Space and Space Travel News

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- Nov 20: Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (top) and Shane Kimbrough participate in the mission's second scheduled session of extravehicular activity as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

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Nov 20: Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Shane Kimbrough (anchored to a Canadarm2 mobile foot restraint). Credit: NASA

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- 11/21/08: The space shuttle and ISS crews were hard at work transferring, assembling and testing hardware at the station today. Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus tested latches on the Exposed Facility Berthing Mechanism for the Japanese Kibo laboratory. The mechanism will be used to install an exterior science platform from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency during a shuttle flight next year. (more)
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» NASA News Blog

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- Nov 14: NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the rotating service structure protecting space shuttle Endeavour was rolled away in preparation for launch. Credit: NASA/KSC

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- Oct 29: Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral, Florida are featured in this image photographed by a crewmember of the International Space Station. Launch complex 39, with pads A and B, is visible at center left. The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) is visible at lower right. Credit: NASA
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On the Net:
Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal: www.hq.nasa.gov/a11.clsout
Missions to Mars: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu » Mars Photo

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- Oct 29: On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-126 crew members gather near the slidewire baskets on the 195-foot level of the fixed service structure. From left are Donald Pettit, Sandra Magnus, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve Bowen. They have taken part in a simulated countdown in space shuttle Endeavour followed by emergency escape procedures. The crew is at Kennedy to take part in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, which includes equipment familiarization, emergency exit training and the simulated countdown. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

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- Sep. 30, 2008: Astronauts Sandra Magnus (foreground), Shane Kimbrough and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, all STS-126 mission specialists, participate in a training session in one of the full-scale trainers in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Attired in training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits, the three are seated on the middeck for a post insertion/de-orbit training session. Credit: NASA

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Photos: Space Shuttle / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8




- Sep. 11, 2008: Space shuttle Endeavour begins rolling out of Orbiter Processing Facility 2 to head to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. There Endeavour will be attached to its external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters. After additional preparations are made, the shuttle will be rolled out to the Launch Pad. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder

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- Sep. 19, 2008: An aerial view of the Launch Complex at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida shows space shuttles on both pads. At top is space shuttle Endeavour, which rolled out Sept. 19, completing the 4.2-mile journey. In the foreground is space shuttle Atlantis, preparing for its launch on the STS-125 mission to repair NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Photo credit: NASA/Troy Cryder / 2 - Space and Astronautics News - Shuttle Missions 2005 -2010: http://space.gs/shuttle

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- Astronaut Steve Bowen participates in the mission's spacewalk as construction and maintenance continue on the ISS. During the six-hour, 52-minute spacewalk, the spacewalkers removed a depleted nitrogen tank from a stowage platform on the outside of the complex and moved it into Endeavour's cargo bay. They also moved a flex hose rotary coupler from the shuttle to the station stowage platform, as well as removing some insulation blankets from the common berthing mechanism on the Kibo laboratory. Bowen and astronaut Heidi Piper (out of frame) also worked to clean and lubricate part of the station's starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ) and to remove two of SARJ's 12 trundle bearing assemblies. » NASA TV: Highlights from the Space Station

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- Astronauts Heidi S. Piper (right) and Greg Chamitoff take a moment for a photo during preparations for the mission's space walk in the Quest Airlock of the Space Station. Piper is attired in her Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit. Credit: NASA


STS-126 Mission Control Center Status Report
By Johnson Space Center, November 22, 2008





Houston, U.S. (NASA) -- The third spacewalk by Endeavour astronauts outside the International Space Station will be the focus of today's activities aboard the two spacecraft. Endeavour crew members Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists Don Pettit, Steve Bowen, Heidemarie S. Piper, Shane Kimbrough and Greg Chamitoff were awakened at 7:55 a.m. CST. The song was 'You Are Here,' by the group Dutton. It was played for Kimbrough.

Spacewalkers Piper and Bowen are scheduled to leave the station's Quest airlock at 12:45 p.m. Piper, the lead spacewalker, will wear the red-striped suit while Bowen will be in the all-white suit. Their work will be further cleaning and lubrication of the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) and replacement of some of more its bearing assemblies. The joint has seen limited use since September 2007 when flight controllers saw increased power consumption and vibration as it moved the 240-foot solar wings like a paddlewheel to follow the sun. Much of the work on all four spacewalks during Endeavour's stay at the station involves the starboard SARJ. The port SARJ, which continues to function well, will get a precautionary lubrication on the Monday spacewalk. Kimbrough, who participated in the Thursday spacewalk, will be today's intravehicular officer, or spacewalk choreographer. The spacewalk is planned for about seven hours.


» Info: Mission Control Center

- Shuttle and ISS operations in space are run from the Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas (Image: NASA)


Just about every day Endeavour is at the station is moving day. Crew members of both spacecraft, including Expedition 18 commander Mike Fincke and flight engineers Yury Lonchakov and Sandy Magnus, will continue moving supplies and equipment between Endeavour and the International Space Station and work on station equipment. Work continues to check out the Water Recovery System and its Urine Processor Assembly. The UPA was activated again overnight to gather more information on why it had shut down on previous tests. One theory is that its centrifuge might as it rotates be touching another structure.

Endeavour's crew is scheduled to go to bed at 11:55 p.m. today and be awakened at 7:55 a.m. Sunday. The next shuttle status report will be issued at the end of the crew day, or earlier if events warrant. (more...)
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On the Net:

M.C.C. area

European Space Agency (ESA): http://spaceflight.esa.int

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- Nov 19: Astronaut Chris Ferguson, STS-126 commander, uses a computer on the middeck of Space Shuttle Endeavour while docked with the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA

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- Nov 20: Astronauts Greg Chamitoff and Sandra Magnus work in the Kibo laboratory of the International Space Station while Space Shuttle Endeavour remains docked with the station. - Credit: NASA
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On the Net:

NASA's Office of Education: http://education.nasa.gov
What do astronauts eat in space: http://curious.astro.cornell.edu
Earth Observatory Photos: http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/EarthObservatory » E.O. Image of the Day

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- This image, recorded in late evening hours of Nov. 21, Houston time, shows astronauts Eric Boe, left, and Steve Bowen on the mid deck of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Just a few hours after this photo was taken, Bowen was one of two astronauts who started prepping for the joint crews' third spacewalk (and Bowen's second) of the week. Members of the shuttle and station crews, commanded by astronauts Chris Ferguson and Michael Fincke, respectively, are spending close to two weeks in space together, accomplishing home improvement chores (kitchen, sleeping facilities, toilet, privacy area for astronauts) and a number of other tasks. Credit: NASA

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Photos from the astronauts working in Earth orbit on the International Space Station: www.space.com/missionlaunches