Spaceflight Now





Astronauts take a breather at mission's half-way mark
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: April 11, 2010


Bookmark and Share

The Discovery astronauts looked forward to a half day off early Monday to relax, share a meal with their space station counterparts and enjoy the view from 220 miles up. Later in the day, they will resume cargo transfer work before gearing up for a third and final spacewalk early Tuesday.


Credit: NASA
 
Monday is the 49th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's historic launch on the first manned space flight and the 29th anniversary of the U.S. shuttle program's maiden voyage. Russian space officials planned to call station commander Oleg Kotov, Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko to mark Cosmonautics Day and the Gagarin anniversary.

"Tomorrow's a really historic day," said station Flight Director Ed Van Cise. "First, the crew's going to get a half day off, they've been very busy and will be very busy for the rest of the week, so we're giving them a little bit of time off.

"But tomorrow's April 12 and that is Cosmonautics Day for Russia and for all our Russian partners and crew members, it commemorates the first human being to fly in space, Yuri Gagarin. He launched in (1961) on April 12."

Cosmonautics Day and the shuttle anniversary "is just a good day in general to reflect on the fact that we have a lot of amazing things going on in space flight now," Van Cise said. "We have four women in space for the first time ever, we have two Japanese (astronauts) in space for the first time ever and we have three Russians living long term on space station for the first time. So there are a lot of firsts going on in space right now and tomorrow's going to be a chance to commemorate all those different things.

Later Monday, the Discovery astronauts will participate in round-robin interviews with reporters on Earth before calling it a day. Rick Mastracchio and Clay Anderson plan to spend the night in the space station's Quest airlock module at a reduced air pressure to prepare for a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk early Tuesday.

The primary goals of the mission's three EVAs are to install a new ammonia coolant tank in the space station's main power truss and to move a partially depleted tank to Discovery's cargo bay for return to Earth.

The crew patch for Discovery's flight delivering
science and supplies to the space station is
available in the Spaceflight Now Store.
U.S. SHOPPERS | WORLDWIDE


The new tank was moved from the shuttle to a temporary mounting point during the crew's initial spacewalk Friday. The old tank was removed and temporarily mounted on an astronaut equipment cart during a second spacewalk early Saturday and the new tank was moved into its place.

But Anderson and Mastracchio had problems getting the new tank bolted down and because of time lost resolving that issue, they were unable to hook up ammonia and nitrogen pressurization lines. They also ran out of time to retrieve a set of no-longer-needed debris shields and move them into the station for return to Earth aboard Discovery.

Those tasks will be added to the final spacewalk Tuesday, along with a few lower-priority get-ahead items if time is available.

"We will complete connecting the fluid lines to the new ammonia tank," Van Cise said. "We'll bring those shields in and we will take the old tank ... with the space station (robot) arm and secure it into the payload bay of the shuttle.

"And then we'll have a couple of other items we'll be doing at the tail end. For example, there's (an experiment) platform out on the Columbus module, we'll be taking that off Columbus and putting that in the payload bay so we can bring that home."

Mastracchio and Anderson also will install two radiator servicing fixtures to go along with two that were installed Saturday and possibly perform a few other minor get ahead tasks if time is available.

Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EDT and mission elapsed time; includes revision H of the NASA television schedule; best viewed with fixed-width font):


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

04/11
09:51 PM...06...15...30...Crew wakeup
11:31 PM...06...17...10...Russian PAO event

04/12
12:01 AM...06...17...40...ISS daily planning conference
12:31 AM...06...18...10...Robot arm maneuver
12:51 AM...06...18...30...Crew off duty
05:21 AM...06...23...00...Joint crew meal
06:26 AM...07...05...00...MARES stowage configuration
06:41 AM...07...20...00...Japanese PAO event
06:51 AM...07...30...00...Cargo transfers resume
07:21 AM...07...01...00...EVA-3: Tools configured
08:46 AM...07...02...25...EVA-3: Equipment lock preps
09:46 AM...07...03...25...EVA-3: Procedures review
11:21 AM...07...05...00...ISS daily planning conference
11:36 AM...07...05...15...NASA PAO event
12:15 PM...07...05...54...Mission status briefing on NTV
12:46 PM...07...06...25...EVA-3: Nitrogen purge procedure
01:31 PM...07...07...10...EVA-3: Airlock depress to 10.2 psi
01:51 PM...07...07...30...ISS crew sleep begins
02:21 PM...07...08...00...STS crew sleep begins
03:00 PM...07...09...39...Daily highlights reel on NTV
07:00 PM...07...12...39...Flight director's update on NTV
10:21 PM...07...16...00...Crew wakeup

Spaceflight Now Plus
Additional coverage for subscribers:
HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 7: MEAL TIME IN ZVEZDA PLAY
HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 7: GRUELING 7.5-HOUR EVA FINSHES PLAY
HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 7: VENTURING OUTSIDE THE STATION PLAY
HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 7: GETTING READY FOR ANOTHER EVA PLAY
HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 7: OLD CREW SLEEP BUNK REMOVED PLAY
HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 7: TRANSFERS AND MORE TRANSFERS PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 7 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: CREW'S HOME MOVIES FOR FLIGHT DAY 7 PLAY
VIDEO: SUNDAY MORNING'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: FINALLY WINNING THE BATTLE WITH TANK BOLTS PLAY
VIDEO: NEW COOLANT TANK MANEUVERED INTO POSITION PLAY
VIDEO: DEPLETED AMMONIA TANK REMOVED FROM STATION PLAY
VIDEO: STEP-BY-STEP WALKTHROUGH OF EVA NO. 2 PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF FLIGHT DAY 7 ACTIVITIES PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY EVENING'S FLIGHT DIRECTOR INTERVIEW PLAY

HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 6: LIFE OF A SHUTTLE ASTRONAUT PLAY
HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 6: "BUCKET BRIGADE" ON THE STATION PLAY
HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 6: WORF INSTALLED IN DESTINY LAB PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 6 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: CREW'S HOME MOVIES FOR FLIGHT DAY 6 PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY MORNING'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SCIENCE RACK INSTALLED BY JAPANESE ASTRONAUTS PLAY
VIDEO: NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL EVENT PLAY
VIDEO: CBS AND NEBRASKA MEDIA INTERVIEWS WITH CREW PLAY
VIDEO: SMOKE ALARM IN THE ZVEZDA SERVICE MODULE PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF FLIGHT DAY 6 ACTIVITIES PLAY

VIDEO: MISSION EXTENSION NEWS FROM FLIGHT DIRECTOR PLAY

HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 5: SPACEWALKERS RETURN TO AIRLOCK PLAY
HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 5: UNLOADING THE LEONARDO MODULE PLAY
HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 5: STATION'S NEW EXERCISE MACHINE PLAY
HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 5: OPERATORS OF THE ROBOTIC ARM PLAY
HIGH DEFINITION TV DAY 5: SPACEWALKERS FREE AMMONIA TANK PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 5 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: CREW'S HOME MOVIES FOR FLIGHT DAY 5 PLAY
VIDEO: STOWAGE RACKS MOVED INTO STATION PLAY
VIDEO: NEW LABORATORY FREEZER FOR KIBO PLAY
VIDEO: FRIDAY MORNING'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: RATE GYRO ASSEMBLY REMOVED FROM STATION PLAY
VIDEO: NEW AMMONIA TANK STOWED IN TEMPORARY SPOT PLAY
VIDEO: ANCHORING FIXTURE ATTACHED TO AMMONIA TANK PLAY
VIDEO: EXPERIMENT RETRIEVED FROM JAPAN'S SCIENCE DECK PLAY
VIDEO: STATION'S ROBOTIC ARM LIFTS TANK FROM SHUTTLE PLAY
VIDEO: NEW AMMONIA COOLANT TANK UNBOLTED FROM CARRIER PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKER PREPS AMMONIA TANK IN SHUTTLE BAY PLAY
VIDEO: THE START OF MISSION'S FIRST SPACEWALK PLAY
VIDEO: STEP-BY-STEP WALKTHROUGH OF EVA NO. 1 PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF FLIGHT DAY 5 ACTIVITIES PLAY
VIDEO: THURSDAY EVENING'S FLIGHT DIRECTOR INTERVIEW PLAY
VIDEO: THURSDAY AFTERNOON'S MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 4 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: RADIO AND TV INTERVIEWS WITH CREW PLAY
VIDEO: THURSDAY MORNING'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: LEONARDO MODULE ATTACHED TO SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: STATION'S ARM GRAPPLES THE LEONARDO MODULE PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF LEONARDO'S INSTALLATION PLAY
VIDEO: WEDNESDAY EVENING'S FLIGHT DIRECTOR INTERVIEW PLAY
VIDEO: WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON'S MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: WEDNESDAY MORNING'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE CREW WELCOMED ABOARD THE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: POST-DOCKING OF THE SHUTTLE BAY AND TAIL PLAY
VIDEO: DISCOVERY DOCKS TO THE SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE PERFORMS 360-DEGREE BACKFLIP PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKING ACTIVITIES PLAY
VIDEO: OBJECT LOST FROM SHUTTLE TAIL DURING LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY AFTERNOON'S MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: THE FULL STS-131 LAUNCH EXPERIENCE PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY MORNING'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF FLIGHT DAY 2 ACTIVITIES PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED TOUR OF DISCOVERY'S PAYLOAD BAY PLAY
VIDEO: DESCRIPTION OF KU-BAND ANTENNA PROBLEM PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE DISCOVERY BLASTS OFF! PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: GO INSIDE MISSION CONTROL DURING LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: POST-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY

VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: VAB ROOF PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PRESS SITE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PATRICK AFB PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD PERIMETER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: BEACH TRACKER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD CAMERA 070 PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD CAMERA 071 PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PLAYALINDA BEACH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD FRONT CAMERA PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: KSC WEST TOWER PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS LEAVE CREW QUARTERS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW FINISHES GETTING SUITED UP PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: NARRATED REVIEW OF SHUTTLE'S PREPARATIONS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NARRATED REVIEW OF PAYLOADS' PREPARATIONS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PREPARING AN EXTERNAL TANK FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF GANTRY ROLLING BACK FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH PAD'S SERVICE TOWER RETRACTED PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PAYLOAD BAY DOORS CLOSED FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS INSPECT THE PAYLOAD BAY PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: STS-131 MISSION PREVIEW MOVIE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH COMMANDER POINDEXTER PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH PILOT JIM DUTTON PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH RICK MASTRACCHIOPLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH METCALF-LINDENBURGER PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE WILSON PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH NAOKO YAMAZAKI PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH CLAY ANDERSON PLAY

VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: COUNTDOWN STATUS AND WEATHER OUTLOOK PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF DISCOVERY'S LAUNCH COUNTDOWN PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: FULL FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW NEWS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: RECAP OF THE FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: HELIUM VALVE NO CONSTRAINT TO LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MANAGERS ASSESS ISSUES BEFORE FLIGHT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: UPDATE ON PRE-LAUNCH PREPS AT PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: SPACEWALKING SUITS LOADED ABOARD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH STS-131 PAYLOAD MANAGER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH BOEING PAYLOAD MANAGER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PAYLOADS DELIVERED TO LAUNCH PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TRANSPORT CANISTER ROTATED VERTICALLY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LEONARDO PLACED INTO THE TRANSPORTER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: STATION'S NEW AMMONIA COOLANT TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LEONARDO HATCH CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FILLING UP ONE OF THE SUPPLY RACKS PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: CAN THE SHUTTLE PROGRAM AVOID LOOMING RETIREMENT? PLAY
VIDEO: WHAT ABOUT ADDING ONE MORE SHUTTLE MISSION? PLAY
VIDEO: FULL BRIEFING BY SHUTTLE AND STATION OFFICIALS PLAY
VIDEO: THE STS-131 MISSION OVERVIEW PRESENTATIONS PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW BRIEFING ON MISSION'S SPACEWALKS PLAY
VIDEO: THE ASTRONAUTS' PRE-FLIGHT NEWS BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: SHUTTLE EVACUATION PRACTICE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW MODULE HATCH IS CLOSED PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS BOARD DISCOVERY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW BRIEFED ON EMERGENCY PROCEDURES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TEST-DRIVING AN EMERGENCY ARMORED TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NIGHTTIME APPROACHES IN TRAINING AIRCRAFT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS CHAT WITH REPORTERS AT PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: CREW ARRIVES FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: GANTRY PLACED AROUND DISCOVERY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: DISCOVERY REACHES PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: OVERNIGHT ROLLOUT BEGINS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SHUTTLE HOISTED FOR ATTACHMENT TO TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CRANE ROTATES THE ORBITER VERTICALLY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: DISCOVERY MOVES TO ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS VISIT THEIR SPACECRAFT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW GOES INSIDE LEONARDO MODULE PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: EXTERNAL TANK ATTACHED TO BOOSTERS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FUEL TANK LIFTED INTO CHECKOUT CELL PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: EXTERNAL TANK ARRIVES AT SPACEPORT PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: DISCOVERY'S NOSE POD ATTACHED PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: INSTALLING DISCOVERY'S MAIN ENGINES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: KSC'S SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE SHOP PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: GASEOUS NITROGEN TANK REMOVED PLAY | HI-DEF
SUBSCRIBE NOW



MISSION INDEX