07.13.11

1:30 a.m. CDT Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Mission Control Center, Houston, TexasSTATUS REPORT: STS-135-10

STS-135 MCC STATUS REPORT #10

HOUSTON – The space shuttle Atlantis crew received a special wakeup
call today to kick off flight day 6 of the STS-135 mission.

“Good morning, Atlantis, this is Elton John,” the British singer said
in a pre-recorded message. “We wish you much success on your mission.
A huge thank you to all the men and women at NASA who worked on the
shuttle for the last three decades.”

The message followed the day’s wakeup song, John’s “Rocket Man,” which
was played at 1:29 a.m. It was not the first time the song has been
played in space – “Rocket Man” has awakened four shuttle crew’s in
the shuttle program’s 30-year history, and it was one of NASA’s top
40 wakeup call songs listed for voter selection during a contest to
commemorate space shuttles Discovery and Endeavour’s last missions.
In that contest, it earned nearly 5,000 votes from the public.

With the mission’s one spacewalk successfully behind them, Atlantis’
crew will return its focus today to unpacking the Raffaello
multipurpose logistics module. The crew started the day 26 percent
through the combined 15,069 pounds of cargo to transfer in or out of
Raffaello – 9,403 pounds that launched on Atlantis and 5,666 pounds
that it will bring home when it lands.

In addition, the crew will be taking some time out of its work at
11:54 a.m. to talk with reporters from WBNG-TV and WICZ-TV in
Binghamton, New York, and KGO-TV of San Francisco.

The next status report will be issued at the end of the crew’s day or
earlier if warranted. The crew is scheduled to go to bed just before
4:30 p.m.