STS-96 Day 5 Highlights

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On Monday, May 31, 1999, 7:00 a.m. CDT, STS-96 MCC Status Report # 10 reports:

For the first time in six months, astronauts entered the International Space Station delivering supplies and preparing the outpost to receive its first resident crew, scheduled to arrive in early 2000.

Mission Specialists Tammy Jernigan and Russian Space Agency cosmonaut Valery Tokarev opened the hatch into the Unity module at 8:14 p.m. CDT Sunday, then continued through Pressurized Mating Adapter 1 into the Zarya module at 9:07 p.m. Commander Kent Rominger and the rest of the crew - Pilot Rick Husband and Mission Specialists Ellen Ochoa, Dan Barry and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette - soon followed.

After inspecting their expanded living quarters, the crew began transferring supplies, equipment and water that will be left aboard, an effort that was coordinated by Ochoa. The bulk of the supplies and equipment were shipped up in a double SPACEHAB module carried in Discovery's cargo bay.

Payette and Tokarev replaced 12 of 18 battery recharge controllers in the Russian-built Zarya module. Zarya has six batteries, which have been experiencing a slight loss in capacity during recharge. Each battery has three "charge controllers," known by the Russian acronym MIRTS. The astronauts replaced controllers for four of the batteries, and are scheduled to replace the recharge controllers for the other two later today. The work was carefully coordinated with flight controllers in the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow, who issued commands to turn the battery systems on and off via ground-based communication stations. Barry and Tokarev also installed a series of "mufflers" over fans inside Zarya to reduce noise levels in that module.

Barry and Husband replaced a power distribution unit and transceiver for the Early Communications System in the Unity module, restoring that system to its full capability. This supplemental communications system enables flight controllers to send commands to the station from the Mission Control complex in Houston.

Near the end of their workday, Rominger, Jernigan and Barry discussed the progress of their mission, including Jernigan and Barry's space walk and last night's entry into the International Space Station, with NBC's "Today," show, CBS "This Morning" and CNN.

The crew is scheduled to begin its sleep period at 8:20 a.m. CDT, and will awaken at 4:20 p.m. to continue their work in the ISS.

The next STS-96 mission status report will be issued at approximately 7 p.m. Central time or as events warrant.

On Monday, May 31, 1999, 6:00 p.m. CDT, STS-96 MCC Status Report # 11 reports:

Discovery's crew of seven awoke to the country and western tune "Amarillo by Morning" to begin flight day six on orbit. The George Strait version was played in honor of Pilot Rick Husband, who is from Amarillo, Texas.

Today, most of the crew will be involved in logistics transfer activities within the Discovery/ISS orbiting complex. Husband and Mission Specialists Ellen Ochoa, Tammy Jernigan and Dan Barry have a significant portion of their day dedicated to moving transfer bags of different sizes and shapes from the SPACEHAB module in Discovery's cargo bay to resting places inside the International Space Station. Some 2,900 pounds of logistics items and water will be transferred before the crew bids goodbye to its orbiting work site on Thursday.

Discovery's crew will also complete maintenance activities in support of the station. Early in the workday, Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and Canadian astronaut Julie Payette will change out the last battery recharge controller modules attached to two of Zarya's storage batteries. These recharging units, also known as microelectronic charge/discharge current integrator units, determine the battery charge level. Since mid-April, flight controllers had been monitoring a slight decrease in this level, and the on-orbit maintenance work is expected to allow the batteries to charge fully once again.

Later, Barry and Tokarev will put the remaining sound mufflers inside the Zarya module. Ambient noise from air circulating fans and equipment could be somewhat distracting to crew members spending time on orbit, so mufflers are being installed to dampen the noise. After the install, Barry will measure sound levels at different positions inside the module.

At 12:20 a.m. Tuesday, Commander Kent Rominger and Tokarev will conduct a news conference with Russian media located at the Mission Control Center in Moscow.

The day will end with a logistics transfer briefing conducted by Payette. The crew is scheduled to turn in at about 8 a.m. CDT Tuesday.

Discovery and the International Space Station are in excellent health orbiting 240 miles above the Earth. The next mission status report will be issued Tuesday morning.

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