There are 2 messages totalling 66 lines in this issue

Topics of the day:

1. STS-126 MCC Status Report #20
2. STS-126 MCC Status Report #21

Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:54:40 -0600 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: STS-126 MCC Status Report #20

STS-126 Report #20 Monday, November 24, 2008 - 9:00 a m CST Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

The fourth spacewalk by Endeavour astronauts outside the International Space Station will be the focus of today’s activities in space

Engineers continue to explore options for the off-and-on Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) It ran for almost three hours and processed about a gallon of liquid Sunday, after modifications by Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Endeavour Mission Specialist Don Pettit, before shutting down

Today Fincke will install two bolts in the UPA’s distillation assembly to further reduce vibration He is scheduled to begin that work about 1 p m CST

Endeavour crew members, Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists Pettit, Steve Bowen, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Shane Kimbrough and Greg Chamitoff, as well as Fincke and station flight engineers Yury Lonchakov and Sandra Magnus, were awakened at 7:55 a m The song was “Can’t Stop Loving You,” by Van Halen It was played for Piper

Spacewalkers Bowen and Kimbrough are scheduled to leave the station’s Quest airlock at 12:45 p m Bowen will wear the all-white suit and Kimbrough’s suit will have broken red stripes They will work to finish up cleaning, lubrication and bearing assembly replacements on the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ)

That joint has been the focus of activities on the first three spacewalks of Endeavour’s mission to the station It has been used sparingly since increased power consumption and vibrations were noticed in September last year A test of the joint rotating in the mode to automatically track the sun will be done early Tuesday morning to judge the repair work

Kimbrough will lubricate the port SARJ, which has been working fine, and install a TV camera on the station’s truss Bowen will inspect a balky berthing mechanism latch on the Japanese Kibo laboratory and reinstall a cover over it He’ll also install a Global Positioning Satellite antenna that will guide the future unpiloted Japanese cargo vehicle to a point near the station, where the station’s Canadarm2 will grasp it for berthing Boe will be today's intravehicular officer, or spacewalk choreographer The spacewalk is to last about 6 5 hours

Transfer of equipment and supplies, now mostly from the station to Endeavour and the Leonardo cargo carrier, which the shuttle will bring back home, is still a little ahead of schedule Today marks the final day for transfer of equipment into Leonardo as it will be closed Tuesday

Endeavour’s crew is scheduled to go to bed at 11:55 p m today and be awakened at 7:55 a m Tuesday The next shuttle status report will be issued at the end of the crew day, or earlier if events warrant

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NASA Johnson Space Center Mission Status Reports and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to listserv@listserver jsc nasa gov In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type "subscribe hsfnews" (no quotes) This will add the e-mail address that sent the subscribe message to the news release distribution list The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription Once you have subscribed you will receive future news releases via e-mail

Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:36:40 -0600 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: STS-126 MCC Status Report #21

STS-126 Report #21 Monday, November 24, 2008 - 10:00 p m CST Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON – As the STS-126 and International Space Station Expedition 18 crews readied for the fourth and final spacewalk of the mission, NASA managers decided to extend Endeavour’s stay by one day with landing now scheduled for 12:18 p m CST Sunday

The extra day was approved in order to provide the crews as much extra time as possible for any continued troubleshooting on the new Water Recovery System Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke continued work on the Urine Processor Assembly’s (UPA) distillation hardware He installed two more bolts to hard-mount the distiller assembly section of the UPA in place, which may further reduce vibrations that engineers believe are causing the UPA to prematurely shut down

Once complete, they added stored urine to the UPA and started another processing cycle at 7:06 p m CST Engineers hope the maintenance performed will enable the UPA to run for its full four-hour processing time The astronauts also set up a wireless instrumentation system to track vibrations of the UPA

Meanwhile, outside the orbiting complex, astronauts Steve Bowen and Shane Kimbrough wrapped up the final spacewalk of the mission The spacewalk began at 12:24 p m CST and lasted six hours, seven minutes, ending at 6:31 p m CST The first priority was to complete all the remaining tasks associated with lubrication of the Solar Alpha Rotary Joints as well as other station assembly tasks Thin lines of lubricant were observed on the port SARJ race ring with some minor wear where the trundle bearing assemblies are riding Additional lubrication was added as a preventive measure against further degradation despite the unit working normally

Bowen returned to the starboard SARJ to install the final trundle bearing assembly All 12 now have been replaced At approximately 4:30 a m CST Tuesday, the ground team plans to initiate an auto track of the newly cleaned and lubricated starboard SARJ to assess the performance and overall health

Bowen retracted a berthing mechanism latch on the Japanese Kibo Laboratory and reinstalled its thermal cover He also installed a video camera on the Port 1 truss and attached a Global Positioning System antenna on the Japanese Experiment Module Pressurized Section

Endeavour’s crew is scheduled to go to bed at 11:55 p m CST and to be awakened at 7:55 a m CST Tuesday The next shuttle status report will be issued at the beginning of the crew day, or earlier if events warrant

• end -

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NASA Johnson Space Center Mission Status Reports and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to listserv@listserver jsc nasa gov In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type "subscribe hsfnews" (no quotes) This will add the e-mail address that sent the subscribe message to the news release distribution list The system will reply with a confirmation via e-mail of each subscription Once you have subscribed you will receive future news releases via e-mail

End of HSFNEWS Digest - 24 Nov 2008 to 25 Nov 2008 (#2008-128)

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