XA/EVA Project Office Weekly Activity Report December 21, 2000

Orlan SAFER Pre-CDR TIM in Moscow

The EVA Project Office completed an Orlan SAFER Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) in Moscow at RD&PE Zvezda. The purpose of the TIM was to determine the status of the Orlan SAFER hardware development program at Zvezda, and to explain NASA’s expectations for the Orlan SAFER Critical Design Review (CDR) that is planned for early spring of 2001. Participants in the TIM included representatives from the Astronaut Office, and the Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance Office, as well as representatives from the Engineering and Mission Operations Directorates. The hardware development program is proceeding on schedule, and Zvezda has included all recommended design enhancements requested by NASA since the Preliminary Design Review conducted in April 1999. Moreover, Zvezda agreed to provide appropriate documentation to address topics of interest during the upcoming Orlan SAFER CDR as soon a contract is awarded.

Increment 3 Hydrolab Training

The prime and backup crews for increment 3 will begin their Hydrolab training in January. The first training session will run from January 4, 2001 through January 31, 2001,and will focus on Russian science and maintenance tasks. These tasks include items such as installation of the gas dynamic protective devices, contamination measurement systems, and other science packages. The second training session will take place from February 28, 2001 through March 28, 2001. The tasks to be trained during this session will depend on the status of the DC1 launch. The final training session will be from April 30, 2001 to May 3, 2001.

STS-98 ISS 5A EVA CoFR2

The EVA Project Office conducted a CoFR2 review of STS-98 ISS 5A. There are three scheduled EVA’s on the flight primarily associated with installing and activating the US Lab. The third EVA on the flight will be the 100th EVA in US space flight history. All three EVA’s have the appropriate margin and the crew is trained. A task to inspect the 4 bar linkage latches, which could not be latched on STS-97, is being added to the third EVA in preparation for a possible EVA to manually latch the linkage being considered for a later flight. The most significant open EVA issue for the flight is the development of a contingency release procedure for the quarter turn fasteners, which secure the MMOD shields to the US Lab and Node. A development fixture is being produced and a contingency procedure is planned to be developed prior to launch. Pending completion of the open work identified at the review EVA is ready for the launch of STS-98 and the increment operations following the launch.

Gregory J. Harbaugh

Manager