STS-96 Day 6 Highlights
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- On Tuesday, June 1, 1999, 7:00 a.m. CDT, STS-96 MCC Status Report # 12
reports:
- Discovery's crew headed for its sleep period this morning, reporting
significant progress in the transfer of equipment and supplies to the
International Space Station after finishing up the planned
refurbishment of a battery system in one of the station's modules.
- Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa, the "load master" of this
resupply mission, radioed to Mission Control that many of the larger
items to be transferred to the new station, such as laptop computers
and clothing, had made their way from Discovery to the ISS. At the
time the astronauts prepared to go to sleep, well over 50 per cent of
all planned transfers were complete.
- Early in the crew's workday, Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and
Canadian astronaut Julie Payette changed out the final six battery
recharge controller units for two of Zarya's power-producing
batteries. The new recharging units are expected to allow the
batteries to charge and discharge properly once again. They had
experienced difficulty soon after Zarya's launch last November. Twelve
of the units were replaced late Sunday.
- Dan Barry and Tokarev continued the installation of mufflers inside
Zarya to help dampen sound levels in the Russian module. Commander
Kent Rominger sent down a video inspection of the mufflers installed
on portions of the air circulating duct work, explaining that the
mufflers are causing some of the flexible ductwork to collapse. Flight
controllers believe that humidity levels inside Zarya are at an
acceptable level even though they are a bit higher than predicted
because of some restriction to air flow in the module. Additional
muffler and humidity reduction work likely will be conducted by the
astronauts late tonight.
- Rominger and Tokarev took time out to answer questions regarding the
progress of the flight from Russian reporters located at the Russian
Mission Control Center outside Moscow.
- The astronauts will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 7:50
a.m. Central time, with a wake-up call scheduled for 3:50 p.m. to
begin their seventh day of work in space.
- Discovery and the International Space Station are in excellent
health orbiting 240 miles above the Earth.
- The next STS-96 mission status report will be issued Tuesday evening
at about 6 p.m. Central time or as developments warrant.
- On Tuesday, June 1, 1999, 6:30 p.m. CDT, STS-96 MCC Status Report # 13
reports:
- Discovery's crew awakened this afternoon to the classical music
selection "Exultate Jubilate" by Mozart. The selection is a
favorite of Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette.
- Logistics transfer activities will dominate the on-orbit day as all
crew members will moves supplies from the SPACEHAB module to
designated locations in the International Space Station. By the end
of docked operations, Discovery's crew will have transferred almost
3,000 pounds of items, including clothing, sleeping bags, water,
medical support equipment, maintenance spares and computer support and
maintenance equipment into the orbiting complex to support future
resident crews. This transfer effort is being managed by Mission
Specialist Ellen Ochoa is managing this effort while Payette stands
ready inside the station to receive the goods. At the start of
today's work, the transfer was about 70 percent complete.
- Payette and Commander Kent Rominger exchanged greetings and
discussed the mission with Canada's Prime Minister Jean Cretien and
Science Minister John Manley and also answered questions from students
across Canada.
- Later, at 11:00 p.m. CDT on NASA TV, the entire crew will answer
questions from both U.S. and Canadian reporters.
- Finally, at 4:20 a.m. Wednesday, Rominger, Pilot Rick Husband and
Ochoa will be interviewed by Good Morning America, KFDA-TV in
Amarillo, Texas and KUSA-TV in Denver, Colorado. Rominger is a native
of Del Norte, Colorado and Husband is a native of Amarillo, Texas.
- Near the end of the day, Ochoa again will conduct a transfer status
briefing with the ground to confirm the day's completed transfer
tasks. The astronauts will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 7:50
a.m. Wednesday and wake up to begin Flight Day Eight at 3:50 p.m.
- Discovery and the International Space Station are in excellent
health orbiting 240 miles above the Earth.
- The next STS-96 mission status report will be issued Wednesday
morning at about 7 a.m. Central time or as developments warrant.
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