STS-126 Spacewalks

STS-126 Status Report #08

The first of four spacewalks scheduled for Endeavour crew members at the International Space Station will highlight today’s activities in orbit. Much of the work by Endeavour crew members, Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists Don Pettit, Steve Bowen, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Shane Kimbrough and Greg Chamitoff, will involve the spacewalk and transfer of equipment and supplies between the station and Endeavour.

The crew got its wakeup call at 7:55 a.m. CST. The song was “City of Blinding Lights,” by U2. It was played for Kimbrough. Piper, in a red-striped suit, and Bowen, in the all-white suit, will leave the Quest airlock at 12:45 p.m. for the 6.5-hour spacewalk. Their tasks, like most of those on the remaining three spacewalks, will focus on the station’s Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ). The joints are designed to rotate the station’s 240-foot solar arrays, to keep them facing the sun for maximum production of electricity.

Last year flight controllers noted an increase in power consumption by the starboard SARJ, and it has seen limited use. The port SARJ is working fine, but it will be lubricated during the fourth spacewalk. Today’s spacewalkers also will take a depleted nitrogen tank from a station stowage platform to Endeavour’s cargo bay and move a flex hose rotary coupler from the shuttle to that station stowage platform. Additionally, they will remove an insulation blanket on the Japanese laboratory Kibo. Kimbrough, who will participate in the second and fourth spacewalks, will be today’s intravehicular officer, the spacewalk choreographer.

Pettit and Expedition 18’s Sandra Magnus will operate the Canadarm2 robotic arm during the spacewalk, while Boe also will provide support. Chamitoff and Ferguson will help with spacewalk preparations in the airlock, where the spacewalkers spent the night in lower air pressure to remove nitrogen from their systems. Station Commander Mike Fincke and others also will transfer cargo.

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STS-126 Space Shuttle Mission Report #7

STS-126 Status Report #07

The joint Space Shuttle Endeavour and International Space Station crews today took the first step toward updating the complex’s interior by installing a packed logistics module on a docking port. The Leonardo Multipurpose Logistics Module (MPLM) – stuffed with additional sleeping stations, new exercise equipment, a water regeneration system, experiments and hardware – was carefully moved from Endeavour’s payload bay to the station in preparation for unloading for the next several days.

Following Sunday’s arrival and orientation, the crews got down to business with swapping Sandra Magnus for Greg Chamitoff who spent 167 days on the station as an Expedition crewmember. Magnus replaces Chamitoff as a Flight Engineer until her return trip home arrives in February 2009. While Magnus and Chamitoff conducted specific handover activities, the remaining crewmembers focused on moving Leonardo to its temporary location on the station where more than 14,000 pounds of hardware and supplies will be unloaded into the station making room for stowage to be returned to Earth.

The hatch was opened to begin that transfer work at 5:43 p.m. Monday. While the crew worked, imagery experts on the ground poured over images taken by the crew of Endeavour’s thermal protection system. Late Monday, the crew was informed that there was no need for additional inspection Wednesday allowing planners to fill that time with transfer and new equipment activation.

Late Monday night, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve Bowen prepared for the first of four spacewalks planned during the mission. They are following a proven protocol known as the “campout” to spend the night in the Quest airlock to lessen the preparatory time before beginning the spacewalk scheduled for 12:45 p.m.

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