Stay tuned to this page for updates tonight. Unless things start to get complicated, expect our next routine update to this page at 8 p.m. EST.
Spacewalk continues without trouble
Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002 at 8 p.m. EST
Today's spacewalk has gone a little more than five hours and all of the major tasks scheduled for today are getting done.
Most importantly, the P1 truss has all of the attached power and data cables it needs to remain a healthy collection of electronics, black boxes and cooling system plumbing.
At one point during the past hour spacewalker John Herrington was sent back into the Quest airlock to recharge his oxygen supply so he would have more than enough to finish all of the tasks scheduled for tonight.
The main activity in work now is the installation of a set of antennas that will allow the helmetcam views of spaceworkers to be broadcast into the station and then down to the ground when a shuttle is not docked.
The spacewalk should be wrapping up within the next hour or so and we will post another update when Herrington and Michael Lopez-Alegria are safely back inside the airlock.
For a summary of today's plans and timeline, check out this Flight Day Four Mission Briefing page.
You are invited to watch what's left of the spacewalk via our link to NASA TV. During this EVA Lopez-Alegria -- whose nickname is L.A. -- is wearing the suit with red stripes. Herrington's suit is plain white and Endeavour pilot John Lockhart -- whose nickname is Paco -- is serving as the spacewalk manager.
First spacewalk is history
Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002 at 9:37 p.m. EST
Spacewalkers John Herrington and Michael Lopez-Alegria are safely back inside the Quest airlock after a successful sortie outside that saw all of the goals for the first EVA accomplished without incident.
Official end time for the spacewalk was 9:35 p.m. EST, which puts total duration for this first of three planned spacewalks at six hours and 46 minutes.
After the shuttle and station robot arms were used to place the $390 million P1 truss segment next to the S0 truss and the two were bolted together, the spacewalkers went outside and continued the assembly process by first hooking up a series of power, data and fluid lines to the new truss segment.
The tasks that followed included attaching a number of small contraptions to the end of ammonia quick disconnect lines to make it easier to service those lines as needed in the future, removing launch locks from several pieces of equipment and installing an antenna system to transmit helmetcam views during future spacewalks.
Tomorrow the focus of the mission will be on cargo transfer operations as supplies and equipment are moved from Endeavour into the station and then stowed. At the same time, material packed up by the Expedition Five crew that is coming home will be loaded into the shuttle.
For a preview of what's on the flight plan for Wednesday, please see our Flight Day Five Mission Briefing page.
Stay tuned to this page on Wednesday for an update on how the mission is going.
Packing, boosting and growing up
Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2002 at 11 a.m. EST
It's a fairly quiet day in space so far for the seven astronauts and three cosmonauts aboard the joined shuttle-station complex.
Most of the timeline for today involves packing up Expedition Five's stuff for the trip home to Earth and unpacking supplies and equipment onto the station for use by Expedition Six during their planned four-month-plus stay.
Mission Control continues to troubleshoot a problem with the station's bicycle-like exercise device that is used by the crew to stay fit, as well to assist in pre-breathing protocols before every station-based spacewalk. No solution is in sight yet.
Expected to start within an hour of this writing is the first of three station reboost maneuvers planned for Endeavour's stay at the outpost. The shuttle's steering thrusters will be fired to gently raise the complex to a higher altitude -- a necessary task that helps prolong the station's life in orbit.
Work also is being done to recharge the spacesuits that will be used during tomorrow's planned second extravehicular activity. A check of the tools and supplies needed for the next EVA will be done as part of that effort.
And adding to the spirit of this day before Thanksgiving Day is the fact that Endeavour skipper Jim Wetherbee is celebrating a half-century of life on and off this planet. The 50-year-old birthday boy was awakened with the Beatles' classic "Birthday" and a little teasing from Mission Control.
For an overview of what's on the flight plan for today, please see our Flight Day Five Mission Briefing page.
Unless events warrant otherwise, this will be our only update in this box today. We will post a story later tonight and then be back here on Thursday around 2 p.m. EST with full coverage of the second spacewalk.
If your holiday plans are about to take you away from the Internet, please travel safely and have a very Happy Thansgiving Day.
Holiday spacewalk begins
Thursday, Nov. 28, 2002 at 1:40 p.m. EST
A Thanksgiving Day spacewalk to continue outfitting the P1 truss has begun at the International Space Station. Official start time: 1:36 p.m. EST -- 44 minutes ahead of schedule.
Spacewalkers Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington will spend the next 6.5 hours or so working outside on a handful of tasks, including hooking up a series of amonia fluid lines between the P1 and S0 truss and moving a Crew Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) "railroad car" from one end of the truss assembly to the other.
The CETA cart movement, expected toward the end of the spacewalk, promises to provide some of the most dramatic helmetcam views seen yet. Herrington, holding the tethered cart in his hands, will be swung at the end of a fully extended robot arm in a giant arc around the shuttle and station.
For more on today's spacewalk plans and a description of the EVA from the spacewalkers themselves, please see our Flight Day Six Mission Briefing page.
You also are invited to follow the spacewalk live on NASA TV by clicking on the link above. As you are watching the views, Lopez-Alegria -- whose nickname is "L.A." -- is wearing the suit with the red stripes. The astronaut called Paco is Endeavour pilot Paul Lockhart, who is the spacewalk choreographer managing activities from inside the shuttle-station complex.
Understanding that this is a holiday and folks may be distracted by turkey and football, we will follow the spacewalk for you and continue to update this page every few hours as events warrant.
Spacewalk continues, holiday message from orbit
Thursday, Nov. 28, 2002 at 3:30 p.m. EST
Endeavour spacewalkers have finished the first major task of their 6.5-hour spacewalk and are running about a half-hour ahead of schedule for today.
That task involved hooking up a set of fluid lines between the P1 and S0 truss segments. With those lines connected and tested, ammonia coolant will be able to flow through the plumbing when the station's full, permanent cooling system is activated some time next year.
Meanwhile, shuttle commander Jim Wetherbee took time to offer holiday greetings to everyone on the planet below. Here is what he said:
"From the crews of Endeavour and Alpha we wish everyone below a Happy Thanksgiving. From our vantage point high above the Earth we can see we are very fortunate to be living at a time when society has advanced our technologies farther in one generation than in all of human history."
"We developed powered flight one century ago. For me, it began when I participated merely by sitting alone and listening to the greatest flight of all, Apollo 8, where for the first time in human history three men got up one morning and left. I was captivated listening to my little nine-volt transistor radio as they passed around the back side of the Moon, totally cut off from the other five billion of us on the planet."
"Now as we float here looking at what is being built, we consider ourselves extremely fortunate to be part of this generation that is expanding technology. Lastly we are grateful for our families and friends, for without them this technology would be meaningless."
"From the crews of Endeavour and Alpha, we wish all of you closer to the center of our home planet a happy Thanksgiving."
Spacewalkers Mike Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington are now working to remove the keel pins from the P1 truss that helped hold the girder securely in Endeavour's cargo bay.
We will update this page again in about two hours.
Get ahead work on tap for spacewalkers
Thursday, Nov. 28, 2002 at 5:15 p.m. EST
Work outside the joined shuttle-station complex is going very well and Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington are between 30 and 40 minutes ahead of their timeline.
As a result, Mission Control has approved adding a couple of extra tasks to the timeline this afternoon. Those tasks include removing the launch locks on the trio of radiator panels atop the P1 truss and connecting some wiring on a radio antenna located on the Unity Node.
In the meantime, the pair have just finished removing a second keel pin assembly that helped hold the P1 truss in place in Endeavour's cargo bay during launch.
Very soon Herrington will lock his feet into a platform at the end of a robot arm and then grab hold of a Crew Equipment Translation Aid handrail cart that must be removed from the P1 truss and swung over to be installed on the S1 truss installed at the station in October.
For more on today's spacewalk plans and a description of the EVA from the spacewalkers themselves, please see our Flight Day Six Mission Briefing page.
NASA TV continues to be available via our link above.
We'll update this page again in about two hours.
Second spacewalk is history
Thursday, Nov. 28, 2002 at 7:50 p.m. EST
The second of three planned spacewalks of this STS-113 mission is all wrapped up as Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington are safely inside the repressurizing Quest airlock.
Officially this extravehicular activity ended at 7:46 p.m. EST, making the duration of this spacewalk six hours and 10 minutes.
All of the tasks planned for this spacewalk were completed, including a couple of extra jobs considered "get ahead" tasks that were planned on future spacewalks.
Among the jobs done were the removal of two pins that held the P1 truss in Endeavour's cargo bay during launch, the repositioning of a crew equipment handcart from one end of the P1 truss to the S1 truss and the connection of several ammonia fluid lines between the P1 and S0 trusses.
Launch locks on a trio of radiator panels and work on a wireless communication system for the astronauts' helmetcams also was done.
This will be our last update in this space for today. Friday is expected to be a relatively quiet day so we will plan to post an update shortly after lunch time, unless events warrant otherwise.
Second spacewalk is history
Friday, Nov. 29, 2002 at 2 p.m. EST
It's another relatively quiet day aboard shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station, although that's not to say the crew have been just floating around doing nothing.
In addition to the usual housekeeping chores and day-between-spacewalks set of tasks to recharge the spacesuits, the transfer of cargo between the shuttle and the station continues. There is unpacking for the Expedition Six crew and packing up for the Expedition Five crew, who are about to head home after spending nearly six months in space.
As part of that handover the crew is scheduled to conduct a formal change in command ceremony at 3:20 p.m. EST this afternoon, which you can watch on NASA TV. Our live feed of the space agency's signal is available by clicking on the link above.
After that will come the joint crew news conference that will involve all 10 humans now flying in space.
For more on today's timeline -- albeit as brief as it is -- please see our Flight Day Seven Mission Briefing page.
Tomorrow the third and final spacewalk is scheduled and we will have full coverage with frequent updates beginning about 1 p.m. EST.
Mobile transporter stuck
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2002 at 1 p.m. EST
The day is presenting a few challenges, and we're not talking about finding creative ways to serve leftover turkey.
At the International Space Station the Mobile Transporter (MT) was being moved down the truss assembly from the S0 truss, on to the P1 truss and then down to Work Site 7. The MT is the railroad car-like platform that can hold the station's Canadarm2 and move up and down rails on the truss to facilitate station construction.
Ten feet short of its goal the MT suddenly stopped and hasn't budged for the past couple of hours. Inspections of the area by remote camera didn't reveal anything specific and Mission Control is now trying to reconfigure the system to get it moving again.
The station's robot arm is not attached to the MT yet, but eventually the amr must be attached and the MT be at work site 7 to support today's planned third spacewalk.
Spacewalkers Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington are suited up and getting ready to depressurize the Quest airlock just as soon as it becomes more clear what is happening with the MT.
We will update this page again in about one hour, sooner if events warrant.
Spacewalk plans may change
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2002 at 2:10 p.m. EST
The station's Mobile Transporter (MT) remains 10 feet shy of Work Site 7 as Mission Control continues to troubleshoot the problem.
The MT was moving itself along the rails on the truss assembly and successfully transitioned from the S0 truss to the P1 truss, moved a little farther and then stopped. An attempt to reconfigure the MT and move it using a back up drive unit failed, so the current thinking is that it is hung up on something on the rail.
Spacewalkers Lopez-Alegria and Herrington are suited up and are depressurizing the Quest airlock getting ready to head outside. Some of their timeline is likely to be altered to help determine what the problem is with the MT.
If the MT cannot make it to Work Site 7, they may have to get along without the help of the station's robot arm -- which was the reason the MT was being moved in the first place.
Mission Control may try to move the MT back toward the SO truss and its original Work Site 4.
The situation seems to be changing from moment to moment. We will update this page again in about an hour, sooner if the events warrant.
Third spacewalk has begun
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2002 at 2:30 p.m. EST
The third and final planned spacewalk for the STS-113 mission officially began at 2:25 p.m. EST when astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington switched their spacesuits to battery power.
They will be departing the Quest airlock within moments to begin a 6.5-hour spacewalk that is apparently not going to follow the timeline originally set up for this EVA. (See our Flight Day Eight Mission Briefing.)
The first thing that is going to happen is for Herrington to go up to the P1 truss and inspect the stuck Mobile Transporter to see if there's anything obvious that's preventing that moving platform from sliding along the rail. He's also going to move a pair of equipment carts that are on the rail back away from the area.
The MT has been stuck on the rail some 10 feet short of its intended position for the past couple of hours. If it cannot be moved to its intended position, the spacewalkers will have to complete some of their job today without benefit of the station's robot arm as a work platform.
The vast majority of today's spacewalk will be spent installing 33 Spool Positioning Device clamps onto the ends of various fittings and ammonia coolant line quick disconnect valves. The small metal collars are designed to make it easier for future spacewalkers to do maintenance on these lines as needed.
You are invited to follow today's spacewalk by clicking on the link above to our feed of NASA TV. As usual, during this spacewalk Lopez-Alegria's suit has red stripes on it, Herrington's does not.
We will update this page about every two hours during the spacewalk.
Spacewalker fixes Mobile Transporter
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2002 at 5:02 p.m. EST
The stuck Mobile Transporter that has thrown today's spacewalk plan out the window is moving again.
Much credit for that fact goes to spacewalker John Herrington, who immediately after exiting from the Quest airlock was sent up to the P1 truss to take a look at the platform to see if anything was holding it back on its rail.
Almost at first glance he saw the problem: a piece of hardware on the MT was bumping into a stowed UHF radio antenna, preventing the the transporter from reaching its destination. The antenna was going to be released later this month but Herrington was told to do the procedure.
With that antenna free, ground controllers sent the MT a series of commands and it finally began moving again at 5 p.m. EST.
As this work was going on, Michael Lopez-Alegria was attaching a series of clamp-like devices on the ends of ammonia coolant line valves.
Mission managers have re-written the timeline for the rest of the spacewalk and have re-ordered some priorities.
We will update this page with a progress report in a couple of hours.
Third EVA continues without incident
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2002 at 7:15 p.m. EST
Following the initial excitement involving a stuck Mobile Transporter and subsequent adjustments to the spacewalk timeline, this third and last planned extravehicular activity is going very well.
Astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington are steadily completing all of the tasks assigned for today -- mostly the installation of tiny metallic clamps on the end of ammonia coolant lines and other plumbing.
After Herrington was able to free up the MT by deploying a UHF antenna that was in the way, the MT was moved down as planned to Work Site 7 and locked in place. But the move happened too late in the day to be of any help to the spacewalkers.
The station's arm was supposed to have "walked off" the Destiny science module onto the Mobile Transporter and then Herrington was going to use the arm as a stable work platform so both of his hands would be free while doing work in a hard-to-reach area of the P1 truss.
After agreeing he could do the job without the arm's help, mission managers decided not do the arm walk off. And now the MT is to be moved back to the Work Site 4 position it began the day at. The move is planned before the end of the spacewalk.
Unless events warrant otherwise, we will next update this page when the spacewalk concludes in a little less than two hours.
Final spacewalk is concluded
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2002 at 9:30 p.m. EST
The third and final planned spacewalk of STS-113 is complete -- its official end time marked at 9:25 p.m. EST making EVA No. 3's duration exactly seven hours. Total spacewalk time for this Endeavour mission: 19 hours and 55 minutes.
Astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington are safely inside the Quest airlock, which is repressurizing at this time.
Although the spacewalk ran a little long -- and was replanned on the fly thanks to problems earlier with the Mobile Transporter -- officials say everything that was planned for this excursion outside was accomplished.
Most of what they had to do on Saturday was to fasten as many as 33 metallic clamps on the end of various-sized quick-disconnect valves and other plumbing lines. The devices will make it easier for future spacewalkers to operate the valves, which were discovered to have a design flaw that made them prone to get stuck or difficult to open.
There were some other jobs done as well, all designed to complete the outfitting of the $390 million P1 truss segment that was carried into orbit by Endeavour and attached to the station on Tuesday.
With this work behind them the major goals of shuttle Endeavour's mission are all but complete. The only major task left undone: return the Expedition Five crew safely to Earth.
To get there, the crew will get some final packing done on Sunday -- and also enjoy a half-day off -- and then shuttle Endeavour is to undock from the station on Monday and land Wednesday afternoon at the Kennedy Space Center.
Look for our next update to this page on Sunday, just before 1:05 p.m. EST.
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