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Johnson
Space Center, STS-103, Mission Control Center Status Report
# 15, Sunday, December 26, 11 pm EST
Johnson
Space Center, STS-103, Mission Control Center, Status Report
# 14, Sunday, December 26, 1999 - 9am EST
Day
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Johnson
Space Center, STS-103, Mission Control Center Status Report
# 15, Sunday, December 26, 11 p m EST
Following
the successful deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope yesterday,
the seven man crew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery turned its
attention today to preparing for the return to Kennedy Space
Center late tomorrow afternoon.
STS-103
Commander Curt Brown, along with Pilot Scott Kelly, first
performed checks of the Flight Control System by activating
one of the three Auxiliary Power Units aboard Discovery to
allow them to test the various aerosurfaces that will be used
to steer the Shuttle once it has re-entered the atmosphere.
The crew then did a check of the Reaction Control System,
the maneuvering jets that steer Discovery while the Shuttle
is in space. Both the FCS and RCS checkouts were without issue,
with all systems ready to support Discovery's return to Earth.
The
weather forecast for the two available landing sites is very
good for both a nominal end of mission as well as the two
extension days that are planned into every Shuttle flight.
The prediction for KSC on Monday is for only a few clouds
at the upper levels and very good visibility. The only possible
concern is crosswinds that are predicted to be near the peak
of what is allowed at the three-mile-long Shuttle Landing
Facility at KSC. Weather at the alternate landing site at
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California
also is predicted to be very good on Monday, with only a few
high clouds and light winds. The extended forecast for both
landing sites on Tuesday and Wednesday shows continued favorable
weather.
At
tonight's mission status briefing, Entry Flight Director Wayne
Hale said that given the very good forecast at both landing
sites for the next three days, the Shuttle team's current
plan for Monday afternoon would be to try for the first two
landing opportunities at KSC. If Discovery cannot land on
one of those opportunities and the weather forecast for Tuesday
and Wednesday remains the same, Discovery and her crew would
be kept in orbit one additional day to try and allow a KSC
landing on Tuesday. Shuttle managers would like to land at
KSC if possible in order to avoid the work associated with
transporting an orbiter from California back to Florida.
The
first opportunity to land at KSC on Monday takes place on
orbit 118 with a deorbit burn at 3:06 p.m. CST and a landing
at KSC at 4:18 p.m. The second opportunity on orbit 119 would
have a deorbit burn taking place at 4:49 p.m. and a landing
at KSC at 6:00 p.m. CST. A third and final opportunity for
a KSC landing is available on orbit 120 if needed. The third
opportunity has a deorbit burn at 6:32 p.m. and landing at
7:43 p.m. CST.
Should
the extended weather forecast change, there are landing opportunities
at the Edwards site on the same three orbits, along with an
additional opportunity on orbit 121.
The
STS-103 crew will begin a planned eight-hour sleep period
at 11:20 p.m. this evening. A wake-up call from Mission Control
to begin what should be their final day in space for this
flight will come at 7:20 a.m. on Monday.
Johnson
Space Center, STS-103, Mission Control Center, Status Report
# 14, Sunday, December 26, 1999 - 9am EST
With their primary
mission objectives successfully completed, Discovery's astronauts
today begin preparing their spacecraft for its scheduled return
to Earth Monday, checking out the flight control system and
reaction control jets that support re-entry.
The seven astronauts
were awakened at 7:50 a.m. to the song “We’re So
Good Together” by Reba McEntyre, played for Pilot Scott
Kelly at the request of his wife.
This afternoon,
Commander Curt Brown and Kelly will check out Discovery's
flight control systems and surfaces to support Monday’s
planned return to the Kennedy Space Center. Later in the day,
the astronauts will begin stowing the equipment they've used
during the past week on orbit and start buttoning up Discovery’s
on-orbit systems. The Ku-band antenna, which provides most
of the capacity for data and television relay, will be stowed
around 8:45 p.m. today.
As the STS-103 mission
winds down, the newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope slowly
moves through its checkout sequence prior to resuming science
operations. Discovery's four space-walking astronauts spent
24 hours and 33 minutes upgrading and refurbishing the orbiting
observatory, making it more capable than ever to renew its
observations of the universe.
Hubble was released
from the end of Discovery’s robot arm at 5:03 p.m. Christmas
Day. Less than half an hour later, controllers at the Space
Telescope Operations Control Center in Maryland reported that
the telescope was in normal operating mode. Controllers will
perform two weeks of testing before observations resume. At
8 a.m. today, Hubble was approximately 45 miles away from
Discovery and separating at the rate of about five miles per
90-minute orbit.
Also on tap at 10:50
a.m. today, is the crew in-flight press conference with media
at NASA Centers in the U.S. and reporters at European Space
Agency sites in Geneva and
Paris.
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