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STS-126: The programs

In advance of shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 mission to the station, managers from both programs discuss the flight.

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STS-126: The mission

A detailed preview of Endeavour's mission to deliver expanded crew accommodations to the station is provided in this briefing.

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STS-126: Spacewalks

Four spacewalks are planned during Endeavour's STS-126 mission to the station.

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STS-126: The Crew

The Endeavour astronauts, led by commander Chris Ferguson, meet the press in the traditional pre-flight news conference.

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Shuttle rollaround

Space shuttle Endeavour switched launch pads on Oct. 23, traveling from pad 39B to pad 39A.

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Two shuttles sighted

Stunning aerial views of shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour perched atop launch pads 39A and 39B on Sept. 20.

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Endeavour to the VAB

For its role as a rescue craft during the Hubble servicing mission and the scheduled November logistics run to the space station, Endeavour is moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building.

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Endeavour nearing station for today's rendezvous
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: November 16, 2008

The shuttle Endeavour is closing in on the international space station today, on track for a docking around 5:04 p.m. The shuttle astronauts were awakened at 9:25 a.m. by a recording of the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" transmitted from mission control in Houston.

"Good morning, Endeavour. And a special good morning to you today, Sandy," astronaut Shannon Lucid called from the control center.

"And good morning, Shannon," space station flight engineer Sandra Magnus replied from the shuttle. "I want to thank my family for that music and I'm looking forward to moving into my new home today."

Magnus will remain behind aboard the station when Endeavour undocks Thanksgiving day or the day after, replacing outgoing flight engineer Gregory Chamitoff, who was launched to the outpost last June. Chamitoff will return to Earth in Magnus' place aboard Endeavour.

Today's terminal rendezvous sequence begins at 2:26 p.m. Trailing the station by about 9.2 miles, commander Chris Ferguson will fire the shuttle's maneuvering rockets to begin a slow approach, moving into position about 600 feet directly below the lab complex by around 4 p.m. At that point, he plans to guide Endeavour through a slow back flip, exposing the shuttle's belly to the station for a heat shield photo survey by the lab's crew. Those pictures, taken with 400-mm and 800-mm telephoto lenses, will be downlinked to Houston to help engineers assess the health of the shuttle's thermal protection system.

Because of on-going problems, the shuttle's KU-band antenna system may not work in radar mode today. If not, Ferguson and his crewmates will use Endeavour's star trackers to supply long-range navigation data, a backup procedure that has been used in at least one previous station rendezvous. Ferguson and his crewmates are trained in the procedure and flight controllers do not expect any difficulty if the radar does, in fact, fail to operate properly.

After the rendezvous (or rotational) pitch maneuver, or RPM, is complete, Ferguson will guide Endeavour up to a point about 300 feet directly in front of the station. From there, with the shuttle's nose pointed toward deep space and its open payload bay facing the station, Ferguson will manually guide the orbiter to a docking at a port on the front of the Harmony module around 5:04 p.m.

Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EST and mission elapsed time; supersedes rev. A of NASA's TV schedule; rendezvous times approximate):


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

11/16/08
09:25 AM...01...13...30...STS/ISS crew wakeup (begin FD-3)
11:15 AM...01...15...20...Group B computer powerup
11:25 AM...01...15...30...ISS daily planning conference
11:30 AM...01...15...35...Rendezvous timeline begins
12:10 PM...01...16...15...NH rendezvous rocket firing
12:30 PM...01...16...35...Spacesuits removed from airlock
12:52 PM...01...16...57...NC-4 rendezvous rocket firing
02:04 PM...01...18...09...ISS in docking orientation

02:26 PM...01...18...31...TI burn
03:02 PM...01...19...07...Sunset
03:19 PM...01...19...24...U.S. solar arrays feathered
03:24 PM...01...19...29...Range: 10,000 feet
03:33 PM...01...19...38...Range: 5,000 feet
03:36 PM...01...19...41...Sunrise
03:38 PM...01...19...43...Range: 3,000 feet
03:43 PM...01...19...48...MC-4 rendezvous burn
03:47 PM...01...19...52...Range: 1,500 feet
03:49 PM...01...19...54...RPM start window open
03:52 PM...01...19...57...Range: 1,000 feet
03:55 PM...01...20...00...KU antenna to low power
03:56 PM...01...20...01...+R bar arrival directly below ISS
04:01 PM...01...20...06...Range: 600 feet
04:03 PM...01...20...08...Start pitch maneuver
04:05 PM...01...20...10...Noon
04:11 PM...01...20...16...End pitch maneuver
04:12 PM...01...20...17...RPM full photo window close
04:13 PM...01...20...18...Initiate pitch up maneuver (575 ft)
04:21 PM...01...20...26...RPM start window close
04:25 PM...01...20...30...+V bar arrival; range: 310 feet
04:26 PM...01...20...31...Range: 300 feet
04:30 PM...01...20...35...Range: 250 feet
04:33 PM...01...20...38...Sunset
04:34 PM...01...20...39...Range: 200 feet
04:36 PM...01...20...41...Range: 170 feet
04:38 PM...01...20...43...Range: 150 feet
04:42 PM...01...20...47...Range: 100 feet
04:43 PM...01...20...48...Russian ground station AOS
04:45 PM...01...20...50...Range: 75 feet
04:49 PM...01...20...54...Range: 50 feet
04:53 PM...01...20...58...Range: 30 feet; start stationkeeping
04:58 PM...01...21...03...End stationkeeping; push to dock
05:02 PM...01...21...07...Range: 10 feet

05:04 PM...01...21...09...DOCKING

05:08 PM...01...21...13...Sunrise
05:25 PM...01...21...30...Leak checks
05:30 PM...01...21...35...Post docking laptop reconfig
05:55 PM...01...22...00...Orbiter docking system prepped for ingress
06:00 PM...01...22...05...Group B computer powerdown
06:15 PM...01...22...20...Hatch open
06:45 PM...01...22...50...Welcome aboard!
06:55 PM...01...23...00...Safety briefing
07:25 PM...01...23...25...Shuttle-station power transfer system activation
07:30 PM...01...23...35...Soyuz seatliner transfer/installation
07:30 PM...01...23...35...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
07:30 PM...01...23...35...SSRMS grapples OBSS
08:00 PM...02...00...05...SSRMS unberths OBSS
09:00 PM...02...01...05...SRMS grapples OBSS
09:30 PM...02...01...35...SSRMS ungrapples OBSS
09:45 PM...02...01...50...SOKOL suit leak check
10:20 PM...02...02...25...Docking video playback

11/17/08
Mon 12:55 AM...02...05...00...ISS crew sleep begins
Mon 01:25 AM...02...05...30...STS crew sleep begins

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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: FLIGHT DIRECTOR'S SUMMARY OF FLIGHT DAY 3 PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW ANIMATION OF RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKING PLAY

VIDEO: SATURDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY'S MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: FLIGHT DIRECTOR'S SUMMARY OF FLIGHT DAY 2 PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW ANIMATION OF HEAT SHIELD INSPECTIONS PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED TOUR OF ENDEAVOUR'S PAYLOAD BAY PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR BLASTS OFF! PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEFLIGHT NOW'S LAUNCH PAD CAMERA PLAY
VIDEO: THE FULL STS-126 LAUNCH EXPERIENCE PLAY
VIDEO: INSIDE MISSION CONTROL DURING LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: POST-LAUNCH NEWS BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: FINAL PRE-LAUNCH POLLS GIVE "GO" FOR LIFTOFF PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE'S CREW MODULE HATCH CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST DON PETTIT BOARDS PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST SHANE KIMBROUGH BOARDS PLAY
VIDEO: PILOT ERIC BOE BOARDS ENDEAVOUR PLAY
VIDEO: COMMANDER CHRIS FERGUSON BOARDS ENDEAVOUR PLAY
VIDEO: CREW DEPARTS QUARTERS FOR LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DON SPACESUITS FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED RECAP OF ENDEAVOUR'S PRE-FLIGHT CAMPAIGN PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED RECAP OF PAYLOADS' PRE-FLIGHT CAMPAIGN PLAY

VIDEO: PAD 39A SERVICE GANTRY RETRACTED FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: THURSDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS AND WEATHER UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: WEDNESDAY'S PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TUESDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS AND WEATHER UPDATE PLAY

VIDEO: STATION ASTRONAUTS PREPARE FOR SHUTTLE ARRIVAL PLAY
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR'S PAYLOADS READIED FOR TREK TO SPACE PLAY

VIDEO: UPDATE ON SHUTTLE AND STATION PROGRAMS PLAY
VIDEO: STS-126 MISSION OVERVIEW PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW BRIEFING ON MISSION'S SPACEWALKS PLAY
VIDEO: THE ASTRONAUTS' PRE-FLIGHT NEWS BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH COMMANDER CHRIS FERGUSON PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH PILOT ERIC BOE PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS1 HEIDEMARIE PIPER PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS2 STEPHEN BOWEN PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS3 DON PETITT PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS4 SHANE KIMBROUGH PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS5 SANDY MAGNUS PLAY

VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH SPACE STATION'S EXPEDITION 17 CREW PLAY

VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR COMMANDER AND PILOT PRACTICE LANDINGS PLAY

VIDEO: ISS PROGRAM MANAGER UPDATES SOYUZ INVESTIGATION PLAY
VIDEO: ISS PROGRAM MANAGER DESCRIBES SARJ REPAIR PLAN PLAY
VIDEO: ISS PROGRAM MANAGER DISCUSSES RADIATOR DAMAGE PLAY
VIDEO: EXPEDITION 18 PRE-FLIGHT MISSION BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: AERIAL VIEWS OF ATLANTIS AND ENDEAVOUR PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR AT SUNRISE ON LAUNCH PAD 39B PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: AERIAL VIEWS OF ENDEAVOUR AFTER ROLLOUT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR ROLLS FROM VAB TO LAUNCH PAD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE MOVIE OF ARRIVAL AT PAD 39B PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE MOVIE OF ENDEAVOUR LEAVING VAB PLAY

VIDEO: SHUTTLE HOISTED FOR ATTACHMENT TO TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR'S DEPARTURE FROM HANGAR PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE MOVIE OF ENDEAVOUR GOING VERTICAL PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE MOVIE OF BEING HOISTED OFF TRANSPORTER PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE MOVIE OF ENDEAVOUR MOVING TO VAB PLAY
MORE: STS-126 VIDEO COVERAGE
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