|
|
|
|
Astronauts wrapping up supply transfers to station BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: September 6, 2009 
Sailing into the home stretch of a busy space station resupply mission, the Discovery astronauts worked Sunday to wrap up equipment and supply transfers before enjoying a half day off to relax and enjoy the view.
"The checkout activity went perfectly fine, the bolt that jammed on us the other day when we tried to drive it out of the interface ... we worked it this evening and it worked just fine," station Flight Director Royce Renfrew said early Sunday. "The crew was also interested in watching us do this so they stayed up a little bit late past their bedtime and set a camera up for us and then as my operational support officer, the in-flight maintenance guys drove the mechanisms in there we got to see that on live downlink." The testing confirmed the astronauts will have no trouble detaching the Leonardo module Monday so it can be stowed in the shuttle Discovery's cargo bay for return to Earth. It also cleared the way for the arrival later this month of Japan's new HTV cargo ship, scheduled for launch Sept. 10, the same day Discovery returns to Earth. The HTV cargo craft will be docked at the same port used by Leonardo. "All in all, what we wound up doing was verifying for the HTV mission that's coming up that that particular bolt's not going to give us any more problems," Renfrew said. "I was really happy we got all that done." After the bolt was replaced, flight engineers Michael Barratt and Frank De Winne carried out another lengthy procedure to replace a filter in the U.S. oxygen generation system. Based on a performance degradation, engineers suspected the filter was clogged and sure enough, Barratt and De Winne reported it was 70 to 80 percent blocked by debris. The astronauts were awakened at 11:35 a.m. Sunday to begin their 10th flight day. As of Sunday morning, the crew had completed about 85 percent of the required logistics transfers to and from the station. The astronauts will continue transfers today before taking a half-day off starting at 8:30 p.m. The Leonardo module was loaded with some 7.5 tons of equipment and supplies, including two science racks, an experiment sample freezer, a crew sleep station, a carbon dioxide removal assembly, a stowage rack, food, clothing and other gear. During three spacewalks last Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, John "Danny" Olivas, Christer Fuglesang and Nicole Stott replaced a 1,800-pound ammonia coolant tank, retrieved two space exposure experiments, deployed a cargo mounting mechanism, installed two GPS antennas and replaced a blown circuit breaker and a rate gyro assembly that helps determine the station's orientation in space. Renfrew said the new equipment had been checked out and was working normally. "We had planned that we would spend a couple of days calibrating the (rate gyro assembly) before we ever actually integrated them into the system," he said. "But after the EVA, we went ahead and turned them on and started comparing the solutions that our new rate gyro was giving us compared to the solutions our old rate gyro, the one that's still on the vehicle, was giving us. They turned out to be identical. So we're very happy with the rate gyro 2 that we installed. I don't think we're going to have to calibrate it at all." The only problems of any significance other than the stuck docking system bolt and the clogged filter in the oxygen assembly were two external wiring issues. During the crew's second spacewalk, Olivas was directed to hook up two power cables to drive heaters in pressurized mating adapter No. 3, a docking port currently mounted on the multi-hatch Unity module's left port. The idea was to open the docking adaptor later to temporarily store supplies. But Olivas was unable to make the required electrical connections because the cables were not in the correct position. As it turns out, the wiring bundles were attached to PMA-3 assuming the module would be oriented, or "clocked," in a specific way, putting the connectors within reach of their counterparts on the Unity module. When PMA-3 was docked to Unity's nadir, or Earth-facing port, the cables and connectors were in the expected orientation. But when PMA-3 was recently moved to Unity's left-side port, it was clocked 180 degrees from the orientation the installers of the wiring bundle apparently expected. The module was in the correct orientation, officials said, but the cables ended up 90 degrees away from the corresponding connectors. "I still don't know why we have a disconnect between what we were expecting to see there and what actually happened," said station Flight Director Heather Rarick. "I do know that HTV was planning for it to be in this orientation, so at least there are no issues with what we need to do ahead of us." PMA-3 is scheduled to be moved back to Unity's nadir port in December and in the long term, the wiring issue will have no impact. But in the near term, the stubby module will not be used to store supplies because without heaters, condensation control could prove difficult. "We can certainly live without the PMA-3 heater cables at this point," Rarick said. The other wiring problem encountered by Discovery's crew occurred during the third spacewalk Saturday. Olivas and Fuglesang routed two 60-foot-long cable bundles to deliver power and data to a new module - node 3, or "Tranquility" - scheduled for launch next year. Seven of eight connectors hooked up properly, but one power cable's connector could not be plugged in. Engineers are looking into possible work arounds. The astronauts will field questions from reporters in three round-robin interviews starting at 1:54 p.m. A mission status briefing is scheduled for 5 p.m. Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EDT and mission elapsed time; includes revision K of the NASA television schedule): EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 09/06 11:29 AM...08...11...30...Crew wakeup 12:59 PM...08...13...00...ISS daily planning conference 01:54 PM...08...13...55...PAO event 02:34 PM...08...14...35...Logistics transfers resume 03:39 PM...08...15...40...Node 2 nadir CBM controller install 05:00 PM...08...17...01...Mission status briefing 05:59 PM...08...18...00...SAFER jetpack checkout 06:29 PM...08...18...30...Crew meals begin 08:29 PM...08...20...30...Shuttle crew off duty 09/07 12:24 AM...09...25...00...ISS daily planning conference 12:29 AM...09...30...00...Transfer tagup 01:19 AM...09...01...20...European Space Agency PAO event 02:59 AM...09...03...00...ISS crew sleep begins 03:29 AM...09...03...30...STS crew sleep begins 04:00 AM...09...04...01...Daily highlights reel 08:30 AM...09...08...31...Flight director's update 11:29 AM...09...11...30...Crew wakeup
|
|
|
|
John Glenn Mission Patch Free shipping to U.S. addresses!  The historic first orbital flight by an American is marked by this commemorative patch for John Glenn and Friendship 7. U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STORE Final Shuttle Mission Patch Free shipping to U.S. addresses!  The crew emblem for the final space shuttle mission is available in our store. Get this piece of history!U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STORECelebrate the shuttle program  Free shipping to U.S. addresses!  This special commemorative patch marks the retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. Available in our store!U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STOREAnniversary Shuttle Patch Free shipping to U.S. addresses!  This embroidered patch commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program. The design features the space shuttle Columbia's historic maiden flight of April 12, 1981.U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STOREMercury anniversary Free shipping to U.S. addresses!  Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alan Shephard's historic Mercury mission with this collectors' item, the official commemorative embroidered patch. U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STOREFallen Heroes Patch Collection  The official patches from Apollo 1, the shuttle Challenger and Columbia crews are available in the store.U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STORE |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
INDEX | PLUS | NEWS ARCHIVE | LAUNCH SCHEDULE ASTRONOMY NOW | STORE ADVERTISE © 2012 Spaceflight Now Inc. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
VIDEO:
SATURDAY MORNING FLIGHT DIRECTOR INTERVIEW 