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| ENDEAVOUR'S FLIGHT HELPS THE STATION SPREAD ITS WINGS |
| During 11 days punctuated by space flight firsts, the Space Shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-97 will see the International Space Station spread its wings -- giant solar arrays that will quintuple the station's electrical power, enabling future unparalleled research. The 240-foot solar arrays to be attached and unfolded by Endeavour’s international crew of five – Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Mike Bloomfield and Mission Specialists Joe Tanner, Carlos Noriega and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Marc Garneau – will be the longest structure to ever fly in space. Endeavour will carry aloft the United States-developed solar arrays, associated electronics, batteries, cooling radiator, and support structure. The entire 17-ton package is called the P6 Integrated Truss Segment, and it will be the heaviest and largest element yet delivered to the station aboard a Shuttle. The addition of the huge solar arrays – only the first of four identical such sets that will be attached to the station in coming years -- will clearly distinguish the International Space Station from any predecessor spacecraft. They will provide the station with more electrical power, a key to successful modern research, than anything that has flown before. Endeavour also will be the first Space Shuttle to visit an inhabited International Space Station, although the Shuttle crew and station crew of Commander Bill Shepherd, Pilot Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev will not greet one another until the hatches are fully opened between the spacecraft on the ninth day of the mission. Endeavour is targeted for launch on STS-97 at 10:06 p.m. EST Nov. 30 from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at the opening of a launch window that extends for between two to five minutes. After two days spent slowly closing in on the complex and checking out equipment, Jett will maneuver Endeavour to dock with the International Space Station just before 2 p.m. on Dec. 2, given an on-time launch. Immediately after docking, Garneau will use the shuttle's 50-foot, Canadian-built robotic arm to initially lift the truss segment a few feet out of the shuttle cargo bay, holding it in position there overnight to control its temperature. Also, the Shuttle crew will open the station's outermost hatch and stow some early supplies in an outer compartment of the station to await retrieval by the Expedition One crew. On the following day, Endeavour’s crew will begin installing the solar arrays on the station, with Tanner and Noriega conducting the first of three planned space walks. With Tanner and Noriega assisting from outside, Garneau will use the robotic arm to attach the truss segment package, including the folded arrays and electronics, atop a smaller exterior framework already on the station. Tanner and Noriega will visually assist Garneau to properly align the new segment. The two space walkers will tighten attachment bolts to ensure the P6 truss is mechanically secure. Next, they will connect umbilicals for power and data between the new equipment and the rest of the station, as well as release various restraints that were in place to protect equipment during the Shuttle’s launch. Near the end of the first space walk, the crew inside Endeavour will send commands to begin deploying the solar arrays, folded for launch into a box only 20 inches thick, to their full outstretched length. A second space walk by Tanner and Noriega on the sixth day of the mission will move a communications antenna to a location high on the new truss segment. During the last half of the space walk, they will prepare the station for the next shuttle visit that will deliver the first laboratory, the United States' Destiny lab, in January 2001. A third space walk by Tanner and Noriega will be conducted on the eighth day of the mission. The two space walkers will attach equipment at the top of the truss segment called the Floating Potential Probe to provide measurements of the electrical environment around the space station’s exterior. The Shuttle and station crews will greet one another for the first time on the ninth day of the mission as they fully open the hatches between the two spacecraft. The crews will spend two days working together, transferring supplies and equipment back and forth. Endeavour's visit and the power from the new solar arrays will allow the station crew to begin conducting some of the first experiments aboard the station after Endeavour departs. Those experiments will include: student experiments conducted in conjunction with the national JASON education project that will study the effects of space on soybean and corn seeds; an experiment developed by the Air Force and the Massachusetts Institute of Science and Technology that will study new control mechanisms for satellites; and several medical evaluations that will study the effectiveness of exercise on the station's treadmill and other exercise equipment. Based on an on-time launch on Nov. 30, Bloomfield is scheduled to undock Endeavour from the station just after 2 p.m. EST on Dec. 9, performing a full-circle flyaround of the complex before departing the vicinity. The day after the undocking will be spent preparing Endeavour for landing, and the Shuttle's touchdown would occur at the Kennedy Space Center about 6:19 p.m. EST on Dec. 11, 10 days, 20 hours and 13 minutes after launch. STS-97 will be the 15th flight of Endeavour and the 101st Space Shuttle mission. An Overview of STS-97 Flight Day 1: On Flight Day 1, Endeavour and its five-member crew will launch from the Kennedy Space Center. Once on orbit, they will climb out of their launch and entry suits, open the payload bay doors, reconfigure computers and other equipment on board, and activate a three-dimensional IMAX camera. The astronauts will go to sleep approximately five hours after launch. Flight Day 2: Flight Day 2 is a day of preparation for Endeavour’s crew as the astronauts activate and check out the Shuttle’s robotic arm using it to conduct a survey of the cargo latched into the payload bay; check out the Space Vision System that will provide Marc Garneau with visual cues as he unberths the P6 truss from the payload bay on Flight Day 3; inspect the space suits that will be worn by Astronauts Joe Tanner and Carlos Noriega on Flight Days 4, 6 and 8; and begin activating wireless instrumentation systems that provide temperature data on the cargo mounted in Endeavour’s payload bay. Flight Day 3: With an on-time launch on November 30, Flight Day 3 will see Endeavour dock to a port on the Unity module of the International Space Station shortly before 3 p.m. EST. After docking, the P6 integrated truss – containing the large solar arrays – will be lifted out of Endeavour’s payload bay and moved into an overnight ‘parking’ position. The astronauts will also begin preparing the docking port for their later entry into the ISS. Flight Day 4: Astronauts Joe Tanner and Carlos Noriega will take the first of their three scheduled space walks to install the solar arrays that will provide increased power to the U.S. portions of the space station. Flight Day 5: The astronauts will get some rest following the first of their three scheduled space walks, and begin preparing for their entry into the space station on Flight Day 9. Flight Day 6: Tanner and Noriega will take their second space walk on Flight Day 6, relocating a communications antenna to the top of the P6 truss that was installed on Flight Day 4. They will also begin preparing the Station for the arrival of the U.S. laboratory Destiny, by relocating some foot restraints and power cables that will be used by the STS-98 crew early next year. Flight Day 7: The astronauts will rest and prepare for the final planned space walk of their mission to be performed on Flight Day 8. Flight Day 8: Tanner and Noriega will venture outside Endeavour a final time to install equipment called the Floating Potential Probe atop the newly installed station truss segment. The equipment will provide measurements of the electrical environment around the exterior of the station. Flight Day 9: After spending seven days docked to the International Space Station, the STS-97 and Expedition One (resident) crew will swing open the hatches between shuttle and station to greet one another and transfer equipment and supplies. Flight Day 10: With Pilot Mike Bloomfield at the controls, Endeavour will undock from the ISS, flying one full circle around it before firing the Shuttle’s engines to begin its final departure from the station. The rest of the day will be spent preparing Endeavour for its return to Earth on Flight Day 12. Flight Day 11: Endeavour’s astronauts begin the process of heading home on Flight Day 9 as they put away the tools, hardware, checklists, cameras and other materials they have used while in space. In addition, Brent Jett, Mike Bloomfield and Marc Garneau will conduct the routine day-before-landing checks of the Shuttle’s small reaction control system jets and aero surfaces to ensure their health prior to landing. Flight Day 12: Flight Day 12 should see Endeavour return to the Kennedy Space Center and conclude its mission to help the growing space station spread its wings. On board, the astronauts will finish putting away last-minute items, climb into their orange launch and entry suits and close the payload bay doors. When they receive a "go" decision from the Flight Control Team in Houston, they will fire Endeavour’s engines in a deorbit burn to bring the Shuttle and its five-member crew out of orbit and back to Earth. |
