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Shuttle crew takes time off amid Soyuz undocking preps
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: May 23, 2011


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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL--The Endeavour astronauts took the day off Monday amid preparations for the afternoon departure of three space station crew members aboard a Russian Soyuz ferry craft to close out a 159-day stay in space.


File image of departing Soyuz capsule. Credit: NASA TV
 
Shortly after wakeup late Sunday, shuttle commander Mark Kelly and astronaut Michael Fincke fielded questions from Mesa Verde Elementary School classmates of 9-year-old Christina Green, killed during an attempt to assassinate Kelly's wife, Gabrielle Giffords, in January.

Asked what inspired him to become an astronaut, Kelly told the students "over the last four months, I've come to admire your classmate, Christina Green, very much, I've learned a lot about her."

"When I was Christina's age is when Apollo astronauts were walking on the moon ... and I remember watching that on TV and thinking if I worked really hard in school and really, really focused and concentrated, maybe someday I would have the opportunity to fly in space. And I did work hard, and it did work out. But I would say it was those early Apollo astronauts, like Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan and John Young, who inspired me."

He concluded the question-and-answer session by promising to sign and return a school yearbook he carried into space aboard Endeavour.

"Since my wife, Congresswoman Giffords, is from Tucson, Arizona, I spend a lot of time there," he said. "I'm a big fan of Tucson and the Arizona Wildcats. I didn't have a Mesa Elementary School shirt but what I do have is ... your yearbook, the Mesa Verde Mountain Lions 2010-2011 with me here in space, and I'll get a picture of this with the Earth in the background and hopefully I can bring it back and hand it over to your school."

He opened the yearbook to a page honoring Christina Green and said "it's a very nice yearbook, Mike and I just signed it and I'll get my other crew members and the space station crew members to sign it and we'll send it back to you.

"Again, it was really great to be with you at Mesa Verde today and I hope to see you soon," Kelly concluded. "So long."

The shuttle astronauts are scheduled to go to bed at 12:26 p.m. EDT (GMT-4) and unless they get up early, they will miss the departure of Expedition 27 commander Dmitry Kondratyev, Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli and NASA astronaut Catherine "Cady" Coleman aboard the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft.

Hatch closure is planned for 2:21 p.m. followed by undocking at 5:35 p.m. Landing in Kazakhstan is expected at 10:26 p.m.

In a departure from normal practice, Kondratyev plans to pause at a distance of about 600 feet while Nespoli, working in the Soyuz's forward habitation module, takes video and still pictures of the lab complex with the shuttle Endeavour attached. A few minutes later, the station will maneuver to present a side-on view showing the shuttle in profile.

The pictures will be the first showing the shuttle-station complex from a distance, a last chance to capture a family portrait before the shuttle program comes to an end in July. But the Soyuz has no way to downlink the imagery and it will not be seen until a day or two after landing.

An undocking preview will be posted later today. In the meantime, here is an updated timeline of the crew's planned activities (in EDT and mission elapsed time; includes revision G of the NASA television schedule; includes Soyuz TMA-20 undocking/landing timeline with ISS-27 MET; best viewed with fixed-width font):


DATE/EDT..DDD...HH...MM...SS...EVENT

05/22
08:56 PM...06...12...00...00...STS crew/Garan wakeup
10:46 PM...06...13...50...00...PAO education event
11:26 PM...06...14...30...00...Crew off duty

05/23
03:41 AM...06...18...45...00...Crew meals begin
04:41 AM...06...19...45...00...Crew off duty
05:00 AM...06...20...04...00...U.S. PAO education event replay
06:00 AM...06...21...04...00...ISS crew wakeup
07:00 AM...06...22...04...00...U.S. PAO education event replay
08:00 AM...06...23...04...00...U.S. PAO education event replay
09:26 AM...07...00...30...00...Soyuz TMA-20 departure preps
09:31 AM...07...00...35...00...Italian president VIP call (on NASA TV)
09:11 AM...07...00...15...00...ISS daily planning conference
09:31 AM...07...00...35...00...PAO event
10:00 AM...07...01...04...00...Mission status briefing on NASA TV
11:56 AM...07...03...00...00...Garan sleep begins
12:26 PM...07...03...30...00...STS crew sleep begins
02:00 PM...07...05...04...00...Soyuz TMA-20 farewell/hatch closure
04:00 PM...07...07...04...00...Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV
04:40 PM..159...01...30...35...US to Russian attitude control system handover
04:52 PM..159...01...42...35...ISS maneuver to undocking attitude
05:24 PM..159...02...15...11...Sunrise
05:29 PM..159...02...20...07...Daily orbit 13 Russian ground station AOS
05:31 PM..159...02...21...35...ISS to free drift
05:32 PM..159...02...22...35...Nominal separation command
05:35 PM..159...02...25...35...Physical separation/hooks open
05:36 PM..159...02...27...15...ISS to LVLH snap-and-hold
05:38 PM..159...02...28...35...Soyuz manual separation burn #1
05:41 PM..159...02...31...35...Arrival at stationkeeping (590-650 feet)
05:41 PM..159...02...31...35...Habitation module ingress
05:43 PM..159...02...33...55...ISS return to undocking attitude
05:44 PM..159...02...35...08...Daily orbit 13 Russian ground station LOS
05:50 PM..159...02...40...35...Begin ISS photography
05:52 PM..159...02...43...03...Noon
05:55 PM..159...02...45...35...ISS maneuver to photography attitude
06:06 PM..159...02...56...35...ISS in photo attitude
06:15 PM..159...03...05...35...Soyuz manual separation burn #2
06:20 PM..159...03...10...35...Habitation module egress; start leak checks
06:20 PM..159...03...10...55...Sunset -- photography complete
06:21 PM..159...03...11...35...ISS maneuver to duty attitude
06:56 PM..159...03...46...36...Sunrise
07:00 PM..159...03...50...35...Russian to US attitude control handover
07:00 PM..159...03...50...35...Hatch and suit leak checks complete
07:02 PM..159...03...52...43...Daily orbit 14 Russian ground station AOS
07:19 PM..159...04...10...08...Daily orbit 14 Russian ground station LOS
07:36 PM..159...04...26...35...Sunrise at landing Site
08:26 PM...07...11...30...00...STS crew/Garan wakeup (begins FD-9)
08:30 PM..159...05...20...48...Daily orbit 15 Russian ground station AOS
08:53 PM..159...05...44...33...Daily orbit 15 Russian ground station LOS
09:15 PM...07...12...19...00...Soyuz TMA-20 landing coverage begins on NASA TV
09:36 PM..159...06...26...49...Soyuz deorbit burn start (257.7 mph)
09:40 PM..159...06...31...14...Deorbit burn complete
10:03 PM..159...06...54...11...Atmospheric entry (62 miles altitude)
10:11 PM..159...07...02...24...Command to open parachute (6.6 miles altitude)
10:26 PM..159...07...17...24...Landing
11:01 PM...07...14...05...00...Equipment lock preps
11:31 PM...07...14...35...00...ISS crew sleep begins
11:46 PM...07...14...50...00...EVA-3: Tools configured
11:46 PM...07...14...50...00...OBSS undock

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