NASA STS-128 MCC Status Report #14 Noon CDT Friday, Sept. 4, 2009

Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

Mid-mission, the activities in space slow down a bit while the shuttle crew members have the morning off. They will join their International Space Station counterparts for work in the afternoon, continuing with supply transfers and preparing for the third spacewalk.

For the second time, the crew was awakened by the sound of Louis Armstrong singing “What a Wonderful World,” this time played for Mission Specialist Danny Olivas. The crew was awakened at 11 a.m. CDT.

Shuttle Commander Rick Sturckow, Pilot Kevin Ford and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester, Jose Hernandez, Christer Fuglesang, Tim Kopra and Olivas all have the morning off.

Station Commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineers Mike Barratt, Roman Romanenko, Robert Thirsk, Frank De Winne and Nicole Stott have some off-duty time scheduled and will continue station maintenance work. Stott, Thirsk and De Winne also have about two hours scheduled to study H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) procedures. Japan’s HTV is set to launch to the station Sept. 10 and arrive a week later.

All 13 crew members will gather for a midday meal, crew photo and news conference. At 7:54 p.m., they will convene in the station to take questions from media in the United States, Canada and Sweden.

The crew resumes transfer work for the rest of the day. Flight controllers report the planned transfer of supplies is more than 60 percent complete. The crew also will prepare the spacesuits and airlock for the third and final excursion of the mission slated for Saturday. The shuttle crew, station commander and Stott will all convene to review the spacewalk procedures before Olivas and Fuglesang prepare to spend their night in the Quest airlock.

The next shuttle status report will be issued near the end of the crew’s workday, or earlier if events warrant. The station crew is due to go to sleep about 2:30 a.m. Saturday and the shuttle crew follows thirty minutes later.