STS-96 Day 7 Highlights
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- On Wednesday, June 2, 1999, 8:00 a.m. CDT, STS-96 MCC Status Report # 14
reports:
- Discovery's seven astronauts have successfully transferred almost
two tons of material and equipment to the International Space Station
be used by the first residents of the outpost when they arrive next
year.
- Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa, who has been coordinating the
transfer activities, reported early this morning that the transfer of
clothing, water, sleeping bags, spare parts, medical equipment,
supplies and hardware for the so-called Expedition One crew is
essentially complete. Mission Specialist Julie Payette coordinated
stowage of the items in the Unity and Zarya modules. Earlier in the
flight, space walkers Dan Barry and Tammy Jernigan installed another
700 pounds of equipment on the exterior of the station to be used
during future assembly missions. A handful of items will be carried
from Discovery to the station late tonight to wrap up the primary
objective of the flight.
- One of the few items still to be transferred is a seventh bag of
water. A total of almost 75 gallons of water will be left aboard the
station for the first resident crew, which is comprised of Expedition
Commander Bill Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and
Sergei Kirkalev.
- With the transfer work all but complete, the astronauts conducted
some additional work, installing parts of a wireless strain gauge
system that will help engineers track the effects of adding modules to
the station throughout its assembly, cleaning filters and checking
smoke detectors.
- The crew took time from their activities overnight to conduct a
variety of news conferences with media representatives, and Payette
accepted a congratulatory call from Canadian Prime Minister Jean
Chretien and schoolchildren in Ottawa.
- The astronauts began an eight-hour sleep period at 7:50 a.m. Central
time and will be awakened at 3:50 p.m. to begin their final day of
work aboard the international station
- The primary activity for the astronauts will be to move the few
remaining items from Discovery to the ISS, then close a series of
hatches within the station's modules leading back to the shuttle.
Shortly after 4:30 a.m. Thursday, Discovery's thrusters will be
commanded to fire in a series of 17 bursts to raise the Space
Station's altitude by about five to six miles. That reboost maneuver
will enable the station to be in the correct altitude for the arrival
of the Russian Zvezda service module late this year. It will be the
next component to be linked to the growing station complex and the
first living quarters for the first permanent occupants of the orbital
facility.
- 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 at about 7
p.m. Wednesday or as developments warrant.
- On Wednesday, June 2, 1999, 7:00 p.m. CDT, STS-96 MCC Status Report # 15
reports:
- Discovery's astronauts will finish their work inside the
International Space Station tonight and are scheduled have all the
hatches closed by about 4 a.m. Thursday. Shortly thereafter, the
shuttle's small thrusters will be fired to raise the entire complex's
orbit in preparation for the undocking and departure set for late
tomorrow afternoon.
- The crew was awakened at 3:50 this afternoon by the Russian song
"Vasha Blagarodye" followed by "The Charleston."
The tunes were played for cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and Mission
Specialist Ellen Ochoa.
- The early part of the evening includes the completion of transfer
activities. By day's end, the crew will have transferred a total of
115 items totaling 3,718 pounds of equipment both inside and outside
the space station. Those numbers include seven containers of water
totaling about 84 gallons for use by future station crews.
- Ochoa and Canadian astronaut Julie Payette will use the shuttle's
robot arm one last time this evening to conduct a survey of the port
side antenna for the Early Communications System on Unity. This
survey will complete robotic arm tasks scheduled earlier in the
flight.
- Once that is completed, the crew will begin closing the hatches that
were opened after Discovery docked with the station earlier this week.
The crew will climb out of Zarya at about 12:30 a.m. central time
Thursday and will move out of the Unity module at about 2:50 a.m.,
closing the final hatch at about 3:30 a.m.
- Commander Kent Rominger and Pilot Rick Husband will begin boosting
the station's altitude at about 4:30 tomorrow morning using the
Reaction Control System thrusters on the orbiter. The 40-minute
activity will raise the complex's altitude by about 6 miles (statute).
Undocking from the International Space Station is not scheduled until
late Thursday afternoon at about 5:40 p.m.
- The next STS-96 mission status report will be issued at about 7
a.m. Thursday or as developments warrant.
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