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Atlantis crew packs up, tests re-entry systems BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: September 19, 2006 The Atlantis astronauts tested the shuttle's re-entry systems today and began packing up for a Florida landing Wednesday, weather permitting, to close out a successful space station assembly mission.
Giving new meaning to the phrase "long distance," controllers hoped to set up a 3 a.m. conference call between Atlantis, the station and the Soyuz to give all 12 astronauts and cosmonauts - six on the shuttle, three on the station and three on the Soyuz - a chance to chat for a few moments as they raced through space at five miles per second. The Soyuz TMA-9 capsule, carrying Expedition 14 commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, flight engineer and Soyuz commander Mikhail Tyurin and space tourist Anousheh Ansari, is closing in on the space station for a planned docking Wednesday at 1:24 a.m. The linkup will come about four-and-a-half hours before Atlantis' planned 5:59 a.m. landing at the Kennedy Space Center. If all goes well, Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Jeff Williams and Ansari will return to Earth Sept. 28 aboard the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft that carried the two station crewmen into space last spring. Expedition 13 flight engineer Thomas Reiter, who was carried to the station aboard the shuttle Discovery in July, will remain aboard the outpost as a member of the Expedition 14 crew. Aboard Atlantis today, commander Brent Jett, pilot Chris Ferguson and flight engineer Dan Burbank checked out the shuttle's re-entry systems, powering up one of the ship's three hydraulic power units before test firing a battery of maneuvering jets. Later this morning, the two pilots will take turns practicing landing procedures using a computer simulator before a final round of media interviews beginning at 5:30 a.m. The astronauts will enjoy two hours of off-duty time after their midday meal before breaking down their laptop computer network, storing an exercise machine and stowing the ship's KU-band antenna. Here is an updated timeline of today's activities (in EDT and mission elapsed time): TIME/EDT DD HH MM EVENT 12:30 AM 09 13 15 Cabin stow begins 01:20 AM 09 14 05 Flight control system checkout 02:30 AM 09 15 15 Reaction control system hotfire 03:00 AM 09 15 45 Shuttle-station-Soyuz audio call 04:00 AM 09 16 45 Simulator landing practice for Jett, Ferguson 05:00 AM 09 17 45 Deorbit review 05:30 AM 09 18 15 Media interviews with shuttle astronauts 05:50 AM 09 18 35 Crew meal 06:50 AM 09 19 35 Crew off duty time begins 08:00 AM 09 20 45 Mission status briefing on NASA TV 08:50 AM 09 21 35 Cabin stow resumes 09:00 AM 09 21 45 Entry video setup 10:20 AM 09 23 05 Laptop computer teardown (part 1) 10:30 AM 09 23 15 Ergometer stow 11:00 AM 09 23 45 Ku-band antenna stow 12:00 PM 10 00 45 Post-Mission Management Team status briefing 01:00 Pm 10 01 45 Video file on NASA TV 01:45 PM 10 02 30 Crew sleep begins 06:00 PM 10 06 45 Daily video highlights reel 09:45 PM 10 10 30 Crew wakeup A forecast released Monday calls for possible thundershowers within 30 nautical miles of the shuttle's runway Wednesday morning and crosswinds gusting to 15 knots, right at NASA's safety limit. The outlook for Thursday and Friday includes only a slight chance of showers and light winds. Atlantis has enough on-board supplies to remain in orbit until Saturday if absolutely necessary. Entry flight director Steve Stich will outline his landing strategy later today, but given the forecast he's unlikely to activate NASA's backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., until Thursday or Friday. Here are all four Florida landing opportunities for Wednesday and Thursday (in EDT and mission elapsed time):
DATE/EDT DD HH MM EVENT
09/20/06
04:52 AM 10 17 37 Deorbit ignition (orbit 170)
05:59 AM 10 18 44 1st KSC landing opportunity
06:27 AM 10 19 12 Backup deorbit ignition (orbit 171)
07:34 AM 10 20 19 2nd KSC landing opportunity
01:45 PM 11 02 30 Crew sleep (if waveoff)
09:45 PM 11 10 30 Crew wakeup
09/21/06
05:19 AM 11 18 04 Backup deorbit ignition (orbit 186)
06:21 AM 11 19 06 3rd KSC landing opportunity
06:55 AM 11 19 40 Backup deorbit ignition (orbit 187)
07:57 AM 11 20 42 4th KSC landing opportunity
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VIDEO:
SUNDAY'S STATUS BRIEFING 