STS-115 MCC Status Report #03
- From: "Jacques van Oene" <oene0072@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:45:22 +0200
STS-115 MCC Status Report #03
STS-115
Report #03
5:00 p.m. CDT, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2006
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
It was a productive day for the six astronauts onboard Atlantis. The crew
inspected the shuttle's heat shield, prepared for docking to the
International Space Station and readied spacesuits for the upcoming three
spacewalks.
The crew thoroughly examined Atlantis with the Orbiter Boom Sensor System,
the 50-foot-long extension for the shuttle's robotic arm. Pilot Chris
Ferguson and mission specialists Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean performed a
slow, steady inspection of the reinforced carbon-carbon panels along the
leading edge of Atlantis' starboard and port wings and the nose cap. Imagery
analysts at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston will review data from the
survey to assess Atlantis' critical surfaces. As yet no decision has been
made whether a more focused inspection will be performed later in the
flight.
The crew worked ahead of schedule for most of the day readying the ship for
docking and preparing for the mission's three planned spacewalks.
Mission specialists Jeff Tanner and Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper checked out the
spacesuits and tools that they, Burbank and MacLean will use during
spacewalks set for flight days 4, 5 and 7. The spacewalks are planned to
install the girder-like P3/P4 truss, deploy new solar arrays and prepare
them for operation.
On the space station, Expedition 13 Flight Engineer Jeff Williams prepared
the orbiting laboratory for Atlantis' arrival tomorrow. He readied the
digital cameras that will be used to take high-resolution photos of the
shuttle's heat shield. With help from Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Williams
pressurized the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 at the end of the U.S.
laboratory Destiny, where Atlantis' will dock. Vinogradov also prepacked
equipment that will be returned.
Tomorrow, flight day 3 of the mission, Jett will take over manual control of
Atlantis and begin a slow back-flip rotation of the orbiter. This will allow
Vinogradov and Williams to photograph the shuttle's heat shield.
Once the back-flip is complete, Jett will maneuver Atlantis to docking,
setting the stage for a week of joint operations between the two crews.
Even before the hatches are opened, Ferguson and Burbank will use the
shuttle's robotic arm to grapple the massive P3/P4 truss. Once the hatches
are open, MacLean will join Williams at the robotic work station in the
Destiny to maneuver the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm for a handoff of the
truss from Ferguson and Burbank. The truss will remained grappled to the
Canadarm2 overnight on flight day 3.
Crew sleep began at 3:15 p.m. CDT. Wake up is planned for 11:15 p.m.
tonight. Docking is scheduled for 5:46 a.m. Monday, Flight Day 3.
The next STS-115 mission status report will be issued Monday morning or
earlier if events warrant.
###
--
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.nl
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