NASA STS-133 Report #08 6 a.m. CST Monday, Feb. 28, 2011
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
HOUSTON – The first planned spacewalk of mission STS-133 is at the heart of today’s busy activities in space. The 12 crew members now aboard the space station began their day with a wake-up call at 5:23 a.m. CST.
“Oh What a Beautiful Morning” by Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam was played for Mission Specialist Nicole Stott who will choreograph the day’s spacewalk from inside the complex.
After an overnight campout in the Quest airlock of the International Space Station, space shuttle Mission Specialists Steve Bowen and Alvin Drew will venture outside to begin the 6.5-hour spacewalk at 10:18 a.m. Bowen, the lead spacewalker, will wear a suit with red stripes and Drew will wear an all-white spacesuit.
The first spacewalk’s objectives will be to install an extension cable, a pump module vent tool, a camera wedge and extensions to the mobile transporter rail. The pair outside the complex also will relocate a tool stanchion, store a failed pump module and participate in an experiment to be exposed to space.
The first task will involve the installation of an extension cable in preparation for the installation of the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module, one of Discovery’s two key deliveries this mission. This task will be performed at the station’s Unity module.
Next the spacewalkers will finish up work started by Expedition 24 Flight Engineers Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Doug Wheelock moving a failed pump module to a more permanent storage location on the space station.
The spacewalkers will wrap up their excursion with several other tasks, including the Japanese “Message in a Bottle” experiment. They will expose a metal canister to capture the vacuum of space. The spacewalk is to end at 4:48 p.m.
During the spacewalk, Pilot Eric Boe will spend a couple hours transferring more cargo that was delivered by space shuttle Discovery. Cargo transfers began almost immediately after the shuttle crew arrived at the space station and will continue throughout the docked part of the mission until complete.
The next status report will be issued at the end of the crew day or earlier if warranted.
