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STS-126
COSPAR ID2008-059A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.33441Edit this on Wikidata
End of mission

STS-126 is the current space shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which is being flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour.[4] The purpose of the ISS mission, named ULF2, is to deliver equipment and supplies to the station, to service the Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ), and repair the problem in the starboard SARJ that has limited its use since STS-120.[4][5] STS-126 launched on November 14, 2008 at 7:55:39 p.m. EST from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center with no delays or issues.[2][6] Endeavour successfully docked with the station on flight day three.[2]

Crew

Launching ISS Expedition 18 Crew

Landing ISS Expedition 18 Crew

Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to, and including this mission.

Crew notes

Originally scheduled to fly was Joan E. Higginbotham, who was a mission specialist on STS-116.[7] On November 21, 2007, NASA announced a change in the crew manifest, due to Higginbotham's decision to leave NASA to take a job in the private sector.[9] Stephen Bowen was originally assigned to STS-124 but was moved to STS-126 to allow Discovery to rotate Greg Chamitoff with Garrett Reisman.[10][11]

Mission parameters

Mission payloads

STS-126 is scheduled to be a sixteen day mission with four spacewalks, largely dedicated to servicing and repair of the Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ).[4][13] An additional docked day was added to the flight plan to give the crew more time to complete their tasks.[14] The starboard SARJ has showed anomalous behavior since August, 2007, and its use has been minimized pending diagnosis and repair.[15][16][17] Both the starboard and port SARJs will be serviced.[18][19] In addition to lubricating both bearings, the remaining 11 trundle bearings in the starboard SARJ will be replaced.[5][18] Trundle bearing assembly five was removed during an Expedition 16 EVA for further examination in December of 2007.[20]

STS-126 will also include the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) on its fifth spaceflight.[4] Leonardo will hold over 14,000 pounds of supplies and equipment. Among the items packed into the MPLM are two new crew quarters racks, a second galley (kitchen) for the Destiny laboratory, a second Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) rack (lavatory), the advanced Resistive Exercise Device (aRED), two water reclamation racks, spare hardware, and new experiments.[4][21] Also included in Leonardo is the General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator, or GLACIER, a double locker cryogenic freezer for transporting and preserving science experiments.[4] The shuttle is also carrying irradiated turkey, candied yams, stuffing and dessert for a special Thanksgiving meal at the station.[22]

Educational outreach

STS-126 will be carrying the signatures of over 500,000 students that participated in the 2008 Student Signatures in Space program, jointly sponsored by NASA and Lockheed Martin.[22] In celebration of Space Day last May, students from over 500 schools signed giant posters, their signatures were scanned onto a disk, and the disk is being flown on the STS-126 mission.[22] The Student Signatures in Space project has been active since 1997, and has flown student signatures on seven other shuttle flights, starting with STS-86.[22]

AgCam

Also aboard STS-126 is a camera to assist farmers and provide educational opportunities for students around the country.[23][24] Students and faculty at the University of North Dakota built the Agricultural Camera (AgCam), that will be delivered and installed on the International Space Station.[23] The students will operate the camera from their campus and work with NASA engineers and station astronauts to take visible and infrared light images of growing crops, grasslands, forests and wetlands in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains regions.[23][24]

The information from AgCam will provide data to agricultural producers in North Dakota and neighboring states, benefiting farmers and ranchers and providing ways for them to protect the environment. AgCam imagery also may assist in disaster management, such as flood monitoring and wild fire mapping.[23]

Mission background

The mission marks:[12]

  • 155th American manned space flight
  • 124th shuttle mission since STS-1
  • 99th post-Challenger mission
  • 11th post-Columbia mission
  • 22nd flight of Endeavour
  • 27th shuttle mission to the ISS
  • 31st night launch[25]

Shuttle processing

Endeavour at launch pad 39B prior to moving to pad 39A.

Space Shuttle Endeavour was moved from the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF-2) at Kennedy Space Center to the Vehicle Assembly Building on September 11, 2008. Rollout to launch pad 39B took place overnight on September 18, and was completed at 7:00 a.m. EDT on September 19, 2008.

Endeavour was originally moved to launch pad 39B ahead of the normal schedule to be on standby as the Launch on Need (LON) flight for STS-125. In the event that something happened to Atlantis during its flight to service the Hubble Space Telescope, a rescue flight could be performed with Endeavour. With both Atlantis and Endeavour on the pads, it was the 18th time that two flight-ready orbiters were in position at both launch pads at the same time.[26]

On September 29, 2008, NASA announced that due to a problem with the Hubble telescope, they would be revising the manifest to postpone STS-125 until 2009, so a solution to the issue with the telescope could be integrated into the flight plan.[27][28] This moved STS-126 to the next flight, so on October 23 Endeavour was moved from launch pad 39B to 39A.

The payload for STS-126, including the MPLM Leonardo, arrived at launch pad 39A early on Wednesday, October 22.

Mission timeline

Launch preparations

Space Shuttle Endeavour as it lifted off to begin the STS-126 mission to the International Space Station.

The countdown to launch began on Tuesday, November 11, and the crew flew in from Johnson Space Center to the Kennedy Space Center to prepare for the launch. On Wednesday, November 12, Mission Management Team (MMT) Chairman LeRoy Cain announced that the MMT gave the official "go" for Endeavour's launch on Friday, and Ferguson and Boe practiced landings in the Shuttle Training Aircraft.[29] Weather reports on Thursday, November 13 gave a seventy percent chance of acceptable weather conditions for launch.[29]

November 14 (Flight day 1, Launch)

Filling of the external tank with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants started at 10:30 a.m. EST on Friday, November 14.[29] After suiting up into the launch and entry suits, the crew left the Operations and Checkout building in the Astrovan and arrived at the launch pad at 4:22 p.m. EST.[6] At 4:30 p.m., the crew began ingress into the orbiter, and by 5:25 p.m., all crewmembers were in their seats and performed communications checks with the ground control personnel.[6] At 6:00 p.m., the closeout crew closed and locked Endeavour's hatch, and the orbiter's cabin was pressurized in preparation for launch.[6] Despite a last minute issue with the white room closeout door not being fully secured, NASA Launch Director Mike Leinbach polled the team, determined the door did not pose a hazard to the orbiter or crew, and told the crew "Good luck, Godspeed and have a happy Thanksgiving in orbit."[6] Endeavour lifted off on time at 7:55:39 p.m. EST (00:55 UTC).[1][2][6] External tank separation occurred at 01:03 UTC.[6]

After reaching orbit, the crew began working through the post-insertion timeline, which included opening the orbiter's payload bay doors, deploying the Ku band antenna, powering up and activating the shuttle robotic arm, and performing a burn of the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS).[30]

November 15 (Flight day 2)

On November 15, Kimbrough stops for a photo while working on the aft flight deck of Endeavour.

The second day in space for the crew was devoted to completing the initial inspection of Endeavour's heat shield. Using the shuttle's robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), the crew took detailed images of the exterior of the orbiter for the image analysis team to review.[31] The crew also continued to prepare for docking with the station on Sunday, by extending the docking ring, installing the centerline camera, and organizing the tools needed for rendezvous with the station.[32][33] The crew also performed a checkout of the spacesuits that will be used for the spacewalks during the mission.[32]

During the Mission Management Team briefing, LeRoy Cain noted that upon initial review of the ascent imagery, a small piece of thermal blanket appeared to come loose under the left Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) pod, but explained that the area is not in an area of concern, as it does not experience high heat during reentry.[31][34] During the Mission Status briefing, lead Flight Director Mike Sarafin said that after having the crew focus the camera on the left OMS pod, it did not appear that there was any damage, but the image analysis team would take a closer look at the area.[35]

Two issues with the orbiter's Ku antenna were noted by Cain, although he stated they would not impact the mission. The antenna was not handing over from Ku to S-band automatically as it should, which meant that teams on the ground had to manually switch the antenna from Ku to S Band and back again.[34] Sarafin noted that this was likely a software issue, and would not affect the crew on board, or the mission. The other issue had to do with the antenna's failure to "lock on" to satellite targets after being given the pointing data. Instead, the antenna was drifting, which meant that the teams on the ground would have to use an alternate method of pointing the antenna.[34][35] There was a possibility that the shuttle crew would need to use a backup procedure during rendezvous with the station, but it was not a concern, and wouldn't change the timeline, Cain noted.[34][35]

November 16 (Flight day 3)

Backdropped by a blue and white Earth, Endeavour prepares to perform the Rendezvous pitch maneuver prior to docking with the International Space Station.

After waking up, the crew set to work preparing for the rendezvous and docking with the station. The orbiter performed a final burn of the engines at 19:27 UTC to refine the approach, and by 21:00, the shuttle was in position below the station to allow the station crew to photograph the underside of the orbiter. Ferguson guided the shuttle manually through the Rendezvous pitch maneuver (RPM) while station crew used 400mm and 800mm cameras to take high-resolution images of the thermal tiles on Endeavour.[36] The images were downlinked to NASA's image analysis team to assist in the evaluation of the thermal protection system of the orbiter.[37] After the RPM was complete, Ferguson guided the orbiter into a safe docking at 22:01 UTC (5:01 p.m. EST), and the hatches were opened at 00:16 UTC (7:16 p.m. EST).[36][37][38] Upon entering the station, Ferguson joked "Hey, we figured we'd go for a 10-year anniversary party for the space station, so that's what we showed up for."[38] Ferguson was referring to the November 20, 1998 launch of Zarya, the first component of the International Space Station.[38]

After the two crews exchanged greetings, they performed a safety briefing, and then set right to work, beginning transfers and preparing for robotic operations. At 02:50 UTC, Chamitoff and Magnus officially switched positions, with the swap of their Soyuz seatliners. Chamitoff joined the STS-126 crew as a Mission Specialist, and Magnus officially became the Flight Engineer 2 for Expedition 18.[37][38]

During the mission status briefing, LeRoy Cain stated that the image analysis team was still evaluating the ascent imagery, but that the vehicle looked very clean, and the only event that was seen on launch, the area under the left OMS pod, appeared to have been ice.[38] The images taken during the flight day two survey showed that all of the thermal blankets in that area were intact, as were the tiles.[38] Cain stated that the item did not strike the orbiter, it was the only event that the Mission Management Team was still evaluating, and that the orbiter was in good shape.[38] Mike Sarafin confirmed that the Ku band antenna performed properly in radar mode, and docking was carried out without any problems with the antenna.[38]

November 17 (Flight day 4)

Following the docking of Endeavour, Expedition 18 crewmembers welcome the shuttle crew into the station.
Mission Specialist Stefanyshyn-Piper handles the Nitrogen Tank Assembly during EVA1.

Following the wake up call, the two crews began the procedures to move the Leonardo MPLM out of the orbiter's payload bay to install it on the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module.[39] Using the station's robotic arm, Petit and Kimbrough began maneuvering the 27,000 lb container around 16:45 UTC, and by at 18:04 it was locked in place.[40][41][42] After performing leak checks, the hatch was opened at 23:43 UTC.[42] The crews took air samples and examined the container for any signs of condensation or shifting of the contents during launch. The container had no issues, and transfer of cargo between the container and the station began shortly after the hatch was opened.[42] The team also worked on experiments that were flown with Endeavour, including one that involves observing spiders and butterflies in space.[43][44] The experiment from Florida, Texas and Colorado schoolchildren is being conducted to compare spider webs created in microgravity with those on Earth.[15] The insects will be returned to Earth with the shuttle for additional study.[43][44]

Later in the day, the crew members reviewed spacewalk procedures to prepare for the first of the four planned EVAs. Piper and Bowen began the protocol known as the "campout" prior to their sleep period.[42] Camping out consists of spending the night in the Quest airlock at lower air pressure (10.2 psi) to lessen the time needed to acclimate to the environment in the spacesuits.[42]

During the Mission Management Team briefing, LeRoy Cain confirmed that the orbiter's wing leading edge had been cleared, and that no focused inspection would be required.[45] The time that was scheduled for that inspection on day six would instead be spent working on the station's new water reclamation unit.[40][45] While the image analysis team was still reviewing the imagery from the day two inspection and RPM, Cain said the orbiter was "doing extremely well", and expected the image analysis team to clear it for re-entry within a day.[45] Cain noted that the imagery from the external tank showed it to be extremely clean, with only three small areas of foam loss noted.[39]

During the Mission Status briefing, ISS Deputy Program Manager Kirk Shireman noted the upcoming ten-year anniversary of the International Space Station. Shireman reviewed the progress and advancements that have come from the project, and reviewed some of the major milestones. Thirty Progress vehicles have visited the station, seventeen Soyuz vehicles, twenty-seven shuttles, and one Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). One hundred sixty-four people had visited the station from fourteen nations prior to STS-126, (167 once STS-126 docked) and on Thursday, the tenth anniversary, Shireman said the station will have orbited the Earth 57,509 times, for a total distance of over 1.3 billion miles.[46]

November 18 (Flight day 5)

The toolbag floats away from the space station.

Following their post-sleep period, the crews set to work preparing for the first spacewalk of the mission. Stefanyshyn-Piper and Bowen were suited up and in the airlock ahead of schedule, and the EVA started at 18:09 UTC, with Piper becoming the first female Lead Spacewalker.[47][48][49][50] While Piper was preparing to begin work on the SARJ, she noticed a significant amount of grease in her tool bag, "I think we had a grease gun explode in the large bag, because there's grease in the bag," Piper reported to Kimbrough, who was working inside the shuttle to help coordinate the EVA.[49] Mission Control managers instructed Piper to clean up the grease using a dry wipe, and while she was doing the cleanup, one of the crew lock bags floated away. "I guess one of my crew lock bags was not transferred and it's loose," Piper told Kimbrough.[49] The bag floated aft and starboard of the station, and did not pose a risk to the station or orbiter.[51] After taking an inventory of the items inside the lost bag, managers on the ground determined that Bowen had all those items in his bag, and the two could share equipment.[49] While it extended the EVA duration slightly, the major objectives were not changed, and all EVA tasks were accomplished.[52][49] The estimated value of the lost tool bag was $100,000 USD.[15][47] It was not the first time that equipment had got away from spacewalkers, items lost in the past include tools, nuts and bolts, glue guns, cameras, cloths, and even a robotic arm.[53] The United States Space Surveillance Network constantly monitors over 12,500 items in orbit around the Earth.[53]

During the Mission Status Briefing, lead ISS Flight Director Ginger Kerrick noted that there was no way to know what caused the bag to come loose.[51] "We don't know that this incident occurred because they forgot to tether something. We don't know if perhaps the hook just came loose inside the bag," Kerrick said. "You've got to remember, we are working with humans here and we are prone to human error. We do the best we can, and we learn from our mistakes."[51] Kerrick noted that the team would be taking extra precautions to avoid any further problems with the grease guns, by attaching them to the outside of the bags instead of inside to prevent the plungers from being inadvertently activated.[51]

November 19 (Flight day 6)

Chamitoff and Magnus transfer one of the two new crew quarters racks. Visible on the back of the rack are the signatures of the members of the ground team that worked on the new equipment.

Flight day six was devoted to transfer operations, and the two crews worked through the morning to complete all the rack transfers.[54] Magnus and Chamitoff successfully installed the two crew quarters racks into the Harmony node, and installed a rack with equipment to be returned to Earth into the MPLM.[54] During the Mission Status briefing, Lead ISS Flight Director Ginger Kerrick noted that all the racks were now on station, and about 25% of the cargo transfers had been completed, which was slightly ahead of schedule.[54][55] The two crews also began working on activating the Water Recovery System, so that samples of water from two areas could be taken and returned to Earth with Endeavour.[56] The system's initial checkout was initiated, and water samples would be taken after several days of operation.[54][55] Later in the day, the two crews reviewed procedures for the mission's second EVA, and Stefanyshyn-Piper and Kimbrough would sleep in the station's airlock as part of the pre-EVA campout procedure.[54]

November 20 (Flight day 7)

Following the traditional joint crew news conference, shuttle and station crews posed for a group photo.

On the tenth anniversary of the International Space Station, Stefanyshyn-Piper and Kimbrough successfully conducted the mission's second spacewalk.[57][58] The EVA was 6 hours and 45 minutes in duration, and all tasks were accomplished without complications.[15] Two crew equipment carts were relocated in preparation for the arrival of the final set of solar arrays, the station's robotic arm was lubricated, and the work on the starboard SARJ continued.[58][59] Inside the station, crewmembers continued to transfer cargo from Leonardo to the station, items to be returned to Earth into the MPLM, and continued the activation of the Water Recovery System.[58]

November 21 (Flight day 8)

Following the crew wake up call, the two crews set to work on the day's planned activities. Fincke and Magnus tested latches on the Exposed Facility Berthing Mechanism for the Japanese Kibo laboratory.[60] Magnus continued with the installation of the Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA), while engineers on the ground worked through troubleshooting of the Urine Processor Assembly.[60] The component ran initially on Thursday evening, but shut itself down during that initial test, and shut down again the following morning after two hours of operations.[60][61] Engineers were considering if the issue was a problem with the sensors, or with the centrifuge motor.[61] At 17:10, Ferguson and Boe used the shuttle's engines to reboost the station's altitude, raising it by about one nautical mile to prepare for the next Progress arrival.[60]

The two crews also participated in the traditional Joint Crew News Conference, answering questions from reporters around the world, and took the traditional crew photo.[60] Cargo transfers continued between the vehicles, and the crew was about seventy-five percent complete with all transfers to and from the MPLM.[62] After a bit of off-duty time, the two crews participated in an EVA review, in preparation for the mission's third spacewalk. Piper and Bowen spent the night in the Quest airlock for the campout prior to the next day's spacewalk.[60]

November 22 (Flight day 9)

Bowen works on the SARJ during the mission's third spacewalk.

After awakening, the two crews set right to work preparing for the mission's third EVA, which began at 18:01 UTC.[63] The entire spacewalk was devoted to completing the cleaning, lubrication, removal and replacement of the trundle bearings assemblies in the starboard SARJ.[64][65] The final trundle bearing assembly installation was deferred to the fourth EVA, but all other tasks scheduled were accomplished without any issues.[63] Piper's fifth EVA moved her to the twenty-fifth spot in cumulative EVA time with thirty three hours, forty two minutes.[65]

On the station, the crews continued to work on transfer operations, and continued work on the water reclamation system. During the Mission Status Briefing, lead ISS Flight Director Ginger Kerrick noted that a sample was taken from the Water Processor Assembly that contained 10% urine and 90% condensate, and would be returned to the ground with the shuttle.[66] Kerrick noted that if activation of the system continued on schedule, a sample from the potable water dispenser would be taken on flight day eleven. The ground crew continued to troubleshoot the Urine Processor Assembly, looking at whether there is a sensor touching part of the system’s centrifuge as it rotates, which might be causing it to slow down.[66]

November 23 (Flight day 10)

The two crews continued transfer operations, and Finke and Petit worked together to reconfigure the Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) to try to dampen any vibration that may be contributing to the unit's shutting down prematurely.[67] The unit has continued to operate sporadically, shutting itself down after two to three hours of operations, and the engineers on the ground are still evaluating the possible causes and solutions.[67][68] Managers on the ground would make a decision Monday on whether to extend Endeavour's mission by one docked day, to help with the troubleshooting of the Water Recovery System (WRS).[68] The Endeavour crew had several hours of off-duty time, and participated in media interviews.[67]

November 24 (Flight day 11)

Following the wake up call, the two crews got to work preparing for the mission's final spacewalk. Bowen and Kimbrough officially began the EVA at 18:24 UTC.[14] Shortly before the spacewalk began, managers on the ground radioed up to the crew that the Mission Management Team had approved an extra docked day of operations for the crews, extending the mission to sixteen days.[14] The extra time was being given to allow the crews more time to resolve the issues with the Urine Processing Assembly.[14] The spacewalk successfully concluded after 6 hours and 7 minutes, bringing the total time spent in EVA activities for the mission to 26 hours, 41 minutes.[69]

Planned mission timeline

Information taken from the STS-126 Press Kit, and may change as the mission progresses.[4][70][71]
Flight day 12
Final shuttle/ISS transfers  · Leonardo egress and depressurization  · Canadarm2 removal of Leonardo from Harmony and berthing of MPLM into cargo bay.
Flight day 13
Crew off duty time  · rendezvous tool checkout  · final farewells and hatch closure  · centerline camera installation.
Flight day 14
Undocking  · flyaround of the International Space Station  · final separation  · OBSS late inspection of Endeavour’s thermal protection system.
Flight day 15
Flight Control System (FCS) checkout  · Reaction Control System (RCS) hot‐fire test  · Picosat deployment  · cabin stowage  · Chamitoff’s recumbent seat setup  · crew deorbit briefing  · Ku‐Band antenna stowage.
Flight day 16
Deorbit preparations  · payload bay door closing  · deorbit burn  · Kennedy Space Center landing.

Extra-vehicular activity

EVA # Spacewalkers Start (UTC) End (UTC) Duration
EVA 1
 Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper
Stephen G. Bowen 		November 18
18:09 		November 19
01:01 		6 hours, 52 minutes
Transfered an empty nitrogen tank assembly from ESP-3 to the shuttle’s cargo bay, transfered a new flex hose rotary coupler to ESP-3 for future use, removed an insulation cover on the Kibo External Facility berthing mechanism, began cleaning and lubrication of the starboard SARJ, and replacement of eleven trundle bearing assemblies.[52][48][49]
EVA 2
 Stefanyshyn-Piper
Robert S. Kimbrough 		November 20
17:58 		November 21
00:43 		6 hours, 45 minutes
Relocated two Crew and Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) carts from the starboard side of the Mobile Transporter to the port side, lubricated the station robotic arm’s Latching End Effector (LEE) "A" snare bearings, continued cleaning and lubrication of the starboard SARJ.[57][58][59]
EVA 3
 Stefanyshyn-Piper
Bowen 		November 22
18:01 		November 23
00:58 		6 hours, 57 minutes
Completed cleaning, lubrication, and replacement of all but one of the trundle bearing assemblies on the starboard SARJ. The final TBA will be replaced during EVA 4.[63]
EVA 4
 Bowen
Kimbrough 		November 24
18:24 		November 25
00:31 		6 hours, 7 minutes
Completed replacement of trundle bearing assemblies on starboard SARJ, lubricated the port SARJ, installed a video camera, re‐installed insulation covers on the Kibo External Facility berthing mechanism, performed Kibo robotic arm grounding tab maintenance, installed spacewalk handrails on Kibo, installed Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) antennae on Kibo, photographed radiators, and photographed trailing umbilical system cables.[69]

Wake-up calls

A tradition for NASA human spaceflights since the days of Gemini, is that mission crews are played a special musical track at the start of each day in space. Each track is specially chosen, often by their family, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.[72][73]

Contingency mission

The Contingency Shuttle Crew Support mission which would be launched in the event that Endeavour becomes disabled during STS-126 would be performed by Discovery.[74][75][76] It is a modified version of the STS-119 mission of Discovery,[74] which would involve the launch date being brought forward, but the goal would be to carry STS-119's full payload and complete the mission as planned, in addition to rescuing the crew of STS-126.[77]

See also

References

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