STS-100 Day 4 Highlights
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- On Sunday, April 22, 2001, 3:00 a.m. CDT, STS-100 MCC Status Report # 6
reports:
- Now docked to the International Space Station, Endeavour and its
seven-member crew are preparing for the first of two planned space
walks set to begin about 6:20 this morning to install the orbiting
outpost's Canadian built robotic arm. Called Canadarm2, the
high-tech robotic arm is the most versatile ever flown in space.
- Shortly after crew wakeup, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris
Hadfield and Scott Parazynski began suiting up for the six and a half
hour space walk that marks the 19th devoted to the assembly of the ISS
and the 63rd in the history of the shuttle program. Hadfield will be
wearing a spacesuit with red stripes around the legs, while
Parazynski's suit will have no markings. John Phillips will serve
as the in-cabin quarterback for the space walk as Pilot Jeff Ashby and
European Space Agency astronaut Umberto Guidoni operate the
shuttle's robotic arm to install the new arm on the outside of the
Destiny laboratory.
- Hadfield and Parazynski will connect cables to give the arm power
and allow it to accept computer commands from the lab. They will
unbolt the arm from the pallet, then unfold its two booms and tighten
bolts to make them rigid. The space walkers also will install a UHF
antenna on Destiny.
- The Space station's Expedition Two crewmembers Jim Voss and Susan
Helms will power up the arm from the Robotic Work Station inside
Destiny, checking connections made by the space walkers.
- A second space walk is scheduled for Tuesday, and will focus on
establishing permanent power connections between the 57.7 foot-long
arm and station and running it through a thorough checkout.
- The shuttle crew was awakened earlier this morning by Canadian Stan
Roger's “Take It From Day to Day” played for Hadfield in
honor of the space walk – the first ever by a Canadian. The
Expedition Two crew was awakened shortly after the shuttle crew.
- Endeavour's cabin pressure will be increased to match that of the
station during the space walk leading toward opening of the hatches
between the shuttle and station Monday morning. Endeavour docked with
the station at 8:59 a.m. Saturday followed soon after by entrance into
the docking port on the station to retrieve some tools for use during
today's space walk. The shuttle crew left behind four water
containers, fresh food, computer equipment and IMAX camera film for
the station crew.
- The next status report will be issued Sunday afternoon, or as events
- warrant.
- On Sunday, April 22, 2001, 3:30 p.m. CDT, STS-100 MCC Status Report # 7
reports:
- Endeavour's astronauts extended the reach of the International
Space Station today, successfully installing a 57.7 foot long
Canadian-built robotic arm.
- Mission Control Houston recognized the importance of today's
activities sending up a congratulatory message from Canadian Astronaut
Steve MacLean and playing the Canadian anthem, “Oh Canada”
before the two space walkers – Scott Parazynski and Chris Hadfield
– floated back into Endeavour. Hadfield became the first Canadian
to conduct a spacewalk today as he worked to install the Canadian
built and provided Canadarm2 robotic arm.
- “It really just opens the door to what all of us can be doing
here internationally, beginning to explore space as a planet,” said
Hadfield.
- Parazynski and Hadfield spent 7 hours and 10 minutes working outside
the station, installing first an Ultrahigh Frequency (UHF) antenna
before turning their attention to the station's new robotic
arm. They floated out of Endeavour's airlock at 6:45 a.m. central
time and about two hours later had installed and deployed the UHF
antenna on the Destiny module of the station.
- With that complete, the two astronauts turned their attention to
installing the new station robotic arm. The main boom was deployed at
10 a.m. central, and a few minutes later, at 10:10 a.m. Hadfield and
Parazynski began unfolding the arm as Endeavour and the station flew
238 miles over the Atlantic Ocean.
- With the new arm secured in its pallet attached to the exterior of
the Destiny laboratory, Hadfield and Parazynski connected cables to
give the arm power and allow it to accept computer commands from
inside the lab. After unfolding the arm, they used a pistol grip tool
to properly secure a series of expandable fasteners that keep the
booms rigidized in position. The two space walkers experienced some
difficulty ensuring an appropriate torque level had been placed on the
fasteners. By taking the pistol grip tool from automatic to manual
mode, Hadfield and Parazynski securely tightened the bolts in place,
completing their activities for the day and beginning to clean up the
payload bay before returning to Endeavour.
- Today's spacewalk, which concluded at 1:55 p.m., was the 19th
conducted to assemble the International Space Station. A second
spacewalk scheduled for Tuesday will focus on establishing permanent
power connections between the arm and station and performing a
thorough checkout.
- At 1:53 p.m., Flight Engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss, on board
the station, commanded the first motion of the new station robotic arm
as they flew 242 miles over the Indian Ocean crossing the eastern
coast of Africa. All indications are that the arm operated perfectly
in this initial commanding.
- Tomorrow, just before 5:30 a.m., Helms and Voss will “walk”
the arm off the pallet and attach it to a grapple fixture on the
Destiny module. On Wednesday morning, they will use the station arm to
hand the pallet to the shuttle arm. In a procedure that will take
about 3 ˝ hours from start-to-finish, the pallet will be
transferred from one arm to the other and berthed back in
Endeavour's payload bay for return to Earth
- Endeavour's 50 foot-long robotic arm will be pressed into service
once again Monday morning as Pilot Jeff Ashby grapples the Italian
Space Agency-provided “Raffaello” logistics module and docks it
to the Unity module. Early Tuesday morning, the Expedition Two crew
– Voss, Helms and Commander Yury Usachev – will enter Raffaello
and begin transferring the supplies, equipment and experiment racks
loaded inside.
- After a busy day on orbit for both crews, the station crew will go
to sleep at 5:31 p.m., followed 10 minutes later by Endeavour's
crew. Mission Control will wake up Commander Kent Rominger, Ashby,
Mission Specialists John Phillips, Yuri Lonchakov, Umberto Guidoni,
Hadfield and Parazynski at 1:41 a.m. Monday. The station crew is
scheduled to wake up at 2:01 a.m.
- The next status report will be issued Monday morning, or as events
- warrant.
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