 |
| Image above: STS-116 and Expedition 14 crew members
take a moment for a group picture shortly after the hatches opened
between Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station.
Image Credit: NASA TV |
•
Watch NASA TV
Crew inspects wing and prepares for first spacewalk
The STS-116 crew members conducted an inspection of Space Shuttle Discovery’s
port (left) wing and prepared for Tuesday’s spacewalk.
The crew used a camera on the International Space Station’s robotic
arm to inspect the reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels 19-21 on the
wing. Leading-edge wing sensors registered a minor disturbance in this
area of the wing. Engineers will analyze the imagery captured during the
inspection.
During the evening's Mission Status Briefing, Mission Management Team
Chairman John Shannon said that engineers have completed the first review
of Sunday’s inspection of the orbiter’s heat shield. “The
team has looked and gone through and done their first pass on all of the
wing leading-edge RCCs and the nose cap,” Shannon said, “and
has identified no issues. It is a very rigorous process.”
Shannon also said the team started the analysis of imagery of Discovery's
underside. The imagery was captured by the station’s Expedition
14 crew as STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky guided the orbiter through
a back-flip maneuver prior to docking. Discovery arrived at the station
at 5:12 p.m. EST today and the crew entered the orbital outpost at 6:54.
Meanwhile, STS-116 and Expedition 14 crew members have transferred to
the station spacesuits and tools that will be used during STS-116’s
three spacewalks. The first excursion will take place at 3:42 p.m. Tuesday.
Mission Specialists Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang, KE5CGR, will
perform the spacewalk. To prepare for the spacewalk, the duo will conduct
an overnight “campout” in the station’s airlock where
the pressure will be lowered to the pressure normally found on Earth 10,000
feet above sea level. The airlock “campout” at a lower pressure
protects against decompression sickness as Curbeam and Fuglesang go to
the even lower pressure of spacesuits on Tuesday.
The main objective of Tuesday’s spacewalk is the installation of
the P5 integrated truss onto the station. STS-116 crew members used the
shuttle’s robotic arm to lift the P5 out of Discovery’s payload
bay to hand it off to the station arm.
Other post-docking activities included a crew-member exchange. STS-116
Mission Specialist Sunita Williams, KD5PLB, will replace Expedition 14
Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter, DF4TR, who will return to Earth with STS-116.
The crew transfer becomes official when Williams’ custom-made seatliner
is installed into the Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station.
|
