STS-105 Status Report #15 – 17 Aug 2001 – 6:00 PM CDT

While Discovery’s

astronauts looked on, the Expedition Two crew ceremoniously handed command

of the International Space Station to its Expedition Three replacements.

The ceremony occurred just prior to closing the hatches between the

two spacecraft in preparation for the final planned space walk of the

STS-105 mission.

Expedition Two

Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms

continued handover briefings with the Expedition Three crew while stowage

of equipment, discarded items and belongings of the Expedition Two crew

continued aboard the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module for return

to Earth.

The new station

Commander, Frank Culbertson, and Russian cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov

and Mikhail Tyurin, officially took command of the station Monday afternoon

to begin a four month stay on the ISS. The Expedition Two crewmembers,

which spent more than five months on the station, will return home aboard

Discovery next week.

In preparation

for the space walk set to begin about 9 a.m. Saturday, Dan Barry and

Pat Forrester reviewed procedures and checked hardware that will be

used during the excursion outside the station to hook up heater cables

for a truss structure to be delivered to the station next year.

Shuttle Commander

Scott Horowitz and Pilot Rick Sturckow performed the mission’s second

reboost of the station early in the day, raising the average altitude

of the ISS by 2.2 statute miles (3.5 kilometers). Discovery’s thrusters

were systematically fired 253 times over the course of an hour. It was

the final reboost planned prior to Discovery’s departure Monday morning.

The crew heads

to bed about 9 tonight, Central time and will be awakened by Mission

Control at 4:10 a.m. CDT Saturday.

Discovery and

the station are orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an average altitude

of 247 statute miles with all systems functioning well. The next status

report will be issued about 6 a.m. Saturday, or earlier, if events warrant.

###

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