STS-105 Status Report #6 – 13 Aug 2001 – 5:30 AM CDT
The crewmembers
aboard the Discovery / International Space Station complex were awakened
shortly before 4:30 a.m. Central time today to the sounds of the overture
from “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini, a tribute to Expedition
Three Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, who along with Commander Frank
Culbertson and Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov, will move over to the ISS today
to take up residency.
Once they swap
out their custom-made Soyuz capsule seat liners with those belonging
to Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss
and Susan Helms, Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin will become the third
trio of residents to inhabit the complex, while Usachev, Voss and Helms
become members of Discovery’s crew.
The Soyuz serves
as a crew return vehicle in the unlikely event it should become necessary
to leave the station.
Official handover
of command of the ISS from Usachev to Culbertson will take place on
August 20, shortly before Discovery undocks from the Station.
After the crew
transfer is complete, the oncoming ISS residents will begin a comprehensive
handover with their departing counterparts, receiving briefings on Station
systems, the current configuration of hardware and computers and procedures
they will employ during their first days on board the outpost.
Mission Specialist
Pat Forrester will use Discovery’s robot arm to move the Italian-built
Leonardo cargo module from the shuttle’s payload bay to the nadir docking
port of the Station’s Unity module so it can be unloaded of more than
three tons of supplies and equipment for the newly arrived Expedition
Three crew. Leonardo also contains racks of scientific experiments which
will greatly enhance the scientific research on board the ISS over the
next few months. Leonardo will be installed on the Station late this
morning.
Other equipment
will be transferred throughout the day from Discovery’s middeck lockers
to the ISS as the crews work in concert to set the stage for the Expedition
Three mission.
The joined spacecraft
are orbiting at an average altitude of about 244 statute miles, completing
an orbit of the Earth every 90 minutes. Both craft are in good condition.
The next status report will be issued about 6 p.m. today, or earlier,
as events warrant.
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