Batteries loaded into Atlantis’ payload bay for the return trip home.

STS-132 MCC Status Report #16

HOUSTON – Space shuttle Atlantis' crew will begin the day by moving the cargo carrier, temporarily stowed Friday on the International Space Station’s mobile base system, into the shuttle’s payload bay, answer questions submitted by 12 NASA Explorer Schools and then wrap up the final transfer of items between vehicles.

The crews woke to Matt Redman’s “Lord We Have Seen the Rising Sun” at 12:20 a.m. CDT. The song was played for Mission Specialist Mike Good, who completed his fourth spacewalk Friday.

At 2:35 a.m. Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman and Piers Sellers will use the station’s robotic arm to move the cargo carrier, loaded with six 375-pound used batteries, into Atlantis’ payload bay for the return trip home.

At 6:40 a.m. the shuttle crew will answer questions submitted by video from elementary and middle school students from 12 NASA Explorer Schools. The NASA Explorer Schools project establishes a three-year partnership between NASA and schools in diverse communities to increase awareness of science, technology and mathematics education.

Schools participating include John B. Cary Elementary in Richmond, Va., Cumberland Middle School in Cumberland, Wisc., Rodriguez Elementary in Harlingen, Texas, Hobgood Elementary in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Lebanon Middle School in Lebanon, Ky., Ellen Ochoa Learning Center in Cudahy, Calif., Orleans Elementary in Orleans, Vt., Wendover High School in Wendover, Utah, Harding Middle School in Des Moines, Iowa, Conyers Middle School in Conyers, Ga., Forest Lake Elementary School in Columbia, S.C., and Arapahoe School in Arapahoe, Wyo.

Their station counterparts, Flight Engineers Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Mikhail Kornienko, Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer will have a routine day of science work, maintenance and exercise sessions.