|
|
|
|
|
Atlantis crew packs up, tests re-entry systems BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: September 19, 2006 The Atlantis astronauts tested the shuttle's re-entry systems today and began packing up for a Florida landing Wednesday, weather permitting, to close out a successful space station assembly mission.
Giving new meaning to the phrase "long distance," controllers hoped to set up a 3 a.m. conference call between Atlantis, the station and the Soyuz to give all 12 astronauts and cosmonauts - six on the shuttle, three on the station and three on the Soyuz - a chance to chat for a few moments as they raced through space at five miles per second. The Soyuz TMA-9 capsule, carrying Expedition 14 commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, flight engineer and Soyuz commander Mikhail Tyurin and space tourist Anousheh Ansari, is closing in on the space station for a planned docking Wednesday at 1:24 a.m. The linkup will come about four-and-a-half hours before Atlantis' planned 5:59 a.m. landing at the Kennedy Space Center. If all goes well, Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Jeff Williams and Ansari will return to Earth Sept. 28 aboard the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft that carried the two station crewmen into space last spring. Expedition 13 flight engineer Thomas Reiter, who was carried to the station aboard the shuttle Discovery in July, will remain aboard the outpost as a member of the Expedition 14 crew. Aboard Atlantis today, commander Brent Jett, pilot Chris Ferguson and flight engineer Dan Burbank checked out the shuttle's re-entry systems, powering up one of the ship's three hydraulic power units before test firing a battery of maneuvering jets. Later this morning, the two pilots will take turns practicing landing procedures using a computer simulator before a final round of media interviews beginning at 5:30 a.m. The astronauts will enjoy two hours of off-duty time after their midday meal before breaking down their laptop computer network, storing an exercise machine and stowing the ship's KU-band antenna. Here is an updated timeline of today's activities (in EDT and mission elapsed time): TIME/EDT DD HH MM EVENT 12:30 AM 09 13 15 Cabin stow begins 01:20 AM 09 14 05 Flight control system checkout 02:30 AM 09 15 15 Reaction control system hotfire 03:00 AM 09 15 45 Shuttle-station-Soyuz audio call 04:00 AM 09 16 45 Simulator landing practice for Jett, Ferguson 05:00 AM 09 17 45 Deorbit review 05:30 AM 09 18 15 Media interviews with shuttle astronauts 05:50 AM 09 18 35 Crew meal 06:50 AM 09 19 35 Crew off duty time begins 08:00 AM 09 20 45 Mission status briefing on NASA TV 08:50 AM 09 21 35 Cabin stow resumes 09:00 AM 09 21 45 Entry video setup 10:20 AM 09 23 05 Laptop computer teardown (part 1) 10:30 AM 09 23 15 Ergometer stow 11:00 AM 09 23 45 Ku-band antenna stow 12:00 PM 10 00 45 Post-Mission Management Team status briefing 01:00 Pm 10 01 45 Video file on NASA TV 01:45 PM 10 02 30 Crew sleep begins 06:00 PM 10 06 45 Daily video highlights reel 09:45 PM 10 10 30 Crew wakeup A forecast released Monday calls for possible thundershowers within 30 nautical miles of the shuttle's runway Wednesday morning and crosswinds gusting to 15 knots, right at NASA's safety limit. The outlook for Thursday and Friday includes only a slight chance of showers and light winds. Atlantis has enough on-board supplies to remain in orbit until Saturday if absolutely necessary. Entry flight director Steve Stich will outline his landing strategy later today, but given the forecast he's unlikely to activate NASA's backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., until Thursday or Friday. Here are all four Florida landing opportunities for Wednesday and Thursday (in EDT and mission elapsed time):
DATE/EDT DD HH MM EVENT
09/20/06
04:52 AM 10 17 37 Deorbit ignition (orbit 170)
05:59 AM 10 18 44 1st KSC landing opportunity
06:27 AM 10 19 12 Backup deorbit ignition (orbit 171)
07:34 AM 10 20 19 2nd KSC landing opportunity
01:45 PM 11 02 30 Crew sleep (if waveoff)
09:45 PM 11 10 30 Crew wakeup
09/21/06
05:19 AM 11 18 04 Backup deorbit ignition (orbit 186)
06:21 AM 11 19 06 3rd KSC landing opportunity
06:55 AM 11 19 40 Backup deorbit ignition (orbit 187)
07:57 AM 11 20 42 4th KSC landing opportunity
|
|
|
|
STS-115 patch The official crew patch for the STS-115 mission of space shuttle Atlantis to resume orbital construction of the International Space Station. Choose your store:U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide  Expedition 20  The official embroidered patch for the International Space Station Expedition 20 crew is now available from our stores.U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STORECurrent Shuttle Mission Patch  The official embroidered patch for shuttle Atlantis' flight to deliver critical spare equipment to the space station.U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STORE Ares Patch  The Ares Project will develop two new rockets to launch astronauts back to the Moon under NASA's Vision for Exploration. The Ares 1 will employ a single space shuttle solid rocket booster to loft the Orion crew capsule. The gigantic Ares 5 will haul the equipment and cargo needed for such lunar voyages. This is the Ares emblem.U.S. STOREOne Giant Leap 
Hosted by Corbin Bernsen, this award winning documentary marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. space agency and features exclusive interviews with veteran astronauts.U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STOREExpedition 21  The official embroidered patch for the International Space Station Expedition 21 crew is now available from our stores.U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STOREAres 1-X Patch  The official embroidered patch for the Ares 1-X rocket test flight, is available for purchase.U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STOREApollo Collage  This beautiful one piece set features the Apollo program emblem surrounded by the individual mission logos.U.S. STOREExpedition 21 The official embroidered patch for the International Space Station Expedition 21 crew is now available from our stores.U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STOREHubble Patch  The official embroidered patch for mission STS-125, the space shuttle's last planned service call to the Hubble Space Telescope, is available for purchase.U.S. STOREWORLDWIDE STORE |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
MISSION INDEX INDEX | PLUS | NEWS ARCHIVE | LAUNCH SCHEDULE ASTRONOMY NOW | STORE ADVERTISE © 2009 Spaceflight Now Inc. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
VIDEO:
SUNDAY'S STATUS BRIEFING 