STS-102 Day 4 Highlights

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On Sunday, March 11, 2001, 10:00 a.m. CST, STS-102 MCC Status Report # 7 reports:

STS-102 Mission Specialists Susan Helms and Jim Voss donned space suits and stepped outside Discovery late last night to prepare one of the International Space Station’s berthing ports for the Leonardo transfer module.

The pair, destined to become members of the Expedition Two crew aboard the station later in the mission, began the 17th station assembly space walk at 11:12 p.m. CST Saturday. Inside Discovery, Paul Richards choreographed their activities and served as liaison with Mission Control.

The space walkers were delayed early in their excursion when a portable foot restraint attachment device became untethered, and Voss had to retrieve a spare from its storage location on the outside of the station’s Unity module.

Helms and Voss successfully prepared Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 for repositioning from Unity’s Earth-facing berth to its port-side berth to make room for Leonardo, the Italian Space Agency-built Multipurpose Logistics Module. They disconnected eight cables and removed an Early Communications System antenna from the left-side Common Berthing Mechanism so that shuttle robotic arm operator Andy Thomas could put the mating adapter in its place, freeing up the Earth-facing berthing port for Leonardo.

The space walkers also removed a Lab Cradle Assembly from the cargo bay and installed it on the side of the Destiny laboratory module, where it will form the base for station robotic arm to be launched on STS-100 in mid-April. Because of the early delay, they were instructed to defer power and data cable connections for the cradle until Monday’s scheduled space walk by Richards and Thomas. Voss and Helms also installed a cable tray to Destiny for later use by the station’s robot arm.

The pair reentered Discovery’s airlock early Sunday and waited for Thomas to maneuver the docking port to its new location, but remained at the ready to assist if needed. After Commander Jim Wetherbee drove the Common Berthing Mechanism latches home and secured the docking port at 7:43 a.m., the airlock was repressurized, ending the space walk at 8:08 a.m. Sunday after 8 hours 56 minutes, making it the longest space walk in Shuttle history. The space walk brings the total exterior construction time on the station to 117 hours 39 minutes over the course of 17 space walks, and the total EVA time in Shuttle program history to 386 hours, 15 minutes over 61 separate space walks.

Meanwhile aboard the station, Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev began a handover of duties from Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd, with Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev also still on board. The hatches between Discovery and the International Space Station are to be reopened shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday, as the crew begins the fifth day of the mission.

Both crews are scheduled to begin an eight-hour sleep period at 9:42 a.m. central time, awakening at 5:42 p.m. Discovery and the station are in excellent condition in an orbit of about 235 statute miles. The next mission control center status report will be issued Sunday evening.

On Sunday, March 11, 2001, 7:00 p.m. CST, STS-102 MCC Status Report # 8 reports:

The crews of Discovery and the International Space Station will join forces again today as hatches between the spacecraft are reopened, a change of shift aboard the science outpost continues, and a cargo carrier is attached to the complex.

Discovery’s crew was awakened today by the song “Blast Off” from the animated feature Scooby Doo and the Alien Invaders, played for astronaut Paul Richards as a selection from his children. The shuttle and station crews plan to reopen hatches between the two spacecraft at about 8:12 p.m. today. They will remain open for about eight hours before they again must be closed in preparation for a second space walk Monday night.

Just after the hatches open this evening, the crew exchange will continue with Expedition Two Flight Engineer Jim Voss taking up residence aboard the station and Expedition One Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev moving to Discovery. With Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev already aboard the complex since Saturday, only one more crewmember switch remains to complete the station’s change of watch. Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd will trade places with Expedition Two Flight Engineer Susan Helms Tuesday night.

As the crews work together tonight, moving gear inside the shuttle and station, Astronaut Andy Thomas will use Discovery’s robotic arm to remove the Italian Space Agency-built Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module from the shuttle’s cargo bay and attach it to the station’s Unity module. Leonardo carries more than 5 tons of equipment and experiments that will be unloaded during the next few days before it is again detached from the station and stowed aboard Discovery to return to Earth.

Tonight’s plan calls for Thomas to begin lifting Leonardo from Discovery’s cargo bay at 9:12 p.m. He will maneuver it into place and latch it to the station at about 10:57 p.m. The station crew plans to enter the cargo module at about 5:42 a.m. Monday to begin the unloading.

Discovery and the International Space Station remain in excellent condition in an orbit with a high point of 236 statute miles and a low point of 229 statute miles. The next Mission Control Center status report will be issued Monday morning.

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