STS-104 Mission Control Center Status Report # 17 Friday, July 20, 2001 – 6 a.m. CDT

The two crews on board the International Space Station today completed
checkout and activation of the new Quest airlock and conducted a dry run of
the steps they will take before christening the newest station component.

STS-104 Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh and Mission
Specialists Mike Gernhardt, Janet Kavandi and Jim Reilly also got together
with Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Susan Helms
and Jim Voss inside Quest to answer questions from reporters in the U.S. and
Russia.

Voss reported tracking down and sealing a minor leak discovered during an
overnight pressure check. Air had found a path from the Equipment Lock
segment of the new airlock to its Crew Lock, which is the segment the
orbital construction workers will open to the vacuum of space when they step
outside about 11:09 p.m. CDT Friday.

Flight Directors Paul Hill and Mark Kirasich talked with the crew about 1
a.m. Friday, going over the final details and sending up the good news that
both the shuttle and station flight control teams agree all systems are “go”
for the first station-based excursion out of the airlock. Lindsey sent down
a video tour of the fully outfitted Quest module about 4:50 a.m.

The entire crew then reviewed the plan for Friday’s five-hour space walk by
Gernhardt and Reilly. On their third foray outside this mission, the pair
will attach the final nitrogen gas tank to the airlock and climb to the top
of the station’s solar array truss to check on a swivel joint that allows
the arrays to track the sun. If time allows, they’ll also take a look a the
nearby Floating Potential Probe that measures the plasma created as the
arrays drag through the rarified atomic oxygen at 240 miles up.

Meanwhile, Usachev performed some periodic maintenance duties on the
station’s Russian systems, and helped Voss and Helms prepare for their work
with the Candarm2 robotic arms operations related to Friday evening’s space
walk.

After some time off to rest up after a very busy week, the crews were
scheduled to turn in at 8 a.m. Their alarm clock is scheduled to go off at
4:04 p.m.

The next mission status report will be issued about 6 p.m. Friday or as
events warrant.