STS-106 Day 8 Highlights

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On Saturday, September 16, 2000, 7:00 a.m. CDT, STS-106 MCC Status Report # 17 reports:

In the final hours of docked operations between Atlantis and the International Space Station the seven member crew continued transferring supplies and equipment, including an exercise treadmill, for use by the first resident crew later this year.

In an activity that occupied much of their work day, Pilot Scott Altman and Mission Specialists Ed Lu, Dan Burbank and Boris Morukov completed installing the treadmill in the Zvezda module of the station this morning. The treadmill includes a sophisticated vibration isolation system that prevents exercise-induced vibrations from being transmitted into the hull of the Space Station and disturbing sensitive experiments that will be conducted on board by resident crews.

Inside the Unity module, Burbank and Rick Mastracchio reinstalled four Common Berthing Mechanism controllers in the port leading from Unity to the docking port currently occupied by Atlantis. The CBM controllers were removed by the STS-96 crew to provide greater clearance during the transfer of supplies from the Shuttle to the Space Station. The installation of the controllers sets the stage for the arrival of the U.S. laboratory module, Destiny, early next year.

Cargo transfer continues to proceed ahead of schedule with 4,285 pounds of supplies, water and equipment being moved from Atlantis to the station and 762 pounds of material carried to Atlantis for the return trip home. Among the supplies transferred to station today were additional food, a food warmer, a ham radio and the last of the computer equipment for the first station residents. About six hours of transfer activity remains for the crew tomorrow when they will move some final water containers and food to the station. The crew also has completed unloading supplies from the Progress cargo craft and reloading that craft with trash. The cargo craft will be undocked from the station remotely before the first resident crew arrives later this year.

The astronauts will begin an eight-hour sleep period later this morning, with a wake-up call from Mission Control scheduled for 6:46 p.m. CDT. After almost one week working on board the station, the astronauts and cosmonauts will begin turning off lights and closing the doors of their home in space in preparation for Atlantis^Ò departure from the station on Sunday night. The crew will back out of the station module-by-module, closing a series of 12 hatches beginning at the Progress cargo ship shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday and ending with closing hatches between Unity and Atlantis shortly after 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

Atlantis is in a 206 x 199 nautical mile orbit with all systems functioning normally. The next STS-106 status report will be issued about 8 a.m. Sunday or sooner if events warrant.

On Saturday, September 16, 2000, 7:00 p.m. CDT, STS-106 MCC Status Report # 18 reports:

STS-106 Mission Commander Terry Wilcutt and his crew were awakened at 6:46 p.m. Central to begin their final full day of docked operations with the International Space Station. By the end of their workday on Sunday morning, Atlantis' astronauts will have finished their efforts of making the orbiting facility a home for the arrival of the first permanent residents of the outpost and all of the hatches between Atlantis and the station will have been closed in preparation for the Shuttle's departure on Sunday evening.

The wake up call for Wilcutt and his crew - Pilot Scott Altman along with Mission Specialists Ed Lu, Rick Mastracchio, Dan Burbank, Yuri Malenchenko and Boris Morukov - was the U.S. Coast Guard's "Semper Paratus" (Always Ready), played for Burbank, a Lieutenant Commander in the Coast Guard.

The Atlantis astronauts will finish checking the three tons of supplies and equipment that have been transferred from the Shuttle and an unmanned Russian supply vehicle in preparation for the arrival of the first station crew in November. Then in a reversal of the procedures they followed last Monday when they entered the station, the crew will close and secure the hatches that connect each of the station components. The first hatch closure between the Progress vehicle and the Zvezda Service Module should take place just after 10 p.m. Central. The final hatch between the station and Atlantis will be secured around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday.

In addition to station closeout activity, the STS-106 astronauts will checkout rendezvous tools and install the centerline camera in the orbiter docking system that will be used to support the undocking and fly around of the station Sunday night.

The fourth and final in a series of jet thruster firings to gently raise the station's altitude will occur while the hatch closing activity is taking place. Beginning about 10:30 p.m., Atlantis' maneuvering thrusters will be pulsed to gently raise the station about 3½ statute miles. In all, the four maneuvers will have raised the average altitude of the orbiting facility by 14 statute miles.

The STS-106 crew will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 10:46 a.m. tomorrow morning. Following their wake up, the astronauts will immediately move into undocking preparations with undocking scheduled for 10:44 p.m. Sunday.

All of the systems on Atlantis and the International Space Station are functioning normally. The next STS-106 status report will be issued about 8 a.m. Sunday or sooner if events warrant.

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