NASA NEWS
SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT: SS06-035
The International Space Station's Expedition 13 crew members are a
week away from their first U.S. spacewalk. They spent much of this
week preparing themselves and their gear, and they activated a new
laboratory super deep-freezer.
Astronauts Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter will leave the station's
Quest airlock hatch at 9:55 a.m. EDT Thursday, Aug. 3, for a
spacewalk that is scheduled for six hours, 20 minutes. Station
Commander Pavel Vinogradov will serve as the spacewalk choreographer
from inside the complex. NASA TV coverage of the spacewalk will begin
at 9 a.m. EDT.
Williams and Reiter are both experienced spacewalkers. They will
install a device to measure the electrical field around the station's
exterior; replace a rotary joint motor controller and a computer for
a radiator on the station's truss; deploy two experiments that expose
samples of various materials to space for extended periods; and
install various other hardware on the station.
To get ready, the crew prepared spacesuits and tools, conducted a dry
run of egress and ingress procedures, and moved the station's
Canadarm2 robotic arm into position. The arm's cameras will provide
television views of the spacewalk.
This week the crew also began operations of the new Minus
Eighty-degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS. The equipment can reach
temperatures as low as minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit. Provided by the
European Space Agency, the freezer was delivered on shuttle mission
STS-121 earlier this month and is installed in the Destiny
laboratory. It has 300 liters (about 79 gallons) of freezing and
storage capacity in four compartments for experiment samples to
preserve them for return to Earth.
On Tuesday, Russian flight controllers fired thrusters on the Progress
supply ship docked to the aft end of the station to boost the
station's altitude. They raised the complex to an orbit of 219 by 203
statute miles. The adjustment optimizes conditions for a docking by
the Space Shuttle Atlantis, targeted for a launch window that begins
Aug. 27, and by the station's next crew, Expedition 14, set for
launch in mid-September on a Russian Soyuz rocket.
The next station status report will be issued on Thursday, Aug. 3
after the spacewalk. For more information about the crew's activities
and station sighting opportunities, visit:
NASA AWARDS LAUNCH SERVICES FOR LUNAR MISSION
NASA announced today the award of launch services for the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter mission to Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch
Services Inc. of Littleton, Colo. The total cost of launch services
for NASA, which includes spacecraft processing, and associated
mission integration services such as telemetry support and
mission-unique items is $136.2 million dollars.
The spacecraft are scheduled for launch aboard an Atlas V 401 rocket
from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station during a launch
window that opens on Oct. 31, 2008. The launch service was awarded in
support of the NASA Launch Services Program office at NASA's Kennedy
Space Center, Fla.
The orbiter will spend a year mapping the moon from an average
altitude of approximately 30 miles. It will carry six instruments and
one technology demonstration to perform investigations specifically
targeted for preparing for future human exploration. The instruments
are provided by various organizations throughout the United States,
and one is from Russia.
The mission is also carrying a secondary payload called Lunar CRater
Observation and Sensing Satellite. Its goals are to confirm the
presence or absence of water ice at the moon's south pole. NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the orbiter
project, and the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field,
Calif., manages the sensing satellite project.
Principal work for tank manufacturing of the Atlas V first stage
booster will occur at the Lockheed Martin facilities in Waterton,
Colo.; tank fabrication for the Centaur upper stage will occur at the
Lockheed facilities in San Diego; assembly and testing of the launch
vehicle components will occur at the Lockheed aeronautics plant in
Denver.
The fabrication and assembly of the payload fairing, the interstate
and its associated adapter will be performed by Lockheed in
Harlingen, Texas.
The launch services for the LRO/LCROSS were acquired under the
existing NASA Launch Services indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity
contract using a launch service task order procedure.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home
