STS-98 Day 4 Highlights

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On Saturday, February 10, 2001, 6:30 a.m. CST, STS-98 MCC Status Report # 6 reports:

Atlantis' astronauts went right to work today following an early morning wake up call from Mission Control, preparing to install the 16-ton Destiny Laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS).

Less than two hours after being awakened to the bluegrass sounds of "Girl's Breakdown" by Alison Brown for robot arm operator Marsha Ivins, Commander Ken Cockrell and Pilot Mark Polansky conducted a series of small jet firings, raising the altitude of Atlantis and the ISS by about a mile after preliminary predictions indicated that a tiny fragment of defunct Russian space hardware might pass within 250 meters of the orbiting complex. The maneuver put the Atlantis and the ISS well away from the debris.

At the same time, with the help of Polansky, astronauts Bob Curbeam and Tom Jones began preparing for a six-hour space walk to help install and hookup Destiny to the Unity module of the ISS. While Curbeam and Jones complete their spacewalk preparations, Ivins will use Atlantis' robot arm to move an unoccupied Station docking port from Unity to a temporary parking location on the Station's external truss assembly. That will clear the way for Destiny's installation at the same berthing port on Unity.

Curbeam and Jones are scheduled to begin today's space walk shortly after 9 a.m. Once outside, they will move to two different locations with Curbeam disconnecting umbilical cables holding Destiny in Atlantis' cargo bay, and removing protective launch covers from Destiny's berthing mechanism. Jones will climb more than 40 feet up the exterior of the ISS where he will act as a visual guide for Ivins as she slowly raises Destiny from Atlantis' payload bay. Ivins will ultimately rotate Destiny 180 degrees for its final installation. Once Destiny is attached early this afternoon, the crew will send a series of commands for the berthing systems on both Destiny and Unity to bolt together.

With Destiny securely in place, Curbeam and Jones will begin connecting electrical, data and cooling lines between Destiny and rest of the Station. After completing their work outside, Curbeam and Jones will return to Atlantis' airlock as Ivins and Cockrell begin to send commands from laptop computers on the aft flight deck to begin activating Destiny's power systems, and to provide cooling to the laboratory's internal avionics equipment. At the same time at the other side of the Atlantis/ISS hatches, Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd, Pilot Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev will begin preliminary outfitting of the vestibule between Unity and Destiny. Late today, hatches will reopen between the two craft while flight controllers in Houston continue critical activation tasks associated with Destiny's systems. The two crews are scheduled to enter Destiny for the first time Sunday morning to begin outfitting the new research facility.

On Saturday, February 10, 2001, 10:00 p.m. CST, STS-98 MCC Status Report # 7 reports:

The crews of the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station successfully installed the U.S. Destiny Laboratory onto the station today in a dazzling display of robotics finesse and spacewalking skill.

Astronaut Marsha Ivins began the work, using Atlantis' robotic arm to remove a station docking port, called Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA 2), to make room for Destiny. The adapter was removed from the station's Unity module and latched in a temporary position on the station's truss. Then, at 9:50 a.m., astronauts Tom Jones and Bob Curbeam began a spacewalk that continued throughout the day, in tandem with Ivin's robotic arm work. Jones provided Ivins visual cues as she moved the adapter to its temporary position, and Curbeam removed protective launch covers and disconnected power and cooling cables between the Destiny lab and Atlantis.

Ivins then latched the robotic arm onto the Destiny lab at about 11:23 a.m. Central and began lifting it from Atlantis' payload bay. High above the bay, Ivins deftly flipped the 16-ton lab 180 degrees, moving it into position to attach to the station berthing port. At 12:57 p.m., the lab was latched into position on the station, and soon a set of automatic bolts tightened to hold it permanently in place for years of space research. The lab adds 3,800 cubic feet of volume to the station, increasing the onboard living space by 41 percent. The station's mass is now 112 tons. After the PMA 2 docking port is attached to the lab's end on Monday, the station will measure 171 feet long, 90 feet high and 240 feet wide. It will have a volume of more than 13,000 cubic feet, already a larger volume than any space station in history, including the U.S. Skylab launched in the 1970s and the Russian Mir space station. With the Destiny module secured to the station, Jones and Curbeam began connecting electrical, data and cooling lines. While Curbeam was attaching a cooling line, a small amount of frozen ammonia crystals leaked. However, the leak was quickly stopped. The ammonia dissipated and vaporized, and it posed no problems as the crew continued their work. Because of the leak, however, flight controllers followed a decontamination procedure, ensuring no ammonia would enter Atlantis' cabin. Curbeam remained in the sun a half-hour to vaporize any ammonia crystals on his spacesuit while Jones brushed off the suit and equipment.

Then, the spacewalkers performed a partial pressurization and venting of the shuttle airlock to flush out any ammonia before a final repressurization. Then, as the airlock began exchanging air with the shuttle cabin, Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Mark Polansky and Ivins wore oxygen masks in the cabin for about 20 minutes as a protective measure, allowing any residual ammonia to be cleansed from the cabin by shuttle life support systems. In the end, the crew reported no contamination or smell of ammonia when the inside airlock hatch was opened and they were rejoined by Jones and Curbeam.

The decontamination procedures lengthened the spacewalk to a final duration of seven hours, 34 minutes, more than an hour longer than originally planned, and put the crew behind schedule for the remainder of the day's work. That work included reopening the hatches between Atlantis and the station, which occurred at 7:50 p.m. Central. About a half-hour later, Commander Ken Cockrell and International Space Station Commander Bill Shepherd began remotely powering up key Destiny laboratory systems and cooling equipment, sending commands via a laptop computer. The initial activation of Destiny was successful, and flight controllers will continue commanding to set up station systems during the night.

The crew had an extended day, beginning their sleep period almost two hours later than was first planned. As a result, flight controllers are planning to awaken the crew at 5:13 a.m. Central on Sunday, an hour later than originally planned. The crews of Atlantis and the station will work together throughout the day on Sunday, opening the hatch into Destiny for the first time at about 8:13 a.m. Central and continuing to activate its equipment.

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