LIVE: STS-120 Flight Day 3 - RPM and Docking

[Chris Bergin]

And the "no sleep 'till wheels stop" tour continues with Flight Day 3...

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5264

Please note that we don't want to over duplicate images, so that task belongs to Zachstar when he's on site. That way we ensure an "easy on the eye" catch up for those arriving on the site midway through the flight day.

Some of the STS-120 Flight Plan notes for FD3:

• Rndz: The shuttle rendezvous’ with the ISS. When the shuttle is on the RBAR at 600 feet
from ISS, it performs the RBAR Pitch Maneuver (RPM) to allow the ISS crewmembers to
photograph the belly of the shuttle and crew cabin areas to inspect for tile damage. The
pictures are downlinked via ISS OCA with 800mm images having higher priority than the
400mm images.

• Ingress: After docking and APDS hardmate, leak checks are performed on the PMA2 and
ODS, the ODS is prepared for ingress including removal of the centerline camera and
installation of ducting, and hatches are opened. A short welcome occurs and then a safety
briefing is given to the shuttle crewmembers.

• Maneuvers: Once hard-mate is complete, the shuttle maneuvers the stack to a biased -XLV
-ZVV (TEA) attitude with the nominal docked DAP of A12. ISS takes over attitude control
and maintains it during most of the docked timeframe using Control Moment Gyros (CMGs).

• EVA Preps:
o Prior to docking, 10 EMU Disposable In-suit Drink Bags (DIDBs) are filled. These bags
are normally filled during E/L Prep, so by performing them early allows E/L Prep to be
cut to 30 minutes for all 5 EVAs. Galley Overnight Config is performed prior to the drink
bag fills to add iodine to the water for long term preservation. Galley Morning Config is
performed after bag fill for nominal galley use.
o Prior to docking, the EMUs are removed from the orbiter airlock to facilitate ISS access
after docking.
o Post hatch open, crewmembers begin preparing for EVA1. Two EMU suits, 10 DIDBs,
and other EVA tools are transferred from the orbiter to the ISS airlock and configured.
The E/L is prepared, REBAs are installed in the EMUs, and the REBAs are checked out.
MS4 performs an EMU battery swap during E/L Prep.
o MS4 and ISS CDR configure the O2 system so that the orbiter provides the oxygen for
EMU prebreathe which conserves ISS resources.
o FE-2 (dn) configures 2 DCS cameras for the EVA.
o All crewmembers are timelined for an hour procedure review.
o MS1(EV1) and MS3(EV2) perform EVA campout procedures in presleep with MS4(IV)
assisting until hatch closure. They initiate a mask prebreathe, finish tool config, and
depress the A/L to 10.2 psi. The EV crewmembers sleep in the A/L overnight.
• EECOM:
? A waste dump is scheduled to start soon after crew wakeup when the future loaded
maneuver is complete. This dump is done as late as possible prior to docking to
minimize docked water dumps.

• Transfer:
o MS2 incorporates the transfer list cue card uplinked in the morning for the entire mission.
o The crew transfers specific items across the hatch including a Crew Care Pack, a
docked ops bag with items needed early in the mission (i.e. CSA-CPs for FD4), a bag of
Integrated Immune hardware transferred early to alleviate MDDK stowage, and a bag of
crew requested nitrile gloves.

• Photo/TV: P/TV02 is used for approach and docking. Post docking, P/TV04 is set up for
ISS ingress video and P/TV05 is set up for ISS internal operations. A video playback of
docking is also scheduled.

• OBSS Unberth and Handoff:
? OBSS unberth is required due to clearance concerns between the stowed OBSS and
Node 2 during Node 2 unberth.
? SSRMS (vs. SRMS) grapples and unberths OBSS from the PLB due to clearance
concerns with the ODS/ISS. There is a 90-minute SPEE power constraint for sensor
heaters between MRL release and SRMS grapple because the mid-location grapple
fixture does not provide heater power while grappled by SSRMS.
? The robotics ops are choreographed such that only one arm changes position at a time.
? Two SSRMS and two SRMS operators are required.
? FD3 robotics ops are summarized as follows:
- SSRMS grapples OBSS
- SRMS maneuvers to pre-grapple position
- Shuttle crew releases starboard MRLs
- SSRMS unberths and maneuvers OBSS to low hover, clear of UHF antenna, aft
position, and handoff
- SRMS grapples OBSS
- SSRMS ungrapples OBSS
- SRMS/OBSS maneuvers to a position to checkout the Node 1 port CBMs overnight
using ITVC and to view Node 2 install on FD4
- SSRMS maneuvers to a position close to the airlock for easy EV access on FD4
• Exercise Inhibits:
o While both arms are grappled to OBSS
o During IWIS thruster firing test

• Crew Rotation: FE-2 (up) and FE-1 complete Individual Equipment Linear Kit (IELK) Install
& Checkout in Soyuz of FE-2’s new equipment. Completion of the IELK activity marks the
official handover of FE-2 (up) as an ISS crewmember for issues involving early undock.
• SSPTS: After docking, CDR performs a verification of the SSPTS X1 and X2 connector
telemetry which provides a minimal check of the ODS/APAS connectors. Approximately 4
hours after docking when ISS is back up to its nominal operating power config and after
MCC-H has closed the RPCs, the shuttle crew initiates ISS power transfer to shuttle by
activating OPCUs 1 and 2.

? SDTO: IWIS is set up by the ISS crew for a Russian segment thruster firing test. They
program the RSUs for a double data take which includes the thruster firing test and
Node 2 berthing on FD4. MS4 tapes an IWIS accelerometer connected to an RSU in the
Lab to the shuttle middeck floor. The ground commanded thruster firing can not occur
until OBSS robotics are complete but must occur over Russian ground sites. The original
plan was to unplug the cable at the Lab RSU prior to crew sleep, however the test is now
scheduled during crew sleep (over Russian ground sites), so the drag through remains
in place for one sleep period.

[stockman]

Chris Bergin - 24/10/2007  7:54 PM

And the "no sleep 'till wheels stop" tour continues with Flight Day 3...

 

hahah.. You're my hero Chris! You should have T-Shirts printed up with that for each mission!  :laugh:  :laugh:

[Jim]

IELK is a Russian acronym.  The translation is Individual Equipment and Seatliner Kit

[MKremer]

I hope they get enough sleep this evening. Yesterday they were over an hour into their sleep schedule working to catch up with the timeline while still troubleshooting some little problems.

[Chandonn]

I'm hoping the upcoming Node 2 install will go smoothly, as some of the Unity port CBM bolts gave some erratic readings during the PMA-3 relocation.  Does anyone know if the cause has been determined?  And how they intend to remedy should a similar event happen during bolt loading?  (I believe I know this last one, as I seem to recall not all of the bolts need to be fully torqued for a CBM installation)

[Ford Mustang]

Flight Day 3 TV schedule.. Figured I'd post it so people don't have to go downloading the thing every day:

[rdale]

Chandonn - 24/10/2007  9:19 PM

I'm hoping the upcoming Node 2 install will go smoothly, as some of the Unity port CBM bolts gave some erratic readings during the PMA-3 relocation.

Join L2 - much information about it there.

Basic point though is that they have a workaround if an issue were to arise, no worries. And they aren't doing it on FD3 either...

[Chandonn]

rdale - 24/10/2007  10:12 PM

Chandonn - 24/10/2007  9:19 PM

I'm hoping the upcoming Node 2 install will go smoothly, as some of the Unity port CBM bolts gave some erratic readings during the PMA-3 relocation.

Join L2 - much information about it there.

Basic point though is that they have a workaround if an issue were to arise, no worries. And they aren't doing it on FD3 either...

I know.  I brought it up in reference to the SSRMS survey of the CBM.  I was wondering if the suspect bolts were to be checked out.

[MKremer]

Nothing to check from the outside - the error was with a load sensor inside the bolt driving assembly. The bolts themselves are all fine.

[Zachstar]

Plan for today.

[Zachstar]

Crew woke a bit ago.

Sorry had to do a reboot and checkout for today so I missed it.

Edit: To make up for it.. A nice image from the ISS

[tbigby]

Wake up call was "Dancing in the Moonlight" for Dan Tani, as he prepares to join Expedition 16.

There was just a bit of a discussion about PGSC troubleshooting, it sounded like something had dropped off the network? I'm sure they'll get it sorted out!

[Zachstar]

Note the terminology of the words used for the burns.

From the STS-120 Press kit.

Space Shuttle Rendezvous Maneuvers

OMS-1 (Orbit insertion) – Rarely used ascent
burn.

OMS-2 (Orbit insertion) – Typically used to
circularize the initial orbit following ascent,
completing orbital insertion. For ground-up
rendezvous flights, also considered a
rendezvous phasing burn.
 
NC (Rendezvous phasing) – Performed to hit
a range relative to the target at a future time.
NH (Rendezvous height adjust) – Performed
to hit a delta-height relative to the target at a
future time.

NPC (Rendezvous plane change) – Performed
to remove planar errors relative to the target at
a future time.

NCC (Rendezvous corrective combination) –
First on-board targeted burn in the rendezvous
sequence. Using star tracker data, it is
performed to remove phasing and height errors
relative to the target at Ti.

Ti (Rendezvous terminal intercept) – Second
on-board targeted burn in the rendezvous
sequence. Using primarily rendezvous radar
data, it places the orbiter on a trajectory to
intercept the target in one orbit.

MC-1, MC-2, MC-3, MC-4 (Rendezvous
midcourse burns) – These on-board targeted
burns use star tracker and rendezvous radar
data to correct the post Ti trajectory in
preparation for the final, manual proximity
operations phase.

Note corrections if the press kit is wrong here please.   

[Zachstar]

Now mission control has loaded their approach screen.

[ZeeNL]

On this link http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking, there is a lot of information about the current condition of the shuttle (roll/pitch/yaw, temperature, humidity, pressure). Is this data predicted data or could this be actual data? 22.8 degrees Celsius is pretty comfortable

[fburnell]

FD3 Execute package is available - http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/194213main_fd03exec.pdf

[Zachstar]

Current orbit (As of this post)

Can anyone calculate Ku coverage. (Really missing sts1canada's updates   )

[ZeeNL]

Zachstar - 25/10/2007  8:25 AM

Current orbit (As of this post)

Can anyone calculate Ku coverage. (Really missing sts1canada's updates   )

It is not very hard to input the coverage areas of the TDRS satellites into STSPLUS or orbitron, but the Ku coverage is not the same as line of sight to the TDRS satellites and sts1canada was really good at predicting when there would be Ku coverage from experience and reading.

[ZeeNL]

Still problems with the computer network within the shuttle.

[ZeeNL]

Clay has fresh towels for the visitors, but he ate the mints that would be on the pillows, because they drifted away.