Docking.
Mission Status:Liftoff was a spectacular success with Shuttle Manager Wayne Hale 'apologising' to the media at the post-Mission Management Team Briefing press conference for not having any pictures of debris to show.
The last day has been spent photo-documenting the physical status of critical heat shield locations on the Orbiter - the leading edges of the wings, nose cone, and crew cabin exterior - for any damage sustained during the climb to orbit. So far, there's nothing to report on that front. Yeah NASA!
In almost exactly 20 minutes, Atlantis will be docking to the Destiny module aboard the ISS, following the now-SOP backflip, which allowed the ISS crew to take detailed photographs of the underside of the Orbiter searching for any damage.
The extra hard work then beings with immediate prep for the three planned spacewalks of this mission, transfer of the P3/P4 truss assembly from Orbiter CanadaArm to ISS CanadaArm2 and attachment of the truss assembly to the ISS. The three spacewalks will install and wire the truss to the station, thereby allowing the unfurling and activation of the massive solar panels which are supported on the truss. This will double the solar energy available to the station, allowing subsequent expansion of scientific packages and payloads planned for later in the Station's life. This truss assembly features a sun-tracking swivel for the panels so that they can consistently produce maximum power by always being tilted directly toward the Sun - except of course, when there isn't any!
Wah-hoo!
posted by Kyle @ 04:21
1 Comments:
Hi Kyle,
Saw your mom and Bob at the ridge b-b-q; it was good to get caught up with your whereabouts. it was great to see that your interest in flight and exploration continues. Congrats on the scholarship and good luck with your adventure down-under.. this is the first time i've used a blog so if you got this message twice it's because i don't know what I'm doing!! your neighbor, Graeme Leadbeater graemeal@xplornet.com
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