STS-88 Day 8 Highlights

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On Thursday, December 10, 1998, 12:00 p.m. CST, STS-88 MCC Status Report # 16 reports:

Endeavour's six astronauts awoke at 10:41 a.m. CST today and are preparing for a historic day - entry into the International Space Station for the first time. The crew was awakened to Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA," played for Mission Specialist-2, Nancy Currie at the request of her husband, David.

After opening the hatch between Unity and the Pressurized Mating Adapter that connects it to Endeavour, the astronauts will climb aboard Unity about 1:15 p.m. CST. Once inside, Commander Bob Cabana and Mission Specialists Jerry Ross and Jim Newman will install portable fans and lights. They also will complete installation of the S-band communication system in the U.S. component. Pilot Rick Sturckow will remove some access panels inside Unity and unstow hardware that will be used by visiting astronauts on future assembly missions.

Less than 90 minutes after entering Unity, the astronauts will float into the Zarya module, where Mission Specialist Sergei Krikalev and Currie will install a new battery charging unit. One of Zarya's six batteries has experienced a problem discharging stored energy in its automatic configuration. Krikalev has swapped out an identical component during two previous flights on the Russian space station Mir. Sturckow and Currie also will remove launch restraint bolts from some of the panels inside Zarya. These bolts were installed before launch to ensure that none of the panels popped open during launch. Astronauts will remove some of these bolts today as a "get-ahead" task to expedite access to the panels during future space station assembly missions. Cabana, Ross and Newman will check out the early communications system's videoconferencing capability.

Ross, Newman and Krikalev then will begin transferring equipment and supplies from Endeavour for use by future inhabitants of the space station, including the first crew to begin a permanent human presence on the space station in January 2000.

During the entry into the International Space Station today, the crew will open a total of six hatches in the following order: the hatch on Endeavour's docking system; the hatch to Unity's mating adapter (designated PMA-2); the hatch to Unity; the hatch from Unity to the upper mating adapter (designated PMA-1); the hatch to Zarya's spherical pressurized adapter (PA); and finally, a hatch between the spherical pressurized adapter on Zarya and the main Zarya instrument module, Zarya's main compartment.

Prior to beginning the sequence of hatch openings, the crew will bring the air pressure inside Endeavour to 14.7 pounds per square inch, the same pressure as at sea level on Earth. Then, the crew will go through a procedure to equalize the air pressure on both sides of each hatch prior to opening them.

About 8:45 p.m. Central time this evening, the entire crew will gather inside the station for an interview with KNX Radio in Los Angeles and KARE-TV in Minneapolis, MN, Cabana's home town.

Endeavour and the International Space Station remain in excellent shape.

On Friday, December 11, 1998, 2:00 a.m. CST, STS-88 MCC Status Report # 17 reports:

Endeavour's astronauts opened the new International Space Station for business Thursday, entering the Unity and Zarya modules for the first time and establishing an S-band communications system that will enable U.S. flight controllers to monitor the outpost's systems.

Reflecting the international cooperation involved in building the largest space complex in history, Commander Bob Cabana and Russian Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev opened the hatch to the U.S.-built Unity connecting module at 1:54 p.m. Central time Thursday and floated into the new station together.

The rest of the crew followed and began turning on lights and unstowing gear in the roomy hub to which other modules will be connected in the future. Each passageway within Unity was marked by a sign leading the way into tunnels to which new modules will be connected.

About an hour later, at 3:12 p.m., Cabana and Krikalev opened the hatch to the Russian-built Zarya control module, which will be the nerve center for the station in its embryonic stage. Joined by Pilot Rick Sturckow and Mission Specialists Jerry Ross, Jim Newman and Nancy Currie, Cabana and Krikalev hailed the historic entrance into the International Space Station and said the hatch opening signified the start of a new era in space exploration.

Ross and Newman went right to work in Unity, completing the assembly of an early S-band communications system that will allow flight controllers in Houston to send commands to Unity's systems and to keep tabs on the health of the station with a more extensive communications capability than exists through Russian ground stations. The astronauts also conducted a successful test of the videoconferencing capability of the early communications system, which will be used by the first crew to permanently occupy the station in January 2000. Newman downlinked greetings to controllers in the station flight control room in Houston and to astronaut Bill Shepherd, who will command the first crew and live aboard the station with Krikalev and Cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko.

Krikalev and Currie replaced a faulty unit in Zarya which controlled the discharging of stored energy from one of the module's six batteries. The battery had not been working properly in its automatic configuration, but the new unit was functioning normally shortly after it was installed.

The astronauts also unstowed hardware and logistical supplies stored behind panels in Zarya, relocating the items for use by the shuttle crew that will visit the station in May and Shepherd's expedition crew. Late this afternoon, the astronauts will complete their initial outfitting of the station.

The hatches to Zarya and Unity will be closed before Endeavour undocks from the new station Sunday, leaving the new complex to orbit the Earth unpiloted. The astronauts begin an eight-hour sleep period at 2:36 a.m. Central time this morning and will be awakened at 10:36 a.m. to begin their ninth of day in orbit.

Endeavour and the International Space Station are circling the globe every 90 minutes at an altitude of 247 statute miles with all systems operating in excellent shape.

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