[sarex] STS-121 MCC Status Report #11

[Arthur Rowe <azrowe80@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

6 p.m. CDT, Sunday, July 9, 2006
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

07.09.06
STATUS REPORT: STS-121-11

STS-121 MCC Status Report #11

Delivering the equipment and supplies loaded in an Italian-built moving 
van was the primary activity for the crews of Space Shuttle Discovery 
and the International Space Station today. The astronauts also made 
preparations for the second spacewalk during joint docked operations, 
scheduled for Monday morning.

Leonardo, the Multipurpose Logistics Module that rode to orbit in the 
shuttle payload bay, launched with more than 7,400 pounds of new space 
station equipment and crew supplies. Today’s operations included 
transfer of a new heat exchanger for the Common Cabin Air Assembly, a 
component of the ISS environmental control system which collects 
condensate out of the air, and a spare U.S. spacewalk suit and emergency 
jet pack.

As they deliver the module’s contents onto the station, the astronauts 
are also refilling Leonardo with almost 4,400 pounds of material no 
longer needed on the station. That includes experiment samples, trash, 
and broken equipment.

For several hours today Mission Specialists Piers Sellers and Mike 
Fossum refreshed the systems of their spacesuits and prepared tools and 
equipment for tomorrow’s EVA. During that planned six and a half hour 
excursion, scheduled to begin at 7:13 a.m. CDT, they will deliver a 
spare cooling system Pump Module to a stowage platform and replace the 
Trailing Umbilical System on the nadir side of the S0 Truss. That 
replacement will give the station’s Mobile Transporter rail car a 
redundant pair of power, data and video cables so it can translate along 
the truss in support of future station assembly tasks.

Earlier today, Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly, and 
Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Fossum and Sellers 
joined Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers 
Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter to answer questions about their missions 
from reporters at NASA centers and at the European Astronaut Center in 
Cologne, Germany.

Late today John Shannon, the deputy shuttle program manager and chairman 
of the STS-121 Mission Management Team, reported that mission managers 
cleared Discovery for its return to Earth, declaring that the shuttle’s 
heat shield was free from any damage. The crew will conduct another 
inspection later in the mission looking for any other evidence of damage 
done by orbital debris prior to landing.

Discovery’s crew began its sleep period just after 5 p.m. CDT and will 
be awakened at 1:08 a.m. CDT Monday to begin the seventh day of the flight.

The next STS-121 mission status report will be issued Monday morning 
following the wakeup of Discovery’s crew or earlier if events warrant.

- end -
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