STS-102 Day 2 Highlights
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- On Friday, March 9, 2001, 7:00 a.m. CST, STS-102 MCC Status Report # 3
reports:
- Discovery continues its pursuit of the International Space Station,
currently trailing the outpost by 3,520 miles and closing that
distance at the rate of about 660 miles with every orbit of the
Earth. All systems aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery are ready for
tonight’s docking, scheduled for 11:34 p.m. as the two spacecraft
fly just off the east coast of Brazil.
- Overnight, the STS-102 astronauts Jim Wetherbee, Jim Kelly, Paul
Richards and Andy Thomas, and Expedition 2 crew members Yury Usachev,
Jim Voss and Susan Helms installed and checked out a targeting camera,
extended the orbiter docking system’s spring-loaded docking ring
and unpacked rendezvous tools such as laptop computers and hand-held
range-finders. They are scheduled to begin an abbreviated seven-hour
sleep period at 9:42 a.m. today. When the crew wakes up at 4:42
p.m. to begin their final rendezvous activities, Discovery will be
about 40 miles behind and slightly below the ISS.
- About 9:15 p.m., at a distance of about nine miles behind the
station, Wetherbee will fire Discovery's engines in a Terminal
Initiation (Ti) burn, allowing the shuttle to close in, using its
rendezvous radar system to track distance and approach speed. Once
Discovery is about half a mile below the station, Wetherbee will take
over manual control. Wetherbee will fly Discovery slowly to a point
about 600 feet directly below the station, then move up and in front
of the orbiting outpost. Closing in and stopping a little more than
300 feet directly in front of the station, Kelly will help control
Discovery's approach as Thomas and Richards manage the shuttle's
docking mechanism and rendezvous tools. Using a view from a camera
mounted in the center of Discovery's docking mechanism, Wetherbee will
center the docking ports of the two spacecraft precisely,
double-checking the alignment 30 feet out. The final approach will be
at a relative velocity of one-tenth of a foot per second.
- When Discovery makes contact with Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 on
the end of the Destiny module, latches will automatically attach the
two spacecraft together. Once relative motion between the spacecraft
stops, Thomas will retract the docking ring on Discovery's mechanism,
closing latches to firmly secure the shuttle to the station
- Early this morning, Wetherbee and Usachev received a congratulatory
call from Sergio De Julio, president of the Italian Space Agency
responsible for developing the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module,
Leonardo, that holds nearly five tons of equipment to be transferred
to the station. Leonardo will be temporarily attached to the station
during the first of two scheduled space walks on Saturday, to allow
the transfer of the equipment and supplies housed inside.
- Meanwhile, on board the ISS, Expedition 1 Commander Bill Shepherd,
Pilot Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev made
last-minute preparations for the arrival of their temporary guests and
long-term replacements. The Expedition crews will exchange places on
the ISS in a three-step fashion, beginning with Usachev and Gidzenko,
who will swap places as Station and Shuttle crew members early
Saturday within hours after docking.
- The next STS-102/International Space Station mission status report
will be issued about 8 p.m. Friday.
- On Friday, March 9, 2001, 7:00 p.m. CST, STS-102 MCC Status Report # 4
reports:
- With the International Space Station 300 miles ahead, the crew of
the Space Shuttle Discovery awoke this afternoon to begin a third day
in space, a day that will bring a new crew to the growing
International Space Station.
- The shuttle crew was awakened with the Russian song “Vashe
Blagorodiye,” a song from a movie entitled “White Sun of the
Desert” that is traditionally watched by cosmonauts the night
before a launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The song
was played for Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev, who is spending
his last day aboard Discovery before beginning a handover of station
command with Expedition One crewmember Yuri Gidzenko.
- All activities are on track for a docking of Discovery to the
station at 11:34 p.m. The final phase of Discovery’s rendezvous
with the station was to begin with a Terminal Initiation (TI) engine
firing by the shuttle at 9:13 p.m. with Discovery about 50,000 feet
behind the station. The TI burn puts the shuttle on course to
intercept the station during the next orbit of Earth. At about 10:30
p.m., as Discovery reaches a point about a half-mile below the
complex, Commander Jim Wetherbee will take over manual control of the
approach. Wetherbee will fly Discovery to a position about 300 feet in
front of the station, then move in toward a docking port attached to
the end of the station’s Destiny Laboratory.
- During the docking, Pilot Jim Kelly will help control Discovery's
approach as astronauts Andy Thomas and Paul Richards manage the
shuttle's docking mechanism and rendezvous tools. Using a view from a
camera mounted in the center of Discovery's docking mechanism,
Wetherbee will center the docking ports of the two spacecraft
precisely, double-checking the alignment 30 feet out. The final
approach will be at a relative velocity of one-tenth of a foot per
second.
- When Discovery makes contact with the station’s docking port on
Destiny, latches will automatically connect the two spacecraft as they
fly high off the east coast of Brazil. Once relative motion between
the spacecraft stops, Thomas will retract the docking ring on
Discovery's mechanism, closing latches to firmly secure the shuttle to
the station. The hatches between the shuttle and station are to be
opened about two hours later at 1:42 a.m. Saturday.
- The crew will begin transferring crews, equipment and supplies
immediately. The first crew exchange is planned to allow Usachev to be
aboard the station jointly with Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd
for as long as possible to facilitate the change of leadership. The
hatches will be closed again at 4:37 a.m. Saturday so the shuttle crew
can prepare for the first of two planned spacewalks, a sojourn by
astronauts Jim Voss and Susan Helms set to begin Saturday evening.
- The stage is set for the eighth shuttle docking to the ISS with both
spacecraft in good shape. The next status report will be issued
Saturday morning.
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