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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