STS-106 Day 7 Highlights

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On Friday, September 15, 2000, 7:00 a.m. CDT, STS-106 MCC Status Report # 15 reports:

The International Space Station got another boost overnight, as STS-106 Commander Terry Wilcutt and Pilot Scott Altman executed another hour-long series of thruster firings designed to raise the station^Òs orbit by several more miles.

Thirty-six pulses of Atlantis^Ò reaction control system thrusters boosted the station another 3 ½ miles (5.6 km). The third reboost of the mission placed the ISS in a 237 by 229 statute mile orbit (381 x 368 km). One more reboost maneuver is scheduled Sunday before the shuttle undocks from the station.

Mission Specialists Ed Lu and Yuri Malenchenko spent much of their day installing power converters in the Zvezda module. These will allow current from U.S. solar arrays to be used in the Russian modules. The first set of these large arrays is scheduled to be installed on the station in early December.

The crew took a closer look at the connections on one of Zvezda^Òs eight batteries that is not working properly. Mission managers have elected to disconnect cables from the battery and do no further work since seven of the eight batteries are working fine. As few as five can supply enough electrical capability when a crew is stationed on the ISS.

Lu and Malenchenko also installed components of the Elektron system in Zvezda. That equipment, sent into orbit aboard the Progress, separates water into oxygen and hydrogen and will be used to replenish the air in the station. The system will be activated after arrival of the first station crew.

Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Dan Burbank and Boris Morukov concentrated their efforts on transferring, organizing and stowing equipment and supplies from Atlantis to the station. The 1,300 pounds of gear aboard the Progress cargo spacecraft that is docked to the aft end of the Zvezda module already has been unloaded, and that vehicle is now being utilized as a trash container that eventually will be remotely undocked to burn up harmlessly in the Earth^Òs atmosphere.

So far, 3,700 pounds of hardware and supplies has been moved into the ISS, including six, 100 pound bags of water, all the food for the first resident crew, office supplies, onboard environmental supplies, a vacuum cleaner and a computer and monitor.

Atlantis^Ò astronauts will go to bed mid-morning today and will be awakened from Mission Control at 6:46 this evening. Their next workday will focus on the assembly of the station^Òs treadmill exercise equipment.

The next STS-106 status report will be issued at 7 p.m. today or sooner if events warrant.

On Friday, September 15, 2000, 8:30 p.m. CDT, STS-106 MCC Status Report # 16 reports:

With one full day of docked operations remaining to complete their work on the International Space Station (ISS), the seven-member crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis continued setting up equipment for the station^Òs first inhabitants.

The astronauts began their sixth day attached to the Space Station this evening, as Mission Control awakened the crew at 6:46pm Central time with the University of Connecticut Fight Song, performed by the University of Connecticut Band. The music was played for Rick Mastracchio, an alumnus of that school.

On the timeline for flight day nine will be the setup of the ISS treadmill and its associated equipment. The device, known as the Treadmill with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization (TVIS) allows station crews to maintain physical conditioning during their extended flights without shaking sensitive experiments.

Astronauts also will reinstall the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) Controllers that had been removed by the STS-96 crew to facilitate logistics transfer during the ISS supply and setup missions. The CBM controllers are suitcase-size devices that control the latching of modules and ISS hardware to the Unity node. They were removed to avoid damage to the units and to ease the transfer of bulky items through the hatches. This reinstallation was a get-ahead task that the crew was able to work into its timeline.

Pilot Scott Altman and Mission Specialist Ed Lu will participate in a series of in-flight interviews with three media outlets Saturday. They will talk with WHEC-TV in Rochester, NY, Fox News Network and the Orlando Sentinel beginning at 6:56 a.m. CDT.

Cargo transfer is proceeding well with more than 3500 pounds of supplies, water and equipment having been moved from the orbiter into the station. The crew has unloaded approximately 1,300 pounds from the Progress resupply vehicle presently docked to the end of the Zvezda module. The empty Progress is now being used as a trash receptacle and will be remotely deorbited prior to the arrival of the first resident crew to the Station later this fall.

Atlantis is in a 206 x 199 nautical mile orbit with all systems functioning normally. The next STS-106 status report will be issued at 7 a.m. Saturday or sooner if events warrant.

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