At 11:25 CET (9:25 GMT) the Expedition Two crew welcomed the seven
STS-100 crewmembers aboard the International Space Station. The 10
astronauts and cosmonauts have a busy day ahead, that includes opening
the hatch linking the two spacecraft, the first steps of the new
Canadarm2 and berthing of Raffaelo.
You can watch the highlights of yesterday’s activities at
http://www.esa.int/guidoni/ and put your questions on Europe and the ISS
to ESA’s experts in the live web chat this afternoon 16:00 to 17:00 CET
(14:00 to 15:00 GMT)
The Canadarm2 was installed and unfolded on Sunday during a 7 hour,
10 minute spacewalk by Scott Parazynski and Chris Hadfield. They also
installed a UHF antenna on the station’s U.S. laboratory Destiny. The
two spacewalkers took time out to watch the Southern lights as they
travelled over the south Pacific near Australia.
Later today, STS-100 Pilot Jeff Ashby, backed up by Umberto Guidoni,
will use Space Shuttle Endeavour’s robotic arm to lift the Raffaello
Multi-Purpose Logistics Module out of the payload bay and attach it to
the International Space Station’s Unity Module. Raffaello, a reusable
cargo module supplied by the Italian Space Agency, contains supplies and
science racks for the station’s US Destiny Laboratory Module. The hatches
between the two spacecraft will be closed again this afternoon so that
cabin pressure can once again be lowered to prepare for Tuesday’s space
walk, but will reopen again once the spacewalk is completed.
After additional checkouts by Helms and Voss today, the arm will ‘walk’
off the Spacelab pallet on which it was launched. Its free end will be
attached to a Power and Data Grapple Fixture on Destiny, becoming the
arm’s base.
Endeavour’s own robotic arm, operated by Ashby and Guidoni, will grapple
the Raffaello logistics module in the cargo bay and dock it to the Unity
module. Its installation there should be complete about 17:00 CET (13:00
GMT) today. Tomorrow, the Expedition Two crew will begin transferring
the food, supplies, equipment and two experiment racks for installation
in Destiny from Raffaello to the station.
IMAGE CAPTION: [http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/ESABHPGBCLC_Life_1.html]
STS-100 Mission Specialists Chris Hadfield (left) and Scott Parazynski
install an ultra high frequency antenna on to the International Space
Station during the mission’s first space walk.
