Space Shuttle Status Report 12 Dec 2000

NOTE: This is an orbiter processing report and does not necessarily reflect
the chronological order of upcoming Space Shuttle flights. Visit
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/schedule/schedule.htm on the KSC Home
Page for the latest schedule of future Shuttle missions.

MISSION: STS-97 – 6th ISS Flight (4A) – PV Module P6

VEHICLE: Endeavour/OV-105

LOCATION: Shuttle Landing Facility

OFFICIAL KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Nov. 30, 2000 at 10:06 p.m. EST

OFFICIAL KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Dec.11, 2000 at 6:04 p.m.

MISSION DURATION: 10 days, 19 hours and 58 minutes

CREW: Jett, Bloomfield, Tanner, Noriega, Garneau

ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 177 nautical miles/51.6 degrees

Shuttle Processing Note: Space Shuttle Endeavour and the five-member STS-97
flight crew completed the 6th flight to the International Space Station
today at 6:04 p.m. with a landing at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility.

Endeavour’s main landing gear touched down on runway 15 at about 6:03:25
p.m. EST with a mission elapse time of 10 days, 19 hours, 57 minutes and 25
seconds. The orbiter’s nose gear touched down at about 6:03:34 p.m. EST at
a mission elapse time of 10 days, 19 hours, 15 minutes and 34 seconds. The
Shuttle came to a complete stop at about 6:04:20 p.m. EST at 10 days, 19
hours, 58 minutes and 20 seconds. Following vehicle safing and preliminary
offloading efforts, KSC workers will tow Endeavour to Orbiter Processing
Facility bay 2. The orbiter should be inside the bay by about midnight.

This landing marks the 16th night landing and 53rd KSC landing in Space
Shuttle history. The flight crew will remain overnight at KSC and depart
for Houston, Texas, tomorrow.

MISSION: STS-98 – 7th ISS Flight (5A) – U.S. Laboratory

VEHICLE: Atlantis/OV-104

LOCATION: Vehicle Assembly Building high bay 3

TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Jan. 18, 2001 at 2:44 a.m. EST

TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Jan. 28, 2001 at 11:15 p.m.

LAUNCH WINDOW: less than 5 minutes

MISSION DURATION: 11 days

CREW: Cockrell, Polansky, Curbeam, Jones, Ivins

ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 177 nautical miles/51.6 degrees

Shuttle Processing Note: Over the weekend, Shuttle managers decided to
postpone the rollout of Space Shuttle Atlantis to Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis
will remain in VAB high bay 3 while Shuttle engineers evaluate an issue with
solid rocket booster electrical cable connectors. The connectors are
associated with ordnance devices that support solid rocket booster
separation during ascent.

Routine post flight inspections of the STS-97 boosters revealed that a
pyrotechnic device failed to fire during a successful SRB separation. The
device is located at the aft, bottom separation link between the booster and
external tank. The fully redundant secondary system fired as expected.
Since this finding, engineers have exonerated the ordnance device itself and
are currently focusing their evaluation on associated electrical cable
connectors located in both SRB’s external tank attachment (ETA) rings.

The STS-98 boosters are being inspected as part of the evaluation. Today,
workers are gaining access to the left and right hand booster ETAs to remove
their outer covers. Tomorrow, two crews will begin thorough inspection and
X-ray analysis on the cable connectors inside the ETAs on the left and right
hand boosters. Crews will be surveying the connectors for any damage or
loss of integrity.

Depending on analysis results and engineering evaluation, Shuttle Atlantis
is not expected to rollout to the launch pad any earlier than midweek. The
impact to the remainder of the processing flow will be assessed later this
week.

MISSION: STS-102 – 8th ISS Flight (5A.1) – Leonardo MPLM

VEHICLE: Discovery/OV-103

LOCATION: Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) bay 1

TARGET KSC LAUNCH DATE/TIME: Feb.15, 2001 at 4:24 p.m. EST (under review)

TARGET KSC LANDING DATE/TIME: Feb. 26, 2001 at 11:44 a.m.

LAUNCH WINDOW: less than 5 minutes

MISSION DURATION: 11 days

CREW: Wetherbee, Kelly, Thomas, Richards; (up) Voss, Helms, Usachev; (down)

Shepherd, Gidzenko, Krikalev

ORBITAL ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 177 nautical miles/51.6 degrees

Shuttle Processing Note: Technicians have completed draining Discovery’s
orbital maneuvering system thruster manifolds and thruster replacement
efforts are under way. Managers are assessing the impact of this unplanned
work to the Feb. 15 launch date and will convene Wednesday to discuss their
options. At this point, managers expect a delay of about 2-3 weeks.