NASA STS-115 MCC Status Report #15

1 p.m. CDT Saturday, Sept. 16, 2006
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

Astronauts on board Space Shuttle Atlantis today got a much deserved day off having completed three highly successful space walks that put the International Space Station back under construction.

After seven days in space, the STS-115 crew — Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean — got its first chance to sleep late. The crew then joined ISS Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter for a joint crew press conference.

During the morning, the crew also was interviewed by CBS News, NBC News and ABC News, completed transferring the last of the supplies and equipment to the station, including 90 pounds of oxygen, and removed the REBA, Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly.

Atlantis will undock from the station at 7:50 a.m. CDT Sunday, circling the orbiting complex once as it departs to perform the first fly-around of the station in four years. The crew of STS-112 performed a partial fly-around to photo-document the station’s exterior condition in Oct. 2002.

Tomorrow, all nine crew members will gather for a televised farewell ceremony at 4:43 a.m. CDT. Hatch closure between the station and shuttle will immediately follow.

The next STS-115 mission status report will be issued Sunday morning, or earlier if events warrant.