Atlantis Astronauts Laud ISS Construction, Pack up Shuttle

Bottom row (from left): Expedition 13's Thomas Reiter, Pavel Vinogradov and Jeffrey Williams. Middle row: STS-115 mission specialists Joseph Tanner, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, commander Brent Jett. Top row: pilot Chris Ferguson, STS-115 mission specialists Daniel Burbank, Steven MacLean. CREDIT: NASA TV.

HOUSTON - The two astronaut crews at the International Space Station (ISS) hailed the success of their orbital construction job today as they readied NASA's shuttle Atlantis for a Sunday departure.

The space station's Expedition 13 crew and NASA's six-astronaut team on Atlantis' STS-115 spaceflight took a certain satisfaction in the smooth success to date of their mission to jump start construction of the orbital laboratory.

"It's very exciting to see the station assembly kick back into high gear," STS-115 mission specialist Daniel Burbank during a joint press conference aboard the ISS. "We're all very anxious to see how the future flights go along."

NASA's STS-115 mission, commanded by veteran shuttle astronaut Brent Jett, has delivered new solar arrays and a 17.5-ton pair of portside trusses to the ISS, marking the first new segment to the ISS since late 2002. Construction of the orbital lab stalled as NASA recovered from the 2003 Columbia accident and returned its three-orbiter fleet to flight.

"I'd rate this crew 110 percent," Paul Dye, NASA's lead shuttle flight director, said in a mission status briefing here at the Johnson Space Center today. "They've done an outstanding job up to this point."

Three busy spacewalks and eight days into their busy 11-day mission, the joint ISS and STS-115 astronaut crews have unfurled a 240-foot (73-meter) pair of power-generating solar wings and its vital radiator. The crew had a half-day off this morning.

"I think the successful deployment of the arrays marked the success, in our terms, of our mission," STS-115 mission specialist Joseph Tanner said. "There are a lot of things that had to go right for that to happen."

Atlantis' STS-115 flight marks yet another milestone for the space station's Expedition 13 crew. Station commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeffrey Williams not only saw NASA's second return to flight mission when the space shuttle Discovery arrived in July, but also received a new crewmember in the form of European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter.

Vinogradov and Williams will leave a larger ISS when they undock on Sept. 28 than the one they arrived at on April 1.

"We've gone through some very significant milestones during Expedition 13," Williams said. "It's a great thing and a great honor to have participated in them."

Packing up

One remaining job for the both ISS and STS-115 astronauts is the packing of cargo that will leave the orbital laboratory aboard Atlantis early Sunday.

NASA officials said the Atlantis crew will return about 1,000 pounds (453 kilograms) of equipment, including a set of cold bags filled with biological specimens from the space station's Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI), a suitcase-sized materials exposure experiment that spacewalkers retrieved from the ISS exterior on Friday and the space suits used during the three STS-115 spacewalks.

According to the crew's Flight Day Eight execute package, they are also returning about 78 pounds (35 kilograms) of clothing belonging to Vinogradov and Williams.

"This is what I'd describe as an incidental transfer," Dye said, adding that there is only a limited amount of space in Atlantis' middeck for cargo.

Earlier today, Vinogradov also shut the hatch on a disposable Russian cargo ship that will be jettisoned from the ISS once Atlantis leaves. Packed with trash and unneeded items, the Progress 21 supply ship will undock from the space station's Russian-built Zvezda service module Monday at 8:28 p.m. EDT (0028 Sept. 19 GMT) and ultimately burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Dye said shuttle astronauts will also transfer about 90 pounds (40 kilograms) of oxygen from Atlantis to the ISS.

NASA officials said the Atlantis crew will have transferred about 1,000 pounds (452 kilograms) of water - a byproduct of the orbiter's three fuel cells - to the ISS before undocking.

Atlantis is scheduled to undock at 8:50 a.m. EDT (1250 GMT) and, weather permitting, landing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 5:57 a.m. EDT (0957 GMT) on Sept. 20.

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