STS-89 MISSION ARCHIVE (complete)Updated: 02/01/98Shuttle-Mir Docking Mission No. 8By William HarwoodCBS News/Kennedy Space CenterThe following copy originally was posted on the CBS News "Up To TheMinute" Current Mission space page(http://uttm.com/space/missions/current.html).Comments and corrections welcome!TABLE OF CONTENTS -Shuttle Endeavour glides to smooth landing (01/31-01/98) -Shuttle crew gears up for landing (01/30/98) -Shuttle Endeavour undocks; Mir-25 crew launched (01/29/98) -Hatches closed between Mir and shuttle Endeavour (01/28/98) -Shuttle crew wraps up logistics transfer (01/27/98) -Thomas suit issue resolved; shuttle electrical problem (01/26/98) -Thomas joins Mir crew; shuttle attitude control issue (01/25-26/98) -Shuttle Endeavour docks with Mir space station (01/24/98) -Astronauts work minor glitches, close in on Mir (01/23/98) -Shuttle Endeavour rockets into orbit (01/22/98) -Culbertson outlines launch options (01/21/98) -Weather outlook unchanged for Endeavour launch (01/21/98) -Weather threatens shuttle launch (01/20/98) -Shuttle mission preview (01/20/98) -Crew arrives for start of countdown (01/19/98) -Hydraulic leaks monitored (01/17/98) -Shuttle crew practices emergency procedures (01/10/98) -New launch time (01/05/98) -Engineers mull additional two-day launch delay (12/17/97) -Initial flight information (12/15/97)===================================================================Shuttle Endeavour glides to smooth landing (01/31-01/98) 9:30 a.m., 02/01/98, Update: Wolf walks off shuttle; appears in goodhealth Astronaut David Wolf, looking fit and at ease after 127.8 days inspace, walked off the shuttle Endeavour Saturday but put off eating ahot pizza to help researchers chart his body's initial re-adaptation togravity. Speaking to a NASA public affairs officer early this morning,Wolf said he felt good but that quick movements tended to make himdizzy. "I feel fine. But you'll notice I'm keeping my head pretty stillbecause if I turn my head very much my body feels like it's acceleratinginto the next room and the room will turn upside down," Wolf said. "SoI'm being very careful. I feel about as I expected. It's hard to live inspace and it's hard to come back. And that's what a lot of our researchis all about. "I walked off the orbiter," he added. "We talked about it and it'sjust more practical to get through the hatch and out. And we thought itwas important to know if you're able to walk off. That's important foregress and any kind of emergency situation. And then I quickly gothorizontal so as not to corrupt the scientific data. I think ourscientists were all agreeable to doing it that way." Before landing, Wolf joked about attending a post-landing beach partyat a local motel. But he said this morning that discretion was thebetter part of valor and he decided to stay at crew quarters whereresearchers continued to monitor his re-adaptation to gravity. "I would like to go down there but I think it's probably best tostick around here in the crew quarters,' he said. "We're still takingmedical data and of course, the priority of this whole mission is thescientific understanding of the effects of space flight. So I hope to goto the beach tomorrow (Sunday)." Wolf said he planned to take a couple of days off and then to begin alengthy debriefing to help NASA managers and engineers learn more aboutlong-duration space flight and the design of the international spacestation. For his part, Wolf said he would "definitely" go back to Mir ifgiven an opportunity, but "not next month." As for his on-board experiments, "I think we got all of them done,"Wolf said. "Some of them didn't go as well as we'd like and that'sanother important reason for doing these missions. When we get tointernational space station, we'll be in a lot better shape with whatwe've learned in Phase One, the shuttle-Mir program. "I didn't realize up front just how important the shuttle-Mir programwould be to getting into the international space station program moreeffectively and efficiently," he said. "The Russian spacecraft, althoughit's not perfect, it is good enough to go up and do excellenttechnological studies to make our instrumentation work, preliminaryresearch studies for long-duration research such as tissue cultures andprotein crystal growth and I know we're leaps and bounds ahead of wherewe would be had we just now been starting the international spacestation. In fact, it would be hard to imagine just, cold, starting thepartnership with the Russians with the international space stationhaving not done the shuttle-Mir program." 9:45 p.m., 01/31/98, Update: NASA manager says additional Mir flightsunlikely With the shuttle Endeavour's successful landing today, only one moreshuttle visit to the Mir space station remains on the books. DespiteRussian suggestions for an additional flight, a top NASA manager saidthat does not appear likely. Frank Culbertson, NASA manager ofshuttle-Mir operations, said no discussions are underway about anadditional flight and the only such mission that likely would even beconsidered would be one to eventually assist the Russians in safelydeorbiting the space station. "There's been no further discussion and we've had no proposals fromthe Russians," Culbertson said. "There really is no place in the[shuttle launch] schedule right now to put an additional flight to theMir for logistics support." He said the only way NASA would consider such a flight "would be ifit was associated with the deorbit of the Mir itself and ending themission. With that type of an approach, we might be able to have somediscussions and come up with some kind of a joint plan. But that'sreally the only thing I think would be considered by anybody." As for Endeavour's just completed mission, Culbertson and shuttleprogram manager Tommy Holloway both called the flight a success, sayingthe shuttle-Mir docking program had achieved its goal of paving the waytoward assembly of the international space station. "It seems a very short time ago that we went to Moscow and talkedabout the possibility of doing a docking mission on the station,"Holloway said. "And now we're on the last leg of completing a programthat I think will go a great deal toward preparing us to do theinternational space station." Endeavour's crew brought David Wolf back to Earth after 128 days inspace. He was replaced aboard Mir by astronaut Andrew Thomas, who willremain in orbit until early June. "Through the miracle of modern technology, I was able to communicatewith Dave Wolf just a little while ago and Dave sounded great,"Culbertson said about an hour and a half after landing. "He's very happyto be home, he wanted me to tell everyone this was the greatestadventure of his life, he's very glad he did it and he also said hecouldn't imagine attempting ISS without this Phase One experience." On a different topic, Holloway told reporters he is not overlyconcerned about recent job cuts at the Kennedy Space Center by primecontractor United Space Alliance. In fact, he implied that even morereductions will be required in the years ahead to keep the shuttleprogram affordable. "Even though the costs have come down over the years, the cost ofoperating the shuttle still is extremely high," he said. "For example,we flew seven flights a year and with today's budget plus institutionalcosts, each one of these flights costs us over $500 million. So for thelong range vitality and health and perhaps survival of the shuttleprogram it's necessary to reduce costs. ... I'm quite satisfied theshuttle team will be able to respond to these reductions and deal withthem." 5:45 p.m. Update: Shuttle Endeavour glides to smooth landing The shuttle Endeavour glided to a smooth sunset touchdown at theKennedy Space Center this evening to close out NASA's eighth Mir dockingmission, bringing astronaut David Wolf back to Earth after four monthsin space and leaving Andrew Thomas behind in his place. With commander Terry Wilcutt and pilot Joe Edwards at the controls,Endeavour swooped to a picture-perfect touchdown on runway 15 at 5:35:09p.m., wrapping up a nine-day voyage spanning 138 complete orbits and 4.6million miles since blastoff Jan. 22 from nearby pad 39A. Missionduration was eight days 19 hours 46 minutes and 54 seconds. "Wheels stopped, Houston," Wilcutt radioed as the shuttle rolled to astop. "Roger wheels stopped, Endeavour. Welcome home. Congratulations on aperfect mission to Mir. And Dave, welcome back from 128 days on orbit,"replied astronaut Susan Still from mission control in Houston. "I wasn't counting, but is that what it was?" Wolf called. "It'll bea pleasure to see you, Susan, thanks to everybody. This feels great!" About 20 minutes after touchdown, ground crews began cranking openEndeavour's hatch. "There's a knock at the door and the hatch handle's turning," a crewmember said on the shuttle's audio circuit. "I'm pretty excited about this," Wolf replied. Then, a few minuteslater: "And the hatch is open! Oh the smell, and the air from theEarth!" As with all returning Mir astronauts, Wolf made the trip back toEarth resting on his back in a special recumbent seat mounted onEndeavour's lower deck. While he joked Friday about attending a beachparty after landing, he was not expected to get through with medicaltests, dinner and a thorough physical exam until late in the evening.Wolf originally said he planned to walk off the shuttle, but he saidFriday he had changed his mind and had agreed to be carried off to helpresearchers collect as much data as possible about his body's initialre-adaptation to gravity. Endeavour's touchdown capped a busy day in space, coming justfour-and-a-half hours after Mir-25 commander Talgat Musabayev, flightengineer Nikolai Budarin and French researcher Leopold Eyharts dockedwith the Mir space station. The trio blasted off Thursday aboard theSoyuz Tm-27 vehicle at 11:33 a.m. from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, just 24minutes before Endeavour undocked from Mir. To make way for the SoyuzTM-27 vehicle, a Progress resupply craft now loaded with trash wasundocked from the Kvant-1 port shortly before 8 a.m. Friday. About 90 minutes after docking today, Musabayev, Budarin and Eyhartsjoined Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev, flight engineer PavelVinogradov and Thomas for a televised welcoming ceremony in the Mir coremodule. Around Feb. 19, Solovyev, Vinogradov and Eyharts will return toEarth, leaving Thomas behind with the Mir-25 crew. Thomas will return toEarth in June aboard the shuttle Discovery. Back on Earth, meanwhile, Endeavour appeared none the worse for itsfiery re-entry. The return to Earth began at 4:28 p.m. with athree-minute 27-second firing of the shuttle's twin orbital maneuveringsystem rockets as the vehicle passed high above Indonesia. The burnslowed Endeavour by 245 mph and put the shuttle on a trajectory carryingit over Central America and Cuba before a high-speed northeasterly passacross the heart of Florida. After guiding Endeavour through a sweepingleft overhead turn, Wilcutt lined up on the centerline of runway 15 andswooped to a flawless touchdown. While Wolf faced a battery of post-flight medical checks, Wilcutt,Edwards, Michael Anderson, James Reilly, Bonny Dunbar and Russiancosmonaut Shalizhan Sharipov were expected to leave the orbiter about anhour after touchdown for a brief walk-around inspection. All of the crewmembers are scheduled to fly back to the Johnson Space Center on Sunday,after a post-landing news conference. Endeavour's flight was the eighth of nine planned shuttle-Mir linkupsserving as a training ground before both nations begin assembly of theinternational space station later this year. Thomas is the seventh andfinal U.S. astronaut scheduled for a long-duration stay aboard Mir. Wolflogged 127.8 days in space since blastoff aboard the shuttle Atlantis inSeptember. Thomas expects to put in 135.7 days aloft before returning toEarth in June, giving U.S. astronauts a cumulative 972.1 days in spaceaboard Mir. For those of you scoring at home, the Russian record forlong-duration space flight is 438 days. Astronaut Shannon Lucid holdsthe U.S. record with 188.2 days. As of today's landing, U.S. astronautshave logged 795.7 days in space, the last 680.4 of them in a row. As with all Mir docking missions, swapping out crew members was justone of several major objectives. Endeavour carried nearly 6,000 poundsof fresh water, supplies and repair equipment to the Russian station andbrought back nearly 3,000 pounds of material. Here is the pre-launchbreakdown: MATERIAL.............TO MIR........FROM MIR Water................1,400.........N/A U.S. Science.........930.6.........1,680.2 Dara/CNES............N/A...........N/A Russian Logistics....3,247.2.......678.8 Miscellaneous........257.4.........470.1 TOTAL................4,435.2.......2,829.1 While exact totals won't be known until after Endeavour is serviced,project managers said the combined crews accomplished 100 percent oftheir logistics transfer objectives. Frank Culbertson, NASA director ofshuttle-Mir operations, was expected to participate in a post-landingnews conference around 7 p.m. Quotes and details will be posted here aswarranted. 4:35 p.m. Update: Shuttle fires braking rockets for return to Earth Flying upside down and backward over the southern Pacific Ocean,commander Terry Wilcutt and pilot Joe Edwards fired the shuttleEndeavour's twin orbital maneuvering system rockets at 4:28 p.m.,slowing the ship by 245 miles an hour to drop out of orbit. Thethree-minute 27-second rocket firing put the shuttle on course for atouchdown at the Kennedy Space Center at 5:35 p.m. This status reportwil be updated after landing or as conditions warrant. 2:30 p.m. Update: Shuttle's cargo bay doors closed for entry The Endeavour astronauts closed the shuttle's 60-foot-long cargo baydoors today around 2 p.m., setting the stage for an on-time landing atthe Kennedy Space Center at 5:35 p.m. Forecasters continue to predictgood weather, although they are monitoring possible turbulence at the40,000-foot level. Endeavour's systems are in good shape and the crew isgearing up to don their entry suits for landing. This status report willbe updated after the deorbit burn, at 4:28 p.m., or as conditionswarrant. 8:20 a.m. Update: Good weather expected for shuttle landing The Endeavour astronauts were awakened at 6:43 a.m. today by arecording of "Breakfast Blues" by a Houston band called Trout Fishing inAmerica to begin preparations for re-entry and landing. Touchdown at theKennedy Space Center remains on schedule for 5:35:06 p.m. to close out a138-orbit mission spanning 3.6 million miles since blastoff Jan. 22. The astronauts have two landing opportunities today: ORBIT...TIME............EVENT..............NOTES 138.....04:27:45 p.m....Deorbit ignition...dV: 245 mph; dT: 3:27 139.....05:35:06 p.m....Landing............Runway 15, Kennedy SpaceCenter 139.....06:03:51 p.m....Deorbit ignition...dV: 357 fps; dT: 3:27 140.....07:10:25 p.m....Landing............Runway 15, Kennedy SpaceCenter But forecasters continue to predict near perfect weather at theFlorida spaceport and with more of the same expected Sunday, NASA is notstaffing Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., as a backup landing site. IfEndeavour fails to make it home for some reason this afternoon, however,Edwards probably would be staffed for Sunday's attempt. Here's the crew's timeline for landing today: TIME.........EVENT 12:27 p.m....Crew transitions to deorbit timeline 01:47 p.m....The shuttle's payload bay doors are closed 02:09 p.m....Flight computers begin running OPS-3 entry software 02:33 p.m....Crew reviews entry procedures 03:02 p.m....The astronauts don their pressure suits 04:06 p.m....Mission control "go" for burn 04:28 p.m....Deorbit burn; 04:48 p.m....The shuttle falls into the discernible atmosphere 05:35 p.m....Landing at the Kennedy Space Center Flying upside down and backward over the southern Pacific Ocean,commander Terry Wilcutt and pilot Joe Edwards plan to fire Endeavour'stwin orbital maneuvering system rockets at 4:27:45 p.m. for threeminutes and 27 seconds, slowing the shuttle by 245 mph. The vehicle willfall into the discernible atmosphere at 5:04 p.m., following anortheasterly ground track that will carry the crew over Central Americaand Cuba before crossing over the southwest coast of Florida. See the CBS News Reporter's Notebook for additional details,including NASA's plans for helping astronaut David Wolf re-adapt togravity after 128 days in weightlessness. See the Breaking News page forcoverage of today's docking of the Soyuz TM-27 vehicle and the Mir spacestation at 1:13 p.m.===================================================================Shuttle crew gears up for landing (01/30/98) 6:00 p.m. Update: Good weather expected for shuttle landing The Endeavour astronauts tested their re-entry systems today andpacked up for a sunset landing Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center toclose out NASA's eighth shuttle-Mir docking mission. Leaving astronautAndrew Thomas behind aboard the Russian space station, Endeavour's crewis scheduled to touch down at 5:35:13 p.m. at the Florida spaceport.Astronaut David Wolf, the man Thomas replaced aboard Mir, will make thetrip back to Earth resting on his back to ease the impact of returningto full gravity after four months in the weightlessness of space. Mission duration at touchdown will be eight days 19 hours 46 minutesand 51 seconds. Endeavour will have completed 138 complete orbits andtraveled 3.6 million miles since blastoff Jan. 22 from pad 39A. While Wolf said Thursday he planned to walk off the shuttle, he toldan interviewer today he would instead be carried out of the orbiter tohelp researchers collect as much data as possible about hisre-adaptation to gravity. But that doesn't mean he plans to stay off hisfeet any longer than necessary. "We're having a beach party the night of landing out in front of theWakulla Motel and as soon as we can get processed through, we're goingto show up out there," Wolf joked. Chief flight surgeon Sam Poole at the Johnson Space Center in Houstonwas a bit more cautious, saying all that would depend on how Wolfactually feels once he's back down on the ground. "We're very cautious in those first few hours, in the first day ortwo," Poole said. "People have a tendency to get sore muscles and are atrisk for maybe injuring a tendon or something like that because of there-introduction of working in the gravity field, particularly as theywalk about. In general, the rehabilitation plan follows a progressiveambulation. That's getting them up and walking them around. Some areable to do that better than others." As for Wolf's beach party, Poole said, "if he's in good physicalshape, I don't think we would put restrictions on him." Entry flight director John Shannon said Endeavour's systems are ingood shape and ideal weather is expected for landing. Endeavour willhave two opportunities to land in Florida, one at 5:35 p.m. and anotherat 7:11 p.m. With good weather expected, NASA is not staffing the backuplanding site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. "This morning was spent by the crew preparing the vehicle fortomorrow's re-entry," Shannon said. "As part of that, we did thestandard tests of the shuttle's attitude control thrusters, we poweredup the shuttle's hydraulic system and moved all the aerosurfaces. Wepowered up the avionics systems required for entry and tested all of theflight control systems and everything went very smoothly. We had noproblems at all." The deorbit burn will last for three minutes 27 seconds, slowing theshuttle by 359 feet per second, or 245 mph. The vehicle will fall intothe discernible atmosphere 400,000 feet above the south Pacific Ocean at5:04 p.m. Endeavour's northeasterly ground track will carry the shuttleover Central America and Cuba before crossing over the west coast ofFlorida. "We're only going to use Kennedy Space Center," Shannon said. "If wehave to wave off both opportunities at Kennedy Space Center tomorrow, wewould have a meeting and discuss whether we would want to bring upEdwards for a Sunday opportunity or not. The weather right now looksvery good for a Kennedy Space Center landing tomorrow for both attempts.... The forecast is for just a few clouds up to 25,000 feet, very goodvisibility and just light winds out of the north." 8:00 a.m. Update: Shuttle crew up for final full day in space The Endeavour astronauts were awakened at 7:48 a.m. to begin theirfinal full day in space. Today's wakeup music was a recording of "Bad ToThe Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers beamed up from missioncontrol in Houston. The astronauts face a relatively busy day in orbit, packing up loosegear, finishing up on-board research and testing the shuttle's re-entrysystems to make sure they will be ready for use Saturday. The crew alsowill make sure all the equipment and experiment samples moved from theMir station to Endeavour for return to Earth are properly stowed. The flight plan calls for the astronauts to begin deorbitpreparations at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Endeavour's cargo bay doors will beclosed at 1:52 p.m. for a deorbit burn at 4:28 p.m. Touchdown at theKennedy Space Center is scheduled for 5:35:13 p.m. The first item on the agenda today is to test Endeavour's flightcontrol system to make sure the ship's avionics and hydraulic systemsare working as required. Commander Terry Wilcutt and pilot Joe Edwardsthen will test fire the shuttle's steering jets. Cabin stowage begins at4:23 p.m. and the shuttle's KU-band television antenna will be stowed at7:48 p.m., ending routine television from the orbiter. The Associated Press and ABC Radio plan to interview the astronautsat 3:15 p.m. in the final media event of mission STS-90. And finally,NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin is scheduled to call the crew at 6:33p.m. for a brief congratulatory chat. Aboard the Russian Mir space station, meanwhile, Mir-24 commanderAnatoly Solovyev, flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. astronautAndrew Thomas jettisoned a trash-filled Progress supply vehicle today at7:53 a.m., freeing up the station's Kvant-1 docking port for the arrivalSaturday of the Mir-25 crew aboard the Soyuz TM-27 spacecraft. CommanderTalgat Musabayev, flight engineer Nikolai Budarin and French researcherLeopold Eyharts are expected to dock with Mir at 1:13 p.m. Saturday. Thedocking and a welcoming ceremony will be carried live on NASA televisionduring Endeavour's de-orbit preparations. See the Breaking News page for a detailed timeline of upcoming eventsaboard Mir.===================================================================Shuttle Endeavour undocks from Mir station (01/29/98) 4:15 p.m. Update: NASA managers pleased with mission results The Endeavour astronauts are slowly but surely moving away from theMir space station, sailing into the home stretch of a successful missionand setting their sights on landing Saturday at the Kennedy Space Centerat 5:35 p.m. At touchdown, returning Mir astronaut David Wolf will havelogged 127.8 days in space since blastoff to the Russian station lastSeptember aboard the shuttle Atlantis. "So far, this has been an extremely successful mission, we're veryhappy with the way it's gone," said Frank Culbertson, director ofshuttle-Mir operations for NASA. "We were able to transfer in bothdirections 100 percent of the items we had planned on. We were able totransfer even more water than had been planned so the Mir is wellstocked for future missions. "This continues to prove what people can do when they put their mindsto it, it gives us high hopes for the very complex program that iscoming down the road in the very near future, the beginning of theinternational space station and the launch of those elements. It's goingto be very challenging. I believe we've proved the teams can worktogether to meet those challenges and I hope and pray it increaseseveryone's confidence that this will also be a successful program." With good weather expected Saturday in Florida, NASA is not staffingEdwards Air Force Base in California. Endeavour will have twoopportunities to land Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center. "We're all looking forward to a very smooth last couple of days,"said lead flight director Phil Engelauf. "The weather looks good forentry on Saturday and we expect a very successful remainder of themission and a good landing." Here are the latest numbers (dv: change in velocity; dT: burnduration): ORBIT...TIME............EVENT..............NOTES 138.....04:27:42 p.m....Deorbit ignition...dV: 361 fps; dT: 3:28 139.....05:35:13 p.m....Landing............Runway 15 139.....06:07 p.m.......Deorbit ignition...TBD 140.....07:11 p.m.......Landing............TBD With Endeavour's undocking and the launch of the Mir-25 crew a fewminutes earlier (see the 11:40 a.m. update below for additional detals),U.S. and Russian flight controllers have their hands full tracking andoperating multiple vehicles in the same orbital plane. A fourth vehiclewill be added to the mix Friday when an old Progress resupply vehicle isundocked from Mir to make way for the new crew. "Right now a stressful time has commenced at the Moscow missioncontrol center because literally 15 minutes prior to completion of itsoperations with the shuttle the Soyuz was launched," said Valery Ryumin,Culbertson's Russian counterpart. "So now the Moscow control center hasto worry about not only the operations of the Mir but also the Soyuz aswell as prepare for the undocking of the Progress cargo vehicletomorrow. Such a situation will certainly occur in the future in thdevelopment and assembly of the international space station, so thiscurrent work is good preparation of both men and machine to undertakethat endeavor." As mentioned below, satellite watchers in the United States will betreated to a spectacular show this evening and Friday night, weatherpermitting, as the spacecraft pass overhead. See the German SpaceOperations Centre Satellite Tracking page to find out if any of thevehicles will be visible from your location. 12:05 p.m. Update: Shuttle Endeavour undocks from Mir station The shuttle Endeavour undocked from the Mir space station today at11:57 a.m., leaving U.S. astronaut Andrew Thomas behind for NASA's finallong-duration stay aboard the Russian outpost. "Houston, Endeavour. Physical separation. Executing sep burn," one ofthe shuttle's crew members called at the moment of undocking. The flight plan called for Endeavour to drop 240 feet below Mirbefore beginning a looping flyaround for a photo inspection. Aftercompleting the loop, a rocket firing was planned to carry the shuttleout of Mir's immediate vicinity. Landing at the Kennedy Space Center isscheduled for 5:36 p.m. Saturday. See the 8:15 a.m. update below for atimeline of flyaround activity. This was the eighth of nine joint shuttle-Mir missions serving as atraining ground before NASA and the Russian Space Agency begin buildingthe international space station later this year. Endeavour was dockedwith Mir for four days 20 hours and 42 minutes. The final shuttle visitis planned for late May when the Discovery will dock with Mir to pick upThomas and to drop off supplies and other equipment. NASA currently plans to begin building the international spacestation in late June when a NASA-financed Russian-built module calledthe functional cargo block (also known as the control module) islaunched. The first shuttle assembly flight is on tap the followingmonth when a six-hatch node is scheduled for takeoff aboard Endeavourthat will be bolted to one end of the functional cargo block. But both flights are expected to slip a few weeks, however, becauseof problems readying a critical Russian component called the servicemodule for launch. The service module, which will provide the initialcrew quarters and propulsion for the new station, currently is scheduledfor flight in December. But launch is expected to be delayed to aroundFeb. 2, 1999, because of problems with avionics and softwaredevelopment. As a result, a shuttle supply flight now scheduled forlaunch in December will slip to some point after the service modulereaches orbit in 1999. For a variety of reasons, including a desire to even out the shuttlelaunch schedule, NASA is expected to slip the first station launch fromJune to mid July and to delay the first shuttle assembly flight fromJuly to early September. No final decisions have been made, but that'sthe current thinking, according to reliable NASA sources. 11:40 a.m. Update: Mir-25 crew blasts off Mir-25 commander Talgat Musabayev, Nikolai Budarin and Frenchresearcher Leopold Eyharts blasted off today from the BaikonurCosmodrome and set off after the Russian space station for a dockingSaturday. The Soyuz spacecraft blasted off at 11:33 a.m., just 23minutes before the scheduled undocking of the U.S. space shuttleEndeavour. If all goes well, Musabayev and company will dock at Mir'sKvant-1 port at 1:13 p.m. Saturday, after a Progress resupply vehicle isjettisoned Friday. Docking will be carried live on NASA television. Musabayev, Budarin and Eyharts will join Mir-24 commander AnatolySolovyev, flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. astronaut AndrewThomas for about three weeks of joint activity. Around Feb. 19,Solovyev, Vinogradov and Eyharts will return to Earth, leaving Thomasbehind with the Mir-25 crew. Thomas will return to Earth in June aboardthe shuttle Discovery. A detailed timeline of upcoming events aboard Mir, including upcomingspacewalks, Progress flights and the next crew exchange, can be found onthe Breaking News page (future Mir-25 updates will be posted there aswell). To find out if Mir, the shuttle or the Progress vehicle will bevisible from your location over the next few days, check out the GermanSpace Operations Centre Satellite Tracking page. 8:15 a.m. Update: Shuttle crew gears up for undocking The Endeavour astronauts are gearing up to undock from the Mir spacestation later today at 11:56 a.m. Just 23 minutes earlier, at 11:33a.m., Mir's next crew - Mir-25 commander Talgat Musabayev, NikolaiBudarin and French researcher Leopold Eyharts - is scheduled to blastoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in centra Asia. The trip to Mir willtake two days. After Endeavour departs, Mir-24 commander AnatolySolovyev, Pavel Vinogradov and new U.S. crew member Andrew Thomas willmake room for the new crew by undocking a used Progress resupply vehicleFriday at 8 a.m. The Mir-25 crew is scheduled to dock at the Kvant-1port at 1:13 p.m. Saturday. The Mir-25 launch and docking will becarried live on NASA television. This is a somewhat unique situation in that four spacecraft will beorbiting in the same plane Friday. Viewers in the United States willhave a good opportunity to watch one or more vehicles fly overhead aftersunset Thursday and Friday. Last night, the shuttle-Mir complex put on aspectacular show for viewers in the Cape Canaveral area, starting out asa relatively bright "star" and then flaring and becoming brighter thanSirius or even Jupiter before moving into Earth's shadow. To find out ifMir will be visible from your viewing location, go to the German SpaceOperations Centre Satellite Tracking page and enter your location. Tryit out! Russian flight controllers have not yet decided what they will dowith the discarded Progress. It will either be deorbited or it willremain in a parking orbit nearby until after Solovyev, Vinogradov andEyharts return to Earth around Feb. 19. The Progress may be redocked atsome point after that to provide shading for the Kvant-1 port and toprovide a bit more rocket fuel for the station. Will advise. Endeavour's crew plans to carry out a close flyaround of Mir afterundocking today. Starting at a point 240 feet directly below the Russianstation, pilot Joe Edwards will guide the shuttle directly in front ofMir, then above the station, behind it and back down to the startingpoint. A final separation burn to move Endeavour away from Mir for goodis scheduled for 1:16 p.m. Here's the latest timeline from missioncontrol in Houston: EST......EVENT 11:48 a.m...Sunset. Mir in OSC-6 attitude. Shuttle in nose forward attitude 11:52 a.m...Mir in contact with Russian ground station 11:56 a.m...Endeavour undocks from Mir station 12:05 p.m...Mir begins maneuver to flyaround attitude 12:05 p.m...Shuttle 240 feet below Mir; begins stationkeeping 12:16 p.m...Mir maneuver to flyaround attitude complete 12:23 p.m...Sunrise 12:30 p.m...Shuttle starts Twice Orbital Rate Flyaround (TORF) in nose-forward attitude 12:36 p.m...Shuttle aligned with Mir +ZB axis (Priroda) 12:42 p.m...Endeavour crosses directly in front of Mir 12:47 p.m...Shuttle television begins 12:52 p.m...Orbital noon 12:52 p.m...Shuttle television ends 12:43 p.m...Shuttle directly above Mir 12:59 p.m...Shuttle aligned with Mir -XB axis (Soyuz) 01:05 p.m...Endeavour crosses directly behind Mir 01:16 p.m...Shuttle returns to a point directly below Mir Shuttle performs 3 foot-per-second retrograde separation burn 01:21 p.m...Sunset Here's NASA's morning status report: Endeavours astronauts are preparing to bid Mir farewell this morningwith a successful crew transfer and the exchange of more than 8,000pounds of equipment and supplies behind them. U.S. Astronaut Andy Thomas will remain behind for four months ofresearch on the Russian outpost, the swan song of the Phase 1 Programleading up to construction and population of the International SpaceStation. Coming home will be Dave Wolf, who spent 119 days aboard Mirand will have chalked up 128 days in orbit by the time he returns toEarth aboard Endeavour on Saturday. Undocking is scheduled for 11:56 a.m. EST today, just 23 minutesafter the next Russian crew -- Mir 25 Commander Talgat Musabayev, FlightEngineer Nikolai Budarin and French researcher Leopold Eyharts -- isscheduled to blast off in a Soyuz TM-27 capsule from the BaikonurCosmodrome in Khazakstan. Musbayev and Budarin will dock with thestation Saturday and replace Mir 24 Commander Anatoly Solovey and FlightEngineer Pavel Vinogradov, who are scheduled to return to Earth on Feb.19 with Eyharts. Once the shuttle is free of its moorings, Commander Terry Wilcutt andPilot Joe Edwards will fly around the space station before completing aseparation burn at 1:16 p.m. EST to move Endeavour away from Mir. The Endeavour crew was awakened at 5:48 a.m. today to the song "HereWe Go Loopty-Loo," by Little Richard, played in honor of the STS-89training team in Houston.. The Endeavour-Mir space complex is orbiting the Earth at an altitudeof about 240 statute miles with all systems in excellent shape.===================================================================Hatches closed between Mir and shuttle Endeavour (01/28/98) 5:40 p.m. Update: Hatches closed between Mir and shuttle Endeavour Hatches between the shuttle Endeavour and the Mir space station wereclosed and dogged today, setting the stage for undocking Thursday at11:56 a.m. to wrap up the eighth of nine planned shuttle-Mir linkups.The hatch between Endeavour's Russian-built docking system and theshuttle docking module on Mir was closed at 5:34 p.m., leaving U.S.astronaut Andrew Thomas on his own aboard the station as a member of theMir-24 crew. If all goes well, he will return to Earth in June. "The stand-off cross is installed and the hatch is closed," commanderTerry Wilcutt told mission control in Houston. Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev then was cleared to depressurizethe vestibule between the shuttle and Mir hatches. All that remains isfor Endeavour to undock Thursday. "We finished all the water transfers and essentially finished all ourhardware transfers to the Mir," said lead flight director Phil Engelauf."We will have, when we're all done, [transferred] about 1,615 pounds ofwater, which is more than we expected pre-flight, and we transferredessentially all the items that were intended to go across on Mir." James Van Laak, deputy director of the shuttle-Mir program, said thecombined crews accomplished all of the flight's objectives and "we'revery glad to be wrapping up another very successful docked mission." "I know we haven't had a lot of time to reflect on it yet, but wecan't escape the fact that this is our last docked mission where we planto transfer an American to the Mir," he said. "Just a few short yearsago, it seemed hard to believe we were actually going to go forward anddo this and now we've succeeded in doing this a number of times. We'revery pleased with that, it's been a wonderful program and we're lookingforward to one last very successful increment with Andy on board." The primary goal of Endeavour's mission was to pick up astronautDavid Wolf after four months aboard Mir and to replace him with Thomas,the seventh and final U.S. astronaut scheduled for a long-duration stayaboard Mir. In addition to supplying Mir with fresh water, theastronauts also delivered nearly 1,000 pounds of U.S. science gear andmore than 3,000 pounds of Russian equipment and supplies. Nearly 3,000pounds of equipment and experiment samples will be returned to Earthaboad the shuttle. "This has been an amazing experience," Wolf said at an afternoon newsconference. "It's been one of the hardest of my life and I think Andycan expect the same but that's how the best experiences of our livesmust be in many cases. ... I have to say, we're bringing together two ofthe finest space-faring nations in the world and the results that we'regoing to get as we join forces in the international space station aregoing to be amazing. All of our countries will take part in this andenjoy this and will share in it and the results will design our futurequality of life." Endeavour is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center at 5:36p.m. Saturday and the preliminary forecast calls for good weather.Despite spending four months in the weightlessness of space, Wolf saidhe doesn't anticipate any problems thanks to routine workouts on Mir'streadmill. "When you're in space, you feel like a superman, you can lift arefrigerator with your baby finger, so I feel pretty good and we've beenworking out pretty hard," Wolf said. "I expect to be able to walk offthat shuttle if the scientific community will let me. I'm looking for apretty quick recovery." For Thomas, Endeavour's undocking Thursday will mark "a day of mixedfeelings for me because on the one hand the shuttle is leaving and thefriends that I've been with will be leaving and flying home." "But on the other hand, I'll be staying here and starting what willbe a new phase of my life doing probably what is one of the most unusualthings anybody could do in this the last part of the 20th Century," hesaid. "So although they're leaving, it now gives me the opportunity tostart this adventure that I'm on. It's time to get on with the work andthat's what I'm ready to do." He said his first priority will be to make himself a home in Mir'sPriroda module. "I haven't been able to do that yet because all we've spent our timedoing is bringing all the equipment on board," Thomas said. "And rightnow, there are lots of bags and stowage equipment and so on in there. Itlooks like a crowded broom closet that hasn't been cleaned out in 20years." 3:30 p.m. Update: Shuttle crew remembers Challenger The crew of the shuttle Endeavour took a moment last night toremember the fallen crew of the shuttle Challenger, killed 12 years agotoday in history's worst space disaster. Endeavour commander TerryWilcutt said crewmate Bonnie Dunbar reminded the astronauts of theChallenger anniversary and today, flight controllers in Houston alsomarked the moment at 11:38 a.m. when Challenger began its final voyage. 3:30 p.m. Update: Thomas says langauge skills need work U.S. astronaut Andrew Thomas, embarking on a four-month stay aboardthe Mir space station, says he does not yet speak Russian as fluently ashe might like and that it may be difficult for him initially toestablish the kind of personal relationship with his crewmates that hemight wish. But during a news conference today, the man Thomas isreplacing, astronaut David Wolf, said Thomas will have plenty of time tobrush up on his Russian. "I can assure you the space station Mir is a great place to learnRussian," Wolf joked. The language issue came up earlier when Mir-25 commander TalgatMusabayev, scheduled for launch to Mir on Thursday, told reporters hewas a bit concerned about Thomas's language skills. Musabayev, NikolaiBudarin and French researcher Leopold Eyharts are scheduled to blast offfrom the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:33 a.m. EST Thursday. Docking withMir is expected at 1:13 p.m. Saturday. "I wish my Russian was better because I'd like to have thespontaneity of communication that helps you establish a workingrelationship," Thomas said from orbit. "I think it will slow us down abit, particularly initially, but I think after a while we'll learn abasis for communication that will be acceptable." Thomas never expected to actually fly on Mir. He was training as abackup to Wolf, who originally was to be NASA's last long-duration Mirvisitor. But Wolf was moved up in the flight sequence last year whenastronaut Wendy Lawrence was bumped from flight status because of herheight and Thomas suddenly found himself assigned to the final mission. "I would have liked to have had more extensive language trainingbefore I went to Russia," he said. "But within the schedules we had backthen it simply wasn't possible." Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev said as far as he was concerned,Thomas fit in aboard Mir just fine. "There may indeed be some problems," he said. Then, turning toThomas, he added: "However, in the several days we have worked together,I have not seen any problems. I am telling you this without anyreservations, you speak very well and I agree with Dave Wolf that thisis an excellent environment for the learning of a language." As for Musabayev, Thomas said he was sure the new crew would enjoyeach other's company. "Not being able to have spontaneous, joking, humorouse sort ofinteraction with people can limit your ability to establish arelationship," Thomas said. "But the Mir-25 crew that coming up hereshortly are very congenial people, very easy to get along with. Talgathimself has got a very effusive personality to say the least and I'mexpecting it to be entirely entertaining." 8:15 a.m. Update: Joint crews gear up for undocking The Endeavour-Mir astronauts are in the final stages of transferringsupplies and equipment to and from the Russian space station beforeundocking Thursday morning. After a joint crew news conference at 2:34p.m. today, hatches between Mir and the space shuttle will be closed andlocked for undocking. At that point, astronaut Andrew Thomas will be on his own aboard Mir,in the care of Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev and flight engineerPavel Vinogradov. Thomas and the man he replaced, David Wolf, arespending a final few hours together today reviewing radio operations andprotocol and discussing a few last-minute tips about living and workingaboard the Russian space station. "I think it's going OK," Thomas told flight controllers. "I stillneed him to give me an education o the packet radio and the ham radio.And I think pretty much I'll need to be on my own to take care ofeverything else." Said Wolf: "He's catching on real quick. He's going to be a strongplayer up here." The original plan called for the cosmonauts to close the hatchbetween the Kristall module and the shuttle docking module thisafternoon and for the shuttle crew to close their hatch Thursday, afterdelivering a final bag of fresh water to Mir. But flight controllerssaid all the work would be completed by this afternoon and all thehatches will be closed at that point. Quotes and details from this afternoon's crew news conference will beposted here as soon as possible. In the meantime, here's this morning'sstatus report from NASA: The astronauts and cosmonauts on board the Endeavour/Mir complex arenow in their final full day of docked operations, wrapping up thetransfer of equipment and supplies between the two spacecraft. The crews have already transferred about 240 items with a total massof more than three and half tons between the shuttle and Mir, and theyhave completed more than 80 percent of the planned moves. The crew willtake a break from their work at 2:34 p.m. EST today to participate in apress conference, fielding questions from reporters at NASA centersacross the U.S. and in Moscow, Russia. Immediately following the press conference, the Endeavour crew willsay a formal farewell to astronaut Andy Thomas, embarking on the finalstay by a U.S. astronaut aboard the Mir, and cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyevand Pavel Vinagradov. At about 5:18 p.m. EST, the crews will close thehatches between the spacecraft for the final time. Both the Mir andEndeavour hatches will be closed for the fnal time at that point, beforethe crew goes to sleep this evening, as has been the normal procedurefor previous Shuttle-Mir flights. An earlier plan that had beendiscussed to leave the shuttles hatch to the Mir docking module openlonger to allow for last-minute transfers was deemed unnecessary byflight controllers. The STS-89 crew was awakened at 5:48 a.m. EST today to the song"Hideaway" performed by Stanley Clarke, a favorite tune of astronautMichael Anderson. The crew will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 9:48p.m. EST and will receive a wake-up call from Mission Control at 5:48a.m. on Thursday to begin activities to undock from the Mir. Endeavour, carrying home astronaut David Wolf after four months spentaboard the Mir, is scheduled to undock from the Russian station at 11:56a.m. EST Thursday.===================================================================Shuttle crew wraps up logistics transfer (01/27/98) 5 p.m. Update: Endeavour astronauts set for undocking The Endeavour astronauts are in the final stages of transferringsupplies, water and repair equipment from the shuttle to the Mir spacestation, setting the stage for undocking Thursday. Current plans call for Mir's crew to shut the hatch between thestation's Kristall module and the shuttle docking module Wednesdayafternoon. The docking module will remain open to the shuttle crew untilThursday morning. This is slightly different from past practice and it'sbeing done in part so Mir's crew can pump up the station's oxygensupplies with what's left aboard an old Progress supply vehiclecurrently docked at the Kvant-1 port. The station has to be sealed offfrom the shuttle for that operation because the Mir system works athigher oxygen concentrations than the shuttle can handle. While that's going on, the shuttle crew will generate a final, 16thbag of water for Mir, leaving it in the docking module Wednesday nightor Thursday morning. The crew then will seal the shuttle's hatch and theRussians will re-enter the docking module from Kristall to retrieve thewater and configure the station for undocking. If all goes well,Endeavour will drop away from Mir at 11:56 a.m. Thursday. "It may look a little unusual, but we will do the final farewells forthe crew on the last part of the day tomorrow as we have done in thepast," said flight director Phil Engelauf. "Then we'll be undocking themiddle of that next day and performing a brief flyaround, one timearound Mir, and then breaking away." The Progress, meanwhile, is scheduled to be jettisoned Friday to makeway for the arrival of the Mir-25 crew the next day. Mir-25 commanderTalgat Musabayev, Nikolai Budarin and French researcher Leopold Eyhartsare scheduled to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:33 a.m.EST Thursday. Both launch and docking will be carried live on NASAtelevision. "The crew is at Baikonur along with their support crew," said FrankCulbertson, director of shuttle-Mir operations for NASA. "They are readyto go, there are no issues that they're working and they expect to be onschedule." As for the state of the station, "the Russians will be well stockedby the time we leave," Culbertson said. "Overall, they're in real goodshape. Most of the major items have been transferred, such as the airconditioning components, the computers, the gyrodynes, things like that.We're looking forward to the undocking, which will occur this Thursday.We're going to have quite an interesting event when we launch the Soyuz,undock the shuttle, undock a Progress and then dock a Soyuz all withinabout a two- or three-day period. So we'll eventually have fourspacecraft all flying in the same plane." Here is a timeline of events for Endeavour's undocking and flyaroundThursday: EST.........MET.......EVENT 11:48 a.m...6/14:00...Sunset. Mir in OSC-6 attitude. Shuttle in nose forward attitude 11:52 a.m...6/14:04...AOS DJS groundstation (6/14:04:05) 11:56 a.m...6/14:08...Endeavour undocks from Mir station 12:05 p.m...6/14:17...Shuttle 240 feet below Mir; begins stationkeeping 12:05 p.m...6/14:17...Mir maneuvers to flyaround attitude 12:11 p.m...6/14:23...Undocking window closes 12:19 p.m...6/14:31...Mir reaches flyaround attitude 12:20 p.m...6/14:32...Latest time for shuttle to reach 240 feet 12:22 p.m...6/14:34...Sunrise 12:30 p.m...6/14:42...Shuttle starts Twice Orbital Rate Flyaround (TORF) in nose-forward attitude 12:35 p.m...6/14:47...Shuttle aligned with Mir +ZB axis (Priroda) 12:41 p.m...6/14:53...Endeavour crosses directly in front of Mir 12:48 p.m...6/15:00...Shuttle Ku-band communications available until approximately 12:53 p.m. 12:52 p.m...6/15:04...Orbital noon 12:53 p.m...6/15:05...Shuttle crosses directly above Mir. KU-band antenna switched to radar mode 12:58 p.m...6/15:10...Shuttle aligned with Mir -XB axis (Soyuz) 01:04 p.m...6/15:16...Endeavour crosses directly behind Mir 01:16 p.m...6/15:28...Shuttle returns to a point directly below Mir Shuttle performs 3 foot-per-second retrograde separation burn 01:21 p.m...6/15:33...Sunset "We have looked at the traffic management concerns of having theProgress and having the shuttle all flying at the same time and theSoyuz coming up," Engelauf said. "And while it's a little bit complexand you have to keep track of all the vehicles and what all the possibleoptions are ... it's a manageable problem and we don't really have anyconcerns." In one final bit of news, Engelauf said an unusual problem withEndeavour's vernier steering jets Monday night was caused by anunforeseen set of mission-specific circumstances. The electronic systemthat fires the jets refused to power up properly because of aconfiguration problem, that is, the sequence in which the verniers andthe shuttle's primary jets were powered up and down earlier in themission. Engelauf said the condition had never occurred before and thatit only occurred this time because of the way the jets were activated tocontrol the orientation of the shuttle-Mir complex. This one is still abit murky, at least to this writer, but Engelauf said no harm was doneand if the condition occurred again, flight controllers would be able toquickly correct it. 2:30 p.m. Update: Crew on track with Mir transfer work The Endeavour astronauts and their Mir-24 colleagues have transferredmore than 1,000 items from the shuttle to the Mir station and vice versaduring the first three days of joint activity. All told, the combined10-member crew plans to move some 4,500 pounds of fresh water, supplies,repair gear and other equipment to Mir, including a new air conditioner. "We have been very, very busy and I think we're ahead of schedule,"commander Terry Wilcutt told an interviewer today. "We did take a coupleof days to get here, to get things organized, and the docking wentextremely well from our point of view." James Reilly, the astronaut in charge of overseeing the transferwork, said that by midday Tuesday, "we've managed to transfer just abouteverything." "We've got over 1,000 items we've already transferred and we're justcleaning up the last ones right now," he said. "The air conditioningunit fortunately fit through the hatch with just a little bit of elbowgrease. It worked fine." Andrew Thomas, who is replacing David Wolf aboard Mir as NASA'sseventh and final long-duration crew member, said he is settling in forthe long haul and that so far, the only surprise has been just howcrowded the Russian space station is. "There's an awful lot of stuff in Mir," Thomas said. "I mean we'vegot stuff stowed in every nook and cranny on this vehicle and there'svery little storage space. And that's the biggest surprise I've comeacross is just how restricted we are on free storage space." As for initial problems getting his emergency pressure suit to fit,"the suit problem was real," he said. "I couldn't get it on. I triedwith Anatoly, the commander here, several times to get it on and it wasjust impossible until we made the adjustments and then it went on fine.No, I'm prepared to undertake this mission now and I'm looking forwardto setting up a home in the Priroda module and getting some personalthings out and making it liveable and starting a new adventure." Wolf has been helping Thomas get adjusted to living and workingaboard Mir. "There's a lot of equipment here to learn how to work," Wolf said."We've had training on the ground but of course, it's a little differentin actual use. But there're a lot of hints on how to live, how to beefficient, how to keep track of your items, in fact, how to keep out ofeach other's way and to help each other. I've learned a lot about howthese cosmonauts like to live and I'm trying to pass that knowledge onto Andy." 8:00 a.m. Update: Astronauts move into home stretch of equipmenttransfers The Endeavour astronauts were awakened at 5:48 a.m. today by arecording of "Clap for the Wolfman" beamed up from mission control.There is little to report so far this morning as the crew steps into athird day of moving supplies and equipment to and from the Mir spacestation. The combined crews will participate in U.S. and Russian mediainterviews starting at 12:48 p.m. and notes will be posted here as soonas possible thereafter. In the meantime, here is NASA's morning statusreport: More resupply and experiment equipment transfers lay ahead for theastronauts and cosmonauts who have now passed the halfway point in theirresupply work. By the end of flight day 5, 60 percent of all plannedtransfers had been completed including just over 1,000 pounds of watermanufactured by Endeavours fuel cells. Coming up late Tuesday morning is an interview with Cable NewsNetwork and Russian news media. That event is scheduled to start at12:48 a.m. EST Tuesday. Yesterday marked the successful resolution of a couple of problemswhich had come up unexpectedly on Sunday. A software change was sent toEndeavours computers Monday to overcome a faulty sensor which monitorsthe condition of one of the orbiters attitude control thrusters. Thatthruster sensor late Sunday had caused Shuttle flight controllers totemporarily pass attitude control of the Shuttle-Mir stack to theRussian station. When Mir thruster propellant ran low, control waspassed back to Endeavour. All of this activity consumed some of thecrews sleep time, which was extended by Mission Control. Also Monday, Mir 24 crewmember Andy Thomas, with the aid of his Mircommander Anatoly Solovyev, successfully modified the Soyuz Sokolspacesuit he carried to orbit, improving the fit. Initially, Thomas hadbeen unable to seal the suit which appeared too small for him. Thomasdetached straps which lengthened the suit sufficiently to allow acomfortable fit under both pressurized and non-pressurized conditions.He would wear the suit only in the event he were to return to Earth onboard a Soyuz spacecraft.===================================================================Thomas suit issue resolved; shuttle electrical problem (01/26/98) 10:00 p.m. Update: Shuttle electrical problem interrupts attitudecontrol An electrical glitch of some sort temporarily forced the shuttleEndeavour's crew to shut down the orbiter's small steering jets tonight,allowing the combined shuttle-Mir complex to slowly drift out of theproper orientation. While docked with Mir, the shuttle's small vernierjets are used to control the orientation, or attitude, of the combinedvehicles. The station must fly in an orientation that maximizes sunlighton its solar arrays and by using the shuttle for that purpose duringdocking missions, the Russians are able to save on-board fuel. When thevernier jets shut down tonight, the station began slowly drifting out ofthe proper attitude. After a bit of troubleshooting, engineers told shuttle commanderTerry Wilcutt to power up all of the shuttle's maneuvering jets with theidea of using the larger primary reaction control system thrusters totake over attitude control. This is not an ideal solution because theprimary jets burn more fuel and put more stress on the docked vehicles.In any case, when the drivers for all the jets were powered up, thevernier system once again appeared to be acting normally. The smallerjets were then used to stop the unwanted motion of the shuttle-Mircomplex and the crew was told to use the primary jets to quickly movethe vehicles back into the proper orientation. This was the second night in a row in which trouble with theshuttle's vernier jet system required corrective action. Late Monday, afaulty sensor on a jet in Endeavour's left rear orbital maneuveringsystem pod forced the crew to turn attitude control over to Mir. Butlimited fuel aboard Mir forced the shuttle crew to resume attitudecontrol even though the sensor failure prevented automatic leakdetection. That problem was corrected today when a software patch wasuplinked to the shuttle to permit normal operations. This cause of thisevening's problem was not immediately known. 5:30 p.m. Update: Thomas suit problem resolved After fiddling with adjustment straps, U.S. astronaut Andrew Thomasfinally managed http://www.amazon.com/Shelly-Sun/e/B005LOVWRA to squeeze into his Russian-built emergency re-entrysuit today, assuring he can safely remain aboard Mir after the shuttleEndeavour departs Thursday. Thomas officially joined the crew of Mir-24commander Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov at 6:35 p.m. Sunday,some nine hours behind schedule because of problems with the suit. AllMir crew members must have a pressure suit and a custom Soyuz seatlinerin case of an emergency that might force them to evacuate Mir and returnto Earth. Thomas's seatliner was no problem, but he was unable tosqueeze into his re-entry suit. He then tried on David Wolf's suit andwhile it was too big in the arms, mission managers cleared him to joinMir's crew anyway. Additional troubleshooting today resolved the problemonce and for all. "The suit that I would wear in the event of needing to do anemergency evacuation in the Soyuz wasn't quite sized properly," Thomastold an interviewer today. "And when I tried it on yesterday to do apressure test of the suit, it wouldn't fit, I couldn't get it on. Thismorning we made some adjustments in some straps on the suit and after wedid that I was able to don and doff the suit properly and we did thepressure checks and it worked out fine. So I feel good about it." In other news, a software patch has been uplinked to the Endeavourthat will enable its flight computers to detect thruster leaks despite afaulty transducer in one jet. The sensor failed last night and with noway to detect a real leak in that jet, the shuttle had to stop providingnormal attitude control of the shuttle-Mir complex. But Russianengineers soon determined Mir did not have enough fuel in its boom jetsto continue controlling the orientation of the combined vehicles andEndeavour resumed attitude control. With the software patch on board,the situation is back to normal. The problem with Thomas's entry suit would appear to be a ratherstraight-forward issue. But according to The Associated Press, Russianspace officials were miffed that Thomas said the suit did not fitproperly. The AP quoted Victor Blagov, deputy chief of Russian missioncontrol, as saying there was never anything wrong with Thomas's suit.Here is a passage from the AP story: Russia's Mission Control was steamed at the suggestion that itstailors screwed up. The Russians all but called Thomas a malcontent. "There were no objective problems with his spacesuit," grumbledViktor Blagov, deputy chief of Mission Control. "The astronaut simplyturned out to be somewhat capricious. For us, it's a symptom that theastronaut may remain capricious all through the flight." Russian spacewear expert Alexander Yarov said that after 37 years ofmanned spaceflight, Russians are masters at making orbital attire. Infact, he said huffily, they take the time to offer flight suits, shoes _even underwear _ in bright blue, green and red to jazz up Mir's drabinterior. One strongly suspects a bit of artistic license at work here. It isdifficult for this writer to imagine a top Russian space officialspeaking so harshly - in public, no less! - about a brand new U.S. crewmember! For their part, NASA managers flatly denied the AP account. "Victor has in fact pointedly denied having said those things," saidJames Van Laak, deputy director of shuttle-Mir oeprations at the JohnsonSpace Center. "There have been a few questions directed at him to seewhether he really intended that. In addition, it's been made clear tous, Mr. [Valery] Ryumin made it clear, that the Russian side has greatconfidence in Andy." Lead flight director Phil Engelauf agreed. "I had a teleconference with Victor Blagov this morning over theloops, about 4:30 local time here," Engelauf said. "We talked both aboutthe propellant situation on Mir and the attitude control problem as wellas the suit situation here. It was fairly clear the Russians were verycomfortable with the situation with the suit and wanted to make sure wehere in the U.S. were comfortable with the situation. "At no time in the course of probably a 30- or 40-minute telephoneconversation did Victor ever mention any concerns or indications thatAndy was either the source of the problem or in any way personallyresponsible for the way this came out," Engelauf said. "If theindividual can't fit inside the spacesuit it's probably not the person'sfault. It's clearly a mismatch between the suit size and theindividual." And wire copy to the contrary, NASA managers never thought Thomas'smission aboard Mir was in any jeopardy because of the suit issue. "We never considered it a serious possibility he might not be able tostay," Van Laak said. "We had the option of trying to shorten the armson Dave's [suit] or extending the legs on Andy's. We were veryconfident there would be a successful resolution today."===================================================================Thomas joins Mir crew; shuttle gives up, resumes attitude control(01/25-26/98) 7:30 a.m., 01/26/98, Update: Endevour resumes attitude control forshuttle-Mir complex With Mir running low on fuel, flight controllers awakened shuttlepilot Joe Edwards around 2:15 a.m. this morning so he could rigEndeavour to resume attitude control of the shuttle-Mir complex. LateSunday, a faulty sensor indicating a thruster leak aboard Endeavourforced flight controllers to switch control of the complex over to Mir.The thruster was working properly, engineers determined, but the faultysensor meant a real leak could go undetected (see the 11:30 p.m. updatebelow for details). Engineers said it would take 24 hours or so to develop a softwarepatch to work around the faulty sensor. Meanwhile, with Mir in controlof the "stack," the station crew went back to bed and the shuttle crewsoon followed. But early this morning, Russian flight controllersdecided the station was low on fuel for its outboard "boom" thrusters. "Flight controllers in the U.S. and Russia worked together anddecided that, with good communications contact, mission control couldwatch Endeavour's thruster and the shuttle could resume control,"according to NASA's morning status report. "The ground awakened pilotJoe Edwards about 2:15 a.m. EST. Edwards and commander Terry Wilcuttwoke the Mir crew and attitude control handover back to Endeavour wasaccomplished in a few minutes. To compensate for keeping the crew uplate, the planning team in mission control added an hour to the crew'ssleep period and worked to lighten the work load for flight day five." 11:30 p.m., 01/25/98, Update: Mir takes over attitude control An apparently faulty sensor indicating a leak in a shuttlemaneuvering jet late tonight forced Endeavour's crew to turn overattitude control of the combined shuttle-Mir complex to the Russianspace station. The station normally orients itself to provide maximumsunlight for its solar panels but when docked with the shuttle, the U.S.spacecraft provides attitude control for both vehicles to help theRussians save fuel. While controllers do not believe the jet in question (L5D) isleaking, the apparently faulty sensor is preventing them from detectinga real leak. That's a violation of safety rules and as a result, flightcontrollers called Endeavour commander Terry Wilcutt just before 11 p.m.and asked him to set up a radio relay to Mir so Russian groundcontrollers could wake up the station crew and switch attitude controlover to Mir. A software patch to correct the problem with the faultysensor should be in place late Monday or early Tuesday, allowing theshuttle to resume normal control. In the meantime, the shuttle-Mir complex drifted slowly out of itsideal orientation - as one would expect without active attitude control- but this was not considered a major problem. U.S. and Russian flightcontrollers developed a plan for Endeavour's jets to reorient thecomplex before switching normal attitude control over to the station. 7:00 p.m. Update: NASA, Russian managers reverse themselves; clearThomas to join Mir crew In a bit of a surprise, NASA and Russian managers changed their mindslate today and cleared astronaut Andrew Thomas to go ahead and replaceDavid Wolf aboard the Mir space station this evening. The crew transferofficially took place at 6:35 p.m. Earlier, agency managers told Wolfand Thomas to delay the formal transfer for at least one additional daybecause of problems with the pressure suit Thomas would have to wearduring an emergency return to Earth aboard the crew's Soyuz entryvehicle (see the 5:30 p.m. update below for details). But after additional analysis, Russian managers told their NASAcounterparts they were satisfied that in a pinch, Thomas could wearWolf's pressure suit even though the arms are too long. Thomas saidearlier the arms extended six inches beyond his hands when the suit waspressurized. But Russian officials said later there was nothing theAmerican astronaut would have to do aboard a Soyuz that would requirethe use of his hands and that it was safe for Thomas to go ahead andjoin the Mir-24 crew. Additional work will be done Monday to adjust the fit of Thomas'ssuit or to shorten the sleeves on Wolf's. NASA managers are optimisticthe problem will be resolved and in the meantime, the crew swap isofficial and Thomas is spending his first night aboard Mir. Wolf, now amember of the shuttle crew, will sleep aboard Endeavour for theremainder of the flight. 5:30 p.m. Update: Mir crew swap delay forces Wolf to spend additionalnight on Mir U.S. astronaut David Wolf, in the final stages of a 128-day spacevoyage, has ben forced to spend one more night aboard the Russian Mirspace station because of pressure suit problems that prevented hisreplacement, astronaut Andrew Thomas, from moving in today on schedule.The formal crew swap out likely will take place Monday, after additionaltroubleshooting to either adjust Thomas's ill-fitting pressure suit or adecision to use Wolf's instead. Before a new crew member can move in aboard the space station, he orshe must be able to return to Earth aboard Mir's Soyuz entry vehicle inan emergency. To do so, each crew member must have a custom seatliner inplace to cushion ground impact and a pressure suit. As with all arrivingU.S. astronauts bound for Mir, Thomas's seatliner and pressure suit werecarried aloft aboard Endeavour. The flight plan called for both to betransferred to Mir this morning and for Thomas to officially replaceWolf. From that point on, Thomas would be a member of the Mir-24 crew,sleeping on the station and remaining aboard even if an emergency ofsome sort forced the shuttle to leave early. But Thomas ran into problems today with his pressure suit. "The problem is I cannot pull it up over my shoulders," he radioed."It's either not sized correctly or there's not been adequate allowancefor the growth of my height in zero gravity. And I suspect it's probablyboth. We did do a pressure test, a leak check, in David's [suit] and theleak check passed. I can get David's suit on with difficulty. Theproblem is when it's under pressure, the arms extend about six inchesoff the ends of my hands. So it's basically unusable, in thatconfiguration at least." He said Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev wants to try resizingThomas's original suit. "The straps on the legs and the underarms are pulled up, cinched up,very tight and stitched that way," Thomas said. "So we can't justrelease them, we actually have to cut the stitching, non-criticalstitching that won't affect the sealing of the suit. But I think weought to try and do that to get some more shoulder, spine length, intomy suit and then see if I can get it on maybe tomorrow." In the meantime, the crew asked mission control who should sleepwhere. "This is David," Wolf called. "Just wondering, if we have toseparate, we'd just like to know which side we're supposed to go to." "We're still discussing the answer to your question about what oursituation is right now in terms of where each of you would come home inan emergency," replied Ellen Ochoa from mission control. "We'd like toget Andy's thoughts on the viability of using Dave's suit in anemergency right now if he needed to, whether he thinks he would be ablesuccessfully carry out the full extent of an emergency deorbit usingDave's suit or not." Thomas said he and Solovyev agreed that Thomas could spend the nighton Mir with Wolf's suit available for emergency use. But flightcontrollers in Houston at in Moscow were not comfortable with that idea. "Andy, we've decided that for tonight we'd like to have you sleep onthe shuttle," Ochoa radioed. "We would like Dave to sleep on the Mir.That's going to require reinstalling Dave's seatliner in the Soyuz. Wereally decided that because that is really the only configuration rightnow that is known with everybody feeling completely comfortable aboutall the safety considerations. So we want to go to that configurationwhile we're pursuing other options." 2:15 p.m. Update: Mir crew swap delayed Problems of some sort with the pressure suit U.S. astronaut AndrewThomas would have to wear during an emergency return to Earth from theRussian Mir space station delayed his formal installation today as amember of the Mir-24 crew. Thomas had been scheduled to formally replaceastronaut David Wolf aboard Mir at 9:48 a.m., but Mir-24 commanderAnatoly Solovyev asked for a delay when problems cropped up withThomas's entry suit. A Mir crew member can only be replaced after his or her custom Soyuzseatliner is transferred to the station's entry vehicle and after theastronaut has tested the suit that would be used in a Soyuz re-entry.The seatliner, which is custom built to support an astronaut in his orher entry suit, would be needed to cushion the shock of ground impact ifthe Mir crew was forced to bail out in the Soyuz at some point after theshuttle's departure. Because of the problem with Thomas's suit, the crew was expected tore-install Wolf's seatliner and to find out if Thomas can use portionsof Wolf's suit. As soon as the problem is resolved, Thomas will joinSolovyev's crew and begin sleeping aboard Mir. Wolf then will take hisplace aboard Endeavour. Wolf, wrapping up a 128-day stay in space, says he's looking forwardto a hot pepperoni pizza and "a few beverages" when he gets his feetback on planet Earth. In an interview with CBS News today, Wolf saidhe's looking forward to "everything I think of, even driving my car upto a Stop and Go and walking in and getting a coffee. Every little thingI think of is something I can't wait to go do. Earth is a wonderfulplace." Thomas is scheduled to remain aboard Mir until June when he willreturn to Eart aboard the shuttle Discovery. Thomas is the seventh andfinal U.S. astronaut scheduled for a long-duration stay aboard Mirbefore assembly of the international space station begins later thissummer. "It's time to pass the baton to Andy," Wolf said. "He's a verycapable astronaut and he's ready for the experience of his life. It'llbe tough but it'll be great." The tough part, Wolf said, is coping with one's emotions in theisolated environment of the Russian space station. Asked if he ever feltlonely or depressed, Wolf said "to some degree, yes, I did." "You have to keep a good, rational grip on your mind to hold thosefeelings at bay," he said. "This is something Andy and I will bediscussing and prior crews helped me with that. There's somewhat of alanguage barrier where you can't express all the feelings you'd like toeven though we can communicate operationally quite well. So thosefeelings are a big part of this kind of a mission." Asked what surprised him the most about life aboard Mir, Wolf said "Ihonestly was surprised at just how much work it really is." "We really worked from nine in the morning until midnight, every day,seven days a week, holidays included," he said. "That's what it takes toreally operate a space station and conduct a full science program. Itreally didn't hurt once you get to expect that type of work level. It'sjust what you do in space." In the meantime, "I've requested a pizza with pepperoni and mushroomsand I think a few beverages will go along fine with that." Thomas said he believes he is psychologically prepared for his stayaboard Mir, but he agreed it could pose problems. "It is going to be isolated," he said. "You know, you think you'regoing to be psychologically prepared but things often turn around andsurprise you. I'll have to give you my response as to how I feel afterthe event of seeing Endeavour leave. But I think it's going to betough." That will be in part because of Mir's cramped interior. "The thing that strikes me the most is unlike the training modules Isaw in Russia, there's an awful lot of equipment stored on the walls, onthe floor and on the ceiling in here and as a consequence, there's notas much space," Thomas said. "And that's the thing I'm going to noticethe most, I think, is there is not as much working volume as Ianticipated." But it won't be all work and no play. A classical guitar player,Thomas said "we've got music up here, we've got CDs, we've got CD-ROMs,we've got video films so we've got those as entertainment. We've gotexercise machines up here so we can exercise. There's even a guitar uphere so we can play a guitar if we get a chance." And in case anyone is wondering, yes, the astronauts are keeping upwith the latest news from Washington along with everyone else. "We get news from home each day in the version of email we have uphere," said commander Terry Wilcutt. "It's such a mental break to readnews from home, we're able to keep up with what goes on on the sportsfield and in Washington."===================================================================Shuttle Endeavour docks with Mir space station (01/24/98) 7:00 p.m. Update: NASA managers elated with smooth Mir docking NASA managers said this afternoon's shuttle docking with the Mirspace station was virtually flawless and that the combined crews shouldhave no trouble meeting all of their pre-launch objectives. The onlyproblem of any significance involved misconfigured valves in thevestibule between the shuttle and Mir that delayed hatch opening byabout 15 or 20 minutes. The valves in question were set before launch and should have been inthe closed position. At least one was open and when routine checks werecarried out prior to hatch opening, the vestibule failed to holdpressure. The crew then powered up the switches, set them correctly andpressed ahead with no further problems. "We did have a set of valves that were misconfigured," said leadflight director Phil Engelauf. "It was a simple procedure to close thosevalves and then everything after that went just fine. My team did a realgood job, [commander Terry Wilcutt's] team did a fantastic job as welland everything has gone just perfectly on this flight up to this point.With us now docked, we're ready to press on with the transfers andpayload operations and we don't see any obstacles to a completelysuccessful mission." Frank Culbertson, manager of the shuttle-Mir docking program, saidMir is in good condition, "it's operating very well and it of courseheld attitude very well for us." "I think the Russian public is probably very proud of their crew upthere," he said. "It has brought the Mir back into good shape, they'veadded systems, repaired systems, performed very, very well during thismission. And Dave Wolf as a part of that, I think, is very proud ofhaving participated in that mission and is anxious to come home and telleverybody about it." 6:00 p.m. Update: Shuttle crew welcomed aboard Mir station Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev and his crew welcomed the shuttleEndeavour's crew aboard the Mir space station today after floating intothe shuttle's docking module and happily hugging and shaking hands withtheir long-awaited NASA visitors. Shuttle skipper Terry Wilcutt crankedopen a final hatch between the two spacecraft at 5:24 p.m. following apicture-perfect docking a little more than two hours earlier. "You guys look great. You guys look wonderful. This is really fun!"said U.S. astronaut David Wolf, launched to Mir last September aboardthe shuttle Atlantis. "Thanks for coming to get me! I could have livedfine a lot longer, psychologically, physically, but there's a lot of funand good business to be done on Earth. It's time to go back, I think.I'll hand the ball over the Andy. He's very capable and should enjoythis." Astronaut Andrew Thomas will replace Wolf as a Mir-24 crew memberearly Sunday, becoming the seventh and final NASA astronaut to serve along-duration stay aboard the Russian station. Earlier in the day,astronaut Chris Hadfield in Houston asked Thomas about his impressionsof Mir as the astronaut looked at his new home through Endeavour'soverhead windows. "What's it look like?" Hadfield asked. "Home sweet home," Thomas replied. "It's an impressive sight,actually, it's just amazing. It's been described as a big mosquito or adragonfly and that's right, it's got all kinds of wings on it. It's anincredible sight." For his part, Wolf seemed a bit choked up as Endeavour arrived,saying at one point "I don't know where home is, the United States,Russia or space?" Following the hatch opening, the combined crews gathered in the Mircore module for a traditional gift exchange and welcoming ceremony infront of U.S. and Russian flags. Wolf could barely contain himself,laughing and hugging his U.S. and Russian crewmates, while Thomasappeared a bit more reserved. Not surprising, perhaps, given theprospect of four months on board the Russian station. "Welcome to our space station Mir," Solovyev said in surprisinglygood English. "We're really glad to see you again." "Thank you, Anatoly," Wilcutt replied. "It is our honor to be here onspace station Mir and we thank you for your welcome. We look forward topicking up our friend, Dave, and bringing him back home. Of course,we'll be sad for leaving our friend Andy but we know another crew willbe here shortly to pick him up. In the meantime, we know he'll be ingood hands." The shuttle crew then presented their Mir-24 counterparts with freshoranges, chocolate space shuttles, new notebooks, ink pens and a set ofSwiss Army knives with shuttle emblems on the side. "Life's been a little confusing for a year and a half now. I'm notsure whether I live in Russia, space or America but I know it's going tobe America next," Wolf said. "Thanks for coming. And Andy, I lookforward to helping you get adjusted and I think you're in for awonderful experience, one of the best of your whole life." "Thanks, David, Anatoly," Thomas said. "I've only been in here a fewminutes, I can see I have an awful lot to learn, though, despite all thetraining. It's going to be a fascinating time, no doubt about that. Sothank you both." "Anatoly will help you learn!" Wolf said, prompting a wave oflaughter. The joint crews then signed off to begin safety briefings and to geton with the work of transferring supplies and equipment to and from Mir. 4:00 p.m. Update: Shuttle docks with Mir station Streaking through space at five miles per second, the shuttleEndeavour and the Russian Mir space station gently docked today, kickingoff a flurry of activity to transfer equipment and supplies to the agingoutpost and to replace astronaut David Wolf with a final U.S. crewmember. With commander Terry Wilcutt at the controls, Endeavour docked withMir at 3:14:31 p.m. as the two spacecraft sailed 240 miles abovesouthern Russia in orbital darkness. "It looks like a good capture," Wilcutt radioed a few seconds lateras the shuttle's Russian-built docking system latched onto Mir. "Congratulations, Endeavour," replied astronaut Chris Hadfield fromHouston. For astronaut David Wolf, launched to Mir last September aboard theshuttle Atlantis, Endeavour's arrival marked an emotional moment afterfour months in space. "This whole event is touching me a little more than I predicted," heradioed the shuttle, obviously happy to see his ride home showing upright on time. "Well, we're glad to be here," astronaut Bonnie Dunbar replied fromEndeavour. "You know we barely felt your docking," Wolf said a few minuteslater. "It was extremely smooth. Much less impact than a Progress. ... Iguess you could call this a midnight rendezvous." "How'd it look at night?" "It was really something at night with the cities below," Wolf said. Wolf will be replaced aboard Mir Sunday morning by astronaut AndrewThomas, the seventh and final U.S. astronaut scheduled for along-duration stay aboard the Russian space station. In the meantime,the combined crews plan to spend the rest of today opening hatchesbetween the two vehicles, holding a brief welcoming ceremony andbeginning work to transfer more than two tons of equipment and suppliesto Mir. 12:53 p.m. Update: Shuttle Endeavour begins final rendezvous The terminal phase of the shuttle Endeavour's rendezvous with the Mirspace station began at 12:51 p.m. with a critical firing of theorbiter's maneuvering jets. The burn went smoothly and the shuttleremains on track for docking at 3:14 p.m. 9:00 a.m. Update: Shuttle crew set for Mir rendezvous Heading for an afternoon docking with the Mir space station, theEndeavour astronauts were awakened this morning at 8:48 a.m. by arecording of John Denver's "Calypso" beamed up from mission control inHouston. Endeavour is scheduled to dock with Mir at 3:14:15 p.m. after atwo-day orbital chase. This is the eighth of nine planned shuttle-Mirdockings making up what is known as Phase One of the international spacestation program. The goal is to pick up U.S. astronaut David Wolf afterfour months aboard Mir; drop of Andrew Thomas in his place; and todeliver several thousand pounds of fresh water, critical supplies andrepair equipment. Thomas will return to Earth in June aboard the shuttleDiscovery to conclude the Phase One program. Today's rendezvous timeline formally begins at 9:48 a.m., but finalapproach will not begin until a critical rocket firing called the TIburn at 12:51:21 p.m. That firing, and subsequent correction burns, willput Endeavour 600 feet directly below Mir at 2:21 p.m. on what is knownas the positive "r bar," an imaginary line running from Mir to thecenter of the Earth. The shuttle then will slowly move up the r bar,using the planet's gravity and orbital mechanics to provide naturalbraking without having to fire upward-pointing thrusters that mightdamage Mir's fragile solar arrays. Here are the latest rendezvoustimeline numbers from Houston: TIME................EVENT 12:51:21 p.m........TI burn; begin final rendezvous sequence 01:19:15 p.m........Mir maneuvers to docking attitude 01:50:15 p.m........Mir in attitude 01:59:30 p.m........Sunrise 02:21:15 p.m........Endeavour on +r bar 600 feet below Mir 02:42:15 p.m........Start approach to 170 feet 02:44:15 p.m........Stationkeeping at 170 feet below Mir 02:48:55 p.m........Endeavour is 100 feet from Mir 02:57:40 p.m........Sunset 03:03:25 p.m........Stationkeeping at 30 feet 03:08:25 p.m........Begin final approach 03:12:15 p.m........Mir docking window opens 03:14:15 p.m........Endeavour docks with Mir 03:31:15 p.m........Docking window closes 03:31:58 p.m........Sunrise "I'll be doing the final bit of flying, but I'd like to give creditto my entire crew," commander Terry Wilcutt said before launch. "We allhave roles and responsibilities during the rendezvous and I'm countingon each of them to do their part of it. "Starting with the lift-off, we'll do a series of burns that willbring us closer and closer to the Mir, as we chase it more or lessaround the planet until we are close enough to start the final maneuversto rendezvous. And once we get within a couple of thousand feet, afterwe've done these series of burns, I'll take over manual flying, and I'llhave [pilot Joe Edwards] up front in the commander's seat. I'll actuallybe flying out of a rear window of the orbiter, looking out the overheadwindow. That way he can back me up and monitor our burns. "And we will slow the closing rate with Mir until we get close enoughto actually dock," Wilcutt said. "It's been described by some people asa difficult task. I really don't think it's that difficult, but it isvery, very delicate. When you're bringing together two vehicles in spacethat weigh as much as the shuttle and Mir, you want to make sure thatyou tap each other as lightly as possible. So our final closing velocitywill be about an inch a second, and that's about as much as we want totap the Mir with the shuttle. But that should be enough to get thedocking modules to mate up. And then we'll open the hatches and starttransferring stuff. The "stuff" referred to by Wilcutt is several thousand pounds ofsupplies, repair equipment and other material bound for Mir. Here's thebreakdown: MATERIAL.............TO MIR........FROM MIR Water................1,400.........N/A U.S. Science.........930.6.........1,680.2 Dara/CNES............N/A...........N/A Russian Logistics....3,247.2.......678.8 Miscellaneous........257.4.........470.1 TOTAL................4,435.2.......2,829.1 If all goes well, the hatches between Mir and Endeavour should beopened by 4:53 p.m., or a bit earlier depending on how things go.Transfer operations will begin after a welcoming ceremony and safetybriefings for both crews. Thomas will not officially replace Wolf untilSunday morning, after his custom Soyuz seatliner and entry suit aretransferred to Mir. From that point forward, Thomas could return toEarth aboard Mir's Soyuz entry vehicle in an emergency.===================================================================Astronauts work minor glitches, close in on Mir (01/23/98) 5:30 p.m. With Endeavour slowly but surely closing in on the Mir space station,the astronauts and ground controllers are working through a handful ofminor technical problems while gearing up for rendezvous and dockingSaturday. Lee Briscoe, mission operations representative at the JohnsonSpace Center, said none of the problems poses any threat to Endeavour'smission. "The crew is getting down to business and we're headed toward our Mirrendezvous," he said. "We're looking forward to taking Andy Thomas up,bringing Dave Wolf back and getting our [logistics] exchanges done." As mentioned earlier, the crew has had problems with the switch usedto operate one of Endeavour's five flight computers. In addition, one ofthe shuttle's antenna selection systems is not working properly and thehard drive on a risk mitigation experiment appears to be malfunctioning. Briscoe said the shuttle can fly just fine with just one operationalantenna electronics assembly and that troubleshooting would continue onthe one that is not working properly. As for the computer switchproblem, he said the crew "didn't feel a detent in the run-standby-haltswitch that works that machine." "The folks looked at it a little bit and it looked like the machinewas OK in run," Briscoe said. "It would go directly to halt, though, andyou had to tease the switch if you wanted to get it into the standbyposition." The flight plan called for the computer to be shut down afterreaching orbit and to be powered up later for the Mir rendezvous. "They weren't sure they actually got it into standby," Briscoe said."You'd like to get it into standby because it shuts itself down in anice, graceful manner and puts everything to bed in the proper manner sowhen you bring it back up everything's OK. We think that may not havehappened last night when we brought that computer down. They're going tobe doing some more troubleshooting on that machine this afternoon. We'llbring it back up, reload the machine and if it comes up to run andeverything's OK, we'll probably leave it up in run at least for a numberof days, perhaps through the docked portion of the mission and theflyaround." He said the computer is not considered a "failed" computer, "you justhave to get it in the right condition." 12:00 p.m. Update The Endeavour astronauts were awakened to begin their first full dayin space at 10:48 a.m. As of 7 a.m., the shuttle was about 2,300 milesbehind the Mir space station and catching up by about 287 miles perorbit. Docking is scheduled for 3:12 p.m. Saturday. Commander TerryWilcutt and pilot Joe Edwards plan to fire Endeavour's maneuvering jetstoday to fine-tune the shuttle's approach and a centerline camera willbe installed in the orbiter's docking module that will provide criticalviews of Mir during final approach. The astronauts also will check outthe rendezvous tools they plan to use Saturday. Shortly after reaching orbit Thursday night, one of the shuttle'sfive general purpose computers, or GPCs, exhibited apparent problemswith a switch used to turn the computer off in stages, going from "run"to "standby" to "halt." Last night, the computer went from run directlyto halt without first going into standby mode. The computer currently isshut down, but flight controllers plan to bring it back up later fornormal operations. Will advise. The astronauts plan to discuss this latest Mir docking mission withtwo radio programs this evening starting at 8:03 p.m. Quotes and detailswill be posted here as soon as possible thereafter.===================================================================Shuttle Endeavour rockets into orbit (01/22/98) The shuttle Endeavour vaulted away from its oceanside launching padtonight after a smooth countdown and rocketed up the East Coast intoorbit to deliver fresh supplies, repair gear and a final U.S. crewmember to the Russian Mir space station. With its three main engines roaring at full throttle, Endeavour'stwin solid-fuel boosters ignited with a rush of white-hot flame at9:48:15 p.m. - right on time - instantly pushing the orbiter up into thenight sky. Putting on a spectacular display, the light from Endeavour's powerfulboosters lighted up the sky for dozens of miles around as the shuttlemajestically climbed skyward and wheeled about to line up on the propertrajectory. About two minutes after liftoff, the boosters werejettisoned, their fuel exhausted, and Endeavour continued toward orbiton the power of its three new Block 2A main engines, upgraded to improvereliability and performance. The brilliant white light from theRocketdyne engines finally disappeared from view a little more than fiveminutes after liftoff and three minutes later, Endeavour slipped intoits planned preliminary orbit. The only problem in the initial hours of Endeavour's flight was anapparent glitch with general purpose computer No. 3, one of five flightcomputers on board the shuttle. But engineers in Houston said theybelieved the problem involved a faulty switch and not the computeritself. Additional troubleshooting was expected to make sure. At the moment of Endeavour's liftoff, the aging space station wasabout 3,892 miles ahead of the shuttle approaching the west coast ofIreland. The plane of Mir's orbit is tilted 51.6 degrees to the equator,an orbit that requires most of the shuttle's fuel and power to reach. Tocatch up with Mir, Endeavour had to take off within about 10 minutes ofthe time when Earth's rotation carried the launch pad directly into theplane of Mir's orbit. By launching directly into that orbit, and flyingat a slightly lower altitude, Endeavour will slowly catch up with Mir,setting up a docking at 3:12 p.m. Saturday if all goes well. On board Endeavour are commander Terry Wilcutt, pilot Joe Edwards,flight engineer Michael Anderson, payload commander Bonnie Dunbar, JamesReilly, Russian air force Lt. Col. Salizhan Sharipov and Andrew Thomas.Thomas is making his second flight, Wilcutt his third and Dunbar herfifth, a feat achieved by only one other woman in the history of spaceflight: Shannon Lucid. Awaiting the Endeavour crew's arrival aboard Mir are Mir-24 commanderAnatoly Solovyev, flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. astronautDavid Wolf, who is wrapping up a four-month stay aboard the station. "We begin '98 by sending out last astronaut for his stay on Mir,we're going to howl for the Wolfman," orbiter test conductor RobertaWyrick radioed the shuttle just before liftoff. Launched to Mir in September aboard the Atlantis, Wolf will bereplaced by Thomas, the seventh and final U.S. long-duration Mir crewmember. Thomas is scheduled to return to Earth aboard the shuttleDiscovery in June and at that point, American astronauts will havelogged a cumulative 2.7 years in space since joint flights began in1995. "You read sometimes about people getting to do amazing things and Istill have to pinch myself a bit to believe I'm going to get thisextraordinary adventure, an adventure, I think, that is probably quiteunique and one of the most unique things that you could possibly do inthe latter part of the 20th Century," Thomas said. "And I feel veryprivileged that I'm going to be undertaking this great adventure andthat I'll be essentually the last crew person from the U.S. closing outthis Mir-shuttle program. It's really a great honor." As for past problems with Mir's balky computer system and othercomponents, Thomas said he has no major concerns. "I spent a year in Russia studying the systems they use on the spacestation Mir," he said. "And as an engineer, I can say these systems arewell designed, they're robust, very strong, as evidenced by the factthat Mir continues to fly after 12 years and I have a lot of confidencein them. I know there will be times inevitably when the flight will beuncomfortable perhaps, but I don't feel the safety is an issue for meflying on this vehicle." Along with delivering Thomas and picking up Wolf, Endeavour's crewplans to drop off some 1,400 pounds of fresh water; 931 pounds of U.S.science equipment; 3,247 pounds of Russian supplies and equipment -including a new air conditioner, compressor and spare computer hardware- and 257 pounds of miscellaneous items. For the trip home, Endeavourwill carry nearly 3,000 pounds of experiment samples and equipment nolonger needed on Mir. This is the eighth of nine planned shuttle flights to Mir. The goalof the joint missions, known as Phase One of the international spacestation program, is to iron out the command and control procedures thatwill be needed to jointly build and operate the much larger spacestation. At the same time, the Russians are able to use the shuttle todeliver critical supplies and NASA is getting experience withlong-duration spaceflight. "For myself and my crew members, I think it's a great way to startthe new year," Wilcutt said. "We represent kind of a transition. There'sone flight after us in Phase One, that'll mark the end of that, but weare more or less the beginning of the end of Phase One ... and we startwhat everyone has been looking forward to, the building of theInternational Space Station." Program managers from both sides said the program has beeninvaluable. "Looking back at the last five years, I think with horror that if westarted the program of international space station without these fiveyears of preparation, I don't think we would have been successful," saidValery Ryumin, Russian director of shuttle-Mir operations. Ryumin's NASA counterpart, Frank Culbertson, agreed, saying: "Eventhough this is the seventh and last launch of an American to spend fourmonths on the Mir, I think we are continuing to learn, we are continuingto see new things and we are continuing to experience things in spaceand on the ground that apply to our operations in space that are veryreadily going to be transferred to international space station."7:00 p.m. Update: Shuttle Endeavour set for launch (01/22/98) The shuttle Endeavour's crew is strapped in, the hatch is closed andlocked and all systems are "go" for blastoff at 9:48:15 p.m. There areno technical problems and the weather appears to be cooperating. Forreaders interesting in such things, tonight's launch window has beenrevised slightly. Here are the latest numbers: WINDOW OPENS...PLANNED LAUNCH..WINDOW CLOSES 09:43:48 p.m...09:48:15 p.m....09:51.42 p.m. (flight day 3 docking) 09:51:52 p.m...................09:56:11 p.m. (flight day 4 docking)6:30 p.m. Update: Shuttle crew straps in for blastoff The shuttle Endeavour's six-man one-woman crew began strapping in forblastoff this evening shortly before 6:30 p.m. There are no technicalproblems of any significance at pad 39A and forecasters continue topredict good weather for this evening's launch attempt.2:00 p.m. Update: Fueling underway (01/22/98) Engineers fixed a leak in a nitrogen purge system at launch pad 39Aand began pumping a half-million gallons of rocket fuel into the shuttleEndeavour's external tank at 1:50 p.m. Fueling originally was scheduledto get underway around 12:30 p.m. but it was delayed when leaks werediscovered in two gaseous nitrogen lines used to purge critical systemsduring fueling. Only one line is required for fueling and while onecould not be immediately repaired, the other was. Liftoff remains onschedule for 9:48:16 p.m. and forecasters continue to predict a 70percent chance of acceptable weather. Here is the schedule for the rest of today's countdown: TIME.........EVENT 01:50 p.m....Fueling begins 04:30 p.m....NASA TV begins 04:48 p.m....Crew meal/photo op 04:50 p.m....Fueling complete 05:58 p.m....The astronauts head for pad 39A 06:28 p.m....The crew begins boarding Endeavour 07:43 p.m....The shuttle's hatch is closed 08:38 p.m....T-20 hold begins (10-minute hold) 08:48 p.m....The countdown resumes 08:59 p.m....T-9 hold begins (40-minute hold) 09:39 p.m....The countdown resumes 09:48 p.m....Endeavour takes off1 p.m. Update: Weather improves; fueling delayed by minor snag(01/22/98) With forecasters now predicting sharply improved weather, engineersat the Kennedy Space Center are gearing up to fuel the shuttle Endeavourfor blastoff to the Mir space station this evening at 9:48:16 p.m.Fueling originally was scheduled to begin shortly before 12:30 p.m., butit was held up by work to troubleshoot a suspect pneumatic regulator atthe launch pad. The problem is not considered serious and fueling shouldget underway shortly. Meanwhile, Air Force meteorologists have revised an initially gloomyforecast that called for a 60 percent chance of thick, possibly chargedclouds that would force a 24-hour delay. The forecast now calls for a 70percent chance of good weather tonight, thanks to thunderstorms thatmoved farther to the north than had been expected. This is the eighth of nine planned shuttle flights to the Mir spacestation and the first such mission by the Endeavour. This evening'slaunch also marks the debut of NASA's new Block 2A main engines, part ofa $1 billion upgrade program to more than double the reliability of thecompact powerplants. Among other improvements, the new engines featuremore robust high-pressure oxygen pumps built by Pratt & Whitney and anew, wide-throat combustion chamber provided by engine-builderRocketdyne that will lower internal operating pressures andtemperatures. Block 2 engines ultimately will include a Pratt & Whitneyhigh pressure hydrogen pump. The Block 2A engines, meanwhile, haveundergone an extensive series of test firings but this evening's flightmarks their first use on an actual mission. Here's a bit more background from a story written last October forSpace News: By WILLIAM HARWOOD Space News Correspondent CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Upgraded shuttle main engines will be certifiedto operate at a slightly higher power setting for all space stationassembly missions, providing enough extra boost to carry an additional500 pounds of cargo to orbit. While some engineers believe the new block two engines could beoperated routinely at even higher throttle settings, NASA managers aretaking a conservative approach. "We're out there on the edge and you'd think, 'well, a little closer tothe edge, that's not that big a deal,'" said Chris Singer, an engineerat NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. "But you just don't know howclose you are. So we run our test program, hopefully, to demonstratewe've got margin against that edge," Singer added. "But we don't like towalk along it." Shuttle engines currently in service are limited to operating at 104percent power for normal ascents and emergency aborts involving a singleengine failure. For some aborts, power levels of 109 percent are allowedif crew survival is at stake. But upgraded Block 2A engines, scheduledto debut in January, will be certified to operate at 104.5 percent powerfor normal ascents, allowing shuttles to carry 500 pounds more payloadwith just a slight increase in operating pressure and turbopump speed. "They're going to use that for all nominal station flights," Singersaid. Finally, NASA's Block 2 engine, the end result of a $1 billion upgradeimplemented in the wake of the Challenger disaster, will be able tooperate at up to 106 percent power for normal ascents and aborts. Block2 engines are scheduled for first flight next fall. Eventually, Singersaid, the Block 2 engines may be certified to operate at 109 percentpower for aborts involving a single engine failure. The results aredramatic. As it now stands, an engine failure in the first 240 seconds or so offlight would force a crew to attempt a risky return to the Kennedy SpaceCenter. With engines certified to operate at 109 percent power foraborts, that window would be reduced by about 30 seconds, allowing acrew to head for a more benign landing in Spain or Africa instead. "It gives you a little more flexibility in getting to a downstreamabort," Singer said. But the higher throttle setting would result in more wear and tear onmachinery already operating, as Singer said, "on the edge." "We used to talk about 109 percent for nominal missions," he said. "Forthe Galileo and Ulysses missions [to Jupiter and the sun], they weregoing to be 109 percent missions. After [Challenger], the communityagreed we don't want to push this machine so hard." But for Block 2 engines, 106 percent aborts can be flown with little orno additional maintenance or inspections. Space shuttles use two disposable solid-fuel boosters and three liquidfueled main engines to reach orbit. The hydrogen-burning engines arebuilt by Boeing's Rocketdyne Division of Canoga Park, Calif. The enginesoriginally featured lightweight Rocketdyne-built high pressure oxygenand hydrogen turbopumps. But in the wake of the 1986 Challengerdisaster, NASA implemented a $1 billion program to upgrade the powerfulengines to reduce maintenance and improve reliability. The upgrades include heavier and presumably more reliable pumps builtby Pratt & Whitney of West Palm Beach, Fla., a so-called large throatcombustion chamber to reduce operating pressure and a redesigned hot gasmanifold that routes hydrogen and oxygen to the combustion chamber forburning. Work on the Pratt & Whitney hydrogen pump started later than originallyplanned, prompting NASA to implement the engine upgrade in phases. TheBlock 1 engine, currently in service, features the Pratt & Whitneyoxygen pump, the new hot gas manifold and other improvements implementedby Rocketdyne. The Block 2A engine adds the large throat combustionchamber. The Block 2 engine will include all of the previousimprovements along with the Pratt & Whitney-built high pressure hydrogenpump. The Block 2 engines will be certified to operate between 104 percentand 106 percent power for normal ascents. Two heavyweight space stationmissions currently require 106 percent throttle settings. The Block 2certification program requires two engines to undergo an exhaustiveseries of test firings at various throttle settings, including 111percent power to demonstrate the engine's overall safety margin. "Assuming our cerification program comes out right, we'll have 22starts on each of two engines, with some 11,000 seconds [of run timeeach], with power levels ranging from 104 all the way through 111,"Singer said. "So assuming things come out as we anticipate, we'll beable to run an abort (and) it'll just be a standard turnaround. That'sthe goal."===================================================================Culbertson outlines launch options (01/21/98) While the odds are good the shuttle Endeavour will get off the groundby Saturday night (see below for launch details), NASA and the RussianSpace Agency have worked out contingency plans in case worse comes toworse. To avoid a traffic jam in space, NASA and Russian planners aretrying to juggle Endeavour's flight and the launch of a Soyuz spacecraftJan. 29 carrying a new crew to the Russian station: Mir-25 commanderTalgat Musabayev, flight engineer Nikolai Budarin and French researcherLeopold Eyharts. Eyharts will return to Earth around Feb. 19 with Mir-24commander Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov. Assuming an on-time launch for Endeavour, the Mir-25 crew would dockon the day the shuttle returned to Earth. No problem. But "if we don'tget off by Saturday, the plan would be to stand down from launching theshuttle for about a week while they continue their launch preparationson the Soyuz," said Frank Culbertson, NASA's director of shuttle-Miroperations. "They would launch the Soyuz on the 29th of January and we wouldlaunch the shuttle probably on the evening of the 30th. [The shuttle]would dock while the six crew members, both Soyuzes, are there. Theissue we worked on this was whether we could have 13 people on board thecombined spacecraft at the same time or not and technically it'sdoable," Culbertson said. "Both sides agreed to it and we can accomplishthat safely. "The other side of that is how do you conduct the operations and theagreement is if we had to arrive during that time period, they wouldstand down from the French [research] program for four days while we'redocked and we would conduct the transfer operations and get Andy set upand Dave transferred back. Then ... after the shuttle had left, theywould add back the number of days they gave up on the research programand bring the Soyuz down three or four days later than originallyplanned."===================================================================Weather outlook unchanged for Endeavour launch (01/21/98) Working through a handful of minor technical problems, engineers arepressing ahead with the shuttle Endeavour's countdown to launch Thursdaynight, keeping an eye on threatening weather that continues to promise a60 percent chance of clouds that would force a delay. NASA test directorJeff Spaulding said none of the technical problems posed any threat tothe launch schedule. A suspect computer display in the shuttle's cockpitmay have to be replaced, along with a motor assembly used to remotelydrive a circuit breaker on one of the pumps used to load the shuttle'sexternal tank with propellant. With work proceeding smoothly at pad 39A, Air Force meteorologistscontinue to predict a 60 percent chance of thick clouds that wouldprevent a takeoff during the shuttle's short launch window. The outlookremains 60 percent "no go" for Friday and improves to 80 percent "go" onSaturday. During work yesterday to test pyrotechnic devices on the shuttle,engineers noticed two pilot whales had beached themselves near pad 39A.Spaulding said the testing was held up long enough to let Sea Worldemployees move the whales out of the area. If all goes well, a protective gantry will be pulled away fromEndeavour around 4 a.m. Thursday and shortly before 9 a.m., personnelwill evacuate the launch pad area for fueling. NASA's mission managementteam will meet at 11:30 a.m. to assess the weather and any technicalproblems with fueling set to begin at 12:22 p.m. The three-hour processshould be complete by 3:30 p.m. Here are the latest launch times andwindows: WINDOW OPENS.....PREFERRED.......WINDOW CLOSES LAUNCH TIME Thursday 09:43:16 p.m.....09:48:16 p.m....09:53:14 p.m. Friday 09:20:41 p.m.....09:25:41 p.m....09:30:40 p.m. Saturday 08:58:08 p.m.....TBD.............09:08:06 p.m. Assuming an on-time launch, Endeavour will dock with Mir at 3:12 p.m.Saturday, undock at 11:52 a.m. on Jan. 29 and land at 5:36 p.m. on Jan.31. If the launch slips to Friday, docking with Mir would be scheduledfor 3:54 p.m. on Superbowl Sunday. Undocking would occur at 11 a.m. onJan. 30 with landing would be on tap at 6:15 p.m. on Feb. 1.===================================================================01/20/98 Update: Weather threatens shuttle launch Keeping tabs on threatening weather, engineers at the Kennedy SpaceCenter are pressing ahead with work to ready the shuttle Endeavour forblastoff Thursday night on a mission to the Russian Mir space station.Endeavour's 10-minute launch window opens at 9:43:16 p.m. and closes at9:53:14 p.m., but for technical reasons, flight controllers want tolaunch the shuttle at 9:48:16 p.m. "Overall, the STS-89 countdown is going rather well and we're ontime," said NASA test director John Guidi. Most of today will be spent loading liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogenaboard the shuttle to power the ship's three electicity producing fuelcells. Overnight, engineers replaced one of Endeavour's three forwardcomputer screens because of a suspect power supply. The launch windows for this mission are rather complicated, definedby Mir's orbit and the shuttle's ability to reach the space station. Asit turns out, Endeavour must launch within about 10 minutes of the timewhen the Kennedy Space Center rotates through the plane of Mir's orbit.To maximize performance, NASA would prefer to launch in the middle ofthat 10-minute window. Here are the latest numbers for all three days: WINDOW OPENS.....PREFERRED.......WINDOW CLOSES LAUNCH TIME Thursday 09:43:16 p.m.....09:48:16 p.m....09:53:14 p.m. Friday 09:20:42 p.m.....TBD.............09:30:40 p.m. Saturday 08:58:08 p.m.....TBD.............09:08:06 p.m. A launch on Thursday or Friday would result in a Mir docking two dayslater. A Saturday launch would result in a linkup three days later. Allthese times are subject to slight change based on final radar trackingof Mir. With work at pad 39A going smoothly, forecasters are monitoring theapproach of a frontal system that promises to bring thick clouds overcentral Florida by Thursday evening. Ed Priselac, an Air Force weatherofficer, said the front will be west of Florida, but it is expected topush clouds into the launch area. The shuttle is not allowed to flythrough thick clouds because of the possibility of natural or rockettriggered lightning. "Our concerns on Thursday, primarily first would be thunderstormanvils," Priselac said. "Secondly, if there's a thunderstorm debriscloud it has to be at least three hours old, we can't fly through it.And thirdly, there is a concern for thick layered clouds. If we haveclouds 4,500 feet thick or greater and they lie between the zero andminus 20-degree Celsius temperature range, we cannot fly through thoseas well. And given all that, we do have obvious concerns about gettingoff the ground on Thursday and again on Friday." Overall, Priselac said, there's a 60 percent chance of a launch delayThursday and Friday. The odds improve to 80 percent "go" by Saturdaynight. NASA normally only makes two launch tries in a row beforestanding down a day to give the launch team a break. But there ispressure on the agency to get Endeavour off the ground as soon aspossible. If the flight is delayed past Saturday, another attempt likelycould not be made until well into February because of a U.S. launch andother Russian flights to Mir. "If just the [U.S.] was the consideration, we could potentially tryand launch again on the 30th," Guidi said. "But right now, there aresome other activities at the program level as far as Soyuz lifespan andother activities on orbit that the Russian space program would want toweigh in on and that decision would be made after Saturday if it has tobe made at all." If the forecast holds up, NASA managers likely would attempt threelaunch tries in a row to get Endeavour off the ground. And finally, as reported over the weekend, two of Endeavour's threehydraulic systems have small leaks. Engineers calculate that over a full10-day mission, system No. 1 would leak about 140 cubic centimeters ofhydraulic fluid and system No. 3 would leak about 73 cubic centimeters. "Our allowable is about 144," said Guidi. "So we're below that and infact, the reservoirs on the auxilliary power units and hydraulic systemscan withstand well over 900 cubic centimeters of leakage each. So we'rewell within allowable and well within a long-standing requirement."===================================================================Shuttle mission preview (01/20/98) Carrying an international crew of seven, the shuttle Endeavour is setfor blastoff to the Mir space station to pick up U.S. astronaut DavidWolf and to drop off Andrew Thomas, the seventh and final Americanastronaut scheduled for a long-duration stay aboard the Russian outpost.Endeavour's crew also plans to deliver some 1,400 pounds of fresh water,1,000 pounds of U.S. science gear and some 3,250 pounds of Russianlogistics. They will bring back some 2,800 pounds of experiment samplesand Russian equipment. "This is the eighth docking mission, the ninth flight of a shuttle tothe Mir and of course we are proceeding into two continuous years ofU.S. presence on board the Mir beginning with Shannon Lucid in March of1996," said Frank Culbertson, NASA director of shuttle-Mir operations. "We are carrying extensive logistics again to the Mir as well asreturning a great deal of hardware and science data. In fact, we'rereturning as much as we can on this mission because the followingmission will only be a single Spacehab and we'll not be able to bring asmuch down as we would otherwise." MATERIAL.............UP (lbs)......DOWN (lbs) Water................1,400.........N/A U.S. Science.........930.6.........1,680.2 Dara/CNES............N/A...........N/A Russian Logistics....3,247.2.......678.8 Miscellaneous........257.4.........470.1 TOTAL................4,435.2.......2,829.1 The flight also is the first for NASA's new Block 2A main engines.The upgraded engines include a Pratt & Whitney-built high pressureoxygen pump, a large throat combustion chamber, a two-duct powerhead anda variety of other changes intended to improve safety and reliability. Anew Pratt & Whitney hydrogen pump will be added later as part of a $1billion engine upgrade program. Endeavour's flight is the eighth of nine planned shuttle-Mir linkupsmaking up what is known as Phase One of the international space stationproject. The idea was to use Mir as a training ground to perfect thejoint U.S.-Russian command and control procedures that will be neededduring construction and operation of the more ambitious internationalstation. For their part, the shuttle would serve the Russians by acting as asupply vehicle, carrying more equipment on a single flight than would bepossible with two or more Progress vehicles. At the same time, the U.S.got a chance to put American astronauts on board Mir to gain experiencewith long-duration spaceflight. When all is said and done, seven U.S.astronauts will have logged some 740 days in space. "It's hard to calculate everything we've learned from Phase One,"said Endeavour commander Terry Wilcutt. "You know, we've testedequipment, [run] risk mitigation experiments. We have checked much ofthe equipment that we intend to fly on the international space stationon the Mir, and we have found some problems with some of it, and we havefixed it. So it's saved us all kinds of problems and time and money bybeing able to test these things on Mir." Valery Ryumin, Culbertson's counterpart in Russia, agreed, saying thetwo nations would not have been able to proceed with the internationalspace station without first working through Phase One. "Looking back at the last five years, I think with horror that if westarted the program of international space station without these fiveyears of preparation, I don't think we would have been successful," hesaid through an interpreter. "And the thing we learned from this programis there are different approaches on each side on how to solve the sameproblems. However, at this point we understand the philosophy of eachside and we can predict what approach the other side would take solvingthe problem." "To tell you the truth," he said, "I feel very sorry that with thenext shuttle docking mission we will end our program. I don't want toleave it at the ninth. So maybe we need to think about how we can extendthis phase to include another, tenth, flight. I just want to say this isa very good program and I am very sorry to see it go." Wilcutt's crew members are Australian-born Thomas, pilot JosephEdwards, payload commander Bonnie Dunbar, flight engineer MichaelAnderson, James Reilly and Russian Air Force Lt. Col. ShakirovichSharipov and Thomas. Wilcutt is making his third space flight, his firstas commander, while Dunbar is making her fifth. Thomas flew once beforebut the rest of the crew members are space rookies. "For myself and my crew members, I think it's a great way to startthe new year," Wilcutt said in a NASA interview. "We do represent kindof a transition. There's one flight after us in Phase One, that'll markthe end of that, but we are more or less the beginning of the end ofPhase One, the initial cooperation with the Russians in space, and thenwe start what everyone has been looking forward to, the building of theInternational Space Station." Wolf was launched to Mir on Sept. 25, replacing astronaut MichaelFoale. Assuming an on-time landing Jan. 31, Wolf will have logged some129 days in space. Thomas is scheduled to spend 138 days in orbit beforereturning to Earth on June 7. At the time of Wolf's launch, the Russian Space Agency was stillrecovering from a series of malfunctions that made headlines in the westthroughout http://finance.yahoo.com/news/brightstar-care-named-best-franchise-110300644.html 1997, most of them resulting from the June 25 collision of aProgress resupply vehicle with the station's Spektr research module. Themodule was punctured and one of its four solar arrays was wrecked.Spektr remains closed off, but the crew has been able to restore powerfrom its three operational arrays and to repair most of the othermalfunctions. The only major problems at present involve a broken air conditioningsystem and trouble with Mir's motion control system. "The air conditioner is still not repaired," Culbertson said."Condensate recovery is being accomplished with the Soyuz, which givesthem about one half or less than normal condensate recovery. So we arecarrying additional components on this next mission, a refrigerationunit for the air conditioner as well as a spare compressor that willallow them to complete repairs and return the condensate recovery andair conditioning systems to normal operations." Along with ferrying needed equipment and consummables to Mir,Endeavour's crew also plans to carry out a series of on-boardexperiments in Earth sciences, fundamental biology, medicine, advancedtechnology development, microgravity research and risk mitigation. First, however, the shuttle has to get there. As usual, Endeavourwill approach the station from directly below, using Earth's gravity andorbital mechanics to provide a sort of natural brake, minimizing theneed to fire upward-pointing jets that could damage the station's solararrays or optical sensors. "Starting with the liftoff we'll do a series of burns that will bringus closer and closer to the Mir, as we chase it more or less, around theplanet until we are close enough to start the final maneuvers torendezvous," Wilcutt said. "And once we get within a couple of thousandfeet, after we've done these series of burns, I'll take over manualflying and I'll have Joe up front in the commander's seat. I'll actuallybe flying out of a rear window of the orbiter, looking out the overheadwindow. That way he can back me up and monitor our burns. "And we will slow the closing rate with Mir until we get close enoughto actually dock," he said. "It's been described by some people as adifficult task. I really don't think it's that difficult, but it isvery, very delicate. When you're bringing together two vehicles in spacethat weigh as much as the shuttle and Mir, you want to make sure thatyou tap each other as lightly as possible. So our final closing velocitywill be about an inch a second, and that's about as much as we want totap the Mir with the shuttle. But that should be enough to get thedocking modules to mate up. And then we'll open the hatches and starttransferring stuff." Thomas will officially join the crew of Mir-25 commander AnatolySolovyev and flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov the morning afterEndeavour docks. At that point, he will begin sleeping aboard Mir andWolf will join Endeavour's crew. Arriving at the Kennedy Space Centerfor launch, Thomas said he had no concerns about Mir's safety. "I spent a year in Russia studying the systems they use on the spacestation Mir," he said. "And as an engineer, I can say these systems arewell designed, they're robust, very strong, as evidenced by the factthat Mir continues to fly after 12 years and I have a lot of confidencein them. I know there will be times inevitably when the flight will beuncomfortable perhaps, but I don't feel the safety is an issue for meflying on this vehicle."===================================================================Crew arrives for start of countdown (01/19/98) The Endeavour astronauts flew to the Kennedy Space Center today forthe start of their countdown to blastoff Thursday night on NASA's eighthshuttle-Mir docking mission. With the countdown scheduled to begin at 7p.m. this evening, liftoff is set for 9:48:16 p.m. Thursday. Butforecasters are predicting a 60 percent chance of thick clouds andthunderstorm anvils during the shuttle's 10-minute launch window thatcould force a 24-hour delay. The forecast for Friday and Saturday is 60percent "go." Endeavour's six-man one-woman crew appeared up beat and optimisticwhile chatting with reporters after arriving in Florida. "We had a great flight down. It's definitely our pleasure to behere," said commander Terry Wilcutt. "It's nice to have a piece of thelast long-duration crew member swap out." The goal of Endeavour's flight is to deliver astronaut Andrew Thomasto Mir to replace David Wolf, who was launched to the Russian stationaboard the shuttle Atlantis in September. While docked, the combinedcrews will transfer several thousand pounds of equipment, supplies andfresh water to Mir and move other equipment and experiment samples fromthe station to Endeavour for return to Earth. "In addition to all the science we're transferring to Mir, we alsohave about 23 other science and engineering investigations on board theshuttle," said payload commander Bonnie Dunbar, making her fifth spaceflight and her second visit to Mir. "So we have a very challenging andinteresting flight." This is the eighth of nine planned shuttle-Mir docking flightsserving as a training ground for joint operations aboard theinternational space station. Thomas is the seventh and final U.S.astronaut scheduled for a long-duration stay aboard Mir. He will bereturned to Earth in June. "How do you like my space station haircut?" Thomas asked reporterstoday, taking off his baseball cap and displaying a fresh crew cut. "Doyou think it's going to last four months? Probably not. "You read sometimes about people getting to do amazing things and Istill have to pinch myself a bit to believe I'm going to get thisextraordinary adventure, an adventure, I think, that is probably quiteunique and one of the most unique things that you could possibly do inthe latter part of the 20th Century. And I feel very privileged that I'mgoing to be undertaking this great adventure and that I'll beessentually the last crew person from the U.S. closing out thisMir-shuttle program. It's really a great honor." Asked if he had any concerns about flight safety aboard Mir, Thomassaid he is convinced the aging station is sound. "I spent a year in Russia studying the systems they use on the spacestation Mir," he said. "And as an engineer, I can say these systems arewell designed, they're robust, very strong, as evidenced by the factthat Mir continues to fly after 12 years and I have a lot of confidencein them. I know there will be times inevitably when the flight will beuncomfortable perhaps, but I don't feel the safety is an issue for meflying on this vehicle."===================================================================Hydraulic leaks monitored (01/17/98) Shuttle engineers met late today to discuss what - if anything - todo about two small leaks in two of the shuttle Endeavour's threehydraulic systems. The redundant hydraulic systems provide the power tomove the shuttle's wing flaps, main engine nozzles, rudder, speed brakeand landing gear brakes. It does not appear the leaks can be fixed atthe launch pad, but the leak rate is so low engineers decided to pressahead with work to ready Endeavour for blastoff Jan. 22 to the Mir spacestation. But the issue will be revisited at the final management meeting theday before liftoff. One suspects Endeavour will be cleared to fly "asis," but one never knows about such things. Will advise.===================================================================Shuttle crew practices emergency procedures (01/10/98) The shuttle Endeavour's international crew reviewed emergencyprocedures today at pad 39A before a dress-rehearsal countdown Saturdayto clear the way for blastoff Jan. 22 on a flight to the Russian Mirspace station. Endeavour is scheduled to take off on the 89th shuttlemission - NASA's eighth flight to the Russian space station - at 9:48p.m. on Jan. 22, setting up a docking at 3:12 p.m. on Jan. 24. Thelaunch window is just five minutes long. The primary goals of the year's first shuttle flight are to pick upU.S. astronaut David Wolf after four months aboard Mir; to drop offastronaut Andrew Thomas in his place; and to deliver several thousandpounds of supplies, fresh water, repair equipment, food and otherconsumables to the Russian outpost. Endeavour also will bring down a tonor more of material, including Russian equipment and experiment samplesfrom ongoing U.S. research projects. Thomas will officially replace Wolf as a Mir crew member the morningof Jan. 25 - Superbowl Sunday - after Thomas's custom Soyuz seat lineris transferred from Endeavour and installed in the Russian re-entryvehicle. Thoms will return to Earth in June aboard a shuttle, but hemust be able to use the Soyuz in case of an emergency. If all goes well, Endeavour will undock from Mir at 11:52 a.m. Jan.29 and land at the Kennedy Space Center around 5:36 p.m. on Jan. 31. Allof these times are expected to change slightly based on final radartracking of Mir and Endeavour's actual launch time. This is the eighth of nine planned shuttle-Mir docking flights andThomas is the seventh and final U.S. astronaut scheduled for along-duration stay. When Endeavour lands, Wolf will have logged 127.8days in orbit. Thomas is scheduled to return to Earth June 7, giving him135.7 days in space. At that point, U.S. astronauts will have logged972.1 days in space as part of the shuttle-Mir program, including timeaboard the space shuttle going to and coming back from the station. NASA originally planned for Wolf to be the final Mir visitor. But hewas moved up one flight last summer when astronaut Wendy Lawrence wasbumped from a planned Mir visit because she is too short to wear aRussian spacesuit. Thomas, who was in training as Wolf's backup, neverexpected to actually visit Mir. He told reporters today it took a bit ofadjusting on his part to get used to being the prime crew member. "That was a big transition," he said. "I'm going through anothertransition right now because I trained in Russia and now that I'm downin Florida for the first time in some 14 or 15 months it's giving thiswhole thing a degree of reality, which it hadn't had before. And that'sa fascinating experience, I'm really enjoying it." He said his family initially was nervous about the prospect of along-duration stay aboard the aging space station. "There was some concern from family in friends, parents particularly,concerning riding on Mir," he said. "But I don't think they have thoseconcerns now. We've had a lot of talks about it. I personally feelcomfortable with it. "I think riding on Mir is not so much an issue of safety concerns,but I do think there will be legitimate comfort concerns. I think someof the basic creature comforts from time to time are not going to bethere, like the temperature will be high or the humidity will be high orit might be noisy. I think those are the real issues I'll be dealingwith during this four month flight." Thomas said he did not feel any additional pressure to accomplish hisobjectives as the final American visitor to Mir. "I don't know if I feel any additional responsibility more than anyother crew person who would fly. Obviously, I'm very keen to have thisbe a successful mission and a successful conclusion to the NASA-Mirprogram." Here are the latest times for key mission events: TIME/DATE......MET........EVENT 01/22 09:48:16 p.m...00/00:00...Launch (launch window: five minutes) 01/24 12:49 p.m......01/15:01...Final rendezvous rocket firing (TI burn) 03:12 p.m......01/17:24...Endeavour docks with Mir station 01/25 (Superbowl Sunday) 009:48 a.m.....02/12:00...David Wolf replaced by Andrew Thomas 01/29 11:52 a.m......06/14:04...The shuttle undocks from Mir 12:57 p.m......06/15:09...Endeavour moves away from the station 01/31 04:32 p.m......08/18:44...Deorbit ignition on orbit 138 05:36 p.m......08/19:48...Landing at the Kennedy Space Center===================================================================New launch time (01/05/98) Launch of the shuttle Endeavour to the Mir space station is nowtargeted for 9:48:16 p.m. on Jan. 22. This is the latest launch timebased on radar tracking of Mir. Assuming an on-time liftoff, Endeavourwill dock with Mir around 2:38 p.m. on Jan. 24 and undock around 11:20a.m. on Jan. 29. Landing at the Kennedy Space Center is targeted for5:56 p.m. on Jan. 31. These times are approximate. This page will beupdated throughout when the new target times are available.===================================================================Engineers mull additional two-day launch delay (12/17/97) The shuttle Endeavour's launch to the Russian Mir space station,currently scheduled for 10:36:15 p.m. on Jan. 20, faces an additionaltwo-day delay, NASA officials say. There are several issues involved,including work to prevent insulation from flaking off the intertank areaof Endeavour's external fuel tank and a desire by management to give theshuttle processing team time off over the Christmas break. "It's a combination of ET work and the holidays," said a NASAofficial. "It's just too tight to make (the 20th)." A meeting is scheduled Thursday to discuss the matter in more detail.Should launch be delayed two more days, liftoff would be scheduled for9:48:01 p.m. on Jan. 22. Will Advise.===================================================================Initial flight information (12/15/97) Engineers at the Kennedy Space Center are readying the shuttleAtlantis for blastoff at 10:36:15 p.m. Jan. 20 on a flight to theRussian Mir space station. This will be the eighth of nine plannedshuttle-Mir docking missions making up Phase One of the internationalspace station project. The primary goals of Endeavour's mission are topick up U.S. astronaut David Wolf; drop off astronaut Andrew Thomas inhis place; and to deliver needed supplies and equipment to the Russianstation. A terminal countdown demonstration test to practice countdownprocedures is scheduled for Jan. 7-9 at the Kennedy Space Center. Aformal flight readiness review to set the official launch date isplanned for Jan. 6 or 7. Pre-flight news briefings from the JohnsonSpace Center are scheduled for Jan. 13. For readers interested in such trivia, here are the latest launchwindow estimates based on Mir's projected orbit and other variables. Beadvised these times will change slightly between now and launch: DATE....WINDOW OPENS...WINDOW CLOSES 01/20...10:36:15 p.m...10:41:13 p.m. (FD-3 rendezvous, dock on 01/22) 01/21...10:13:40 p.m...10:18:38 p.m. (FD-4 rendezvous, dock on 01/24) 01/22...09:48:01 p.m...09:53:00 p.m. (FD-3 rendezvous, dock on 01/24) 01/23...09:25:26 p.m...09:30:24 p.m. (FD-3 rendezvous, dock on 01/26) At the controls for launch will be commander Terrence Wilcutt andpilot Joseph Edwards. Their crewmates going up are Thomas, BonnieDunbar, making her fifth space flight, James Reilly, Michael Anderson,and Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov, all three making their firstflight. Assuming an on-time liftoff, docking is scheduled for 3:33 p.m.Jan. 22 (MET: 1/16:57). Undocking is planned for 7:23 p.m. Jan. 27 (MET:6/13:37) with landing on tap at 7:23 p.m. on Jan. 30 (MET: 8/20:47). At touchdown, Wolf will have logged 126.9 days in space sinceblastoff Sept. 25. Thomas plans to spend 138 days in orbit beforereturning to Earth on June 7. Thomas is the seventh and finallong-duration astronaut scheduled to visit Mir and his return will markthe end of the Phase One program and the beginning of Phase Two:Construction of the international space station. First launch istargeted for the end of June. Endeavour originally was scheduled for launch Jan. 15, but the flightwas delayed five days to give Wolf time to complete NASA experiments andto help the Russians orchestrate a flurry of activity, including threespacewalks, the unloading of a Progress supply ship and the arrival ofthe Mir-25 crew. Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev and flight engineer PavelVinogradov plan to venture outside Mir on Dec. 30 to attempt repairs ofa leaky seal on the station's external airlock. They plan another EVA onJan. 5 to install handrails on the punctured Spektr module to facilitatefuture repair work. Assuming the airlock hatch is repaired, Wolf likelywill be cleared to join Solovyev for a spacewalk Jan. 12 to retrieveU.S. experiment gear mounted on Mir's hull. Mir-25 commander Talgat Musabayev, flight engineer Nikolai Budarinand French researcher Leopold Eyharts are scheduled to blast off aboarda Soyuz spacecraft on Jan. 29. Eyharts, Solovyev and Vinogradov willreturn to Earth around Feb. 19. Until then, Mir's life support systemswill have to cope with six crew members but engineers say the station isin good health and no problems are expected. A detailed overview of Endeavour's mission will be posted here afterpre-flight briefings at the Johnson Space Center or as conditionswarrant. Other mission-specific information will be posted here as itbecomes available, including the summary timeline. In the meantime, keepup with what's going on aboard Mir with Dennis Newkirk's excellentRussian Aerospace Guide.
STS-89 MISSION ARCHIVE (complete)Updated: 02/01/98Shuttle-Mir Docking Mission No. 8By William HarwoodCBS News/Kennedy Space CenterThe following copy originally was posted on the CBS News "Up To TheMinute" Current Mission space page(http://uttm.com/space/missions/current.html).Comments and corrections welcome!TABLE OF CONTENTS -Shuttle Endeavour glides to smooth landing (01/31-01/98) -Shuttle crew gears up for landing (01/30/98) -Shuttle Endeavour undocks; Mir-25 crew launched (01/29/98) -Hatches closed between Mir and shuttle Endeavour (01/28/98) -Shuttle crew wraps up logistics transfer (01/27/98) -Thomas suit issue resolved; shuttle electrical problem (01/26/98) -Thomas joins Mir crew; shuttle attitude control issue (01/25-26/98) -Shuttle Endeavour docks with Mir space station (01/24/98) -Astronauts work minor glitches, close in on Mir (01/23/98) -Shuttle Endeavour rockets into orbit (01/22/98) -Culbertson outlines launch options (01/21/98) -Weather outlook unchanged for Endeavour launch (01/21/98) -Weather threatens shuttle launch (01/20/98) -Shuttle mission preview (01/20/98) -Crew arrives for start of countdown (01/19/98) -Hydraulic leaks monitored (01/17/98) -Shuttle crew practices emergency procedures (01/10/98) -New launch time (01/05/98) -Engineers mull additional two-day launch delay (12/17/97) -Initial flight information (12/15/97)===================================================================Shuttle Endeavour glides to smooth landing (01/31-01/98) 9:30 a.m., 02/01/98, Update: Wolf walks off shuttle; appears in goodhealth Astronaut David Wolf, looking fit and at ease after 127.8 days inspace, walked off the shuttle Endeavour Saturday but put off eating ahot pizza to help researchers chart his body's initial re-adaptation togravity. Speaking to a NASA public affairs officer early this morning,Wolf said he felt good but that quick movements tended to make himdizzy. "I feel fine. But you'll notice I'm keeping my head pretty stillbecause if I turn my head very much my body feels like it's acceleratinginto the next room and the room will turn upside down," Wolf said. "SoI'm being very careful. I feel about as I expected. It's hard to live inspace and it's hard to come back. And that's what a lot of our researchis all about. "I walked off the orbiter," he added. "We talked about it and it'sjust more practical to get through the hatch and out. And we thought itwas important to know if you're able to walk off. That's important foregress and any kind of emergency situation. And then I quickly gothorizontal so as not to corrupt the scientific data. I think ourscientists were all agreeable to doing it that way." Before landing, Wolf joked about attending a post-landing beach partyat a local motel. But he said this morning that discretion was thebetter part of valor and he decided to stay at crew quarters whereresearchers continued to monitor his re-adaptation to gravity. "I would like to go down there but I think it's probably best tostick around here in the crew quarters,' he said. "We're still takingmedical data and of course, the priority of this whole mission is thescientific understanding of the effects of space flight. So I hope to goto the beach tomorrow (Sunday)." Wolf said he planned to take a couple of days off and then to begin alengthy debriefing to help NASA managers and engineers learn more aboutlong-duration space flight and the design of the international spacestation. For his part, Wolf said he would "definitely" go back to Mir ifgiven an opportunity, but "not next month." As for his on-board experiments, "I think we got all of them done,"Wolf said. "Some of them didn't go as well as we'd like and that'sanother important reason for doing these missions. When we get tointernational space station, we'll be in a lot better shape with whatwe've learned in Phase One, the shuttle-Mir program. "I didn't realize up front just how important the shuttle-Mir programwould be to getting into the international space station program moreeffectively and efficiently," he said. "The Russian spacecraft, althoughit's not perfect, it is good enough to go up and do excellenttechnological studies to make our instrumentation work, preliminaryresearch studies for long-duration research such as tissue cultures andprotein crystal growth and I know we're leaps and bounds ahead of wherewe would be had we just now been starting the international spacestation. In fact, it would be hard to imagine just, cold, starting thepartnership with the Russians with the international space stationhaving not done the shuttle-Mir program." 9:45 p.m., 01/31/98, Update: NASA manager says additional Mir flightsunlikely With the shuttle Endeavour's successful landing today, only one moreshuttle visit to the Mir space station remains on the books. DespiteRussian suggestions for an additional flight, a top NASA manager saidthat does not appear likely. Frank Culbertson, NASA manager ofshuttle-Mir operations, said no discussions are underway about anadditional flight and the only such mission that likely would even beconsidered would be one to eventually assist the Russians in safelydeorbiting the space station. "There's been no further discussion and we've had no proposals fromthe Russians," Culbertson said. "There really is no place in the[shuttle launch] schedule right now to put an additional flight to theMir for logistics support." He said the only way NASA would consider such a flight "would be ifit was associated with the deorbit of the Mir itself and ending themission. With that type of an approach, we might be able to have somediscussions and come up with some kind of a joint plan. But that'sreally the only thing I think would be considered by anybody." As for Endeavour's just completed mission, Culbertson and shuttleprogram manager Tommy Holloway both called the flight a success, sayingthe shuttle-Mir docking program had achieved its goal of paving the waytoward assembly of the international space station. "It seems a very short time ago that we went to Moscow and talkedabout the possibility of doing a docking mission on the station,"Holloway said. "And now we're on the last leg of completing a programthat I think will go a great deal toward preparing us to do theinternational space station." Endeavour's crew brought David Wolf back to Earth after 128 days inspace. He was replaced aboard Mir by astronaut Andrew Thomas, who willremain in orbit until early June. "Through the miracle of modern technology, I was able to communicatewith Dave Wolf just a little while ago and Dave sounded great,"Culbertson said about an hour and a half after landing. "He's very happyto be home, he wanted me to tell everyone this was the greatestadventure of his life, he's very glad he did it and he also said hecouldn't imagine attempting ISS without this Phase One experience." On a different topic, Holloway told reporters he is not overlyconcerned about recent job cuts at the Kennedy Space Center by primecontractor United Space Alliance. In fact, he implied that even morereductions will be required in the years ahead to keep the shuttleprogram affordable. "Even though the costs have come down over the years, the cost ofoperating the shuttle still is extremely high," he said. "For example,we flew seven flights a year and with today's budget plus institutionalcosts, each one of these flights costs us over $500 million. So for thelong range vitality and health and perhaps survival of the shuttleprogram it's necessary to reduce costs. ... I'm quite satisfied theshuttle team will be able to respond to these reductions and deal withthem." 5:45 p.m. Update: Shuttle Endeavour glides to smooth landing The shuttle Endeavour glided to a smooth sunset touchdown at theKennedy Space Center this evening to close out NASA's eighth Mir dockingmission, bringing astronaut David Wolf back to Earth after four monthsin space and leaving Andrew Thomas behind in his place. With commander Terry Wilcutt and pilot Joe Edwards at the controls,Endeavour swooped to a picture-perfect touchdown on runway 15 at 5:35:09p.m., wrapping up a nine-day voyage spanning 138 complete orbits and 4.6million miles since blastoff Jan. 22 from nearby pad 39A. Missionduration was eight days 19 hours 46 minutes and 54 seconds. "Wheels stopped, Houston," Wilcutt radioed as the shuttle rolled to astop. "Roger wheels stopped, Endeavour. Welcome home. Congratulations on aperfect mission to Mir. And Dave, welcome back from 128 days on orbit,"replied astronaut Susan Still from mission control in Houston. "I wasn't counting, but is that what it was?" Wolf called. "It'll bea pleasure to see you, Susan, thanks to everybody. This feels great!" About 20 minutes after touchdown, ground crews began cranking openEndeavour's hatch. "There's a knock at the door and the hatch handle's turning," a crewmember said on the shuttle's audio circuit. "I'm pretty excited about this," Wolf replied. Then, a few minuteslater: "And the hatch is open! Oh the smell, and the air from theEarth!" As with all returning Mir astronauts, Wolf made the trip back toEarth resting on his back in a special recumbent seat mounted onEndeavour's lower deck. While he joked Friday about attending a beachparty after landing, he was not expected to get through with medicaltests, dinner and a thorough physical exam until late in the evening.Wolf originally said he planned to walk off the shuttle, but he saidFriday he had changed his mind and had agreed to be carried off to helpresearchers collect as much data as possible about his body's initialre-adaptation to gravity. Endeavour's touchdown capped a busy day in space, coming justfour-and-a-half hours after Mir-25 commander Talgat Musabayev, flightengineer Nikolai Budarin and French researcher Leopold Eyharts dockedwith the Mir space station. The trio blasted off Thursday aboard theSoyuz Tm-27 vehicle at 11:33 a.m. from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, just 24minutes before Endeavour undocked from Mir. To make way for the SoyuzTM-27 vehicle, a Progress resupply craft now loaded with trash wasundocked from the Kvant-1 port shortly before 8 a.m. Friday. About 90 minutes after docking today, Musabayev, Budarin and Eyhartsjoined Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev, flight engineer PavelVinogradov and Thomas for a televised welcoming ceremony in the Mir coremodule. Around Feb. 19, Solovyev, Vinogradov and Eyharts will return toEarth, leaving Thomas behind with the Mir-25 crew. Thomas will return toEarth in June aboard the shuttle Discovery. Back on Earth, meanwhile, Endeavour appeared none the worse for itsfiery re-entry. The return to Earth began at 4:28 p.m. with athree-minute 27-second firing of the shuttle's twin orbital maneuveringsystem rockets as the vehicle passed high above Indonesia. The burnslowed Endeavour by 245 mph and put the shuttle on a trajectory carryingit over Central America and Cuba before a high-speed northeasterly passacross the heart of Florida. After guiding Endeavour through a sweepingleft overhead turn, Wilcutt lined up on the centerline of runway 15 andswooped to a flawless touchdown. While Wolf faced a battery of post-flight medical checks, Wilcutt,Edwards, Michael Anderson, James Reilly, Bonny Dunbar and Russiancosmonaut Shalizhan Sharipov were expected to leave the orbiter about anhour after touchdown for a brief walk-around inspection. All of the crewmembers are scheduled to fly back to the Johnson Space Center on Sunday,after a post-landing news conference. Endeavour's flight was the eighth of nine planned shuttle-Mir linkupsserving as a training ground before both nations begin assembly of theinternational space station later this year. Thomas is the seventh andfinal U.S. astronaut scheduled for a long-duration stay aboard Mir. Wolflogged 127.8 days in space since blastoff aboard the shuttle Atlantis inSeptember. Thomas expects to put in 135.7 days aloft before returning toEarth in June, giving U.S. astronauts a cumulative 972.1 days in spaceaboard Mir. For those of you scoring at home, the Russian record forlong-duration space flight is 438 days. Astronaut Shannon Lucid holdsthe U.S. record with 188.2 days. As of today's landing, U.S. astronautshave logged 795.7 days in space, the last 680.4 of them in a row. As with all Mir docking missions, swapping out crew members was justone of several major objectives. Endeavour carried nearly 6,000 poundsof fresh water, supplies and repair equipment to the Russian station andbrought back nearly 3,000 pounds of material. Here is the pre-launchbreakdown: MATERIAL.............TO MIR........FROM MIR Water................1,400.........N/A U.S. Science.........930.6.........1,680.2 Dara/CNES............N/A...........N/A Russian Logistics....3,247.2.......678.8 Miscellaneous........257.4.........470.1 TOTAL................4,435.2.......2,829.1 While exact totals won't be known until after Endeavour is serviced,project managers said the combined crews accomplished 100 percent oftheir logistics transfer objectives. Frank Culbertson, NASA director ofshuttle-Mir operations, was expected to participate in a post-landingnews conference around 7 p.m. Quotes and details will be posted here aswarranted. 4:35 p.m. Update: Shuttle fires braking rockets for return to Earth Flying upside down and backward over the southern Pacific Ocean,commander Terry Wilcutt and pilot Joe Edwards fired the shuttleEndeavour's twin orbital maneuvering system rockets at 4:28 p.m.,slowing the ship by 245 miles an hour to drop out of orbit. Thethree-minute 27-second rocket firing put the shuttle on course for atouchdown at the Kennedy Space Center at 5:35 p.m. This status reportwil be updated after landing or as conditions warrant. 2:30 p.m. Update: Shuttle's cargo bay doors closed for entry The Endeavour astronauts closed the shuttle's 60-foot-long cargo baydoors today around 2 p.m., setting the stage for an on-time landing atthe Kennedy Space Center at 5:35 p.m. Forecasters continue to predictgood weather, although they are monitoring possible turbulence at the40,000-foot level. Endeavour's systems are in good shape and the crew isgearing up to don their entry suits for landing. This status report willbe updated after the deorbit burn, at 4:28 p.m., or as conditionswarrant. 8:20 a.m. Update: Good weather expected for shuttle landing The Endeavour astronauts were awakened at 6:43 a.m. today by arecording of "Breakfast Blues" by a Houston band called Trout Fishing inAmerica to begin preparations for re-entry and landing. Touchdown at theKennedy Space Center remains on schedule for 5:35:06 p.m. to close out a138-orbit mission spanning 3.6 million miles since blastoff Jan. 22. The astronauts have two landing opportunities today: ORBIT...TIME............EVENT..............NOTES 138.....04:27:45 p.m....Deorbit ignition...dV: 245 mph; dT: 3:27 139.....05:35:06 p.m....Landing............Runway 15, Kennedy SpaceCenter 139.....06:03:51 p.m....Deorbit ignition...dV: 357 fps; dT: 3:27 140.....07:10:25 p.m....Landing............Runway 15, Kennedy SpaceCenter But forecasters continue to predict near perfect weather at theFlorida spaceport and with more of the same expected Sunday, NASA is notstaffing Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., as a backup landing site. IfEndeavour fails to make it home for some reason this afternoon, however,Edwards probably would be staffed for Sunday's attempt. Here's the crew's timeline for landing today: TIME.........EVENT 12:27 p.m....Crew transitions to deorbit timeline 01:47 p.m....The shuttle's payload bay doors are closed 02:09 p.m....Flight computers begin running OPS-3 entry software 02:33 p.m....Crew reviews entry procedures 03:02 p.m....The astronauts don their pressure suits 04:06 p.m....Mission control "go" for burn 04:28 p.m....Deorbit burn; 04:48 p.m....The shuttle falls into the discernible atmosphere 05:35 p.m....Landing at the Kennedy Space Center Flying upside down and backward over the southern Pacific Ocean,commander Terry Wilcutt and pilot Joe Edwards plan to fire Endeavour'stwin orbital maneuvering system rockets at 4:27:45 p.m. for threeminutes and 27 seconds, slowing the shuttle by 245 mph. The vehicle willfall into the discernible atmosphere at 5:04 p.m., following anortheasterly ground track that will carry the crew over Central Americaand Cuba before crossing over the southwest coast of Florida. See the CBS News Reporter's Notebook for additional details,including NASA's plans for helping astronaut David Wolf re-adapt togravity after 128 days in weightlessness. See the Breaking News page forcoverage of today's docking of the Soyuz TM-27 vehicle and the Mir spacestation at 1:13 p.m.===================================================================Shuttle crew gears up for landing (01/30/98) 6:00 p.m. Update: Good weather expected for shuttle landing The Endeavour astronauts tested their re-entry systems today andpacked up for a sunset landing Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center toclose out NASA's eighth shuttle-Mir docking mission. Leaving astronautAndrew Thomas behind aboard the Russian space station, Endeavour's crewis scheduled to touch down at 5:35:13 p.m. at the Florida spaceport.Astronaut David Wolf, the man Thomas replaced aboard Mir, will make thetrip back to Earth resting on his back to ease the impact of returningto full gravity after four months in the weightlessness of space. Mission duration at touchdown will be eight days 19 hours 46 minutesand 51 seconds. Endeavour will have completed 138 complete orbits andtraveled 3.6 million miles since blastoff Jan. 22 from pad 39A. While Wolf said Thursday he planned to walk off the shuttle, he toldan interviewer today he would instead be carried out of the orbiter tohelp researchers collect as much data as possible about hisre-adaptation to gravity. But that doesn't mean he plans to stay off hisfeet any longer than necessary. "We're having a beach party the night of landing out in front of theWakulla Motel and as soon as we can get processed through, we're goingto show up out there," Wolf joked. Chief flight surgeon Sam Poole at the Johnson Space Center in Houstonwas a bit more cautious, saying all that would depend on how Wolfactually feels once he's back down on the ground. "We're very cautious in those first few hours, in the first day ortwo," Poole said. "People have a tendency to get sore muscles and are atrisk for maybe injuring a tendon or something like that because of there-introduction of working in the gravity field, particularly as theywalk about. In general, the rehabilitation plan follows a progressiveambulation. That's getting them up and walking them around. Some areable to do that better than others." As for Wolf's beach party, Poole said, "if he's in good physicalshape, I don't think we would put restrictions on him." Entry flight director John Shannon said Endeavour's systems are ingood shape and ideal weather is expected for landing. Endeavour willhave two opportunities to land in Florida, one at 5:35 p.m. and anotherat 7:11 p.m. With good weather expected, NASA is not staffing the backuplanding site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. "This morning was spent by the crew preparing the vehicle fortomorrow's re-entry," Shannon said. "As part of that, we did thestandard tests of the shuttle's attitude control thrusters, we poweredup the shuttle's hydraulic system and moved all the aerosurfaces. Wepowered up the avionics systems required for entry and tested all of theflight control systems and everything went very smoothly. We had noproblems at all." The deorbit burn will last for three minutes 27 seconds, slowing theshuttle by 359 feet per second, or 245 mph. The vehicle will fall intothe discernible atmosphere 400,000 feet above the south Pacific Ocean at5:04 p.m. Endeavour's northeasterly ground track will carry the shuttleover Central America and Cuba before crossing over the west coast ofFlorida. "We're only going to use Kennedy Space Center," Shannon said. "If wehave to wave off both opportunities at Kennedy Space Center tomorrow, wewould have a meeting and discuss whether we would want to bring upEdwards for a Sunday opportunity or not. The weather right now looksvery good for a Kennedy Space Center landing tomorrow for both attempts.... The forecast is for just a few clouds up to 25,000 feet, very goodvisibility and just light winds out of the north." 8:00 a.m. Update: Shuttle crew up for final full day in space The Endeavour astronauts were awakened at 7:48 a.m. to begin theirfinal full day in space. Today's wakeup music was a recording of "Bad ToThe Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers beamed up from missioncontrol in Houston. The astronauts face a relatively busy day in orbit, packing up loosegear, finishing up on-board research and testing the shuttle's re-entrysystems to make sure they will be ready for use Saturday. The crew alsowill make sure all the equipment and experiment samples moved from theMir station to Endeavour for return to Earth are properly stowed. The flight plan calls for the astronauts to begin deorbitpreparations at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Endeavour's cargo bay doors will beclosed at 1:52 p.m. for a deorbit burn at 4:28 p.m. Touchdown at theKennedy Space Center is scheduled for 5:35:13 p.m. The first item on the agenda today is to test Endeavour's flightcontrol system to make sure the ship's avionics and hydraulic systemsare working as required. Commander Terry Wilcutt and pilot Joe Edwardsthen will test fire the shuttle's steering jets. Cabin stowage begins at4:23 p.m. and the shuttle's KU-band television antenna will be stowed at7:48 p.m., ending routine television from the orbiter. The Associated Press and ABC Radio plan to interview the astronautsat 3:15 p.m. in the final media event of mission STS-90. And finally,NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin is scheduled to call the crew at 6:33p.m. for a brief congratulatory chat. Aboard the Russian Mir space station, meanwhile, Mir-24 commanderAnatoly Solovyev, flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. astronautAndrew Thomas jettisoned a trash-filled Progress supply vehicle today at7:53 a.m., freeing up the station's Kvant-1 docking port for the arrivalSaturday of the Mir-25 crew aboard the Soyuz TM-27 spacecraft. CommanderTalgat Musabayev, flight engineer Nikolai Budarin and French researcherLeopold Eyharts are expected to dock with Mir at 1:13 p.m. Saturday. Thedocking and a welcoming ceremony will be carried live on NASA televisionduring Endeavour's de-orbit preparations. See the Breaking News page for a detailed timeline of upcoming eventsaboard Mir.===================================================================Shuttle Endeavour undocks from Mir station (01/29/98) 4:15 p.m. Update: NASA managers pleased with mission results The Endeavour astronauts are slowly but surely moving away from theMir space station, sailing into the home stretch of a successful missionand setting their sights on landing Saturday at the Kennedy Space Centerat 5:35 p.m. At touchdown, returning Mir astronaut David Wolf will havelogged 127.8 days in space since blastoff to the Russian station lastSeptember aboard the shuttle Atlantis. "So far, this has been an extremely successful mission, we're veryhappy with the way it's gone," said Frank Culbertson, director ofshuttle-Mir operations for NASA. "We were able to transfer in bothdirections 100 percent of the items we had planned on. We were able totransfer even more water than had been planned so the Mir is wellstocked for future missions. "This continues to prove what people can do when they put their mindsto it, it gives us high hopes for the very complex program that iscoming down the road in the very near future, the beginning of theinternational space station and the launch of those elements. It's goingto be very challenging. I believe we've proved the teams can worktogether to meet those challenges and I hope and pray it increaseseveryone's confidence that this will also be a successful program." With good weather expected Saturday in Florida, NASA is not staffingEdwards Air Force Base in California. Endeavour will have twoopportunities to land Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center. "We're all looking forward to a very smooth last couple of days,"said lead flight director Phil Engelauf. "The weather looks good forentry on Saturday and we expect a very successful remainder of themission and a good landing." Here are the latest numbers (dv: change in velocity; dT: burnduration): ORBIT...TIME............EVENT..............NOTES 138.....04:27:42 p.m....Deorbit ignition...dV: 361 fps; dT: 3:28 139.....05:35:13 p.m....Landing............Runway 15 139.....06:07 p.m.......Deorbit ignition...TBD 140.....07:11 p.m.......Landing............TBD With Endeavour's undocking and the launch of the Mir-25 crew a fewminutes earlier (see the 11:40 a.m. update below for additional detals),U.S. and Russian flight controllers have their hands full tracking andoperating multiple vehicles in the same orbital plane. A fourth vehiclewill be added to the mix Friday when an old Progress resupply vehicle isundocked from Mir to make way for the new crew. "Right now a stressful time has commenced at the Moscow missioncontrol center because literally 15 minutes prior to completion of itsoperations with the shuttle the Soyuz was launched," said Valery Ryumin,Culbertson's Russian counterpart. "So now the Moscow control center hasto worry about not only the operations of the Mir but also the Soyuz aswell as prepare for the undocking of the Progress cargo vehicletomorrow. Such a situation will certainly occur in the future in thdevelopment and assembly of the international space station, so thiscurrent work is good preparation of both men and machine to undertakethat endeavor." As mentioned below, satellite watchers in the United States will betreated to a spectacular show this evening and Friday night, weatherpermitting, as the spacecraft pass overhead. See the German SpaceOperations Centre Satellite Tracking page to find out if any of thevehicles will be visible from your location. 12:05 p.m. Update: Shuttle Endeavour undocks from Mir station The shuttle Endeavour undocked from the Mir space station today at11:57 a.m., leaving U.S. astronaut Andrew Thomas behind for NASA's finallong-duration stay aboard the Russian outpost. "Houston, Endeavour. Physical separation. Executing sep burn," one ofthe shuttle's crew members called at the moment of undocking. The flight plan called for Endeavour to drop 240 feet below Mirbefore beginning a looping flyaround for a photo inspection. Aftercompleting the loop, a rocket firing was planned to carry the shuttleout of Mir's immediate vicinity. Landing at the Kennedy Space Center isscheduled for 5:36 p.m. Saturday. See the 8:15 a.m. update below for atimeline of flyaround activity. This was the eighth of nine joint shuttle-Mir missions serving as atraining ground before NASA and the Russian Space Agency begin buildingthe international space station later this year. Endeavour was dockedwith Mir for four days 20 hours and 42 minutes. The final shuttle visitis planned for late May when the Discovery will dock with Mir to pick upThomas and to drop off supplies and other equipment. NASA currently plans to begin building the international spacestation in late June when a NASA-financed Russian-built module calledthe functional cargo block (also known as the control module) islaunched. The first shuttle assembly flight is on tap the followingmonth when a six-hatch node is scheduled for takeoff aboard Endeavourthat will be bolted to one end of the functional cargo block. But both flights are expected to slip a few weeks, however, becauseof problems readying a critical Russian component called the servicemodule for launch. The service module, which will provide the initialcrew quarters and propulsion for the new station, currently is scheduledfor flight in December. But launch is expected to be delayed to aroundFeb. 2, 1999, because of problems with avionics and softwaredevelopment. As a result, a shuttle supply flight now scheduled forlaunch in December will slip to some point after the service modulereaches orbit in 1999. For a variety of reasons, including a desire to even out the shuttlelaunch schedule, NASA is expected to slip the first station launch fromJune to mid July and to delay the first shuttle assembly flight fromJuly to early September. No final decisions have been made, but that'sthe current thinking, according to reliable NASA sources. 11:40 a.m. Update: Mir-25 crew blasts off Mir-25 commander Talgat Musabayev, Nikolai Budarin and Frenchresearcher Leopold Eyharts blasted off today from the BaikonurCosmodrome and set off after the Russian space station for a dockingSaturday. The Soyuz spacecraft blasted off at 11:33 a.m., just 23minutes before the scheduled undocking of the U.S. space shuttleEndeavour. If all goes well, Musabayev and company will dock at Mir'sKvant-1 port at 1:13 p.m. Saturday, after a Progress resupply vehicle isjettisoned Friday. Docking will be carried live on NASA television. Musabayev, Budarin and Eyharts will join Mir-24 commander AnatolySolovyev, flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. astronaut AndrewThomas for about three weeks of joint activity. Around Feb. 19,Solovyev, Vinogradov and Eyharts will return to Earth, leaving Thomasbehind with the Mir-25 crew. Thomas will return to Earth in June aboardthe shuttle Discovery. A detailed timeline of upcoming events aboard Mir, including upcomingspacewalks, Progress flights and the next crew exchange, can be found onthe Breaking News page (future Mir-25 updates will be posted there aswell). To find out if Mir, the shuttle or the Progress vehicle will bevisible from your location over the next few days, check out the GermanSpace Operations Centre Satellite Tracking page. 8:15 a.m. Update: Shuttle crew gears up for undocking The Endeavour astronauts are gearing up to undock from the Mir spacestation later today at 11:56 a.m. Just 23 minutes earlier, at 11:33a.m., Mir's next crew - Mir-25 commander Talgat Musabayev, NikolaiBudarin and French researcher Leopold Eyharts - is scheduled to blastoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in centra Asia. The trip to Mir willtake two days. After Endeavour departs, Mir-24 commander AnatolySolovyev, Pavel Vinogradov and new U.S. crew member Andrew Thomas willmake room for the new crew by undocking a used Progress resupply vehicleFriday at 8 a.m. The Mir-25 crew is scheduled to dock at the Kvant-1port at 1:13 p.m. Saturday. The Mir-25 launch and docking will becarried live on NASA television. This is a somewhat unique situation in that four spacecraft will beorbiting in the same plane Friday. Viewers in the United States willhave a good opportunity to watch one or more vehicles fly overhead aftersunset Thursday and Friday. Last night, the shuttle-Mir complex put on aspectacular show for viewers in the Cape Canaveral area, starting out asa relatively bright "star" and then flaring and becoming brighter thanSirius or even Jupiter before moving into Earth's shadow. To find out ifMir will be visible from your viewing location, go to the German SpaceOperations Centre Satellite Tracking page and enter your location. Tryit out! Russian flight controllers have not yet decided what they will dowith the discarded Progress. It will either be deorbited or it willremain in a parking orbit nearby until after Solovyev, Vinogradov andEyharts return to Earth around Feb. 19. The Progress may be redocked atsome point after that to provide shading for the Kvant-1 port and toprovide a bit more rocket fuel for the station. Will advise. Endeavour's crew plans to carry out a close flyaround of Mir afterundocking today. Starting at a point 240 feet directly below the Russianstation, pilot Joe Edwards will guide the shuttle directly in front ofMir, then above the station, behind it and back down to the startingpoint. A final separation burn to move Endeavour away from Mir for goodis scheduled for 1:16 p.m. Here's the latest timeline from missioncontrol in Houston: EST......EVENT 11:48 a.m...Sunset. Mir in OSC-6 attitude. Shuttle in nose forward attitude 11:52 a.m...Mir in contact with Russian ground station 11:56 a.m...Endeavour undocks from Mir station 12:05 p.m...Mir begins maneuver to flyaround attitude 12:05 p.m...Shuttle 240 feet below Mir; begins stationkeeping 12:16 p.m...Mir maneuver to flyaround attitude complete 12:23 p.m...Sunrise 12:30 p.m...Shuttle starts Twice Orbital Rate Flyaround (TORF) in nose-forward attitude 12:36 p.m...Shuttle aligned with Mir +ZB axis (Priroda) 12:42 p.m...Endeavour crosses directly in front of Mir 12:47 p.m...Shuttle television begins 12:52 p.m...Orbital noon 12:52 p.m...Shuttle television ends 12:43 p.m...Shuttle directly above Mir 12:59 p.m...Shuttle aligned with Mir -XB axis (Soyuz) 01:05 p.m...Endeavour crosses directly behind Mir 01:16 p.m...Shuttle returns to a point directly below Mir Shuttle performs 3 foot-per-second retrograde separation burn 01:21 p.m...Sunset Here's NASA's morning status report: Endeavours astronauts are preparing to bid Mir farewell this morningwith a successful crew transfer and the exchange of more than 8,000pounds of equipment and supplies behind them. U.S. Astronaut Andy Thomas will remain behind for four months ofresearch on the Russian outpost, the swan song of the Phase 1 Programleading up to construction and population of the International SpaceStation. Coming home will be Dave Wolf, who spent 119 days aboard Mirand will have chalked up 128 days in orbit by the time he returns toEarth aboard Endeavour on Saturday. Undocking is scheduled for 11:56 a.m. EST today, just 23 minutesafter the next Russian crew -- Mir 25 Commander Talgat Musabayev, FlightEngineer Nikolai Budarin and French researcher Leopold Eyharts -- isscheduled to blast off in a Soyuz TM-27 capsule from the BaikonurCosmodrome in Khazakstan. Musbayev and Budarin will dock with thestation Saturday and replace Mir 24 Commander Anatoly Solovey and FlightEngineer Pavel Vinogradov, who are scheduled to return to Earth on Feb.19 with Eyharts. Once the shuttle is free of its moorings, Commander Terry Wilcutt andPilot Joe Edwards will fly around the space station before completing aseparation burn at 1:16 p.m. EST to move Endeavour away from Mir. The Endeavour crew was awakened at 5:48 a.m. today to the song "HereWe Go Loopty-Loo," by Little Richard, played in honor of the STS-89training team in Houston.. The Endeavour-Mir space complex is orbiting the Earth at an altitudeof about 240 statute miles with all systems in excellent shape.===================================================================Hatches closed between Mir and shuttle Endeavour (01/28/98) 5:40 p.m. Update: Hatches closed between Mir and shuttle Endeavour Hatches between the shuttle Endeavour and the Mir space station wereclosed and dogged today, setting the stage for undocking Thursday at11:56 a.m. to wrap up the eighth of nine planned shuttle-Mir linkups.The hatch between Endeavour's Russian-built docking system and theshuttle docking module on Mir was closed at 5:34 p.m., leaving U.S.astronaut Andrew Thomas on his own aboard the station as a member of theMir-24 crew. If all goes well, he will return to Earth in June. "The stand-off cross is installed and the hatch is closed," commanderTerry Wilcutt told mission control in Houston. Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev then was cleared to depressurizethe vestibule between the shuttle and Mir hatches. All that remains isfor Endeavour to undock Thursday. "We finished all the water transfers and essentially finished all ourhardware transfers to the Mir," said lead flight director Phil Engelauf."We will have, when we're all done, [transferred] about 1,615 pounds ofwater, which is more than we expected pre-flight, and we transferredessentially all the items that were intended to go across on Mir." James Van Laak, deputy director of the shuttle-Mir program, said thecombined crews accomplished all of the flight's objectives and "we'revery glad to be wrapping up another very successful docked mission." "I know we haven't had a lot of time to reflect on it yet, but wecan't escape the fact that this is our last docked mission where we planto transfer an American to the Mir," he said. "Just a few short yearsago, it seemed hard to believe we were actually going to go forward anddo this and now we've succeeded in doing this a number of times. We'revery pleased with that, it's been a wonderful program and we're lookingforward to one last very successful increment with Andy on board." The primary goal of Endeavour's mission was to pick up astronautDavid Wolf after four months aboard Mir and to replace him with Thomas,the seventh and final U.S. astronaut scheduled for a long-duration stayaboard Mir. In addition to supplying Mir with fresh water, theastronauts also delivered nearly 1,000 pounds of U.S. science gear andmore than 3,000 pounds of Russian equipment and supplies. Nearly 3,000pounds of equipment and experiment samples will be returned to Earthaboad the shuttle. "This has been an amazing experience," Wolf said at an afternoon newsconference. "It's been one of the hardest of my life and I think Andycan expect the same but that's how the best experiences of our livesmust be in many cases. ... I have to say, we're bringing together two ofthe finest space-faring nations in the world and the results that we'regoing to get as we join forces in the international space station aregoing to be amazing. All of our countries will take part in this andenjoy this and will share in it and the results will design our futurequality of life." Endeavour is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center at 5:36p.m. Saturday and the preliminary forecast calls for good weather.Despite spending four months in the weightlessness of space, Wolf saidhe doesn't anticipate any problems thanks to routine workouts on Mir'streadmill. "When you're in space, you feel like a superman, you can lift arefrigerator with your baby finger, so I feel pretty good and we've beenworking out pretty hard," Wolf said. "I expect to be able to walk offthat shuttle if the scientific community will let me. I'm looking for apretty quick recovery." For Thomas, Endeavour's undocking Thursday will mark "a day of mixedfeelings for me because on the one hand the shuttle is leaving and thefriends that I've been with will be leaving and flying home." "But on the other hand, I'll be staying here and starting what willbe a new phase of my life doing probably what is one of the most unusualthings anybody could do in this the last part of the 20th Century," hesaid. "So although they're leaving, it now gives me the opportunity tostart this adventure that I'm on. It's time to get on with the work andthat's what I'm ready to do." He said his first priority will be to make himself a home in Mir'sPriroda module. "I haven't been able to do that yet because all we've spent our timedoing is bringing all the equipment on board," Thomas said. "And rightnow, there are lots of bags and stowage equipment and so on in there. Itlooks like a crowded broom closet that hasn't been cleaned out in 20years." 3:30 p.m. Update: Shuttle crew remembers Challenger The crew of the shuttle Endeavour took a moment last night toremember the fallen crew of the shuttle Challenger, killed 12 years agotoday in history's worst space disaster. Endeavour commander TerryWilcutt said crewmate Bonnie Dunbar reminded the astronauts of theChallenger anniversary and today, flight controllers in Houston alsomarked the moment at 11:38 a.m. when Challenger began its final voyage. 3:30 p.m. Update: Thomas says langauge skills need work U.S. astronaut Andrew Thomas, embarking on a four-month stay aboardthe Mir space station, says he does not yet speak Russian as fluently ashe might like and that it may be difficult for him initially toestablish the kind of personal relationship with his crewmates that hemight wish. But during a news conference today, the man Thomas isreplacing, astronaut David Wolf, said Thomas will have plenty of time tobrush up on his Russian. "I can assure you the space station Mir is a great place to learnRussian," Wolf joked. The language issue came up earlier when Mir-25 commander TalgatMusabayev, scheduled for launch to Mir on Thursday, told reporters hewas a bit concerned about Thomas's language skills. Musabayev, NikolaiBudarin and French researcher Leopold Eyharts are scheduled to blast offfrom the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:33 a.m. EST Thursday. Docking withMir is expected at 1:13 p.m. Saturday. "I wish my Russian was better because I'd like to have thespontaneity of communication that helps you establish a workingrelationship," Thomas said from orbit. "I think it will slow us down abit, particularly initially, but I think after a while we'll learn abasis for communication that will be acceptable." Thomas never expected to actually fly on Mir. He was training as abackup to Wolf, who originally was to be NASA's last long-duration Mirvisitor. But Wolf was moved up in the flight sequence last year whenastronaut Wendy Lawrence was bumped from flight status because of herheight and Thomas suddenly found himself assigned to the final mission. "I would have liked to have had more extensive language trainingbefore I went to Russia," he said. "But within the schedules we had backthen it simply wasn't possible." Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev said as far as he was concerned,Thomas fit in aboard Mir just fine. "There may indeed be some problems," he said. Then, turning toThomas, he added: "However, in the several days we have worked together,I have not seen any problems. I am telling you this without anyreservations, you speak very well and I agree with Dave Wolf that thisis an excellent environment for the learning of a language." As for Musabayev, Thomas said he was sure the new crew would enjoyeach other's company. "Not being able to have spontaneous, joking, humorouse sort ofinteraction with people can limit your ability to establish arelationship," Thomas said. "But the Mir-25 crew that coming up hereshortly are very congenial people, very easy to get along with. Talgathimself has got a very effusive personality to say the least and I'mexpecting it to be entirely entertaining." 8:15 a.m. Update: Joint crews gear up for undocking The Endeavour-Mir astronauts are in the final stages of transferringsupplies and equipment to and from the Russian space station beforeundocking Thursday morning. After a joint crew news conference at 2:34p.m. today, hatches between Mir and the space shuttle will be closed andlocked for undocking. At that point, astronaut Andrew Thomas will be on his own aboard Mir,in the care of Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev and flight engineerPavel Vinogradov. Thomas and the man he replaced, David Wolf, arespending a final few hours together today reviewing radio operations andprotocol and discussing a few last-minute tips about living and workingaboard the Russian space station. "I think it's going OK," Thomas told flight controllers. "I stillneed him to give me an education o the packet radio and the ham radio.And I think pretty much I'll need to be on my own to take care ofeverything else." Said Wolf: "He's catching on real quick. He's going to be a strongplayer up here." The original plan called for the cosmonauts to close the hatchbetween the Kristall module and the shuttle docking module thisafternoon and for the shuttle crew to close their hatch Thursday, afterdelivering a final bag of fresh water to Mir. But flight controllerssaid all the work would be completed by this afternoon and all thehatches will be closed at that point. Quotes and details from this afternoon's crew news conference will beposted here as soon as possible. In the meantime, here's this morning'sstatus report from NASA: The astronauts and cosmonauts on board the Endeavour/Mir complex arenow in their final full day of docked operations, wrapping up thetransfer of equipment and supplies between the two spacecraft. The crews have already transferred about 240 items with a total massof more than three and half tons between the shuttle and Mir, and theyhave completed more than 80 percent of the planned moves. The crew willtake a break from their work at 2:34 p.m. EST today to participate in apress conference, fielding questions from reporters at NASA centersacross the U.S. and in Moscow, Russia. Immediately following the press conference, the Endeavour crew willsay a formal farewell to astronaut Andy Thomas, embarking on the finalstay by a U.S. astronaut aboard the Mir, and cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyevand Pavel Vinagradov. At about 5:18 p.m. EST, the crews will close thehatches between the spacecraft for the final time. Both the Mir andEndeavour hatches will be closed for the fnal time at that point, beforethe crew goes to sleep this evening, as has been the normal procedurefor previous Shuttle-Mir flights. An earlier plan that had beendiscussed to leave the shuttles hatch to the Mir docking module openlonger to allow for last-minute transfers was deemed unnecessary byflight controllers. The STS-89 crew was awakened at 5:48 a.m. EST today to the song"Hideaway" performed by Stanley Clarke, a favorite tune of astronautMichael Anderson. The crew will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 9:48p.m. EST and will receive a wake-up call from Mission Control at 5:48a.m. on Thursday to begin activities to undock from the Mir. Endeavour, carrying home astronaut David Wolf after four months spentaboard the Mir, is scheduled to undock from the Russian station at 11:56a.m. EST Thursday.===================================================================Shuttle crew wraps up logistics transfer (01/27/98) 5 p.m. Update: Endeavour astronauts set for undocking The Endeavour astronauts are in the final stages of transferringsupplies, water and repair equipment from the shuttle to the Mir spacestation, setting the stage for undocking Thursday. Current plans call for Mir's crew to shut the hatch between thestation's Kristall module and the shuttle docking module Wednesdayafternoon. The docking module will remain open to the shuttle crew untilThursday morning. This is slightly different from past practice and it'sbeing done in part so Mir's crew can pump up the station's oxygensupplies with what's left aboard an old Progress supply vehiclecurrently docked at the Kvant-1 port. The station has to be sealed offfrom the shuttle for that operation because the Mir system works athigher oxygen concentrations than the shuttle can handle. While that's going on, the shuttle crew will generate a final, 16thbag of water for Mir, leaving it in the docking module Wednesday nightor Thursday morning. The crew then will seal the shuttle's hatch and theRussians will re-enter the docking module from Kristall to retrieve thewater and configure the station for undocking. If all goes well,Endeavour will drop away from Mir at 11:56 a.m. Thursday. "It may look a little unusual, but we will do the final farewells forthe crew on the last part of the day tomorrow as we have done in thepast," said flight director Phil Engelauf. "Then we'll be undocking themiddle of that next day and performing a brief flyaround, one timearound Mir, and then breaking away." The Progress, meanwhile, is scheduled to be jettisoned Friday to makeway for the arrival of the Mir-25 crew the next day. Mir-25 commanderTalgat Musabayev, Nikolai Budarin and French researcher Leopold Eyhartsare scheduled to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:33 a.m.EST Thursday. Both launch and docking will be carried live on NASAtelevision. "The crew is at Baikonur along with their support crew," said FrankCulbertson, director of shuttle-Mir operations for NASA. "They are readyto go, there are no issues that they're working and they expect to be onschedule." As for the state of the station, "the Russians will be well stockedby the time we leave," Culbertson said. "Overall, they're in real goodshape. Most of the major items have been transferred, such as the airconditioning components, the computers, the gyrodynes, things like that.We're looking forward to the undocking, which will occur this Thursday.We're going to have quite an interesting event when we launch the Soyuz,undock the shuttle, undock a Progress and then dock a Soyuz all withinabout a two- or three-day period. So we'll eventually have fourspacecraft all flying in the same plane." Here is a timeline of events for Endeavour's undocking and flyaroundThursday: EST.........MET.......EVENT 11:48 a.m...6/14:00...Sunset. Mir in OSC-6 attitude. Shuttle in nose forward attitude 11:52 a.m...6/14:04...AOS DJS groundstation (6/14:04:05) 11:56 a.m...6/14:08...Endeavour undocks from Mir station 12:05 p.m...6/14:17...Shuttle 240 feet below Mir; begins stationkeeping 12:05 p.m...6/14:17...Mir maneuvers to flyaround attitude 12:11 p.m...6/14:23...Undocking window closes 12:19 p.m...6/14:31...Mir reaches flyaround attitude 12:20 p.m...6/14:32...Latest time for shuttle to reach 240 feet 12:22 p.m...6/14:34...Sunrise 12:30 p.m...6/14:42...Shuttle starts Twice Orbital Rate Flyaround (TORF) in nose-forward attitude 12:35 p.m...6/14:47...Shuttle aligned with Mir +ZB axis (Priroda) 12:41 p.m...6/14:53...Endeavour crosses directly in front of Mir 12:48 p.m...6/15:00...Shuttle Ku-band communications available until approximately 12:53 p.m. 12:52 p.m...6/15:04...Orbital noon 12:53 p.m...6/15:05...Shuttle crosses directly above Mir. KU-band antenna switched to radar mode 12:58 p.m...6/15:10...Shuttle aligned with Mir -XB axis (Soyuz) 01:04 p.m...6/15:16...Endeavour crosses directly behind Mir 01:16 p.m...6/15:28...Shuttle returns to a point directly below Mir Shuttle performs 3 foot-per-second retrograde separation burn 01:21 p.m...6/15:33...Sunset "We have looked at the traffic management concerns of having theProgress and having the shuttle all flying at the same time and theSoyuz coming up," Engelauf said. "And while it's a little bit complexand you have to keep track of all the vehicles and what all the possibleoptions are ... it's a manageable problem and we don't really have anyconcerns." In one final bit of news, Engelauf said an unusual problem withEndeavour's vernier steering jets Monday night was caused by anunforeseen set of mission-specific circumstances. The electronic systemthat fires the jets refused to power up properly because of aconfiguration problem, that is, the sequence in which the verniers andthe shuttle's primary jets were powered up and down earlier in themission. Engelauf said the condition had never occurred before and thatit only occurred this time because of the way the jets were activated tocontrol the orientation of the shuttle-Mir complex. This one is still abit murky, at least to this writer, but Engelauf said no harm was doneand if the condition occurred again, flight controllers would be able toquickly correct it. 2:30 p.m. Update: Crew on track with Mir transfer work The Endeavour astronauts and their Mir-24 colleagues have transferredmore than 1,000 items from the shuttle to the Mir station and vice versaduring the first three days of joint activity. All told, the combined10-member crew plans to move some 4,500 pounds of fresh water, supplies,repair gear and other equipment to Mir, including a new air conditioner. "We have been very, very busy and I think we're ahead of schedule,"commander Terry Wilcutt told an interviewer today. "We did take a coupleof days to get here, to get things organized, and the docking wentextremely well from our point of view." James Reilly, the astronaut in charge of overseeing the transferwork, said that by midday Tuesday, "we've managed to transfer just abouteverything." "We've got over 1,000 items we've already transferred and we're justcleaning up the last ones right now," he said. "The air conditioningunit fortunately fit through the hatch with just a little bit of elbowgrease. It worked fine." Andrew Thomas, who is replacing David Wolf aboard Mir as NASA'sseventh and final long-duration crew member, said he is settling in forthe long haul and that so far, the only surprise has been just howcrowded the Russian space station is. "There's an awful lot of stuff in Mir," Thomas said. "I mean we'vegot stuff stowed in every nook and cranny on this vehicle and there'svery little storage space. And that's the biggest surprise I've comeacross is just how restricted we are on free storage space." As for initial problems getting his emergency pressure suit to fit,"the suit problem was real," he said. "I couldn't get it on. I triedwith Anatoly, the commander here, several times to get it on and it wasjust impossible until we made the adjustments and then it went on fine.No, I'm prepared to undertake this mission now and I'm looking forwardto setting up a home in the Priroda module and getting some personalthings out and making it liveable and starting a new adventure." Wolf has been helping Thomas get adjusted to living and workingaboard Mir. "There's a lot of equipment here to learn how to work," Wolf said."We've had training on the ground but of course, it's a little differentin actual use. But there're a lot of hints on how to live, how to beefficient, how to keep track of your items, in fact, how to keep out ofeach other's way and to help each other. I've learned a lot about howthese cosmonauts like to live and I'm trying to pass that knowledge onto Andy." 8:00 a.m. Update: Astronauts move into home stretch of equipmenttransfers The Endeavour astronauts were awakened at 5:48 a.m. today by arecording of "Clap for the Wolfman" beamed up from mission control.There is little to report so far this morning as the crew steps into athird day of moving supplies and equipment to and from the Mir spacestation. The combined crews will participate in U.S. and Russian mediainterviews starting at 12:48 p.m. and notes will be posted here as soonas possible thereafter. In the meantime, here is NASA's morning statusreport: More resupply and experiment equipment transfers lay ahead for theastronauts and cosmonauts who have now passed the halfway point in theirresupply work. By the end of flight day 5, 60 percent of all plannedtransfers had been completed including just over 1,000 pounds of watermanufactured by Endeavours fuel cells. Coming up late Tuesday morning is an interview with Cable NewsNetwork and Russian news media. That event is scheduled to start at12:48 a.m. EST Tuesday. Yesterday marked the successful resolution of a couple of problemswhich had come up unexpectedly on Sunday. A software change was sent toEndeavours computers Monday to overcome a faulty sensor which monitorsthe condition of one of the orbiters attitude control thrusters. Thatthruster sensor late Sunday had caused Shuttle flight controllers totemporarily pass attitude control of the Shuttle-Mir stack to theRussian station. When Mir thruster propellant ran low, control waspassed back to Endeavour. All of this activity consumed some of thecrews sleep time, which was extended by Mission Control. Also Monday, Mir 24 crewmember Andy Thomas, with the aid of his Mircommander Anatoly Solovyev, successfully modified the Soyuz Sokolspacesuit he carried to orbit, improving the fit. Initially, Thomas hadbeen unable to seal the suit which appeared too small for him. Thomasdetached straps which lengthened the suit sufficiently to allow acomfortable fit under both pressurized and non-pressurized conditions.He would wear the suit only in the event he were to return to Earth onboard a Soyuz spacecraft.===================================================================Thomas suit issue resolved; shuttle electrical problem (01/26/98) 10:00 p.m. Update: Shuttle electrical problem interrupts attitudecontrol An electrical glitch of some sort temporarily forced the shuttleEndeavour's crew to shut down the orbiter's small steering jets tonight,allowing the combined shuttle-Mir complex to slowly drift out of theproper orientation. While docked with Mir, the shuttle's small vernierjets are used to control the orientation, or attitude, of the combinedvehicles. The station must fly in an orientation that maximizes sunlighton its solar arrays and by using the shuttle for that purpose duringdocking missions, the Russians are able to save on-board fuel. When thevernier jets shut down tonight, the station began slowly drifting out ofthe proper attitude. After a bit of troubleshooting, engineers told shuttle commanderTerry Wilcutt to power up all of the shuttle's maneuvering jets with theidea of using the larger primary reaction control system thrusters totake over attitude control. This is not an ideal solution because theprimary jets burn more fuel and put more stress on the docked vehicles.In any case, when the drivers for all the jets were powered up, thevernier system once again appeared to be acting normally. The smallerjets were then used to stop the unwanted motion of the shuttle-Mircomplex and the crew was told to use the primary jets to quickly movethe vehicles back into the proper orientation. This was the second night in a row in which trouble with theshuttle's vernier jet system required corrective action. Late Monday, afaulty sensor on a jet in Endeavour's left rear orbital maneuveringsystem pod forced the crew to turn attitude control over to Mir. Butlimited fuel aboard Mir forced the shuttle crew to resume attitudecontrol even though the sensor failure prevented automatic leakdetection. That problem was corrected today when a software patch wasuplinked to the shuttle to permit normal operations. This cause of thisevening's problem was not immediately known. 5:30 p.m. Update: Thomas suit problem resolved After fiddling with adjustment straps, U.S. astronaut Andrew Thomasfinally managed http://www.amazon.com/Shelly-Sun/e/B005LOVWRA to squeeze into his Russian-built emergency re-entrysuit today, assuring he can safely remain aboard Mir after the shuttleEndeavour departs Thursday. Thomas officially joined the crew of Mir-24commander Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov at 6:35 p.m. Sunday,some nine hours behind schedule because of problems with the suit. AllMir crew members must have a pressure suit and a custom Soyuz seatlinerin case of an emergency that might force them to evacuate Mir and returnto Earth. Thomas's seatliner was no problem, but he was unable tosqueeze into his re-entry suit. He then tried on David Wolf's suit andwhile it was too big in the arms, mission managers cleared him to joinMir's crew anyway. Additional troubleshooting today resolved the problemonce and for all. "The suit that I would wear in the event of needing to do anemergency evacuation in the Soyuz wasn't quite sized properly," Thomastold an interviewer today. "And when I tried it on yesterday to do apressure test of the suit, it wouldn't fit, I couldn't get it on. Thismorning we made some adjustments in some straps on the suit and after wedid that I was able to don and doff the suit properly and we did thepressure checks and it worked out fine. So I feel good about it." In other news, a software patch has been uplinked to the Endeavourthat will enable its flight computers to detect thruster leaks despite afaulty transducer in one jet. The sensor failed last night and with noway to detect a real leak in that jet, the shuttle had to stop providingnormal attitude control of the shuttle-Mir complex. But Russianengineers soon determined Mir did not have enough fuel in its boom jetsto continue controlling the orientation of the combined vehicles andEndeavour resumed attitude control. With the software patch on board,the situation is back to normal. The problem with Thomas's entry suit would appear to be a ratherstraight-forward issue. But according to The Associated Press, Russianspace officials were miffed that Thomas said the suit did not fitproperly. The AP quoted Victor Blagov, deputy chief of Russian missioncontrol, as saying there was never anything wrong with Thomas's suit.Here is a passage from the AP story: Russia's Mission Control was steamed at the suggestion that itstailors screwed up. The Russians all but called Thomas a malcontent. "There were no objective problems with his spacesuit," grumbledViktor Blagov, deputy chief of Mission Control. "The astronaut simplyturned out to be somewhat capricious. For us, it's a symptom that theastronaut may remain capricious all through the flight." Russian spacewear expert Alexander Yarov said that after 37 years ofmanned spaceflight, Russians are masters at making orbital attire. Infact, he said huffily, they take the time to offer flight suits, shoes _even underwear _ in bright blue, green and red to jazz up Mir's drabinterior. One strongly suspects a bit of artistic license at work here. It isdifficult for this writer to imagine a top Russian space officialspeaking so harshly - in public, no less! - about a brand new U.S. crewmember! For their part, NASA managers flatly denied the AP account. "Victor has in fact pointedly denied having said those things," saidJames Van Laak, deputy director of shuttle-Mir oeprations at the JohnsonSpace Center. "There have been a few questions directed at him to seewhether he really intended that. In addition, it's been made clear tous, Mr. [Valery] Ryumin made it clear, that the Russian side has greatconfidence in Andy." Lead flight director Phil Engelauf agreed. "I had a teleconference with Victor Blagov this morning over theloops, about 4:30 local time here," Engelauf said. "We talked both aboutthe propellant situation on Mir and the attitude control problem as wellas the suit situation here. It was fairly clear the Russians were verycomfortable with the situation with the suit and wanted to make sure wehere in the U.S. were comfortable with the situation. "At no time in the course of probably a 30- or 40-minute telephoneconversation did Victor ever mention any concerns or indications thatAndy was either the source of the problem or in any way personallyresponsible for the way this came out," Engelauf said. "If theindividual can't fit inside the spacesuit it's probably not the person'sfault. It's clearly a mismatch between the suit size and theindividual." And wire copy to the contrary, NASA managers never thought Thomas'smission aboard Mir was in any jeopardy because of the suit issue. "We never considered it a serious possibility he might not be able tostay," Van Laak said. "We had the option of trying to shorten the armson Dave's [suit] or extending the legs on Andy's. We were veryconfident there would be a successful resolution today."===================================================================Thomas joins Mir crew; shuttle gives up, resumes attitude control(01/25-26/98) 7:30 a.m., 01/26/98, Update: Endevour resumes attitude control forshuttle-Mir complex With Mir running low on fuel, flight controllers awakened shuttlepilot Joe Edwards around 2:15 a.m. this morning so he could rigEndeavour to resume attitude control of the shuttle-Mir complex. LateSunday, a faulty sensor indicating a thruster leak aboard Endeavourforced flight controllers to switch control of the complex over to Mir.The thruster was working properly, engineers determined, but the faultysensor meant a real leak could go undetected (see the 11:30 p.m. updatebelow for details). Engineers said it would take 24 hours or so to develop a softwarepatch to work around the faulty sensor. Meanwhile, with Mir in controlof the "stack," the station crew went back to bed and the shuttle crewsoon followed. But early this morning, Russian flight controllersdecided the station was low on fuel for its outboard "boom" thrusters. "Flight controllers in the U.S. and Russia worked together anddecided that, with good communications contact, mission control couldwatch Endeavour's thruster and the shuttle could resume control,"according to NASA's morning status report. "The ground awakened pilotJoe Edwards about 2:15 a.m. EST. Edwards and commander Terry Wilcuttwoke the Mir crew and attitude control handover back to Endeavour wasaccomplished in a few minutes. To compensate for keeping the crew uplate, the planning team in mission control added an hour to the crew'ssleep period and worked to lighten the work load for flight day five." 11:30 p.m., 01/25/98, Update: Mir takes over attitude control An apparently faulty sensor indicating a leak in a shuttlemaneuvering jet late tonight forced Endeavour's crew to turn overattitude control of the combined shuttle-Mir complex to the Russianspace station. The station normally orients itself to provide maximumsunlight for its solar panels but when docked with the shuttle, the U.S.spacecraft provides attitude control for both vehicles to help theRussians save fuel. While controllers do not believe the jet in question (L5D) isleaking, the apparently faulty sensor is preventing them from detectinga real leak. That's a violation of safety rules and as a result, flightcontrollers called Endeavour commander Terry Wilcutt just before 11 p.m.and asked him to set up a radio relay to Mir so Russian groundcontrollers could wake up the station crew and switch attitude controlover to Mir. A software patch to correct the problem with the faultysensor should be in place late Monday or early Tuesday, allowing theshuttle to resume normal control. In the meantime, the shuttle-Mir complex drifted slowly out of itsideal orientation - as one would expect without active attitude control- but this was not considered a major problem. U.S. and Russian flightcontrollers developed a plan for Endeavour's jets to reorient thecomplex before switching normal attitude control over to the station. 7:00 p.m. Update: NASA, Russian managers reverse themselves; clearThomas to join Mir crew In a bit of a surprise, NASA and Russian managers changed their mindslate today and cleared astronaut Andrew Thomas to go ahead and replaceDavid Wolf aboard the Mir space station this evening. The crew transferofficially took place at 6:35 p.m. Earlier, agency managers told Wolfand Thomas to delay the formal transfer for at least one additional daybecause of problems with the pressure suit Thomas would have to wearduring an emergency return to Earth aboard the crew's Soyuz entryvehicle (see the 5:30 p.m. update below for details). But after additional analysis, Russian managers told their NASAcounterparts they were satisfied that in a pinch, Thomas could wearWolf's pressure suit even though the arms are too long. Thomas saidearlier the arms extended six inches beyond his hands when the suit waspressurized. But Russian officials said later there was nothing theAmerican astronaut would have to do aboard a Soyuz that would requirethe use of his hands and that it was safe for Thomas to go ahead andjoin the Mir-24 crew. Additional work will be done Monday to adjust the fit of Thomas'ssuit or to shorten the sleeves on Wolf's. NASA managers are optimisticthe problem will be resolved and in the meantime, the crew swap isofficial and Thomas is spending his first night aboard Mir. Wolf, now amember of the shuttle crew, will sleep aboard Endeavour for theremainder of the flight. 5:30 p.m. Update: Mir crew swap delay forces Wolf to spend additionalnight on Mir U.S. astronaut David Wolf, in the final stages of a 128-day spacevoyage, has ben forced to spend one more night aboard the Russian Mirspace station because of pressure suit problems that prevented hisreplacement, astronaut Andrew Thomas, from moving in today on schedule.The formal crew swap out likely will take place Monday, after additionaltroubleshooting to either adjust Thomas's ill-fitting pressure suit or adecision to use Wolf's instead. Before a new crew member can move in aboard the space station, he orshe must be able to return to Earth aboard Mir's Soyuz entry vehicle inan emergency. To do so, each crew member must have a custom seatliner inplace to cushion ground impact and a pressure suit. As with all arrivingU.S. astronauts bound for Mir, Thomas's seatliner and pressure suit werecarried aloft aboard Endeavour. The flight plan called for both to betransferred to Mir this morning and for Thomas to officially replaceWolf. From that point on, Thomas would be a member of the Mir-24 crew,sleeping on the station and remaining aboard even if an emergency ofsome sort forced the shuttle to leave early. But Thomas ran into problems today with his pressure suit. "The problem is I cannot pull it up over my shoulders," he radioed."It's either not sized correctly or there's not been adequate allowancefor the growth of my height in zero gravity. And I suspect it's probablyboth. We did do a pressure test, a leak check, in David's [suit] and theleak check passed. I can get David's suit on with difficulty. Theproblem is when it's under pressure, the arms extend about six inchesoff the ends of my hands. So it's basically unusable, in thatconfiguration at least." He said Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev wants to try resizingThomas's original suit. "The straps on the legs and the underarms are pulled up, cinched up,very tight and stitched that way," Thomas said. "So we can't justrelease them, we actually have to cut the stitching, non-criticalstitching that won't affect the sealing of the suit. But I think weought to try and do that to get some more shoulder, spine length, intomy suit and then see if I can get it on maybe tomorrow." In the meantime, the crew asked mission control who should sleepwhere. "This is David," Wolf called. "Just wondering, if we have toseparate, we'd just like to know which side we're supposed to go to." "We're still discussing the answer to your question about what oursituation is right now in terms of where each of you would come home inan emergency," replied Ellen Ochoa from mission control. "We'd like toget Andy's thoughts on the viability of using Dave's suit in anemergency right now if he needed to, whether he thinks he would be ablesuccessfully carry out the full extent of an emergency deorbit usingDave's suit or not." Thomas said he and Solovyev agreed that Thomas could spend the nighton Mir with Wolf's suit available for emergency use. But flightcontrollers in Houston at in Moscow were not comfortable with that idea. "Andy, we've decided that for tonight we'd like to have you sleep onthe shuttle," Ochoa radioed. "We would like Dave to sleep on the Mir.That's going to require reinstalling Dave's seatliner in the Soyuz. Wereally decided that because that is really the only configuration rightnow that is known with everybody feeling completely comfortable aboutall the safety considerations. So we want to go to that configurationwhile we're pursuing other options." 2:15 p.m. Update: Mir crew swap delayed Problems of some sort with the pressure suit U.S. astronaut AndrewThomas would have to wear during an emergency return to Earth from theRussian Mir space station delayed his formal installation today as amember of the Mir-24 crew. Thomas had been scheduled to formally replaceastronaut David Wolf aboard Mir at 9:48 a.m., but Mir-24 commanderAnatoly Solovyev asked for a delay when problems cropped up withThomas's entry suit. A Mir crew member can only be replaced after his or her custom Soyuzseatliner is transferred to the station's entry vehicle and after theastronaut has tested the suit that would be used in a Soyuz re-entry.The seatliner, which is custom built to support an astronaut in his orher entry suit, would be needed to cushion the shock of ground impact ifthe Mir crew was forced to bail out in the Soyuz at some point after theshuttle's departure. Because of the problem with Thomas's suit, the crew was expected tore-install Wolf's seatliner and to find out if Thomas can use portionsof Wolf's suit. As soon as the problem is resolved, Thomas will joinSolovyev's crew and begin sleeping aboard Mir. Wolf then will take hisplace aboard Endeavour. Wolf, wrapping up a 128-day stay in space, says he's looking forwardto a hot pepperoni pizza and "a few beverages" when he gets his feetback on planet Earth. In an interview with CBS News today, Wolf saidhe's looking forward to "everything I think of, even driving my car upto a Stop and Go and walking in and getting a coffee. Every little thingI think of is something I can't wait to go do. Earth is a wonderfulplace." Thomas is scheduled to remain aboard Mir until June when he willreturn to Eart aboard the shuttle Discovery. Thomas is the seventh andfinal U.S. astronaut scheduled for a long-duration stay aboard Mirbefore assembly of the international space station begins later thissummer. "It's time to pass the baton to Andy," Wolf said. "He's a verycapable astronaut and he's ready for the experience of his life. It'llbe tough but it'll be great." The tough part, Wolf said, is coping with one's emotions in theisolated environment of the Russian space station. Asked if he ever feltlonely or depressed, Wolf said "to some degree, yes, I did." "You have to keep a good, rational grip on your mind to hold thosefeelings at bay," he said. "This is something Andy and I will bediscussing and prior crews helped me with that. There's somewhat of alanguage barrier where you can't express all the feelings you'd like toeven though we can communicate operationally quite well. So thosefeelings are a big part of this kind of a mission." Asked what surprised him the most about life aboard Mir, Wolf said "Ihonestly was surprised at just how much work it really is." "We really worked from nine in the morning until midnight, every day,seven days a week, holidays included," he said. "That's what it takes toreally operate a space station and conduct a full science program. Itreally didn't hurt once you get to expect that type of work level. It'sjust what you do in space." In the meantime, "I've requested a pizza with pepperoni and mushroomsand I think a few beverages will go along fine with that." Thomas said he believes he is psychologically prepared for his stayaboard Mir, but he agreed it could pose problems. "It is going to be isolated," he said. "You know, you think you'regoing to be psychologically prepared but things often turn around andsurprise you. I'll have to give you my response as to how I feel afterthe event of seeing Endeavour leave. But I think it's going to betough." That will be in part because of Mir's cramped interior. "The thing that strikes me the most is unlike the training modules Isaw in Russia, there's an awful lot of equipment stored on the walls, onthe floor and on the ceiling in here and as a consequence, there's notas much space," Thomas said. "And that's the thing I'm going to noticethe most, I think, is there is not as much working volume as Ianticipated." But it won't be all work and no play. A classical guitar player,Thomas said "we've got music up here, we've got CDs, we've got CD-ROMs,we've got video films so we've got those as entertainment. We've gotexercise machines up here so we can exercise. There's even a guitar uphere so we can play a guitar if we get a chance." And in case anyone is wondering, yes, the astronauts are keeping upwith the latest news from Washington along with everyone else. "We get news from home each day in the version of email we have uphere," said commander Terry Wilcutt. "It's such a mental break to readnews from home, we're able to keep up with what goes on on the sportsfield and in Washington."===================================================================Shuttle Endeavour docks with Mir space station (01/24/98) 7:00 p.m. Update: NASA managers elated with smooth Mir docking NASA managers said this afternoon's shuttle docking with the Mirspace station was virtually flawless and that the combined crews shouldhave no trouble meeting all of their pre-launch objectives. The onlyproblem of any significance involved misconfigured valves in thevestibule between the shuttle and Mir that delayed hatch opening byabout 15 or 20 minutes. The valves in question were set before launch and should have been inthe closed position. At least one was open and when routine checks werecarried out prior to hatch opening, the vestibule failed to holdpressure. The crew then powered up the switches, set them correctly andpressed ahead with no further problems. "We did have a set of valves that were misconfigured," said leadflight director Phil Engelauf. "It was a simple procedure to close thosevalves and then everything after that went just fine. My team did a realgood job, [commander Terry Wilcutt's] team did a fantastic job as welland everything has gone just perfectly on this flight up to this point.With us now docked, we're ready to press on with the transfers andpayload operations and we don't see any obstacles to a completelysuccessful mission." Frank Culbertson, manager of the shuttle-Mir docking program, saidMir is in good condition, "it's operating very well and it of courseheld attitude very well for us." "I think the Russian public is probably very proud of their crew upthere," he said. "It has brought the Mir back into good shape, they'veadded systems, repaired systems, performed very, very well during thismission. And Dave Wolf as a part of that, I think, is very proud ofhaving participated in that mission and is anxious to come home and telleverybody about it." 6:00 p.m. Update: Shuttle crew welcomed aboard Mir station Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev and his crew welcomed the shuttleEndeavour's crew aboard the Mir space station today after floating intothe shuttle's docking module and happily hugging and shaking hands withtheir long-awaited NASA visitors. Shuttle skipper Terry Wilcutt crankedopen a final hatch between the two spacecraft at 5:24 p.m. following apicture-perfect docking a little more than two hours earlier. "You guys look great. You guys look wonderful. This is really fun!"said U.S. astronaut David Wolf, launched to Mir last September aboardthe shuttle Atlantis. "Thanks for coming to get me! I could have livedfine a lot longer, psychologically, physically, but there's a lot of funand good business to be done on Earth. It's time to go back, I think.I'll hand the ball over the Andy. He's very capable and should enjoythis." Astronaut Andrew Thomas will replace Wolf as a Mir-24 crew memberearly Sunday, becoming the seventh and final NASA astronaut to serve along-duration stay aboard the Russian station. Earlier in the day,astronaut Chris Hadfield in Houston asked Thomas about his impressionsof Mir as the astronaut looked at his new home through Endeavour'soverhead windows. "What's it look like?" Hadfield asked. "Home sweet home," Thomas replied. "It's an impressive sight,actually, it's just amazing. It's been described as a big mosquito or adragonfly and that's right, it's got all kinds of wings on it. It's anincredible sight." For his part, Wolf seemed a bit choked up as Endeavour arrived,saying at one point "I don't know where home is, the United States,Russia or space?" Following the hatch opening, the combined crews gathered in the Mircore module for a traditional gift exchange and welcoming ceremony infront of U.S. and Russian flags. Wolf could barely contain himself,laughing and hugging his U.S. and Russian crewmates, while Thomasappeared a bit more reserved. Not surprising, perhaps, given theprospect of four months on board the Russian station. "Welcome to our space station Mir," Solovyev said in surprisinglygood English. "We're really glad to see you again." "Thank you, Anatoly," Wilcutt replied. "It is our honor to be here onspace station Mir and we thank you for your welcome. We look forward topicking up our friend, Dave, and bringing him back home. Of course,we'll be sad for leaving our friend Andy but we know another crew willbe here shortly to pick him up. In the meantime, we know he'll be ingood hands." The shuttle crew then presented their Mir-24 counterparts with freshoranges, chocolate space shuttles, new notebooks, ink pens and a set ofSwiss Army knives with shuttle emblems on the side. "Life's been a little confusing for a year and a half now. I'm notsure whether I live in Russia, space or America but I know it's going tobe America next," Wolf said. "Thanks for coming. And Andy, I lookforward to helping you get adjusted and I think you're in for awonderful experience, one of the best of your whole life." "Thanks, David, Anatoly," Thomas said. "I've only been in here a fewminutes, I can see I have an awful lot to learn, though, despite all thetraining. It's going to be a fascinating time, no doubt about that. Sothank you both." "Anatoly will help you learn!" Wolf said, prompting a wave oflaughter. The joint crews then signed off to begin safety briefings and to geton with the work of transferring supplies and equipment to and from Mir. 4:00 p.m. Update: Shuttle docks with Mir station Streaking through space at five miles per second, the shuttleEndeavour and the Russian Mir space station gently docked today, kickingoff a flurry of activity to transfer equipment and supplies to the agingoutpost and to replace astronaut David Wolf with a final U.S. crewmember. With commander Terry Wilcutt at the controls, Endeavour docked withMir at 3:14:31 p.m. as the two spacecraft sailed 240 miles abovesouthern Russia in orbital darkness. "It looks like a good capture," Wilcutt radioed a few seconds lateras the shuttle's Russian-built docking system latched onto Mir. "Congratulations, Endeavour," replied astronaut Chris Hadfield fromHouston. For astronaut David Wolf, launched to Mir last September aboard theshuttle Atlantis, Endeavour's arrival marked an emotional moment afterfour months in space. "This whole event is touching me a little more than I predicted," heradioed the shuttle, obviously happy to see his ride home showing upright on time. "Well, we're glad to be here," astronaut Bonnie Dunbar replied fromEndeavour. "You know we barely felt your docking," Wolf said a few minuteslater. "It was extremely smooth. Much less impact than a Progress. ... Iguess you could call this a midnight rendezvous." "How'd it look at night?" "It was really something at night with the cities below," Wolf said. Wolf will be replaced aboard Mir Sunday morning by astronaut AndrewThomas, the seventh and final U.S. astronaut scheduled for along-duration stay aboard the Russian space station. In the meantime,the combined crews plan to spend the rest of today opening hatchesbetween the two vehicles, holding a brief welcoming ceremony andbeginning work to transfer more than two tons of equipment and suppliesto Mir. 12:53 p.m. Update: Shuttle Endeavour begins final rendezvous The terminal phase of the shuttle Endeavour's rendezvous with the Mirspace station began at 12:51 p.m. with a critical firing of theorbiter's maneuvering jets. The burn went smoothly and the shuttleremains on track for docking at 3:14 p.m. 9:00 a.m. Update: Shuttle crew set for Mir rendezvous Heading for an afternoon docking with the Mir space station, theEndeavour astronauts were awakened this morning at 8:48 a.m. by arecording of John Denver's "Calypso" beamed up from mission control inHouston. Endeavour is scheduled to dock with Mir at 3:14:15 p.m. after atwo-day orbital chase. This is the eighth of nine planned shuttle-Mirdockings making up what is known as Phase One of the international spacestation program. The goal is to pick up U.S. astronaut David Wolf afterfour months aboard Mir; drop of Andrew Thomas in his place; and todeliver several thousand pounds of fresh water, critical supplies andrepair equipment. Thomas will return to Earth in June aboard the shuttleDiscovery to conclude the Phase One program. Today's rendezvous timeline formally begins at 9:48 a.m., but finalapproach will not begin until a critical rocket firing called the TIburn at 12:51:21 p.m. That firing, and subsequent correction burns, willput Endeavour 600 feet directly below Mir at 2:21 p.m. on what is knownas the positive "r bar," an imaginary line running from Mir to thecenter of the Earth. The shuttle then will slowly move up the r bar,using the planet's gravity and orbital mechanics to provide naturalbraking without having to fire upward-pointing thrusters that mightdamage Mir's fragile solar arrays. Here are the latest rendezvoustimeline numbers from Houston: TIME................EVENT 12:51:21 p.m........TI burn; begin final rendezvous sequence 01:19:15 p.m........Mir maneuvers to docking attitude 01:50:15 p.m........Mir in attitude 01:59:30 p.m........Sunrise 02:21:15 p.m........Endeavour on +r bar 600 feet below Mir 02:42:15 p.m........Start approach to 170 feet 02:44:15 p.m........Stationkeeping at 170 feet below Mir 02:48:55 p.m........Endeavour is 100 feet from Mir 02:57:40 p.m........Sunset 03:03:25 p.m........Stationkeeping at 30 feet 03:08:25 p.m........Begin final approach 03:12:15 p.m........Mir docking window opens 03:14:15 p.m........Endeavour docks with Mir 03:31:15 p.m........Docking window closes 03:31:58 p.m........Sunrise "I'll be doing the final bit of flying, but I'd like to give creditto my entire crew," commander Terry Wilcutt said before launch. "We allhave roles and responsibilities during the rendezvous and I'm countingon each of them to do their part of it. "Starting with the lift-off, we'll do a series of burns that willbring us closer and closer to the Mir, as we chase it more or lessaround the planet until we are close enough to start the final maneuversto rendezvous. And once we get within a couple of thousand feet, afterwe've done these series of burns, I'll take over manual flying, and I'llhave [pilot Joe Edwards] up front in the commander's seat. I'll actuallybe flying out of a rear window of the orbiter, looking out the overheadwindow. That way he can back me up and monitor our burns. "And we will slow the closing rate with Mir until we get close enoughto actually dock," Wilcutt said. "It's been described by some people asa difficult task. I really don't think it's that difficult, but it isvery, very delicate. When you're bringing together two vehicles in spacethat weigh as much as the shuttle and Mir, you want to make sure thatyou tap each other as lightly as possible. So our final closing velocitywill be about an inch a second, and that's about as much as we want totap the Mir with the shuttle. But that should be enough to get thedocking modules to mate up. And then we'll open the hatches and starttransferring stuff. The "stuff" referred to by Wilcutt is several thousand pounds ofsupplies, repair equipment and other material bound for Mir. Here's thebreakdown: MATERIAL.............TO MIR........FROM MIR Water................1,400.........N/A U.S. Science.........930.6.........1,680.2 Dara/CNES............N/A...........N/A Russian Logistics....3,247.2.......678.8 Miscellaneous........257.4.........470.1 TOTAL................4,435.2.......2,829.1 If all goes well, the hatches between Mir and Endeavour should beopened by 4:53 p.m., or a bit earlier depending on how things go.Transfer operations will begin after a welcoming ceremony and safetybriefings for both crews. Thomas will not officially replace Wolf untilSunday morning, after his custom Soyuz seatliner and entry suit aretransferred to Mir. From that point forward, Thomas could return toEarth aboard Mir's Soyuz entry vehicle in an emergency.===================================================================Astronauts work minor glitches, close in on Mir (01/23/98) 5:30 p.m. With Endeavour slowly but surely closing in on the Mir space station,the astronauts and ground controllers are working through a handful ofminor technical problems while gearing up for rendezvous and dockingSaturday. Lee Briscoe, mission operations representative at the JohnsonSpace Center, said none of the problems poses any threat to Endeavour'smission. "The crew is getting down to business and we're headed toward our Mirrendezvous," he said. "We're looking forward to taking Andy Thomas up,bringing Dave Wolf back and getting our [logistics] exchanges done." As mentioned earlier, the crew has had problems with the switch usedto operate one of Endeavour's five flight computers. In addition, one ofthe shuttle's antenna selection systems is not working properly and thehard drive on a risk mitigation experiment appears to be malfunctioning. Briscoe said the shuttle can fly just fine with just one operationalantenna electronics assembly and that troubleshooting would continue onthe one that is not working properly. As for the computer switchproblem, he said the crew "didn't feel a detent in the run-standby-haltswitch that works that machine." "The folks looked at it a little bit and it looked like the machinewas OK in run," Briscoe said. "It would go directly to halt, though, andyou had to tease the switch if you wanted to get it into the standbyposition." The flight plan called for the computer to be shut down afterreaching orbit and to be powered up later for the Mir rendezvous. "They weren't sure they actually got it into standby," Briscoe said."You'd like to get it into standby because it shuts itself down in anice, graceful manner and puts everything to bed in the proper manner sowhen you bring it back up everything's OK. We think that may not havehappened last night when we brought that computer down. They're going tobe doing some more troubleshooting on that machine this afternoon. We'llbring it back up, reload the machine and if it comes up to run andeverything's OK, we'll probably leave it up in run at least for a numberof days, perhaps through the docked portion of the mission and theflyaround." He said the computer is not considered a "failed" computer, "you justhave to get it in the right condition." 12:00 p.m. Update The Endeavour astronauts were awakened to begin their first full dayin space at 10:48 a.m. As of 7 a.m., the shuttle was about 2,300 milesbehind the Mir space station and catching up by about 287 miles perorbit. Docking is scheduled for 3:12 p.m. Saturday. Commander TerryWilcutt and pilot Joe Edwards plan to fire Endeavour's maneuvering jetstoday to fine-tune the shuttle's approach and a centerline camera willbe installed in the orbiter's docking module that will provide criticalviews of Mir during final approach. The astronauts also will check outthe rendezvous tools they plan to use Saturday. Shortly after reaching orbit Thursday night, one of the shuttle'sfive general purpose computers, or GPCs, exhibited apparent problemswith a switch used to turn the computer off in stages, going from "run"to "standby" to "halt." Last night, the computer went from run directlyto halt without first going into standby mode. The computer currently isshut down, but flight controllers plan to bring it back up later fornormal operations. Will advise. The astronauts plan to discuss this latest Mir docking mission withtwo radio programs this evening starting at 8:03 p.m. Quotes and detailswill be posted here as soon as possible thereafter.===================================================================Shuttle Endeavour rockets into orbit (01/22/98) The shuttle Endeavour vaulted away from its oceanside launching padtonight after a smooth countdown and rocketed up the East Coast intoorbit to deliver fresh supplies, repair gear and a final U.S. crewmember to the Russian Mir space station. With its three main engines roaring at full throttle, Endeavour'stwin solid-fuel boosters ignited with a rush of white-hot flame at9:48:15 p.m. - right on time - instantly pushing the orbiter up into thenight sky. Putting on a spectacular display, the light from Endeavour's powerfulboosters lighted up the sky for dozens of miles around as the shuttlemajestically climbed skyward and wheeled about to line up on the propertrajectory. About two minutes after liftoff, the boosters werejettisoned, their fuel exhausted, and Endeavour continued toward orbiton the power of its three new Block 2A main engines, upgraded to improvereliability and performance. The brilliant white light from theRocketdyne engines finally disappeared from view a little more than fiveminutes after liftoff and three minutes later, Endeavour slipped intoits planned preliminary orbit. The only problem in the initial hours of Endeavour's flight was anapparent glitch with general purpose computer No. 3, one of five flightcomputers on board the shuttle. But engineers in Houston said theybelieved the problem involved a faulty switch and not the computeritself. Additional troubleshooting was expected to make sure. At the moment of Endeavour's liftoff, the aging space station wasabout 3,892 miles ahead of the shuttle approaching the west coast ofIreland. The plane of Mir's orbit is tilted 51.6 degrees to the equator,an orbit that requires most of the shuttle's fuel and power to reach. Tocatch up with Mir, Endeavour had to take off within about 10 minutes ofthe time when Earth's rotation carried the launch pad directly into theplane of Mir's orbit. By launching directly into that orbit, and flyingat a slightly lower altitude, Endeavour will slowly catch up with Mir,setting up a docking at 3:12 p.m. Saturday if all goes well. On board Endeavour are commander Terry Wilcutt, pilot Joe Edwards,flight engineer Michael Anderson, payload commander Bonnie Dunbar, JamesReilly, Russian air force Lt. Col. Salizhan Sharipov and Andrew Thomas.Thomas is making his second flight, Wilcutt his third and Dunbar herfifth, a feat achieved by only one other woman in the history of spaceflight: Shannon Lucid. Awaiting the Endeavour crew's arrival aboard Mir are Mir-24 commanderAnatoly Solovyev, flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. astronautDavid Wolf, who is wrapping up a four-month stay aboard the station. "We begin '98 by sending out last astronaut for his stay on Mir,we're going to howl for the Wolfman," orbiter test conductor RobertaWyrick radioed the shuttle just before liftoff. Launched to Mir in September aboard the Atlantis, Wolf will bereplaced by Thomas, the seventh and final U.S. long-duration Mir crewmember. Thomas is scheduled to return to Earth aboard the shuttleDiscovery in June and at that point, American astronauts will havelogged a cumulative 2.7 years in space since joint flights began in1995. "You read sometimes about people getting to do amazing things and Istill have to pinch myself a bit to believe I'm going to get thisextraordinary adventure, an adventure, I think, that is probably quiteunique and one of the most unique things that you could possibly do inthe latter part of the 20th Century," Thomas said. "And I feel veryprivileged that I'm going to be undertaking this great adventure andthat I'll be essentually the last crew person from the U.S. closing outthis Mir-shuttle program. It's really a great honor." As for past problems with Mir's balky computer system and othercomponents, Thomas said he has no major concerns. "I spent a year in Russia studying the systems they use on the spacestation Mir," he said. "And as an engineer, I can say these systems arewell designed, they're robust, very strong, as evidenced by the factthat Mir continues to fly after 12 years and I have a lot of confidencein them. I know there will be times inevitably when the flight will beuncomfortable perhaps, but I don't feel the safety is an issue for meflying on this vehicle." Along with delivering Thomas and picking up Wolf, Endeavour's crewplans to drop off some 1,400 pounds of fresh water; 931 pounds of U.S.science equipment; 3,247 pounds of Russian supplies and equipment -including a new air conditioner, compressor and spare computer hardware- and 257 pounds of miscellaneous items. For the trip home, Endeavourwill carry nearly 3,000 pounds of experiment samples and equipment nolonger needed on Mir. This is the eighth of nine planned shuttle flights to Mir. The goalof the joint missions, known as Phase One of the international spacestation program, is to iron out the command and control procedures thatwill be needed to jointly build and operate the much larger spacestation. At the same time, the Russians are able to use the shuttle todeliver critical supplies and NASA is getting experience withlong-duration spaceflight. "For myself and my crew members, I think it's a great way to startthe new year," Wilcutt said. "We represent kind of a transition. There'sone flight after us in Phase One, that'll mark the end of that, but weare more or less the beginning of the end of Phase One ... and we startwhat everyone has been looking forward to, the building of theInternational Space Station." Program managers from both sides said the program has beeninvaluable. "Looking back at the last five years, I think with horror that if westarted the program of international space station without these fiveyears of preparation, I don't think we would have been successful," saidValery Ryumin, Russian director of shuttle-Mir operations. Ryumin's NASA counterpart, Frank Culbertson, agreed, saying: "Eventhough this is the seventh and last launch of an American to spend fourmonths on the Mir, I think we are continuing to learn, we are continuingto see new things and we are continuing to experience things in spaceand on the ground that apply to our operations in space that are veryreadily going to be transferred to international space station."7:00 p.m. Update: Shuttle Endeavour set for launch (01/22/98) The shuttle Endeavour's crew is strapped in, the hatch is closed andlocked and all systems are "go" for blastoff at 9:48:15 p.m. There areno technical problems and the weather appears to be cooperating. Forreaders interesting in such things, tonight's launch window has beenrevised slightly. Here are the latest numbers: WINDOW OPENS...PLANNED LAUNCH..WINDOW CLOSES 09:43:48 p.m...09:48:15 p.m....09:51.42 p.m. (flight day 3 docking) 09:51:52 p.m...................09:56:11 p.m. (flight day 4 docking)6:30 p.m. Update: Shuttle crew straps in for blastoff The shuttle Endeavour's six-man one-woman crew began strapping in forblastoff this evening shortly before 6:30 p.m. There are no technicalproblems of any significance at pad 39A and forecasters continue topredict good weather for this evening's launch attempt.2:00 p.m. Update: Fueling underway (01/22/98) Engineers fixed a leak in a nitrogen purge system at launch pad 39Aand began pumping a half-million gallons of rocket fuel into the shuttleEndeavour's external tank at 1:50 p.m. Fueling originally was scheduledto get underway around 12:30 p.m. but it was delayed when leaks werediscovered in two gaseous nitrogen lines used to purge critical systemsduring fueling. Only one line is required for fueling and while onecould not be immediately repaired, the other was. Liftoff remains onschedule for 9:48:16 p.m. and forecasters continue to predict a 70percent chance of acceptable weather. Here is the schedule for the rest of today's countdown: TIME.........EVENT 01:50 p.m....Fueling begins 04:30 p.m....NASA TV begins 04:48 p.m....Crew meal/photo op 04:50 p.m....Fueling complete 05:58 p.m....The astronauts head for pad 39A 06:28 p.m....The crew begins boarding Endeavour 07:43 p.m....The shuttle's hatch is closed 08:38 p.m....T-20 hold begins (10-minute hold) 08:48 p.m....The countdown resumes 08:59 p.m....T-9 hold begins (40-minute hold) 09:39 p.m....The countdown resumes 09:48 p.m....Endeavour takes off1 p.m. Update: Weather improves; fueling delayed by minor snag(01/22/98) With forecasters now predicting sharply improved weather, engineersat the Kennedy Space Center are gearing up to fuel the shuttle Endeavourfor blastoff to the Mir space station this evening at 9:48:16 p.m.Fueling originally was scheduled to begin shortly before 12:30 p.m., butit was held up by work to troubleshoot a suspect pneumatic regulator atthe launch pad. The problem is not considered serious and fueling shouldget underway shortly. Meanwhile, Air Force meteorologists have revised an initially gloomyforecast that called for a 60 percent chance of thick, possibly chargedclouds that would force a 24-hour delay. The forecast now calls for a 70percent chance of good weather tonight, thanks to thunderstorms thatmoved farther to the north than had been expected. This is the eighth of nine planned shuttle flights to the Mir spacestation and the first such mission by the Endeavour. This evening'slaunch also marks the debut of NASA's new Block 2A main engines, part ofa $1 billion upgrade program to more than double the reliability of thecompact powerplants. Among other improvements, the new engines featuremore robust high-pressure oxygen pumps built by Pratt & Whitney and anew, wide-throat combustion chamber provided by engine-builderRocketdyne that will lower internal operating pressures andtemperatures. Block 2 engines ultimately will include a Pratt & Whitneyhigh pressure hydrogen pump. The Block 2A engines, meanwhile, haveundergone an extensive series of test firings but this evening's flightmarks their first use on an actual mission. Here's a bit more background from a story written last October forSpace News: By WILLIAM HARWOOD Space News Correspondent CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Upgraded shuttle main engines will be certifiedto operate at a slightly higher power setting for all space stationassembly missions, providing enough extra boost to carry an additional500 pounds of cargo to orbit. While some engineers believe the new block two engines could beoperated routinely at even higher throttle settings, NASA managers aretaking a conservative approach. "We're out there on the edge and you'd think, 'well, a little closer tothe edge, that's not that big a deal,'" said Chris Singer, an engineerat NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. "But you just don't know howclose you are. So we run our test program, hopefully, to demonstratewe've got margin against that edge," Singer added. "But we don't like towalk along it." Shuttle engines currently in service are limited to operating at 104percent power for normal ascents and emergency aborts involving a singleengine failure. For some aborts, power levels of 109 percent are allowedif crew survival is at stake. But upgraded Block 2A engines, scheduledto debut in January, will be certified to operate at 104.5 percent powerfor normal ascents, allowing shuttles to carry 500 pounds more payloadwith just a slight increase in operating pressure and turbopump speed. "They're going to use that for all nominal station flights," Singersaid. Finally, NASA's Block 2 engine, the end result of a $1 billion upgradeimplemented in the wake of the Challenger disaster, will be able tooperate at up to 106 percent power for normal ascents and aborts. Block2 engines are scheduled for first flight next fall. Eventually, Singersaid, the Block 2 engines may be certified to operate at 109 percentpower for aborts involving a single engine failure. The results aredramatic. As it now stands, an engine failure in the first 240 seconds or so offlight would force a crew to attempt a risky return to the Kennedy SpaceCenter. With engines certified to operate at 109 percent power foraborts, that window would be reduced by about 30 seconds, allowing acrew to head for a more benign landing in Spain or Africa instead. "It gives you a little more flexibility in getting to a downstreamabort," Singer said. But the higher throttle setting would result in more wear and tear onmachinery already operating, as Singer said, "on the edge." "We used to talk about 109 percent for nominal missions," he said. "Forthe Galileo and Ulysses missions [to Jupiter and the sun], they weregoing to be 109 percent missions. After [Challenger], the communityagreed we don't want to push this machine so hard." But for Block 2 engines, 106 percent aborts can be flown with little orno additional maintenance or inspections. Space shuttles use two disposable solid-fuel boosters and three liquidfueled main engines to reach orbit. The hydrogen-burning engines arebuilt by Boeing's Rocketdyne Division of Canoga Park, Calif. The enginesoriginally featured lightweight Rocketdyne-built high pressure oxygenand hydrogen turbopumps. But in the wake of the 1986 Challengerdisaster, NASA implemented a $1 billion program to upgrade the powerfulengines to reduce maintenance and improve reliability. The upgrades include heavier and presumably more reliable pumps builtby Pratt & Whitney of West Palm Beach, Fla., a so-called large throatcombustion chamber to reduce operating pressure and a redesigned hot gasmanifold that routes hydrogen and oxygen to the combustion chamber forburning. Work on the Pratt & Whitney hydrogen pump started later than originallyplanned, prompting NASA to implement the engine upgrade in phases. TheBlock 1 engine, currently in service, features the Pratt & Whitneyoxygen pump, the new hot gas manifold and other improvements implementedby Rocketdyne. The Block 2A engine adds the large throat combustionchamber. The Block 2 engine will include all of the previousimprovements along with the Pratt & Whitney-built high pressure hydrogenpump. The Block 2 engines will be certified to operate between 104 percentand 106 percent power for normal ascents. Two heavyweight space stationmissions currently require 106 percent throttle settings. The Block 2certification program requires two engines to undergo an exhaustiveseries of test firings at various throttle settings, including 111percent power to demonstrate the engine's overall safety margin. "Assuming our cerification program comes out right, we'll have 22starts on each of two engines, with some 11,000 seconds [of run timeeach], with power levels ranging from 104 all the way through 111,"Singer said. "So assuming things come out as we anticipate, we'll beable to run an abort (and) it'll just be a standard turnaround. That'sthe goal."===================================================================Culbertson outlines launch options (01/21/98) While the odds are good the shuttle Endeavour will get off the groundby Saturday night (see below for launch details), NASA and the RussianSpace Agency have worked out contingency plans in case worse comes toworse. To avoid a traffic jam in space, NASA and Russian planners aretrying to juggle Endeavour's flight and the launch of a Soyuz spacecraftJan. 29 carrying a new crew to the Russian station: Mir-25 commanderTalgat Musabayev, flight engineer Nikolai Budarin and French researcherLeopold Eyharts. Eyharts will return to Earth around Feb. 19 with Mir-24commander Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov. Assuming an on-time launch for Endeavour, the Mir-25 crew would dockon the day the shuttle returned to Earth. No problem. But "if we don'tget off by Saturday, the plan would be to stand down from launching theshuttle for about a week while they continue their launch preparationson the Soyuz," said Frank Culbertson, NASA's director of shuttle-Miroperations. "They would launch the Soyuz on the 29th of January and we wouldlaunch the shuttle probably on the evening of the 30th. [The shuttle]would dock while the six crew members, both Soyuzes, are there. Theissue we worked on this was whether we could have 13 people on board thecombined spacecraft at the same time or not and technically it'sdoable," Culbertson said. "Both sides agreed to it and we can accomplishthat safely. "The other side of that is how do you conduct the operations and theagreement is if we had to arrive during that time period, they wouldstand down from the French [research] program for four days while we'redocked and we would conduct the transfer operations and get Andy set upand Dave transferred back. Then ... after the shuttle had left, theywould add back the number of days they gave up on the research programand bring the Soyuz down three or four days later than originallyplanned."===================================================================Weather outlook unchanged for Endeavour launch (01/21/98) Working through a handful of minor technical problems, engineers arepressing ahead with the shuttle Endeavour's countdown to launch Thursdaynight, keeping an eye on threatening weather that continues to promise a60 percent chance of clouds that would force a delay. NASA test directorJeff Spaulding said none of the technical problems posed any threat tothe launch schedule. A suspect computer display in the shuttle's cockpitmay have to be replaced, along with a motor assembly used to remotelydrive a circuit breaker on one of the pumps used to load the shuttle'sexternal tank with propellant. With work proceeding smoothly at pad 39A, Air Force meteorologistscontinue to predict a 60 percent chance of thick clouds that wouldprevent a takeoff during the shuttle's short launch window. The outlookremains 60 percent "no go" for Friday and improves to 80 percent "go" onSaturday. During work yesterday to test pyrotechnic devices on the shuttle,engineers noticed two pilot whales had beached themselves near pad 39A.Spaulding said the testing was held up long enough to let Sea Worldemployees move the whales out of the area. If all goes well, a protective gantry will be pulled away fromEndeavour around 4 a.m. Thursday and shortly before 9 a.m., personnelwill evacuate the launch pad area for fueling. NASA's mission managementteam will meet at 11:30 a.m. to assess the weather and any technicalproblems with fueling set to begin at 12:22 p.m. The three-hour processshould be complete by 3:30 p.m. Here are the latest launch times andwindows: WINDOW OPENS.....PREFERRED.......WINDOW CLOSES LAUNCH TIME Thursday 09:43:16 p.m.....09:48:16 p.m....09:53:14 p.m. Friday 09:20:41 p.m.....09:25:41 p.m....09:30:40 p.m. Saturday 08:58:08 p.m.....TBD.............09:08:06 p.m. Assuming an on-time launch, Endeavour will dock with Mir at 3:12 p.m.Saturday, undock at 11:52 a.m. on Jan. 29 and land at 5:36 p.m. on Jan.31. If the launch slips to Friday, docking with Mir would be scheduledfor 3:54 p.m. on Superbowl Sunday. Undocking would occur at 11 a.m. onJan. 30 with landing would be on tap at 6:15 p.m. on Feb. 1.===================================================================01/20/98 Update: Weather threatens shuttle launch Keeping tabs on threatening weather, engineers at the Kennedy SpaceCenter are pressing ahead with work to ready the shuttle Endeavour forblastoff Thursday night on a mission to the Russian Mir space station.Endeavour's 10-minute launch window opens at 9:43:16 p.m. and closes at9:53:14 p.m., but for technical reasons, flight controllers want tolaunch the shuttle at 9:48:16 p.m. "Overall, the STS-89 countdown is going rather well and we're ontime," said NASA test director John Guidi. Most of today will be spent loading liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogenaboard the shuttle to power the ship's three electicity producing fuelcells. Overnight, engineers replaced one of Endeavour's three forwardcomputer screens because of a suspect power supply. The launch windows for this mission are rather complicated, definedby Mir's orbit and the shuttle's ability to reach the space station. Asit turns out, Endeavour must launch within about 10 minutes of the timewhen the Kennedy Space Center rotates through the plane of Mir's orbit.To maximize performance, NASA would prefer to launch in the middle ofthat 10-minute window. Here are the latest numbers for all three days: WINDOW OPENS.....PREFERRED.......WINDOW CLOSES LAUNCH TIME Thursday 09:43:16 p.m.....09:48:16 p.m....09:53:14 p.m. Friday 09:20:42 p.m.....TBD.............09:30:40 p.m. Saturday 08:58:08 p.m.....TBD.............09:08:06 p.m. A launch on Thursday or Friday would result in a Mir docking two dayslater. A Saturday launch would result in a linkup three days later. Allthese times are subject to slight change based on final radar trackingof Mir. With work at pad 39A going smoothly, forecasters are monitoring theapproach of a frontal system that promises to bring thick clouds overcentral Florida by Thursday evening. Ed Priselac, an Air Force weatherofficer, said the front will be west of Florida, but it is expected topush clouds into the launch area. The shuttle is not allowed to flythrough thick clouds because of the possibility of natural or rockettriggered lightning. "Our concerns on Thursday, primarily first would be thunderstormanvils," Priselac said. "Secondly, if there's a thunderstorm debriscloud it has to be at least three hours old, we can't fly through it.And thirdly, there is a concern for thick layered clouds. If we haveclouds 4,500 feet thick or greater and they lie between the zero andminus 20-degree Celsius temperature range, we cannot fly through thoseas well. And given all that, we do have obvious concerns about gettingoff the ground on Thursday and again on Friday." Overall, Priselac said, there's a 60 percent chance of a launch delayThursday and Friday. The odds improve to 80 percent "go" by Saturdaynight. NASA normally only makes two launch tries in a row beforestanding down a day to give the launch team a break. But there ispressure on the agency to get Endeavour off the ground as soon aspossible. If the flight is delayed past Saturday, another attempt likelycould not be made until well into February because of a U.S. launch andother Russian flights to Mir. "If just the [U.S.] was the consideration, we could potentially tryand launch again on the 30th," Guidi said. "But right now, there aresome other activities at the program level as far as Soyuz lifespan andother activities on orbit that the Russian space program would want toweigh in on and that decision would be made after Saturday if it has tobe made at all." If the forecast holds up, NASA managers likely would attempt threelaunch tries in a row to get Endeavour off the ground. And finally, as reported over the weekend, two of Endeavour's threehydraulic systems have small leaks. Engineers calculate that over a full10-day mission, system No. 1 would leak about 140 cubic centimeters ofhydraulic fluid and system No. 3 would leak about 73 cubic centimeters. "Our allowable is about 144," said Guidi. "So we're below that and infact, the reservoirs on the auxilliary power units and hydraulic systemscan withstand well over 900 cubic centimeters of leakage each. So we'rewell within allowable and well within a long-standing requirement."===================================================================Shuttle mission preview (01/20/98) Carrying an international crew of seven, the shuttle Endeavour is setfor blastoff to the Mir space station to pick up U.S. astronaut DavidWolf and to drop off Andrew Thomas, the seventh and final Americanastronaut scheduled for a long-duration stay aboard the Russian outpost.Endeavour's crew also plans to deliver some 1,400 pounds of fresh water,1,000 pounds of U.S. science gear and some 3,250 pounds of Russianlogistics. They will bring back some 2,800 pounds of experiment samplesand Russian equipment. "This is the eighth docking mission, the ninth flight of a shuttle tothe Mir and of course we are proceeding into two continuous years ofU.S. presence on board the Mir beginning with Shannon Lucid in March of1996," said Frank Culbertson, NASA director of shuttle-Mir operations. "We are carrying extensive logistics again to the Mir as well asreturning a great deal of hardware and science data. In fact, we'rereturning as much as we can on this mission because the followingmission will only be a single Spacehab and we'll not be able to bring asmuch down as we would otherwise." MATERIAL.............UP (lbs)......DOWN (lbs) Water................1,400.........N/A U.S. Science.........930.6.........1,680.2 Dara/CNES............N/A...........N/A Russian Logistics....3,247.2.......678.8 Miscellaneous........257.4.........470.1 TOTAL................4,435.2.......2,829.1 The flight also is the first for NASA's new Block 2A main engines.The upgraded engines include a Pratt & Whitney-built high pressureoxygen pump, a large throat combustion chamber, a two-duct powerhead anda variety of other changes intended to improve safety and reliability. Anew Pratt & Whitney hydrogen pump will be added later as part of a $1billion engine upgrade program. Endeavour's flight is the eighth of nine planned shuttle-Mir linkupsmaking up what is known as Phase One of the international space stationproject. The idea was to use Mir as a training ground to perfect thejoint U.S.-Russian command and control procedures that will be neededduring construction and operation of the more ambitious internationalstation. For their part, the shuttle would serve the Russians by acting as asupply vehicle, carrying more equipment on a single flight than would bepossible with two or more Progress vehicles. At the same time, the U.S.got a chance to put American astronauts on board Mir to gain experiencewith long-duration spaceflight. When all is said and done, seven U.S.astronauts will have logged some 740 days in space. "It's hard to calculate everything we've learned from Phase One,"said Endeavour commander Terry Wilcutt. "You know, we've testedequipment, [run] risk mitigation experiments. We have checked much ofthe equipment that we intend to fly on the international space stationon the Mir, and we have found some problems with some of it, and we havefixed it. So it's saved us all kinds of problems and time and money bybeing able to test these things on Mir." Valery Ryumin, Culbertson's counterpart in Russia, agreed, saying thetwo nations would not have been able to proceed with the internationalspace station without first working through Phase One. "Looking back at the last five years, I think with horror that if westarted the program of international space station without these fiveyears of preparation, I don't think we would have been successful," hesaid through an interpreter. "And the thing we learned from this programis there are different approaches on each side on how to solve the sameproblems. However, at this point we understand the philosophy of eachside and we can predict what approach the other side would take solvingthe problem." "To tell you the truth," he said, "I feel very sorry that with thenext shuttle docking mission we will end our program. I don't want toleave it at the ninth. So maybe we need to think about how we can extendthis phase to include another, tenth, flight. I just want to say this isa very good program and I am very sorry to see it go." Wilcutt's crew members are Australian-born Thomas, pilot JosephEdwards, payload commander Bonnie Dunbar, flight engineer MichaelAnderson, James Reilly and Russian Air Force Lt. Col. ShakirovichSharipov and Thomas. Wilcutt is making his third space flight, his firstas commander, while Dunbar is making her fifth. Thomas flew once beforebut the rest of the crew members are space rookies. "For myself and my crew members, I think it's a great way to startthe new year," Wilcutt said in a NASA interview. "We do represent kindof a transition. There's one flight after us in Phase One, that'll markthe end of that, but we are more or less the beginning of the end ofPhase One, the initial cooperation with the Russians in space, and thenwe start what everyone has been looking forward to, the building of theInternational Space Station." Wolf was launched to Mir on Sept. 25, replacing astronaut MichaelFoale. Assuming an on-time landing Jan. 31, Wolf will have logged some129 days in space. Thomas is scheduled to spend 138 days in orbit beforereturning to Earth on June 7. At the time of Wolf's launch, the Russian Space Agency was stillrecovering from a series of malfunctions that made headlines in the westthroughout http://finance.yahoo.com/news/brightstar-care-named-best-franchise-110300644.html 1997, most of them resulting from the June 25 collision of aProgress resupply vehicle with the station's Spektr research module. Themodule was punctured and one of its four solar arrays was wrecked.Spektr remains closed off, but the crew has been able to restore powerfrom its three operational arrays and to repair most of the othermalfunctions. The only major problems at present involve a broken air conditioningsystem and trouble with Mir's motion control system. "The air conditioner is still not repaired," Culbertson said."Condensate recovery is being accomplished with the Soyuz, which givesthem about one half or less than normal condensate recovery. So we arecarrying additional components on this next mission, a refrigerationunit for the air conditioner as well as a spare compressor that willallow them to complete repairs and return the condensate recovery andair conditioning systems to normal operations." Along with ferrying needed equipment and consummables to Mir,Endeavour's crew also plans to carry out a series of on-boardexperiments in Earth sciences, fundamental biology, medicine, advancedtechnology development, microgravity research and risk mitigation. First, however, the shuttle has to get there. As usual, Endeavourwill approach the station from directly below, using Earth's gravity andorbital mechanics to provide a sort of natural brake, minimizing theneed to fire upward-pointing jets that could damage the station's solararrays or optical sensors. "Starting with the liftoff we'll do a series of burns that will bringus closer and closer to the Mir, as we chase it more or less, around theplanet until we are close enough to start the final maneuvers torendezvous," Wilcutt said. "And once we get within a couple of thousandfeet, after we've done these series of burns, I'll take over manualflying and I'll have Joe up front in the commander's seat. I'll actuallybe flying out of a rear window of the orbiter, looking out the overheadwindow. That way he can back me up and monitor our burns. "And we will slow the closing rate with Mir until we get close enoughto actually dock," he said. "It's been described by some people as adifficult task. I really don't think it's that difficult, but it isvery, very delicate. When you're bringing together two vehicles in spacethat weigh as much as the shuttle and Mir, you want to make sure thatyou tap each other as lightly as possible. So our final closing velocitywill be about an inch a second, and that's about as much as we want totap the Mir with the shuttle. But that should be enough to get thedocking modules to mate up. And then we'll open the hatches and starttransferring stuff." Thomas will officially join the crew of Mir-25 commander AnatolySolovyev and flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov the morning afterEndeavour docks. At that point, he will begin sleeping aboard Mir andWolf will join Endeavour's crew. Arriving at the Kennedy Space Centerfor launch, Thomas said he had no concerns about Mir's safety. "I spent a year in Russia studying the systems they use on the spacestation Mir," he said. "And as an engineer, I can say these systems arewell designed, they're robust, very strong, as evidenced by the factthat Mir continues to fly after 12 years and I have a lot of confidencein them. I know there will be times inevitably when the flight will beuncomfortable perhaps, but I don't feel the safety is an issue for meflying on this vehicle."===================================================================Crew arrives for start of countdown (01/19/98) The Endeavour astronauts flew to the Kennedy Space Center today forthe start of their countdown to blastoff Thursday night on NASA's eighthshuttle-Mir docking mission. With the countdown scheduled to begin at 7p.m. this evening, liftoff is set for 9:48:16 p.m. Thursday. Butforecasters are predicting a 60 percent chance of thick clouds andthunderstorm anvils during the shuttle's 10-minute launch window thatcould force a 24-hour delay. The forecast for Friday and Saturday is 60percent "go." Endeavour's six-man one-woman crew appeared up beat and optimisticwhile chatting with reporters after arriving in Florida. "We had a great flight down. It's definitely our pleasure to behere," said commander Terry Wilcutt. "It's nice to have a piece of thelast long-duration crew member swap out." The goal of Endeavour's flight is to deliver astronaut Andrew Thomasto Mir to replace David Wolf, who was launched to the Russian stationaboard the shuttle Atlantis in September. While docked, the combinedcrews will transfer several thousand pounds of equipment, supplies andfresh water to Mir and move other equipment and experiment samples fromthe station to Endeavour for return to Earth. "In addition to all the science we're transferring to Mir, we alsohave about 23 other science and engineering investigations on board theshuttle," said payload commander Bonnie Dunbar, making her fifth spaceflight and her second visit to Mir. "So we have a very challenging andinteresting flight." This is the eighth of nine planned shuttle-Mir docking flightsserving as a training ground for joint operations aboard theinternational space station. Thomas is the seventh and final U.S.astronaut scheduled for a long-duration stay aboard Mir. He will bereturned to Earth in June. "How do you like my space station haircut?" Thomas asked reporterstoday, taking off his baseball cap and displaying a fresh crew cut. "Doyou think it's going to last four months? Probably not. "You read sometimes about people getting to do amazing things and Istill have to pinch myself a bit to believe I'm going to get thisextraordinary adventure, an adventure, I think, that is probably quiteunique and one of the most unique things that you could possibly do inthe latter part of the 20th Century. And I feel very privileged that I'mgoing to be undertaking this great adventure and that I'll beessentually the last crew person from the U.S. closing out thisMir-shuttle program. It's really a great honor." Asked if he had any concerns about flight safety aboard Mir, Thomassaid he is convinced the aging station is sound. "I spent a year in Russia studying the systems they use on the spacestation Mir," he said. "And as an engineer, I can say these systems arewell designed, they're robust, very strong, as evidenced by the factthat Mir continues to fly after 12 years and I have a lot of confidencein them. I know there will be times inevitably when the flight will beuncomfortable perhaps, but I don't feel the safety is an issue for meflying on this vehicle."===================================================================Hydraulic leaks monitored (01/17/98) Shuttle engineers met late today to discuss what - if anything - todo about two small leaks in two of the shuttle Endeavour's threehydraulic systems. The redundant hydraulic systems provide the power tomove the shuttle's wing flaps, main engine nozzles, rudder, speed brakeand landing gear brakes. It does not appear the leaks can be fixed atthe launch pad, but the leak rate is so low engineers decided to pressahead with work to ready Endeavour for blastoff Jan. 22 to the Mir spacestation. But the issue will be revisited at the final management meeting theday before liftoff. One suspects Endeavour will be cleared to fly "asis," but one never knows about such things. Will advise.===================================================================Shuttle crew practices emergency procedures (01/10/98) The shuttle Endeavour's international crew reviewed emergencyprocedures today at pad 39A before a dress-rehearsal countdown Saturdayto clear the way for blastoff Jan. 22 on a flight to the Russian Mirspace station. Endeavour is scheduled to take off on the 89th shuttlemission - NASA's eighth flight to the Russian space station - at 9:48p.m. on Jan. 22, setting up a docking at 3:12 p.m. on Jan. 24. Thelaunch window is just five minutes long. The primary goals of the year's first shuttle flight are to pick upU.S. astronaut David Wolf after four months aboard Mir; to drop offastronaut Andrew Thomas in his place; and to deliver several thousandpounds of supplies, fresh water, repair equipment, food and otherconsumables to the Russian outpost. Endeavour also will bring down a tonor more of material, including Russian equipment and experiment samplesfrom ongoing U.S. research projects. Thomas will officially replace Wolf as a Mir crew member the morningof Jan. 25 - Superbowl Sunday - after Thomas's custom Soyuz seat lineris transferred from Endeavour and installed in the Russian re-entryvehicle. Thoms will return to Earth in June aboard a shuttle, but hemust be able to use the Soyuz in case of an emergency. If all goes well, Endeavour will undock from Mir at 11:52 a.m. Jan.29 and land at the Kennedy Space Center around 5:36 p.m. on Jan. 31. Allof these times are expected to change slightly based on final radartracking of Mir and Endeavour's actual launch time. This is the eighth of nine planned shuttle-Mir docking flights andThomas is the seventh and final U.S. astronaut scheduled for along-duration stay. When Endeavour lands, Wolf will have logged 127.8days in orbit. Thomas is scheduled to return to Earth June 7, giving him135.7 days in space. At that point, U.S. astronauts will have logged972.1 days in space as part of the shuttle-Mir program, including timeaboard the space shuttle going to and coming back from the station. NASA originally planned for Wolf to be the final Mir visitor. But hewas moved up one flight last summer when astronaut Wendy Lawrence wasbumped from a planned Mir visit because she is too short to wear aRussian spacesuit. Thomas, who was in training as Wolf's backup, neverexpected to actually visit Mir. He told reporters today it took a bit ofadjusting on his part to get used to being the prime crew member. "That was a big transition," he said. "I'm going through anothertransition right now because I trained in Russia and now that I'm downin Florida for the first time in some 14 or 15 months it's giving thiswhole thing a degree of reality, which it hadn't had before. And that'sa fascinating experience, I'm really enjoying it." He said his family initially was nervous about the prospect of along-duration stay aboard the aging space station. "There was some concern from family in friends, parents particularly,concerning riding on Mir," he said. "But I don't think they have thoseconcerns now. We've had a lot of talks about it. I personally feelcomfortable with it. "I think riding on Mir is not so much an issue of safety concerns,but I do think there will be legitimate comfort concerns. I think someof the basic creature comforts from time to time are not going to bethere, like the temperature will be high or the humidity will be high orit might be noisy. I think those are the real issues I'll be dealingwith during this four month flight." Thomas said he did not feel any additional pressure to accomplish hisobjectives as the final American visitor to Mir. "I don't know if I feel any additional responsibility more than anyother crew person who would fly. Obviously, I'm very keen to have thisbe a successful mission and a successful conclusion to the NASA-Mirprogram." Here are the latest times for key mission events: TIME/DATE......MET........EVENT 01/22 09:48:16 p.m...00/00:00...Launch (launch window: five minutes) 01/24 12:49 p.m......01/15:01...Final rendezvous rocket firing (TI burn) 03:12 p.m......01/17:24...Endeavour docks with Mir station 01/25 (Superbowl Sunday) 009:48 a.m.....02/12:00...David Wolf replaced by Andrew Thomas 01/29 11:52 a.m......06/14:04...The shuttle undocks from Mir 12:57 p.m......06/15:09...Endeavour moves away from the station 01/31 04:32 p.m......08/18:44...Deorbit ignition on orbit 138 05:36 p.m......08/19:48...Landing at the Kennedy Space Center===================================================================New launch time (01/05/98) Launch of the shuttle Endeavour to the Mir space station is nowtargeted for 9:48:16 p.m. on Jan. 22. This is the latest launch timebased on radar tracking of Mir. Assuming an on-time liftoff, Endeavourwill dock with Mir around 2:38 p.m. on Jan. 24 and undock around 11:20a.m. on Jan. 29. Landing at the Kennedy Space Center is targeted for5:56 p.m. on Jan. 31. These times are approximate. This page will beupdated throughout when the new target times are available.===================================================================Engineers mull additional two-day launch delay (12/17/97) The shuttle Endeavour's launch to the Russian Mir space station,currently scheduled for 10:36:15 p.m. on Jan. 20, faces an additionaltwo-day delay, NASA officials say. There are several issues involved,including work to prevent insulation from flaking off the intertank areaof Endeavour's external fuel tank and a desire by management to give theshuttle processing team time off over the Christmas break. "It's a combination of ET work and the holidays," said a NASAofficial. "It's just too tight to make (the 20th)." A meeting is scheduled Thursday to discuss the matter in more detail.Should launch be delayed two more days, liftoff would be scheduled for9:48:01 p.m. on Jan. 22. Will Advise.===================================================================Initial flight information (12/15/97) Engineers at the Kennedy Space Center are readying the shuttleAtlantis for blastoff at 10:36:15 p.m. Jan. 20 on a flight to theRussian Mir space station. This will be the eighth of nine plannedshuttle-Mir docking missions making up Phase One of the internationalspace station project. The primary goals of Endeavour's mission are topick up U.S. astronaut David Wolf; drop off astronaut Andrew Thomas inhis place; and to deliver needed supplies and equipment to the Russianstation. A terminal countdown demonstration test to practice countdownprocedures is scheduled for Jan. 7-9 at the Kennedy Space Center. Aformal flight readiness review to set the official launch date isplanned for Jan. 6 or 7. Pre-flight news briefings from the JohnsonSpace Center are scheduled for Jan. 13. For readers interested in such trivia, here are the latest launchwindow estimates based on Mir's projected orbit and other variables. Beadvised these times will change slightly between now and launch: DATE....WINDOW OPENS...WINDOW CLOSES 01/20...10:36:15 p.m...10:41:13 p.m. (FD-3 rendezvous, dock on 01/22) 01/21...10:13:40 p.m...10:18:38 p.m. (FD-4 rendezvous, dock on 01/24) 01/22...09:48:01 p.m...09:53:00 p.m. (FD-3 rendezvous, dock on 01/24) 01/23...09:25:26 p.m...09:30:24 p.m. (FD-3 rendezvous, dock on 01/26) At the controls for launch will be commander Terrence Wilcutt andpilot Joseph Edwards. Their crewmates going up are Thomas, BonnieDunbar, making her fifth space flight, James Reilly, Michael Anderson,and Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov, all three making their firstflight. Assuming an on-time liftoff, docking is scheduled for 3:33 p.m.Jan. 22 (MET: 1/16:57). Undocking is planned for 7:23 p.m. Jan. 27 (MET:6/13:37) with landing on tap at 7:23 p.m. on Jan. 30 (MET: 8/20:47). At touchdown, Wolf will have logged 126.9 days in space sinceblastoff Sept. 25. Thomas plans to spend 138 days in orbit beforereturning to Earth on June 7. Thomas is the seventh and finallong-duration astronaut scheduled to visit Mir and his return will markthe end of the Phase One program and the beginning of Phase Two:Construction of the international space station. First launch istargeted for the end of June. Endeavour originally was scheduled for launch Jan. 15, but the flightwas delayed five days to give Wolf time to complete NASA experiments andto help the Russians orchestrate a flurry of activity, including threespacewalks, the unloading of a Progress supply ship and the arrival ofthe Mir-25 crew. Mir-24 commander Anatoly Solovyev and flight engineer PavelVinogradov plan to venture outside Mir on Dec. 30 to attempt repairs ofa leaky seal on the station's external airlock. They plan another EVA onJan. 5 to install handrails on the punctured Spektr module to facilitatefuture repair work. Assuming the airlock hatch is repaired, Wolf likelywill be cleared to join Solovyev for a spacewalk Jan. 12 to retrieveU.S. experiment gear mounted on Mir's hull. Mir-25 commander Talgat Musabayev, flight engineer Nikolai Budarinand French researcher Leopold Eyharts are scheduled to blast off aboarda Soyuz spacecraft on Jan. 29. Eyharts, Solovyev and Vinogradov willreturn to Earth around Feb. 19. Until then, Mir's life support systemswill have to cope with six crew members but engineers say the station isin good health and no problems are expected. A detailed overview of Endeavour's mission will be posted here afterpre-flight briefings at the Johnson Space Center or as conditionswarrant. Other mission-specific information will be posted here as itbecomes available, including the summary timeline. In the meantime, keepup with what's going on aboard Mir with Dennis Newkirk's excellentRussian Aerospace Guide.
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