STS-86 Day 7 Highlights
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- On Wednesday, October 1, 1997, 8:00 a.m. CDT, STS-86 MCC Status Report # 12
reports:
- Aboard Atlantis, preparations are under way for today's planned
five-hour spacewalk to retrieve four experiment packages and test
tools and techniques for construction of the International Space
Station.
- With the hatches connecting Atlantis and Mir slated to swing closed
shortly after 8:30 a.m. today, Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski
and Vladimir Titov are preparing for their excursion outside of the
Atlantis-Mir complex. Shortly after waking up, the duo will climb
into their spacesuits and begin a 2 ½ hour pre-breathe protocol
designed to purge nitrogen from their blood. Depressurization of
Atlantis' airlock hatch is slated for about 1 p.m., with Parazynski
and Titov floating into the payload bay about 1:45 p.m. The spacewalk
is expected to conclude about 6:30 p.m.
- The primary task during the spacewalk will be the retrieval of four
Mir Environmental Effects Packages which had been mounted on the
docking module last March by astronauts Linda Godwin and Rich
Clifford. Parazynski and Titov also will tether the Spektr Solar Array
Cap to the docking module. The Solar Array Cap may be used in a future
Mir spacewalk to seal any hole found in the hull of the damaged Spektr
module. The two spacewalkers also will evaluate some common EVA tools
which could be used by astronauts wearing either Russian or
American-made spacesuits.
- As the Atlantis crew prepares for the spacewalk, the Mir crew will
be installing a new motion control computer. Swap-out of the computer
should take about 90 minutes, after which new software will be loaded
into the computer by Russian flight controllers in a process that will
take several more hours. Atlantis will provide attitude control for
the combined stack throughout the EVA and computer swap-out
activities, with Mir's automatic attitude control devices scheduled to
be brought back on line Thursday morning.
- Through three days of docked operations, the Atlantis/Mir crews have
transferred more than 77% of the items scheduled to be moved,
including more than 1,200 lbs of water.
- On Wednesday, October 1, 1997, 8:00 p.m. CDT, STS-86 MCC Status Report # 13
reports:
- For the third time this year, a U.S. astronaut and a Russian
cosmonaut walked and worked in space together today, retrieving
scientific experiments from the Docking Module on the Mir Space
Station while leaving a device behind for future repair work on the
damaged Spektr module as the Atlantis-Mir space complex orbited the
Earth in flawless fashion.
- Astronaut Scott Parazynski and his Atlantis crewmate, Russian
cosmonaut Vladimir Titov, spent 5 hours and one minute in the
Shuttle's cargo bay and at the Docking Module itself, collecting four
suitcase-size packages called MEEPS, the Mir Environmental Effects
Payloads, which were left outside the Mir by another pair of Shuttle
spacewalkers a year and a half ago to collect data on how the space
environment affects an orbiting space station.
- Parazynski and Titov floated out of a hatch on Atlantis' tunnel
adapter in front of the Orbiter Docking System to begin their
spacewalk shortly after placing their spacesuits on battery power at
12:29 p.m. Central time. Working right on the timeline after
recovering the MEEPS, Parazynski and Titov affixed a 121-pound
instrument called a Solar Array Cap to the Docking Module for future
use by Russian cosmonauts to seal off a suspected breach in the hull
of the Spektr Module which was depressurized in the June 25th
collision of a Progress resupply ship with the Mir. The most likely
location of the breach is underneath the Spektr's damaged solar
array. If Russian flight controllers confirm that suspicion, the cap
could be used like a hermetic seal for Spektr to allow additional
repair work to be conducted.
- Parazynski and Titov wrapped up their work outside Atlantis by
testing several components of the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue
(SAFER) jetpacks they wore which are designed to enable spacewalkers
to propel themselves back to safe haven in the Shuttle's payload bay
if they become untethered while working. The two Mission Specialists
ended their spacewalk at 5:30 p.m. Central time as they repressurized
Atlantis' airlock to complete the 39th spacewalk in Shuttle program
history. It was the fourth spacewalk for the veteran Titov, who
conducted three other spacewalks in 1988 as Commander of the Mir. It
was Parazynski's first spacewalk. It was the first time a non-American
had conducted a spacewalk from an American spacecraft in U.S. space
history.
- As Parazynski and Titov worked outside the Atlantis-Mir complex, Mir
24 Commander Anatoly Solovyev and Flight Engineer Pavel Vinogradov
installed a new motion control computer in the station's Core Module,
replacing one which has experienced problems in recent months. The
installation and checkout of the new computer went smoothly, enabling
Russian flight controllers to begin the uplink of fresh software to
the device. The Mir's gyrodynes, which provide automatic attitude
control for the station, were spun down during the computer
swapout. They are scheduled to be reactivated by tomorrow afternoon,
enabling the Mir to regain its own attitude control for Friday's
scheduled undocking of Atlantis.
- The newest member of the Mir crew, astronaut David Wolf, conducted
scientific experiments and continued his familiarization of his new
orbital home while the computer swapout took place onboard the Russian
outpost.
- About 77 per cent of all items earmarked for transfer between the
two vehicles have been moved successfully with all of items expected
to be transferred before the hatches are closed between Atlantis and
the Mir for the final time Thursday afternoon.
- The astronauts are scheduled to begin an eight hour sleep period at
10:34 p.m. Central time tonight and will be awakened at 6:34 tomorrow
morning to begin their final full day of joint work with their Russian
counterparts.
- Atlantis and the Mir are orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 213
nautical miles with all of their systems functioning normally.
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