Status Report

STS-98 Status Report #20 17 Feb 2001 6:00 AM CST

By SpaceRef Editor
February 17, 2001
Filed under ,

As they continue
to open their distance from the International Space Station, Atlantis’
astronauts turn their attention today to Sunday’s planned landing at
the Kennedy Space Center.

Awakened by Mission
Control at 4:13 a.m. Central time to begin what should be their final
full day in space, Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Mark Polansky and Mission
Specialists Marsha Ivins, Tom Jones and Bob Curbeam will spend the day
packing up equipment and hardware, and will conduct routine pre-landing
checks of Atlantis’ systems.

At the time of
their wakeup, the five Shuttle astronauts were about 126 statute miles
ahead of the International Space Station, maintaining an opening rate
of about 8 statute miles every orbit of the Earth. Aboard the Station,
Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd, Pilot Yuri Gidzenko and Flight
Engineer Sergei Krikalev are enjoying a weekend off before pressing
ahead with the activation of systems in the Destiny laboratory next
week, and plans for an undocking and relocation of their Soyuz vehicle
from the aft docking port of the Zvezda module to the nadir port of
the Zarya module next Saturday, Moscow time. With the departure of Atlantis,
Shepherd, Gidzenko and Krikalev returned to their normal operational
schedule, waking up at Midnight Central time today to begin the 109th
day of their flight. They will go to sleep at 3:30 p.m.

Today, Cockrell,
Polansky and Ivins will test Atlantis’ aerosurfaces after firing up
one of the ship’s three hydraulic power units. They will also check
the manifold valves of their reaction control system jets, but will
not perform the usual test firing of those jets since they were used
extensively and flawlessly during the mission to reboost the International
Space Station. The crew is scheduled to review deorbit and entry procedures
prior to taking a break for lunch, then will spend their afternoon in
final cabin stowage activities and exercise sessions.

The astronauts
will begin their sleep period tonight 30 minutes earlier than on previous
days, at 7:43 p.m. Central time.

The preliminary
weather forecast Sunday for the Kennedy Space Center calls for generally
favorable conditions, with the possibility of frisky winds near the
three-mile long landing strip at the Cape. There are two landing opportunities
available Sunday for Atlantis in Florida, at 11:53 a.m. Central time
and a backup opportunity one orbit later at 1:28 p.m. Central time.

Atlantis and the
International Space Station continue to orbit the Earth in excellent
shape, with all systems functioning normally.

The next mission
status report will be issued at 7 p.m. Central time tonight, or sooner,
if developments warrant.

SpaceRef staff editor.