Original post date...
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First of Five Spacewalks to begin at 11:58am EDT - Focused Inspection of Shuttle Heat Shield not required
About photo: The International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm hands the Japanese Exposed Facility to the Canadarm robotic arm of space shuttle Endeavour.Photo credit: NASA TV
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9:13am EDT
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Space Shuttle managers notified Space Shuttle Endeavour's crew this morning that a Focused Inspection of the shuttle heat shield is not required.
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While Dave Wolf and Tim Kopra prepare for the mission's first spacewalk this morning, carefully choreographed robotic operations are underway aboard space shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station. The entire 13-member crew will participate in today's activities.
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At 11:06 a.m. EDT Endeavour Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialist Koichi Wakata used the space station's robotic arm to grab the Japanese Exposed Facility (JEF), nestled in the shuttle payload bay. They will lift it out of the bay at 1:43 p.m., hand it to the shuttle robotic arm at 2:43 p.m., and move the station's arm into position for installation at 3:53 p.m. The shuttle arm will hand the Exposed Facility back to the station arm at 5:23 p.m., and finally the station arm will move the JEF into position for installation to the Kibo laboratory at 5:38 p.m.
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Wolf and Kopra's spacewalk is scheduled to start at 11:58 a.m. They will remove insulation from Kibo's berthing mechanism, disconnect power cables providing electricity to the shuttle's Integrated Cargo Carrier, use a specially designed tool to release the station's Earth-facing Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Attachment System, secure covers on the Harmony and Unity modules' common berthing mechanisms, and set up a payload attach system on the station's backbone. Mission Specialists Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will help coordinate the spacewalk from inside.
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STS-127 Commander Mark Polansky will help out with the Exposed Facility's arm-to-arm handoffs and work with cargo, water and nitrogen transfers, and Mission Specialist Julie Payette will assist with robotic and camera operations.
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Space station Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineers Michael Barratt, Robert Thirsk, Roman Romanenko and Frank De Winne will help out as needed with the spacewalk and robotics tasks.
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Astronauts Begin First Spacewalk of STS-127
12:25am EDT
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STS-127 Lead Spacewalker Dave Wolf and the newest space station crew member Tim Kopra began the mission’s first spacewalk at 12:19 p.m. EDT, when they switched their spacesuits to battery power.
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POST UPDATE:
Sunday, July 19, 2009
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About above image:
JULY 18TH - The Integrated Cargo Carrier is transferred from Space Shuttle Endeavour’s Cargo Bay by the Shuttle's Canadarm Robotic Arm.Photo credit: NASA TV
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Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
07/19/09
STATUS REPORT: STS-127
STS-127 MCC Status Report #08
HOUSTON - The astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station complex will take a break from spacewalking today, but continue their robotics work to prepare for the following day’s excursion.
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The joint crew was awakened at 5:33 a.m. CDT with the song “Learning to Fly,” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, for former Navy SEAL Chris Cassidy, who is making his first space flight aboard the space shuttle Endeavour.
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With focused inspection of Endeavour’s heat shield no longer necessary, the crew will have additional time to complete transfers of supplies and equipment from the shuttle to the station and review plans for Monday’s second spacewalk of the mission.
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Commander Mark Polansky and Pilot Doug Hurley will begin the day by grappling the Integrated Cargo Carrier in the rear of Endeavour’s cargo bay, lifting it and handing it off to the station’s robotic arm. Mission specialists Julie Payette and Tim Kopra will guide the station’s arm as it accepts the carrier and installs it on the mobile base system. This placement will allow spacewalkers to transfer the spare parts to an external stowage platform on the station.
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Spacewalkers Dave Wolf and Tom Marshburn will configure their space suits and tools, and review the procedures for Monday’s spacewalk.
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Departing Expedition 20 astronaut Koichi Wakata, now a member of Endeavour’s crew, will work on the station’s Advanced Resistive Exercise Device. He’ll replace a shock absorber, known as a “dashpot,” that helps prevent vibrations from simulated weightlifting from interfering with sensitive science experiments on the station.
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Mission specialist Julie Payette and Flight Engineer Bob Thirsk will talk with Canadian dignitaries and news media in a 20-minute event starting at 5:08 p.m.
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Expedition 20 Commander Genady Padalka will take temperature, humidity, air flow and surface temperature readings in the station’s Russian segment.
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The crew is scheduled to go to bed at 9:33 p.m. and wake up at 5:33 a.m. on the 40th anniversary of the first human moon landing.
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The next shuttle status report will be issued at the end of the crew’s day, or earlier if events warrant.
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Astronauts Troubleshoot Waste and Hygiene Compartment
10:10am CDT
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International Space Station flight controllers and crew members are troubleshooting a problem with the Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC), the toilet in the U.S. Destiny module. It is one of two toilet systems aboard the space station. Initial indications are that the liquid separator is flooded. The WHC was delivered to the station on STS-126 and installed later by the station crew.
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While an inconvenience, this is not a serious issue. Temporarily, the six station crew members all will use the facilities in the Russian Zvezda module and the seven space shuttle Endeavour astronauts will use the shuttle facilities, the Waste Collection System, or WCS.
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Crews Focus on Robotics Work and Spacewalk Preps
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The astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station complex will take a break from spacewalking today, but continue their robotics work to prepare for the following day’s excursion.
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With focused inspection of Endeavour’s heat shield no longer necessary, the crew will have additional time to complete transfers of supplies and equipment from the shuttle to the station and review plans for Monday’s second spacewalk of the mission.
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Crew members will begin the day by grappling the Integrated Cargo Carrier in the rear of Endeavour’s cargo bay, lifting it and handing it off to the station’s robotic arm. They will guide the station’s arm as it accepts the carrier and installs it on the mobile base system. This placement will allow spacewalkers to transfer the spare parts to an external stowage platform on the station.
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Spacewalkers Dave Wolf and Tom Marshburn will configure their space suits and tools, and review the procedures for Monday’s spacewalk.
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* 10:10pm CDT *
> 2nd Spacewalk starts Monday at 11:28am EDT
Spacewalkers Dave Wolf and Tom Marshburn should begin the 2nd of 5 scheduled spacewalks late Monday morning at 11:28am EDT.
Be sure to check back and watch it live on NASA TV!
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POST UPDATE:
Monday, July 20, 2009
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Second Spacewalk Begins at 11:27am EDT
11:31am EDT
About this image: Taken July 18th - Astronaut Tim Kopra is pictured in Endeavour's cargo bay during the first of five STS-127 spacewalks. When the Endeavour crew returns to Earth, Kopra will stay onboard the space station to serve as flight engineer.
Image credit: NASA
STS-127 lead spacewalker Dave Wolf and Endeavour Mission Specialist Tom Marshburn began the mission’s second spacewalk at 11:27 a.m. EDT, when they switched their spacesuits to battery power. The space walk is expected to last 6.5 hours.
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The pair will retrieve three hardware spares from the Integrated Cargo Carrier – Vertical Light Deployable, or ICC-VLD, and place them in a long-term storage location on the outside of the station’s Port 3 truss. On Sunday, robotic arm operators moved the cargo carrier to a location where Wolf and Marshburn can easily access it.
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First, Wolf and Marshburn will retrieve a Ku-Band Space-to-Ground Antenna from the ICC-VLD and place it in the Port 3 External Stowage Platform, ESP-3. Next, they will transfer a Pump Module that is part of the station’s exterior thermal control system, and a Linear Drive Unit that helps the mobile transporter move along the truss backbone, to ESP-3.
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Marshburn will take a fixed grapple bar and preposition it on an ammonia tank assembly in preparation for its replacement on STS-128 in August. Finally, both spacewalkers will move a television camera that was launched on the Japanese Exposed Facility (JEF) to its final location on JEF. The spacewalkers will be assisted by Julie Payette and Doug Hurley, who will help move Wolf from the ICC-VLD to the ESP-3 on the space station robotic arm.
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Again…
Watch it LIVE on NASA TV at link below…
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Image above: Monday, July 20, 2009 - Spacewalker Dave Wolf works outside the International Space Station during the second spacewalk of the STS-127 mission.
Photo credit: NASA TV
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STS-127 Crew Completes Second Spacewalk
6:26pm EDT
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Spacewalkers Dave Wolf and Thomas Marshburn wrapped up their 6-hour, 53 minute spacewalk, the second of the STS-127 mission, at 6:20 p.m. EDT today.
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POST UPDATE:
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
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Here’s the latest Space Shuttle News from NASA
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Robotics Work and Internet Updates for Crew
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With two of five spacewalks and some of the most challenging robotics operations of the mission complete, the pace will let up briefly today for the international crews of STS-127 and Expedition 20.
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Robotic operations and spacesuit preparations will pave the way for the third spacewalk of the mission on Wednesday, but the International Space Station crew will enjoy an afternoon off.
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Shuttle astronauts Mark Polansky, Doug Hurley, Julie Payette and lead spacewalker Dave Wolf will answer questions posed by visitors on YouTube and Twitter. Polansky is providing regular updates on the mission’s progress from space via Twitter.
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The station’s Waste Hygiene Compartment toilet continues to work well following maintenance work by Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Frank De Winne.
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About this image: Taken July 19th - With Earth as a backdrop, the remote manipulator system arm of Space Shuttle Endeavour prepares to hand off the Integrated Cargo Carrier. The carrier is an unpressurized flat bed pallet and keel yoke assembly that was carried into space in the shuttle's payload bay.
Image credit: NASA
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Astronauts Move Japanese Exposed Section to Station
10:43am EDT
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Space Shuttle Endeavour's astronauts completed the delicate move of the Japanese Experiment Section from Endeavour's payload bay to the end of the Japanese Exposed Section, the so-called "porch" on the Kibo laboratory. At 8:28 a.m. EDT, Commander Mark Polansky and Julie Payette attached the shuttle robotic arm to the Exposed Section and lifted it out of the bay. They moved it away from Endeavour to a point where the space station arm, operated by Koichi Wakata and Doug Hurley, grasped it at about 9:33 a.m.
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When the handoff was complete, the station arm installed it on the Exposed Facility at about 10:36 a.m., as the International Space Station had just passed over Japan. Payette radioed the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Mission Control team in Tsukuba, Japan, that the hard mate was complete.
The Exposed Section carries three Japanese experiments that the Kibo robotic arm will move to the "porch" on Thursday.Later this morning, the station arm will grab the Integrated Cargo Carrier from the station's mobile base system and move it to an overnight park position in preparation for Wednesday's spacewalk.
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Crew Takes Break before Spacewalk Preparations
3:45pm EDT
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Endeavour’s crew is enjoying off-duty time this afternoon before undertaking preparations for Wednesday’s third spacewalk. At 5:58 p.m. the crew will conduct a spacewalk procedure review and at 8:28 p.m. spacewalkers Dave Wolf and Chris Cassidy will camp out in the Quest Airlock. The International Space Station crew goes to sleep at 9:33 p.m., followed 30 minutes later by the shuttle crew.
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I would think that Wednesday’s Spacewalk would begin sometime after 11:00am EDT.
I’ll put up the exact time when it is posted up by NASA later this evening…
Until then!
AJF
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POST UPDATE
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
2:10pm EDT .
About above image: Taken July 20, 2009 - Astronaut Tom Marshburn, STS-127 mission specialist, participates in his first spacewalk and the second overall for the crewmembers of the Space Shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station. Astronauts Marshburn and Dave Wolf manually moved some hardware around and performed other chores on the spacewalk.
Image credit: NASA
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Third Spacewalk Began This Morning at 10:32am EDT
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Spacewalkers Dave Wolf and Chris Cassidy began the STS-127 mission’s third spacewalk about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, at 10:32 a.m. EDT.
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Wolf and Cassidy first will remove multilayer insulation from the Kibo module and prepare the Japanese Exposed Section payloads for their transfer from the Exposed Section to the Exposed Facility on Thursday. Then they will focus on battery replacements. The space station power system is a photovoltaic system that gathers solar power and stores it in batteries. Wolf and Cassidy will replace four of six old batteries in one of the six station power channels, channel 2B. In preparation for the task, the old batteries have been drained and the electrical loads normally handled by 2B have been placed on different power channels.
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The new batteries are stored on the Integrated Cargo Carrier – Vertical Light Deployable, or ICC-VLD. Endeavour astronauts Doug Hurley and Julie Payette are using the space station robotic arm to move the ICC-VLD to the spacewalk worksite area near the Port 6 truss. Wolf and Cassidy will work together in a carefully rehearsed process to remove insulation from the old Port 6 batteries, install scoops to gently remove them, pass the batteries back and forth to a stowage location on the ICC-VLD, and repeat the process to replace them with the new batteries.
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Each new battery assembly consists of 38 lightweight Nickel Hydrogen cells and associated electrical and mechanical equipment. Two battery assemblies connected in series are capable of storing a total of 8 kW of electrical power. This power is fed to the space station via the Battery Charge/Discharge Unit and Direct Current Switching Unit respectively. The batteries have a design life of 6.5 years and can exceed 38,000 charge/discharge cycles at 35% depth of discharge. Each battery measures 40” by 36” by 18” and weighs 375 pounds.
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Today’s Spacewalk is on right now… LIVE on NASA TV!
Click it out at link below…
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Astronauts Wrap Up Third STS-127 Spacewalk
4:44pm EDT
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Spacewalkers Dave Wolf and Chris Cassidy wrapped up a five-hour, 59-minute spacewalk at 4:31 p.m. EDT. The spacewalk ended earlier than planned because of higher than normal carbon dioxide levels in Cassidy's spacesuit.
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The pair removed multilayer insulation from the Kibo module and readied the Japanese Exposed Section payloads for their transfer to the Exposed Facility on Thursday, but they were unable to replace all six of the original batteries on the International Space Station's Port 6 truss 2B power channel. The remaining batteries will be replaced on a future spacewalk.
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This was the third of five STS-127 spacewalks, the 128th in support of International Space Station assembly and maintenance, totaling 798 hours, 30 minutes. It was the 100th spacewalk out of space station airlocks and the 216th American spacewalk in history. It was Wolf's seventh spacewalk, totaling 41 hours, 57 minutes and placing him 14th on the all-time list. It was Cassidy's first excursion.
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NASA Television airs a Mission Status briefing at 7:30 p.m. with STS-127 Lead Flight Director Holly Ridings and STS-127 Lead Spacewalk Officer Keith Johnson.
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* This post is now closed *
Note: I will start a new post Friday, just before the 4th Spacewalk begins.
Until then, you can keep up-to-date with this mission at link below…
AJF
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* Read Latest News &Updates
at NASA.gov
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* Watch Spacewalks & Mission LIVE
Its On right NOW!
At NASA TV
Click HERE to view
ENJOY!!!
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STS-127: Interactive Mission Timeline
Click HERE or on above image to view
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NOTE: I’ll be updating this post on the mission and spacewalks over the next few days so check back!!!
GOD SPEED to the Crew of STS-127 Endeavour...
AubreyJ.........
All info in this post taken from the NASA.gov website unless otherwise stated
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