NASA STS-128 MCC Status Report #16 Noon CDT Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009

Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – The space shuttle and International Space Station crews will turn their focus to the third and final spacewalk of the mission today. Inside the complex, transfer and maintenance continue.

The crews were wakened at 11 a.m. “El Hijo del Pueblo” performed by Alfredo Jimenez was played for Mission Specialist Jose Hernandez.

Hernandez will assist crewmates Danny Olivas and Christer Fuglesang as they prepare for their second spacewalk together. Their extravehicular activity will include outfitting and maintenance of station modules.

The two will deploy a payload attachment system on the starboard truss. They will have a special tool with them in the event they encounter any problems with a detent pin that caused problems on similar tasks in previous missions.

Next they will replace a failed rate gyro assembly, which measures rates for any changes in the station’s attitude, with a new one.

With that complete, the two will split up for the next tasks. Olivas will install a Global Positioning System antenna while Fuglesang will remove and replace a remote power control module and install an insulation sleeve on a cable inside the truss. Fuglesang will follow that up with the installation of a second GPS antenna.

The two will reunite for the final task, routing two 60-foot-long avionics systems cables along the station. The cables are being installed in preparation for the arrival of the Node 3 “Tranquility” in 2010.

Inside, Mission Specialist Tim Kopra and Flight Engineer Robert Thirsk will replace a bolt on the Common Berthing Mechanism in the “Unity” Node 2. Flight Engineer Frank De Winne will replace a filter on the oxygen generating system.

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 a.m. Sunday and the shuttle crew follows thirty minutes later.