XA/EVA Project Office Weekly Activity Report December 14, 2000
European Space Agency (ESA) Critical Design Review (CDR)
The EVA Project Office supported the ESA Columbus Module CDR from November 27 – December 5, 2000. During the review, several EVA splinter discussions were held to review and disposition 22 NASA issues and 7 ESA issues. Multiple EVA-related subject areas were covered including: EVA touch temperature limits, various Columbus module EVA interfaces, configuration of the Columbus-to-Orbiter power cable, micrometeoroid shield repair/replacement, possible EMU contamination sources (e.g. grease lubricants), placement of EVA-installed worksite interface sockets, and EVA labeling requirements. EVA representatives from ESA and prime contractor Alenia were present to answer questions and receive actions as required. In summary, the EVA portion of the review was highly successful, and all pending CDR issues were either resolved, or closure plans assigned.
Solar Array Wing Repair
Representatives from the EVA Project Office, Mission Operations Directorate, Flight Crew Operations Directorate, Safety, Reliability, and Quality Assurance Directorate, and Boeing EVA and Crew Systems flew to Sunnyvale California to help diagnose and develop contingency procedures for the repair of the tension cable system on the Solar Array Blanket Box on flight 4A. This team developed the primary procedure, which was ultimately used for the successful repair, as well as several contingency procedures that were not required.
Flight 4A EVA’s
Three successful EVA’s were completed during STS-97, with all nominally planned and get-ahead tasks getting completed. In addition, during EVA 3, the crew successfully completed the repair to the damaged tension cable on the Solar Array Wing (SAW) Blanket Box. The EVA’s were highlighted by the installation of P6 on Z1, the release of the SAW’s from their launch restraints and their prep for deployment, the reconfiguration of the Z1 patch panel to reroute power to the rest of ISS, the relocation of SASA to its final location on P6, the reconfiguration of umbilicals on PMA2 in preparation for its move on 5A, and the installation of the Floating Potential Probe on P6.
ISS Airlock EVA Summit
The EVA Project Office recently hosted an ISS Airlock EVA Summit at the STS Regency Park facilities to concentrate on details needing attention to facilitate successful EVA operations post 7A from the ISS Joint Airlock. This two-day event consisted of tabletop discussions between the JSC EVA and EVA support community. The discussions were held prior to the beginning of STS-97/4A to allow maximum participation by all areas involved. These discussions identified necessary actions and forward work as well as problem solutions to successfully support post 7A EVA operations from ISS. Eighty-four actions were identified in the 24 sub topic areas that were scheduled for discussion. These actions were assigned to cognizant actionees who participated in these discussions. The EVA Project Office and Mission Operations Directorate personnel will distribute actions and minutes, track action status/due dates and report action closure progress to the EVA Project Office Configuration Control Board on a regular basis until all actions are resolved.
The Space Station Airlock Test Article (SSATA) Checkout Run
THE SSATA, which was originally scheduled for December 13, was postponed to December 14. Several hardware issues arose and were worked on December 13, delaying the altitude run by one day. The checkout run was successfully completed on December 14, with all procedural objectives being met. The SSATA run for crewmember Voss is still on schedule for December 15, followed by the run for crewmember Usachev on December 19.
Original signed by:
Gregory J. Harbaugh
Manager
