Spaceflight Now





International Space Station gets a boost from Atlantis
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: November 24, 2009


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The Atlantis astronauts used the shuttle's maneuvering thrusters to boost the International Space Station's altitude by nearly one mile early Tuesday, before a traditional joint crew news conference at 8 a.m. EST and few hours of off duty time.

This afternoon, the shuttle and station crews will hold a brief farewell ceremony at 12:28 p.m. before closing hatches between the two spacecraft around 12:43 p.m. in preparation for undocking Wednesday. Joining the shuttle crew for the trip home will be space station flight engineer Nicole Stott, wrapping up a three-month stay in orbit.

At 10 a.m., the combined crews plan to hold a space station change of command ceremony. Expedition 21 commander Frank De Winne, a European Space Agency astronaut from Belgium, will be relieved by Expedition 22 commander Jeffrey Williams, a veteran NASA astronaut who arrived at the station in October.

De Winne became ESA's first space station commander Oct. 9 when he relieved cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.

Stott and her shuttle crewmates - commander Charles Hobaugh, pilot Barry Wilmore, Leland Melvin and spacewalkers Robert Satcher, Michael Foreman and Randolph Bresnik - are scheduled to undock from the space station at 4:53 a.m. Wednesday to prepare for landing at the Kennedy Space Center at 9:44 a.m. Friday.

De Winne, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, launched to the station May 27, are scheduled to return to Earth Dec. 1 aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule to wrap up a 188-day stay in space.

Williams and cosmonaut Maxim Suraev will staff the space station on their own until the arrival of another Soyuz Dec. 23 carrying cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, NASA flight engineer Timothy Creamer and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi. The next shuttle visit is scheduled for February.

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


EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

11/24/09
01:58 AM...07...11...30...Crew wakeup
02:58 AM...07...12...30...ISS daily planning conference
03:58 AM...07...13...30...Post-EVA reconfig/transfer
05:08 AM...07...14...40...Reboost operations
05:23 AM...07...14...55...Logistics transfer ops
05:28 AM...07...15...00...EVA transfer to shuttle
07:58 AM...07...17...30...Crew news conference
08:38 AM...07...18...10...Joint crew photo
08:58 AM...07...18...30...Joint crew meal
09:58 AM...07...19...30...Grease gun cleanup
08:58 AM...07...18...30...PCS deactivation and transfer
10:28 AM...07...20...00...Crew off duty
12:28 PM...07...22...00...Farewell ceremony
12:43 PM...07...22...15...Hatches closed
01:13 PM...07...22...45...Rendezvous tools checkout
01:13 PM...07...22...45...Centerline camera install
01:13 PM...07...22...45...ODS leak checks
03:43 PM...08...01...15...Evening planning conference
05:28 PM...08...03...00...STS crew sleep begins
05:28 PM...08...03...00...ISS crew sleep begins

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