Jonathan’s Space Report No. 584 2007 Aug 19
Shuttle and Station
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Yurchikin, Kotov and Anderson continue the Expedition 15 mission on board the Station. The Progress M-61 cargo ship docked with the Pirs module at 1840 UTC on Aug 5.
Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched on Aug 8 at 2236 UTC. The STS-118 stack comprised Orbiter OV-105, solid rockets RSRM-97 and external tank ET-117. The solid boosters separated 2 min after launch. At 2245 UTC the orbiter main engines cut off and ET-117 separated into an approximately 57 x 225 km x 51.6 deg orbit. The OMS-2 burn at 2313 UTC put Endeavour in a higher 229 x 317 km orbit as the ET fell back to reentry around 2346 UTC.
Crew of STS-118 are Scott Kelly, Charles Hobaugh, Tracy Caldwell, Rick Mastracchio, Dafydd Williams, Barbara Morgan, and Al Drew.
Here is my estimated cargo bay manifest for STS-118:
Bay Mass (kg)
Orbiter Docking System 1-2 1800
EMU 3010 130?
EMU 3017 130?
Tunnel Adapter 3 112
Spacehab-SM 5-7 5480?
SPDU 8P ?
S5 Truss 8-10 1584
ESP-3 11-12 3400
CMG-3R ORU 11-12 540?
OBSS Sill 450?
RMS 201 Sill 410?
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Total 14036 kg
The Spacehab Single Module carries research equipment and supplies for the Station. The SPDU (Station Power Distribution Unit) lets the Orbiter run off Station electricity during its stay, allowing a longer mission. The S5 truss will be installed on the end of S4, as a short spacer so that when S6 is added later, the S6 solar panels won’t hit the S4 ones. The ESP-3 (External Stowage Platform 3) carries a spare nitrogen tank (NTA) for the truss cooling system, a spare truss battery charge/discharge unit (BCDU), a spare Canadarm-2 robot arm pitch roll joint, and a replacement Control Moment Gyro for the Z1 truss.
Endeavour docked at the PMA-2 adapter on the Station at 1802 UTC on Aug 10 and the hatches to the Station were opened at 2004 UTC. The Shuttle Canadarm (RMS 201) lifted the S5 truss from the payload bay at 2050 UTC on Aug 10, and later handed it to the Station’s Canadarm-2 which attached it to the main truss at 1730 UTC on Aug 11. Mastracchio and Williams began the first spacewalk of the mission on Aug 11 from the Quest airlock using suits EMU 3010 and 3017 respectively. The airlock was depressurized by around 1624 UTC with hatch open at 1628 UTC; the astronauts supervised the S5 attachment process and completed fitting it out; they then monitored the retraction of a thermal radiator on the P6 truss at 2128 UTC, closed the hatch at 2241 UTC and repressurized the airlock at 2245 UTC.
On Aug 13 they went outside again, with airlock depress at about 1526 UTC and hatch open at 1529 UTC. During the spacewalk they replaced CMG-3, one of the gyroscopes in the Z1 truss segment. At 1626 UTC they removed it from Z1 and stowed it on a temporary bracket. At around 1735 UTC they unberthed the new CMG and its frame from the ESP-3 platform in the rear of the payload bay, installing it on the ESP-2 platform next to the Quest airlock at 1822. Then, the new CMG was removed from its frame at 1851 UTC and installed in Z1 at 1926 UTC. Next, the old CMG was carried to ESP-2 and placed in the empty frame. The hatch was closed at 2157 UTC with repressurization at 2200 UTC. On Aug 14, ESP-3 was unberthed from Endeavour’s payload bay and attached to the P3 truss on the Station, where its spare parts can be reached if needed.
EVA-3 by Richard Mastracchio and Clay Anderson was on Aug 15, with airlock depress at 1434 UTC and hatch open at 1436 UTC. The SASA antenna was relocated from P6 to P1, and the two CETA carts were moved from S1 to P1. At 1850 UTC Mastracchio discovered minor damage on his spacesuit glove, and the spacewalk was cut short. He returned to the airlock at 1855 UTC, with Anderson completing some tasks and returning at 1951 UTC. The hatch was closed at 2000 UTC and the airlock was repressurized at 2005 UTC. Anderson used EMU 3008, which is based on ISS in the Quest airlock.
EVA-4 by Williams and Anderson began with Quest depressurization at 1314 UTC on Aug 18 and hatch opening at 1316 UTC and concluded with hatch closure at 1814 UTC and repressurization at 1819 UTC. The astronauts retrieved two MISSE exposure packs and installed an EWIS communications antenna on Destiny. They also installed mounting brackets for the OBSS (Orbiter Boom Sensor System) on the S1 truss. The OBSS will be left at S1 after STS-123 so that STS-124 can use it without having to carry it up (no room in the payload bay).
A small gouge on a tile underneath the Orbiter caused some concern during the mission, but it was decided that a repair spacewalk is not required. The Shuttle crew returned to Endeavour on Aug 18 and undocked on Aug 19 at 1156 UTC. Landing is scheduled for Aug 21.
Ariane
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An Ariane 5ECA rocket launched from Kourou on Aug 14 placed the Spaceway 3 and BSAT-3a satellites in orbit. Spaceway 3 is a 6075 kg full, 3655 kg dry Boeing 702 satellite for Hughes Network Systems, with a Ka-band payload for internet distribution. BSAT-3A is a 1967 kg full, 930 kg dry Lockheed Martin A2100A satellite for Japan Broadcasting Satellite Systems Corp. (BSAT) and has a Ku-band television payload.
Erratum
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In the last issue, the launch time for Phoenix was wrong in the text, but correct in the table: it should read 0926 UTC not 1026 UTC.
Table of Recent Launches
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Date UT Name Launch Vehicle Site Mission INTL.
DES.
Jul 2 1938 SAR-Lupe 2 Kosmos-3M Plesetsk LC132 Radar 30A
Jul 5 1208 Zhongxing 6B Chang Zheng 3B Xichang LC2 Comms 31A
Jul 7 0116 DirecTV 10 Proton-M/Briz-M Baykonur LC200/39 Comms 32A
Aug 2 1733 Progress M-61 Soyuz-U Baykonur LC1 Cargo 33A
Aug 4 0926 Phoenix Delta 7925 Canaveral SLC17A Mars probe 34A
Aug 8 2236 Endeavour ) Space Shuttle Kennedy LC39A Spaceship 35A
ITS S5 ) Truss
Spacehab-SM) Module
Aug 14 2344 Spaceway 3 ) Ariane 5ECA Kourou Comms 36A
BSAT-3A ) Comms 36B
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