Launch Preps Move Ahead for Mission to International Space Station

During space shuttle Discovery's final spaceflight, the STS-133 crew members will take important spare parts to the International Space Station along with the Express Logistics Carrier-4. Discovery is being readied for flight inside Kennedy's Orbiter Processing Facility-3 while its solid rocket boosters are stacked inside the nearby Vehicle Assembly Building. STS-133 is slated to launch Nov. 1.

Expedition 24 Spacewalk Briefing

Courtenay McMillan, Expedition 24 Flight Director

Worksite Overview

S1 Location Bay 7

Replacement Pump Module Location on ESP-2

Spare Pump Module

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition24/eva_briefing_080210.html

Robot Goes to Work While Crew Prepares for Spacewalks

Robotics and spacewalk preparations took center stage Tuesday aboard the International Space Station as the Expedition 24 crew orbited above the Earth.

Dextre, an agile, two-armed extension for the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm, continues its debut task to replace a failed Remote Power Control Module (RPCM) from a truss segment on the station’s port side. On Tuesday flight controllers in Houston began conducting a “dress rehearsal” of the actual replacement as they commanded Dextre to partially remove and reinstall an RPCM on the P1 truss. After Dextre successfully completes the test, Mission Control plans to swap the failed RPCM with a spare from the P3 truss Wednesday.

Meanwhile the Expedition 24 crew continued its own preparations to venture outside the station for an upcoming pair of spacewalks.

Image above: The Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft (partially out of frame in the foreground), docked to the Rassvet Mini-Research Module 1, and the ISS Progress 37 resupply vehicle, docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment, are featured in this image. Credit: NASA

Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Mikhail Kornienko, both flight engineers, prepared the cooling loops of the Russian Orlan spacesuits they will wear during a six-hour spacewalk set to begin the evening of July 26. The pair will install Kurs automated rendezvous equipment on the exterior of the recently delivered Rassvet module to facilitate future dockings with Russian spacecraft.

Flight Engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson continued preparations for their Aug. 5 spacewalk as they each conducted a session of onboard training for Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue, or SAFER. Should a spacewalker become untethered during a spacewalk and begin floating away, the small nitrogen-jet thrusters of SAFER could help the astronaut get back to the station.

Shannon Walker, also a station flight engineer, assisted with the American spacewalk preparations as she inspected safety and waist tethers for structural integrity and reviewed spacewalk procedures.

The Expedition 24 crew also tackled a number of science investigations Tuesday. Commander Alexander Skvortsov spent part of his day working with a Russian experiment known as Russalka, which involves using a camera equipped with an ultraviolet filter to collect measurements of methane and carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Wheelock prepared the Solution Crystallization Observation Facility for a Japanese study of facet-like crystallization. The results of this experiment may provide valuable data on creating high quality materials for industrial use such as superconducting magnets.

The Americans also continued maintenance work on the Oxygen Generation System, flushing the components that allow liquid to flow through the system so that oxygen can be extracted from recycled water to provide air for the crew to breathe.

Later, Walker assisted Wheelock with the latest session of Kids In Micro-Gravity!, an experiment that gives students a hands-on opportunity to design a demonstration that can be performed both in the classroom and aboard the station. Tuesday’s activity, a look at whether blowing across the tops of bottles filled with different amounts of water will create the same tones in space as on Earth, was developed by fifth grade students at Vaughan Elementary in Powder Springs, Ga.

Researchers can learn more about opportunities to develop and fly science experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) at the NASA ISS Research Academy Aug. 3-5 in League City, Texas.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

New Flight Engineers Join Expedition 24

Three new crew members arrived at the International Space Station joining Expedition 24. Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin, Doug Wheelock and Shannon Walker docked the Soyuz TMA-19 to the aft end of the Zvezda service module Thursday at 6:21 p.m. EDT.

At 8:52 p.m. the hatches were opened between the station and the Soyuz spacecraft. The new crew joined Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineers Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko and began safety briefings and familiarization activities.

Image above: The Expedition 24 crew members, clockwise from bottom, Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineers Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Doug Wheelock, Mikhail Kornienko, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Shannon Walker. Credit: NASA

Johnson Space Center Director Mike Coats and NASA Spaceflight Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier were in Russia and offered their congratulations to the new station crew members. Family, friends and co-workers of the crew also offered their best wishes during a live video conference shortly after hatch opening.

Before the Soyuz TMA-19 arrived, the station crew shifted its sleep schedule to greet the new arrivals. The six-member crew slept in on Friday and will take a half day off on Saturday before beginning orientation activities onboard the orbiting laboratory.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Crew Does Maintenance, Science; Soyuz Launch Date Approaches

The International Space Station’s Expedition 24 crew began the week Monday with a variety of science experiments.

Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson was scheduled to reinstall an old pump into the U.S. segment’s oxygen generation system, in an effort to coax it back into action to support the increase of the crew to six people which will begin Thursday.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko restarted the Elektron oxygen generation system in the Russian segment over the weekend.

Commander Alexander Skvortsov conducted an observation with the Rusalka experiment, which is a test of procedures for remote determination of methane and carbon dioxide content in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Skvortsov also assisted Kornienko in a session with the Russian Pilot-M experiment. Pilot-M tests piloting skill in simulations on a laptop under stopwatch control and studies the response of cosmonauts to the effects of stress factors in flight.

Image above: The Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft is rolled out by train to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Sunday, June 13, 2010. Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi

Caldwell Dyson took photographs of the moon for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency educational program known as ISS Moon Score. The purpose of this program is to create a musical score using photos of the moon taken at different times in the lunar cycle, while the crew is floating naturally in the microgravity environment.

Following the rollout of their Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft to the launch pad Sunday, Expedition 24 Flight Engineers Doug Wheelock, Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin met Monday with the Russian State Commission of top space officials and conducted their final pre-launch Crew News Conference at their Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters. Everything is on track for launch Tuesday at 5:35 p.m. EDT. The new crew members are slated to dock to the station’s Zvezda service module Thursday at 6:25 p.m.

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Expedition 24 Crew Checks Out Soyuz

JSC2010-E-092046 (11 June 2010) --- At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the prime and backup crews to join Expedition 24 on the International Space Station pose for a picture in front of their Soyuz booster rocket in its integration building June 11, 2010. From left to right are prime crew members Doug Wheelock, Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Shannon Walker, with backup crew members Cady Coleman, Dmitri Kondratiev and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency. Wheelock, Yurchikhin and Walker will launch next week in the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft on a two-day trip to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

JSC2010-E-092042 (11 June 2010) --- At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Paolo Nespoli, backup flight engineer, representing the European Space Agency, peers into the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft June 11, 2010 during a final vehicle inspection. Prime crew members Doug Wheelock and Shannon Walker of NASA and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, Soyuz commander, with the Russian Federal Space Agency, will lift off next week in the Soyuz on a two-day trip to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

JSC2010-E-092043 (11 June 2010) --- At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, astronaut Shannon Walker, flight engineer, of NASA poses for a picture during a final vehicle inspection of the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft June 11, 2010. Walker will launch next week with astronaut Doug Wheelock of NASA and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, Soyuz commander, of the Russian Federal Space Agency on a two-day trip to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

JSC2010-E-092044 (11 June 2010) --- At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock, Expedition 24 flight engineer, poses for a picture during a final vehicle inspection of the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft June 11, 2010. Wheelock will launch next week with astronaut Shannon Walker, flight engineer, of NASA and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, Soyuz commander, with the Russian Federal Space Agency on a two-day trip to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

JSC2010-E-092045 (11 June 2010) --- At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the prime crew assigned to join Expedition 24 on the International Space Station pose for a picture in front of their Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft June 11, 2010. From left to right are prime crew members Shannon Walker, Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Doug Wheelock. Walker, Yurchikhin and Wheelock will launch next week in the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft on a two-day trip to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

JSC2010-E-092047 (11 June 2010) --- At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, NASA astronaut Shannon Walker signs a picture of a Soyuz rocket on the wall of the Korolev Museum near the launch pad during a tour of the facility June 11, 2010. Walker, Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock will launch next week in the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft on a two-day trip to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

JSC2010-E-092048 (11 June 2010) --- At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock signs a picture of a Soyuz rocket on the wall of the Korolev Museum near the launch pad during a tour of the facility June 11, 2010. Wheelock, Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Shannon Walker will launch next week in the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft on a two-day trip to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

For more information visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/multimedia/exp24_inspect.html