Endeavour chat with President Obama

5 a.m. CST Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010


Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

02.18.10 STATUS REPORT : STS-130-21 STS-130 MCC Status Report #21 HOUSTON – After a chat with the president an hour after their wakeup call, it was back to the nuts-and-bolts work of spaceflight for the crews of Endeavour and the International Space Station.



President Barack Obama was accompanied by middle school students when he spoke from the White House with the crew members. Several of the students, in the capital for an engineering competition, asked the crew questions.



Crew members transferred and installed racks in the station’s new Tranquility node, reboosted the station using Endeavour’s thrusters, reconfigured spacesuits and passed the 75-percent mark of supply and equipment transfers between the two spacecraft. Their work, during a bonus day added for the rack transfers, generally went smoothly.



In shorts or slacks, and stocking feet, crew members floated purposefully about the station on their various tasks. They moved and connected four racks into Tranquility – the Oxygen Generation System, the Water Recovery System, the Urine Processing Assembly and the Waste and Hygiene Compartment. They also continued outfitting Tranquility’s cupola, installing a panel and transferring Robotics Work Station components for installation after Endeavour departs.



A little after 1:30 a.m. CST, Endeavour Commander George Zamka and Pilot Terry Virts began a 33-minute reboost of the station, using the shuttle’s attitude control jets. When it was completed, the station’s altitude had been raised by about 1.3 statute miles to an orbit of 219 by 208 miles.



In the Quest airlock, Mission Specialists Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick reconfigured spacesuits they had used on their three spacewalks, preparing some parts for return to Earth. They also stowed spacewalking tools.



The shuttle crew’s bedtime is 6:44 a.m. The next status report will be issued after the crew’s scheduled 2:44 p.m. wakeup call, or earlier if events warrant.