STS-92 Day 10 Highlights

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On Friday, October 20, 2000, 6:00 a.m. CDT, STS-92 MCC Status Report # 18 reports:

STS-92 Commander Brian Duffy and his crew were awakened at 5:18 a.m. CDT and will shortly move into final preparations for their undocking from the International Space Station later this morning. Discovery's crew delivered two critical components to the station - the Z1 truss structure that will support large solar arrays arriving on the next Shuttle mission and a second docking port that will be used as a docking location for that late November Shuttle flight, designated mission STS-97.

Since the crew's activities inside the station yesterday ran longer than expected, undocking has been moved one orbit later than originally planned and will now take place at 10:09 a.m. CDT. Large springs in the Shuttle's docking mechanism will provide the initial separation when Discovery moves away from the station. Pilot Pam Melroy will then use the Shuttle's maneuvering thrusters to gently back the Shuttle away from the International Space Station. Unlike some previous flights, the STS-92 crew will not perform a fly around of the station after undocking. Once the Shuttle has backed a few hundred feet away from the station, a final separation burn will be performed to send Discovery and her crew on their way.

Following undocking and separation, Duffy, Melroy along with Mission Specialists Leroy Chiao, Bill McArthur, Mike Lopez-Alegria, Jeff Wisoff and Koichi Wakata will get a half day off to rest and relax following a week of docked operations that saw four consecutive space walks outside the station along with supply transfers and equipment checkout activities inside the station.

The STS-92 crew will be interviewed by three media organizations - CNN, Spaceflightnow.Com and CBS radio - beginning at 11:42 a.m. CDT. Duffy and Melroy will also take some time to do interviews with three Rochester, New York television stations beginning at 1:12 p.m.

The STS-92 crew will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 9:17 p.m. CDT before being awakened at 5:17 a.m. Saturday morning to begin their final preparations for a return to Kennedy Space Center.early Sunday afternoon.

The Discovery-International Space Station complex continue to orbit the Earth in a 247 x 232 statute mile, orbit once every 90 minutes with all systems performing well.

The next Mission Control Center status report will be issued about 6 p.m., or as events warrant.

On Friday, October 20, 2000, 6:00 p.m. CDT, STS-92 MCC Status Report # 19 reports:

Discovery astronauts undocked from the International Space Station Friday after a successful 6-day, 21-hour and 23-minute visit that saw addition of two major elements to the station and four consecutive days of spacewalks to complete those elements' linkup to the orbiting laboratory.

Undocking occurred at 10:08 a.m. CDT as Discovery and the ISS were east-northeast of Brazil's capital Brasilia. After springs in the shuttle's docking system provided an initial push, Pilot Pam Melroy, using Discovery's maneuvering thrusters, slowly backed the Shuttle away from the station. The station was parallel to the Earth's surface and sideways to the direction of travel. Discovery, with its nose pointed downward and its right wing in the direction of travel, dropped behind the station, then maneuvered downward.

The final separation burn was executed about 45 minutes after undocking, moving Discovery into a lower, faster orbit to move it away from the larger and more complete station they had helped prepare for the early November arrival of the first resident crew. They added 10 tons to the station's mass, bringing it to about 80 tons. In addition to the total of 27 hours, 19 minutes spent outside the station on the four spacewalks, the astronauts spent 27 hours and 4 minutes inside, completing connections with the new elements and transferring equipment and supplies for that first crew.

During five missions to the ISS, shuttles have spent a total of 33 days, 4 hours and 44 minutes docked to the International Space Station. Crews completed 20 days, 8 hours and 26 minutes of work inside the station, and 2 days, 21 hours and 34 minutes outside during 10 space walks.

Following undocking and separation, Commander Brian Duffy, Melroy, Mission Specialists Leroy Chiao, Bill McArthur, Mike Lopez-Alegria, Jeff Wisoff and Koichi Wakata enjoyed half a day off. Their scheduled sleep period begins at 9:17 p.m. They will be awakened at 5:17 a.m. Saturday morning to prepare for a landing Kennedy Space Center.on Sunday afternoon.

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