[sarex] STATUS REPORT: STS-115-04

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468


	
NASA NEWS

2 a.m. CDT, Monday, Sept. 11, 2006
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

	09.11.06
STATUS REPORT: STS-115-04

STS-115 MCC Status Report #04

The Space Shuttle Atlantis crew has begun a busy and exciting day. The 
shuttle and the International Space Station are scheduled to dock at 
5:46 a.m. CDT and begin seven days of joint operations.

The crew awoke at 11:15 p.m. to a solo cello performance by Dan 
Burbank’s children. About an hour later the crew began rendezvous 
operations. As Atlantis approaches the station, Commander Brent Jett and 
Pilot Chris Ferguson will do the rendezvous pitch maneuver. The 
maneuver, essentially a back flip, lets the station crew photograph 
Atlantis' heat shield.

Throughout the morning, other shuttle crewmembers, mission specialists 
Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean, will 
conduct other tasks including filling spacesuit water containers, photo 
and video setups, and exercise.

Once docked, they’ll do leak checks before opening the hatches to the 
space station. Meanwhile, Ferguson and Burbank will attach the shuttle's 
robotic arm to the P3/P4 Truss in the payload bay and prepare for its 
unberthing and handover to the station's Canadarm2. The two crews are 
expected to meet personally in space a little before 7 a.m. After their 
initial greetings, and a standard safety briefing, both teams move into 
one of the biggest tasks of the mission, moving P3/P4 to its new home in 
space.

Ferguson and Burbank will unberth the 17.5 ton truss from Atlantis’ 
cargo hold and maneuver it to the grapple position for the station arm. 
MacLean will join Expedition 13 NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams at 
the controls of the Candarm2, becoming the first Canadian to operate it 
in space.

Other crewmembers will begin transfer activities, check out spacewalk 
equipment and review procedures for the mission's three spacewalks. The 
day will end with Stefanyshyn-Piper and Tanner moving into the Quest 
Airlock, its pressure reduced to 10.2 psi, in the pre-spacewalk 
“campout” protocol. The station crew is scheduled for sleep at 2:45 p.m. 
and the shuttle crew 30 minutes later.

The next STS-115 mission status report will be issued Monday afternoon, 
or earlier if events warrant.