Spaceflight Now





Astronauts giving Atlantis full post-launch inspection
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: November 17, 2009


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The Atlantis astronauts are working through a busy day in space, facing a lengthy heat shield inspection, spacesuit checkout and preparations for rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station Wednesday. The astronauts were awakened a few minutes before 4:30 a.m. EST to begin their first full day in space.

An inspection of the shuttle's reinforced carbon carbon nose cap and wing leading edge panels begins at 8:13 a.m., a process that will take about six hours to complete. The nose cap and wing leading edge panels experience the most extreme heating during re-entry and the inspection is a now-standard post-Columbia task intended to spot areas that might have been damaged by debris impacts during launch.

Only a few debris events were noted during Atlantis' ascent Monday and Bill Gerstenmaier, chief of space operations at NASA headquarters in Washington, said Monday that they occurred after the shuttle was out of the dense lower atmosphere where impacts pose the greatest risk.

Using a 50-foot-long boom on the end of the shuttle's robot arm, the astronauts will start by inspecting an umbilical panel on the right side of the shuttle where launch pad propellant and electrical lines were connected.

"That'll begin with a survey of the OMS pod and what we call the T-zero umbilical where we flow cryogenic fluids through that interface, make sure there's no residual ice or damage to that area from the launch environment ... before sweeping the boom up and down the starboard wing surface, the reinforced carbon carbon that sees the hottest temperatures during the landing phase," said Flight Director Mike Sarafin.

"After a series of racetrack maneuvers up and down the starboard wing, we will eventually reposition the boom up and over the crew cabin to get a view of the thermal blankets and tiles around the windows on the front of Atlantis. And then start to survey the nose cap, which again, is a reinforced carbon carbon surface, it's a very hard material that's used to reject the heat of re-entry.

"Once that's complete, we'll go perform a very similar survey of the port wing and view the lower surface of the wing ... to make sure it, again, sustained the launch environment without any issues," he said. "Towards the tail end of the survey, we'll take a similar view by looking at the OMS pod and T-zero umbilical on the opposite side of the vehicle, again, pan, tilt and zoom the camera on the end of the boom to make sure that it looks good in that area of the vehicle before putting the boom away at the end of the day."

Today's mission status briefing is scheduled for 2 p.m., followed by a post-Mission Management Team briefing at 5 p.m.

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


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

11/17/09
04:28 AM...00...14...00...Crew wakeup
05:58 AM...00...15...30...Minicam downlink
06:37 AM...00...16...09...NC-2 rendezvous rocket firing
06:58 AM...00...16...30...SRMS unberths OBSS
07:23 AM...00...16...55...Ergometer setup
07:53 AM...00...17...25...Spacesuit checkout preps
08:13 AM...00...17...45...OBSS starboard wing survey
08:23 AM...00...17...55...Spacesuit checkout
10:08 AM...00...19...40...Crew meals begin
11:08 AM...00...20...40...OBSS nose cap survey
11:08 AM...00...20...40...Spacesuit prepped for transfer
11:58 AM...00...21...30...OBSS port wing survey
12:00 PM...00...21...32...WISE pre-launch briefing (education channel)
02:00 PM...00...23...32...Mission status briefing on NTV
02:13 PM...00...23...45...SRMS berths OBSS
03:08 PM...01...00...40...SRMS grapples ELC1
03:23 PM...01...00...55...OMS pod survey
03:28 PM...01...01...00...Centerline camera setup
03:28 PM...01...01...00...LDRI downlink
03:58 PM...01...01...30...Orbiter docking system ring extension
04:28 PM...01...02...00...Rendezvous tools checkout
05:00 PM...01...02...32...MMT briefing on NTV
05:44 PM...01...03...16...NC-3 rendezvous rocket firing
08:28 PM...01...06...00...Crew sleep begins
09:00 PM...01...06...32...Daily highlights reel on NTV

Spaceflight Now Plus
Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: CREW FINISHES GETTING SUITED UP HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS LEAVE CREW QUARTERS HI-DEF
VIDEO: LIFTOFF OF SPACE SHUTTLE ATLANTIS! HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: VAB ROOF HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PRESS SITE HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD PERIMETER HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: BEACH TRACKER HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD CAEMRA 070 HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD CAEMRA 071 HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: WEST TOWER SITE HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: UCS-23 TRACKER HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PLAYALINDA BEACH HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD FRONT CAMERA HI-DEF

VIDEO: NARRATED REVIEW OF SHUTTLE'S PREPARATIONS HI-DEF
VIDEO: NARRATED REVIEW OF PAYLOADS' PREPARATIONS HI-DEF
VIDEO: STUNNING SUNSET ROLLBACK OF PAD GANTRY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: A LOOK AT SPACE STATION SCIENCE RESEARCH PLAY
VIDEO: THE STS-129 PRE-LAUNCH PRESS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: COUNTDOWN PREVIEW AND WEATHER BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: NARRATED MISSION OVERVIEW MOVIE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MEET SHUTTLE ATLANTIS' ASTRONAUTS PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS TOUR PAD'S CLEANROOM PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SHUTTLE EVACUATION PRACTICE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW BOARDS SHUTTLE FOR TEST PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: THE LAUNCH DAY SIMULATION BEGINS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW ARRIVES FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: PAYLOADS DELIVERED TO PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PLACING PAYLOADS INTO TRANSPORTER PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW SETS LAUNCH DATE PLAY

VIDEO: CREW BRIEFED ON EMERGENCY PROCEDURES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TEST-DRIVING EMERGENCY ARMORED TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW ARRIVES AT CAPE FOR TRAINING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SPACE SHUTTLE ROLLOUT IN FAST-FORWARD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ATLANTIS TAKES PERCH ATOP PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ROLLOUT FROM ASSEMBLY BUILDING BEGINS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SPACE SHUTTLE ASSEMBLY IN FAST-FORWARD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF ATLANTIS ATTACHED TO FUEL TANK PLAY
VIDEO: ATLANTIS LEAVES HANGAR FOR NEXT LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF ATLANTIS ARRIVING IN VAB PLAY
VIDEO: CLOSING ATLANTIS' PAYLOAD BAY DOORS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FUEL TANK ATTACHED TO SOLID ROCKETS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS MAKE A VISIT TO THE CAPE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ORBITER DOCKING SYSTEM CHECKED OUT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ATLANTIS' FUEL TANK UNLOADED FROM BARGE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: EXTERNAL TANK ARRIVES AT THE LAUNCH SITE PLAY | HI-DEF
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