[sarex] STS-115 MCC Status Report #08

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

2:30 a.m. CDT, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2006
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

	09.13.06
STATUS REPORT: STS-115-08

STS-115 MCC Status Report #08

The Atlantis and Expedition 13 crews are getting ready for the second 
spacewalk of the STS-115 mission to the International Space Station. 
They will continue preparations for activation of the P3/P4 truss 
segment attached to the station Tuesday.

Spacewalkers Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean will release and remove 
launch locks and launch restraints from the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint of 
the P4 truss. That joint will enable the new solar arrays to track the 
sun. The arrays are to be unfurled late today and early Thursday.

Burbank and MacLean spent the night in the Quest Airlock, as did 
Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Joe Tanner before their Tuesday 
spacewalk, part of the campout pre-breathe protocol. Burbank and MacLean 
are preparing for their spacewalk, with help from shuttle Commander 
Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and station Flight Engineer Thomas 
Reiter. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 4:15 a.m. CDT.

Tanner, now a veteran of six spacewalks, will serve as the 
intravehicular officer for this spacewalk. Piper will operate the 
station robotic arm to ensure video viewing during the spacewalk.

Because of the success of the first spacewalk, planners were able to add 
get-ahead tasks to today’s scheduled activities. Once their original 
tasks are complete, Burbank and MacLean also will prepare the P3 for the 
mobile transporter, part of a movable base system for the Canadarm2 to 
move along rails on the truss structure.

Depending on time available, they will remove a keel pin and drag link 
and stow them within the truss structure. They’ll also remove a Space 
Vision System target, rotate P1 and P3 mobile transporter and tether 
shuttle stops. They'll install a temporary rail stop for the Crew and 
Equipment Translation Aid cart.

Meanwhile, inside the orbiting laboratory, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel 
Vinogradov and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams will continue with 
station operations tasks as well as transfer activities and preparations 
for their upcoming departure.

The two are scheduled to return to Earth aboard their Soyuz spacecraft 
Sept. 28. They will be replaced by Expedition 14 Commander Michael 
Lopez-Alegria and Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, who are scheduled to launch 
from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan a little after 11 p.m. CDT Sept. 
17. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany will remain 
on board the station and join the Expedition 14 crew.

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