STS-101 Day 10 Highlights
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- On Sunday, May 28, 2000, 7:00 a.m. CDT, STS-101 MCC Status Report # 19
reports:
- The astronauts aboard Atlantis have packed their bags and checked
out their spacecraft in preparation for a return home and a planned
touchdown at 1:20 a.m. Central time Monday at the Kennedy Space
Center.
- Saturday evening, Commander Jim Halsell, Pilot Scott Horowitz and
Flight Engineer Jeff Williams successfully test fired Atlantis'
steering jets and verified the performance of the equipment Atlantis
will use for its trip home, finding everything in good shape. Early
Sunday, Halsell fired Atlantis steering jets to lower its orbit by
about nine miles, a maneuver that optimizes the landing opportunities
that will be available for the shuttle.
- For a 1:20 a.m. Monday landing at KSC, Atlantis' orbital maneuvering
system engines would be fired in a deorbit burn at 12:13 a.m. In the
event weather precludes a landing on the first opportunity, a second
opportunity exists for a landing in Florida on the next orbit, with a
deorbit burn at 1:50 a.m. resulting in a 2:56 a.m. landing. The
weather forecast for landing indicates acceptable conditions, although
forecasters will be monitoring the progress of a front moving toward
Florida throughout the day and its potential effect on winds at the
Shuttle Landing Facility runway.
- Two opportunities for a landing in Florida also are available on
Tuesday and again on Wednesday, if needed. Also on Wednesday, Atlantis
could land at Edwards Air Force Base, California, if required.
- The crew sleep period begins at 7:11 a.m. and will end with a wakeup
call from Mission Control at 3:11 p.m. Central. They will begin
deorbit preparations in earnest just after 8 p.m. The shuttle's
payload bay doors would be closed at about 9:30 p.m. and a go or no go
decision would be made by Mission Control at about midnight in
preparation for a 1:20 a.m. Monday landing.
- On Sunday, May 28, 2000, 4:00 p.m. CDT, STS-101 MCC Status Report # 20
reports:
- Atlantis' astronauts were awakened at 3:11 p.m. CDT this afternoon
to make final preparations for their return to Earth following 10 days
in space readying the International Space Station for future
occupation. Mission Control awakened the astronauts to the march
"El Capitan," by John Philip Sousa.
- Final deorbit preparation begins at 8:13 p.m. CDT this evening on
the crew's timeline. The space shuttle's payload bay doors will be
closed at 9:33 p.m. and the spacecraft's radiators will no longer
provide cooling once they are closed. Mission Control gives a
"go" or "no go" call for transition to the
software phase known as "Ops 3" at 9:45 p.m., shifting the
onboard computers' attention to deorbit and entry tasks.
- The astronauts start getting into their launch/entry suits at 10:49
p.m., climb into their seats at 11:13 p.m., perform a gimbal check of
the Orbital Maneuvering System engines at 11:35 p.m. and pre-start the
auxiliary power units to generate hydraulic power for the aerodynamic
surfaces at 11:39 p.m.
- The flight control team in Mission Control will review the condition
of the Shuttle Orbiter and make a go/no go decision for the deorbit
burn at 11:58 p.m. Atlantis maneuvers to the deorbit burn attitude at
midnight and fires the OMS engines at 12:13 a.m. CDT to slow the
forward speed and drop the spacecraft from orbit. Touchdown is planned
for 1:20 a.m. Central time Monday at the Kennedy Space Center.
- A second opportunity for landing occurs one orbit later with a
deorbit burn at 1:50 a.m. and a landing at KSC at 2:56 a.m. CDT. The
weather forecast for landing indicates acceptable conditions, although
forecasters will be monitoring the progress of a front moving toward
Florida throughout the day and its potential effect on winds at the
Shuttle Landing Facility runway.
- Two opportunities for a landing in Florida also are available on
Tuesday and again on Wednesday, if needed. Also on Wednesday, Atlantis
could land at Edwards Air Force Base, California, if required. Landing
support will not be called up for Edwards until Wednesday.
- The next mission status report will be issued following landing or
wave-off Monday morning.
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