STS-98 Day 9 Highlights

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On Thursday, February 15, 2001, 6:00 a.m. CST, STS-98 MCC Status Report # 16 reports:

On the last full day of docked operations between the crews of Atlantis and the International Space Station (ISS), the eight space travelers will continue transferring supplies and equipment in preparation for Friday morning's undocking.

Atlantis' astronauts were awakened shortly after 4 a.m. Central time today to begin their ninth day in space.

Among the final items to be transferred to the Station today are a replacement hard drive for a portable computer, the spacesuit worn by Tom Jones during his three space walks for future use, and additional tools and supplies for Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd, including a screwdriver, bolts, tape and printer paper. Jones' space suit will remain on the Station for use by visiting shuttle crews and for Station-based space walks once the U.S. airlock is installed later this year.

Commander Ken Cockrell and Pilot Mark Polansky will again fire Atlantis' thrusters in two additional reboost maneuvers to gently raise the Station's altitude. Today's firings will be the sixth and seventh of the mission and should add another five statute miles to the station's altitude. Atlantis will leave the Station about 16 statute miles higher than last Friday when the Shuttle arrived.

Cockrell, Jones and Bob Curbeam will take a break from their work at 7:49 a.m. Central time today to talk with elementary and middle school students from the Baltimore area at the Maryland Science Center. Later, both crews will field questions from reporters in the U.S. and Russia during a news conference starting at 12:37 p.m. With Atlantis scheduled to undock from the Station shortly after 8 a.m. Central time Friday, Curbeam, Jones and Marsha Ivins will check out some of the rendezvous tools they will use as Polansky gently backs Atlantis away from the Station prior to the start of a half-lap flyaround to enable the astronauts to collect detailed pictures and video of the newly expanded Station. Hatches between the two craft will be closed early Friday for the final time after the crewmembers say goodbye to one another.

Flight controllers in Houston, meanwhile, continue their checkout of the systems of the new Destiny laboratory of the ISS, reporting that the research facility is in excellent shape except for a balky pump in the carbon dioxide removal system of the Atmospheric Revitalization Rack. Troubleshooting on that pump continues, but the rack is not needed presently and controllers believe the problem will be solved before long.

The Expedition One crew - Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev - will work side by side with Atlantis' astronauts today in the transfer of equipment and will document life on board the Station with a large format IMAX camera. Atlantis and the International Space Station are orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 237 statute miles with all systems functioning normally.

On Thursday, February 15, 2001, 7:00 p.m. CST, STS-98 MCC Status Report # 17 reports:

The crews of the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station spent a final full day together today, completing the transfer of about one and a half tons of gear to the station, finishing work together in the station's new Destiny Lab, and preparing for the shuttle's departure on Friday.

Atlantis also gave the station a final boost, with Commander Ken Cockrell setting the shuttle's jets to fire gradually and increase the altitude of the shuttle and station for a fourth time on the flight. When Atlantis undocks tomorrow, the station will be about 16 statute miles higher than when the shuttle arrived.

Inside the spacecraft, the crews transferred a total of 3,000 pounds of equipment and supplies to the station from Atlantis, including water, food, spare parts, a spare Russian carbon dioxide removal system, a spare computer, clothes, movies and other items. About 850 pounds of trash - used batteries, packing materials no longer needed, empty food containers and other items - was moved from the station to Atlantis.

Outside the spacecraft, in addition to the 16-ton Destiny Lab and its associated equipment, Jones and Curbeam attached about 350 pounds of equipment to the station during their three spacewalks, including a spare communications antenna and a mounting fixture for the station's Canadian robotic arm that will be launched this spring.

The station's gyroscopes are continuing to control the station's orientation today, although one of the four gyroscopes was briefly taken off-line automatically by the onboard computer system. The problem did not affect the station's control at all since only two out of the four gyroscopes onboard are needed to maintain its orientation. The off-line gyroscope was quickly spun back up to its operating speed of 6,600 revolutions per minute and appears to be working perfectly, although it remains off-line currently while flight controllers evaluate its performance. However, the problem is not believed to be a concern for putting the unit back into service soon.

The station and shuttle crew will spend a final night tonight with the hatches open between the two spacecraft, and they will say farewell and close the hatches at 6:18 a.m. Central Friday. Atlantis is planned to undock from the station at 8:06 a.m. Central Friday as the two spacecraft fly 237 miles above the Western Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Guinea. After undocking, Atlantis will remain within about 450 feet from the station for about 40 minutes, performing a half circle of the station, undocking from below the complex and flying to a point directly above it. At that point at about 8:47 a.m. Central, Atlantis will fire its engines to separate the vicinity of the station. Atlantis is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center just before noon Central time on Sunday.

The shuttle and station crews will go to sleep at 8:13 p.m. Central. The shuttle crew will awaken at 4:13 a.m. Friday and the station crew will awaken about a half-hour later.

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