STS-112 Status Report #08 Friday, October 11, 2002 – 5 a.m. CDT
With a major milestone of the STS-112 mission behind them, Space Shuttle Atlantis and International Space Station crewmembers will have a quieter day today. Following some time off to relax, the joint crews later will begin transferring equipment and supplies to the orbiting laboratory.
On Thursday, crewmembers attached the 14-ton, 45-foot Starboard One (S1) truss to the station, using the station’s Canadarm2 operated by Atlantis’ Sandy Magnus and NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson. That was followed by the first of three planned spacewalks by Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers to complete a series of tasks, including connecting power lines to the station.
The spacewalk lasted 7 hours, 1 minute and brings the total time for ISS assembly via Extravehicular Activity (EVA) to 272 hours, 45 minutes.
In addition to the time off and transfer operations, Wolf and Sellers will prepare the tools and other equipment for use during tomorrow’s second spacewalk. Just before their evening meal, crewmembers will gather to review Quest Airlock procedures for the spacewalk, which is expected to begin about 9:40 a.m. Saturday.
The crew will take part in two interviews today. First, the three Russian crewmembers – Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun, Expedition Five Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev and STS-112 Mission Specialist Fyodor Yurchikhin – will discuss the mission with Russian press beginning at 10:46 a.m. Later in the day at 1:56 p.m., Wolf, Sellers, Magnus and possibly other crewmembers will be interviewed by CBS Radio, Fox News and the Cable News Network (CNN). Both interviews can be seen on NASA Television.
Today’s wakeup call to Pilot Pam Melroy and the rest of Atlantis’ crew came at 3:46 a.m. “Oh Thou Tupelo,” performed by the Wellesley College Choir, was for Melroy, a 1983 graduate. The station crew woke up about 4:15 a.m. today.
The Atlantis and ISS complex is orbiting the Earth every 92 minutes at an altitude of 244 statute miles. The next Space Shuttle/ISS status report will be issued later today.