STS-134 Shuttle Mission to the International Space Station Launches Monday 16th @ 13:56 BST

Cosimo · 22 May 2011 at 07:42

Today's plan:

Flight Day 7

• Spacewalk 2 by Feustel and Fincke (Port Solar Alpha Rotary Joint cover removal and lubrication, Starboard 1 truss radiator grapple bar stowage, early ammonia servicer venting, refill of the Port 1 Ammonia Tank Assembly, Dextre robot latching end effector lubrication)

Spacewalk two starts at 07:05 (BST).

Cosimo · 22 May 2011 at 18:11

A look at the newly installed Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 at centre of the ISS starboard truss:

A simulation of tomorrow’s Soyuz undocking and fly around which will give us a historic first and only view of the shuttle together with the station:

Cosimo · 23 May 2011 at 08:06

Superewza said:
How many Soyuz's are actually docked at the minute? From the tour yesterday it looked like three plus one Progress, but i don't know how well that was edited...

I thought there were two Soyuz (TMA-20 and TMA-21) craft with TMA-20 returning today and one Progress (42P) cargo ship.

There is also the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-2) up there due to undock in June.

EDIT: ISS after STS-133 undocked showing remaining docked craft:

Cosimo · 23 May 2011 at 08:09

The wakeup call for today was Times Like These by the Foo Fighters and the plan is:

Flight Day 8

• Crew off-duty period
• Spacewalk 3 procedure review

Cosimo · 23 May 2011 at 08:44

Yesterday's spacewalk:

Cosimo · 23 May 2011 at 19:05

Tonight’s timeline (BST) for Soyuz (TMA-20) departure is:

21:52 ..159...01...42...35...ISS maneuver to undocking attitude
22:24 ..159...02...15...11...Sunrise
22:29 ..159...02...20...07...Daily orbit 13 Russian ground station AOS
22:31 ..159...02...21...35...ISS to free drift
22:32 ..159...02...22...35...Nominal separation command
22:35 ..159...02...25...35...Physical separation/hooks open
22:36 ..159...02...27...15...ISS to LVLH snap-and-hold
22:38 ..159...02...28...35...Soyuz manual separation burn #1
22:41 ..159...02...31...35...Arrival at stationkeeping (590-650 feet)
22:41 ..159...02...31...35...Habitation module ingress
22:43 ..159...02...33...55...ISS return to undocking attitude
22:44 ..159...02...35...08...Daily orbit 13 Russian ground station LOS
22:50 ..159...02...40...35...Begin ISS photography
22:52 ..159...02...43...03...Noon
22:55 ..159...02...45...35...ISS maneuver to photography attitude
23:06 ..159...02...56...35...ISS in photo attitude
23:15 ..159...03...05...35...Soyuz manual separation burn #2
23:20 ..159...03...10...35...Habitation module egress; start leak checks
23:20 ..159...03...10...55...Sunset -- photography complete
23:21 ..159...03...11...35...ISS maneuver to duty attitude
23:56 ..159...03...46...36...Sunrise

Cosimo · 23 May 2011 at 22:53

Fantastic pictures:

Cosimo · 23 May 2011 at 22:54

Now ready for the historic photoshoot.

Cosimo · 23 May 2011 at 23:41

Let's hope they all get back safely. Hopefully we will see the images tomorrow evening.

A goodnight from the ISS:

Cosimo · 24 May 2011 at 08:37

Soyuz has landed safely and now we wait for the photos.

The plan for today:

Flight Day 9

• OGS install
• Spacewalk 3 review

Cosimo · 25 May 2011 at 07:02

Flight Day 9 highlights:

The plan for today:

Flight Day 10

• In-Suit Light Exercise (ISLE) prebreathe by Feustel and Fincke
• Spacewalk 3 by Feustel and Fincke (Zarya PDGF installation, PDGF data cable installation, vision system installation, Strela adapter relocation)

Spacewalk three began at 06:43 (BST).

Cosimo · 25 May 2011 at 12:42

Men still at work:

Cosimo · 25 May 2011 at 13:01

Metalface Mark said:
Is that outside or inside? Looks like an empty module.

That's outside and they're coming out of the airlock (middle one) after stowing some gear.

Cosimo · 26 May 2011 at 07:33

Flight Day 10 highlights:

Today's plan:

Flight Day 11

• Late inspection of Endeavour’s thermal protection system heat shield
• Spacewalk 4 procedure review
• Spacewalk 4 campout and prebreathe by Fincke and Chamitoff

Cosimo · 26 May 2011 at 11:03

Westyfield2 said:
Have they published the photos of ISS/Endeavour taken from the Soyuz as it returned yet?

Nope and the wait is unbearable. We expected them to be available within a day or so but:

Today, Navias said the data cards were left inside the Soyuz after it landed, and are due to be airlifted to Moscow on Thursday.

The contents of the Soyuz craft, including the precious cards, "will be processed through normal disposition procedures" at the Energia rocket company's spacecraft fabrication facility on the northern outskirts of Moscow, Navias told Oberg. NASA expects to get access to the pictures in about a week.

"This was always the plan," Navias said. But that doesn't square with the reports that went out from Mission Control before the photo op. One report, from NASASpaceflight.com, suggested that the images would be copied from the cards almost immediately after the Soyuz landed, and then would be either transmitted electronically to the U.S. or flown back to Houston.

Source

Cosimo · 27 May 2011 at 09:23

Flight Day 11 highlights:

Plan for today:

Flight Day 12

• Spacewalk 4 by Fincke and Chamitoff (install the OBSS at the Starboard 0/Starboard 1 truss interface, swap out of the OBSS grapple fixtures, retrieval of the Port 6 truss segment power and data grapple fixture, release of retention systems on the Dextre spare robotic arm; this is the final scheduled spacewalk by Shuttle crew members)

Cosimo · 27 May 2011 at 12:13

Spacewalk four coming to the end:

Cosimo · 28 May 2011 at 08:38

Time for some of the best pictures we've had:

Cosimo · 28 May 2011 at 08:42

Cosimo · 28 May 2011 at 08:55

Flight Day 12 highlights:

Plan for today:

Flight Day 13

• Post-spacewalk spacesuit reconfiguration
• Joint crew news conference
• CDRA servicing

The data collected from late inspection of the shuttle’s thermal protection system has indicated that there are no issues and Endeavour has been cleared for landing.