Status Report

STS-101 Mission Status Report #19

By SpaceRef Editor
May 28, 2000
Filed under

STS-101, Mission Control Center
Status Report # 19
Sunday, May 28, 2000 – 7:00 a.m. CDT


The astronauts aboard Atlantis have packed their bags and checked out their
spacecraft in preparation for a return home and a planned touchdown at 1:20 a.m.
Central time Monday at the Kennedy Space Center.


Saturday evening, Commander Jim Halsell, Pilot Scott Horowitz and Flight Engineer
Jeff Williams successfully test fired Atlantis’ steering jets and verified the performance
of the equipment Atlantis will use for its trip home, finding everything in good shape.
Early Sunday, Halsell fired Atlantis steering jets to lower its orbit by about nine miles,
a maneuver that optimizes the landing opportunities that will be available for the
shuttle.


For a 1:20 a.m. Monday landing at KSC, Atlantis’ orbital maneuvering system engines
would be fired in a deorbit burn at 12:13 a.m. In the event weather precludes a landing
on the first opportunity, a second opportunity exists for a landing in Florida on the next
orbit, with a deorbit burn at 1:50 a.m. resulting in a 2:56 a.m. landing. The weather
forecast for landing indicates acceptable conditions, although forecasters will be
monitoring the progress of a front moving toward Florida throughout the day and its
potential effect on winds at the Shuttle Landing Facility runway.


Two opportunities for a landing in Florida also are available on Tuesday and again on
Wednesday, if needed. Also on Wednesday, Atlantis could land at Edwards Air Force
Base, California, if required.


The crew sleep period begins at 7:11 a.m. and will end with a wake-up call from
Mission Control at 3:11 p.m. Central. They will begin deorbit preparations in earnest
just after 8 p.m. The shuttle’s payload bay doors would be closed at about 9:30 p.m.
and a go or no go decision would be made by Mission Control at about midnight in
preparation for a 1:20 a.m. Monday landing.


The next mission status report will be issued at 7 p.m. Central time Sunday.

SpaceRef staff editor.