STS-105 Status Report #5 – 12 Aug 2001 – 6:00 PM CDT
New
residents arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) today following
a flawless docking of Discovery to the orbital outpost to relieve a
trio of space travelers who have lived and worked on the complex since
March.
Discovery Commander
Scott Horowitz, with the assistance of Pilot Rick Sturckow and Mission
Specialists Pat Forrester and Dan Barry, carefully guided the Shuttle
to a linkup with the ISS at 1:42 p.m. Central time as the two craft
sailed 240 miles above northwestern Australia. On board Discovery were
the new Station Commander Frank Culbertson, and his Expedition Three
crewmates, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin.
Expedition Two
Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms
looked on from the station’s Destiny laboratory as Discovery arrived
this afternoon, then worked in concert with their Shuttle counterparts
to ensure a tight seal and a firm mate between the two vehicles.
At 3:41 p.m.,
hatches finally swung open between Discovery and the ISS, and the two
crews greeted one another. First aboard the station was Culbertson to
survey his home for the next four months. Within minutes, all ten astronauts
and cosmonauts had shared greetings before settling in for a station
safety briefing conducted by Usachev.
Monday the crews
will attach the Leonardo cargo carrier to the station at about 9:30
a.m. and begin unloading its supplies.
Just prior to
this operation, the two station crews will systematically begin the
process of handing over command from Expedition Two to Expedition Three.
The plan is for Culbertson and Helms to remove her form-fitting seat
liner from the Soyuz spacecraft and replace it with Culbertson’s at
about 7 a.m. Two hours later at about 9 a.m., Dezhurov and Usachev will
do the same followed at 12:30 p.m. by the seat liner swap of Tyurin
and Voss. The Soyuz is used as a return vehicle in the event of a problem
on the station.
Crew sleep is
scheduled for about 8 tonight with a musical wakeup call from Mission
Control at 5:10 a.m. Monday.
The station and
shuttle complex is orbiting the Earth every 92 minutes in good shape.
The next status report will be issued Monday morning shortly after crew
wakeup, or earlier, if events warrant.