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Astronaut: 'We're back, baby' BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: July 11, 2006 The Discovery astronauts, working through a relatively relaxed day of space station equipment and supply transfers, say the shuttle's trouble-free launch and lack of significant impact damage show NASA is finally ready to put the Columbia tragedy behind it. "My brother put it very well," pilot Mark Kelly, whose twin brother, Scott, is also an astronaut, told The Associated Press. "I spoke to him on what's called the IP phone, which is an internet phone, and he said 'we're back, baby!'" Spacewalker Piers Sellers agreed, telling USA Today "I think we were all hoping for two things to come out of STS-121. The first thing is that the shuttle would fly with no problems, no big dings on ascent and we'd have a clean vehicle. And we seem to have achieved that. "The second thing is that we would leave station in good shape and ready to pick up the assembly sequence and the line would be drawn where it was rubbed out before Columbia, we would start again with the next mission and continue the assembly. I think we're there now." During a spacewalk Monday, he said, "we repaired the external equipment that will allow the assembly to continue. So, two for two!" A third spacewalk by Sellers and Mike Fossum is on tap Wednesday to demonstrate potential wing leading edge repair techniques. Repair techniques and materials intended to fix minor heat-shield tile damage was tested during the first post Columbia mission last year. Sellers described the first two spacewalks of Discovery's current mission as "kind of heavy lifting, I mean they really were. We were moving huge pieces of equipment around and doing hard work." "EVA-3 is more like a kind of a careful, meticulous lab experiment," he said. "Mike and I are going to be very careful, Mark's going to coach us through this on how to get the material to the right temperature and apply it to a set of samples. It really is lab work and we're going to do the best, most careful job we can. But it won't be very tiring!" Here is an updated timeline of today's activity in orbit (in EDT and mission elapsed time): TIME.......DD...HH...MM...EVENT 07/11/06 02:38 AM...06...12...00...STS crew wakeup (flight day 8) 02:38 AM...06...12...00...ISS crew wakeup 04:38 AM...06...14...00...MPLM transfers 05:28 AM...06...14...50...Spacesuit servicing 05:58 AM...06...15...20...Middeck transfers 07:18 AM...06...16...40...Spacewalk tools configured for EVA-3 08:18 AM...06...17...40...AP/USA Today interviews 08:38 AM...06...18...00...Infrared camera setup for EVA-3 09:33 AM...06...18...55...Joint crew meal 10:33 AM...06...19...55...Crew downlink opportunity 10:58 AM...06...20...20...MPLM, middeck transfers resume 12:00 PM...06...21...22...Mission status briefing on NASA TV 01:08 PM...06...22...30...EVA-3: Procedures review 01:08 PM...06...22...30...Video File on NASA TV 05:08 PM...07...02...30...STS/ISS crew sleep begins 06:00 PM...07...03...22...Video highlights reel on NASA TV
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MISSION INDEX |
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VIDEO:
DAY 7 MISSION STATUS BRIEFING 