STS-92 Day 6 Highlights
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- On Monday, October 16, 2000, 6:00 a.m. CDT, STS-92 MCC Status Report # 10
reports:
- With the first of four consecutive space walks behind them,
Discovery^Òs crew turns its attention to today^Òs scheduled
on-orbit construction activities by Mission Specialists Jeff Wisoff
and Mike Lopez-Alegria.
- The two astronauts are scheduled to begin a planned 6 ½ hour
space walk about 9:30 this morning to install an additional docking
port ^Ö Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 ^Ö and ready the Z1 truss
for installation of the large solar arrays that will be delivered by
the next Shuttle crew in late November. The first task for Wisoff and
Lopez-Alegria will be to release the latches that hold the PMA-3 in
place and to provide Koichi Wakata with visual cues as he uses the
robotic arm to gently raise PMA-3 from its support platform in
Discovery^Òs payload bay.
- As Wakata maneuvers PMA-3 to its new location on the Unity module,
Wisoff and Lopez-Alegria will release latches at the top of the Z1
truss and prepare the work surface of the attach point for the large
solar arrays that will be delivered during the STS-97 mission in
November. They will then work their way back to Unity to act as an
extra set of eyes providing Wakata with guidance as he attaches the
PMA-3. Once the crew sees a series of ^Óready to latch^Ô
indicators, Pilot Pam Melroy will use a laptop computer to command
latches and bolts to secure the PMA to its new home on the Unity
module, much as she did during the installation of the Z1 truss on
Saturday. However, today she will command only the first of four
stages of the bolting process to allow seals on both the PMA and the
common berthing mechanism on Unity to reach thermal equilibrium. The
final commanding will be done by the flight crew Tuesday morning,
after flight controllers in Houston confirm that the temperat! ure
variances between the two seals are within acceptable limits.
- In the ISS flight control room this morning, the Power, Heating,
Articulation, Lighting and Control Officer ^Ö PHALCON ^Ö
successfully completed work with the two Plasma Contactor Units (PCUs)
mounted on the Z1 truss. The PCUs, which are designed to discharge
electrical current on the Station and in its immediate environment,
were launched with their valves open to allow a continual discharge of
xenon gas to prevent contamination of the units. This morning, the
PHALCON powered on and purged the units, closed the valves and
deactivated the PCUs. The units will be powered on during the STS-97
mission once the solar arrays are deployed and begin generating
current.
- Today^Òs scheduled space walk will be the eight Space Station
assembly space walk, the 52nd EVA in the Space Shuttle program and the
91st by Americans in the history of the U.S. space program.
- The next Mission Control Center status report will be issued at 6
p.m. CDT or as events warrant.
- On Monday, October 16, 2000, 7:30 p.m. CDT, STS-92 MCC Status Report # 11
reports:
- Discovery astronauts Jeff Wisoff and Mike Lopez-Alegria successfully
completed the second of STS-92^Òs four scheduled spacewalks on
Monday, attaching an additional docking port to the growing
International Space Station. The two spacewalkers also prepared the
Z1 truss for the installation of the huge solar arrays to be launched
aboard the next shuttle flight.
- Wisoff and Lopez-Alegria began their spacewalk at 9:15 a.m. CDT,
about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Their first job was to release
the latches that held the docking port, Pressurized Mating Adapter 3,
securely in Discovery^Òs cargo bay. They helped Koichi Wakata,
operating the robotic arm, providing eyes for him as he slowly raised
the docking port from its support platform.
- While Wakata maneuvered PMA-3 to its new location on the Unity
module, opposite the Z1 truss installed Saturday, Wisoff and
Lopez-Alegria released latches atop the Z1 truss and prepared an
attach point for the large solar arrays that will be delivered during
the STS-97 mission scheduled for launch next month. Next they worked
their way back to Unity, again to act as an extra set of eyes for
Wakata as he attached the docking port.
- After Discovery astronauts saw a series of ^Óready to latch^Ô
indicators, Pilot Pam Melroy used a laptop computer to command latches
and bolts to begin to secure the mating adapter to its new home on the
station. She commanded only the first of four stages of the bolting
process. The flight crew will do the final commanding Tuesday
morning, after flight controllers in Houston confirm that the
temperatures of seals on the docking port and Unity^Òs Common
Berthing Mechanism have become more nearly equal.
- Monday^Òs 7 hour, 7 minute spacewalk, which ended at 4:22 p.m.,
was the, the 52nd EVA in the Space Shuttle program and the 91st by
Americans in the history of the U.S. space program. It brought to
eight the total of ISS assembly spacewalks, with a total time of 55
hours, 50 minutes. With the addition of the 18,000-pound Z1 Truss on
Saturday and the 3,000-pound mating adapter, the station has gained
about 21,000 pounds during STS-92. It now weights about 80 tons.
- As the spacewalk was ending, Discovery Commander Brian Duffy and
Pilot Pam Melroy completed the first of three station reboosts
scheduled for STS-92. They fired reaction control system jets in 18
pulses of 1.4 seconds each, over a 30-minute period, gently raising
the station^Òs orbit by about 1.7 statute miles.
- The next Mission Control Center status report will be issued at 6
a.m. Tuesday, or as events warrant.
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