, however, the OBSS is being left on the station to leave extra room in the cargo bay of space shuttle Discovery, the next shuttle to visit the space station. Discovery will be bringing the Japanese Experiment Module to the station, and there is not enough room in the cargo bay for both it and the OBSS. Discovery will bring the OBSS back to Earth at the end of its mission.

After the OBSS is safely stored, the astronauts will split up for the spacewalk's other tasks. Behnken will again try to install the Materials International Space Station Experiment 6 (MISSE-6) on the exterior of the Columbus laboratory. Behnken and Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan attempted to install the MISSE-6 experiment during the mission's third spacewalk, but were unable to engage latching pins used to hold the experiment packages onto the hull of Columbus. This time around Behnken has a few troubleshooting methods he can try if he runs into the same problem again.

While Behnken works on installing the experiment, Foreman will inspect the station's right Solar Alpha Rotary Joint. The 10-foot-wide, 2,500-pound rotary joint, which rotates the station's starboard solar arrays to track the sun, began showing increased vibrations and power usage last fall. Previous inspections have found metal shavings under the rotary joint's insulation covers, and Foreman will be looking at an area previously photographed to determine whether a pockmark seen in the photos is more metal shavings or damage from micrometeoroid orbital debris.

Underway: Week 23 of Increment 16. (Yesterday, 3/23, was the birthday of Wernher von Braun who would have turned 96.)

ISS crew sleep/wake cycle today: Sleep 3:15am -11:45am; wake 11:45am -11:00pm.

After wakeup yesterday, FE-2-16 Reisman had his third session with the biomed experiment INTEGRATED IMMUNE (Validating Procedures for Monitoring Crew member Immune Function), collecting dry saliva samples. (INTEGRATED IMMUNE protocol requires the collection to occur first thing post-sleep, before eating, drinking and brushing teeth, and all samples are stored at ambient temperature. Along with NUTRITION (Nutritional Status Assessment), IMMUNE samples & analyzes participant's blood, urine, and saliva before, during and after flight for changes related to functions like bone metabolism, oxidative damage and immune function to develop and validate an immune monitoring strategy consistent with operational flight requirements and constraints. The strategy uses both long and short duration crewmembers as study subjects. The saliva is collected in two forms, dry and liquid. The dry samples are collected at intervals during the collection day using a specialized book that contains filter paper, all stored at ambient temperature.)

Additional Details: ISS On-Orbit Status 03/24/08.

The crew started its day at 9:58 a.m. CDT with the wake-up song 'Con Te Partiro,' an Italian song that translates to 'I will go with you.' The song was performed by Andrea Bocelli and played for French astronaut Leopold Eyharts.

Commander Dominic Gorie and Pilot Gregory H. Johnson will begin the shuttle's landing preparations at 12:53 p.m., by performing an orbital adjustment burn to bring Endeavour to the correct orbit for landing.

At 1:28 p.m., Gorie, Johnson and Mission Specialist Mike Foreman will begin checking the shuttle's aerosurfaces and hydraulic systems as part of the flight control systems checkout. And they'll follow that with a test of the shuttle's steering jets during the reaction control system hot fire.

Later in the day the crew members will take time out to talk to reporters. At 5:33 p.m., Eyharts will be talking with two French television stations, as well as the French Ministry of Defense. And at 7:13 p.m., the entire shuttle crew will answer questions from CNN, the Associated Press and KTVI-TV in St. Louis.

Commander Dominic Gorie and Pilot Gregory H. Johnson performed an orbital adjustment maneuver to provide Endeavour two landing opportunities tomorrow, with the first being just before sunset at the Kennedy Space Center. The crew also performed final tests on the shuttle's flight surfaces and reaction control system jets, which help the shuttle steer toward its landing.

The crew members in a series of in-flight interviews spoke with CNN, the Associated Press and KTVI-TV in St. Louis, Mo., and mission specialist Leo Eyharts also spoke with media representatives in France as well as the French Minister of Defense.

Endeavour has two landing opportunities tomorrow at the Kennedy Space Center. The first is at 6:05 p.m. CDT and the second is at 7:39 p.m. CDT.

Endeavour's main gear touched down at 7:39:08 p.m. CDT with nose gear touch down at 7:39:17 p.m. Wheels stop occurred at 7:40:41 p.m.

During 249 orbits of Earth, the crew of Endeavour, which includes Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Bob Behnken, Mike Foreman, Rick Linnehan, Takao Doi and Leo Eyharts, installed the first segment of the Japanese Kibo module and the Canadian Dextre robot.

The astronauts conducted a record five spacewalks during the mission, which was also the longest mission to date at the International Space Station. The crew also installed the MISSE-6 experiment to the outside of the Columbus laboratory and also tested out a new shuttle heat shield tile repair technique.

Endeavour delivered astronaut Garrett Reisman to the station, replacing Eyharts as a flight engineer aboard the complex. Eyharts spent 48 days in space, including 44 aboard the station after he arrived on shuttle Atlantis during the STS-122 mission in February.

Endeavour will be towed to its orbiter processing facility tonight, where it will begin preparations for its next mission. The crew of Endeavour is planned to return to the Johnson Space Center tomorrow at 4 p.m. CDT.

On what is scheduled to be its last day in space, the crew was awakened at 9:58 a.m. CDT by Train's "Drops of Jupiter." The song was played for Pilot Gregory H. Johnson.

Deorbit preparations will begin at 1:58 p.m. Then the crew members will ready their seats and should get the okay to close the payload bay doors at 2:18 p.m. If the good weather forecast proves true, Commander Dominic Gorie will conduct the deorbit burn at 4:58 p.m., slowing Endeavour enough to allow it to drop out of orbit and begin its descent. Landing at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility is scheduled for 6:05 p.m., about half an hour before sunset.

Endeavour has one other opportunity to land today if needed. The second opportunity would get the astronauts to Florida about one hour after sunset. The deorbit burn would occur at 6:33 p.m. for a 7:39 p.m. landing. Either landing would secure for Endeavour the record for longest shuttle mission to the station.

While at the station, the crew delivered 25,839 pounds of equipment, hardware, supplies and consumables. The new Japanese Experiment Logistics Module, Pressurized Section -the first part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency module, Kibo -accounts for the bulk of that at 18,377 pounds. In all, 23,776 pounds of equipment and hardware made its way from the shuttle's cargo bay to the station.

From the shuttle's middeck came 1,432 pounds of transfer and resupply items. And the station also got 608 pounds of water and 23 pounds of nitrogen before Endeavour left.