This
story was updated at 12:07 p.m. EDT.
HOUSTON --
Seven astronauts aboard NASA’s shuttle Atlantis will pack up their
spacecraft Monday and prepare to leave the International Space Station (ISS)
after one final check of the orbital laboratory’s Russian computer
systems.
Atlantis
and ISS astronauts are hauling the last bits of cargo between their two
vehicles while flight controllers on Earth test the outpost’s
resuscitated Russian control and navigation computers after they
crashed last week.
The shuttle
turned over attitude control to the station’s Russian segment and thrusters
controlled by the revived
navigation computers after a planned maneuver by Atlantis for a wastewater
dump, NASA said. U.S. navigation control systems also took control of the
Russian thrusters as part of the check, the agency added.
“That
will finish checking out all the attitude control systems,” lead ISS
flight director Kelly Beck said Sunday. “Again, we’re confident
it’s going to work, but it will be a good double-check to make sure
everything is in the proper configuration.”
The
Atlantis and ISS astronauts, meanwhile, are preparing for a planned Tuesday
undocking of the shuttle, and are due to shut the hatches between their two
spacecraft at about 6:23 p.m. EDT (2223 GMT) if the Russian attitude control
system check goes well. The astronauts are currently slated to undock at about
10:40 a.m. EDT (1440 GMT) Tuesday for a planned Thursday landing.
“We
look forward to winding the mission down with the undocking and the
landing,” Atlantis commander Rick Sturckow said while narrating his
crew’s daily video reel late Sunday.
Hard-earned
down time
The shuttle
crew is had about a half-day of down time Monday after a busy week of space
station construction.
Atlantis’
STS-117 crew delivered a pair of massive starboard trusses to the station last
week after a June 10 docking.
Since then,
the astronauts have staged four spacewalks - one more than initially planned -
to install those Starboard 3/Starboard 4 segments, unfurl
new solar arrays from its tip and stow away the last remaining solar wing
extending from the station’s mast-like Port 6 truss. They also used
surgical staplers from spacecraft medical kits to repair
a torn protective blanket on Atlantis’ left Orbiter Maneuvering
System (OMS) pod.
Overnight,
ISS flight controllers successfully performed initial checks on a massive
rotary joint bridging the two new starboard trusses that is designed to rotate
outboard solar arrays so they can continuously face the Sun. Additional tests
to check its Sun-tracking capabilities are underway and are expected to end
with the joint running in full operations later today, NASA said.
Atlantis
also ferried NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson to the ISS to join Expedition 15
commander Fyodor Yurchikin and flight engineer Oleg Kotov as a member of the
station’s crew. Anderson is relieving NASA astronaut Sunita
Williams, who has lived aboard the ISS since December 2006 and broke
the world record for the longest-duration spaceflight by a female astronaut
on Saturday.
“I
just wanted to make sure we weren’t doing anything that would prevent us
from dancing,” Williams joked to Mission Control after asking whether any
sensitive maneuvers were planned. “Alright, it’s my last
night!”
Late
Sunday, after STS-117 spacewalkers completed the fourth and final planned
spacewalk of their 13-day mission, the Atlantis astronauts added their mission
patch alongside those of other past crews that have visited the ISS to a
bulkhead as part of a station tradition.
The shuttle
and ISS crews took some time to celebrate their docked mission with a group
meal peppered with both U.S. and Russian foods.
“I
believe I tried moose pate for the first time tonight,” Sturckow said.
“That was delicious.”
NASA is
broadcasting the space shuttle Atlantis' STS-117 mission live on NASA TV. Click here for mission updates and
SPACE.com's
video feed.
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