Saint-Hubert, April 21, 2001 – His boots are polished and his visor has
been shined. After the Space Shuttle Endeavour docked with the International
Space Station at 9:59 a.m. EDT, Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Chris
Hadfield and the crew of Endeavour spent the day preparing for
tomorrow’s spacewalk.
As the International Space Station glided over the southern Pacific
Ocean
South East of New Zealand, Commander Kent Rominger guided Endeavour to
a
picture-perfect docking. In a manoeuvre only performed once before in
March
2001 on Mission STS-102, the Shuttle docked with the Station by flying
underneath the Station, moving out in front, and aligning itself with
the
Station until both spacecraft connected. Chris Hadfield was responsible
for
carefully monitoring the speed of the Shuttle as it closed in to
connect
with the Station.
Chris Hadfield and Scott Parazynski are scheduled to begin their first
spacewalk tomorrow at 7:21 a.m. EDT (TBC). They will unfold and install
Canadarm2, the next-generation robotic arm that is part of Canada’s
contribution to the Space Station. After the spacewalk, Canadarm2 will
undergo a series of exercises to ensure that all its systems are
functioning
smoothly.
Media Program for April 22, 2001 (Flight Day 4)
The CSA’s Benoit Marcotte, Director, Operations Engineering, will
participate in the briefing. Media are invited to attend both at JSC
and at
the CSA, and may ask questions in both locations.
CSA spokespersons, including Mac Evans, President, and Marc Garneau,
Executive Vice-President, will be available for interviews.
For live coverage, media can log on to the NASA TV satellite on GE-2,
Transponder 9C at 85 degrees West longitude, vertical polarization,
with a
frequency of 3880 Mhz and audio of 6.8 Mhz. In cooperation with
Sympatico-Lycos, the CSA also brings you mission highlights live from
NASA
TV at: www.space.sympatico.ca.
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For more information, contact:
Media Relations Office
Canadian Space Agency
Tel.: (450) 926-4345 or 4370
Fax: (450) 926-4352
Mission STS-100 Website: www.space.gc.ca/sts100-mission