[Space] NASA - STS-115 - ISS 12A (Atlantis)

[GioFX]

0946 GMT (5:46 a.m. EDT)

The other solar wing has just deployed out its first section.

The shuttle/station complex will be maneuvering into a new orientation before the deploy sequence continues.

[GioFX]

il deploy del lato dx è ripreso!

[GioFX]

1027 GMT (6:27 a.m. EDT)

Extension of the first wing is resuming. The array will be deployed to the 49 percent.

[GioFX]

1033 GMT (6:33 a.m. EDT)

The array has reached the 49 percent mark. The crew will wait a half-hour to let the panels warm up before proceeding. to a full 100 percent.

[GioFX]

1209 GMT (8:09 a.m. EDT)

Commander Brent Jett reports a good deploy to 49 percent. The crew will pause for 30 minutes to let the wing warm up before extending the rest of the array.

1203 GMT (8:03 a.m. EDT)

Now the starboard solar wing of the space station's new power truss is beginning to extend outward to the 49 percent mark. The station is flying over the Pacific, west of Peru.

1135 GMT (7:35 a.m. EDT)

With the international space station in free drift, the Atlantis astronauts unfurled the first of two new solar array wings today, beaming back spectacular video showing the gold-colored blankets extending like venetian blinds against the black backdrop of space.

1127 GMT (7:27 a.m. EDT)

Flight controllers are projecting a deploy start time of no sooner than 7:57 a.m. -- the point of orbital sunrise -- for the second array.

1111 GMT (7:11 a.m. EDT)

The crew reports a successful extension of the first array.

1109 GMT (7:09 a.m. EDT)

Mission Control says the port-side array achieved full deploy at 7:08 a.m.

1103 GMT (7:03 a.m. EDT)

Unfurling of the port array is underway again, headed for full extension.

[GioFX]

1238 GMT (8:38 a.m. EDT)

The starboard array is crunching toward full extension. Deploy restarted at 8:38 a.m.

[GioFX]

1244 GMT (8:44 a.m. EDT)

Deployment of the International Space Station's new set of power-generating solar wings has been successfully completed! Extension of the starboard array completed at 8:44 a.m.

[Frank1962]

bene! .....adesso vogliamo la foto di come si presenta adesso la iss!

[Octane]

Originariamente inviato da GioFX

e questa bella animazione della Tetronix per la NASA:

http://www.tietronix.com/anim/pao/s1A1.html

Bella! almeno qui e' piu' facile capire perche' debbano fare tutti questi spostamenti di strutture/moduli

peccato solo non abbiano realizzato anche un'animazione per far vedere come i pannelli solari ruotino per restare sempre perpendicolari alla luce solare incidente.

[GioFX]

Originariamente inviato da Octane

peccato solo non abbiano realizzato anche un'animazione per far vedere come i pannelli solari ruotino per restare sempre perpendicolari alla luce solare incidente.

si ne esiste una, l'hanno mandata in onda su NASA TV.

[GioFX]

Da SpaceFlightNow.com:

Space station spreads its new power wings

BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: September 14, 2006;
Updated after status briefing


The first solar wing nears full extension. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now

The Atlantis astronauts successfully unfurled a second solar array today, giving the international space station a new set of wings stretching some 240 feet from tip to tip and completing the primary goal of the 116th shuttle mission.

While the mission is far from over - a third spacewalk is on tap Friday - getting the new solar arrays attached and deployed marks a critical first step in the resumption of space station assembly after a three-and-a-half-year hiatus.

"We're happy to be here to tell you the truss, the P3/P4 truss is installed, the SARJ joint's checked out, the solar arrays are deployed, we're in outstanding shape," space station Program Manager Mike Suffredini told reporters. "The bottom line is, this flight has gone better than my wildest dreams."

This afternoon, NASA released spectacular video of Atlantis' launch Sept. 9 that was shot by cameras mounted on the ship's twin solid-fuel boosters and in a WB-57 jet aircraft flying at 60,000 feet near the launch pad.

The booster cams showed no obvious problems with the shuttle's external tank insulation and no signs of any heat shield damage. While the WB-57 footage was not as sharp, it provided dramatic views of the shuttle well after booster separation, including ignition of Atlantis' orbital maneuvering system engines for additional boost.

But deployment of the space station's huge new solar arrays was the clear highlight of today's activity in space.

The P3/P4 arrays are needed for the next planned assembly mission in December as NASA works through a complex sequence of flights that must be accomplished in series to build out the lab's main solar array truss and prepare the station for arrival of European and Japanese research modules.

The only real hitch in an otherwise by-the-book mission was a software commanding problem Wednesday that held up test and check out of a drive system needed to rotate the new arrays to keep them face on to the sun as the station circles the globe.

As it turned out, the glitch was actually a safety feature built into higher level supervisory software that controllers had not taken into account. Once they did, checkout of the solar alpha rotary joint, or SARJ, went smoothly and the Atlantis astronauts were cleared to press ahead with array deployment early today.

During extension of an identical set of arrays in 2000, many of the compressed slats in the solar blanket initially stuck together due to the effects of low temperatures and atomic oxygen.

When the stuck panels broke free during deployment, the arrays oscillated more than expected and caused a tension cable to jump from its guide. The system was repaired during a spacewalk and procedures were changed for today's deploy.

Flight controllers first extended each wing a few feet to improve warming and release compression. Then the astronauts deployed the panels, one at a time, first to 49 percent and then, after waiting for more solar warming, out to a full 100 percent. The extension was done in a high-tension mode to help prevent the panels from pulling up at the bottom as the self-assembling masts extended.

The procedure worked as planned and no problems were encountered.

"Good deploy of the 2A array, very similar to the deploy of the 4A array," Atlantis commander Brent Jett called around 8:45 a.m. after the second wing was fully extended.

"Good day for space station," replied astronaut Pam Melroy from mission control in Houston. "We confirm the solar array is also fully deployed on telemetry. Congratulations!"

"We're very happy to get the array out today," Brent said. "There was never any motion on the tension mechanism until it was supposed to move at the very end. There was, however, quite a bit of spring tension and when the (stuck) panels would release, the boxes would move quite a bit, but that was the same on both arrays."

Suffredini was elated with how the deployment played out.

"A lot of folks have spent time talking about a couple of bolts (and) the software feature we rediscovered last night," he said. "But if you told me before this flight these were the only issues we were going to deal with as a program, I would have taken that and run. The only real problem I have is getting everybody to understand when we say these things are hard, really believing us, because the next flight is going to be even more difficult.

"But we're ecstatic today," he said. "The vehicle has performed in an outstanding way, the systems that make up the P3/P4 truss have all performed as advertised and we're well on our way to returning to assembly."

The new arrays, known as P4 because they're part of left-side truss segment No. 4, were wired into the station's electrical system earlier this week during a spacewalk by Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper. But the panels will not begin providing power to the station until December, when the next shuttle assembly crew arrives to carry out a major electrical system rewiring.

During that flight, the left wing of the P6 solar array, currently positioned at right angles to P4 at the top of the station, will be retracted, permitting the new panels to rotate as required to track the sun.

The P6 array will be moved next August to a position just outboard of P4, completing the left side of the station's main power beam. Two other arrays will be attached to the right side of the truss in February 2007 and June 2008.

For the Atlantis astronauts, a third spacewalk is on tap Friday, starting at 5:15 a.m., to complete final closeouts of the new hardware and to repair S-band and KU-band antenna systems on the station.

While Tanner and Joe Tanner Stefanyshyn-Piper are outside, Jett and shuttle pilot Chris Ferguson plan to deploy a set of folded radiator panels on the P4 truss to provide cooling for internal electrical components.

The 1,600-pound radiator, made up of seven hinged panels housing two ammonia coolant circuits, will extend 44 feet when fully deployed at right angles to the axis formed by the array wings.

"You just can't imagine a flight being better than this one has been," Suffredini said. "Now, as we go further along, we won't have had as many years training and some of the jobs will be less difficult than what we did with the installation of this truss, some will be the same, some will be more difficult.

"And so I love the first step that we've taken and I think that's great for the team and I think that speaks volumes of the work we have to do. ... If you believe what this flight tells you, we've got a pretty good fix on what it takes. But we know we've got a lot of challenges in front of us. ... We'll be cautious with you and with ourselves to not get too overly optimistic. We're going to keep asking ourselves questions."

[adsasdhaasddeasdd]

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/ perchè è sparito lo space shuttle??

[GioFX]

Originariamente inviato da PhantomReloaded

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/ perchè è sparito lo space shuttle??

non è sparito, è attaccato alla ISS.

[Octane]

Originariamente inviato da GioFX

si ne esiste una, l'hanno mandata in onda su NASA TV.

azz.. me la sono persa

patientia la ri-trasmetteranno di sicuro!

[GioFX]

Da Spaceflightnow.com:

Atlantis crew completes third and final spacewalk

BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: September 15, 2006

Astronauts Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper began repressurizing space station's Quest airlock today at 12:42 p.m. to officially close out a third and final space station assembly spacewalk.

The spacewalk began at 6 a.m. for a duration of six hours and 42 minutes. Tanner and Piper logged six hours and 26 minutes during a spacewalk Tuesday, giving them a total of 13 hours and eight minutes, while Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean put in seven hours and 11 minutes during an excursion Wednesday.

Total spacewalk time for Atlantis' mission was 20 hours and 19 minutes and Tanner, now a veteran of seven spacewalks, moved up to No. 4 on the world EVA list with a total of nearly 46-and-a-half hours.

"OK, well I guess that's it for me," Tanner said just before re-entering the airlock to close out his final spacewalk.

"Yep, the sun goes down on an era," Piper said. "I should say 'on a legend.'"

"Ah, I don't think so," replied Tanner, veteran of a 1997 Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission and three other station spacewalks in 2000.

A few minutes later, he thanked the spacewalk trainers at the Johnson Space Center for preparing the Atlantis crew for all three EVAs. Astronaut Pam Melroy in mission control credited him with "another legendary performance."

Today's spacealk was the 72nd devoted to space station assembly and maintenance since construction began in December 1998. Forty-five Americans, 13 Russians, two Canadians, one Japanese astronaut and one French flier have now logged 438 hours and 36 minutes of station spacewalk time.


With launch restraints removed during today's spacewalk, flight controllers sent commands to unfold a 44-foot-long radiator panel on the international space station today that will help keep the electronics inside a new solar array module cool once it comes on line.

Television shots from space showed the big radiator, made up of seven hinged panels, unfolding and stretching away from the P4 solar array as the station sailed 218 miles above Saudi Arabia. Dual coolant loops will help control temperatures in the array's integrated electronics assembly, which houses the gear needed to regulate power from the solar panels.

The 1,600-pound radiator is 44 feet long, 12 feet wide and can dissipate up to 14 kilowatts of heat.

Tanner and Piper, meanwhile, enjoyed the view from a safe distance away where they were working to upgrade the station's S-band communications gear.

"That's a pretty above-average view I've got right now," Tanner said, looking across the station's main solar array truss and the nose of Atlantis at the blue-and-white Earth below.

"That's the Suez Canal, the Holy Land... wow," Tanner marveled a few moments later. "Wow."

[GioFX]

Da SpaceFlightNow.com:

Astronauts enjoy off-duty time; Soyuz moved to pad

BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: September 16, 2006

The Atlantis astronauts, the major tasks of their space station assembly mission behind them, took a half-day off Saturday to relax and enjoy the view from 220 miles up.

The combined space station and shuttle crews will enjoy a joint meal later this morning before participating in a news conference and network television interviews.

Here is an updated timeline of the crew's activities (in EDT and mission elasped time):


TIME/EDT DD HH MM EVENT

12:15 AM 06 13 00 STS/ISS crew wakeup
03:15 AM 06 16 00 STS crew off duty time begins
07:15 AM 06 20 00 Joint crew meal
08:15 AM 06 21 00 Joint crew photo
08:35 AM 06 21 20 Joint crew news conference
09:10 AM 06 21 55 Speed brake
09:15 AM 06 22 00 REBA removal
09:35 AM 06 22 20 CBS/NBC/ABC network interviews
09:50 AM 06 22 35 Transfers continue
09:50 AM 06 22 35 EVA prep for shuttle transfer
10:00 AM 06 22 15 Mission status briefing on NASA TV
10:30 AM 06 23 15 News conference replay on NASA TV
12:00 PM 06 00 45 ISS-14 video file on NASA TV
01:25 PM 07 02 10 Transfer tagup
03:45 PM 07 04 30 ISS crew sleep begins
04:15 PM 07 05 00 STS crew sleep begins
05:00 PM 07 05 45 Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV

The next few days will be extremely busy for the space station, its crew and their U.S. and Russian managers, with the departure of Atlantis early Sunday, launch of the station's next crew aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket early Monday, undocking of a Progress supply ship Monday night and arrival of the Soyuz on Wednesday.

At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan late Friday night (U.S. time), the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft was rolled to the launch pad and erected for blastoff to ferry Expedition 14 commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and space tourist Anousheh Ansari to the space station.

Ansari, a businesswoman and space enthusiast who helped fund the Ansari X-Prize competition for sub-orbital spaceflight, is the fourth "space tourist" to buy a seat on a Soyuz and a trip to the space station.

"Everything looks perfect, everything's prepared just right and everyone's excited and ready," she told CBS News Friday.

Ansari was added to the Soyuz crew when a Japanese space tourist was disqualified for medical reasons. Asked about the risk of riding a rocket into space, she said it was the means to realize a life-long dream.

"To me, there are certain things worth taking the risk for," she said by telephone from Baikonur. "I am not a big adventurous person who would take risks just to have an adrenalin rush. So I'm not particularly fond of riding rockets, necessarily, but to me, that's the means for me to get to space, which is my destination.

"The risks involved are what I felt comfortable (with) and the price to pay to be able to realize my dream. It's something that's hard to describe for me. I think space travel is important enough that you can see astronauts and cosmonauts taking risks every day because they believe in it, they believe it's necessary for the future of our species. ... There are people who are the pioneers, people who are moving to take this type of early risk to pave the way for the rest of us. I'm hoping to be one of those people."

Launch is targeted for 12:09 a.m. EDT Monday. The Progress supply ship currently docked at the Zvezda command module's aft port will depart Monday night at 8:28 p.m. EDT, clearing the way for the Soyuz docking at 1:24 a.m. Wednesday.

The station's current crew - Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov, Jeff Williams and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter - spent the day today loading the Progress with no-longer-needed equipment and trash.

Vinogradov, Williams and Ansari will strap into the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft and undock at 5:54 p.m. EDT Sept. 28 for a landing that night at 9:10 p.m. EDT. Reiter will remain aboard the station as part of the Expedition 14 crew until December, when he will be replaced by astronaut Sunita Williams during the next space shuttle assembly mission.

Here is a timeline of upcoming events (in EDT):


09/17/06
08:50:00 AM Atlantis undocks from ISS
10:33:00 AM Shuttle departs area after ISS flyaround
12:00:00 PM ISS-14 pre-launch news conference replay on NASA TV
10:30:00 PM Soyuz TMA-9/ISS-14 b-roll footage on NASA TV
11:30:00 PM NASA TV Soyuz TMA-9 launch coverage begins

09/18/06
12:08:40 AM Launch of Soyuz TMA-9/ISS-14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome
02:30:00 AM Post-launch activities on NASA TV
03:25:00 AM Atlantis crew carries out final heat shield inspection
08:28:00 PM Progress M-56 undocking from ISS Zvezda aft port
11:27:00 PM Progress M-56 deorbit ignition (dT: 2:40; dV: 190 mph)

09/19/06
12:03:00 AM Progress M-56 falls into the atmosphere and burns up
(entry interface)
02:35:00 AM Atlantis crew tests flight control system; cabin stow

09/20/06
01:24:00 AM Soyuz TMA-9 docking with ISS at Zvezda aft port
04:20:00 AM Soyuz TMA-9 hatch open
04:55:00 AM Atlantis deorbit ignition
05:57:00 AM Atlantis lands at the Kennedy Space Center

09/28/06
05:51:00 PM Soyuz TMA-8 undocking command
05:54:00 PM Hooks open, separation
05:57:00 PM Separation burn (dT: 8s; dV: 1.2 mph)
08:20:23 PM Deorbit burn (dT: 4:20; dV: 258 mph)
08:24:43 PM Deorbit burn complete
08:43:57 PM Soyuz module separation
08:46:52 PM Soyuz crew module hits discernible atmosphere
08:53:06 PM Maximum deceleration
08:55:09 PM Parachute open command
09:10:09 PM Landing (17 minutes before sunrise)

[GioFX]

Atlantis astronauts prepare for today's undocking

The Atlantis astronauts are rigging the shuttle for undocking from the international space station this morning. With shuttle pilot Chris Ferguson at the controls, Atlantis is scheduled to depart at 8:50 a.m. and then perform a 360-degree lap around the complex for photo documentation.

[GioFX]

1250 GMT (8:50 a.m. EDT)

UNDOCKING! After six days of combined operations high above Earth, shuttle Atlantis is departing the International Space Station for return to Earth. The shuttle restarted construction of the orbiting complex by delivering the Port 3/Port 4 truss structure and activating two power-generating solar arrays.

The shuttle crew will be getting a great look at the fruits of their work over the next hour-and-a-half. Atlantis is set to make a full lap around the outpost so that the astronauts to thoroughly photograph the new configuration of the station.

1245 GMT (8:45 a.m. EDT)

Five minutes from undocking. The steering jets on Atlantis are inhibited for the period of physical undocking from the station. The separation occurs when large springs push the two craft apart. Once the shuttle is a couple feet away from the station and the docking devices are clear of one another, pilot Chris Ferguson will fire Atlantis' thrusters to continue the movement away.

1230 GMT (8:30 a.m. EDT)

All remains "go" for undocking of Atlantis from the space station at 8:50 a.m. EDT. Pressure and leak checks were successfully performed after hatch closure. And the Orbiter Docking System has been configured to release its grip on the station.

[GioFX]

1303 GMT (9:03 a.m. EDT)

Distance between the two spacecraft is now 200 feet.

1257 GMT (8:57 a.m. EDT)

Atlantis is now 100 feet from the station, backing away at about 0.3 feet per second. The shuttle is headed to a point about 400 feet away where it will fire thrusters to begin an arc above the station.

1252 GMT (8:52 a.m. EDT)

The on-time undocking occurred in orbital darkness as the station and shuttle flew 220 miles southeast of Australia.

[GioFX]

1314 GMT (9:14 a.m. EDT)

Atlantis' lap around the station is underway.

1311 GMT (9:11 a.m. EDT)

As the spacecraft move into an orbital sunrise, Atlantis' flyaround of the station is about to begin.

1309 GMT (9:09 a.m. EDT)

The shuttle is now 400 feet away.

1306 GMT (9:06 a.m. EDT)

Atlantis is 350 feet from the station, separating at 0.35 feet per second.