STS-98 Status Report #11 12 Feb 2001 7:00 PM CST
The astronauts
aboard Atlantis breezed through the second spacewalk of their mission
today and attached a docking port to the end of the International Space
Station’s new Destiny Laboratory, completing all the spacewalk’s planned
tasks and more.
Astronauts Tom
Jones and Bob Curbeam exited Atlantis’ airlock at 9:40 a.m. Central
to begin the work outside, turning their first attention to moving the
docking port. Inside the shuttle, Marsha Ivins operated Atlantis’ robotic
arm, latching on to the docking port and, with visual cues provided
by Jones and Curbeam, removing it from a location on the station truss
where it had been temporarily stowed on Saturday. Jones and Curbeam
then relocated themselves to the end of the Destiny Lab, where they
again provided visual cues as Ivins moved the port into its new position.
The port was then latched in place, and ground controllers will send
further commands tonight to finish tightening bolts that will secure
it to the lab. Called Pressurized Mating Adapter 2, it will become the
primary docking port for future shuttle visits.
The two spacewalkers
then moved rapidly through a variety of tasks, including the installation
of insulating covers over the pins that had held Destiny in place during
launch; attaching a vent to part of the lab’s air system; putting wires,
handrails and sockets on the exterior of Destiny as aids for future
spacewalkers; and attaching a base for the future space station robotic
arm, scheduled for launch on an April shuttle flight. With all of the
tasks planned for today’s spacewalk completed, and still time available,
the astronauts then moved to tasks that had originally been planned
for the third spacewalk of the flight. Ahead of schedule, they connected
several computer and electrical cables between the docking port and
the lab; unveiled the lab’s large, high-quality window and attached
an exterior shutter; and repositioned a movable foot platform they had
taken inside Atlantis on the first spacewalk for a slight adjustment.
Jones and Curbeam
climbed back into the shuttle airlock and ended the spacewalk at 4:49
p.m. Central, giving the outside work a total duration of 6 hours, 50
minutes. The spacewalk was the 99th time in history that U.S. astronauts
had ventured outside of a spacecraft, and the 59th spacewalk from a
Space Shuttle.
While the spacewalk
was under way, space station ground controllers sent commands to begin
spinning and testing four large station gyroscopes attached to the station
truss that are operated by electronics inside the Destiny Lab. The gyroscopes
are working well, and testing will continue until early Tuesday morning.
Later Tuesday, they are planned to take over control of the station’s
orientation from the spacecraft’s jet thrusters, conserving precious
fuel aboard the station. The Control Moment Gyroscopes, spinning at
6,600 revolutions per minute, are planned to be the primary method for
controlling the station’s orientation.
On Tuesday, the
hatches will remain closed between the shuttle and station to conserve
shuttle air. The shuttle crew will have the morning off-duty, a break
from the busy pace of the mission thus far, and, in the afternoon, they
will focus on preparations for the third and final spacewalk planned
on Wednesday. Also tomorrow, the shuttle will perform another gradual
altitude boost of itself and the station.
The shuttle and
station crews will go to sleep at 8:13 p.m. Central. The shuttle crew
will awaken at 4:13 a.m. and the station crew will awaken at 4:43 a.m.
The Johnson Space Center newsroom will close at 9 p.m. today and reopen
at 4 a.m. Tuesday. The next Mission Status Report will be issued at
5 a.m. Tuesday.
