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STS-127: The programs

In advance of shuttle Endeavour's STS-127 mission to the station, managers from both programs discuss the flight.

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STS-127: The mission

A detailed step-by-step preview of Endeavour's STS-125 mission to install an external exposure platform on the station's Kibo science facility.

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STS-127: The EVAs

The lead spacewalk officer provides indepth explanations of the EVAs on Endeavour's assembly mission to the station.

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STS-127: The crew

The seven astronauts launching on Endeavour meet the press in the traditional pre-flight news conference.

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Endeavour crew taking fifth and final spacewalk
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: July 27, 2009


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Astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Christopher Cassidy are suiting up for a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk today to install two Japanese television cameras, to deploy a payload attachment mechanism, to fix the insulation on a Canadian robot and to re-wire two of the station's stabilizing gyroscopes.


Credit: NASA
 
This will be the 130th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, the 11th so far this year and the fifth for Endeavour's crew. Going into today's EVA, total station spacewalk time stood at 805 hours and 42 minutes, or 33.6 days. Endeavour's total through four spacewalks was 25 hours and 36 minutes.

For identification, Marshburn, call sign EV-1, will be wearing a spacesuit with broken stripes around the legs. Cassidy, EV-2, will be wearing a suit with diagonal stripes.

The spacewalk was scheduled to begin around 8:28 a.m. EDT, but the crew was well ahead of schedule this morning and it likely will start earlier. The astronauts will split up after leaving the Quest airlock module, with Cassidy heading to an electrical distribution patch panel on the Z1 truss atop the central Unity module and Marshburn heading for Canada's Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, a robotic "hand" designed for the space station's robotic arm.

"Basically what we're going to do (at the Z1 truss) is redistribute which power channels our four control moment gyros are fed from," said Flight Director Brian Smith. "Currently, two of those control moment gyros are fed off the same power channel. So if we were to have a failure on that power channel, we would lose both of those CMGs and that would put us in a very degraded and precarious position as far as non-propulsive attitude control of the space station. So we'll alleviate that risk by redistributing the power."

While Cassidy works at the Z1 patch panel, Marshburn will spend a moment adjusting the insulation on the Canadian SPDM robot, also known as DEXTRE.

"There's some MLI (multi-layer insulation) that's not seated quite right and we want to make sure that that's properly laid down and in place," Smith said. "There's going to be some commissioning activities with DEXTRE later on this fall and we'd like that MLI in the proper configuration for that. That'll be a very brief task, there's not much to it."

Now an hour and a half into the spacewalk, Cassidy and Marshburn will make their way to the Japanese Exposed Facility, a porch-like experiment platform attached to the Kibo laboratory module earlier in the mission to install two television cameras. The cameras are need the upcoming docking of a Japanese cargo craft in September and for normal experiment work on the JEF.

"These are television cameras that will be installed on the porch," Smith said. "They flew up in a launch configuration on the porch and the crew's going to go down, take them out of the launch configuration and put them in their permanent operational position. These should have been done on earlier EVAs but we'll pick them up now on this EVA.

"And then the last task in the timeline is deploying a payload attach system. This is a mechanism on the outside of the space station that you can attach carriers and other structures to. This one is located on the S3 (starboard-3) integrated truss segment. There are four of these attach mechanisms on S3 and currently, none of them are deployed. This will be the first one.

"It's located on S3 upper and outboard," Smith said. "This site is needed for STS-129, ULF-3, we'll be positioning an external logistics carrier, or ELC, onto that. That ELC will be loaded with critical spare ORUs for the space station."

Shuttle mission STS-129, scheduled for launch in November, will carry two ELCs into orbit, both loaded with critical spares to protect against failures after the shuttle program comes to an end next year.

ELC-1, which will be mounted on the left-side port-3 truss segment, will carry a solar array battery charge/discharge unit, a plasma contactor unit, a robot arm latching end effector, a control moment gyroscope, a nitrogen tank assembly, an ammonia tank assembly and a cooling system pump module.

ELC-2, which will be mounted on the starboard-3 truss attach mechanism being deployed today, will carry a high pressure gas tank, another control moment gyroscope, a pump module, a robot arm transporter umbilical system, experiment support equipment and flight attachment mechanisms.

If all goes well, today's spacewalk will end around 3 p.m. The Endeavour crew plans to undock from the space station Tuesday and to land Friday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EDT and mission elapsed time; includes revision N of the NASA television schedule):


EDT........DD...HH...MM...EVENT

07/27
03:33 AM...11...09...30...STS/ISS crew wakeup
04:13 AM...11...10...10...EVA-5: 14.7 psi repress/hygiene break
04:58 AM...11...10...55...EVA-5: Airlock depress to 10.2 psi
05:23 AM...11...11...20...EVA-5: Campout EVA preps
05:33 AM...11...11...30...ISS daily planning conference
06:53 AM...11...12...50...EVA-5: Spacesuit purge
07:08 AM...11...13...05...EVA-5: Spacesuit prebreathe
07:58 AM...11...13...55...EVA-5: Crew lock depressurization
08:28 AM...11...14...25...EVA-5: Spacesuits to battery power
08:33 AM...11...14...30...EVA-5: Airlock egress
08:43 AM...11...14...40...EVA-5: Setup
09:13 AM...11...15...10...EVA-5: EV1: Z1 patch panel
09:13 AM...11...15...10...EVA-5: EV2: SPDM covers
10:13 AM...11...16...10...EVA-5: Forward VE camera
11:43 AM...11...17...40...EVA-5: Aft VE camera/LTA reconfig
12:58 PM...11...18...55...EVA-5: S3 zenith outboard PAS
01:53 PM...11...19...50...EVA-5: STP
02:08 PM...11...20...05...EVA-5: Cleanup and ingress
02:58 PM...11...20...55...EVA-5: Airlock repressurization
03:08 PM...11...21...05...Spacesuit servicing
04:03 PM...11...22...00...Evening planning conference
06:00 PM...11...23...57...Mission status briefing
06:33 PM...12...00...30...ISS crew sleep begins
07:03 PM...12...01...00...STS crew sleep begins
08:00 PM...12...01...57...Daily highlights

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VIDEO: NORTH CAROLINA, MAINE AND ORLANDO TV INTERVIEWS PLAY
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VIDEO: WEDNESDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
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VIDEO: FIRST OF THE NEW BATTERIES INSTALLED PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKERS REMOVE FIRST OLD BATTERY PLAY
VIDEO: CHRIS CASSIDY PREPS JAPANESE EXPERIMENTS PLAY
VIDEO: WEDNESDAY MORNING FLIGHT DIRECTOR INTERVIEW PLAY
VIDEO: STEP-BY-STEP SUMMARY OF SPACEWALK NO. 3 PLAY

VIDEO: LEFT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING UPWARD PLAY
VIDEO: LEFT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING INBOARD PLAY
VIDEO: LEFT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING DOWNWARD PLAY
VIDEO: RIGHT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING UPWARD PLAY
VIDEO: RIGHT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING INBOARD PLAY
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VIDEO: TUESDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: CREW ANSWERS PUBLIC'S QUESTIONS FROM SPACE PLAY
VIDEO: EXPOSED FACILITY RECEIVES EXPERIMENT CARRIER PLAY
VIDEO: JAPANESE EXPERIMENTS UNBERTHED FROM SHUTTLE PLAY
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VIDEO: TUESDAY MORNING FLIGHT DIRECTOR INTERVIEW PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 6 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: REPLACEMENT COOLING PUMP PUT ON STATION PLAY
VIDEO: SPARE COMMUNICATIONS ANTENNA TRANSFERRED PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKER HOPS ABOARD STATION ARM PLAY
VIDEO: WOLF AND MARSHBURN BEGIN EVA NO. 2 PLAY
VIDEO: OVERVIEW OF FLIGHT DAY 6 ACTIVITIES PLAY
VIDEO: STEP-BY-STEP SUMMARY OF SPACEWALK NO. 2 PLAY
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VIDEO: OVERVIEW OF FLIGHT DAY 6 ACTIVITIES PLAY
VIDEO: STEP-BY-STEP SUMMARY OF SPACEWALK NO. 2 PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 5 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: CANADIANS IN SPACE PLAY
VIDEO: SUNDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: PALLET HANDED OFF TO SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: CARGO CARRIER UNBERTHED FROM SHUTTLE BAY PLAY
VIDEO: SUNDAY MORNING FLIGHT DIRECTOR INTERVIEW PLAY
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VIDEO: THERMAL COVER JETTISONED FROM THE KIBO MODULE PLAY
VIDEO: HELMET-CAMERA VIEWS AS KOPRA CLIMBS TO SHUTTLE PLAY
VIDEO: TIM KOPRA EMERGES FROM AIRLOCK FOR EVA NO. 1 PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY MORNING FLIGHT DIRECTOR INTERVIEW PLAY
VIDEO: OVERVIEW OF FLIGHT DAY 4 ACTIVITIES PLAY
VIDEO: STEP-BY-STEP SUMMARY OF SPACEWALK NO. 1 PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED TOUR OF ENDEAVOUR'S PAYLOAD BAY PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: FRIDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE CREW WELCOMED ABOARD STATION PLAY
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR DOCKS TO THE SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS' ONBOARD CAMCORDER FOOTAGE PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE FLIES OUT IN FRONT OF STATION PLAY
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR PERFORMS 360-DEGREE BACKFLIP PLAY
VIDEO: BEAUTIFUL VIEWS OF ENDEAVOUR APPROACHING PLAY
VIDEO: STATION CAMERA CATCHES ENDEAVOUR'S "TI BURN" PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKING PLAY

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VIDEO: TUESDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW ANIMATION OF HEAT SHIELD INSPECTIONS PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
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VIDEO: INSIDE MISSION CONTROL DURING LAUNCH PLAY
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VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PRESS SITE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD PERIMETER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: BEACH TRACKER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: UCS-23 TRACKER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PLAYALINDA BEACH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: BANANA CREEK VIP SITE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD FRONT CAMERA PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: WEST TOWER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 070 PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 071 PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-1 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-2 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-6 PLAY

VIDEO: SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR BLASTS OFF! PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: STS-127 POST-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: FOOTAGE OF FUEL TANK AFTER JETTISON PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS REACH PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW DEPARTS QUARTERS FOR LAUNCH PAD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DON SPACESUITS FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: WEATHER SCRUBS LAUNCH AGAIN PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW ARRIVES AT PAD 39A ON MONDAY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW DEPARTS QUARTERS ON MONDAY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS SUIT UP ON MONDAY PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: THUNDERSTORMS SCRUB SUNDAY'S ATTEMPT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW DEPARTS QUARTERS ON SUNDAY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS SUIT UP ON SUNDAY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NARRATED SUMMARY SHUTTLE'S PREPARATIONS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NARRATED SUMMARY PAYLOADS' PREPARATIONS PLAY | HI-DEF

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VIDEO: FRIDAY'S PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
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VIDEO: LEAK POSTPONES SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR LAUNCH PLAY

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VIDEO: LAUNCH COUNTDOWN PREVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: CREW ARRIVES JUST BEFORE MIDNIGHT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: GET TO KNOW ENDEAVOUR'S ASTRONAUTS PLAY

VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS PRACTICE EVACUATION OF SHUTTLE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW BOARDS SHUTTLE FOR PRACTICE COUNT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS SUIT UP FOR DRESS REHEARSAL PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW INSPECTS CARGO IN THE PAYLOAD BAY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TRAINING SESSIONS AT LAUNCH PAD AND BUNKER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: INFORMAL CREW NEWS CONFERENCE AT LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW SETS LAUNCH DATE PLAY

VIDEO: PAD 39A GANTRY ENCLOSES SHUTTLE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ROLLAROUND MOVES ENDEAVOUR TO PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR IS HAULED OFF LAUNCH PAD 39B PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF SHUTTLE'S LAUNCH PAD SWITCH PLAY

VIDEO: SHUTTLE AND STATION PROGRAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: THE STS-127 MISSION OVERVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW BRIEFING ON MISSION'S SPACEWALKS PLAY
VIDEO: THE ASTRONAUTS' PRE-FLIGHT NEWS BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: PAD 39B AND ITS LAST SPACE SHUTTLE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR'S SUNRISE ARRIVAL AT PAD 39B PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MIDNIGHT ROLLOUT FROM ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR HOISTED FOR ATTACHMENT TO TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CRANE ROTATES ENDEAVOUR VERTICALLY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR MOVES TO ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ORION AND ARES ROCKET PROGRESS REPORT PLAY
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