NASA STS-124 Report #03 – 4:45 p.m. CDT Sunday, June 1, 2008
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
HOUSTON The crew members of shuttle Discovery moved swiftly through activities during their first full day in space. They inspected the orbiter’s heat shield, prepared for arrival at the International Space Station and readied their spacesuits.
Aboard the shuttle are Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Ken Ham and Mission Specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum, Greg Chamitoff and Akihiko Hoshide, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut.
Today’s activities focused on an inspection of the shuttle’s thermal protection system. Ham and Nyberg completed the limited inspection using the end effector camera of the shuttle’s robotic arm.
The inspection usually would be completed using the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), the special attachment on the end of the shuttle’s robotic arm, but due to the size of the Kibo laboratory, Discovery could not carry its own OBSS. During the last shuttle mission, STS-123, Endeavour left behind its OBSS at the station after it had performed its inspection. Discovery will retrieve that OBSS and use it to perform a more detailed inspection on the twelfth flight day of the mission. Discovery will then bring the OBSS back home with it when it returns to Earth.
Spacewalkers Fossum and Garan checked out their spacesuits with Chamitoff’s assistance. The suits will be used during the three spacewalks that are scheduled to be done from the station’s Quest airlock during the mission.
Getting ready for docking to the space station, the crew installed the centerline camera and extended the orbiter’s docking system ring. Docking is set for 12:54 p.m. Monday.
The crew members took time to answer questions from media in Minneapolis, as Nyberg’s hometown is Vining, Minnesota, and in Bryan, Texas, where Fossum attended Texas A&M University.
The crew is scheduled to go to sleep at 9:32 p.m. and awaken at 5:32 a.m. Monday for docking day.
The next shuttle status report will be issued after crew wake, or earlier if events warrant.
