Tuesday, January 22, 2008

STS-89 (Endeavour)

 1998-003A


Endeavour made its first space station flight in Jan 1998, Shuttle/Mir-08 (S/MM-08). The ODS and external airlock were in the cargo bay with the Spacehab Double Module; a TCS rendezvous laser was mounted in bay 2P. STS-89 was the first flight with Block IIA SSME engines, with a larger throat chamber and new low pressure turbopumps. Four GAS cans were carried in the aft payload bay.

Endeavour reached orbit and opened the payload bay doors; the experiments in SPACEHAB were then activated. On the second day, the crew filled water bags in preparation for their transfer to Mir. Docking came on day 3.

Thomas was to transfer to the Mir crew on the second docked day, Jan 26. The official transfer was delayed by several hours when his Sokol entry suit did not fit; transfer of the seat liner and checkout on the Sokol suit are both required prior to official crew transfer. Thomas tried on Wolf's suit and that was deemed good enough for him to join the crew; the correct suit was adjusted a couple of days later.

After several days of logistics transfers, it was time for David Wolf to return home. In a farewell press conference there was some controversy about Thomas' poor command of Russian, but Solov'yov defended him. Endeavour undocked minutes after the launch of Soyuz TM-27 from Baykonur, carrying Thomas's presumptive crewmates.

STS-89 brought 630 kg of water to Mir, 422 kg of US science equipment, 1473 kg of Russian logistics material, and 116 kg of miscellaneous cargo for a total of 2011 kg. On the return trip, 762 kg of science equipment were returned together with 308 kg of Russian logistics and 213 kg of miscellaneous cargo for a total of 1283 kg.

The Endeavour crew also carried out the SIMPLEX ionospheric modification thruster firing experiment and the Human Performance experiment.


STS-89 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1997 Dec 12   Roll to VAB/1 
1997 Dec 13   Mate to ET/SRB 
1997 Dec 19   Roll to LC39A on MLP-3 
1998 Jan 23  0248:15 Launch  
 0250:18  T+2:03 SRM sep 
 0256:44  T+8:29 MECO 112141 kg? 
 0256:54  ET sep 
 0317:37  -X trim RCS 2s 0.3m/s 
 0330:03  OMS-2 2:16 65.1m/s 80 x 300 x 51.7  
 0332:17  OMS-2 CO 
 0332   90.54 296 x 305 x 51.7 
 0412?  ET reentry 
 0432:36  PLBD open R 
 0436:24  PLBD open L 
 0637:22  OMS-3 NC1 35s 17m/s 
 0637   91.16 298 x 363 x 51.7 
 1659   91.16 299 x 363 x 51.7 
 1803:13  OMS-4 NC2 45s 22m/s 
 1804   91.96 363 x 378 x 51.7 
1998 Jan 24  0401:14  RCS NC3 12s 1m/s 

0430 91.99 366 x 377 x 51.7 
 1619:00  OMS-5R NC4 10s 2.5m/s 
 1653:41  RCS NCC 3s 0.3m/s 
 1751:23  OMS-6L TI 11s 3m/s 

1811:24  RCS MC1 4s 0.3m/s 
 1844:00  RCS MC2 2s 0.2m/s 
 1911:00  RCS MC4 7s 0.5m/s 

1910s  R-bar to Mir, 20m 
 1940s  Final approach 
 1954:17  RCS DTO 258, 16 pulses over 17 min 
  (plume test, 1 thruster) 
 2000s  10m, stationkeep 
 2008s  Approach 
 2014  Docked with Mir SO 
 2023  Hard dock 
 2153s  Hatch open 
 2200   92.20 378 x 387 x 51.7 
1998 Jan 25  2335  Thomas/Wolf transfer 
1998 Jan 26  0600   92.20 379 x 385 x 51.66 
1998 Jan 28  2234  Hatches closed 
1998 Jan 29  0600   92.20 379 x 385 x 51.66 
 1656:55  Undocked from SO 
 1657:18 RCS Sep from SO 12s 1m/s 
 1705  Stationkeep at 73m 
 1730s  TORF Flyaround 
 1816:37 Sep RCS 11s 1m/s 92.16 377 x 383 x 51.66 
 2332  Orbit lower OMS-7 L 22s 5.7m/s  
 2340 91.96 358 x 382 x 51.66 
1998 Jan 30  2150:21  OMS-8 R SIMPLEX, 9.2s 3m/s 
1998 Jan 31  1400   91.96 359 x 382 x 51.66 
 1853 PLBD close 
 2127:55 OMS-9 deorbit 3:24 0.104 km/s 
 2203:35  Entry interface 
 2235:10 Land RW15, 8:19:46:54 
 2235:21  NGTD 
 2236:21  Wheels stop 

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