STS-108 Day 10 Highlights

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On Friday, December 14, 2001, 6:00 a.m. CST, STS-108 MCC Status Report # 18 reports:

In space today, the 10 astronauts and cosmonauts on board Endeavour and the International Space Station, will focus their efforts on final transfer activities and this morning^Òs unberthing of the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to be placed back in Endeavour^Òs payload bay for a return trip home.

Raffaello has been loaded with unneeded equipment, as well as gear from the returning Expedition Three crewmembers, including their custom Soyuz spacesuits and seat liners. The hatch between Raffaello and the space station will be closed about 10 a.m. CST today once final transfers are complete. About 1:20 p.m., Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Linda Godwin will begin the process of detaching Raffaello from the station using the shuttle^Òs 50-foot long robotic arm. The process of removing Raffaello from the station and carefully placing it back in Endeavour^Òs payload bay is expected to be complete shortly after 3:30 p.m.

The two station commanders ^Ö Frank Culbertson and Yury Onufrienko ^Ö will continue their handover briefings even as they prepare for Endeavour^Òs scheduled departure Saturday morning. Expedition Three crew member Vladimir Dezhurov will join Onufrienko in some final maintenance work on the station this morning replacing a faulty compressor in an air conditioner unit in the Zvezda Service Module.

All of the crew members ^Ö Endeavour Commander Dom Gorie, Kelly, Godwin and Dan Tani, along with Expedition Three crew members Culbertson, Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin and the Expedition Four crew, Onufrienko, Dan Bursch and Carl Walz ^Ö will meet late in the day today for a final briefing in preparation for Endeavour^Òs departure tomorrow. Following final farewells tomorrow morning, about 7:30 a.m., the hatches between Endeavour and the station will be closed for a final time during this mission. Endeavour will undock from the station at 10 a.m. Saturday, and after a brief fly-around of the station, a final engine burn will mark Endeavour^Òs departure from the station, leaving the Expedition Four crew on board for a planned five-month stay.

Endeavour^Òs crew was awakened at 5:12 a.m. today by a traditional Russian song, ^ÓMy Sweetheart,^Ô played for Onufrienko, Dezhurov and Tyurin. The Expedition Four crew was awakened about a half-hour later with a wake-up tone on board the station.

Endeavour and the International Space Station remain in good shape, orbiting at an average altitude of 241 statute miles. Wednesday, the crew and flight control teams noted a transient problem with one of the shuttle^Òs three inertial measurement units (IMUs), the primary navigation units for the shuttle. That IMU, designated IMU2, experienced about an hour-long ^Ódrift rate,^Ô subsequently returning to normal operation. Flight controllers have taken IMU2 off line and declared it ^Ófailed,^Ô though it has performed normally since the initial problem was observed. The remaining two IMUs on board are performing well and the loss of a single IMU has no impact on Endeavour^Òs mission or planned landing. Endeavour could operate well on only one IMU if required.

The next STS-108 mission status report will be issued about 6 p.m. today or as events warrant.

On Friday, December 14, 2001, 8:00 p.m. CST, STS-108 MCC Status Report # 19 reports:

The crews of Endeavour and the International Space Station will spend a final night together tonight, preparing for Endeavour's departure from the complex Saturday.

Endeavour will leave the station with a new crew and almost three tons of new food, supplies, experiments and equipment. Endeavour will bring home the offgoing Expedition Three station crew -- Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin -- and more than two tons of unneeded station gear, food containers, clothes, and other cargo. The station's Expedition Four crew -- Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz -- will remain aboard the outpost until May 2002.

Endeavour Pilot Mark Kelly used the shuttle's robotic arm to detach the Raffaello logistics carrier from the station today and reberth it in Endeavour's payload bay. Raffaello was latched back into the shuttle bay at 4:44 p.m. CST. This morning, Dezhurov and Onufrienko worked together to replace a faulty air conditioner compressor in the station's Zvezda living quarters module as the crews completed cargo transfer activities.

Flight controllers are planning slight changes to Endeavour's departure from the station Saturday, allowing time for a small jet firing by the shuttle to boost the station's future path away from a piece of space debris that could pass near the complex on Sunday. Mission Control was notified early today that a spent Russian rocket upper stage launched in the 1970s could pass within three miles of the station if Endeavour did not perform the engine firing. With the shuttle reboost now planned on Friday, the station is predicted to instead pass more than 40 miles away from the debris on Sunday.

The new plan for Saturday's activities will have the station and shuttle crews bid farewell to one another and close hatches between the two spacecraft at about 7:30 a.m. CST. Endeavour will pulse its steering jets gradually for about 30 minutes beginning at about 8:55 a.m. CST to raise the station's altitude by almost three-quarters of a mile. Endeavour will then undock from the station at about 10:37 a.m. CST. Because of the changes, Endeavour will not perform a full-circle flyaround of the station after undocking. Instead, Endeavour will undock from the station and fly only a quarter circle of the complex, to a point about 400 feet directly above the station where it will fire its engines at about 11:20 a.m. CST to depart the vicinity of the oribting outpost.

Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period today at 8:19 p.m. CST and awaken at 4:17 a.m. CST Saturday. The next Mission Control Status report will be issued at about 5 a.m. CST Saturday or as events warrant.

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