LIVE: STS-120 Flight Day 12 - EVA-4 - P6 4B Solar Array Repair

[dawei]

KU Handover caused comm problems.  UIA power on.  On SCU confirmed.

[dawei]

EV1, EV2 in press.  Going to hardline as directed by Yuri who is running the repress procedure.

[nathan.moeller]

chksix - 3/11/2007  12:04 PM

Hope the tool won't come back and smash into the arrays

Chances of that happening are slim to none.  They've had stuff like that happen before and it's never caused a problem.

[dawei]

repress in work. 4 PSI

[dawei]

MPEV going to normal position.

[dawei]

Houston shift handover appears to be nearly complete

[ChrisC]

Why has OBSS handoff taken so long?  It seems abnormal, with a lot of standing still ...

[ksc_houston]

What is "ZOE" ? And how you predict the aqusition/loss of KU ?

[Wisi]

With a total EVA-time of 47h 05 min, Scott Parazynski is now number 5 of the most expirieced spacewalkres.

[ichilton]

Hi,

Just read the last few pages of the thread - what's the joke about the camera?

What will happen to the lost tool? - will it just float around in space or burn up in the earths atmosphere? (I take it they can't float down to earth!).

Thanks

Ian

[dawei]

ksc_houston - 4/11/2007  2:34 AM

What is "ZOE" ? And how you predict the aqusition/loss of KU ?

ZOE is Zone of Exclusion where they lose KU (if I recall correctly)

[dawei]

Wisi - 4/11/2007  2:34 AM

With a total EVA-time of 47h 05 min, Scott Parazynski is now number 5 of the most expirieced spacewalkres.

Also his fifth space flight so probably the last EVA of his career as he is unlikely to be selected for another shuttle flight given the desire to give as many astronuats as possible a chance to fly before the shuttle is retire.

[dawei]

ichilton - 4/11/2007  2:36 AM

Hi,

Just read the last few pages of the thread - what's the joke about the camera?

What will happen to the lost tool? - will it just float around in space or burn up in the earths atmosphere? (I take it they can't float down to earth!).

Thanks

Ian

The camera was left outside after EVA 3 (by mistake).

The tool will gradually lose altitude and eventually re-enter and burn up.  The ISS would do the same except it will receive an altitude boost from time to time via rocket thrusters.

[Iren]

dawei - 3/11/2007  2:41 PM

Also his fifth space flight so probably the last EVA of his career as he is unlikely to be selected for another shuttle flight given the desire to give as many astronuats as possible a chance to fly before the shuttle is retire.

Why? NASA isnt ending the space program after grounding the shuttle... I'm sure he, like others, will play an important role on future Orion missions

[brodo]

GO for OBSS grapple by SRMS

[ckiki lwai]

dawei - 3/11/2007  6:41 PM

Wisi - 4/11/2007  2:34 AM

With a total EVA-time of 47h 05 min, Scott Parazynski is now number 5 of the most expirieced spacewalkres.

Also his fifth space flight so probably the last EVA of his career as he is unlikely to be selected for another shuttle flight given the desire to give as many astronuats as possible a chance to fly before the shuttle is retire.

Nice way to end your career anyway.

Shuttle arm is approaching the OBSS now

[sts1canada]

ksc_houston - 3/11/2007  1:34 PM

What is "ZOE" ? And how you predict the aqusition/loss of KU ?

The ZOE is known as the Zone of Exclusion as neither the TDRS-West or TDRS-East communication satellites can provide communication with a spacecraft as it passes through this area (it is usually a blackout communication period that varies from 4 to 14 minutes long depending on the orbit of the spacecraft).

I estimate the acquisition and loss of KU just by looking at the daily execute flight day plan that is posted here (today's is flight day 12):

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts120/news/execute_packages.html

and look at the summary time line page of this plan. The KU coverage can been seen at the bottom of the summary time line page of the daily execute plan, for each TDRS satellite, you will see white and black bars. The white bars show KU coverage is or should be available, the black bars show S-band (voice or video stills) coverage only.

Richard

[dawei]

Iren - 4/11/2007  2:44 AM

dawei - 3/11/2007  2:41 PM

Also his fifth space flight so probably the last EVA of his career as he is unlikely to be selected for another shuttle flight given the desire to give as many astronuats as possible a chance to fly before the shuttle is retire.

Why? NASA isnt ending the space program after grounding the shuttle... I'm sure he, like others, will play an important role on future Orion missions

My understanding is that there is an informal cap on flights at four.  I am not sure how he wrangled a fifth flight.  Perhaps they wanted a very experienced space walker on this critical mission?  His experience certainly came in handy (and his height).

[MKremer]

ksc_houston - 3/11/2007  12:34 PM

What is "ZOE" ? And how you predict the aqusition/loss of KU ?

The Search function is your friend.  

Using Search on the General Discussion section, I found this ZOE thread in about 20 seconds.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=3247&start=1&posts=7

(There's also a lot of answers about other Ku and comm coverage in the Shuttle Questions Q&A #1-#4 threads.)

[Wisi]

dawei - 3/11/2007  7:41 PM

Wisi - 4/11/2007  2:34 AM

With a total EVA-time of 47h 05 min, Scott Parazynski is now number 5 of the most expirieced spacewalkres.

Also his fifth space flight so probably the last EVA of his career as he is unlikely to be selected for another shuttle flight given the desire to give as many astronuats as possible a chance to fly before the shuttle is retire.

Yeah, and he will probably remain in the Top Ten until the end of Space-Shuttle-Program. Next to beat him is John Grunsfeld on STS-125, who might then have about the same EVA-Time as Scott