Thursday, February 11, 2010

Update on Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-130 Mission - February 11, 2010

First of Three STS-130 Spacewalks
Should Begin Tonight

Around 9:09pm... or Earlier
Original Post Date:
Thursday
, February 11, 2010

4:22pm EST

About above image: Backdropped by Earth's horizon and the blackness of space, the International Space Station is photographed by an STS-130 crew member as space shuttle Endeavour and the station approach each other during rendezvous and docking activities.
Image credit: NASA
February 10, 2010

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The crew of Space Shuttle Endeavour awoke at 4:14pm EST to the song “Beautiful Day” by U2, played for Mission Specialist Kay Hire.
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The fifth day of the mission will focus on the first spacewalk and robotics work to install the Tranquility node. The spacewalk is expected to begin around 9:09pm, although they could begin a little earlier if the crew is ready.
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Spacewalkers Nicholas Patrick and Bob Behnken will prepare Tranquility for its removal from Endeavour’s payload bay and then install avionics cabling once the new module is in place.
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Terry Virts and Hire will operate the station’s robotic arm to install Tranquility with the Cupola. The spacewalkers also will remove a tool platform from the station’s special purpose dexterous manipulator, or DEXTRE, while Tranquility is being maneuvered. Station Commander Jeff Williams and Hire will begin a leak check of the interface to Tranquility.
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Keep up with the latest Mission News
and Updates
HERE

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Watch Spacewalks/Mission Live
at
NASA TV
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UPDATE:
Friday
, February 12, 2010
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Shuttle Crew Complete First STS-130 Spacewalk - Second Spacewalk Set For Saturday Evening...
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STS-130 crew members installed a 2,600-cubic-foot addition to the International Space Station early Friday, combining the talents of robotic arm operators and spacewalkers to connect the Italian-built Tranquility module.
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Tranquility was installed at 1:20 a.m. EST Friday over the Indian Ocean west of Singapore. Mission Specialist Kay Hire and Pilot Terry Virts used the station’s Canadarm2 to pull Tranquility out of space shuttle Endeavour’s payload bay and position it on the port side of the station’s 10-year-old Unity module. Tranquility was locked in place with 16 remotely controlled bolts.
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Spacewalkers Bob Behnken and Nick Patrick stepped outside the Quest airlock module at 9:17 p.m. Thursday and immediately began preparing the new module for its trip from the cargo bay to the station. Mission Specialist Steve Robinson helped coordinate the 6-hour, 32-minute spacewalk, which ended at 3:49 a.m. Friday. As Behnken and Patrick waited for the robotic arm operators to carefully maneuver Tranquility into position, they relocated a temporary platform from the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre, to the station’s truss structure and installed two handles on the robot.
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Once Tranquility was structurally mated to Unity, the spacewalkers connected heater and data cables that will integrate the new module with the rest of the station’s systems. They also pre-positioned insulation blankets and ammonia hoses that will be used to connect Tranquility to the station’s cooling radiators during the mission’s second spacewalk that begins Saturday night. The station’s new room with a view, the cupola, will be moved from Tranquility’s end to its Earth-facing port on Sunday.
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As the spacewalk ended, Mission Control reported that all data and heater connections were working well, and that the vestibule separating Tranquility and Unity had passed its initial leak check.

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Love this stuff...
AubreyJ.........
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Above info/images taken from the NASA.gov website

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