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Space station about to get front door

The new air lock for Alpha resting in the cargo bay of shuttle Atlantis
The new air lock for Alpha resting in the cargo bay of shuttle Atlantis  


By Amanda Barnett
CNN

(CNN) -- A space shuttle mission to deliver a key component for space station Alpha -- an air lock that will serve as the main door in and out of the station -- will be a study in coordination, communication and choreography.

Atlantis is scheduled for liftoff at 5:04 a.m. EDT on July 12 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 11-day mission, designated STS-104, will be the fourth shuttle flight this year and the 10th shuttle mission dedicated to assembly of Alpha.

"This mission will be a milestone for both the station and shuttle as we complete a major phase of the station's assembly," said Ron Dittemore, space shuttle program manager.

NASA considers installation of the air lock a symbolic completion of another phase of space station construction, giving Alpha a capability for spacewalks with no shuttle present.

The job requires coordination of both the five-member Atlantis crew and three Alpha crew members, communication between the shuttle and station during three spacewalks, and choreography of two robot arms.

VIDEO
Watch an animation of the space station's robot arm lifting the joint air lock from Atlantis' cargo bay (Courtesy NASA)

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Take a tour of the air lock (Courtesy NASA)

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  MESSAGE BOARD
 

Let's talk

All eight crew members will get together for a planning briefing after the shuttle docks, said shuttle commander Steven Lindsey.

He said it's critical that the crews get their lingo and choreography down because there will be times when the shuttle robot arm and the station robot arm come within inches of each other.

"We always have some calls that we use if we need to stop motion for any reason," Lindsey said. "In a shuttle world we used to say 'all stop.' Well, that won't work if you only want to stop one of the arms. You have to change that communications to 'shuttle arm stop' or 'station arm stop.'"

Lindsey added that the two crews also must coordinate camera movements and the activities of the "two guys outside."

They will be mission specialists Michael Gernhardt and James Reilly, who will spend 18 hours outside the shuttle and space station working to install the air lock. Fellow shuttle mission specialist Janet Kavandi will guide the shuttle robot arm during the spacewalks.

Here's how it will work:

Atlantis crew
The crew of Atlantis: Seated with the insignia are Commander Steven Lindsey, right, and pilot Charles Hobaugh. Standing, from left, are mission specialists Michael Gernhardt, left, Janet Kavandi and James Reilly  

Spacewalk 1: Alpha engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss will use the space station's Canadarm2 robot arm to lift the air lock from the shuttle's cargo bay to the space station's Unity module.

Spacewalk 2: Helms will use Canadarm2 to grab two pressurized oxygen tanks and two pressurized nitrogen tanks from a pallet in Atlantis' cargo bay. She will hand them off, one by one, to Gernhardt and Reilly for installation on the new air lock.

Spacewalk 3: Gernhardt and Reilly finish installation and make the first spacewalk from the new air lock.

Alpha commander Yury Usachev will monitor space station systems during the installation and initial testing.

Working out the kinks in Canadarm2

Installation of the air lock will be the first mission for Canadarm2. Last Tuesday, the Alpha crew performed a successful test of the robot arm. Helms and Voss checked various functions and joints on the arm while it was in its backup mode, NASA said.

This was the first time the arm had been used since a software patch was developed to correct a communication problem between the arm's shoulder pitch joint and the main command computer.

In addition to installing the air lock, the shuttle crew will deliver cargo and water to the station. Kavandi will be in charge of cargo transfer operations, assisted by Lindsey, Reilly and shuttle pilot Charlie Hobaugh.

Atlantis is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center at 12:56 a.m. EDT July 23.

Meanwhile, the space shuttle Discovery was rolled to its launch pad at Kennedy Space Center on Monday. Discovery is scheduled for launch in August to carry up the third crew to Alpha.





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