STS-117: Omnibus Thread

If my brother is back from his camping trip, I will take his camara....I do not have one myself and forgot his when we went out in May so I got no pics of Saturn or the Moon that night (post concussion injury)
DOOH

I will be grabbing shots of the ISS for sure and I do hope I can start tonight.

but this week for sure I will take some shots and load them. Alright my first amature astronomy pics.

Well, folks, the YouTube video is still processing 20 hours after I uploaded it. I put it on Disclose.tv, so here is the LINK. This is Vic's from yesterday showing some lights. If the YouTube becomes available I will edit that in.

[edit on 6/12/2007 by schuyler]

wow thanks, thats cool.
The second solar array is halfway deployed....just toasting it up in the sunlight for 30 minutes and hopefully full deployment, no hitches.

Last December, soon after STS 116 undocked from the space station (maybe an hour or two later? -- I don't remember exactly), they both flew overhead here in Pennsylvania. First the ISS (brighter than Venus is now) flew overhead, then followed a couple of minutes later by the shuttle (not as bright, but exciting all the same).

That was definitely fun to see. Thank goodness for a cloudless evening!

[edit on 12-6-2007 by Soylent Green Is People]

That happened to us one night when I lived in Hawaii. They were getting close to docking, when they both went over us, so we went out to watch. It's not much to see, but it's really cool when you see them like that.

At 5:20PM here' a situation on ISS with Fire Alarms for the Zaria... module and they are checking to see if there's really a fire... www.nasa.gov... use the NASA-TV link. Stay tuned! Most likely a software problem...

Vic

EDIT: 5:32PM EDT there is no fire. Confirmed by NASA, Yurchkin and Kotov are checking after having thrown some circuit breakers... they will re-arm the fire detection system later. Whew!

Vic

[edit on 12-6-2007 by V Kaminski]

Today was a challenging day, starting last night, for theISS/STS-117 crew members. During the night the crew was awoken by a multiplexer/demultiplexer alarm (kind of a fancy router) for downlink communications last night.

During the night a single wing leading edge sensor on the RH wing registered a 1 Gee signal that was not confirmed by sensors on either side of it... no problem. The thought is that it's caused by localized thermal cycling of the mounting points of that particular RCC component.

Computers on the Russian side of ISS and ground control have been playing up and were responsible for a fire alarm at about 5:30PM EDT. I distinctly heard what I thought was swearing in Russian with the announcer/translator saying "inaudible". The computers still are not working properly and the trouble also affects navigation and is likely causing CMG resets (several times) today. The Russian astronaut seemed obsessed with the warranty on the fire extingiusher that Suni took out of it's holster. He, Kotov made sure ground control knew that the extinguisher only had 80 days warranty from the time Suni unholstered it. They have no spares on orbit. The Elektron may need shutting down too. They threw about half the circuit breakers in Zaria.

On the brighter side, the solar panels unfurled near perfectly with only some minor delays (this used to be the hard part but deploy techniques have been improved significantly). On the American side one of the PV (Photo Voltaic) control computers is busted or the solar panel isn't putting out the voltage values they expected... it's quite likely a caliburation issue or could evn be due to the freedrift station status.

Astronauts Forrester and Swanson are readying for the airlock "camp out" preparing for EVA 2 tommorrow which should go "hatch open" at 2:03PM EDT, just after a partial retraction of the solar array.

They will remove the last of the shipping hardware (straps and bolts) and free up the SARJ (Solar Alpha Rotary Joint) for alpha and beta gimbal, tomorrow is the new torque-multipler's first on orbit use with a PGT (Pistol Grip Tool).

The blanket repair issue won't be decided until tomorrow (Wednesday) about 8:00PM EDT in regard to whether it will occur on EVA 3 or EVA 4. Testing on some very expensive mock ups won't be finished until Friday so I'm betting on a fourth special EVA to fix the blanket "lift". Some really, really smart people are working 24/7 on this.

Astronaut Heidi Stefanyshin-Piper was working the EVA scenarios and tools today along with the Tiger Team (Team 4) at KSC where the blankets are made... some exact blankets, filler bar and OMS graphite base material will hit the wind tunnel out at Ames Research Thursday for aero-testing. Some other tests are being done with plasma arc jet and yet others with radiant heating tests... not to mention the pull tests for the RTV glued on blanket. Plenty big overtime and worth every penny. To have to repair the base struture of the OMS pod upon Atlantis' return would add an undetermined amount of time to the "turn around" and would undoubtedly put NASA under even more strain to meet the arbitrary 2010 "deadline"... it could "bump" the Hubble servicing mission.

The station is in free drift now and they are trying to get non-propulsive navigation back on line before they get too "out of shape" and have to start to burn fuel to correct... there isn't that much fuel really especially on ISS.

Something is triggering the CMG saturation... it doesn't take much, it may even turn out to be a problem with one or more of the CMG's or there control boxes... I think they are "supposed" to have a spare CMG on orbit if needed.

I hope tomorrow goes better and is much less exciting, it must be very stressful to hear fire alarms and Russian's yelling in a pressure bottle in a vacuum. Williams did the right thing (she's Navy) she grabbed the extinguisher and went for it in Zaria - screw the warranty on the fire bottle, others grabbed for "operations-manuals". I can't say but I bet there were some worried looks on the rookies faces... and egg on some faces at Korolev Control and some very tired campers tonight.

This mission (STS-117) has faced enormous difficulties and could use a good day tomorrow.

Cheers,

Vic

[edit on 12-6-2007 by V Kaminski]

Each Second in Space is Dangerous

I went out for my third view of the ISS/Shuttle but got clouded out here in cornwall.

My Dad seen it where he is at camp though, good for him.

This just in on C2C, R. Hoagland believes that the ISS has lost the ability to control its CMG's (control moment gyros), and is using the docked shuttle to act as a temporary control and attitude corrections using the shuttles thrusters.

States that its a computer issue and NASA is frantically trying to solve the issue, but if they cannot in time, before the shuttle burns all of its thrust gases, the ISS will drift uncontrollably and may have to be abandoned!

Also states that this is the excuse that NASA is looking or to abandon the ISS and continue with the lunar programs, pour the rest of the money there...

I have the audio if anyone wants to hear it....

They were batteling that for two days now I believe
when I first turned on NASA TV two days ago the shuttle was using fuel to correct this....
housteon we have a problem

The fuel use would be a problem if the ISS and Soyuz-TMA and Progress docked vehicles had to use their thrusters to maintain ISS-Atlantis atitude control. The CMG reset they did last night, seems OK (as they haven't mentioned it since about 4:30AM EDT). Shuttle brought some 100's of lbs of fuel up for ISS - but it is a limiting resource.

Let's say STS-117 can't go home (for whatever reason) - big trouble; 62 days consumables and it takes 56 days minimum for a STS OV launch. Think about it. That's "cuttin' it a bit slim", for if a delay ran down the 6 day margin (like weather at Kennedy)... well it's just too nasty to think about. But there are limits to the consumables and CMG's and especially people.

Atlantis was sent "uphill" with a full compliment of consumables - the situation is not critical with all built-in safety margins still acceptable at this point - you play the "hand" your "dealt".

The updated mission timeline "Tvsked Rev F" is now available in PDF and XLS format for download at this NASA webpage.

I have some more "pics" captured and video of a few "little" things and will post them as I have time. I want to thank schuyler for helping me with the video clip uploads. I will try and put some sort of a retrospective of this missions "off-nominals" together in the next days... some pics later today...

More computer trouble today... on the American side, frequent reboots and printing troubles... hmmm, all fixed IP and lots of wirelss cards 192.168.2.75 on the LAN.

To watch on the web go to the NASA-TV homepage

For the STS-117 Mission Homepage try here.

Cheers,

Vic

[edit on 13-6-2007 by V Kaminski]

Right now (about 11:20 U.S. east coast time) Live on NASA TV they are attempting to retract the P6 starboard solar array back into its storage boxes. So far they are having just a little difficulty in getting it to fold away properly, but they seem to be working through the problems. Hopefully no spacewalking astronaut will be required to provide some "brute force" to help them retract. But if that becomes necessary, that EVA has been built into today's already planned spacewalk (the spacewalk is planned for other activities, with the P6 array retraction as an alternate, if necessary).

You probably remember the "unplanned" spacewalk that was required back in December when they tried to retract the P6 Port Solar Array. They were having problems re-folding the array back into its box, so two astronauts had to go outside to "shake" and otherwise help guide the array into its storage box.

Hopefully they will continue to be able to fold this one without any extra help. So far, so good.

[edit on 13-6-2007 by Soylent Green Is People]

A series of low-res caps (not full frame extracts) from about 12:30AM EDT Wednesday 070613... the video is cool and I will try and post when I get the chance. The video sequence is about 57 seconds long total, and the times quoted are (approximations owing to the delay nature of the internet stream).

An early capture from the sequence:



later...



later still, starting to fade...



going, going... almost gone...



Cheers,

Vic

[edit on 13-6-2007 by V Kaminski]

I realize this is late and now out of sequence, but here's the YouTube video I uploaded two days ago. It must have finished processing overnight. I can't believe it took so long. There must have been some glitch as this is much shorter than the first one. In any case, next time I'll upload to disclose.tv first and YouTube second.
.


[edit on 6/13/2007 by schuyler]

Thanx schu' ! The YouTube looks a bit better than the one from the other site and to me was worth waiting for! Cheers! The full clip in context (as part of an hourly recording schedule) actually shows a bit more earlier, including two flashes that roughly appear over towards the "limb" (crescent-edge) of the Earth above the elbow. From the photo post back on thread-page 3 about a day or so ago and image to go with the above clip:



Cheers,

Vic

BTW: The spacewalk is behind schedule a bit owing to coms troubles. Pat F. (EV3) and Swany (EV4) have a full day planned including possibly some solar panel "help" with the "hockey stick" tool.

EDIT: 6:38PM EDT - The decision was made to try the blanket repair on EVA 3 on Friday with "JR" Reilly and "Danny-O" going EVA using Canadarm to reach all the way back to the port (left) side OMS pod.

Vic

[edit on 13-6-2007 by V Kaminski]

The spacewalk by Pat F. and Swany started late, went well, but ran a little long (a 1/2 hour long at 7 hours 16 minutes) and some tasks were rescheduled to EVA 3 on Friday, the "blanket repair" EVA. Lots of trouble with coms today, but a work around using "Brew" Archambault as a relay at times.

Some launch restraints were left on the SARJ with the stated reason of a lack of telemetry issue with the teeth in the gear set that drives the joint. It was visually inspected and seemed fine. EVA 4 schedule is open, they suspect a software issue..

The Russian computers for command and control in the Korolev MCC are non-functional (all three channels) on both the ground and on orbit. They are working on it (I wonder if they had as much with patches as I did yesterday)... they can only try "stuff" to fix it while over Russian ground stations and will occur during the night and early tomorrow.

The CMG's are working fine for now so they have some time to work a fix. Shuttle is "short" on Cyrogenic Oh-Two for an extended stay, Cryo Oh-Two is being managed... So the consumables issue was mentioned and if a CMG fails... they will rapidly lose their margin on atitude control fuel. Stay tuned.

The blanket repair test schedule is going "great guns", they will staple and pin the blanket and it's neighbour together and some Ni-Chrome high temp pins tucked through into the filler ramp and tile "felt" underliner.

A pic of the blanket repair test schedule:



Tomorrow will be spent prepping and conferencing for the repair space walk on Friday... and the schedule has slipped so I'll post a time when it is "firmed up". This mission can not buy a break, and the participants are working really well and dealing with surprises in a creative collaborative manner.

Also the 2B solar array will be retracted some more tomorrow if it behaves and the SARJ telemetry problem is ongoing and station supplies (mostly water) should be close to finished.

Cheers,

Vic

EDIT: Awesome SRB Video! for Windows Mediaplayer. Copy this link and paste into "Open URL" in Mediaplayer. Enjoy!

Vic

[edit on 13-6-2007 by V Kaminski]

I could be reading too far into this, but I find it very coincidental that coms links are "down" in certain areas of orbit.

Same troubles, different day. Russian ground teams tried all night to get to get the GNC lanes "up"... it has resulted in some machines becoming unable to boot.

These problems cropped up on "patch Tuesday" and could have something to do with it... the system worked fine for years and the machines themselves came from ESA and were given to the Russian Space Agency under a tech-transfer agreement a number of years back..

I do not know what OS's or specific software may be invoved... there are some other notions... the new solar area stack appears to be "cross-wired" at one of the controllers (could be a software path problem) or may be hooked up "left for right" or "bass-ackwards". BTW: The new ESA ATV uses SSOS 2000 (Space Ship Operating System 2000) an open-source alternative. I suspect that there will be new generations of computer hassles when ATV visits ISS this summer.

Shuttle has gone to an energy "slim" protocol; all non-essentials are turned off - expect little downlink video. Laptops, printers, lights etc. are all users of Cryo Oh-Two from the on-board power generators.

The "extra" current Mission STS "stay-time past nominal departure" is at this point, 18 hours (or about a dozen or so orbits) which is not enough of a safety margin if weather closes out landing sites.

This mission is operating in a perfect storm of "little things" that will force a re-evaluation of on-orbit margins perhaps. What happens if Shuttle can't pass the pre-de-orbit parameters for whatever reason? Big trouble.

Other "little things", a batch of bad headset connectors, paper dust is accumulating as is normal when shuttle visits, the new array power system is "questionable" and may need to be disconnected temporarily.

Danny-O (Daniel Olivas) will be on the "cherry-picker" (Canadarm 2) for the EVA 3 blanket repair Friday. The timeline of the mission continues to slip, but mission managers and crew are doing really well. One thing after another... at some point I would like to see Mike Sufredini or John Shannon running manned spaceflight for NASA. They have the "Right Stuff".

A link to a CBC article on the current computer issues:
"Computer failure poses problem for space station"

Cheers,

Vic

[edit on 14-6-2007 by V Kaminski]

Watched it last night in the ten inch telescope but it moves very fast and really all you get is a bright object.
Of course it was at James Bay and I am at the St. Lawerence
I pray they get the computers rebooted and the multitude of problems solved.

There are so many difficulties with this mission that it's hard to know where to begin. The last two days have been event filled. Best guess about the Benz manufactured ESA supplied Russian computers is at this point a bad power supply (or out of spec) and there is no spare onboard either ISS or shuttle... some "MacGyver-istic" solutions are being contemplated.

One C and C Russian "box" remained up for 3 hours are was shutdown in a "good" configuration while they work the issue and wait for Russian ground station contact. Fingers-crossed.

At the 1PM news conference at least one media member was invoking "Apollo 13-esque" terminology... bad taste, IMHO.

The next Progress is going to likely be moved "up" from August 8th to a couple weeks earlier. The Progress now docked may be used to help with atitude control without the Russian GNC controllers.

The blanket repair EVA 3 is about to being between 1:30PM and 2:00PM EDT. This will be interesting... try NASA-TV at www.nasa.gov.

Basically the mission timeline is "toast" and I'll update here as things develop...

Cheers, fingers-crossed ,

Vic

[edit on 15-6-2007 by V Kaminski]