STS-105 Day 11 Highlights

Back to STS-105 Flight Day 10 Highlights:

On Monday, August 20, 2001, 5:00 a.m. CDT, STS-105 MCC Status Report # 20 reports:

Crewmembers aboard Discovery and the International Space Station are spending their final hours together on a day that will see them bid farewell to one another, close hatches between the spacecraft, undock and separate to enable the new resident Expedition Three crew to begin a stay of about four months aboard the station.

The final farewells and hatch closing are scheduled for just before 7 a.m. Central time. Discovery's crewmembers, Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow, and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester and Dan Barry, assisted by the returning Expedition Two crew, Commander Yury Usachev and Astronauts Jim Voss and Susan Helms, will undock Discovery at 9:52 a.m. as the two craft sail over the south Pacific due west of the southern coast of Chile.

With Sturckow at the controls, the shuttle will conduct a flyaround of the station, circling it 1< times before the shuttle's jets are fired at 11:12 a.m. to drop Discovery into a lower orbit for final separation from the station.

The seven crewmembers aboard Discovery were awakened at 3:40 a.m. by the sounds of "Brand New Day," played by Sting. The song was for Helms, requested by her family and friends. She and her Expedition Two crewmates are wrapping up five and a half months on orbit.

Parked in Discovery's cargo bay is Leonardo, the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module that brought 7,300 pounds of material to the station, including equipment, supplies and two scientific racks. It is returning to Earth with almost 2 tons of unneeded equipment from the station, trash and personal effects of the Expedition Two crew.

Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are beginning a science-intensive increment that is scheduled to end with their replacement by the Expedition Four crew late this year.

Also on today's schedule for Discovery's crewmembers after undocking is the deployment of a small science satellite called Simplesat, designed to evaluate the use of inexpensive commercially available hardware in space. It is designed to demonstrate GPS attitude control and pointing in free flight. It will be spring-ejected from a canister at the rear of the Shuttle's cargo bay.

The Russians are all set to launch an unmanned Progress resupply craft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan tomorrow at 4:24 a.m. Central time. It is the fifth Progress to be launched to the station, and is scheduled to dock a little after 5 a.m. on Thursday, the day after the current Progress attached to the ISS is undocked from the rear of the Zvezda Service Module to burn up in the atmosphere with its load of trash.

Discovery and the ISS are circling the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 246 statute miles. All systems are functioning well.

On Monday, August 20, 2001, 6:00 p.m. CDT, STS-105 MCC Status Report # 21 reports:

Discovery's astronauts, now consisting of the Expedition Two crew, bid farewell to the International Space Station and the Expedition Three crew and undocked from the complex at 9:52 a.m. CDT Monday after more than a week of joint operations. Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin now will settle in to oversee activities on the station for the next four months.

The final farewells and hatch closing occurred at 7 a.m. Central Monday just prior to closing the hatches and conducting leak checks between the two vehicles. Under control of Pilot Rick Sturckow, Discovery gently backed away from the station to a distance of about 450 feet. At that point, Sturckow performed a fly-around of the complex allowing for photo documentation and a final look by Yury Usachev, Jim Voss and Susan Helms at their home for the past five and a half months.

Returning with Discovery is the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module that brought equipment, supplies and two scientific racks to the station. It is returning to Earth with more than a ton of equipment, experiments, personal effects and unneeded hardware.

Also today, Discovery's crewmembers deployed a small science satellite called Simplesat, designed to evaluate the use of inexpensive commercially available hardware in space. It is designed to demonstrate Global Positioning System attitude control and pointing in free flight. It was spring-ejected from a canister at the rear of the Shuttle's cargo bay.

Tuesday is a day devoted to packing up the orbiter and checking its landing systems for the planned return to the Kennedy Space Center Wednesday. Landing is set for just before Noon Central time with weather conditions expected to be favorable with light winds and only a slight chance of rain predicted in the area.

Meanwhile, on the steppe of the Kazak desert, a Soyuz rocket is poised to launch an unmanned Progress supply ship to the station tomorrow at 4:24 a.m. Central time. It is the fifth Progress to be launched to the station, and is scheduled to dock a little after 5 a.m. Thursday, the day after the current Progress attached to the ISS is undocked from the rear of the Zvezda module to burn up in the atmosphere.

The two spacecraft are at slightly different orbits, circling the Earth every 90 minutes. All systems are in excellent shape.

On Monday, August 20, 2001, 6:00 p.m. CDT, STS-105 MCC Status Report # 21 reports:

The two spacecraft are at slightly different orbits, circling the Earth every 90 minutes. All systems are in excellent shape. The next mission status report will be issued at around 6 a.m. Tuesday, or earlier, if events warrant.

sts-105-patch Return to STS-105 Mission Summary