7 April 2007 17:31 GMT. Landing Date: 2007-10-21 10:36:00. Flight Time: 196.71 days. Other Name: ISS-14S. Flight Up: Soyuz TMA-10. Flight Back: Soyuz TMA-10. Crew: Kotov, Yurchikhin. Program: ISS. What went wrong: The re-entry burn began at 09:47 and was normal. But afterwards, due to failure of an explosive bolt, the Soyuz service module remained connected to the re-entry capsule. The Soyuz tumbled, then began re-entry with the forward hatch taking the re-entry heating, until the connecting strut burned through. The Soyuz the righted itself with the heat shield taking the heating, but defaulted to an 8.6 G ballistic re-entry, landing 340 km short of the aim point at 10:36 GMT. Improved procedures after the ballistic re-entry of Soyuz TMA-1 meant a helicopter recovery crew reached the capsule only 20 minutes after thumpdown. However the true nature of the failure was concealed from the world until the same thing happened on Soyuz TMA-11.
Six-month, long-term, all-Russian resident crew of the International Space Station. Main tasks and events of the mission:
- Launch of the two ISS-15 crewmembers and space tourist Simonyi (mission (EP-12) aboard Soyuz TMA-10 on ISS flight 14S;
- Docking of Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft to the Functional Cargo Module (FGB) port of the ISS
- Operational support for loading and undocking of Soyuz TMA-9 (with the EO-14 crew and Simonyi aboard) from the Instrument Compartment of the Service Module (IC-SM);
- Operational support for docking of the Space Shuttle STS-117 in flight 13?; return to earth of NASA crewmember Sunita Williams aboard STS-117; arrival at station of NASA crewmember Clayton aboard STS-117.
- Operational support for docking of Progress M-60 to IC-SM and its unloading;
- Operational support for docking of the Space Shuttle STS-118 in flight 13?.1. Rotation of one ISS-15 NASA crewmember by the Shuttle in flight 13A.1;
- Loading and undocking of Progress M-59 from DC1;
- Operational support for docking of Progress M-61 to DC1 and its unloading;
- Loading and undocking of Progress M-60 from SM IC;
- Operational support for docking of the Space Shuttle STS-120 in flight 10?. Rotation of one ISS-15 NASA crewmember by the Shuttle in flight 10A;
- Loading and undocking of Progress M-61 from DC1;
- Support of the Space Station functionality;
- Performance of extravehicular activity: i.e. one US egress (EVA) on the ISS USOS and two Russian egresses (EVA) on the ISS Russian Segment;
- Performance of the science and application research program and experiments (Crystallizator, Relaksatsia, Uragan, Ekon, Plasma-ISS, Plasma-Progress, Ten'-Mayak, Cardio-ODNT, Profilaktika, Pilot, Dykhanie, Pnevmocard, BIMS, Biorisk, Rastenia, Plasmida, Statokonia, Regeneration, Prognos, Matroshka-R, Diatomeya, Glikoproteid, Mimetik-K, KAF, Vaktsina-K, Biotrek, Konjugatsia, Biodegradatsia, Bioecologia, Bioemulsiya, Interleikin-K, Antigen, Infrazvuk-M, Vector-T, Izgib, Plasma Crystal, Identifikatsiya, Sreda, Infotech, BTN-Neutron), as well as contract-based commercial activities (GTS-2, GCF-JAXA, ALTCRISS, CARDIOCOG, NOA, IMMUNO, SAMPLE);
- Implementation of the utilization program for tourist Charles Simonyi onboard the ISS, as well as performance of ESA life science experiments (SAMPLE, MUSCULE) during the VC-12 time;
- Crew handover to crew ISS EO-16 and return of the two ISS EO-15 crewmembers and the spaceflight participant working under the visiting crew (EP-13) program by transport manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10.
The ISS EO-15 crew (in the launch phase) consisted of two persons. The ISS-14 crewmember Sunita Williams (USA), already aboard the ISS at the time of their arrival, worked on board the Space Station together with the ISS EO-15 crew. Williams was replaced by Anderson by the Space Shuttle in flight STS-117/13A (originally planned for STS-118/13A.1 but shifted due to launch delay of STS-117/13A.1). Anderson (USA) was to be replaced by Tany (USA) by the Space Shuttle in flight STS-120/10A.
ISS EO-15 Chronology - 2007 Mar 2 - International Space Station Status Report #07-12
The International Space Station's Expedition 14 crew continued work this week on scientific experiments, station maintenance and clean up following a Feb. 22 Russian spacewalk. An altitude reboost engine firing planned for Friday was postponed following the launch delay of Space Shuttle Atlantis earlier this week. The STS-117 mission had been targeted for liftoff on March 15, but was put on hold following a hail storm Monday resulting in damage requiring repair to the external fuel tank's foam.
Russian flight controllers now plan two engine firings on March 16 and 28 to increase the station's altitude, which will place the station in the desired orbit for arrival of a Soyuz spacecraft set to launch April 7. The Soyuz will bring Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov and spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi to the station. Docking to the station is April 9. Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin and Simonyi plan to land in Kazakhstan April 19.
Space station managers are reviewing the work planned aboard the station for the remaining weeks of Expedition 14 and for Expedition 15 in light of the shuttle launch delay. The review seeks to optimize use of the crews' time due to the shuttle's delay.
Thursday, the station crew was awakened briefly by a caution signal when the starboard Thermal Radiator Rotary Joint (TRRJ) experienced a dropout in commands from the Rotary Joint Motor Controller. The TRRJ automatically defaulted to another command link, and there was no impact to operations. Engineers are analyzing what may have caused the problem. The rotary joint turns the radiator to provide the best possible cooling.
Flight Engineer Suni Williams practiced on a laptop computer simulation Wednesday to maintain her skill in using the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm. She also joined her fellow crewmates in the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities experiment to gather hand-eye coordination data before, during and after their mission. TRAC Principal Investigator Dr. Otmar Bock of the German Sport University in Cologne, Germany, hopes to better understand how the brain adapts during spaceflight. The experiment will be performed during both Expedition 14 and Expedition 15.
- 2007 Mar 23 - International Space Station Status Report #07-15
The Expedition 14 crew continued work this week on scientific experiments and increased the bandwidth on the International Space Station's computer network. Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams spent time working with experiments that may hold the key to several aspects of long-duration space flight as NASA looks forward to missions back to the moon and on to Mars or other destinations.
Each served as test subject and operator for the Anomalous Long Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous System experiment that examines how cosmic radiation affects brain waves. As test subjects, they wore an electroencephalograph cap that records readings of their brain functions, and over that, a special helmet with Italian-designed instruments that records the amount and types of cosmic rays passing through the station. Since cosmic radiation is even more prevalent at greater distances from Earth, the research could lead to countermeasures important to the safety and productivity of future explorers.
Lopez-Alegria and Williams also worked with the Nutritional Status Assessment experiment tracking how their bodies process nutrients in space and how food supplies are affected by storage in that environment.
Additionally, Lopez-Alegria provided the final samples associated with the Renal Stone Risk during Spaceflight: Assessment and Countermeasure Validation investigation, which is looking at the space effectiveness of a drug used on Earth to prevent kidney stones.
Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin worked with three Russian experiments that monitor cosmic rays and background radiation as they relate to long-duration flights and documented the condition of the Earth below from the unique vantage point of the station.
The crew worked on an upgrade to the laptop computer network. The new, integrated station computer network will be 10 times faster than the current network, using Ethernet connectivity over a router and either cables or wireless equipment. This will eliminate drag-through cables from the U.S. segment into the Russian segment. The work was accelerated because of the STS-117 launch delay.
They also continued preparations for the undocking and discarding of the ISS Progress 23 cargo ship, which will be full of trash when it departs Tuesday, March 27. Russian flight controllers sent commands Friday that piped the last of the Progress 23 oxygen supplies into the station, and vented the Progress' propellant and oxidizer lines overboard to ensure a safe departure. The Progress is scheduled to undock at 1:11 p.m. CDT next Tuesday.
The station traffic schedule includes next Thursday's relocation of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft from the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. All three crew members will undock the Soyuz at 5:25 p.m. and redock at 5:53 p.m. This will make room for the arrival of the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft carrying the Expedition 15 crew and U.S. spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi. The new crew is scheduled to launch from the Baikanour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan April 7 at 12:31 p.m. and dock with the station April 9 at 2:15 p.m.
Following a week of joint operations, Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and Simonyi will climb into Soyuz TMA-9 and head for home April 20. They will leave Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov on board with Williams to start Expedition 15.
- 2007 Mar 29 - International Space Station Status Report #07-16
The Expedition 14 crew continued preparations for the April arrival of a new station crew by boarding their Soyuz TMA-9 craft and taking a 24-minute flight from one station docking port to another. Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin guided the Soyuz away from the Earth-facing port of the station's Zarya module and docked it to the aft port of the Zvezda module. The move frees the Zarya port for the arrival of the Expedition 15 crew aboard the Soyuz TMA-10, scheduled to dock to the station on April 9.
Tyurin undocked the Soyuz from Zarya at 5:30 p.m. CDT and redocked to the Zvezda port at 5:54 p.m. CDT as the station and the Soyuz flew 210 miles above the east coast of South America. Minutes later, hooks and latches engaged between the Soyuz' docking probe and Zvezda's docking port to attach the craft firmly to the station. During the time from undocking to redocking, the crew traveled about a third of the way around the world.
To prepare for Thursday's undocking and relocation, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Tyurin and Sunita Williams shut down key station systems and configured the complex for autonomous operations in the unlikely event they would not be able to redock.
Prior to undocking, Tyurin activated the Soyuz’ backup battery as a precaution when the prime spacecraft battery indicated a slightly lower voltage reading. It was quickly determined that the voltage drop was due to the activation of some Soyuz systems, and the prime battery soon returned to its normal voltage output.
Late Thursday into early Friday, the crew will open the hatch to the Soyuz, re-enter the station and reactivate systems for regular activity. Friday will be an off-duty day for the crew as they readjust their sleep cycles, which were changed to accommodate the Soyuz move.
Further preparation for the Soyuz relocation included the undocking and discarding of the ISS Progress 23 cargo craft from the aft Zvezda port on Tuesday, March 27, making room for the Soyuz to redock. That activity went smoothly; the ISS Progress undocked at 1:11 p.m. CDT and re-entered Earth's atmosphere at 5:44 p.m.
Additional work for the crew this week included a first for the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) experiment. The experiment uses 8-inch diameter spherical satellites that fly within the station cabin. The satellites test the basics of formation flight and autonomous docking that could be used in future spacecraft. The battery-powered satellites use carbon dioxide to fuel 12 thrusters as they fly in the cabin. During a weekend "Saturday Science" session, Williams conducted a SPHERES experiment run. This was the first time three satellites flew together in tests. Investigators for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, deemed the experiment highly successful.
Back on Earth, Expedition 15 cosmonauts Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, along with spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, prepared for their April 7 launch at the Baikonur Cosomodrome, Kazakhstan.
- 2007 Apr 6 - International Space Station Status Report #07-17
The Expedition 14 crew of the International Space Station was busy this week performing fitness evaluations, working on scientific experiments and preparing for the arrival of the Expedition 15 crew. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, Expedition 15 commander, and Oleg Kotov, Expedition 15 flight engineer, and spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan about 12:30 p.m. CDT Saturday. Their Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the station about 2:12 p.m. Monday.
The Expedition 14 crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, will return to Earth with Simonyi on April 20. In preparation for their departure, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin reviewed descent procedures.
Flight Engineer Suni Williams, who joined Expedition 14 in progress, will remain on the station as an Expedition 15 crew member for the first part of its increment. The two crews held a space-to-ground conference on Wednesday discussing upcoming mission activities.
On Monday, Lopez-Alegria set a new U.S. single-mission spaceflight record, passing the 196-day mark previously set by station crew members Dan Bursch and Carl Walz in 2001 and 2002.
The Expedition 14 crew performed periodic fitness evaluations this week. Additionally, they worked on a video tape recorder and on a faulty light of an ophthalmoscope that was used during a health check. They downloaded information from the Internal Wireless Instrumentation System, or IWIS, which monitors the health of the station's systems.
The crew continued scientific activities aboard the station. Williams tested a bacteria detection instrument developed by researchers at Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and industry partners. The device, Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System (LOCAD-PTS) is a portable bacteria detection system small enough to fit into a compact ice cooler. Four more sessions with LOCAD-PTS are planned for upcoming weekend science sessions.
Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin tested their hand-eye coordination by completing their sixth sessions with the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capability (TRAC) experiment. The experiment studies whether the decline of motor skills during spaceflight is a result of the brain adapting to space. The hand-eye coordination test is performed before, during and after the mission.
The crew also continued their work with the Anomalous Long-Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous System (ALTEA) experiment. Using an instrumented helmet, the experiment measures the cosmic radiation that passes through a crew member's head, brain activity and visual perception. The experiment should help researchers better understand what levels of cosmic radiation crew members are exposed to and develop countermeasures for future long-duration spaceflights.
- 2007 Apr 7 - International Space Station Status Report #07-18
Two cosmonauts and a space flight participant launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:31 p.m. CDT Saturday for a two-day flight to the International Space Station. Less than 10 minutes after launch their spacecraft reached orbit and its antennas and solar arrays deployed. The Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft is scheduled to dock at the station at a little after 2 p.m. Monday.
Once they arrive at the station, Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, Expedition 15 commander, and Oleg Kotov, Expedition 15 flight engineer, and spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, will be greeted by the station’s current crew, Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams.
Simonyi, flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency, will return to Earth on April 20 with Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin, who have been aboard the station since September 2006.
Williams, who has served as an Expedition 14 crew member since December, will remain on the station joining the Expedition 15 crew. She is scheduled to return home aboard space shuttle Endeavour this summer.
- 2007 Apr 7 - Soyuz TMA-10 Crew: Yurchikhin, Kotov, Simonyi. Spacecraft: Soyuz TMA. Payload: Soyuz TMA s/n 220 / ISS-14S. Mass: 7,200 kg (15,800 lb). Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz. Duration: 196.71 days. Perigee: 330 km (200 mi). Apogee: 341 km (211 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.20 min.
Carried the Expedition 15 crew and space tourist Charles Simonyi to the International Space Station. Soyuz TMA-10 docked at the Zarya port of the International Space Station at 19:10 GMT on 9 April. It undocked from Zarya at 19:20 GMT on Sep 27 September and docked at the Zvezda port at 19:47 GMT to clear Zarya for Soyuz TMA-10. The EO-15 crew and EP-13 space tourist Shukor (brought to the station by Soyuz TMA-11) boarded Soyuz TM-10 and undocked from the Zvezda port at 07:14 GMT on 21 October. The re-entry burn began at 09:47 and was normal. But afterwards, due to failure of an explosive bolt, the Soyuz service module remained connected to the re-entry capsule. The Soyuz tumbled, then began re-entry with the forward hatch taking the re-entry heating, until the connecting strut burned through. The Soyuz the righted itself with the heat shield taking the heating, but defaulted to an 8.6 G ballistic re-entry, landing 340 km short of the aim point at 10:36 GMT. Improved procedures after the ballistic re-entry of Soyuz TMA-1 meant a helicopter recovery crew reached the capsule only 20 minutes after thumpdown. However the true nature of the failure was concealed from the world until the same thing happened on Soyuz TMA-11.
- 2007 Apr 9 - International Space Station Status Report #07-19
Two Expedition 15 cosmonauts and a spaceflight participant aboard a Soyuz spacecraft docked with the Earth-facing port on the International Space Station's Zarya module at 2:10 p.m. CDT Monday. After hatch opening, scheduled for a little before 4 p.m., Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, and Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, will be greeted by the station’s current crew, Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams.
Williams, who has served as an Expedition 14 crew member since December, will remain on the station providing Expedition 15 with an experienced flight engineer for the early part of its mission. She is scheduled to return home aboard space shuttle Endeavour this summer.
Yurchikhin is making his second flight into space. He was crew member on space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-112 mission to the station in October 2002. He holds a Ph.D. in economics and was named a cosmonaut-candidate in 1997. Kotov is making his first spaceflight. He graduated from the Moscow Medical Academy in 1988, and was named a cosmonaut-candidate in 1996.
Astronaut Clay Anderson is scheduled to replace Williams during Expedition 15. Two Expedition 16 crew members are expected to arrive next fall to replace Yurchikhin and Kotov.
Simonyi, flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency, will return to Earth on April 20 with Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin, who have been aboard the station since September 2006.
- 2007 Apr 13 - International Space Station Status Report #07-20
Two Expedition 15 cosmonauts spent much of the week in handover activities with their Expedition 14 predecessors. Their new crewmate, Sunita Williams who has been aboard the International Space Station for more than three months, also is helping them learn the ropes. E15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov arrived at the station Monday after a Saturday launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. With them on their Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft was Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman flying under a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.
Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are scheduled to return home in their Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft April 20. Simonyi will return with them after about 11 days on the orbiting laboratory.
Lopez-Alegria, who came to the station with Tyurin last September, continuously sets new U.S. single spaceflight duration records. Williams is likely to break Lopez-Alegria's record with her return tentatively planned for August after serving as an E15 crew member for the early part of that increment.
This week, in addition to handover, both crews got in their regular exercise sessions – especially important for Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin as their return to Earth approaches. Crews did required station maintenance and still managed to spend considerable time on science activities. Those activities began with time-critical transfer of several experiments from the newly arrived Soyuz to the station and station power.
Among experiments getting crew attention were Bioemulsion, a Russian effort to develop technology to produce microorganisms safely for bacterial, fermental and medical preparations. Tyurin worked with that experiment Tuesday.
On Wednesday Kotov set up the European Exhaled Nitric Oxide-2 experiment. It measures nitric oxide exhaled by spacewalkers before and after their excursions. The idea is to better understand the potential for decompression sickness.
Meanwhile, Tyurin worked with the Russian Pilot experiment. It is designed to measure during long-duration spaceflight changes in a crew member's ability to pilot a spacecraft.
On Thursday, Lopez-Alegria spent more than three hours resizing U.S. spacesuits for future users. The suits were the ones they used on an unprecedented series of three station spacewalks in a nine-day period beginning Jan. 31.
Throughout much of the week, beginning with the crew news conference on Tuesday, crew members took breaks to talk with news media representatives. U.S. organizations whose reporters interviewed them included ABC News, Space.com, CNN, and CBS.
- 2007 Apr 20 - International Space Station Status Report #07-21
The crew members aboard the International Space Station spent this week finalizing handover operations, conducting experiments and preparing for the departure of the Expedition 14 crew. E14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, accompanied by Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, will touch down in central Kazakhstan in their Soyuz spacecraft about 7:30 a.m. CDT Saturday, a day later than planned.
The primary landing site will be too wet for landing operations due to the spring thaw. The one-day delay in landing will allow for touchdown in a more southerly landing zone.
The landing will conclude a 215-day flight for Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin, and mark the longest single flight by an American astronaut. Live coverage of the landing operations will begin on NASA-TV Saturday at 12:30 a.m. for hatch closing, then will return at 3:45 a.m. for undocking, and resume at 6:15 a.m. monitoring the deorbit burn and landing.
Crew members held a ceremony Tuesday afternoon marking the change of command of the station from Lopez-Alegria to Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin. Yurchikhin and flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Suni Williams are now officially entrenched on board the station. Williams, who served as an Expedition 14 crew member since December, will provide Expedition 15 with an experienced flight engineer for the early part of its mission.
On Monday, Williams became the first person to run a marathon in space. Williams, an accomplished marathoner, was an official entrant in the Boston Marathon and ran the 26.2 mile race on a station treadmill in the Zvezda module, circling Earth at least twice in the process. Williams’ run coincided with the tens of thousands on the ground. She completed her marathon with an official time of 4:23:10.
Russian specialists are preparing plans to repair the Condensate Feed Unit in the Russian system that processes condensate recovered in the U.S. segment of the station into potable water. Since the unit failed over the weekend, the supply of drinking water has been decreasing faster than the replenishment rate. Even if they are unable to repair the unit, there is enough water already onboard to last until the ISS Progress 25 cargo vehicle docks in mid-May, providing a new supply of water.
For about 90 minutes, Lopez-Alegria completed his final session with the Anomalous Long-Term Effects in Astronauts' Center Nervous System (ALTEA) experiment, which investigates the phenomenon of crew members seeing flashes of light while in orbit. Using an instrumented helmet, the experiment measures the cosmic radiation that passes through a crew member's head, brain activity and visual perception. ALTEA should help researchers better understand what levels of cosmic radiation crew members are exposed to and develop countermeasures for future long-duration spaceflights.
Lopez-Alegria and Williams also worked on an Education Payload Operations activity linked to the International Polar Year. The crew members videotaped their Earth photography activities and their observations of sea ice and auroras. These images will later be used in NASA education videos sent to classrooms around the world.
Education Payload Operations include curriculum-based activities that demonstrate basic principles of science, mathematics, technology, engineering and geography. They are designed to support the NASA mission of inspiring the next generation of explorers.
- 2007 Apr 21 - International Space Station Status Report #07-22
The 14th crew of the International Space Station, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, along with spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi landed their Soyuz spacecraft in the steppes of Kazakhstan at 7:31 a.m. CDT Saturday. The Expedition 14 mission included many highlights during its seven-month duration, including the setting of several records. Lopez-Alegria completed five spacewalks, which gave him a total of 10 for his career. This set a U.S. record for not only number of spacewalks, but also cumulative spacewalk time, 57 hours, 40 minutes. He also set a U.S. record for a single spaceflight's duration with more than 215 days. This tops the 196-day mark, set by station crew members Dan Bursch and Carl Walz in 2001 and 2002.
During the mission Flight Engineer Sunita Williams set the record for number of space walks and total time spent on spacewalks by a woman. She participated in four space walks for a total of 29 hours and 17 minutes. Williams will remain on the station for the first part of Expedition 14.
Three of the crew's spacewalks were conducted over the course of nine days, an unprecedented schedule for a station crew. Starting from scratch, it takes about 100 crew-member hours to prepare for a spacewalk. By doing them a few days apart, considerable crew time can be saved by not having to repeat some of those preparatory steps.
Before closing the Soyuz-station hatches at 1:03 a.m. Saturday, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin said farewell to the Expedition 15 crew, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Williams. The new crew and Simonyi launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 7 and arrived at the station on April 9. Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, spent 12 days aboard the station under a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.
Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will now spend several weeks in Star City, near Moscow, for debriefing and medical examinations. Their return to Earth was originally scheduled for Friday, April 20, but was delayed due to wet ground conditions, which could have precluded helicopter operations. The one-day change allowed for landing farther to the south.
- 2007 Apr 27 - International Space Station Status Report #07-23
The Expedition 15 crew aboard the International Space Station completed its first week of station orientation as the crew worked with experiments and hardware maintenance. Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Suni Williams began the week with a couple light duty days after the busy handover operations with the former crew. Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, accompanied by Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, returned to Earth on Saturday and are at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, for several weeks of post mission debriefing and rehabilitation.
Additionally this week, the station crew participated in several drills to maintain medical and emergency proficiency skills. Yurchikhin and Kotov began sessions throughout the first two weeks of their residence to orient themselves with the station’s operating systems. Williams, who served as an Expedition 14 crew member, is aiding Expedition 15 with their station orientation.
On Thursday, Williams was told that she will return to Earth aboard space shuttle Atlantis, targeted for launch June 8. That shuttle mission, STS-117, will carry astronaut Clay Anderson to the station to join Expedition 15 in progress. Their rotation was originally planned for STS-118, targeted for launch Aug. 8.
NASA managers approved the crew rotation after a more detailed review determined it would not impact station operations or future shuttle mission objectives. Since an earlier crew rotation was possible, they decided it would be prudent to return Williams and deliver Anderson sooner rather than later. Upon Williams' return, she will have accumulated more time in space than any other woman.
Williams spent some of her off-duty time completing additional test runs for the Capillary Flow Experiment. Capillary flow is the key process used to move fluids in a microgravity environment. It uses the low-gravity environment provided by the station to understand the special dynamics of capillary flow and will aid in the design of fluid transport systems on future spacecraft.
On Monday, Williams set up and activated cameras for the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students, or EarthKAM, education experiment. Middle school students program a digital camera on the station to photograph a variety of geographical targets from the unique vantage point of space. Undergraduate teams at the University of California at San Diego manage the images and post them on the Web for the public and participating classrooms around the world to view. Nearly 4,000 students from 66 schools in seven countries are participating in this run.
On Friday, Williams performed a series of test flights with small free-flying satellites for the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) experiment. The experiment uses 8-inch diameter spherical satellites that fly within the station cabin. The satellites test the basics of formation flight and autonomous docking that could be used in future spacecraft. The battery-powered satellites use carbon dioxide to fuel 12 thrusters as they fly in the cabin.
In addition to general station orientation, Yurchikhin and Kotov also performed maintenance work on life support hardware in the Russian segment. The water separator in the air conditioning system was replaced. The separator dispositions condensate water and air collected from the station’s atmosphere that forms through the air conditioner, maintaining optimum humidity levels onboard.
Flight controllers and mission managers test fired the two main engines on the Zvezda Service Module in a Wednesday reboost, raising the station’s altitude. It was the first time the engines had been fired since initial arrival of Zvezda in 2000. Another reboost using ISS Progress 24 engines is scheduled for Saturday in order to finish placing the station in its correct position for the arrival of the ISS Progress 25 cargo vehicle May 15 and the space shuttle Atlantis in June.
- 2007 May 4 - International Space Station Status Report #07-24
Marking the second week working together, the Expedition 15 crew wrapped up various maintenance tasks, science experiments and preparations for the May 15 arrival of the Progress 25 supply ship. To prepare for the new unpiloted cargo carrier's arrival, the currently docked Progress' engines were used to reboost the station Saturday. The move also increases the number of rendezvous opportunities for the STS-117 space shuttle mission targeted for next month. Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Suni Williams also removed the docking mechanism from the Progress 24 for later use.
The week included work on a wide array of science experiments. Williams completed the fifth run of the Elastic Memory Composite Hinge experiment. The experiment studies the performance of a new hinge composite in space.
Williams also did a test run of a handheld device for rapid detection of biological and chemical substances on board the station. This study is meant to provide an early warning system to protect the health and safety of station crew members. Williams also completed annual re-certification of the Microgravity Science Glovebox and performed a checkout of the cardiac defibrillator.
Kotov did maintenance work in the Zarya module and tested the circuits of a temperature sensor on one of the batteries. He also conducted the periodic collection of air readings in the station with the Russian Real-Time Harmful Contaminant Gas Analyzer system.
Other hardware and maintenance tasks included the replacement of a Common Cabin Air Analyzer, sound level monitoring in the Russian Service Module and in the U.S. Destiny Laboratory, and charging U.S. spacesuits batteries.
Crew members wrapped up the week replacing a heat exchanger in the Zvezda Service Module. They also swapped out computers used in the U.S. lab racks.
The weekend will consist of mostly off-duty time with routine housekeeping, family conferences and a HAM radio session.
- 2007 May 11 - International Space Station Status Report #07-25
A new cargo freighter launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station at 10:25 p.m. CDT Friday with more than 2.5 tons of fuel, air, water and other supplies and equipment aboard. The ISS Progress 25 unpiloted cargo carrier is scheduled to dock with the station Tuesday at 12:10 a.m., bringing more than 1,050 pounds of propellant, almost 100 pounds of air, more than 925 pounds of water and 3,042 pounds of dry cargo -- a total of 5,125 pounds. NASA TV coverage of the docking will begin at 11:30 p.m. Monday.
The spacecraft will use the automated Kurs system to dock at the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. Should human intervention be necessary, Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin will be at the manual TORU docking system controls.
On Tuesday, Yurchikhin and flight engineers Suni Williams and Oleg Kotov tested communications between the station and the docked ISS Progress 24. On Wednesday, in recognition of the Russian holiday Victory Day, marking the end of World War II, the crew performed only necessary station activities.
On Thursday, Kotov worked with a breathing experiment, while Williams and Yurchikhin spent about three hours replacing a frayed steel rope on a gyroscope on the Treadmill Vibration Isolation System, or TVIS. The gyroscope is part of the system that keeps vibrations created by an exercising crew member from being transmitted to the rest of the station, where it could interfere with delicate experiments. Williams and Yurchikhin wrapped up the work on Friday.
Additionally on Thursday, flight controllers tested the failed Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) 3. The test involved tilting the CMG in different directions at different speeds to determine what effect, if any, friction had on the movement. The 600-pound gyroscope itself, one of four that controls the station’s orientation in space, was not spun up. It will be replaced this summer during the STS-118 mission.
- 2007 May 15 - International Space Station Status Report #07-26
A spacecraft automatically docked to the International Space Station early Tuesday, delivering 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the residents on board. The ISS Progress 25 linked up to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 12:10 a.m. CDT Tuesday as the station sailed 208 miles above the Earth off the northeast coast of Australia. Within minutes, hooks and latches engaged between the two spacecraft to form a tight seal. The hatch to the supply ship will be opened overnight to enable its cargo to be unloaded.
As the Progress approached for its docking, Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov stood by in Zvezda in case they needed to take over manual control of the linkup. The docking, under the guidance of the Kurs automatic rendezvous system, was smooth and uneventful. Flight Engineer Suni Williams monitored other station systems and photographed the Progress’ approach.
The Kurs proximity antenna was retracted earlier than usual, at a distance of about 148 meters. This enabled Russian flight controllers to confirm it was functioning properly, since it failed to retract during the Progress 23 docking last October. In February, the Expedition 14 crew conducted a spacewalk to fix the problem.
The unpiloted ship launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:25 p.m. CDT Friday for its three-day journey to the station. The Progress delivered more than 1,050 pounds of propellant, almost 100 pounds of air, more than 925 pounds of water and 3,042 pounds of dry cargo.
- 2007 May 18 - International Space Station Status Report #07-27
The Expedition 15 crew this week unpacked supplies and began preparing for the arrival of the next visiting spacecraft and two spacewalks at the International Space Station. The ISS Progress 25 docked to the aft port of the Zvezda service module at 12:10 a.m. CDT Tuesday. During the week, the crew began unloading the more than 5,000 pounds of cargo from the supply ship.
Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov prepared for their May 30 and June 6 spacewalks by working on the Pirs airlock. The cosmonauts will wear Russian Orlan spacesuits to install orbital debris protection panels on Zvezda and replace experiments on the module's hull. Mission experts at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, will provide an overview of the spacewalks in a news briefing at 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 23, on NASA Television.
The crew prepared for the arrival of space shuttle Atlantis, targeted to launch on June 8. Yurchikhin and Kotov practiced digital photography techniques for their role in the inspection of the shuttle's heat shield as it approaches the station for the joint STS-117 mission. Flight Engineer Suni Williams assembled a spacewalk tool and wrapped it in protective tape to be used if spacewalkers need help with retracting the P6 starboard solar array.
On Thursday, the crew called its colleagues working at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Aquarius undersea laboratory for the 12th NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO). A flight surgeon, two astronauts and a Cincinnati doctor completed their 12-day mission Friday. That crew tested space medicine concepts, robotic telesurgery operations and moon-walking techniques. With its unique environment, Aquarius is an ideal training facility for future spaceflight. Williams was a member of the second NEEMO mission in May 2002.
On Friday, Williams completed an additional run of the Elastic Memory Composite Hinge experiment, which studies the performance of a new type of composite hinge to determine if it is suitable for use in space. The experiment uses elastic memory hinges to move an attached mass at one end. Materials tested in this experiment are stronger and lighter than current material used in space hinges and could be used in the design of future spacecraft.
Additionally, the crew spoke with C-SPAN, and Williams participated in interviews with two hometown Boston television stations.
On Saturday, Williams is expected to update software on the station support laptops.
- 2007 May 25 - International Space Station Status Report #07-28
Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov prepared this week for two spacewalks while Flight Engineer Suni Williams prepared for her return to Earth. In preparation for her successor's arrival, Williams' downlinked a 10-minute video tour for Clayton Anderson, who will travel to the station on the upcoming space shuttle flight. Mission managers gave a "go" for a May 30 Russian spacewalk to install orbital debris protection panels on the Zvezda service module and a GPS antenna cable associated with Automated Transfer Vehicle navigation systems. This will be the 18th Russian spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 1:20 p.m. CDT and last approximately six hours. NASA Television coverage will begin at 12:30 p.m.
First-time spacewalkers Yurchikhin and Kotov checked out the spacesuits and the Pirs airlock, prepared their tools, and closed the hatch to the Progress resupply vehicle docked to Pirs. Williams, who will help coordinate the spacewalk from inside the station, also prepared U.S. tools that will be used. During the spacewalk, the cosmonauts will retrieve a package, known as the "Christmas tree," which contains three bundles of debris panels. They were temporarily stowed on Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 during the STS-116 mission last December. After transferring the panels to Zvezda, Yurchikhin and Kotov will install the panels from one bundle. The others will be installed during their June 6 Russian spacewalk. Mission managers this week conducted a preliminary review of that spacewalk.
Williams this week installed updated software on the station's laptop computers, replaced the elastic "flex packs" in two Resistive Exercise Device canisters used to simulate weightlifting in the absence of gravity, and worked out on a stationary bicycle while medical experts on the ground measured her oxygen intake as part of a periodic fitness evaluation.
The crew members also prepared for the arrival of space shuttle Atlantis, targeted to launch on June 8. Yurchikhin and Kotov reviewed a recent digital photography practice session with shuttle imagery specialists, and Williams assembled a spacewalk tool to be used by shuttle astronauts who will retract the P6 starboard solar array. Along with filming the station video, Suni Williams also spoke with Clayton Anderson to help him prepare for his mission. It will begin officially when his specially-fitted Soyuz seat liner is transferred from Atlantis to the station during the STS-117 mission.
On Wednesday, Russian flight controllers executed an orbit adjustment burn, increasing the station's speed about one mile an hour and putting it in the proper orbit for Atlantis' arrival.
The Expedition 15 crew also participated in interviews with WBZ Radio, CBS Radio, ABC News and MSNBC.
- 2007 May 29 - Soyuz docking port swap on International Space Station.
Progress M-58 undocked from the Zvezda module on 27 March. The EO-14 crew boarded Soyuz TMA-9 on 29 March, undocked from the Zarya port at 22:30 GMT, and redocked at the Zvezda port at 22:54. This freed the Zarya port for the pending Soyuz TMA-10 launch.
- 2007 May 30 - EVA ISS EO-15-1 Crew: Yurchikhin, Kotov. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.23 days.
The spacewalk was made from the Pirs module. The crew attached an extension to the Strela-2 boom, then used it to assist in moving 17 debris panels from PMA-3 to the Zvezda module. After some cabling work to prepare the Zvezda module for future docking operations with the European ATV cargo resupply spacecraft, the crew installed five of the debris shields around the forward exterior of Zvezda. The aluminum shields, designed to protect the Russian segment from space junk, were typically around 60 cm x 1 m each with a thickness of 25 mm and a mass of 8 kg.
- 2007 May 30 - International Space Station Status Report #07-29
Two International Space Station cosmonauts stepped outside Wednesday for a 5-hour, 25-minute spacewalk, installing Service Module Debris Protection panels and rerouting a Global Positioning System antenna cable. Wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov began their spacewalk from the Russian Pirs airlock at 2:05 p.m. CDT. The spacewalk was scheduled to begin at 1:20 p.m., but was delayed due to time required to troubleshoot a communications problem.
First, the cosmonauts moved to the Strela 2, one of the hand-operated, telescoping cranes at the base of Pirs. They attached an extension to the Strela boom, increasing its reach from 45 to 60 feet. With Kotov on the end of the extension, Yurchikhin extended the boom to a point over Pressurized Mating Adapter 3, or PMA-3, on the Unity connecting node.
Once in place, Yurchikhin, with guidance from Kotov, maneuvered the Strela end effector to a grapple fixture on an adapter stowage rack. The adapter is attached to PMA-3 and held three bundles of 17 debris panels. The assembly is dubbed the "Christmas Tree."
Once the Christmas Tree was attached to the Strela and released from PMA-3, Yurchikhin moved it and Kotov back to the small diameter of the Zvezda Module. Yurchikhin joined Kotov there, and together they secured it to a grapple fixture on Zvezda.
Next, they left the debris panel task and moved aft onto Zvezda's large conical section. There they rerouted a cable for a Global Positioning System to be used for future rendezvous operations with the European Automated Transfer Vehicle. The ATV is an unpiloted cargo carrier with almost twice the capacity of the Progress cargo craft. It is scheduled to make its first launch later this year.
Once that task was completed, the cosmonauts moved back to the Christmas Tree on the forward end of Zvezda, where they removed and opened one of the three bundles of debris panels. That bundle held five panels. The aluminum panels vary in size but are about an inch thick. They typically measure about 2 by 3 feet and weigh 15 to 20 pounds.
Yurchikhin and Kotov installed the five panels on Zvezda's forward section, the area between Zvezda's large and small diameters.
After the installation task, the spacewalkers moved back to Pirs and into the airlock. Hatch closure marking the end of the spacewalk was at 7:30 p.m.
This was the first spacewalk for Yurchikhin and Kotov. On their second, scheduled for June 6, the remaining 12 debris panels will be installed on Zvezda. Additionally, the cosmonauts also will install a section of an Ethernet cable on the Zarya module and a Russian experiment called Biorisk on Pirs.
The three bundles and their adapter were delivered by space shuttle Discovery during the STS-116 mission in December 2006 and attached to PMA-3 by spacewalkers Bob Curbeam and Sunita Williams. Williams, an Expedition 15 crew member, remained aboard the station as the intravehicular officer for Wednesday's spacewalk, advising and keeping the spacewalkers on schedule.
Six debris panels were previously installed during an August 2002 spacewalk by Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson. Those panels were delivered to the station by space shuttle Endeavour during the STS-111 mission in June 2002.
- 2007 Jun 1 - International Space Station Status Report #07-30
The Expedition 15 crew completed the first of three planned spacewalks this week and prepared for the upcoming arrival of space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station. On Wednesday, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov stepped outside the station and installed five additional debris protection panels on the conical section of the Zvezda Service Module, the area between its large and small diameters. The aluminum debris protection panels are designed to shield the module from micro-meteoroids.
Also during the spacewalk, the cosmonauts relocated a Global Positioning System (GPS) antenna cable. The cosmonauts moved the GPS cable to assist the rendezvous and docking of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle later this year.
On June 6, Yurchikhin and Kotov are set to wear Russian spacesuits again and install 12 additional protection panels on Zvezda. They also will install a section of an Ethernet cable on the Zarya module and a Russian experiment called Biorisk on the Pirs Docking Compartment.
During the second spacewalk, Flight Engineer Suni Williams will remain aboard the station as the spacewalk choreographer, as she did this week, advising and keeping the spacewalkers on schedule.
Additionally this week, Williams packed science payload and personal items she will bring with her when she returns to Earth at the end of the upcoming STS-117 shuttle mission, scheduled for launch Friday, June 8 at 7:38 p.m. EDT.
Williams collected her fifth and final set of blood and urine samples for the Nutritional Status Assessment, which measures physiological changes in the human body during spaceflight. The samples are stored at minus 80 degrees Celsius in the Minus-Eighty Laboratory Freezer. The experiment will help researchers understand bone metabolism, oxidative damage, vitamin and mineral status and hormonal changes and how they relate to stress, bone and muscle metabolism. The results should provide a better understanding of what happens physiologically, and when it happens, to crew members on long-duration space missions.
Science activities on the International Space Station are coordinated by NASA payload teams at Johnson Space Center, Houston, and Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. Marshall is the home of the Payload Operations Center linked to Mission Control in Houston.
- 2007 Jun 6 - EVA ISS EO-15-2 Crew: Yurchikhin, Kotov. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.23 days.
Exiting from the Pirs airlock, the cosmonauts first installed the Biorisk microorganism experiment on the outside of the station. They laid some ethernet cable on the exterior of the Zarya module that completed work to allow the Russian segment to be controlled from the US segment. The crew then completed installation of the final 12 debris panels on the Zvezda module to provide improved protection against micrometeoroids and space junk.
- 2007 Jun 6 - International Space Station Status Report #07-31
The Expedition 15 crew completed the second spacewalk in eight days and continued preparations for space shuttle Atlantis' arrival at the International Space Station. Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov opened the hatch on the Pirs docking compartment at 9:23 a.m. CDT to begin a spacewalk lasting 5 hours and 37 minutes. The cosmonauts installed sample containers on the Pirs module for a Russian experiment. The experiment, called Biorisk, looks at the effect of space on microorganisms.
Next, the spacewalkers strung a section of Ethernet cable on the exterior of the Zarya module. This completed the installation of a remote computer network that will enable commanding of the station's Russian segment from the U.S. segment, if necessary.
Yurchikhin and Kotov later moved to the primary task on the agenda, putting up 12 debris shield panels on the conical section of the Zvezda module. Five panels were installed last week, and six others were installed in 2002 to improve the module's protection from micrometeroid debris strikes. The aluminum panels each measure approximately 2 feet by 3 feet and are 1 inch thick.
Almost two and a half hours into the spacewalk, Russian controllers noticed unusual readings in Pirs and asked Yurchikhin to return to the module where he verified that the pressurized oxygen bottles were closed properly. Mission Control Moscow subsequently determined that a small amount of oxygen was flowing from a fluid umbilical that had not closed fully when it was disconnected from the spacesuit at the beginning of the spacewalk. Controllers closed the flow of oxygen to that umbilical to preserve the supply and restarted it during repressurization of Pirs after the spacewalk concluded.
The spacewalk ended at 3 p.m. when the hatch on Pirs was closed. Both cosmonauts now have 11 hours and 2 minutes experience in the Russian Orlan spacesuits. This was the 83rd spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance, the 55th conducted from the station, and the 22nd conducted out of Pirs.
During Wednesday's spacewalk, Flight Engineer Suni Williams remained aboard the station monitoring the spacewalk, exercising and conducting experiment activities. Earlier this week, she and her crewmates prepared the Quest airlock for the spacewalks planned during Atlantis' mission. They also packed her personal items and experiment results for her return to Earth aboard Atlantis. Early in the morning of June 16, Williams will exceed astronaut Shannon Lucid's mark for the longest spaceflight ever by a woman, 188 days and 4 hours.
Commander Rick Sturckow and the crew of shuttle Atlantis are in Florida preparing for their scheduled launch Friday, June 8, at 7:38 p.m. EDT. STS-117, due to dock to the station at 2:49 p.m. CDT Sunday, June 10, delivers a new set of solar array wings and a new station flight engineer, NASA astronaut Clay Anderson.
- 2007 Jun 8 - STS-117 Crew: Sturckow, Archambault, Forrester, Swanson, Olivas, Reilly, Anderson Clayton. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Payload: Atlantis F28 / S3, S4. Mass: 122,685 kg (270,474 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Duration: 13.84 days. Perigee: 330 km (200 mi). Apogee: 341 km (211 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.20 min.
The shuttle delivered the S3 and S4 truss segments to the starboard side of the International Space Station. The crew made three spacewalks to install these truss segments, conduct other station reconfiguration and installation work, deploy the solar arrays and prepare them for operation. A fourth spacewalk was added to repair loose re-entry insulation on the shuttle and get-ahead installation work on the outside of the station. The shuttle delivered NASA long-term ISS crew member Clayton Anderson to the station; and returned Suni Williams to earth. At the conclusion of this mission the station finally achieved its full-power, dual-boom configuration first conceived for Space Station Freedom in the 1980's.
- 2007 Jun 8 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #01
The Space Shuttle Atlantis rocketed into a Florida twilight sky on time at 6:38 p.m. CDT today, kicking off the first of four shuttle missions scheduled this year. Atlantis' climb to orbit was flawless, carrying a seven-member crew. Aboard Atlantis are Commander Rick Sturckow, Pilot Lee Archambault, and mission specialists Patrick Forrester, Steven Swanson, John “Danny” Olivas, Jim Reilly and Clayton Anderson.
As Atlantis launched, the International Space Station flew 220 miles above the southern Indian Ocean, southwest of Australia. On the station awaiting Atlantis’ arrival are Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Suni Williams. The station crew watched Atlantis’ launch on a video link sent by Mission Control.
Atlantis will link up with the station on Sunday to begin a joint mission that will increase the complex’s power generation capability. Using the shuttle and station robotic arms and conducting three spacewalks, the astronauts will install another set of giant solar array wings on the station and retract another array, preparing it for a future move.
Anderson and Williams will switch places within hours after Atlantis arrives. Anderson will begin a four-month stay on the station. Williams will journey home on Atlantis. Williams has been on the station since December and will return to Earth with a record for the longest female spaceflight in history.
After reaching orbit, Atlantis’ crew began procedures to open the shuttle’s payload bay doors and set up computers and other equipment. They also will power up the shuttle's robotic arm to check its operation. They will use the arm on Saturday to inspect Atlantis’ heat shield. On Sunday, Atlantis is scheduled to dock to the station at about 2:36 p.m. CDT. The shuttle crew begins a sleep period at 12:38 a.m. CDT Saturday and will awaken for their first full day in space at 8:38 a.m. CDT Saturday.
- 2007 Jun 9 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #02
The astronauts on board Space Shuttle Atlantis got their first on-orbit wakeup call this morning on their way to a Sunday afternoon rendezvous to deliver a new crewmember and a new set of solar arrays to the International Space Station. “Big Boy Toys” by Aaron Tippin, sounded on board the orbiter at 9:10 a.m. CDT, played for Commander Rick Sturckow. The crew was given an extra half hour to sleep this morning after being kept up late to finish downloading in-cabin video.
Today Pilot Lee Archambault and Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson will use the shuttle’s robotic arm to unberth the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) for a detailed examination of Atlantis’ thermal protection system. Last night they took a closer look at an area of insulation blanket on the port orbital maneuvering system pod that was seen to be pulled away from adjacent thermal tiles during the robot arm checkout late Friday.
In parallel to today's inspection, Mission Specialists John “Danny” Olivas, Jim Reilly and Clayton Anderson will conduct a thorough checkout of the spacesuits to be worn during the three spacewalks planned for the docked operations at ISS and prepare them and other EVA hardware for transfer to the station.
Later, in preparation for docking, the crew will install a centerline camera, extend the outer ring of the Orbiter Docking System, and check out rendezvous tools. Sturckow is scheduled to fly Atlantis to a docking with ISS at 2:36 p.m. Sunday.
After hatch opening and welcome, Anderson will transfer his seat liner into the Soyuz spacecraft docked to the Zarya module and officially become a member of the station’s Expedition 15 crew, joining Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov. Flight Engineer Suni Williams, who’s been in space since her launch last Dec. 9, joins the shuttle crew and will return to Earth with them.
Delivery of the S3/S4 Truss segment, which includes a new pair of giant solar arrays for power generation, begins shortly after docking tomorrow when the shuttle robot arm is used to lift it from the payload bay and hand it off to the station’s robotic manipulator. Installation of the truss segments occurs Monday in conjunction with the first spacewalk of the mission, conducted by Reilly and Olivas.
- 2007 Jun 9 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #03
During its first full day in orbit, the STS-117 crew inspected Space Shuttle Atlantis’ heat shield and prepared for tomorrow’s docking with the International Space Station scheduled for 2:38 p.m. CDT. Pilot Lee Archambault and Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson used the shuttle’s robotic arm and an extension boom-mounted sensor system to inspect the heat shield on Atlantis’ wing leading edges and nose cap.
Last night the crew used the robotic arm to take a closer look at an area of insulation blanket on the port orbital maneuvering system pod that was seen to be pulled away from adjacent thermal tiles.
Prior to stowing the boom, the crew utilized the added reach to send Mission Control engineers up-close video of the displaced portion of the blanket. It will be analyzed along with the video from Friday night.
In preparation for Sunday’s docking, the crew extended the shuttle’s docking ring and checked out the rendezvous tools. The crew also installed a docking system centerline camera that will be used by Commander Rick Sturckow to align Atlantis with the station’s docking port.
While the robotic arm survey proceeded, Mission Specialists Danny Olivas, Jim Reilly and Clay Anderson checked and prepared the spacesuits they’ll wear during the three spacewalks on the fourth, sixth and eighth days of the mission. The major objective of the spacewalks is to install the station's newest component, the Starboard 3 and 4 (S3/S4) truss segments, unfurl a new set of solar arrays and fold and pack the right side of the Port 6 solar array.
On the space station, Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Suni Williams prepared the orbiting laboratory for Atlantis’ arrival tomorrow. She readied the digital cameras that will be used to take high-resolution photos of the shuttle's heat shield. Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin pressurized the docking port at the back end of the U.S. laboratory, Destiny.
Tomorrow as Atlantis makes its final approach to the station, Sturckow will take control of Atlantis and begin a slow back-flip rotation allowing Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov to photograph the shuttle’s heat shield. Williams will videotape the maneuver.
Once the back-flip is complete, Sturckow will maneuver Atlantis to docking, setting the stage for a week of joint operations between the two crews.
After hatch opening and welcome, Anderson will transfer his seat liner to the Soyuz spacecraft and officially become a member of the station’s Expedition 15 crew, joining Yurchikhin and Kotov. Williams, who’s been in space since her launch last Dec. 9, will return home with Atlantis’ crew.
Delivery of the S3/S4 Truss segment, which includes a new pair of giant solar arrays for power generation, begins shortly after docking tomorrow when the shuttle robotic arm is used to lift it from the payload bay and hand it off to the station’s robotic manipulator. Installation of the truss segments occurs Monday in conjunction with the first spacewalk of the mission, conducted by Reilly and Olivas.
- 2007 Jun 10 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #04
Space Shuttle Atlantis is only hours away from delivering a new set of solar array wings, and a new crew member, to the International Space Station. Docking of the shuttle to the station is targeted for 2:38 p.m. CDT. The shuttle crew was awakened at 8:08 a.m. with “Riding the Sky,” written and performed by Johnson Space Center employees David Kelldorf and Brad Loveall for Mission Specialist Clayton Anderson. At the same time, a wakeup tone sounded on the station for Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineers Oleg Kotov and Suni Williams. Rendezvous operations for the shuttle crew to bring their ship together with the station begin at 9:38 a.m., and the terminal initiation engine firing, which puts Atlantis on course to close the final nine miles to the station, is set for 12 p.m.
At 1:37 p.m., at a distance of 600 feet below the station, Atlantis Commander Rick Sturckow will fly the rendezvous pitch maneuver. The maneuver is a back flip that will allow Yurchikhin and Kotov to photograph heat shield tiles on the shuttle’s underside. The images will be transmitted to the ground for analysis.
After the hatches open, Kotov and Anderson will transfer Anderson’s customized Soyuz seat liner into the Russian spacecraft in place of that of Williams. The transfer will make Anderson an official station crew member, and Williams a member of the shuttle crew. Delivery of the flight's primary payload, the bus-sized S3/S4 truss element with its new solar arrays, will start at about the same time. Using the shuttle robotic arm, Pilot Lee Archambault and Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester will grapple the 35,678-pound truss section, lift it from the payload bay and hand it off to the station's robotic arm, controlled by Williams.
The truss section will be installed Monday in conjunction with the first spacewalk of the flight, conducted by Mission Specialists Jim Reilly and John “Danny” Olivas. Reilly and Olivas will spend tonight "camped out" inside the Quest airlock, with air pressure lowered to help purge nitrogen from their bodies in preparation for the excursion.
- 2007 Jun 10 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #05
The crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis officially was welcomed by the International Space Station crew this afternoon at 4:20 CDT with handshakes and hugs. Shuttle Commander Rick Sturckow was the first to enter the station followed soon after by the rest of the STS-117 crew.
The shuttle and space station docked at 2:36 p.m. CDT while traveling 220 miles above the northeast coast of Australia. Atlantis’ stay is planned for seven days of joint operations. Hatch opening between the two spacecraft occurred at 4:04 p.m. CDT.
Shortly after welcoming the shuttle crew, station Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov and shuttle Mission Specialist Clayton Anderson transferred Anderson’s customized Soyuz seat liner into the Russian spacecraft in place of that of Flight Engineer Suni Williams. The transfer at 7:55 p.m. CDT marked the official swap of Anderson for Williams as a station crewmember. Williams spent 181 days on the station and now is an Atlantis crewmember for the remainder of the mission. She has been in space for 183 days.
Prior to docking, Sturckow flew Atlantis through an orbital back flip while stationed about 600 feet below the space station. The maneuver was documented with long-range, high resolution cameras by Kotov and Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin to document the shuttle’s heat shield.
Mid-morning, Mission Specialist John “Danny” Olivas used a 400 mm camera to get up-close shots of the port orbital maneuvering system. He shot those photos from the crew cabin aft window. During a check Friday night, an area of insulation blanket on the pod was seen to be pulled away from the adjacent thermal tiles. Those photos were downlinked for review by imagery analysts and mission managers.
Following docking, Pilot Lee Archambault and Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester used the shuttle's robotic arm to grapple the 17.8 ton S3/S4 truss, lift it from its berth in the payload bay, and maneuver it for handover to the station's Canadarm2. The S3/S4 truss is the heaviest station payload the shuttle has carried, to date.
After hatch opening, Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Suni Williams used the Canadarm2 to take the truss from the shuttle’s robotic arm. That task was completed at 7:28 p.m. CDT marking the completion of handover of the new truss segment to the station. The truss will remain grappled to the station’s arm overnight and installed Monday in conjunction with the first spacewalk by Mission Specialists Jim Reilly and Olivas.
The first of three planned spacewalks is scheduled to begin just before 2 p.m. CDT Monday and will be staged out of the station’s Quest airlock. Archambault, Kotov and Forrester will position the truss at the edge of the S1 truss using the station’s arm. Reilly and Olivas will connect power cables on the truss, release restraints for the Solar Array Blanket Boxes that hold the solar arrays and the Beta Gimbal Assemblies that serve as the structural link between the truss’ integrated electronics and the Solar Array Wings.
Reilly and Olivas will spend tonight "camped out" inside the Quest airlock, with air pressure lowered to help purge nitrogen from their bodies in preparation for the excursion.
- 2007 Jun 11 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #06
A spacewalk to install and activate a new set of solar array wings highlights the first full day of docked operations of space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station. Most of the crewmembers got an 8:08 a.m. CDT wakeup call with the song “It Probably Always Will” by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, played for Mission Specialist Steven Swanson. Spacewalkers Jim Reilly and John “Danny” Olivas, who spent the night in the Quest airlock under reduced atmospheric pressure to facilitate the purge of nitrogen from their bloodstreams, were allowed to sleep in until 8:38 a.m.
Starting shortly after 10 a.m. Pilot Lee Achambault, Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester and Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov will use the station’s Canadarm2 to maneuver the S3/S4 Truss to the outboard end of the S1 Truss and into position so that four bolts can be driven to form a hard mate between the two components.
Activation of the new truss segments will be done during the spacewalk starting at 1:53 p.m., when Reilly, designated EV1 and wearing the suit with red stripes, and Olivas, EV2 and wearing a suit with no stripes, emerge from the Quest airlock.
Over the course of the next 6½ hours they will connect power, data and cooling cables between S1 and S3; release the launch restraints from and deploy the four solar array blanket boxes on S4 and release the cinches and winches holding the photovoltaic radiator on S4. They also will rotate the keel pin on S3; rigidize four Alpha Joint Interface Structure struts and install one Drive Lock Assembly on the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint; and remove some of the SARJ launch locks and restraints.
In parallel to those activities the ISS Flight Control Team in Mission Control Houston will begin the commanding to activate the two new power channels and to deploy the new truss’ radiator. The spacewalk is scheduled to conclude at 8:23 p.m. CDT.
While the spacewalk proceeds the newest member of the ISS crew will be learning about his new home on orbit. Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson is scheduled for handover briefings with his predecessor, astronaut Suni Williams, and has unstructured time to facilitate his adaptation to his new surroundings.
- 2007 Jun 11 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #07
The International Space Station grew in size and capability today when the S3/S4 Truss became a permanent addition as crewmembers worked inside and outside the complex to complete the final hookups. The work culminated in a 6 hour, 15 minute spacewalk by shuttle astronauts Jim Reilly and Danny Olivas, who focused on final attachment of bolts, cables, and connectors to begin the activation of the truss and ready it for deployment of its solar arrays.
The spacewalk began at 3:02 p.m. CDT and ended at 9:17 p.m. CDT and was the 84th devoted to station assembly and maintenance totaling 515 hours, 20 minutes.
The spacewalk was delayed for about an hour after the station temporarily lost attitude control when the station’s control moment gyroscopes went offline due to the mass of the new truss segment in the final stage of its attachment. The loss was not unexpected because of the station’s skewed asymmetry as the 17.8 ton bus-size S3/S4 truss was being moved toward the S1 truss.
Pilot Lee Archambault, Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester and Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov tightened the final of four bolts permanently mating the new 45-foot truss to the outboard end of the S1 truss. The installation paved the way for the start of the spacewalk – the fourth for Reilly and first for Olivas. Once completed, the truss will stretch 356 feet from end to end.
Once the spacewalk began, Reilly and Olivas moved quickly through their tasks of releasing the launch restraints on the four Solar Array Blanket Boxes, which house the folded solar arrays. Their work sets the stage for the deployment of the solar arrays Tuesday.
- 2007 Jun 12 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #08
The International Space Station’s new solar array wings are spreading today while the 10 astronauts and cosmonauts get ready for the second spacewalk during this flight of space shuttle Atlantis. The day began at 8:08 a.m. with the wakeup song “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong, played for Mission Specialist Danny Olivas. Olivas and Mission Specialist Jim Reilly completed a 6-hour, 15-minute spacewalk yesterday to complete the hardware installation of the S3/S4 Truss segments, which cleared the way for flight controllers to activate the new components.
Overnight ISS flight controllers commanded the initial minimal deployment of both solar array wings. Starting at 10:43 this morning shuttle Commander Rick Sturckow, Pilot Lee Archambault and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester, Steve Swanson, Suni Williams, Olivas and Reilly are scheduled to observe and assist in the complete deployment of those solar arrays to their full 115-foot length.
After lunch the shuttle crewmembers all get a couple of hours off duty before beginning preparations for a spacewalk by Forrester and Swanson tomorrow. They will assist with the initial stages of retraction of the starboard side solar array on the P6 module before removing the remaining launch restraints on the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint on S3/S4. That’s required to permit the SARJ to rotate so the new solar arrays can track the sun while the station orbits the Earth.
The shuttle crew and the Expedition 15 crewmembers, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineers Oleg Kotov and Clay Anderson, are awaiting word from the Mission Management Team on the plan for the mission’s third and fourth spacewalks. The MMT extended the mission by two days and added a fourth EVA to provide time to repair the raised thermal blanket on the Orbital Maneuvering System pod. A decision about whether that job will be done on EVA 3 or EVA 4 is expected today.
- 2007 Jun 12 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #09
The International Space Station today spread its wings again with the activation of a new pair of solar arrays that will generate enough power to supply about eight homes. The extra power sets the stage for addition of European and Japanese laboratories later this year and early next.
Prior to crew wake up this morning, station controllers began unfurling the solar array attached to the newly installed S3/S4 truss segment. Space Shuttle Atlantis astronauts then took over, unfolding one wing at a time in stages, pausing to let the solar array panels soak up some sun, which helps to prevent the thin individual panels from sticking together. They finished unfolding the first wing at 11:29 a.m. and the second at 12:58 p.m. – both are now capable of generating power.
Tomorrow at about 1 p.m., Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester and Steve Swanson head outside on their first of two spacewalks to remove launch locks from the 10-foot-wide solar alpha rotary joint to free the arrays to rotate and track the sun. During the six-hour spacewalk, the spacewalkers will help flight controllers fold up an older solar array to make room for the rotation. That retracted pair of arrays and corresponding truss segment eventually will be relocated and redeployed to add even more power capability to the station.
Late in the day, the station experienced a problem with a Russian navigation computer that challenged flight controllers in Houston and Moscow to manage the station’s attitude in space. Several methods of attitude control are available – Russian thrusters, Atlantis thrusters, or station electrically-driven gyroscopes.
The crew or station never was in danger throughout the troubleshooting efforts, and the station’s gyroscopes took over attitude control shortly after 8 p.m. That was followed by relocation of the Mobile Transporter in preparation ahead of tomorrow’s spacewalk.
The problem with the navigation computer began when flight controllers attempted to turn attitude control over to the station computers after letting shuttle computers handle it while the arrays were unfolded. The computer would not allow them to do so, and forced a reboot of the main Russian command and control computer, which triggered an alarm enunciating the problem to the crew and ground controllers.
Meanwhile, mission managers still are mulling over the best course of action for repairing a raised corner of a thermal insulation blanket that came loose during launch last Friday. The Mission Management Team elected to wait at least one more day so that engineers could develop detailed plans for a spacewalking task to be carried out during the third or fourth spacewalk (Friday or Sunday).
Ground tests will be performed to understand which repair technique provides the greatest potential for success.
- 2007 Jun 13 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #10
A pair of spacewalking astronauts is getting ready for a 6½-hour excursion this afternoon to help retract an old solar array wing and get two new ones ready to go to work. Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson, who camped out in the Quest airlock as part of their spacewalk preparations, and their crewmates were awakened at 8:08 a.m. CDT with “Questions 67 and 68” by Chicago, played for Pilot Lee Archambault.
While Mission Specialists Danny Olivas and Suni Williams help the spacewalkers get ready, the other Atlantis astronauts will be working the early steps of retraction of the 2B solar array wing, on the starboard side of the P6 Truss. Commander Rick Sturckow, Archambault and Mission Specialist Jim Reilly will send commands and monitor the retraction for any repeat of the difficulties with folding panels and sticking guide wires that were encountered on a similar retraction last December.
When Forrester and Swanson exit Quest at 1:03 p.m. they’ll move up the P6 Truss to monitor the retraction and to assist if required. Forrester, who will be in a foot restraint on the station’s robot arm, and Swanson will have specially-prepared tools to use to help the panels of photovoltaic cells fold properly.
After 45 minutes the spacewalkers will move on to the primary job of the day, preparing the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint between the S3 and S4 Truss segments for rotation. Forrester and Swanson will remove all remaining locks and restraints that held the joint safely in place during launch so that the joint is free to rotate, enabling the new solar array wings on S4 to track the sun as ISS orbits the Earth. The spacewalk is scheduled to end at 7:33 p.m.
Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineers Oleg Kotov and Clayton Anderson are scheduled to work on the transfer of supplies, and Anderson has time in his schedule for handover briefings and familiarization with his new home in orbit.
- 2007 Jun 13 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #11
Just a few launch restraint bolts stand between the International Space Station’s new solar arrays and rotation, following a seven hour and 16 minute spacewalk by Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester and Steve Swanson. Meanwhile, managers approved a repair task for a damaged thermal blanket to be carried out during the next spacewalk Friday.
During the second spacewalk of Space Shuttle Atlantis’ mission, Forrester and Swanson today removed all of the launch locks holding the 10-foot-wide solar alpha rotary joint in place. The spacewalkers had planned to remove the joint’s launch restraints as well, but left them for a later spacewalk.
The spacewalkers ran into a problem when Forrester tried to install a drive-lock assembly and found that commands being sent to it were actually being received by a drive-lock assembly installed during the mission’s first spacewalk. Flight controllers confirmed that the drive-lock assembly installed earlier was in a safe configuration and are working to confirm that the newly installed assembly is as well.
Once fully activated, the drive-lock assemblies engage gears permitting the massive joint to rotate allowing the arrays to track the sun as the station circles the Earth.
To enable it to do so, spacewalkers also had to help retract an older solar array to clear the new array’s path. The process is delicate, as the panels of the solar arrays tend to get caught on their guide wires and fold in the wrong direction. Flight controllers started the retraction before the crew woke up, and were able to get seven and a half of the 31.5 solar array bays folded. Then, on the spacewalk, Forrester and Swanson were able to poke and prod another five and a half bays worth of panels into folding correctly before moving on to other tasks.
The astronauts also were able to make sure the arrays were in a good configuration for another try by flight controllers on Thursday. If necessary, the spacewalkers could provide more hands-on help during one of the mission’s remaining two spacewalks.
Meanwhile, as the second spacewalk continued, mission managers decided that at least part of the third spacewalk, scheduled for Friday, will be dedicated to repairing a raised corner of a thermal insulation blanket that came loose from the shuttle during launch. Mission Specialist Danny Olivas will staple the corner to an adjacent blanket and use pins to secure it to a thermal protection tile.
Russian flight controllers will be working overnight to resolve a problem with the Russian segment computers that provide backup attitude control and orbital altitude adjustments. For now, the station’s control moment gyroscopes are handling attitude control, with the shuttle’s propulsion providing backup.
- 2007 Jun 14 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #12
Solar array retraction and spacewalk preparation are the focus of the crews on board space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station today. At 7:39 a.m. CDT Mission Control in Houston played the wakeup song “Indescribable” by Chris Tomlin for Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester, who completed a 7-hour, 16-minute spacewalk with Mission Specialist Steven Swanson yesterday. The crews had been awakened at 6:23 a.m. by a false fire alarm in the Zarya module, which was the result of troubleshooting Russian segment navigation computers which had just been successfully restarted by Mission Control in Moscow.
Beginning at 10:38 a.m. Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson joins Commander Rick Sturckow, Pilot Lee Archambault, Swanson and Mission Specialist Suni Williams to resume commanding the retraction of the solar array wing on the starboard side of the P6 Truss, which was about half retracted yesterday before and during the spacewalk. That job is on the schedule for the latter half of spacewalk 3 on Friday if it is not completed today.
In the meantime Forrester will work with Mission Specialists Jim Reilly and Danny Olivas to review the procedures for that spacewalk. Olivas will get in a foot restraint on the shuttle robot arm to repair the orbital maneuvering system pod thermal blanket that pulled away from the adjacent thermal tiles on launch last week. There is time in the schedule this afternoon for the crewmembers to practice the repair technique, and then this evening to conduct a tagup with spacewalk specialists in Houston before the spacewalkers begin their campout prebreathe protocol in the Quest airlock.
At 8:58 p.m. Sturckow, Archambault, Forrester and Swanson will discuss the progress of their flight in interviews with Fox News Radio and Denver television stations KMGH-TV and KUSA-TV.
- 2007 Jun 14 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #13
The space shuttle Atlantis and International Space Station crews inside the station today partially retracted a solar array and prepared for the third spacewalk that will focus on repair of a damaged thermal blanket on the shuttle and assisting “on the scene” with additional retraction of the array. While the crew worked in space, Russian flight controllers with assistance from counterparts in Mission Control, Houston, continue to troubleshoot why navigation computers in the Russian segment are not operating.
Commander Rick Sturckow, along with Pilot Lee Archambault, Mission Specialist Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson, meticulously retracted the solar array blanket atop the P6 truss another three bays worth of panels.
In parallel, Jim Reilly and Danny Olivas completed a review of procedures for Friday’s spacewalk, with the first task being to restore a thermal blanket on the shuttle’s left Orbital Maneuvering System pod to its preflight condition using hands, medical staples, and pins to secure it in place. That spacewalk is set to begin at approximately 12:38 p.m. CDT.
After completing that task – timelined to take about 2 hours – the two astronauts will turn their attention to assisting with the retraction of the remaining paper-thin panels of a solar array, which provided early power to the station’s pressurized modules, life support and avionics equipment.
Throughout Thursday, the crew carefully sent commands to retract the array as much as possible ahead of Friday’s spacewalk. By last count, 15½ of the 31½ bays remain to be folded into a 20-inch-deep protective box.
As the crew headed into the final hours of Flight Day 7, the seven shuttle and three station crewmembers reviewed procedures for Friday, focusing on the blanket repair task of the spacewalk. Olivas will perform the repair while in a foot restraint on the end of the shuttle’s robotic arm. The thermal blanket pulled loose during launch a week ago and was first noticed during a standard vehicle inspection by the crew shortly after launch.
The repair procedure will involve pressing down on the blanket and stapling one side of the 4-by-6-inch raised corner to an adjacent blanket. Olivas then will pin the other side of the blanket to a thermal tile. Engineers on the ground are conducting tests of the repair on mockups created to mirror the damaged blanket in space. The test articles are being subjected to heat loads and wind effects similar to what is expected for that part of the shuttle during reentry.
Flight controllers also stayed busy on the ground troubleshooting a problem with Russian computers that provide backup attitude control and orbital attitude adjustment for the station’s control moment gyroscopes. Russian specialists are working closely with United States teams, concentrating on troubleshooting and restoring computer capabilities. They were able to get the computers working intermittently during the day and will continue working on the problem overnight. The station remains in a safe configuration, with attitude control handled by its control moment gyroscopes.
Before going to sleep just after 11 p.m., the crew also will talk about the mission with radio and television stations. That interview on NASA TV from the station’s Destiny laboratory is set to begin at 8:58 p.m. Reilly and Olivas then will head into the Quest airlock to begin their campout prebreathe protocol designed to reduce the amount of nitrogen in their bodies, thus shortening the time required Friday to breathe pure oxygen ahead of the start of their second spacewalk of the mission.
- 2007 Jun 15 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #14
Astronauts on space shuttle Atlantis are only hours from the week’s third spacewalk out of the International Space Station, a 6½-hour excursion to repair a thermal blanket on the orbiter and assist in folding up a solar array on the station. The crew’s wakeup call came at 7:41 a.m. CDT with the song “Radar Love” by Golden Earring, played for Mission Specialist Steve Swanson.
Spacewalkers Jim Reilly and John “Danny” Olivas spent the night in the Quest airlock at reduced atmospheric pressure as part of the spacewalk preparation protocol. They’ll go out the door at 12:38 p.m. and Reilly will help Olivas set up to make repairs to a thermal blanket on Atlantis’ port orbital maneuvering system pod that was damaged during the shuttle’s climb to orbit last week.
Supported by the shuttle robot arm, Olivas will push the turned up portion of the thermal blanket back into position, use a medical stapler to secure the layers of the blanket, and pin it in place against adjacent thermal tile.
At the same time, Reilly will install a hydrogen vent valve in the forward section of the Destiny laboratory for a new oxygen generating system being installed there. The system separates water into its chemical components of oxygen and hydrogen, venting the hydrogen overboard and supplying the oxygen for the station crewmembers to breathe.
When they complete those tasks the spacewalkers will move to the top of the P6 Truss to assist in retraction of the remaining 15 mast bays of the starboard side solar array wing. Armed with tools specially designed for the task, Reilly and Olivas will keep the solar panels folding properly and unstick any stuck grommets on guide wires as their crewmates command the mast to retract. If they’re able to get the array completely retracted, Reilly and Olivas have a list of other jobs to do before ending the spacewalk.
Russian flight controllers are still troubleshooting a problem with Russian computers that provide backup attitude control and orbital attitude adjustment for the station’s control moment gyroscopes. Commands were sent early this morning to start the computers but only one lane of the central computer booted up; all three lanes of both the central computer and the terminal computer were deactivated just before 5 a.m. CDT. The current plan is to leave them turned off today while the teams in the Russian Mission Control Center compare notes and develop a forward plan of action. The station remains in a safe configuration, with attitude control handled by its control moment gyroscopes.
- 2007 Jun 15 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #15
The situation aboard space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station improved greatly today following repair of a protruding thermal blanket, restoring power to problematic Russian navigation computers, and completing retraction of a finicky solar array. Mission Specialists Jim Reilly and Danny Olivas worked outside the station for 7 hours, 58 minutes and completed all their planned tasks. Olivas spent two hours stapling and pinning down a thermal blanket on Atlantis’ orbital maneuvering system pod. A 4-by-6-inch corner of the blanket peeled up during the shuttle’s launch last week.
Meanwhile, Reilly installed the hydrogen vent valve of a new oxygen generation system on the Destiny laboratory. The system will separate oxygen from water to provide breathing air, while dumping the remaining component – hydrogen – overboard.
When those tasks were completed, the two astronauts joined forces with their colleagues inside the shuttle and station and flight controllers in Houston to complete the delicate process of folding an older solar array so that it can be moved from its temporary location to its permanent home during a shuttle mission this fall.
Armed with lessons learned from last December’s shuttle mission when the other half of the array posed an identical challenge, the STS-117 mission team followed well-trained procedures to retract the array into its protective box. The retraction was completed and latches closed at 7:40 p.m. (7 hours, 15 minutes into the spacewalk). Reilly and Olivas provided hands-on assistance throughout the process.
The retraction sequence today required 28 commands, bringing the total for the retraction to 45.
Behind the scenes while the spacewalk was ongoing, Russian flight controllers were troubleshooting two Russian computers that provide backup attitude control and orbital altitude adjustments for the station’s control moment gyroscopes. Station commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov were able to get two of three lanes in both computers up and running after bypassing with external cabling what appeared to be a faulty power switch.
The computers are now being monitored for proper operation, awaiting additional data evaluation overnight when the station passes over Russian ground stations for detailed telemetry downlink. Each computer requires only one lane running to perform its duties.
One final spacewalk is planned for Sunday, when Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester and Steve Swanson will perform get-ahead tasks and finish preparing the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint for activation. Its function is to allow a new pair of solar arrays to track the Sun as the station circles the Earth.
The crew will spend part of Saturday getting ready for the last spacewalk and discuss the mission during the traditional news conference at 6:43 p.m.
- 2007 Jun 16 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #16
A new spaceflight endurance record was set this morning as 10 astronauts and cosmonauts slept on the docked space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station. At 12:47 a.m. CDT, Astronaut Suni Williams’ time in space since her launch last Dec. 9 reached 188 days and 4 hours, matching the mark for the longest single spaceflight ever by a woman space traveler. That mark was set by Astronaut Shannon Lucid on her flight to the Mir space station in 1996.
The wakeup call featuring the University of Texas at El Paso Fight Song, performed by the UTEP Pep Band, was played for Mission Specialist (and UTEP alumnus) John “Danny” Olivas at 7:38 a.m. CDT.
Today the four spacewalkers will spend time configuring the spacesuits and EVA tools used on Friday’s 7-hour, 58-minute EVA by Olivas and Mission Specialist Jim Reilly, and then preparing the Quest airlock for Sunday’s spacewalk by Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson.
The plan for EVA 4 includes verification of Drive Lock Assembly 2, one of a pair of mechanisms which will drive rotation of the S3/S4 Truss Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, and removal of the final launch restraints on the SARJ to enable its rotation so the solar arrays on S4 can track the sun. The spacewalkers will also remove a keel pin and drag link from S3, complete bolting down a piece of debris shielding on the Destiny laboratory, install a computer network cable on Unity, and remove a Global Positioning System antenna.
Crewmembers will spend time today transferring supplies between ISS and Atlantis, and at 5:18 p.m. will review the timeline for Sunday’s spacewalk. At 6:43 p.m. all 10 astronauts and cosmonauts get together in the Destiny laboratory for the Joint Crew News Conference.
Mission Control Moscow restarted the Russian computers that provide backup attitude control and orbital attitude adjustment for the station’s control moment gyroscopes Friday afternoon and confirmed that they were stable. This morning the Russian flight controllers began sending commands to restart some systems in the Russian segment of ISS.
The Russian central computer is now communicating with the U.S. command and control computer, and the Russian terminal computer is again talking to the U.S. navigation computers. Additional commanding and systems restarts are anticipated today as Russian specialists pore over operations data from the two computers.
- 2007 Jun 16 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #17
In a continuing improvement of the onboard Russian computer system, all six channels are now operating in the two Russian command-and-control and the guidance-and-navigation computers that stopped operating three days ago. During a news briefing from the Johnson Space Center Saturday afternoon, International Space Station Program Manager Michael Suffredini said, “We’re having a great day on orbit today.”
Yesterday, station Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov were able to reenable four of the six channels in the computer systems after bypassing what appears to be a faulty power switch with external cabling.
The Russian cosmonauts repeated that same modification today on the last two channels, which were originally suspected to have failed. They are continuing to checkout and troubleshoot the computers. Meanwhile, the forward plan is to keep the original four channels active and keep the other two channels in "stand by" mode.
Engineering teams also plan to test the Russian attitude control system as early as Sunday morning, in order to confirm that it is operating and working well in concert with the U.S. system. The specifics of the test are still being defined but once executed, the teams will determine when shuttle Atlantis will depart the station. Undocking is currently scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Onboard, the rest of the crew today focused on transfer activities as well as preparations for a fourth spacewalk tomorrow. The ten astronauts, including Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Clay Anderson, and shuttle Commander Rick Sturckow, Pilot Lee Archambault, and mission specialists Pat Forrester, Steven Swanson, Danny Olivas, Jim Reilly and Sunita Williams, also participated in a joint crew news conference.
During their crew sleep, Williams established a new record for the longest single spaceflight by a female. At 12:47 a.m. CDT, Williams surpassed the longstanding 188 day and 4 hour record set by astronaut Shannon Lucid at the Mir space station in 1996.
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” said Williams of the record. “It’s an honor to be here.”
The four spacewalkers spent time working on the U.S. spacesuits. Olivas and Reilly finished their post-spacewalk spacesuit reconfiguration tasks, while Forrester and Swanson configured their suits and tools for their second spacewalk. The final spacewalk of the flight is set to begin Sunday morning at 11:33 a.m. CDT.
The spacewalk will include a few wrap up tasks associated with the new truss segment, including installation of the Drive Lock Assembly 2, which with a second DLA, drives rotation of the S3/S4 Truss Solar Alpha Rotary Joint. The spacewalkers also will remove the final six launch restraints on the SARJ to enable its rotation and remove a keel pin and drag link from S3. They’ll also complete installation of a debris shield on the Destiny laboratory, install a computer network cable on Unity and remove a Global Positioning System antenna.
- 2007 Jun 17 - EVA STS-117-4 Crew: Forrester, Swanson. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.26 days.
The crew moved a video camera from the Quest module to the S3 truss. They verified the connections on the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint and removed its launch restraints. They then removed hardware along the S3 truss, clearing it for use by the tracked Mobile Base System. They then installed a computer network cable on the Unity node; opened the hydrogen vent valve on the Destiny laboratory installed on the previous EVA; and tethered two orbital debris shield panels on the station’s service module.
- 2007 Jun 17 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #18
For the fourth time in less than a week, the astronauts on Space Shuttle Atlantis are about to venture outside their spacecraft to press ahead with assembly of the International Space Station. The crew’s wakeup call came at 6:38 a.m. CDT with the theme song from “Band of Brothers,” played for Mission Specialist Jim Reilly.
Spacewalkers Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson begin their second EVA of the flight at 11:33 a.m., with Reilly choreographing the excursion from the shuttle flight deck. Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov will shadow Reilly as intravehicular crewmember, training to take that role for an upcoming station spacewalk.
The first task is to retrieve a TV camera stand from a stowage platform attached to Quest and install it on the S3 truss. From there the spacewalkers will move to the intersection of the S3 and S4 trusses to prepare the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint for rotation. Forrester will verify the installation of a second Drive Lock Assembly, the machine that turns the S4 truss so its solar array wings can track the sun. He will then help Swanson remove the last six SARJ launch restraints to free the joint to turn.
To clear the path on S3 for the Mobile Base System, Forrester and Swanson will remove temporary rail stops and the hardware that secured the S3/S4 in the shuttle payload bay. Then, they will translate back to the body of the station for a few get-ahead tasks.
As time permits, the spacewalkers plan to install a computer network cable on the Unity node, remove a Global Positioning System antenna, tighten the gimbal locks on the S-band Antenna Support Assembly, open the hydrogen vent valve on the Destiny laboratory that was installed on Friday’s spacewalk, and secure the orbital debris shield panel. Today’s spacewalk is scheduled to conclude at 6:03 p.m.
The Russian central computer and terminal computers continue in stable operation, each running on two of its three channels with the third in standby. Mission Control in Moscow has restarted all Russian systems except the Elektron, which is receiving power but not moded to generate oxygen, and is planning to fire Russian attitude control thrusters in conjunction with a maneuver of the mated stack to a water dump attitude on Monday.
- 2007 Jun 17 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #19
Astronauts Patrick Forrester and Steve Swanson completed the fourth and final spacewalk of Atlantis’ mission at 5:54 p.m. CDT, wrapping up all the tasks planned for the mission and finishing some jobs that will reduce the workload for future spacewalkers. The spacewalk was the 87th in support of station assembly and maintenance, the 59th staged out of the station and the 36th out of the Quest airlock. Eleven spacewalks have been completed this year and 14 remain.
Forrester and Swanson began the spacewalk at 11:25 a.m. The two made quick work of retrieving a TV camera and its support structure from a stowage platform attached to Quest and installing it on the S/3 truss. They then verified the Drive Lock Assembly (DLA) 2 configuration and removed the last six Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) launch restraints.
Inside, Mission Specialist Jim Reilly choreographed the outside work from the shuttle flight deck, shadowed by Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov who will assume that role for the July 20 spacewalk by Clay Anderson and Fyodor Yurchikhin.
By 3:17 p.m., the two had cleared the path on S3 for the Mobile Base System by removing temporary rail stops and hardware that had secured the S3/S4 in the shuttle’s payload bay, thus completing the major tasks slated for the STS-117 mission. The spacewalkers then began some of the get-ahead tasks mission managers had hoped to complete.
The two spacewalkers also installed a computer network cable on the Unity node, opened the hydrogen vent valve on the Destiny laboratory that was installed on Friday’s spacewalk, and tethered two orbital debris shield panels on the station’s service module.
Tomorrow morning at approximately 9:28 a.m., Mission Control in Moscow plans to fire Russian attitude control thrusters. The thrusters have not been used since the Russian central computer and terminal computer went down earlier in the week. Those computers continue in stable operation.
Also tomorrow, astronauts onboard Atlantis will have a much deserved day off, bidding farewell to the Expedition 15 crew and closing the hatch between the two vehicles at 5:23 p.m. Atlantis will undock from the station at 9:42 a.m. CDT Tuesday, circling the orbiting complex once as it departs.
- 2007 Jun 18 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #20
The astronauts on space shuttle Atlantis got up this morning looking ahead to time off duty and awaiting word on when they’ll undock from the International Space Station. Wakeup sounded at 6:08 a.m. CDT today with the song “Redeemer” by Nicole C. Mullen, played for Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester. The shuttle astronauts are scheduled off duty during the first half of their day, and to complete transfers between Atlantis and the station by late afternoon Houston time. Farewells and hatch closing are scheduled to begin at 5:23 p.m.
This morning the shuttle will maneuver the Atlantis/ISS complex into position for a water and wastewater dump, and after it maneuvers back about 9:15 a.m. it will hand over attitude control to the Russian segment’s terminal computer for a test of its ability to fire Russian thrusters and maintain station attitude. If that test is successful, shuttle and station program managers are expected to confirm the plan for Atlantis to undock from ISS at 9:42 a.m. Tuesday.
Commands sent from the ISS Flight Control Room overnight activated the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint and tested its rotation; the new joint was put into autotrack test mode at 7 a.m.
Once that test is complete ISS will have four U.S. solar array wings tracking the sun through each orbit of the Earth. Those arrays are capable of generating enough electricity to power the modules already on orbit and the next pressurized modules due to arrive: the second connecting node, Harmony; the European Space Agency laboratory, Columbus; and the Kibo laboratory, from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
- 2007 Jun 18 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #21
Crews aboard the space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station bid farewell to one another and closed the hatches between their spacecraft at 5:51 p.m. today in preparation for the shuttle’s departure Tuesday morning at 9:42 a.m. The hatch closing wrapped up eight days of docked operations.
A demonstration of the station’s ability to maintain attitude control on its own, a checkout on the new Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) and a smooth translation of the Mobile Transporter gave shuttle and station program managers the confidence needed to approve undocking tomorrow.
At 9:34 this morning, attitude control was handed over from the shuttle to the Russian segment’s terminal computer for a test of its ability to fire Russian thrusters and maintain station attitude. Ninety minutes later, at 11:09 a.m., control was handed back to U.S. computers and the control moment gyroscopes, which completed the demonstration.
The shuttle astronauts had the first part of the day off, before completing transfers between Atlantis and the station. On the station side of the hatches, Atlantis’ crew had left behind more than 19 tons of food, water and equipment. They also filled the shuttle’s middeck with equipment and experiment samples returning to Earth.
The most important transfer item to the shuttle was Astronaut Suni Williams who lived aboard the station for 189 days. Remaining aboard the station was Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson. Williams topped fellow Astronaut Shannon Lucid’s record of 188 days in space.
With the activation of SARJ, the station now has four U.S. solar array wings tracking the sun through each orbit of the Earth.
- 2007 Jun 19 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #22
The astronauts on space shuttle Atlantis woke up this morning with the hatch to the International Space Station closed and only hours left before undocking for the two-day trip back to Earth. Today’s wakeup call came at 5:38 a.m. CDT with “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day” by Chicago, played for Pilot Lee Archambault. Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineers Oleg Kotov and Clayton Anderson were awakened on board ISS at the same time.
At 7:45 a.m. Archambault and Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester will begin powering on shuttle systems that have been turned off to conserve power during the docked phase of the flight, and at 8:28 Mission Specialists Steven Swanson and Jim Reilly will set up the centerline camera in the orbiter docking system.
At 9:42 a.m. the hooks and latches holding Atlantis and ISS together will release, and springs in the ODS will push the shuttle away. Archambault will fire shuttle thrusters to move 450 feet in front of the station before starting a full flyaround at 10:07 a.m. to get a good look at the reconfigured spacecraft.
At 11:25 a.m. another firing of Atlantis’ thrusters will begin the final separation of the two spacecraft for this flight. At a range of 46 miles Archambault, Forrester and Swanson will use the shuttle robot arm to lift the Orbiter Boom Sensor System from the starboard payload bay sill and conduct a late inspection of the thermal protection system on both wings and the orbiter’s nose cap.
Today and tomorrow Mission Specialist Suni Williams, in the 192nd day of her spaceflight, will be scheduled for more exercise to help prepare her for Thursday’s scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Center, when her body will feel the pull of gravity for the first time since her launch last December.
- 2007 Jun 19 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #23
Space shuttle Atlantis wrapped up an eight-day visit to the International Space Station, undocking at 9:42 a.m. today. Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Clay Anderson wished his former crewmates Godspeed, as they left him behind on the station. Mission Specialist Suni Williams replaced Anderson aboard the shuttle for the return trip home after six months in space, setting a new record for time spent in space by a female.
They haven’t gone far yet, however. Pilot Lee Archambault took control of Atlantis shortly after undocking and lapped the station at a distance of 600 feet as crewmembers documented the larger, more capable station and their handiwork with video and photos.
During the eight days, 19 hours and six minutes docked to the station, the combined shuttle and station crews helped build the station into a near-symmetrical configuration, adding a new starboard truss segment and solar array pair, while folding another array in preparation for its relocation later this year.
Atlantis’ trip to the station brings the cumulative time spent by all space shuttles at the station to 151 days, four hours and 52 minutes.
After the fly-around, Archambault fired thrusters to separate Atlantis to a safe distance for the night while fellow crewmembers performed additional scans of the wing leading edges and nose cap. The imagery will be evaluated overnight by ground engineers in Houston to ensure Atlantis incurred no micrometeoroid debris damage during its time in space.
The crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 9:08 p.m., and wake up at 5:08 a.m. Wednesday to check out entry systems and pack up equipment ahead of Thursday’s planned landing at the Kennedy Space Center.
- 2007 Jun 20 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #24
Seven astronauts on space shuttle Atlantis are preparing themselves and their orbiter for a planned Thursday landing to wrap up the year’s first International Space Station assembly mission. The astronauts’ wakeup call came at 5:08 a.m. with “If I Had $1000000” by Barenaked Ladies, played for Mission Specialist Suni Williams, who’s in the 193rd day of her spaceflight.
The entire crew will be involved in routine deorbit preparations by 8:10 a.m., starting by stowing items in the crew cabin.
At 8:58 a.m. Commander Rick Sturckow, Pilot Lee Archambault, and Mission Specialist and Flight Engineer Steven Swanson will power up one of the auxiliary power units and conduct a checkout of the orbiter’s flight control surfaces, and at 10:08 a.m. begin a test firing of each of Atlantis’ reaction control system jets to ensure that both systems are ready for deorbit and landing. All seven crew members gather for a deorbit briefing at 11:28 a.m.
The shuttle astronauts take a break from packing at 2:03 p.m. to talk about the flight in interviews with NBC News, ABC News and CNN Live, then return to packing up for landing. The schedule calls for stowage of the Ku-band communications antenna at 5:58 p.m., just before Mission Specialist Jim Reilly and Williams set up a recumbent seat on the middeck for Williams to use during entry and landing.
The International Space Station’s crew is enjoying a day off duty as they shift their sleep cycle. Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineers Oleg Kotov and Clay Anderson are scheduled to go to sleep at 4:30 p.m. and get up at 1 a.m. tomorrow, returning to the normal station wakeup time.
- 2007 Jun 20 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #25
Space shuttle Atlantis’ astronauts spent – weather permitting – their last full day on orbit today getting their ship ready to return home tomorrow with two landing opportunities available at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at 12:55 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Commander Rick Sturckow, Pilot Lee Archambault, and Mission Specialist and Flight Engineer Steven Swanson checked out Atlantis’ hydraulic systems and flight control surfaces beginning at 8:58 a.m. today. That was followed closely by the steering jet tests at 10:08 a.m.
All seven astronauts spent the day stowing equipment for the landing, and then came together just after 2 p.m. to discuss their mission with NBC, ABC and CNN. The crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 8:38 p.m. and wake up at 4:38 a.m. Thursday.
The Mission Management Team worked into the early evening to ensure the shuttle is safe for landing. Some fuzz from a gap filler poking out on the outer edge of the left wing was noticed during Tuesday’s late inspection and deemed safe for reentry based on its location and measured protrusion of about 4/10 of an inch. Also, the MMT reviewed additional data presented on the thermal blanket damaged during launch on June 8. The blanket was repaired during the third spacewalk of the mission and cleared for reentry.
Discussions centered around thermal models developed by engineers to assess whether any damage may have occurred to underlying structure, but photographs taken by Danny Olivas – who affected the repair – clearly showed no heat effects.
Entry Flight Director Norm Knight indicated that the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, would be the only landing site considered Thursday, based on consumables that provide flexibility to land as far out as Sunday. The weather forecast shows a chance of rain showers within 30 miles of the runway at landing time with a cloud deck at 5,000 feet – both are landing violations. The plan calls for a deorbit engine firing at 11:50 a.m. for the 12:55 p.m. landing and a 1:25 p.m. deorbit burn for the 2:30 p.m. landing opportunity.
If landing is moved to Friday, two landing opportunities would be available in Florida and two in California at the Edwards Air Force Base. Three sites would be available Saturday in order of preference – Florida, California or at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.
- 2007 Jun 21 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #26
The astronauts on space shuttle Atlantis are just hours away from an anticipated landing in Florida to conclude a nearly 13-day mission to deliver new electrical generation capacity for expansion of the International Space Station. This morning’s wakeup song, “Makin’ Good Time Coming Home” by john Arthur martinez, was played for Commander Rick Sturckow and Mission Specialist Jim Reilly.
Deorbit preparations get started at 7:50 a.m., and the crew should get the OK to close the payload bay doors at 9:05 a.m. If systems are good and the weather cooperates, Sturckow will conduct the deorbit burn at 11:50 a.m. to slow Atlantis enough to fall out of orbit and begin its descent toward a landing at the Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility at 12:55 p.m.
A landing on that opportunity would conclude Mission Specialist Suni Williams’ record-setting flight at 193 days, 16 hours and 8 minutes, the longest single spaceflight ever by a female astronaut or cosmonaut.
There is another landing opportunity on the following orbit, which would put Atlantis on the ground at 2:30 p.m. There are two opportunities at both KSC and Edwards Air Force Base in California tomorrow in case weather prevents a landing today.
Aboard the International Space Station Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin plans to carry out a troubleshooting procedure on the Russian segment’s central computer and terminal computer today. This procedure will not impact operation of the two channels of each computer that have been in control of Russian system operation since the restart on Friday.
At 8:05 a.m. Yurchikhin will activate the backup channels of both computers; on the next Russian ground site pass he’ll shut them down and remove the jumpers that bypassed a secondary power switch. On the ground site pass at 11:25 a.m. he’ll restart those channels to see if they run properly without the jumpers in place. In addition, Mission Control Moscow plans to restart the Elektron oxygen generation system at 11:40 a.m., putting it into operation for the first time since the computer failures last week.
Today’s troubleshooting procedure is designed to help Russian mission managers further assess their plans for repair of the computer systems, including possible replacement of components with new hardware to be flown on the next Progress supply ship due to arrive at ISS July 24.
- 2007 Jun 21 - STS-117 MCC Status Report #27
Poor weather prevented Atlantis’ astronauts from landing today at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew was waved off from its second and final landing attempt at 12:38 p.m. CDT when Mission Control sent word that rain showers were within 30 miles of the center accompanied by low clouds.
Shortly after the weather wave off, Entry Flight Director Norm Knight directed support for the backup landing site Friday at Edwards Air Force Base in California’s Mojave Desert. Knight intends to bring Atlantis home Friday to either Kennedy or Edwards.
The crew reopened Atlantis’ payload bay doors for its bonus day in space and executed a brief engine firing to adjust its orbit for the proper landing opportunities on Friday. The engine firing now enables the backup landing site at Edwards to be available, if required, ninety minutes earlier than previously planned when winds are expected to be calm.
There are multiple deorbit opportunities available for Atlantis’ astronauts tomorrow. The Florida weather forecast for Friday includes the possibility for more thundershowers. The Edwards forecast is favorable.
On Friday, landing preparations begin at 8:13 a.m. CDT, and the crew should close the payload bay doors at 9:36 a.m. If the weather cooperates, Commander Rick Sturckow and Pilot Lee Archambault will conduct the deorbit burn at 12:16 p.m. to allow Atlantis to free-fall out of orbit and begin its descent toward a landing at the Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility at 1:18 p.m.
There is another landing opportunity on the following orbit, which would put Atlantis on the ground at Edwards at 2:49 p.m. or at Kennedy at 2:54 p.m. There are two additional opportunities at Edwards tomorrow.
Here are predicted times for tomorrow’s landing opportunities (all CDT):
ORBIT / SITE / DEORBIT BURN / LANDING
218 / Kennedy / 12:16 p.m. / 1:18 p.m.
219 / Edwards / 1:46 p.m / 2:49 p.m.
219 / Kennedy / 1:52 p.m. / 2:54 p.m.
220 / Edwards / 3:21 p.m. / 4:24 p.m.
221 / Edwards / 4:58 p.m. / 5:59 p.m.
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin continued planned troubleshooting on the Russian segment’s central and terminal computers which malfunctioned during Atlantis’ visit to the complex. Yurchikhin disconnected jumper cables from one backup channel for each of the two computers that bypassed a secondary power switch and powered down the backup computers. He then attempted to restart those channels to see if they would run properly without the jumpers in place, but the procedure was not successful, confirming what flight controllers expected to see.
Russian specialists directed that the two channels remain off for the night without the jumper cables installed as they continue their sys
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