STS-100 Day 2 Highlights
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- On Friday, April 20, 2001, 3:00 a.m. CDT, STS-100 MCC Status Report # 1
reports:
- The crew of the shuttle Endeavour worked this morning to prepare for
its Saturday docking with the International Space Station and for the
two planned spacewalks while there. The chase to catch up with the
waiting station and its Expedition Two crew continues with another in
the series of rendezvous maneuvers scheduled for about 5:30 this
morning.
- Endeavour is scheduled to dock with the station at 8:36 Saturday
morning to deliver the Canadian built high tech robotic arm, called
Canadarm2 and the Raffaello Multipurpose Logistics Module supplied to
the program by the Italian Space Agency. Raffaello contains equipment
and supplies for the station and its crew of Commander Yury Usachev,
and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms. It also brings two new
experiment racks for the station's U.S. laboratory Destiny.
- The Endeavour crew, Commander Kent Rominger, Pilot Jeff Ashby and
Mission Specialists Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency, John
Phillips, Scott Parazynski, Umberto Guidoni of the European Space
Agency and Yuri Lonchakov of Rosaviakosmos were awakened at 2:41
a.m. Friday by “Then the Morning Comes” by the musical group
Smashmouth. It was chosen for Phillips, making his first spaceflight.
- Today the shuttle crew will checkout three spacesuits and the
orbiter's robotic arm while rendezvous preparations include
installation of the centerline camera and extension of Endeavour's
Orbital Docking System ring. Another rendezvous engine burn is
scheduled shortly before the crew finishes today's activities.
- Space station crewmembers also will get ready for the
rendezvous. Later today they will prepare equipment for transfer to
the shuttle shortly after docking.
- Endeavour will bring the first visitors to the Expedition Two crew
since Discovery's departure last month. Shortly after
Endeavour's scheduled undocking and departure from the station on
April 28, a taxi crew is to arrive with a new Soyuz spacecraft. It
will replace the Soyuz, which launched the first crew toward the
station on Oct. 31, 2000. The Soyuz capsule has an on-orbit life of
about six months.
- Hadfield and Parazynski will conduct two spacewalks on Sunday and
Tuesday. The first will focus on installation of the 2-ton,
57-foot-long Canadarm2. The second is devoted to checkout of the arm
that will be instrumental in future space station assembly.
- Major systems aboard Endeavour and the International Space Station
continue to function well. The next status report will be issued
later today, or as events warrant.
- On Friday, April 20, 2001, 5:30 p.m. CDT, STS-100 MCC Status Report # 3
reports:
- The day on orbit was one of preparations as Endeavour's seven
astronauts got ready for tomorrow morning's scheduled arrival at
the International Space Station, and Sunday's planned space walk by
Mission Specialists Chris Hadfield and Scott Parazynski.
- Endeavour is scheduled to dock with the station at 8:32
a.m. Saturday although the crews will not greet each other until early
Monday. In preparation for tomorrow's rendezvous and docking,
Hadfield and Parazynski checked out the tools and hardware that will
be used during Endeavour's approach to the station, and Commander
Kent Rominger and Pilot Jeff Ashby installed a center-line camera in
the orbiter docking system.
- Rominger, Ashby and Flight Engineer John Phillips performed another
in a series of engine firings to refine Endeavour's approach to the
Station. As of 5 p.m., Endeavour was approximately 1,400 miles behind
and below the station, and closing that distance at the rate of about
171 miles every orbit of the Earth. Hadfield and Parazynski also
verified the operation of the spacesuits they will wear on two
scheduled space walks to install and activate the new Canadarm2
robotic arm.
- European Space Agency astronaut Umberto Guidoni began preparations
for the transfer of hardware and material from Endeavour to the
station and worked with Ashby in checking out the shuttle's robotic
arm to verify its operation. Yuri Lonchakov of Rosaviakosmos worked on
the middeck and filled two large water containers for later transfer
to the station.
- Endeavour's astronauts will go to sleep at 5:41 p.m. today,
awakening at 1:41 a.m. Saturday. They will quickly begin the final
stages of their chase of the International Space Station. The final
intercept burn is scheduled for 6:13 a.m., with docking at 8:32 a.m.,
as the two spacecraft fly overhead the Southeast coast of China,
northeast of Victoria, Hong Kong.
- Meanwhile, on the space station, Expedition 2 Commander Yury Usachev
and Flight Engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss continued packing return
items and making sure their orbiting home is ready for the crew's
first visitors. Flight controllers report that the Russian
segment's carbon dioxide removal system is not working at its
highest rate, probably due to a clogged filter screen. The situation
poses no problems for the upcoming shuttle visit, but could lead to
increased use of backup lithium hydroxide removal systems after the
shuttle undocks and additional crew members arrive on a Soyuz taxi
flight. The station crew may be asked do some repairs on the unit on
Saturday.
- Otherwise, all major systems aboard Endeavour and the International
Space Station continue to function well. The next status report will
be issued Saturday morning after the crew is awake, or as events
warrant.
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