Science and Exploration

Space Station Astronauts Transferring The Integrated Cargo Carrier

By Keith Cowing
May 24, 2013
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Space shuttle Endeavour Commander Mark Polansky and Pilot Doug Hurley are using the shuttle robotic arm to grab the Integrated Cargo Carrier – Vertical Light Deployable, or ICC-VLD. Polansky and Hurley will lift the 8,330-pound carrier from Endeavour’s payload bay. The ICC-VLD is an aluminum pallet eight feet long, 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick that carries cargo on the top and bottom faces. For STS-127; it carries six replacement batteries for the Port 6 solar array and three on orbit spares – a Space-to-Ground Antenna (SGANT), Pump Module Assembly (PMA) and Linear Drive Unit (LDU).

Space shuttle Endeavour Commander Mark Polansky and Pilot Doug Hurley are using the shuttle robotic arm to grab the Integrated Cargo Carrier – Vertical Light Deployable, or ICC-VLD. Polansky and Hurley will lift the 8,330-pound carrier from Endeavour’s payload bay. The ICC-VLD is an aluminum pallet eight feet long, 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick that carries cargo on the top and bottom faces. For STS-127; it carries six replacement batteries for the Port 6 solar array and three on orbit spares – a Space-to-Ground Antenna (SGANT), Pump Module Assembly (PMA) and Linear Drive Unit (LDU).

At 11:03 a.m., Polansky and Hurley will hand off the ICC-VLD to space station robotic arm operators Julie Payette and Tim Kopra, who will install it about 50 minutes later on the station’s mobile base system. From that location, spacewalkers Dave Wolf and Tom Marshburn will move the spare SGANT, PMA and LDU to a Port 3 stowage platform during Monday’s spacewalk.

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SpaceRef co-founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.