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Docking compartment bound for space station NASA STATUS REPORT Posted: September 15, 2001
Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson reported that he was able to see the rocket climbing into orbit as the station was orbiting 250 miles up, southwest of the Caspian Sea. He said it was the first time he had witnessed such an event from orbit. Using its Progess-style instrumentation and propulsion stage, Pirs will navigate its way to the ISS for a fully automatic docking planned at 8:08 p.m. CDT on Sunday, September 16.
The crew also practiced using the manual docking system to complete the rendezvous, which would occur only if there were a problem with the automatic system. Thursday night, flight controllers in Houston and Moscow completed a ground-controlled docking test. In that test, Mission Control in Houston handed over attitude control authority to the Zvezda moduleís motion control system. Russian flight controllers commanded the Zvezda control thrusters to fire and rotate the station to the docking attitude. After going into a free drift mode, the Russian control system then moved the station back to its normal attitude and handed control back to the U.S control moment gyroscopes.
The crew will be shifting its sleep period, going to bed at 7:30 a.m. CDT Sunday, just six and a half hours after awakening. The crew will awaken again at 4 p.m. CDT and immediately begin final preparations for the docking about four hours later. |
Next year a new IMAX movie "Space Station" will premier. Over the coming weeks we'll present some sneak previews of this previously unseen footage. In this clip Sergei Krikalev flies through the Zarya module. QuickTime or RealVideo Astronaut Andy Thomas dangles from the end of shuttle Discovery's robotic arm while maneuvering the Lab Cradle Assembly for mounting to the International Space Station's Destiny module. QuickTime or RealVideo Spaceflight Now+Plus is a new service that enhances our extensive coverage with additional video, audio, image and virtual reality for a low-cost monthly or annual subscription fee. Click here to see what's currently available. SUBSCRIBE (U.S. Dollars) SUBSCRIBE (U.K. Pounds) |
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