STS-82 Day 6 Highlights

Back to STS-82 Flight Day 05 Highlights:

On Sunday, February 16, 1997, 8:30 a.m. CST, STS-82 MCC Status Report # 11 reports:

Mission managers decided this morning to add a fifth spacewalk to Discovery's flight to refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope to allow flight controllers and the astronauts time to repair tattered thermal insulation on the12-ton observatory. The decision came after astronauts Mark Lee and Steve Smith completed a 7 hour 11 minute spacewalk to replace various components on the telescope.

The revised plan calls for Greg Harbaugh and Joe Tanner to conduct the fourth spacewalk of the flight tonight to replace a Solar Array Drive Electronics package and to replace covers on Hubble's magnetometers near the top of the telescope. They will also repair ripped thermal insulation on the light shield of Hubble below the areas where the magnetometers are located. On Monday night, Lee and Smith will venture into Discovery's cargo bay again to repair additional thermal insulation which has degraded on three key equipment bays near the middle of the telescope.

Hubble's redeployment will be shifted one day from Tuesday to Wednesday with Discovery's landing at the Kennedy Space Center.still planned for early Friday morning before dawn.

The third spacewalk began at 8:53 p.m. Central time Saturday evening. Lee and Smith removed and replaced a Data Interface Unit which provides command and data interfaces between Hubble's data management system and other subsystems. They also replaced an old reel-to-reel style Engineering and Science Tape Recorder with a new digital Solid State Recorder (SSR) that will allow simultaneous recording and playback of data

The final task for Lee and Smith was the changeout of one of four Reaction Wheel Assembly units that use spin momentum to move the telescope toward a target and maintain it in a stable position. All of the new components are reported to be in excellent condition.

Discovery's small maneuvering jets were then fired for about 20 minutes to gently raise Hubble's altitude. The reboost maneuver by Commander Ken Bowersox and Pilot Scott Horowitz was the third in the past two days. Lee and Smith returned to Discovery's airlock at 4:04 A.M., with 21 hours 20 minutes of spacewalk servicing time having been logged during the first three excursions in the Shuttle's cargo bay.

The astronauts will begin an eight hour sleep period at 9:25 a.m. this morning and will receive a wake up call at 5:25 p.m. to begin the seventh day of the mission.

Discovery and the Hubble Space Telescope continue to orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 374 statute miles with all of the Shuttle's systems still operating in flawless condition.

On Sunday, February 16, 1997, 5:00 p.m. CST, STS-82 MCC Status Report # 12 reports:

The STS-82 astronauts will be adding some insulation repair work to their plans for tonight and tomorrow following a decision earlier today to conduct a fifth spacewalk during the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.

Since HST has been in the Discovery's payload bay, several separations in the external insulation on the observatory have been noted. HST managers are concerned that the separated areas could trap light and cause localized heating, damaging Hubble's sensitive systems. Consequently, mission managers decided to add a fifth spacewalk Monday night to give astronauts time to repair the insulation.

Before the repair work begins tonight, astronauts Greg Harbaugh and Joe Tanner will complete the scheduled work on the telescope. Harbaugh and Tanner will first replace a Solar Array Drive Electronics package. Then the HST flight control team will command the telescope to redeploy the booms carrying its high gain antennas. The telescope will then be turned and tilted slightly to give the spacewalkers access to the top portions of the telescope where Harbaugh and Tanner will replace covers over several magnetometers. While at the top of the telescope, they also will place patches made of insulation material over the tears in the telescope's light shield. The entire spacewalk is expected to take about six hours and will begin between 9 and 10 p.m. Central time tonight.

On Monday night, astronauts Mark Lee and Steve Smith will go into Discovery's payload bay again to repair thermal insulation which has degraded on three key equipment bays near the middle of the telescope.

Because of the additional spacewalk, the final firing of the steering jets to raise Hubble's altitude has been moved from the end of tonight's EVA to the end of tomorrow's EVA, and Hubble's redeployment has been shifted one day from Tuesday to Wednesday. Discovery's landing at the Kennedy Space Center.still remains on track for early Friday morning.

Go to STS-82 Flight Day 7 Highlights: