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Topics of the day:

1. STS-134 MCC Status Report #07
2. STS-134 MCC Status Report #08

Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 16:55:41 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: STS-134 MCC Status Report #07

STS-134 Report #07 5 p m CDT Thursday, May 19, 2011 Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON � An instrument that seeks to unite astronomy and high-energy physics to give us a better understanding of our universe was installed on the International Space Station by space shuttle Endeavour astronauts Thursday

Attachment of the $2 billion, 15,251-pound Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) atop the Starboard 3 segment of the truss was confirmed at 4:46 a m CDT by Endeavour Pilot Greg Johnson and Mission Specialist Greg Chamitoff operating the station�s Canadarm2 Earlier, Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel and Roberto Vittori had used the shuttle arm to take AMS out of Endeavour�s cargo bay to hand it off to the station arm

The truss is to be the home of the instrument for the life of the station, through at least 2020 The instrument is expected to see 25,000 cosmic particles a second and can downlink six megabits of data per second The AMS project involves 600 scientists and technicians, 56 institutions and 16 countries Following initial checkouts, the team members in mission control were quickly able to see a vast amount of data from the detectors already

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Samuel Ting, AMS principal investigator, congratulated crew members by radio from the station flight control room in the Mission Control Center

He thanked them for the safe delivery to the station He said their work has �taken us one step closer to realizing the scientific potential of AMS �

Experts on the ground continue to perform analysis based on images taken from the station of Endeavour�s thermal protection system during the backflip maneuver while the shuttle approached the station The teams are making plans to be able to do a focused inspection of Endeavour�s heat shield on Saturday A final decision on whether the inspection is required or not is expected tomorrow

Feustel and Chamitoff are scheduled to begin the first of the mission�s four spacewalks about 2:15 a m on Friday The spacewalkers and Mike Fincke, their intravehicular officer who will help coach them through their activities, spent about an hour Thursday morning preparing tools for the spacewalk

Late in their work day all Endeavour crew members spent about an hour reviewing spacewalk procedures Feustel and Chamitoff will sleep in the Quest airlock overnight The reduced pressure during that �campout� will lower the nitrogen content of their blood, reducing the possibility of the bends

Tasks include retrieval of long-duration materials exposure experiments and installation of another, installation of a light on one of the station�s rail line handcarts, preparation for adding ammonia to a cooling loop and installation of an antenna

About 5:10 a m , Endeavour Commander Mark Kelly, Johnson, and Mission Specialists Feustel, Fincke and station Flight Engineer Ron Garan responded to questions relayed up from moderator Miles O�Brien for Google and the PBS NewsHour About 9 a m Kelly and station Flight Engineer Cady Coleman talked with representatives of National Public Radio, Associated Press, Reuters and Fox News

The next status report will be issued after crew wakeup or earlier if warranted

#

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: Thu, 19 May 2011 21:48:40 -0500 From: info@JSC NASA GOV Subject: STS-134 MCC Status Report #08

STS-134 Report #08 9:30 p m CDT Thursday, May 19, 2011 Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

HOUSTON � Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff are set to begin the first of four spacewalks planned for the STS-134 mission at 2:16 a m Friday

Mission Specialist Mike Fincke will serve as spacewalk�s internal coach, guiding Feustel and Chamitoff through tasks that will include retrieving a long-duration materials exposure package and installing another on an International Space Station pallet They�ll also set up a light on one of the station�s handcarts, install a jumper hose for venting ammonia from a station cooling loop, and install a wireless antenna outside the Destiny Laboratory

The shuttle crew was awakened at 9:30 p m Thursday with the song �We All Do What We Can Do � The song was sent up for Fincke by shuttle thermal protection system engineer Dan Keenan, and Kenny McLaughlin, a Kennedy Space Center launch pad engineer The two shuttle workers created the song to honor those who have helped make the space program a success

Feustel and Chamitoff �camped out� in the Quest airlock overnight, helping acclimate their bodies to the lower atmospheric pressure of their space suits, reducing the possibility of decompression sickness by purging nitrogen bubbles from their bloodstreams

Scientists on the ground completed activation of the 15,251-pound Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS-2) and began collecting data about cosmic particles from its new home atop the starboard truss of the space station AMS-2 is expected to gather data for the life of the space station Endeavour Pilot Greg Johnson and Chamitoff used Canadarm2 to install the instrument Thursday, accepting a hand-off from shuttle arm operators Feustel and Mission Specialist Roberto Vittori, who lifted AMS-2 out of Endeavour�s cargo bay

Also Thursday, Expedition 27 crew members Dmitry Kondratyev, Paolo Nespoli and Cady Coleman completed a Soyuz drill in preparation for their planned departure Monday American and Russian flight control teams are preparing a plan to collect images of shuttle-station complex after they undock, although mission managers have not yet given final approval for the activity

Experts on the ground also continue to analyze images taken of Endeavour�s thermal protection system as they consider whether additional inspection is required before the shuttle undocks Saturday�s schedule is being developed with the assumption that the added scrutiny will be needed, but an official decision is not expected until Friday

The next status report will be issued after the spacewalk, or earlier if warranted

#

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 - 19 May 2011 to 20 May 2011 (#2011-56)

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