NASA STS-128 MCC Status Report #02 2 p.m. CDT Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009

Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON -The crew of space shuttle Discovery woke at 1:30 p.m. to start work on the first full day of their 13-day mission. The seven-person crew will focus on heat shield inspections and preparations docking to the International Space Station Sunday.

Overnight, the Flight Control Team reported the failure of one of two small steering jets that flank the orbiter nose due to a leak. This will have no impact to docking, other mission activities or entry, but the crew will close a manifold to isolate both jets and disable them from use for the remainder of the mission.

The song “Back in the Saddle Again” by Gene Autry, was played as the wake-up music for shuttle commander Rick Sturckow. Sturckow will be joined by Pilot Kevin Ford for their first task of the day – a firing of the Orbital Maneuvering System engines to refine Discovery’s path toward the station. A second burn is planned later in the crew day.

Ford will then join Mission Specialists Pat Forrester and Jose Hernandez to perform the survey of the shuttle’s heat shield. Using the shuttle robotic arm and specialized cameras, they’ll commence with a well-established choreography to capture detailed video of the orbiter’s wing-leading edges and nose cap. The imagery will be reviewed by specialists to ensure there was no damage from liftoff.

Their crewmates Danny Olivas, Christer Fuglesang and Nicole Stott will perform a check out of the space suits they will wear on the mission’s three spacewalks and prepare the suits for transfer to the station.

Later in the day, the crew will set up the centerline camera, extend the Orbiter Docking System ring and check out other equipment that will be used for tomorrow’s approach and docking to the space station.

Aboard the station, Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineers Michael Barratt, Tim Kopra, Roman Romanenko, Robert Thirsk of the Canadian Space Agency and Frank De Winne of the European Space Agency, will prepare for the arrival of the Discovery crew by reviewing photography procedures for documenting the condition of the shuttle’s heat protection tiles as it completes a rendezvous pitch maneuver during its approach to the station.

Discovery’s crew will go to bed just before 4:30 a.m.

The next shuttle status report will be issued at the end of the crew’s workday, or earlier if events warrant.