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| STS-100 Space Walks -- Installing a New Generation of Robotics |
| Overview |
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Astronauts Chris Hadfield and Scott Parazynski will perform at least two 6 1/2-hour space walks during STS-100 to install and activate the Canadarm2, a robotic arm for the International Space Station developed and contributed by Canada. Time also is set aside during the mission to allow a third space walk if required by mission events. The activities during a third space walk would be planned during the mission. During the space walks, Hadfield, designated EV1, will be distinguishable by red stripes around the legs of his spacesuit. Parazynski, designated EV2, will wear an all-white suit. Endeavour Pilot Jeff Ashby, with help from Mission Specialist Umberto Guidoni, will operate the robotic arm during the space walks and John Phillips will serve as the intravehicular crew member, coordinating the space walkers' activities from within the shuttle's cabin. Flight Day 4 - First Space Walk: UHF Antenna Install, Canadarm2 Install The first space walk will take place on Flight Day 4, the day after Endeavour docks with the International Space Station. Hadfield and Parazynski will connect cables that will feed the initial electrical power, computer commands and video between the station and the Canadarm2. They will next install and deploy an Ultra High Frequency (UHF) communications antenna that will enable the station to conduct future space walk communications and that will improve future shuttle-station communications. Then they will release launch bolts that held the Canadarm2 secure during its trip to orbit, unfold the arm and prepare it for control from inside the station. On Flight Day 4, as Hadfield and Parazynski are donning their spacesuits on Endeavour's lower deck, in the aft cockpit, Ashby will power up the shuttle's robotic arm. Ashby will use the shuttle arm to lift a Spacelab Pallet holding the station arm and the UHF communications antenna from the shuttle's cargo bay. He will then maneuver the pallet, with the Canadarm2 and antenna attached, to latch to a cradle affixed to the station's Destiny lab. At that point, Hadfield and Parazynski will leave the shuttle's airlock and begin their space walk. During much of the first space walk, Hadfield will work from a foot platform attached to the shuttle's robotic arm, controlled by Ashby. Parazynski will work free-floating or from fixtures attached to the station. For the first task, connecting the initial station power, command and video cables to the arm, Hadfield will release a set of cables from restraints on the Spacelab Pallet to which the arm is attached. The four cable connections to be made will provide space station power, commanding and video to and from the Flight Support Equipment Grapple Fixture (FSEGF) on the pallet, which serves as the arm's initial base. Parazynski will connect the cables to the station's Destiny lab, enabling the arm to later be controlled from a Robotics Work Station within the lab. Next, the two space walkers will remove the UHF antenna from its launch restraints on the pallet, and Hadfield will hold it while Ashby maneuvers him to the position where the antenna will be installed on the station. Parazynski will bolt the antenna to the station and connect cables between the new system and the complex. The antenna's booms will then be deployed by the space walkers. Then, the space walkers will turn their attention back to the robotic arm. They will remove several insulating blankets from the arm and pallet and verify that station electrical power is being supplied to the arm before beginning to release bolts that held the arm in place during launch. They will sequentially release 32 smaller bolts called jackbolts that hold tight eight large, four-foot-long "superbolts" that secure the arm in place on the pallet. As they are removed, the long superbolts will be placed into a "quiver," a container that will hold them securely for a return to Earth on the pallet. Once the launch restraint bolts are removed, Ashby will maneuver Hadfield at the end of the shuttle's arm to begin unfolding the station arm. As each of two booms are unfolded, the space walkers will tighten bolts, called Expandable Diameter Fasteners, that will make the booms rigid. The Canadarm2 is planned to be ready for its first operations once this space walk is completed, operations that will have it "walk off" the Spacelab Pallet on the next day of the mission. On that day, controlled from inside the station, the arm will be moved to a configuration that will have one end latched to the pallet and the other latched to a fixture on the Destiny lab's exterior. Flight Day 6 - Second Space Walk: Canadarm2 Checkouts During much of the second space walk, Parazynski will be working from a foot platform attached to the end of Endeavour's robotic arm, again controlled by Ashby, while Hadfield works either free-floating or from fixtures attached to the station's exterior. Their second space walk begins with Hadfield and Parazynski opening a panel on the lab's exterior and Parazynski then connecting power, computer and video cables for the Destiny lab fixture to which one end of the Canadarm2 will then be attached. Parazynksi will make eight cable connections to prepare the arm to "switch ends" using the lab fixture, called a Power and Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF), as its base and the end attached to the pallet as its free end. While Parazynski is working with the connections, Hadfield will climb to the station's Unity module and remove an Early Communications System antenna, a box-shaped, 100-pound antenna that was used as part of an early station system that is no longer needed. The antenna must be removed from Unity to clear the way for the arrival of the station airlock to be launched on the STS-104 space shuttle mission. Hadfield will carry the removed antenna back to Endeavour's payload bay, where it will be taken into the cabin at the end of the space walk. Once the station crew has confirmed that power is being provided to the arm through the connections made by Parazynski, Hadfield will begin disconnecting the four power, command and video cables that were installed between the pallet and station during the first space walk. The four cables provided the initial power, command and video to the arm but will now no longer be required and must be removed to allow the Spacelab Pallet to be unlatched from the station and eventually returned to the shuttle bay. While Hadfield is disconnecting those cables, Parazynski will remove a Video Signal Converter (VSC) from the Spacelab Pallet that is now no longer needed for the arm's operation. The unit will be stowed aboard the station as a spare. The two space walkers will then begin stowing some of their tools while they monitor the movement of the Canadarm2, controlled from inside the station by station crew member Susan Helms, as it "switches ends." Now using the fixture on the exterior of Destiny as its base, the arm will lift the Spacelab Pallet, now attached to the arm's free end, and maneuver to a parked position where it will be locked in place overnight. The arm's move also clears the way for the final space walk task, attaching a spare piece of station electronics equipment to an external stowage platform on the exterior of the Destiny lab. Working from a foot platform attached to the end of the shuttle's robotic arm, Parazynski will remove the spare piece of electronics, a critical part for the station's electrical system called a Direct Current Switching Unit, from a platform in the shuttle bay. Ashby will then maneuver Parazynski to the exterior of Destiny, where, assisted by Hadfield, he will secure the spare unit to the stowage platform, in place for use by future crews if needed. Day 8 - Possible Third Space Walk Time has been set aside to allow a third 6 1/2 -hour space walk on Flight Day 8 if it is required by the mission's events. However, in the prelaunch plan, although time is set aside for the third space walk, no activities are planned for it. If it is needed, its activities will be planned during Endeavour's flight. If a third space walk is not needed, the crews will spend Flight Day 8 as another day of joint activities with hatches open aboard the shuttle and station. |
Editorial/Technical Comments: ShuttlePresskit
EVA Timeline for STS-100 Space Walks -- Installing a New Generation of Robotics
Time
Event
002/16:40
EVA 1 Egress
002/16:55
EVA 1 Setup
002/17:40
EVA 1 FSEGF Cable Connect
002/18:25
EVA 1 UHF Antenna Installation
002/19:25
EVA 1 SSRMS Deploy
002/22:25
EVA 1 Cleanup
002/22:55
EVA 1 Ingress
004/18:25
EVA 2 Egress
004/18:35
EVA 2 Setup
004/19:20
EVA 2 J400 Panel Reconfig
004/19:35
EVA 2 Starboard ECOM Removal
004/20:50
EVA 2 FSEGF Umbilical Release
004/21:05
EVA 2 VSC Removal
004/21:35
EVA 2 Hardware Stow
004/22:35
EVA 2 DCSU Transfer
004/23:35
EVA 2 Cleanup
005/00:35
EVA 2 Ingress
