STS-121 MCC Status Report #05
- From: "Jacques van Oene" <oene0072@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2006 05:20:32 +0200
7 p.m. CDT, Thursday, July 6, 2006
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
07.06.06
STATUS REPORT: STS-121-05
STS-121 MCC Status Report #05
There is a crew of three aboard the International Space Station today for
the first time in more than three years, and for the first time ever that
crew includes an American, a Russian and a European.
European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany was delivered as
the newest member of ISS Expedition 13 just hours after Space Shuttle
Discovery docked at the station's Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 at 9:52 a.m.
CDT, as the two ships flew above the south Pacific Ocean south of Pitcairn
Island.
Commander Steve Lindsey piloted Discovery's approach to ISS, halting 600
feet directly below the station to perform the rendezvous pitch maneuver:
the shuttle was commanded to do a nose-over-tail somersault so ISS Commander
Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams could photograph the
thermal protection system tiles on the orbiter's underside. Imagery experts
on the ground will study the high-resolution still pictures for evidence of
any damage to the insulating tiles.
Lindsey and his crew-Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Mike Fossum,
Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers and Reiter-greeted the station
crewmembers when the hatches between the vehicles were opened at 11:30 a.m.
CDT.
After Vinogradov's safety briefing for the shuttle crew, he helped Reiter
install his customized Soyuz seat liner into the Russian rescue vehicle and
check his pressurized Sokol suit, finalizing Reiter's transfer from
Discovery to ISS. Other first-day transfers from Discovery included the
spacesuits that Sellers and Fossum will wear on their spacewalks out of the
Quest airlock on Flight Days 5 and 7.
In preparation for the first EVA, Nowak, Wilson and Williams lifted the
Orbiter Boom Sensor System with the station's robotic arm and handed it over
to the shuttle's robotic arm. During the first spacewalk Sellers and Fossum
will simulate orbiter repair tasks while attached to the OBSS/shuttle arm
combination to test that 100-foot-long construction crane as a work
platform.
On the second spacewalk the astronauts will deliver a spare Pump Module to
an external stowage platform before replacing a damaged power and data cable
reel assembly in the station's truss. The repair will allow the Mobile
Transporter to move along the truss during installation of new truss
segments on future shuttle assembly missions.
The next STS-121 mission status report will be issued early Friday morning.
- end -
--
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.nl
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