December 2006 - Sarex (INACTIVE)

FINAL STS-116 REPORT
by Arthur Rowe 24 Dec '06

24 Dec '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 5 p.m. CST Friday, Dec. 22, 2006 Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas 12.22.06 STATUS REPORT: STS-116-27 STS-116 MCC Status Report #27 The crew of Space Shuttle Discovery made it home in time for Christmas, gliding to a perfect landing as the sun set over NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery touched down on Runway 15 of the Shuttle Landing Facility at 4:32 p.m. CST. The crew had spent 12 days, 20 hours and 44 minutes in flight. Discovery’s nose gear touched down at 4:32 p.m. exactly, and the shuttle's wheels came to a stop 52 seconds later. After an afternoon in limbo, weather conditions along Florida’s Space Coast took a dramatic turn for the better, giving flight controllers confidence that a band of approaching showers would dissipate before the orbiter’s arrival. The first opportunity for landing at Kennedy was waved off because of stormy weather, and first chance at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., passed due to gusty winds. The landing was the 63rd to touch down in Florida, but did not qualify as a night landing. Discovery crew members, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, Nicholas Patrick, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, who is returning home after about six months on the station, will return to Houston on Saturday. A welcoming ceremony for the crew's return to Houston is planned at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at NASA Hangar 276 at Ellington Field. During Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station, the crew continued construction of the outpost adding the P5 spacer truss segment during the first of four spacewalks. The next two spacewalks rewired the station’s power system, preparing it to support the station’s final configuration and the arrival of additional science modules. A fourth spacewalk was added to allow the crew to retract solar arrays that had folded improperly. Discovery also delivered a new crew member and more than two tons of equipment and supplies to the station, most of which were located in the SPACEHAB cargo module. Almost two tons of items no longer needed on the station returned to Earth with STS-116. The next shuttle mission, targeted for March, will deliver a second starboard truss segment and a third set of solar arrays and batteries during the Space Shuttle Program's 21st mission to the station. This is the final STS-116 mission status report. - end -

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NASA STS-116 MISSION
by Arthur Rowe 22 Dec '06

22 Dec '06

WE HAVE LIFTOFF - DISCOVERY ON THE WAY

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NASA WELCOMES DISCOVERY CREW HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
by Arthur Rowe 22 Dec '06

22 Dec '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 Dec. 22, 2006 Grey Hautaluoma Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0668 Jessica Rye/Katherine Trinidad Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 321-867-2468 RELEASE: 06-375 NASA WELCOMES DISCOVERY CREW HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The Space Shuttle Discovery and its crew returned home Friday after a 13-day journey of more than 5.3 million miles in space. Discovery's STS-116 mission successfully reconfigured the International Space Station's power and cooling systems from a temporary setup to a permanent mode and added a new piece to the station's backbone. Discovery's Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and mission specialists Nicholas Patrick, Bob Curbeam, Joan Higginbotham, Thomas Reiter and Christer Fuglesang landed Friday, Dec. 22, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at 5:32 p.m. EST. Reiter and Fuglesang are European Space Agency astronauts. After landing, Polansky told Mission Control at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, "Seven thrilled people right here. We're just really proud of the entire NASA team that put this together. Thank you, and I think it's going to be a great holiday." The flight was the second in a series of missions that are among the most complex in space history. Discovery's crew rewired the station's power system and delivered a key component of the station's structure. The segment will enable future missions to attach a new set of solar arrays. The mission involved intensive ground commands as the station's power was shut down and rerouted in stages on two spacewalks. As systems were then powered up for the first time on their new channels, the station's power system was in its final configuration, ready for further expansion with more solar arrays and laboratories to be launched in 2007. As part of the station power reconfiguration and assembly process, the station flight control team uplinked a total of 17,901 computer commands, averaging about 2,000 commands per day. During a typical day on the station, flight controllers give approximately 800 commands. The newest resident of the International Space Station also traveled aboard Discovery. Astronaut Sunita Williams joined the crew of Expedition 14. She is scheduled to spend six months on the station. Curbeam, Fuglesang and Williams, with the help of crewmates, made four spacewalks that completed the construction tasks, reconfigured power and cooling systems, and retracted a snagged solar array. The astronauts also replaced a failed camera, cleared a worksite essential to the next shuttle mission, reconfigured power to station's Russian segment and installed panels to provide additional protection from space debris. The fourth spacewalk was added to the mission to retract a solar array that only partially folded into its box on flight day 5. The solar wings were retracted far enough so that the new arrays installed in September could begin to fully rotate and track the sun to provide power. Mission managers decided, however, to address the problem of the partially retracted arrays while the shuttle crew was on the station. With only several days notice, mission engineers in both the shuttle and station programs developed a spacewalk plan for Curbeam and Fuglesang that resulted in the arrays' successful retraction on flight day 10. Discovery's launch was the first night liftoff of a shuttle since Nov. 2002. Several inspections in orbit revealed no critical damage, and Discovery's thermal protection system was declared safe for re-entry on the flight's thirteenth day. The day before landing, pilot Bill Oefelein, who was born in Alaska, and the rest of the Discovery crew talked to Alaskan school children from the shuttle's flight deck. With Discovery and its crew safely home, the stage is set for the next phase of International Space Station assembly. Preparations continue for Space Shuttle Atlantis' launch, targeted for March 2007, on the STS-117 mission to deliver to the station the S3/S4 truss segment and a third set of solar arrays. For more on the STS-116 mission and the upcoming STS-117 mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle -end-

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Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2006-12-23 00:00 UTC
by AJ9N＠aol.com 22 Dec '06

22 Dec '06

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2006-12-23 00:00 UTC Quick list of scheduled contacts and events: Kashiwabara Community Center, Sayama, Japan, direct via 8J1K Contact is a go for Wed 2006-12-27 12:22 UTC During Expedition 14, ARISS expects to have one ARISS school contact per month rather than approximately one per week. It is also anticipated that there many not be many general contacts. STS-116 12A.1 (Polansky, Oefelein, Curbeam, Higginbotham, Patrick KD5PKY, Christer Fuglesang KE5CGR/SA0AFS, Suni Williams KD5PLB up) Back on earth. Congratulations to the STS-116 crew and to Thomas! (***) Total number of ARISS school contacts is 259. QSL information may be found at: http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/arissfaq.html http://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm#QSL's ISS callsigns: DP0ISS, NA1SS, RS0ISS ***************************************************************************** The schedule page has been updated as of 2006-12-23 00:00 UTC. Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any contact that may be streamed live. http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt The successful school list has been updated as of 2006-11-20 22:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correctio… tf Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf ***************************************************************************** There has been a rumor that the ISS was having direct contacts on the 40 meter band. There is no HF radio equipment on board and available yet. The HF antenna is mounted. Sometimes WA3NAN will retransmit shuttle audio. ***************************************************************************** Expedition 13/14 on orbit: Thomas Reiter DF4TR Expedition 14 on orbit: Michael Lopez-Alegria KE5GTK Mikhail Tyurin, RZ3FT Expedition 14/15 on orbit: Sunita Williams, KD5PLB ***************************************************************************** 73, Charlie Sufana AJ9N One of the ARISS operation team mentors

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Shuttle Payload Bay Doors Close for Landing
by Arthur Rowe 22 Dec '06

22 Dec '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C 31468 *Shuttle Payload Bay Doors Close for Landing* Image above: The Aurora Borealis, also known as "northern lights", is featured in this photograph taken by a STS-116 crew member onboard Discovery during flight day 11 activities. Image Credit: NASA TO SEE PICTURE GO TO: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html The STS-116 crew closed Space Shuttle Discovery’s payload bay doors about 12:13 p.m. EST in preparation for a 3:56 p.m. landing at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. If flight controllers elect to take this landing opportunity, Commander Mark Polansky will fire Discovery's jets to begin the descent to Kennedy at 2:49 p.m. All three landing sites have been activated today due to forecasts of questionable weather at Kennedy and Edwards Air Force Base in California. The forecast for the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico is favorable. Six more opportunities are available today if flight controllers pass on the first. The last opportunity at Kennedy is at 5:32 p.m. Three exist at Edwards – 5:27 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:36 p.m. Two are available at White Sands – 5:27 p.m. and 7:02 p.m. The STS-116 crew is returning home after a successful mission to the International Space Station. While at the station, the crew continued the construction of the outpost with the addition of the P5 spacer truss segment during the first of four spacewalks. The next two spacewalks rewired the station’s power system, leaving it in a permanent setup. A fourth spacewalk was added to allow the crew to retract solar arrays that had folded improperly. Discovery also delivered a new crew member and more than two tons of equipment and supplies to the station, most of which were located in the SPACEHAB cargo module. Almost two tons of items no longer needed on the station are returning to Earth with STS-116.

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STS-116 MCC Status Report #26
by Arthur Rowe 22 Dec '06

22 Dec '06

> SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 > > 9 a.m. CST Friday, Dec. 22, 2006 > Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas > > 12.22.06 > STATUS REPORT: STS-116-26 > > STS-116 MCC Status Report #26 > > Discovery’s wakeup call said it all. The song was “Home for the > Holidays,” sung by Perry Como for the crew, requested by the Mission > Control Center. > > That 6:18 a.m. CST call began a day that the crew and their support > teams on the ground hope will see Discovery return to Earth after a > successful flight to the International Space Station. After eight > docked days and four spacewalks, the shuttle left the station with a > new truss segment, a new crew member and a reconfigured power system. > > All three U.S. landing sites will be activated today. Kennedy Space > Center in Florida, the preferred shuttle landing site, will be the > first opportunity, which would see a landing at 2:56 p.m. On the > subsequent orbit the focus will be on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., > and KSC. On the orbit after that Edwards and White Sands Space Harbor > in New Mexico would be the centers of attention. > > Weather at Kennedy and Edwards is questionable. If the crew does not > don its entry suits for the first Kennedy opportunity, a final landing > chance of the day at Edwards is available to Discovery. Here are > predicted CST times. > > Orbit Site Deorbit burn Landing > 202 Kennedy 1:49 p.m. 2:56 p.m. > 203 Edwards 3:19 p.m. 4:27 p.m. > > White Sands 3:20 p.m. 4:27 p.m. > > Kennedy 3:26 p.m. 4:32 p.m. > 204 Edwards 4:54 p.m. 6 p.m. > > White Sands 4:57 p.m. 6:02 p.m. > 205 Edwards 6:32 p.m. 7:36 p.m. > > > > A total of seven landing opportunities scattered among the three sites > are available Saturday if the shuttle is not able to land today. > > For today’s opportunities, Discovery crew members, Commander Mark > Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, > Nicholas Patrick, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas > Reiter, who is returning home after about six months on the station, > will begin deorbit preparations at 9:52 a.m. Payload bay door closing > would be at 11:13 a.m. for the first landing opportunity. > > Aboard the station, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and > Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams, the new crew > member who came up on Discovery, are back to their regular schedule. > They got their wakeup tone today at midnight CST (6 a.m. in the GMT > kept aboard the orbiting laboratory) and will begin a sleep period at > 3:30 p.m. > > The next STS-116 status report will be issued Friday afternoon, or > earlier if events warrant. > > - end - > > >

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STS-116 MCC Status Report #25
by Arthur Rowe 21 Dec '06

21 Dec '06

> > NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery Set to Land Friday 6 p.m. CST Thursday, Dec. 21, 2006 > Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas > > 12.21.06 > STATUS REPORT: STS-116-25 > > STS-116 MCC Status Report #25 > > Discovery’s astronauts completed preparations for a planned return to > Earth on Friday and received word from Mission Control that their > final inspection showed the shuttle’s heat shield is in good shape. > > STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and Flight > Engineer Bob Curbeam started checking out Discovery’s aerodynamic > control surfaces at 9:31 a.m. CST, and test firing the shuttle's > steering jets at 10:11 a.m. The commander and pilot also practiced > landings on a laptop computer trainer, and performed final checks of > the communications systems that will be used for landing. > > A little later in the day, Mission Specialists Christer Fuglesang and > Joan Higginbotham deployed a third small satellite from the shuttle’s > cargo bay. The Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE) > microsatellite, ejected at 12:23 p.m., will gather information on > atmospheric drag in low-Earth orbit. The first two microsatellites > were deployed Wednesday. > > Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick joined the rest of the crew in > talking with reporters from CNN and ABC. Oefelein, who considers > Anchorage, Alaska, to be his hometown, was the main focus of questions > from students at the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai. > > Throughout the day, the crew took turns securing their gear for > landing. The crew will awaken at 6:17 a.m. Friday, and begin final > deorbit preparations at 9:48 a.m. > > Entry Flight Director Norm Knight said landing sites at Kennedy Space > Center, Fla.; Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.; and White Sands Space > Harbor, N.M., all will be activated to support landing. The Friday > forecast calls for a chance of rain and low clouds at Kennedy; > potential strong crosswinds at Edwards; and acceptable landing > conditions at White Sands. > > Knight said the entry team’s strategy will be to watch weather > conditions carefully, focusing – in order – on the first landing > opportunity in Florida, the second opportunities in Florida and > California, and the third opportunities in California and New Mexico. > A fourth California opportunity is available, but may not be used. > Saturday landing opportunities are available at all three locations if > weather prohibits a Friday landing. > > Discovery’s first landing opportunity Friday is to Kennedy, beginning > with a deorbit engine firing at 1:49 p.m. CST with wheels touching > down at 2:56 p.m. CST. The next opportunity is to Edwards with an > engine firing at 3:19 p.m. CST leading to a 4:27 p.m. touchdown. The > first opportunity to land at White Sands begins with an engine firing > at 3:20 p.m. CST leading to a touchdown in New Mexico at 4:27 p.m. > > Opportunities also exist for Discovery to land at Edwards with an > engine firing at 4:54 p.m. CST leading to touchdown at 6 p.m. CST. A > second opportunity to land at White Sands begins with an engine firing > by the shuttle at 4:57 p.m. CST leading to a 6:02 p.m. > > touchdown. The final Friday landing opportunity is to Edwards, > beginning with an engine firing at 6:32 p.m. CST leading to a > touchdown at 7:36 p.m. CST. > > Meanwhile, the Expedition 14 crew aboard the International Space > Station, is settling back to normal operations with its new member, > Flight Engineer Sunita Williams. Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and > Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, are about halfway through their > six-month increment. Williams, who arrived aboard Discovery, is just > beginning her six months on the station. She’ll span the last half of > Expedition 14 and the first half of Expedition 15. > > The next STS-116 status report will be issued Friday morning or > earlier if events warrant. > > - end - > > >

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Management Team Clears Discovery for Re-Entry; Crew Prepares for Friday Landing
by Arthur Rowe 21 Dec '06

21 Dec '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 *Management Team Clears Discovery for Re-Entry; Crew Prepares for Friday Landing* Image above: Space Shuttle Discovery is pictured from a miniature satellite that was released from Discovery's payload bay on Wednesday. Image Credit: DOD Space Test Program TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html About 3:35 p.m. EST, flight controllers at the Mission Control Center in Houston told Commander Mark Polansky that the Mission Management Team has cleared Space Shuttle Discovery for re-entry. The decision came after analysis of data collected during Wednesday’s inspection of Discovery’s heat shield. Discovery’s first landing opportunity is scheduled at 3:56 p.m. EST Friday at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. If weather does not cooperate, six more opportunities at three landing sites are available. The Friday weather forecast currently calls for a chance of rain and low clouds at Kennedy, potential strong crosswinds at Edwards Air Force Base in California and acceptable landing conditions at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. The last opportunity at Kennedy is at 5:32 p.m. Three exist at Edwards – 5:27 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:36 p.m. Two are available at White Sands – 5:27 p.m. and 7:02 p.m. All three sites will be activated. Landing opportunities also are available Saturday at all three sites. In preparation for landing, Polansky and Pilot Bill Oefelein checked out Discovery’s systems and jets that will be used in the deorbit burn and landing. Also, crew members are busy stowing equipment and other items. Other preparations include a review of the landing procedure and stowage of the Ku-band antenna. The crew members took a break this afternoon to talk with reporters from CNN and ABC News and with students at the Kenai, Alaska, Challenger Center. In other activities, the Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE) was deployed from Discovery's payload bay at 1:23 p.m. ANDE will measure the density and composition of the low-Earth orbit atmosphere while being tracked from the ground. The data will be used to better predict the movement of objects in orbit. Two other small satellites were deployed Wednesday night. Discovery undocked from the station Tuesday, ending an eight-day stay at the orbital outpost. While there, the crew continued the construction of the station with the addition of the P5 spacer truss segment during the first of four spacewalks. The next two spacewalks rewired the station’s power system, leaving it in a permanent setup. A fourth spacewalk was added to allow the crew to retract solar arrays that had folded improperly. Discovery also delivered a new crew member and more than two tons of equipment and supplies to the station. Almost two tons of items no longer needed on the station will return to Earth with STS-116.

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STS-116 MCC Status Report #24
by Arthur Rowe 21 Dec '06

21 Dec '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 11 a.m. CST Thursday, Dec. 21, 2006 Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas 12.21.06 STATUS REPORT: STS-116-24 STS-116 MCC Status Report #24 Discovery’s astronauts will spend today preparing to return to Earth. They will test flight control surfaces, steering jets and other entry and landing systems while they stow equipment in Discovery’s cabin. The crew, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, Nicholas Patrick, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, were awakened at 6:17 a.m. CST to the song “The Road Less Traveled,” performed by Joe Sample. It was played for Higginbotham. The crew began stowing gear away at 8:47 a.m., with all seven crew members participating off and on during the day. Polansky, Oefelein and Curbeam, who serves as flight engineer, checked out flight control surfaces – the wing and body flaps and the rudder – beginning at 9:17 a.m. CST. At 10:27 a.m., they began a test firing of the shuttle's steering jets used during the early portions of descent from orbit. Fuglesang and Higginbotham will deploy the third of three small satellites from Discovery's cargo bay today. The first two were successfully pushed into space Wednesday. The Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE) microsatellite will be deployed at 12:19 p.m. The satellite will gather information on atmospheric drag in low orbit. After lunch, all seven crewmembers will talk with reporters from CNN and ABC, and with students at the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai, Alaska. The crew will review deorbit procedures at 2:32 p.m. CST. The KU-band antenna, used as the primary method to transmit television to the ground among other communications, will be stowed for landing at 7:17 p.m. CST. The crew begins a sleep period at 10:17 p.m. Shuttle landing sites at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.; Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.; and at White Sands Space Harbor, N.M. all will be active for a landing on Friday. The weather forecast currently calls for a chance of rain and low clouds at Kennedy; potential strong crosswinds at Edwards; and acceptable landing conditions at White Sands. Discovery’s first landing opportunity Friday is to Kennedy, beginning with a deorbit engine firing at 1:49 p.m. CST with wheels touching down at 2:56 p.m. CST. The next opportunity is to Edwards with an engine firing to begin descent at 3:19 p.m. CST leading to a 4:27 p.m. touchdown. The first opportunity to land at White Sands begins with an engine firing at 3:20 p.m. CST leading to a touchdown in New Mexico at 4:32 p.m. Opportunities also exist for Discovery to land at Edwards with a descent beginning with an engine firing at 4:54 p.m. CST leading to touchdown at 6 p.m. CST. A second opportunity to land at White Sands begins with an engine firing by the shuttle at 4:57 p.m. CST leading to a 6:02 p.m. touchdown. The final landing opportunity available for Discovery on Friday is to Edwards, beginning with an engine firing at 6:32 p.m. CST leading to a touchdown at 7:36 p.m. CST. Discovery is now about 2,200 statute miles ahead of the International Space Station. The distance increases by about 92 miles with each orbit. Two station crew members, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, are about half way through their six-month increment. The third crewmember, Flight Engineer Sunita Williams, came to the station aboard Discovery and is just beginning her six months on the station with the last half of Expedition 14 and the first half of Expedition 15. The next STS-116 status report will be issued Thursday evening, or earlier, if events warrant. - end -

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Scientists Predict Big Solar Cycle
by Arthur Rowe 21 Dec '06

21 Dec '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 > NASA Science News for December 21, 2006 > > Evidence is mounting: the next solar cycle is going to be a big one. > > FULL STORY at > > http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/21dec_cycle24.htm?list833780 > > >

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