STS-74 Day 3 Highlights
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- On Tuesday, November 14, 1995, 5 a.m. CST, STS-74 MCC Status Report # 05
reports:
- STS-74 crew members early Tuesday successfully mated a 15-foot,
Russian built docking module from the Space Shuttle Atlantis's payload
bay to the shuttle's Orbiter Docking System. The mating operation
went by the book with no problems reported.
- Chris Hadfield, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut and STS-74 mission
specialist, used the shuttle's robot arm to hoist the docking module
out of the aft portion of the payload bay, rotated it to a vertical
position, and moved it to within five inches of the Orbiter Docking
System. At that point, the shuttle fired its downward steering jets
and moved the shuttle toward the docking module. Once the two
spacecraft were locked together, the docking ring on the Orbiter
Docking System retracted, and a series of hooks and latches were
engaged insuring an airtight seal between the two spacecraft.
- The mating was confirmed at 1:17 a.m. CST with Atlantis was over the
eastern portion of Europe on its 30th orbit. Shortly after the
capture, Commander Ken Cameron expressed the crew's appreciation for
the training that prepared them for the docking module installation.
- At about 3 a.m. CST, the crew received a go from ground flight
controllers to ungrapple the robot arm from the docking module.
Shortly after that, crew members raised the orbiter's cabin pressure
from 10.2 pounds per square inch to 14.7 psi. The cabin's pressure
was lowered in the event that a problem during the mating process
neccessitated an emergency spacewalk.
- Crew members also mounted a centerline camera into the top hatch of
the docking module. The camera will provide the primary visual cue
for Cameron as he maneuvers Atlantis to its docking with Russia's
Space Station Mir early Wednesday.
- Atlantis is trailing Mir by about 1450 statute miles and is closing
at a rate of about 180 statute miles every orbit. A series of
rendezvous jet firings will further refine the closing rate, leading
up to a docking with Mir at 12:27 a.m. CST Wednesday.
- The crew is scheduled to begin a shortened sleep period at 12:31
p.m. today and will be awakened at 6:31 p.m. today. Flight
controllers are working toward an earlier start to the crew's sleep
period to enable the astronauts to get additional rest time in advance
of tomorrow's docking.
- Because of the federal government furlough situation, it is likely
that the JSC Newsroom will close about 10 a.m. CST today and reopen
when the furlough is lifted.
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