Category Manned Spaceflight Log II—2006-2012

Every crew aims to complete their mission as planned, safely and efficiently. While hoping for the best, they are all certainly aware of the dangers and uncertainties of space flight and train hard for emergency, contingency, and alternative missions, should things go wrong. For any space flight, “things” could go wrong during training, on the launchpad, during the ascent to orbit, in the flight itself, during reentry, on landing, or during recovery. Such contingencies will also form part of the “commercial and tourist” space flights that are likely to begin in the next few years. Those who wish to pay for this experience will have to train for and be aware of such situations as part of their acceptance for the flight.

For NASA, a second Skylab could also have helped the transition from the Apollo era to the Space Shuttle era and given some of the veteran astronauts remaining in the office an opportunity to fly and to pass on their skills and experi­ences to the Shuttle era selections. Unfortunately, this was not to be. Some members of the original NASA astronaut selections faced a wait of over seven years from the end of Skylab to the first Shuttle mission, with only the 1975 ASTP mission flown in that period. For some, this was much too long to wait and they left the program to pursue other goals, taking their experience with them.

But in 1978 the first NASA astronaut selections in a decade did bring in the first female and monitory astronauts to the team. Things were certainly changing as the decade drew to a close. The “original” four NASA pilot astronaut selec-

tions, and former MOL astronaut transfers, in the 10 years between 1959 and 1969 were drawn from those with experience of military or civilian jet and test pilot roles. This reflected the need for the “flying” skills thought to be beneficial to the Mercury-Gemini-Apollo series of missions. As the nature of the missions evolved from the pioneering steps, so NASA brought in two groups of “scientist astronauts” to train for later missions on Apollo and AAP (Skylab). Their back­grounds were more academic than operational flying, but they still all had to qualify from a military jet pilot course to be assigned to Apollo era missions. For some this was a qualification too far and they left the program without flying in space, while others adapted well in gaining new flying skills. Four of the scientists flew between 1972 and 1974, while others performed backup and support roles on Apollo and Skylab. But they still had a long wait to fly on the Shuttle.

By the late 1970s, the scientist astronaut designation had changed briefly to senior scientist astronaut before eventually becoming the mission specialist desig­nation that would become familiar in the new Shuttle program crewing policy. But the name wasn’t the only change, as the role was now widened to encompass a broader range of skills and education. A greater diversity of specialists and qualifi­cations were now considered acceptable for astronaut selection, encompassing engineering, pure and applied sciences, alongside operational accomplishments and new technologies.

Jet pilot training was now no longer a prerequisite. In fact, NASA reasoned that past experiences and qualifications served to demonstrate a candidate’s ability to learn, so they assigned each new astronaut selection into a basic astronaut training program. It soon became evident, in the ongoing mystery of NASA flight crew selection, that being a professional astronomer did not lead to a flight on Shuttle astronomy missions; neither did qualification as a medical doctor guaran­tee automatic assignment to a medical mission. Such qualifications did increase the chances of such an assignment as the program unfolded, however. Unlike the early selections to NASA’s astronaut program, who were designated “astronaut” from the first day, those selected from 1978 only received the designation after completing the Astronaut Candidate (ASCAN) training program.

This was one of the most challenging missions in the history of the program. During the 13-day mission, the crew rewired the ISS power system and continued

the construction phase by installing the P5 truss assembly. The flight also featured the exchange of ISS resident crew member Thomas Reiter with Sunita Williams.

Originally planned for a December 7 launch, the mission was delayed 48 hours due to low cloud cover, as no favorable conditions were expected to support a launch until December 9. The first nighttime launch in four years (due to post – Columbia safety limits for ascent photography), the ascent to orbit went without a problem. This was the first mission to feature the Advanced Heath Management System (AHMS) designed to improve the safety of the SSME. On this flight only performance data were collected, but on future flights the system would cut off the SSME if it detected a failure was about to occur.

The next day, the crew used the orbiter boom sensor system mounted on the end of the RMS to sweep the orbiter’s surface carefully, surveying for any damage incurred during ascent. The survey revealed no significant problems and the 2-day approach to the ISS continued.

However, a wing inspection was subsequently called for after a minor vibration reading on a port wing sensor was recorded. Analysis of inspection imagery determined that the heat shield could support a safe reentry and no further inspection was required. After backflipping the orbiter to allow the ISS crew to visually and photographically inspect the heat shield, Discovery was docked with the station on December 12. Following integrity checks and hatch­opening ceremonies, Williams officially became a member of the ISS-14 crew and Reiter joined the STS-116 crew.

The installation of the P5 truss was supported by three EVAs. Shortly after docking, the truss was lifted out of the payload bay and passed to the station’s robot arm, where it was suspended overnight. The following day (December 12) Curbeam and Fuglesang conducted a 6h 36min EVA to attach the P5 truss, as well as replacing a failed camera that would be required to support future EVA tasks. Launch locks were removed and the astronauts completed plugging in the new segment to allow the P6 segment to be attached to the end of the P5 unit in readiness for when it was moved from its temporary location. A number of get – ahead tasks were also completed. At the end of the EVA the backbone of the ISS had increased by a further 11 feet (3.35 m).

The second EVA on December 14 lasted 5 hours, with the two crew members continuing the rewiring to incorporate the new truss. Despite problems fully retracting the P6 solar array (with only 17 of the 231 bays or panels folded as designed), its retraction was sufficient to allow the P4 array to rotate and track the Sun, generating power to the station. The astronauts were also able to relocate the two main carts on the rails of the main truss, place a thermal covering over the station’s RMS, and install bags of tools for future EVA support.

For the third EVA on December 16, Williams joined Curbeam to complete the rewiring operations. They also attached three bundles of Russian debris shield panels on the exterior of the Zvezda Service Module. These would be fully installed on future EVAs. After installing a robotic arm grapple fixture, the pair returned to the P6 array to continue its retraction, shaking it while it was reeled in one bay at a time. At the end of the attempt, 65% of the array had been retracted. This EVA lasted 7 hours 31 minutes.

The final EVA on December 18, by Curbeam and Fuglesang, was added to complete the P6 retraction. It would be relocated during a later 2007 mission. After securing insulation on the station arm, the EVA ended at 6 hours 38 minutes. At the completion of EVA activities, STS-116 had logged a total of 25 hours 45 minutes. In addition, Curbeam had accumulated a career total of 45 hours 34 minutes EVA time across two of his three Shuttle missions, setting a new record.

While the EVAs were being conducted, the crews transferred over two tons of food, water, and equipment to the station under the direction of Load Master Joan Higginbotham. They also transferred about two tons of unwanted equipment and samples from experiments into the Spacehab module for the return to Earth. Just two minutes short of a full eight days of joint operations, Discovery was undocked from ISS on December 19. The next day, the crew again inspected the orbiter heat shield for any damage incurred during orbital flight. They also deployed three small scientific satellites, checked out the landing systems, and completed stowage for reentry.

Originally scheduled for December 21, the landing was postponed due to the addition of the fourth EVA. Inclement weather at the Cape then forced a cancella­tion of the first attempt there and it was too windy to land at Edwards. However, conditions at the Cape turned dramatically to allow a landing on the second attempt on December 22. A total of 17,900 commands were sent on this mission

setting a new record, with over 5,000 more commands from MCC-H than for any previous flight.

Milestones

251st manned space flight 147th U. S. manned space flight 117th Shuttle mission 33rd flight of Discovery 20th Shuttle ISS mission 7th Discovery ISS mission First Swedish citizen in space First Swedish astronaut to perform EVA First flight of Advanced Health Management System New record of 17,900 commands sent from MCC-H New Shuttle EVA record (accumulative) of 45 h 34 min set by Curbeam

There is not the scope to provide a detailed analysis in this present volume but for the benefit of understanding the more recent space flights, a brief overview of our steps to space is presented here (see the first three chapters in Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006, Springer Praxis 2007 for additional details). For every flight into space there has to be the journey from the surface of our planet, through our atmosphere, and into the vacuum beyond, at all times increasing in velocity to overcome the pull of gravity which keeps us on the planet in the first place. As humans, space is not our natural environment and it takes an enormous effort to get us there, sustain us while we explore, and then protect us to get safely home again. Of course, the farther we explore from our planet, the more support we will need and the more difficult the return to Earth becomes. Learning to sustain ourselves in space has always been a challenge, from the first flights of a few minutes or hours to the current months spent on board the space station.

Though each space flight is unique in its content, the profile for its preparation and execution is essentially the same: A mission is identified and assigned its objectives; a flight plan is created and the hardware prepared; the flight crew is selected and trained; then eventually the vehicle is launched, flies its mission, and then returns to Earth. All this is then followed by evaluations of the crew, research, and mission performance and examination of returned hardware in prep­aration for the next mission. This is a basic overview but it stands true for all successful missions flown to date, regardless of the country of origin, or mission objectives.

While this may be the plan, it does not always turn out that way. Human space flight is a high-performance, high-risk endeavor, which will always carry an element of danger for the mission, hardware, and crew. It has been demonstrated several times that accidents can occur during any of the stages of a mission, from training to recovery. For each of these potential risk areas, safety features, systems, and procedures were built in to help protect or possibly rescue a crew.

Some of these were introduced or modified for use on future flights only after an emergency had occurred during a previous mission.

Each crew is trained in emergency or contingency procedures and is provided with medical kits, escape equipment, and alternative flight plans to help deal with olf-nominal stations. Mission planners develop alternate mission profiles to gain at least something from the mission should the primary objective have to be aban­doned or curtailed, but this has to be done with crew safety in mind at all times. Though mission success is at the forefront of each crew in their execution of their flight, crew safety is the overriding factor and the primary responsibility of the mission commander. As much as each crew member would want to perform to the maximum and contribute as much as they could as a team member, they all have homes and families to return to. The expectation, excitement, and personal rewards of flying in space run strong in each crew member, but never as strongly as the desire to come home safely. Accepting the risk is part of being a space explorer, but these are not foolhardy individuals willing to risk their own fives or threaten the safety of others.

Across the globe in the Soviet Union, the cosmonauts remained focused upon crewing a series of Salyut (or Almaz) space stations, flying to and from the station in Soyuz. From 1978, the mission durations began to increase markedly, supported by the regular resupply flights of Progress vehicles. These “space freighters” delivered fresh supplies of fuel, air, water, food, equipment, and other small items of hardware. Once emptied by the crew, they could be filled with trash and unwanted material for a destructive burn-up in the atmosphere, thus freeing up valuable room on board the station.

During the Salyut missions, each two-man crew had their hands full completing all the assigned science objectives while maintaining the onboard systems and keeping the facility clean and habitable. Generally, the crewing on most missions included a military pilot cosmonaut as commander and either a design bureau flight engineer on the civilian Salyut or a military engineer on the Almaz missions. There were very few equivalent scientist astronauts in the cosmo­naut team and those who were selected, even with medical background, had little opportunity to fly on a mission. When the new variant Soyuz (Soyuz T) was intro­duced, it was once again possible to plan three-person crewing on the stations. However, when a third seat was available, it was normally filled by a second engineer from a design bureau (mostly from OKB-1, the Korolev design bureau), guest cosmonauts, or physician-cosmonauts.

From 1978, a change occurred for the visiting missions to a Salyut. The first civilian cosmonaut commanders (again from OKB-1) were accompanied by a representative from the East European/Interkosmos countries for short, week-long missions. The Interkosmos cosmonauts were certainly not of the “mission special­ist” class, and were mostly military officers who were given a short course of space training for a one-flight opportunity, mainly for political-propaganda reasons (and to install foreign equipment on the Salyut). Essentially it was a Soviet way of combining the roles of the Shuttle payload specialists and manned space flight engineers that would soon be seen on the Shuttle. The Interkosmos program evolved into a series of commercial agreements with other countries, which flew in the 1980s on Salyut 7 and Mir and later developed into the so-called “tourist flights” of “space flight participants” seen on the ISS in recent years.

In September 1977, the Soviets launched the second-generation Salyut 6 station, of which much was expected. Reports indicated that the first Soyuz mission to the station would be, in part, a proud celebration of the 20th anniver­sary of Sputnik 1. So when Soyuz 25 failed to dock successfully, it came as a bitter blow and cast a shadow over the all-rookie crew. Though they were later exonerated of all blame, the die was cast and significant changes were imple­mented for future crewing policy. By October 1977 there had been 14 Soyuz manned dockings attempted with either another Soyuz or a Salyut/Almaz station since October 1968. Six of these had failed. As a direct result of the Soyuz 25 failure, it was decided that no all-rookie crew would be flown again, especially not for such an important, high-profile mission. Eventually, the criteria were relaxed, but it would be another 17 years before the next all-rookie Russian Soyuz crew would launch (Soyuz TM-19 in April 1994 with Yuri Malenchenko and Talgat Musabayev aboard).

One of the problems was that there was no leeway in the docking attempt. The stripped-down battery version of Soyuz, used on Salyut station missions since 1974, had a limited independent orbital life of just two days, barely enough to get to and from the station in the first place. Unlike Apollo 14, which took six attempts to extract the LM from the top of the S-IVB stage en route to the Moon, repeated attempts at docking for the Soyuz were out of the question. It was an expensive lesson to learn, from the point of view of wasted resources and hardware. Improvements made for the Soyuz T helped to resolve the orbital flexibility of the spacecraft, but not before another failed docking had occurred in 1979 due to a malfunctioning main engine on the Soyuz.

When the missions to the stations were successful, it added to an ever growing database of long-duration information that would enable the Soviets/ Russians to develop their space station operations with greater confidence. Round-the-clock ground support for months on end; experiences of small crews working together in restricted confines of the orbital laboratory; masses of biome­dical information and psychological data (including the stresses of command, work over long periods of orbital flight, and the difficult decision of whether to tell a crewman in flight of a family bereavement or major incident back home). All of this was essential information to the growing program and those missions yet to come.

There were also plenty of challenges to overcome and learn from. The Soviet stations were limited in air-to-ground communications coverage, due to the lack of a global tracking network. Maintenance and housekeeping chores increased as the stations got older, making it difficult to strike a balance with important and often time-critical research objectives. From Salyut 6, there was the added dimension of disruptions to the routine from visiting crews, both at arrival and after departure. Operationally, the program had to learn about the challenges (and consequences) of docking more than one spacecraft to the station core module at the same time and the dynamic stresses on the whole structure this entailed. Postflight recovery techniques and protocols following such long missions also had to be improved—valuable lessons for even longer expeditions that were already being planned.

Salyut operations during the 1970s were also evolving the cosmonaut mission training cycle. For the Yostok missions, the Soviets had created a small training

group of cosmonauts taken from the larger corps, from which they would select the prime and reserve crews. This method had been successful and continued into the Salyut program. This experience, of having several crews going through the preparation cycle for assignment as reserve, backup, or prime crew, would prove highly successful and flexible. Separate training groups were formed for visiting crews, or to evaluate new versions of the Soyuz. These experiences would be adopted over 20 years later as the International Space Station evolved—a lasting tribute to the Soviet crewing policy devised in the Gagarin era.

2007-008A April 7, 2007

Pad 1, Site 5, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of

Kazakhstan

October 21, 2007

10 km from the settlement of Tolybai, Republic of Kazakhstan

Soyuz-FG (serial number Ц15000-019),

Soyuz TMA (serial number 220)

196 da 17 h 04 min 35 s (Yurchikhin, Kotov)

13 da 18 h 59 min 50 s (Simonyi down on TMA-9) Pulsar

ISS resident crew transport (14S), ISS-15 resident crew program, visiting crew 12 program

Flight Crew

YURCHIKHIN, Fyodor Nikolayevich, 48, civilian, RSA ISS commander, Soyuz TMA flight engineer, second mission Previous mission: STS-112 (2002)

KOTOV, Oleg Valerievich, 41, Russian Federation Air Force, RSA ISS flight engineer 1, Soyuz TMA commander

SIMONYI, Charles, 58, U. S.A., space flight participant, visiting crew 12 ISS-15 Shuttle-delivered crew members

WILLIAMS, Sunita Lyn, 41, USN, NASA ISS flight engineer 2 (up on STS-116, down on STS-117)

ANDERSON, Clayton Conrad, 48, civihan, NASA ISS flight engineer 2 (up on STS-117, down on STS-120)

Flight log

The 15th ISS resident crew launched along with the 12th visiting crew member, Charles Simonyi, aboard the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft. Two days later the Soyuz, under the command of rookie cosmonaut and medical doctor Oleg Kotov, docked with the Zarya FGB module. The commander of the expedition, Fyodor Yurchikhin (call sign Olympus), had previously visited the station five years before as a member of the American STS-112 mission and fulfilled the role of flight engineer for the Soyuz flight to and from the station. Kotov served as flight engineer 1 for the duration of the expedition, resuming the command of the Soyuz for the return home. Formal handover to the ISS-15 crew took place on April 17.

Two American (NASA) astronauts would complete the resident crew complement. Sunita Williams was already on board the station having arrived on STS-116 (12A.1) and having worked as part of the ISS-14 crew. She would continue with the ISS-15 crew before returning on STS-117 (13A) in the spring. Aboard that flight was her replacement, Clayton Anderson, who was to continue with the ISS-15 crew and then transfer over to the ISS-16 expedition before his own return to Earth on STS-120 later in 2007. This was the second in a series of resident crew exchanges via the Space Shuttle over the next three years. Both NASA astronauts were assigned to the MS5 position for ascent and descent on the Shuttle, transferring to the station’s resident crew in the ISS FE2 role.

The third TMA-10 crew member was space flight participant and naturalized U. S. citizen, Charles Simonyi, one of the founders of the Microsoft Corporation, who had developed Word and Excel computer software. Simonyi, who had been bom in Hungary, became the fifth space tourist and completed the longest stay on the ISS by a tourist up to that point. The duration of his visit had been decided upon by the requirement to land TMA-9 in Kazakhstan before sunset. During his time aboard the station, as the two main crews completed a series of handover activities, Simonyi completed a program of experiments that included a number of ESA life science experiments. He also wrote a log (which was not posted on his website until well after his return) and narrated video tours of the station. He landed with Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin in Kazakhstan aboard TMA-9 on April 21.

During the ISS-15 expedition, 272 sessions of 47 Russian experiments were planned, 43 of which were continuations of previous increments. The expedition also continued the program of experiments in the U. S. segment, totaling over 119 hours of planned operations. The ISS-15 increment received visits from three Shuttle crews: STS-117 (13A), STS-118 (13A.1), and STS-120 (10A). They also worked with the unmanned resupply vehicles Progress M-59, M-60, and M-61. In addition to their scientific activities and logistics transfers, the main crew com­pleted a wide range of maintenance, repair, and housekeeping duties throughout their stay on the station.

On April 16, during the handover activities, Sunita Williams became the first person to run a marathon while participating in a space flight. Using the TVIS treadmill she “ran” 26.2 miles (42.16 km) as competitor 14,000 of the Boston Marathon in 4 hours 24 minutes. Ten days later, Williams was told she would return on STS-117 instead of the original STS-118, which had slipped in its launch cycle due to the hail damage and З-month delay to STS-117. That mission arrived on June 10, carrying her replacement, Clayton Anderson. Sunita Williams returned on Atlantis after a mission of just under 195 days, surpassing the female space endurance record held by Shannon Lucid for the previous 11 years.

The ISS-15 residency would include three space walks totaling 18 hours 43 minutes: one from the U. S. segment and two from the Russian segment. Yurchikhin participated in all three excursions and was accompanied by Kotov on the first two space walks from the Pirs module at the Russian segment and by Anderson from the U. S. Quest module for the third.

The first EVA (May 30, 5h 25 min) involved attaching further debris shields around the Zvezda module and rerouting a high-frequency cable for a Russian GPS system. The second EVA (June 6, 5h 37 min) featured the installation of the Biorisk samples exposure experiment, which would be retrieved on a later EVA. More cables and debris panels were also installed. The third EVA (July 23, 7h 41 min) featured the removal and jettison by hand of two large structures: the VSSA Flight Support Equipment and the Early Ammonia Servicer.

On September 27, TMA-10 was relocated from the nadir port on Zarya to the aft port of Zvezda in an operation that took less than 28 minutes, clearing the Zarya port for other spacecraft operations.

Yurchikhin and Kotov handed over formal command of the station on October 19 to the recently arrived ISS-16 crew, before returning to Earth aboard the TMA-10 spacecraft on October 21 2007.

During the descent, the landing computer in the Descent Module of the Soyuz switched unexpectedly to a ballistic return trajectory, which would result in a landing short of the planned recovery zone. Though not in increased danger, the crew did have to endure g-loads about 2g higher than the nominal 5g (up to 7g max) and undershot the landing zone by about 340 km. This was similar to the reentry flown during TMA-1 on May 4, 2003.

Yurchikhin and Kotov landed with VC-13 Malaysian space flight participant Sheik Muszaphar Shukor A1 Masrie, who had arrived with the ISS-16 crew aboard Soyuz TMA-11. The landing of TMA-10 took place just 10 km from the settlement of Tolybai, Republic of Kazakhstan.

Milestones

252nd manned space flight 103 rd Russian manned space flight 96th manned Soyuz flight 10th manned Soyuz TMA mission 14th ISS Soyuz mission (14S)

12th ISS Soyuz visiting mission Kotov became Russia’s 100th cosmonaut Williams (April 16) “ran” the first marathon while in space

Flight crew

STURCKOW, Richard Frederick Wilford, 47, USMC, NASA commander, third mission

Previous missions-. STS-88 (1998), STS-105 (2001)

ARCHAMBAULT, Lee Joseph, 46, USAF, NASA pilot FORRESTER, Patrick Graham, 50, civilian, NASA mission specialist 1 SWANSON, Steven Roy, 46, civilian, NASA mission specialist 2 OLIVAS, John Daniel, 41, civilian, NASA mission specialist 3 REILLY II, James Francis, 53, civilian, NASA mission specialist 4, third mission

Previous missions: STS-89 (1998), STS-104 (2001)

ISS-15 crew member up only

ANDERSON, Clayton Conrad, 48, NASA mission specialist 5 and ISS-15 flight engineer 2

ISS-15 crew member down only

WILLIAMS, Sunita Lyn, 41, NASA mission specialist 5 and ISS-15 flight engineer 2

Flight log

This mission was manifested to deliver the S3/4 truss assembly and to exchange NASA resident station crew members Clayton Anderson and Sunita Williams.

Atlantis had arrived back at the Orbital Processing Facility on September 21, 2006 following the STS-115 mission. Processing for its next flight continued in the OPF until the orbiter was moved over to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)

for mating with the rest of the stack. The rollout to launchpad 39A occurred on February 15. However, on February 26, the thermal protection on both the orbiter and the External Tank suffered damage from hail. This was so severe that repairs could not be conducted on the pad. Atlantis had to be rolled back to the YAB on March 4 to complete the repairs and was returned to pad 39A until May 15.

The remainder of the processing and countdown proceeded as planned, with an on-time launch on June 8, 2007 and the 8 min ascent to orbit going according to plan. Initial orbit inspection of the left Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) later that day revealed that part of the thermal protection system appeared to have pulled away from adjacent thermal tiles. The crew used the RMS for a closer inspection. The following day, Archambault (assisted by Forrester and Swanson) used the RMS with the boom-mounted extension system to inspect both the heat shield on the leading edge of the orbiter wing and the vehicle’s nose cap.

Atlantis docked with the ISS at the PMA-2 port of the Destiny Laboratory on June 10. Following the traditional greeting between the Shuttle and station crews after hatch opening, the exchange between Anderson and Williams took place. Anderson became the new flight engineer on the ISS-15 resident crew, while Williams became a member of the STS-117 crew. The formal exchange included swapping the form-fitting Soyuz seat liners, which marked the point at which the two astronauts changed crews.

During the docked phase, four EYAs were completed by the Shuttle EVA crew from the Quest airlock, working in alternate teams of two. The initial EVA (6h 15 min on June 11) by Reilly and Olivas focused upon completing the attach­ment of bolts, cables, and connectors to the S3/4 truss segment and preparing for the deployment of its solar arrays. The EVA had been delayed for an hour after the ISS had temporarily lost its altitude control. This was not entirely unexpected because the movement of the 17.8-ton mass of the S3/4 truss (equivalent to the size of a bus) skewed the symmetry of the station, causing the control moment gyro to go offline.

The second EVA (June 13) was conducted by Forrester and Swanson in 7 hours 16 minutes. The previous day, station controllers had unfurled the solar arrays on the recently attached truss to soak up the Sun’s energy. The main task of this second EVA was to remove all of the launch locks which held the 3.4m wide solar alpha rotary joint in place. During the EVA, the crew ran into difficulty when Forrester found that commands intended for a drive lock assembly they were installing were in fact being sent to a drive lock assembly installed during the first EVA. As a result, ground controllers checked and confirmed the safe config­uration of the earlier installed assembly. The two astronauts also assisted with the retraction of an older solar array, which cleared the way to deploy the new array. A total of 13 of the 315 solar array bays were folded.

On June 15, Olivas and Reilly completed the third EVA of the mission, totaling 7 hours 58 minutes. During this EVA, they assisted with the retraction of the P6 truss, which required 28 commands over 45 minutes to complete the opera­tion. The two astronauts also addressed separate tasks. Olivas spent 2 hours stapling and pinning down a thermal blanket on the orbiter’s OMS pod, after a 10 x 25.5 cm comer had peeled up during ascent. Meanwhile, Reilly installed the hydrogen vent valve of a new oxygen generation system on the U. S. laboratory, Destiny.

Two days later (June 17), Forrester and Swanson ventured outside for the fourth and final EVA of this mission. During this 6h 29 min EVA, the two men relocated a TV camera from a stowage platform on the Quest airlock to a new position on the S3 truss. They also verified the drive lock assembly #2 configura­tions, as well as removing the final six solar alpha rotary joint launch restraints. After clearing a path for the Mobile Base System (MBS) on the S3 truss, several get-ahead tasks were completed. The two astronauts installed a computer network cable on the Unity node, opened the hydrogen vent valve on Destiny, and tethered two orbital debris shield panels on the Zvezda Service Module. Activation of the rotary joint meant there were now four U. S. solar arrays tracking the Sun during each orbit, providing much needed additional power for station operations.

Over the four EVAs, the astronauts logged 27 hours 58 minutes in total. Reilly and Olivas logged 14 hours 13 minutes on the first and third EVAs, while Forrester and Swanson accumulated 13 hours 45 minutes during EVAs 2 and 4.

During the docked phase of the mission, the Shuttle’s propulsion system was used to back up the station’s control and orbital attitude adjustment after the Russian segment computers which normally handle this task experienced prob­lems. Both Russian and U. S. teams on the ground worked on the problem, trou­bleshooting and then restoring the capabilities of the computer. On June 15, cosmonauts Yurchikhin and Kotov managed to get two of the three lines to each computer running after they bypassed an apparent faulty power switch with external cabling. This modification was repeated on the final two channels. Three days later the Russians demonstrated the ability to maintain station control using the computers, thus allowing Atlantis to depart.

After transferring 19 tons of food, water, and equipment across to the station, and now with Sunita Williams aboard, Atlantis undocked on June 19. Joint activ­ities had logged 8 days 19 hours 6 minutes. Piloted by Archambault, Atlantis completed a fly-around of the station, offering a good inspection and photo­documentation opportunity of the reconfigured outpost. At a distance of74 km from the station, the Atlantis crew then used the RMS and boom sensor system to inspect the orbiter’s thermal protection system on both wing leading edges and the nose cap.

Three days later, after a 24 h delay due to adverse weather, Atlantis arrived safely on runway 21 at Edwards Air Force Base in California, after marginal weather had again prevented a landing at the Shuttle Landing Facility at the Cape in Florida. Setting a new record for female space flight endurance, Sunita Williams logged just short of 195 days in space during her residency.

The transfer of Atlantis back to the Cape did not begin immediately. After several days of preparation, the orbiter was bolted to the top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (Boeing 747). Following several fuel stops and weather delays, the combination finally arrived back at the Cape on July 3.

Milestones

253rd manned space flight 148th U. S. manned space flight 118th Shuttle mission 28th flight of Atlantis 21st Shuttle TSS mission

Heaviest station payload carried by Shuttle to date (42,671 lb) (19,355.5 kg) First launch from Pad 39A since STS-107 Columbia in January 2003 Suni Williams set a new endurance record of 195 days for the longest single space flight by a female, surpassing the 188-day record of Shannon Lucid set in 1996

Flight Crew

KELLY, Scott Joseph, 43, USN, NASA commander, second mission Previous mission: STS-103 (1999)

HOBAUGH, Charles Owen, 45, USMC, NASA pilot, second mission Previous mission: STS-104 (2001)

CALDWELL, Tracy Ellen, 37, civilian, NASA mission speciahst 1 MASTRACCHIO, Richard Alan, civilian, NASA mission specialist 2, second mission

Previous mission: STS-106 (2000)

WILLIAMS, Daffyd (David) Rhys, 53, civilian (Canadian), CSA mission specialist 3, second mission Previous mission: STS-90 (1998)

MORGAN, Barbara Radding, 55, civihan, NASA mission specialist 4 DREW, Benjamin Alvin, 44, USAF, NASA mission speciahst 5

Flight log

This mission continued the installation of the solar array truss segment and also featured the flight of the first educator astronaut—a teacher turned astronaut.

As a result of a major modification program for Endeavour, and the recovery from the loss of Columbia, launch preparations took some time. The orbiter had arrived at the OPF on December 7, 2002 following the landing of STS-113. Endeavour remained at the Cape for the next four years, being moved between facilities as required for both mission processing and upgrades. During the modifi­cation period, Endeavour, the newest of the orbiter fleet, received a number of upgrades including the installation of a “glass cockpit”, a global positioning system to be used as an aid for landing and the Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer

System (SSTPS). This would enable the orbiter to draw power from the station while docked with it, extending the time it could remain at the station.

On January 9, 2004 Endeavour was moved to the VAB for maintenance, returning to the OPF Bay 2 on January 21. On December 16 that year Endeavour was moved to High Bay 4 in the VAB for storage. Then, on January 12, 2005, the orbiter was relocated back to OPF Bay 2 once again. The move to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) hangar on February 22 was to make room to conduct planned modifications to the OPF. Endeavour returned to the Processing Facility on March 18, where it remained for the next two years. Following mission proces­sing for STS-118, Endeavour was rolled over to the VAB on July 2, 2007 for mating to the External Tank (ET) and two SRBs. The STS-118 stack was rolled out to Pad 39A on July 11, 2007.

Despite some problems with a stubborn side hatch on the Endeavour, the mission launched on time, heading into the early evening sky just before sunset. On board was the crew of seven, the SS truss, the Spacehab module, and the External Storage Platform #3, which included a Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) to replace a faulty one on the station. The following day, the crew used the Shuttle’s robotic arm and Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) to take a close look at the vehicle’s heat shielding over the leading edge of the wings.

Shortly before docking with the station on August 10, commander Scott Kelly maneuvered Endeavour in a backflip, allowing the resident ISS crew to take digital photos of the underside of the vehicle and its upper surfaces to check the thermal protection system for possible damage. Subsequent analysis of this imagery revealed a 3" (8 cm) round dent on the starboard underside. Further inspection and analysis of the images and data showed that the damage had penetrated a tile down to the internal framework. Over several days, while the crew continued work on the station, the Mission Management Team (MMT) evaluated the evidence and authorized a further engineering analysis and series of tests. It was determined that direct tile repair by the crew on a contingency EVA was not required and that the damage would not pose a risk to the crew during reentry. It was therefore decided to leave the damaged tile alone until after landing. This decision revealed growing confidence in the changes introduced since the loss of Columbia, better capability in interpreting inspection imagery, and more understanding of the effects of minor damage on the TPS.

Endeavour docked to the station on August 10 while orbiting 214 miles (344.32 km) above the southern Pacific Ocean, northeast of Sydney, Australia. The MMT initially extended the flight to 14 days following a successful transfer of power from the station by means of the SSPTS. This enabled a fourth space walk to be added to the flight plan. However, later in the mission, with growing concern over the movement of Hurricane Dean towards the coast of Texas, the MMT decided to shorten the flight and end the mission one day early.

The mission’s four space walks logged 23 hours 13 minutes in total. Rick Mastracchio and Canadian astronaut Dave Williams each completed three EVAs, with ISS-16 flight engineer Clayton Anderson joining Mastracchio for the third EVA and Williams for the fourth and final EVA.

During the first EVA (August 11, 6h 17min) installation of the 2-ton, lift long spacer, Starboard 5 (S5) segment of the truss structure was completed. The astronauts also retracted the forward heat-rejecting radiator from the P6 truss assembly. This was planned for relocation to the end of the port truss during the following STS-120 mission. The mission’s second EVA (August 13, 6h 28 min), focused upon installation of the 6001b (272.16 kg) CMG onto the Z1 segment of the station truss assembly. The failed unit was removed and stored outside the station pending its planned return to Earth on a later mission.

During the third excursion (August 15, 5h 28 min), Anderson and Mastracchio relocated the S-band antenna subassembly from P6 to PI. They then installed a new transponder on PI as well as retrieving the P6 transponder. Mean­while, inside the station Pilot Charles Hobaugh and resident station flight engineer Oleg Kotov moved two CETA (Crew and Equipment Translation Aid) carts. It was during this EVA that Mastracchio noticed a hole in the thumb of his left pressure glove. As it was only through to the second of five layers it did not create a leak or endanger the astronaut. As a precaution, however, he returned to the airlock while Anderson completed the final tasks.

The fourth and final EVA of the mission (August 18, 5 h 2 min), conducted by Williams and Anderson, featured a number of lesser tasks, including installation of the External Wireless Instrumentation System (EWIS) antenna, installation of a stand for the temporary relocation of the Shuttle RMS extension boom, and retrieval of the two material experiment containers which were to be returned on Endeavour. The two other tasks planned for this EVA were deferred to a future space walk. These were relocating a toolbox to a more central location and cleaning up and securing the debris shielding. During each of the EVAs fellow crew members Caldwell and Morgan used the Shuttle and station RMS devices to move and locate the 7,0001b (3175.2 kg) number 3 external storage platform that would be installed on the P3 truss.

On August 11, the primary command and control computer in the U. S. segment shut down unexpectedly. Fortunately this shutdown did not affect the EVA being conducted that day. The redundancy in the system worked as designed, with the secondary computer taking over and the third computer providing a backup role. Ground controllers brought up the third computer after determining that an errant software command was the cause of the shut­down.

Mission specialist Barbara Morgan was a professional teacher turned astronaut, who had originally been chosen as a backup payload specialist to fellow teacher Christa McAuliffe in 1985 under the Teacher in Space Program. Tragically, McAuliffe died in the January 1986 Challenger accident. Morgan continued her association with NASA and returned to teaching, but in 1998 she was chosen as an educator mission specialist in the 17th NASA astronaut group. During STS-118, Morgan conducted three educational events and on several occa­sions she and her colleagues answered questions from children at the Discovery Center in Boise, Idaho and the Challenger Centers for Space Science Education in Alexandria, Virginia and Saskatchewan, Canada.

Endeavour undocked from the Station on August 19 after 8 days 17 hours 54 minutes of joint operations. Ironically, the expected threat from Hurricane Dean never materialized but by then the orbiter was committed to an early return— weather permitting. There was indeed fine weather as the landing took place on Runway 15 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC on the first opportunity.

Milestones

254th manned space flight 149th U. S. manned space flight 119th Shuttle mission 20th flight of Endeavour 22nd Shuttle ISS mission

Morgan became the first educator mission specialist to fly in space The Zarya module completed its 50,000th orbit (August 14), as the oldest element of ISS

Installation of ESP3 using just the Space Station and Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) without help of EVA astronauts as on previous two installations

First use of the Station-Shuttle Power Transfer System Caldwell celebrates her 38 th birthday (August 14)