STS-89 Day 7 Highlights
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- On Wednesday, January 28, 1998, 6:00 a.m. CST, STS-89 MCC Status Report # 12
reports:
- The astronauts and cosmonauts on board the Endeavour/Mir complex are
now in their final full day of docked operations, wrapping up the
transfer of equipment and supplies between the two spacecraft.
- The crews have already transferred about 240 items with a total mass
of more than three and half tons between the shuttle and Mir, and they
have completed more than 80 percent of the planned moves. The crew
will take a break from their work at 1:34 p.m. CST today to
participate in a press conference, fielding questions from reporters
at NASA centers across the U.S. and in Moscow, Russia.
- Immediately following the press conference, the Endeavour crew will
say a formal farewell to astronaut Andy Thomas, embarking on the final
stay by a U.S. astronaut aboard the Mir, and cosmonauts Anatoly
Solovyev and Pavel Vinagradov. At about 4:18 p.m.CST, the crews will
close the hatches between the spacecraft for the final time. Both the
Mir and Endeavour hatches will be closed for the fnal time at that
point, before the crew goes to sleep this evening, as has been the
normal procedure for previous Shuttle-Mir flights. An earlier plan
that had been discussed to leave the shuttle's hatch to the Mir
docking module open longer to allow for last-minute transfers was
deemed unnecessary by flight controllers.
- The STS-89 crew was awakened at 4:48 a.m. CST today to the
song."Hideaway" performed by Stanley Clarke, a favorite tune of
astronaut Michael Anderson. The crew will begin an eight-hour sleep
period at 8:48 p.m. CST and will receive a wake-up call from Mission
Control at 4:48 a.m. on Thursday to begin activities to undock from
the Mir.
- Endeavour, carrying home astronaut David Wolf after four months
spent aboard the Mir, is scheduled to undock from the Russian station
at 10:56 a.m. CST Thursday.
- The next STS-89 status report will be issued approximately 6
p.m. Wednesday.
- On Wednesday, January 28, 1998, 6:00 p.m. CST, STS-89 MCC Status Report # 13
reports:
- With all of their transfer activities complete, Endeavour's
astronauts said goodbye to the Mir 24 cosmonauts, including
U.S. astronaut Andy Thomas, and closed the hatches between the shuttle
and the Russian station to set the stage for tomorrow's undocking of
Endeavour from the orbiting outpost.
- After the crew completed the transfer of more than 8,000 pounds of
scientific equipment, logistical hardware and water from Endeavour to
the Mir and from the Mir to Endeavour for return to Earth, the hatches
swung shut between the two craft at 4:34 p.m. Central time, leaving
Thomas behind with his new Commander, Anatoly Solovyev, and Flight
Engineer Pavel Vinogradov for the start of his four-month research
mission.
- Among the transfer items were 16 bags containing about 1,600 pounds
of water for use by the cosmonauts over the next few months.
- As the hatches closed between Endeavour and the Mir, Russian space
officials prepared a Soyuz booster rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome
in Kazakhstan for tomorrow's launch of the Mir 25 crew to the Russian
station to replace Solovyev and Vinogradov.
- Mir 25 Commander Talgat Musabayev, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin
and French researcher Leopold Eyharts are scheduled to blast off in a
Soyuz TM-27 capsule at 10:33 a.m. Central time (9:33 p.m. Baikonur
time), just 23 minutes before the scheduled undocking of Endeavour
from the Mir at 10:56 a.m. Central time.
- Musabayev and Budarin will become Thomas' new crewmates once their
three-week handover is completed with Solovyev and Vinogradov. As
Thomas settles in aboard Mir for his long-duration mission, Eyharts
will conduct his own scientific research for CNES, the French space
agency. He will return to Earth with Solovyev and Vinogradov on
February 19.. The Mir 25 crew is scheduled to dock to the outpost at
12:13 p.m. Central time on Saturday, just a few hours before the
scheduled landing of Endeavour.
- Endeavour's astronauts are scheduled to begin an eight-hour sleep
period at 8:48 p.m. Central time and are scheduled to be awakened at
4:48 a.m. Thursday to begin undocking preparations.
- The Endeavour-Mir space complex is orbiting the Earth at an altitude
of about 216 nautical miles with all systems functioning in excellent
shape.
- The next STS-89 status report will be issued at 6 a.m. Central time
Thursday morning.
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