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STS-124 day 1 highlights

The highlights from shuttle Discovery's launch day are packaged into this movie.

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Discovery rolls out

Discovery travels from the Vehicle Assembly Building to pad 39A in preparation for the STS-124 mission.

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STS-124: The programs

In advance of shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission to the station, managers from both programs discuss the flight.

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STS-124: The mission

A detailed preview of Discovery's mission to deliver Japan's science laboratory Kibo to the station is provided in this briefing.

 Part 1 | Part 2

STS-124: Spacewalks

Three spacewalks are planned during Discovery's STS-124 assembly mission to the station.

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STS-124: The Crew

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

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Crew to repair station toilet and enter Kibo module today
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: June 4, 2008


The Kibo lab is attached to the Harmony node of the space station. Credit: NASA TV
 
The Discovery astronauts plan to enter and begin activating the Japanese Kibo laboratory module today after checking out sensors on their heat shield inspection boom and servicing the station's U.S. carbon dioxide removal system. Cosmonaut-turned-plumber Oleg Kononenko, meanwhile, plans to install a new pump in the space station's Russian toilet in a bid to repair the potty's urine collection system.

Located in the Zvezda command module, the toilet began acting up about a week-and-a-half before Discovery's launch. Troubleshooting indicated the problem involved a liquid-gas separation system pump, but two spares on the station failed to work longer than about a day. All three pumps came from the same manufacturing lot and the Russians rushed a new pump with a different pedigree to the Kennedy Space Center for launch aboard Discovery.

The shuttle docked with the space station Monday after a flawless rendezvous. Opening a final hatch between the shuttle and the lab complex, Discovery commander Mark Kelly called out, "Hey, are you looking for a plumber?"

Kononenko will install the new pump starting around 9:30 a.m. and flight controllers hope to know the results of the repair a few hours later.

"Oleg is going to do a remove and replace of the water separator unit that's been giving us trouble," station Flight Director Emily Nelson said early today. "He's got several hours set aside in the morning to take out the balky part, put in the new part and then we'll see in the afternoon if that does the trick or whether we need to figure out another solution."

The toilet can be used in its current condition, but it requires additional flushing every two or three uses, a procedure that takes two crew members about 10 minutes to complete. With three full-time crew members, that translates into a major inconvenience.

If the toilet cannot be repaired, the station is equipped with collection bags and containers that could be used until a Russian Progress supply ship arrives in September. Last week, there was some concern that a broken toilet ultimately could force the crew to leave the station and come home. But Kirk Shireman, deputy manager of the station program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said Tuesday the crew has enough supplies on board to make it to September in a worst-case scenario.

"If for some reason the ISS toilet becomes unusable, we actually do now, with some additional assets we put on (Discovery) at the last minute, have the capability to make it to the next Progress," he said. "So it's a combination of urine collection devices we actually have in the U.S. (section), we use these primarily for research purposes, that's their intended purpose, but we can use those for everyday use, if you will. The Russians also have something called a ring collector, which is again a backup method for collecting liquid wastes.

"And so with all the assets we have on board, we believe even if we're unsuccessful (with the pump replacement) we'll make it to the next Progress when additional spare parts for the toilet and/or additional consumables could be launched. So at this point in time, even in a worst-case scenario, we don't believe that the ISS would be forced into a de-crewing situation.

"By the way, right now we're not having issue with solid wastes, but we do have, we call them Apollo bags, backup methods for collecting of solid wastes," Shireman said. "Neither one of these are particularly pleasant, but certainly are tried and true devices for their intended purposes and can be used in this situation."

While Kononenko is working on the toilet, Karen Nyberg and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide will be outfitting the vestibule between the Harmony module and the newly installed Kibo laboratory.

"That vestibule will have two power lines, four jumper cables for the thermal control system ... two data lines, two audio-video lines, one wireless audio line, one high-rate data line, one ethernet cable, two intra-modular valve jumpers, one nitrogen jumper and one water line for condensate water," said mission control commentator Rob Navias.

"The first part of the vestibule outfitting ... will involve the removal of thermal covers and the installation of jumpers for the first of two power channel activation procedures, channel B as it is known, which governs the control of the moderate temperature loop. ... At the moment, (power and) heating is being provided to Kibo through the power and data grapple fixture, the station's robotic arm. Once the channel B activation is complete, Kibo will be on its own internal power and commanding of that new module will fall into the hands of the Japanese flight control team.

If all goes well, the astronauts will open the hatch into Kibo around 4:52 p.m. and begin its initial activation.

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


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

06/04/08
06:32 AM...03...13...30...Crew wakeup
08:32 AM...03...15...30...ISS daily planning conference
09:07 AM...03...16...05...CO2 removal system maintenance
09:17 AM...03...16...15...Vestibule outfitting
09:32 AM...03...16...30...ISS toilet repair
09:37 AM...03...16...35...Equipment lock preps
09:47 AM...03...16...45...OBSS sensor checkout
10:22 AM...03...17...20...EVA tools prepped
11:17 AM...03...18...15...Airlock check valve installation
12:17 PM...03...19...15...Middeck transfers
12:32 PM...03...19...30...Node 2 aft IMV installation
12:32 PM...03...19...30...Jumper channel B initial activation
01:02 PM...03...20...00...Crew meals begin
02:00 PM...03...20...58...Mars Phoenix briefing on media channel
02:02 PM...03...21...00...Vestibule outfitting continues
02:47 PM...03...21...45...Middeck transfers resume
04:47 PM...03...23...45...JPM hatch opening
04:52 PM...03...23...50...JPM ingress
05:27 PM...04...00...25...JPM PCS installation
05:47 PM...04...00...45...FSE ACM removal
06:17 PM...04...01...15...JPM setup
06:27 PM...04...01...25...EVA-2: Procedures review
07:17 PM...04...02...15...JPM RMS rack transfer
07:30 PM...04...02...28...Mission status briefing on NTV
08:57 PM...04...03...55...EVA-2: Mask pre-breathe and tool config
09:42 PM...04...04...40...EVA-2: Airlock depress to 10.2 psi
10:02 PM...04...05...00...ISS crew sleep begins
10:32 PM...04...05...30...STS crew sleep begins
11:00 PM...04...05...58...Daily video highlights reel on NTV

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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: KIBO SCIENCE LAB ATTACHED TO THE SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: KIBO MODULE UNBERTHED FROM SHUTTLE PAYLOAD BAY PLAY
VIDEO: CLOSEUP INSPECTION OF STATION'S SOLAR ROTARY JOINT PLAY
VIDEO: FOSSUM UNBOLTS LOCKS ON KIBO'S WINDOW COVERINGS PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKERS REMOVE COVERS ON KIBO'S PORT PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE POWER UMBILICALS UNHOOKED FROM KIBO PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE INSPECTION BOOM RETRIEVED FROM THE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKER RON GARAN REMOVES COVER ON BOOM PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKER MIKE FOSSUM FREES ARM'S ELBOW CAMERA PLAY
VIDEO: ANIMATION OF KIBO MODULE INSTALLATION PLAY
VIDEO: ANIMATION OF INSPECTION BOOM RETRIEVAL PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF SPACEWALK NO. 1 PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY'S FLIGHT DIRECTOR INTERVIEW PLAY

VIDEO: THE FLIGHT DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: CREW'S REMARKABLE CAMCORDER FOOTAGE FROM MONDAY PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE CREW WELCOMED INTO STATION PLAY
VIDEO: DISCOVERY DOCKS TO SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE PERFORMS RENDEZVOUS BACKFLIP PLAY

VIDEO: THE FLIGHT DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: CREW'S CAMCORDER FOOTAGE FROM FLIGHT DAY 2 PLAY
VIDEO: SUNDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: THE FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: EXTERNAL TANK SEEN AFTER SEPARATION 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: UCS-12 TRACKER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: UCS-23 TRACKER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PLAYALINDA BEACH PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PRESS SITE PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: WEST TOWER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 009 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 041 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 049 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 050 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 051 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 054 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 060 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 061 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 063 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 070 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 071 PLAY

VIDEO: LIFTOFF OF DISCOVERY WITH KIBO LAB! PLAY
VIDEO: ONBOARD CAMERA FOOTAGE OF TANK FOAM FALLING PLAY
VIDEO: INSIDE MISSION CONTROL DURING LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: POST-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY

VIDEO: FINAL PRE-LAUNCH POLLS GIVE "GO" FOR LIFTOFF PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE AT LAUNCH PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: CREW DEPARTS QUARTERS FOR LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DON SPACESUITS FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED RECAP OF KIBO LAB'S PRE-FLIGHT CAMPAIGN PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED RECAP OF DISCOVERY'S PRE-FLIGHT CAMPAIGN PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH PAD GANTRY RETRACTED FRIDAY NIGHT PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF GANTRY ROLLBACK PLAY
VIDEO: FRIDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: BRIEFING ON KIBO LABORATORY FACILITY PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE AT THE CAPE FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: WEDNESDAY'S COUNTDOWN AND WEATHER BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED MISSION PREVIEW MOVIE PLAY

VIDEO: NEWS BRIEFING FOLLOWING FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW PLAY

VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH COMMANDER MARK KELLY PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH PILOT KEN HAM PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS1 KAREN NYBERG PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS2 RON GARAN PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS3 MIKE FOSSUM PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS4 AKIHIKO HOSHIDE PLAY

VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS PRACTICE EVACUATION OF SHUTTLE PLAY
VIDEO: CREW BOARDS DISCOVERY FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY
VIDEO: TRAINING SESSIONS AT LAUNCH PAD AND BUNKER PLAY
VIDEO: CREW NEWS CONFERENCE AT LAUNCH PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY

VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF GANTRY ENCLOSING DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: PAD'S ORBITER ACCESS ARM SWUNG INTO POSITION PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF CRAWLER RETREATING AFTER ROLLOUT PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE DISCOVERY ROLLED TO PAD 39A PLAY

VIDEO: SHUTTLE AND STATION PROGRAM BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: STS-124 MISSION OVERVIEW PART 1 | PART 2
VIDEO: PREVIEW BRIEFING ON MISSION'S SPACEWALKS PLAY
VIDEO: THE ASTRONAUTS' PRE-FLIGHT NEWS BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: KIBO LABORATORY TRAVELS TO THE LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: TRANSPORT CANISTER WITH KIBO ROTATED UPRIGHT PLAY
VIDEO: CRANE PLACES KIBO MODULE INTO TRANSPORT CANISTER PLAY

VIDEO: DISCOVERY HOISTED FOR ATTACHMENT TO FUEL TANK PLAY
VIDEO: THE SHUTTLE MOVES TO THE VEHICLE ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY
MORE: STS-124 VIDEO COVERAGE
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