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STS-119: The programs

In advance of shuttle Discovery's STS-119 mission to the station, managers from both programs discuss the flight.

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STS-119: The mission

A detailed preview of Discovery's mission to deliver and activate the space station's final power truss is provided in this briefing.

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STS-119: Spacewalks

Four spacewalks are planned during Discovery's STS-119 mission to the station.

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STS-119: The Crew

The Discovery astronauts, led by commander Lee Archambault, meet the press in the traditional pre-flight news conference.

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Astronauts given to-do list for today's station spacewalk
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: March 21, 2009

Astronauts Joseph Acaba and Steven Swanson are preparing for a revised six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk today. The major goals of the excursion, the second of three planned for the shuttle Discovery's mission, are to prepare a set of solar array batteries for replacement in June; to deploy storage platforms on the international space station's solar power truss; to install a GPS navigation system antenna on a Japanese module; and to photograph two sets of radiator panels with an infrared camera. Insulation on one radiator panel has pulled away and engineers want to assess the health of the system.

Today's spacewalk, the 122nd devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, is scheduled to begin at 12:43 p.m. when Swanson and Acaba, floating in the station's Quest airlock module, switch their spacesuits to internal battery power. For identification, Swanson will be wearing a suit with red stripes and use the call sign EV-1. Acaba, EV-2, will be wearing a suit with broken red stripes.

Overnight, engineers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston continued checking out the newly deployed S6 solar array wings that were successfully extended Friday. Pat Ryan, the overnight mission control commentator, said checkout was proceeding smoothly. Engineers are charging and conditioning the batteries that store power from the new arrays when the station is in Earth's shadow, but that power is not yet being fed into the station's electrical distribution system.

"The new arrays are gathering solar energy and converting it to electrical power, but at this point that electrical power is being used only to charge the batteries out there," Ryan said. "The plan is that these two new power channels will not be incorporated into the station power grid until after the completion of today's spacewalk. That's a precautionary measure to prevent any disruption of station systems while crew members are outside."

Discovery's mission originally included four spacewalks, but one had to be eliminated when launch was delayed from Feb. 12 to March 15, putting the shuttle mission in conflict with upcoming Russian flights to rotate space station crew members. Facing a March 25 deadline to undock and make way for the Russians, one spacewalk had to be eliminated.

NASA flight planners re-prioritized the tasks planned for Discovery's spacewalkers, moving some work up and deferring other activities.

The first item on the agenda today is work to prepare batteries on the port 6, or P6, solar array truss segment for replacement during assembly mission STS-127 in June.

"What the crew will do is, they'll go out to that worksite and break the torque on those batteries and install some foot restraints and pre-stage some tools that they'll use to save the crew of the next mission some time when they go to do the complex operations to replace those batteries. So we're going to do that get-ahead task," said lead flight director Kwatsi Alibaruho.

"We'll also deploy external cargo carriers, one cargo carrier on the port side, one on the starboard side. They are to prepare for installation of cargo or payload carriers on a future flight. Finally, we'll install a prox ops GPS antenna on the Japanese experiment module. This will be the second of two installations of these antennas. And this is in preparation for the launch and rendezvous of the H2 transfer vehicle from Japan later on this year."

Unlike the shuttle, Russian Soyuz and Progress vehicles and the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle, which rendezvous and dock with the station, the unmanned Japanese H-2 Transfer Vehicle is designed to approach the lab complex and then wait for the station's robot arm to grab it and move it to a docking port. The GPS antennas are part of the Japanese proximity navigation system that will be used for those missions.

"We'll also do some additional EVA get-aheads to include some imaging, infrared imaging of the port and starboard radiators, as well as reconfiguration of an electrical patch panel that provides power to the station's control moment gyros," Alibaruho said.

Swanson will carry out the radiator photo documentation while Acaba installs the GPS antenna on the Japanese module.

"We've noticed one of the panels on our radiators, which help us basically release heat out into space, has begun to peel back," spacewalk coordinator Richard Arnold said in a NASA interview. "We don't really yet understand what that means, how it was caused and how it's impacting our ability to get rid of excess heat off the station."

"So (Swanson will) head aft, get in a foot restraint and take some infrared thermal images of both the radiators. That's to see if we can get some data that helps us understand what's going on with the radiators and why this panel is peeling back and how that's affecting us."

Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EDT and mission elapsed time; includes revision I of the NASA television schedule):


EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

03/21/09
07:43 AM...05...12...00...Crew wakeup
08:18 AM...05...12...35...EVA-2: 14.7 psi repress/hygiene break
09:08 AM...05...13...25...EVA-2: Airlock depress to 10.2 psi
09:13 AM...05...13...30...ISS daily planning conference
09:28 AM...05...13...45...EVA-2: Campout EVA preps
10:58 AM...05...15...15...EVA-2: Spacesuit purge
11:13 AM...05...15...30...EVA-2: Spacesuit prebreathe
11:33 AM...05...15...50...Distillation assembly install part 1
12:03 PM...05...16...20...EVA-2: Crew lock depressurization
12:43 PM...05...17...00...EVA-2: Spacesuits to battery power
12:48 PM...05...17...05...EVA-2: Airlock egress
01:03 PM...05...17...20...EVA-2: Setup
01:43 PM...05...18...00...EVA-2: S6 battery R&R preps
02:43 PM...05...19...00...EVA-2: P3 nadir UCCAS deploy
03:58 PM...05...20...15...EVA-2/EV-2: JLP GPS antenna B install
03:58 PM...05...20...15...EVA-2/EV-1: S1/P1 radiator imaging
04:18 PM...05...20...35...Water recycling system rack closed
04:58 PM...05...21...15...EVA-2/EV-2: Z1 patch panel reconfig
05:28 PM...05...21...45...EVA-2: S3 PAS deploys
06:28 PM...05...22...45...EVA-2: Cleanup and airlock ingress
07:13 PM...05...23...30...EVA-2: Airlock repressurization
07:28 PM...05...23...45...Spacesuit servicing
08:00 PM...06...00...17...Mission status briefing
08:48 PM...06...01...05...Crew choice downlink
09:08 PM...06...01...25...Evening planning conference
10:43 PM...06...03...00...ISS crew sleep begins
11:13 PM...06...03...30...STS crew sleep begins

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VIDEO: WALKTHROUGH OF SPACEWALK NO. 2 PLAN PLAY
VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 6 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: FRIDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: NEWS MEDIA INTERVIEWS WITH CREW PLAY
VIDEO: SECOND SOLAR WING FULLY DEPLOYED PLAY
VIDEO: SECOND SOLAR WING DEPLOYED HALF-WAY PLAY
VIDEO: FIRST SOLAR WING FULLY DEPLOYED PLAY
VIDEO: FIRST SOLAR WING DEPLOYED HALF-WAY PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED ANIMATION OF SOLAR ARRAY DEPLOYMENT PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 5 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: THURSDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKER STEVE SWANSON RELEASES LOCKS PLAY
VIDEO: STARBOARD 6 TRUSS ATTACHED TO THE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: WALKTHROUGH OF SPACEWALK NO. 1 PLAN PLAY
VIDEO: OVERVIEW OF THE STARBOARD 6 TRUSS PAYLOAD PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED ANIMATION OF TRUSS INSTALLATION PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 4 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: WEDNESDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: POWER TRUSS HANDED FROM SHUTTLE TO STATION PLAY
VIDEO: STARBOARD 6 TRUSS HOISTED FROM PAYLOAD BAY PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW ANIMATION OF S6 TRUSS UNBERTHING PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED TOUR OF DISCOVERY'S PAYLOAD BAY PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE CREW WELCOMED ABOARD STATION PLAY
VIDEO: SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY DOCKS TO SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE'S POINT OF VIEW DURING BACKFLIP PLAY
VIDEO: DISCOVERY PERFORMS 360-DEGREE BACKFLIP PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW ANIMATION OF RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKING PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY'S MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW ANIMATION OF HEAT SHIELD INSPECTIONS PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: THE FULL STS-119 LAUNCH EXPERIENCE PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: EXTERNAL TANK CAMERA PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: VAB ROOF PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-1 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-2 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-6 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: FRONT CAMERA PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: BEACH TRACKER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD PERIMETER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PLAYALINDA BEACH PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: THE VIP VIEWING SITE PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PRESS SITE PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: WEST TOWER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 009 PLAY

VIDEO: SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY BLASTS OFF PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE'S CREW MODULE HATCH CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST STEVE SWANSON BOARDS PLAY
VIDEO: PILOT TONY ANTONELLI BOARDS DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: COMMANDER LEE ARCHAMBAULT BOARDS PLAY
VIDEO: CREW DEPARTS QUARTERS FOR LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DON SPACESUITS FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF SUNRISE AT LAUNCH PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF HYDROGEN ACCESS ARM RETRACTION PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF SATURDAY NIGHT'S GANTRY ROLLBACK PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY'S PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: FRIDAY'S SHUTTLE AND WEATHER UPDATE BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: POST-SCRUB NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: DISCOVERY IN THE PREDAWN DARKESS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: WEDNESDAY'S ROLLBACK OF PAD GANTRY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF PAD GANTRY ROLLING BACK PLAY
VIDEO: THE PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE IN FLORIDA FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: POST-ARRIVAL COMMENTS FROM THE CREW PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: SECOND LAUNCH POSTPONEMENT BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: NARRATED MISSION OVERVIEW MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: MEET SHUTTLE DISCOVERY'S ASTRONAUTS PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH COMMANDER LEE ARCHAMBAULT PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH PILOT TONY ANTONELLI PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS1 JOE ACABA PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS2 STEVE SWANSON PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS3 RICKY ARNOLD PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS4 JOHN PHILLIPS PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS5 KOICHI WAKATA PLAY

VIDEO: NASA OFFICIALS ANNOUNCE LAUNCH DELAY PLAY
VIDEO: SPACE STATION'S VIBRATIONS DURING REBOOST PLAY

VIDEO: INFORMAL NEWS CONFERENCE AT RUNWAY PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY

VIDEO: DISCOVERY POSITIONED ATOP PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: EARLY MORNING ROLLOUT FROM THE VAB PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE MOVIE OF DISCOVERY ARRIVING AT PAD 39A PLAY

VIDEO: DISCOVERY HOISTED FOR ATTACHMENT TO TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CRANE ROTATES DISCOVERY VERTICALLY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: DISCOVERY MOVES TO ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NOSE WHEEL LANDING GEAR RETRACTED PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE MOVIE OF DISCOVERY GOING VERTICAL PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE MOVIE OF ASSEMBLY BUILDING CRANE WORK PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE MOVIE OF DISCOVERY'S TRIP TO VAB PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE MOVIE OF PAYLOAD'S MOVE PLAY

VIDEO: SHUTTLE AND STATION PROGRAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: STS-119 MISSION OVERVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW BRIEFING ON MISSION'S SPACEWALKS PLAY
VIDEO: THE ASTRONAUTS' PRE-FLIGHT NEWS BRIEFING PLAY
MORE: STS-119 VIDEO COVERAGE
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