STS-92 Day 5 Highlights
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- On Sunday, October 15, 2000, 6:30 a.m. CDT, STS-92 MCC Status Report # 8
reports:
- Two of Discovery^Òs astronauts will continue outfitting the most
recent addition to the International Space Station during a scheduled
6 ½-hour space walk today.
- Mission Specialists Bill McArthur and Leroy Chiao will connect two
sets of cables to provide power to heaters and conduits located on the
Z1 truss, relocate two communication antenna assemblies and install a
toolbox for use during future on-orbit construction. The space walk
is scheduled to begin about 9:45 this morning. Japanese Astronaut
Koichi Wakata will once again be at the controls of the Shuttle^Òs
robotic arm, using it to move the two astronauts around
Discovery^Òs payload bay and the Space Station.
- Chiao, designated EV1 and recognizable by the red bands on the legs
of his space suit, and McArthur, designated EV2 in a solid white suit,
will devote the first hour of their space walk to set-up activities in
Discovery^Òs payload bay, deploying tools and EVA aids including
foot restraints and tethers. With that complete, the first task will
be to connect the first six umbilical cables between Unity and the
truss structure. To ensure that the connectors the astronauts will be
working with are not ^Óhot,^Ô International Space Station
controllers in Houston and Moscow will alternately power down two
Russian-to-American Conversion Units, called RACUs. They provide
power to some of the systems in the Unity module including the early
communication system and some cabin fans. RACU 5 will be powered down
to support the first cable installation and reactivated before the
power down of RACU 6, ensuring that the Unity module will not be
without power during the space walk activities. !
- A second set of four umbilical power cables will be connected later in the space walk once RACU 5 has been repowered, and RACU 6 deactivated.
- Following the first cable installation task, McArthur and Chiao will
remove the S-band Antenna Subassembly (SASA) from its launch position
on the Z1 truss and place it in a temporary location until it is moved
and activated during the STS-97 mission in late November. The SASA is
launched in the position where two power conditioning systems ^Ö
called DDCU-HPs ^Ö will be installed during their space walk on
Tuesday. McArthur and Chiao will then turn their attention to
installing the Space to Ground Antenna (SGANT) deploying its antenna
dish. The antenna dish will be removed from its launch location on
the Z1 truss with Chiao standing on the robotic arm as McArthur
unbolts the dish assembly. Because of thermal limitations, the
antenna dish needs to be attached to the boom assembly within an hour
after being removed from its launch location.
- McArthur and Chiao also will relocate a tool stowage box, located on
the support structure for PMA-3 in Discovery^Òs payload bay, for
use during future on-orbit construction activities before concluding
their space walk and climbing back into Discovery^Òs airlock.
- Throughout the EVA, the second team of spacewalkers on this flight,
Jeff Wisoff and Mike Lopez-Alegria, will act as in-cabin
choreographers providing guidance and assistance to McArthur and Chiao
and back-up support to robot arm operator Wakata.
- Following the conclusion of the space walk, McArthur, Chiao, Wisoff
and Lopez-Alegria will resize the spacesuits, recharging batteries and
preparing them for the second of four consecutive days of EVAs to
expand the International Space Station.
- The next Mission Control Center status report will be issued at 7
p.m. CDT or as events warrant.
- On Sunday, October 15, 2000, 7:00 p.m. CDT, STS-92 MCC Status Report # 9
reports:
- A key structural element for the International Space Station is now
electrically connected to the rest of the station and important
communications equipment set up after today's successful space walk by
astronauts Leroy Chiao and Bill McArthur. ^ÓThe crew ^Å worked
absolutely perfectly together, ^Ó said lead flight director Chuck
Shaw in an evening press conference afterward. ^ÓIt^Òs a major
achievement for this complicated an EVA to go this well.^Ô
- In a 6-hour, 28-minute space walk, McArthur and Chiao connected 10
electrical umbilicals to provide power to heaters and conduits located
on the Z1 truss, relocated and deployed two communication antenna
assemblies and installed a toolbox for use during future on-orbit
construction. The EVA began at 9:27 a.m. CDT and ended at 3:55 p.m.
This was the seventh Space Station assembly space walk, the 51st EVA
in the Space Shuttle program and the 90th by Americans in the history
of the U.S. space program.
- Astronaut Koichi Wakata was again at the controls of the
Shuttle^Òs robotic arm, using it to move the two astronauts around
Discovery^Òs payload bay and the Space Station. McArthur spent
most of the time on the end of the mechanical arm working through the
long list of cable connections and other tasks. Chiao worked from the
end of the arm late in the space walk as he manually unfolded the
large ISS Ku-band antenna to its deployed position. That system will
be activated next February.
- Both astronauts spent the first hour of the EVA deploying tools and
EVA aids including foot restraints and tethers. Following the setup,
the astronauts worked to connect the first six umbilical cables
between Unity and the truss structure. With the first set of cables
attached, McArthur and Chiao removed the S-band Antenna Subassembly
(SASA) from its launch position on the Z1 truss and placed it in a
temporary location where it will remain until it is moved and
activated during the STS-97 mission in late November. The SASA was
launched in the position where two power converter units will be
installed during the third space walk on Tuesday. A second set of
four cables was connected before McArthur and Chiao installed the
Space to Ground Antenna (SGANT), deploying its antenna dish. The
antenna dish was removed from its launch location on the Z1 truss with
Chiao standing on the robotic arm as McArthur unbolted the dish
assembly. The two space walkers also relocated a tool s! towage box,
located on the support structure for PMA-3 in Discovery^Òs payload
bay, for use during future on-orbit construction.
- In tomorrow's EVA, the second team of space walkers on this flight,
Jeff Wisoff and Mike Lopez-Alegria, will perform chores in helping to
install the Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 (PMA3) to which Space Shuttle
Endeavour will dock in early December. The two also will release
latches at the top of the Z1 Truss which will be used to hold the
large solar arrays that will be brought up on that flight.
- The astronauts are due to start their sleep period at 9:17 p.m. CDT
and be awakened at 5:17 a.m. Monday.
- The next Mission Control Center status report will be issued at 7
a.m. CDT or as events warrant.
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