![]() ![]() The undocking is expected to occur 244 miles above the North Atlantic, due west of Ireland. Now 15 minutes from the scheduled departure of Atlantis from the space station. The separation occurs when large springs push the two craft apart. The steering jets on Atlantis are inhibited for the period of physical undocking from the station. Once the hooks and latches are opened, one final command will be sent to undock the shuttle. The command has been issued to begin driving open the hooks holding Atlantis and station together. Onufrienko, Bursch and Walz will return to Earth aboard Endeavour to wrap up their mission.Ībout two minutes until undocking. Endeavour will ferry the station's next full-time crew to the outpost - Expedition Five commander Valeri Korzun, flight engineer Sergei Treschev and NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. The next shuttle mission to the station is scheduled for launch on May 31. on May 4 and returning to Earth aboard the lab's older Soyuz. The taxi crew will spend a week aboard the station before undocking around 7:05 p.m. The "taxi crew" flying the new Soyuz to the station will be led by commander Yuri Gidzenko, with Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori and South African space tourist Mark Shuttleworth. Docking at the station's Zarya port is expected around 4 a.m. The re-location will clear the way for the arrival of a fresh Soyuz lifeboat, which is set for launch from Central Asia at 2:26 a.m. EDT, moving the spacecraft from its current docking port on the Russian Zarya module to a port on the Pirs docking compartment. In fact, they have a busy schedule over the next few days and weeks.Įarly Saturday morning, the station residents will strap into their Soyuz escape capsule and undock around 5:10 a.m. Meanwhile, the station's Expedition Four crew of Yuri Onufrienko, Dan Bursch and Carl Walz have nearly two months left in their six-month voyage in space. EDT landing Friday at Kennedy Space Center. UNDOCKING! Atlantis is slowing backing away from the International Space Station after a 7-day, 2-hour, 26-minute visit to the outpost that delivered the S0 truss and featured four spacewalks to bring the structure to life. The shuttle is headed to a point 400 feet away to begin a one-and-a-quarter lap fly around of the station. The shuttle is now 275 feet in front of the station, continuing to move away.Ītlantis is now 75 feet from the station, backing away at about 0.2 feet per second. ![]() ![]() This three-foot per second burn will send Atlantis away from the vicinity of the station. After climbing above the station for a second time, the final separation engine firing will be performed. The fly-around starts with the shuttle in front of the station, takes Atlantis to a point directly above the complex, then behind it, looping below and back out in front. Under the control of pilot Steve Frick, Atlantis has begun the lap-and-a-quarter fly-around of the International Space Station so the shuttle astronauts can take photos to document the outpost. The shuttle is now directly below the station.Ītlantis has reached a point directly behind the station in terms of the direction of travel of the two spacecraft around the Earth, which is known as the -V bar.Ītlantis is reaching a point directly above the space station. This is where the separation burn will be performed.Ītlantis is now back out in front of the station. Circuit interrupt device on-off cycles: 12Ītlantis has moved above the station again.PIP pins, actuators or latches cycled: 55.Connector caps removed or installed: 49.Here is a list of spacewalk actions during Atlantis' mission: Conducted four spacewalks totaling 28 hours and 22 minutes (single-flight record for ISS assembly).Boosted station altitude by about five nautical miles.Disposed of about 229 pounds of condensate from ISS.Estimated 2450.34 pounds of logistics transferred to shuttle.Transferred 22.9 pounds of spacewalk hardware to ISS.Estimated 2228.04 pounds of hardware and supplies delivered to ISS.Transferred 1,463 pounds of water to ISS.Transferred 45 pounds of nitrogen (40 pounds required).Transferred 146 pounds of oxygen (130 pounds required).Installed the S0 element adding 26,716 pounds to the ISS.The separation maneuver by Atlantis has been performed and the shuttle is now quickly departing the vicinity of the space station.įor those of you scoring at home, here are some numbers from Atlantis' seven-day stay at the station: Spaceflight Now | Space Station | Mission Status CenterĪrchive of our coverage of the space shuttle Atlantis' mission to deliver the S0 truss to the International Space Station. ![]()
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