STS-115 MISSION ARCHIVE (FINAL)
Updated: 09/21/06

ISS 12A

By William Harwood
CBS News/Kennedy Space Center

The following copy originally was posted on the Current Mission space page at http://cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html.

Comments, suggestions and corrections welcome!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

06:45 a.m., 09/21/06, Update: Shuttle Atlantis glides to picture-perfect predawn landing

UPDATED at 08:20 a.m. with quotes from Jett; astronauts leave Atlantis

UPDATED at 11:00 a.m. with quotes from Griffin, Cain, Leinbach

The shuttle Atlantis dropped out of a clear, dark sky and glided to an eerie predawn landing today at the Kennedy Space Center, wrapping up a successful space station assembly mission that kicks off a complex sequence of construction flights.

With commander Brent Jett at the controls, Atlantis settled to a tire-smoking touchdown on runway 33 at 6:21:30 a.m., just 15 minutes after the space station, now sporting a huge new set of solar arrays, sailed through the predawn sky over Florida, a brilliant "star" rivaling Venus or Jupiter in brightness.

As Jett guided the 100-ton spaceplane down the 3-mile-long runway at more than 200 mph, pilot Chris Ferguson fired the ship's braking parachute, the nose dropped to the landing strip and a few moments later, Atlantis rolled to a stop.

"Wheels stopped, Houston," Jett radioed as Atlantis braked to a halt.

"We copy, wheels stopped," replied astronaut Tony Antonelli from mission control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Welcome back, congratulations on return to assembly."

"Thanks, Houston. It's nice to be back, it was a great team effort," Jett replied. "I think assembly's off to a good start."

The 116th shuttle mission spanned 11 days 19 hours six minutes and 35 seconds since blastoff Sept. 9, covering 4.9 million miles and 186 complete orbits. Today's landing was the 21st nighttime descent in shuttle history and the 15th to the Kennedy Space Center.

Landing came one day later than originally planned to allow time for a final heat shield inspection after presumed debris from the shuttle was spotted floating near the orbiter on Tuesday. No problems were found and Atlantis was cleared for entry today.

Jett, Ferguson, flight engineer Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper doffed their flights suits and climbed out of the shuttle about a hour after touchdown.

"It's really a beautiful day in Florida, it's a great way to end the mission," Jett said after receiving congratulations from NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and other agency officials. "I"m not really sure what to say after a flight like that. It was a pretty tough few days for us, a lot of hard work, a great team effort to get the station assembly restarted on a good note. We've got a lot more missions coming up and they're going to be just as difficult."

The astronauts inspected the shuttle's heat shield during a brief runway walk around, mingling with engineers and technicians before heading to crew quarters for medical checks and reunions with family members.

"I'd like to say to the folks here at KSC, though, Atlantis was a terrific ship," Jett said. "In fact, she gave us absolutely no problems at all over the entire mission."

NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said Atlantis' picture-perfect landing marked "a really great day" for NASA as the agency gears up for a challenging sequence of space station assembly missions.

"It is obvious to me and I hope it's obvious to you, we are rebuilding the kind of momentum that we have had in the past and that we need if we're going to finish the space station," he said. "Because we have an awesome task ahead of us. The space station is half built, we have half to go. When we're all done, it weighs nearly a million pounds for humanity's first really long-term outpost in space. We're halfway there, but I think we're going to make it."

LeRoy Cain, launch site chairman of NASA's Mission Management Team, said today's entry and landing were "right by the numbers."

"I spoke with our colleagues in mission control and they really didn't have any problems to work during landing," he said. "It was really right down the middle and of course, Brent Jett and his crew just performed outstanding. It's really a great accomplishment for us, for the whole team."

Launch Director Mike Leinbach said a quick inspection on the runway showed Atlantis came through launch and re-entry in good condition, adding "she looks as good or better than Discovery did after her last mission."

Atlantis' descent began on the other side of the planet when Jett and Ferguson fired the ship's twin braking rockets at 5:14:28 a.m. for two minutes and 40 seconds, slowing the ship by about 200 mph and dropping the far point of its orbit deep into the atmosphere.

After a half-hour free-fall, Atlantis dropped into the discernible atmosphere 76 miles above the south Pacific Ocean. A few hundred miles ahead, the crew of the international space station had a bird's eye view as the shuttle plowed into the dense lower atmosphere, blazing like a shooting star as it shed its enormous velocity through atmospheric friction.

"I've got a visual again, steady, steady glow with a very visible contrail behind it," Williams radioed. "The contrail's steadily getting brighter. ... Still very bright, steady, got the orbiter with the very bright glow of the contrail behind it. It's like watching the contrail behind an airplane, you don't see it immediately behind the orbiter."

Even with sunrise approaching, "the brightest thing through the window is the orbiter."

"I'm watching from up front in the lab," Expedition 14 commander Mike Lopez-Alegria reported. "I've got a great view out the lab window."

A few minutes later, observers on the ground at the Kennedy Space Center spotted the space station flying over, looking like a brilliant star as it moved through the predawn sky and into sunlight.

Atlantis' flight marked the resumption of space station assembly after a three-and-a-half-year hiatus in the wake of the 2003 Columbia disaster. Over the course of a busy week in space, the astronauts attached a 35,000-pound solar array truss segment, unfurled a new set of solar blankets spanning 240 feet from tip to tip and wired it into the station's electrical system. Despite problems getting Atlantis off the ground - a lightning strike, tropical storm Ernesto, a fuel cell problem and trouble with a fuel tank sensor - NASA chalked up a solid success in orbit, setting the stage for a flurry of station assembly flights.

"At the end of this exciting mission, I just have to remind everybody that we are back in the (space station) assembly business," shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale said Wednesday. "I couldn't be prouder of the team. This is one of the most complex missions that's ever been flown in space. ... It has been an outstanding effort."

"We're set up in a very good way for the next set of assembly flights. There are about six in a row here that we really need to pull off in fairly rapid order without major problems in order to keep the assembly going."

Next up is launch of the shuttle Discovery in December on a mission to rewire the space station's electrical system, to ferry a fresh flight engineer to the outpost - Sunita Williams - and to bring European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter back to Earth.

The current launch target is 6:55 p.m. on Dec. 14, but NASA managers are looking at the possibility of moving the launch up to around 9:38 p.m. on Dec. 7.

"We're assessing that right now," Leinbach said. "It's really going to be paced by the external tank that you know arrived a day or so ago. The tank is being lifted today into the checkout cell. That really is the pacing item. ... Our first blush is, we're going to give it a good shot."

A launch in December would require NASA to give up a self-imposed constraint requiring daylight for launch as well as external tank separation to provide photo-documentation of the external tank's insulation and the shuttle's heat shield.

NASA managers are expected to discuss the issue next week at a program requirements control board meeting and Cain said today he's optimistic about getting a go-ahead for the first post-Columbia night flight in December.

"I expect we will, in all likelihood, be able to launch at night as early as STS-116 (in December), but we're going to go pound that flat and make sure we're not missing anything."

Looking ahead to the upcoming station assembly flights, Hale said "if we are able to pull them off with even half the success that we saw on this flight, we will have a great year in 2007 and I think we will be well down the road to getting the space station assembled on time."

05:20 a.m., 09/21/06, Update: Braking rockets fired

Commander Brent Jett and pilot Chris Ferguson fired the shuttle Atlantis' braking rockets at 5:14:28 a.m. for two minutes and 40 seconds to begin an hourlong descent to the Kennedy Space Center. There are no technical problems of any significance and the weather appears ideal with just a chance of groundfog.

An updated status report will be posted as soon as possible after landing or as events warrant.

04:30 a.m., 09/21/06, Update: Atlantis crew gears up for entry

The Atlantis astronauts are preparing the shuttle for re-entry and a pre-dawn landing today at the Kennedy Space Center, closing out a complex space station assembly mission.

The Spaceflight Meteorology Group at the Johnson Space Center in Houston predicts good conditions, with light winds and just a few scattered clouds. The only issue being tracked by forecasters is the dew point and the chance of fog in the area.

Based on the latest trajectory calculations, commander Brent Jett and pilot Chris Ferguson plan to fire Atlantis' twin orbital maneuvering sytem braking rockets at 5:14:28 a.m. for two minutes and 40 seconds, slowing the ship by about 205 mph. That's enough to drop the far point of its orbit into the atmosphere for a landing on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center.

With its nose pitched up 40 degrees, Atlantis will reach the discernible atmosphere at an altitude of 76 miles at 5:O5 a.m. as the space craft plunges earthward over the south Pacific Ocean. Gliding across Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula, Atlantis will cross Florida's southwest coast near Naples on a relatively straight approach to the spaceport.

Jett will take over manual control of the orbiter at an altitude of about 50,000 feet above the landing site and guide Atlantis through a 300-degree right overhead turn to line up on runway 33. Ferguson likely will take the stick briefly during the approach to get a feel for flying the shuttle before returning control to Jett.

The astronauts have two landing opportunities today on successive orbits. Here is an updated timeline (in EDT; data for second opportunity not yet updated by mission control):

TIME/EDT		EVENT

Rev. 186 Deorbit to Kennedy Space Center

04:31:28 AM		Shuttle steering check
04:34:28 AM		Hydraulic system prestart
04:41:28 AM		Toilet de	AQactivation
04:49:28 AM		Vent doors closed for entry
04:54:28 AM		Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn
05:00:28 AM		Mission specialists strap in
05:09:28 AM		Hydraulic power unit No. 2 started
		
05:14:28 AM		Deorbit ignition (dT: 2:40; dV: 207 mph)
05:17:08 AM		Deorbit burn complete
		
05:49:47 AM		Atmospheric entry (altitude: 400K feet, or 76 miles)
05:54:41 AM		1st roll command to left
06:03:58 AM		1st left-to-right roll reversal
06:14:53 AM		Velocity less than mach 2.5
06:17:04 AM		Velocity less than mach 1
06:17:32 AM		Shuttle banks to line up on runway
06:21:28 AM		Landing on runway 33
		
Rev. 187 Deorbit to Kennedy Space Center
		
06:30:51 AM		MCC 'go' for deorbit burn
06:36:51 AM		MS seat ingress
06:45:51 AM		Single APU start
		
06:50:51 AM		Deorbit ignition
06:53:35 AM		Deorbit burn complete
		
07:25:21 AM		Entry interface
07:30:12 AM		1st roll command to left
07:43:46 AM		1st left-to-right roll reversal
07:50:24 AM		Velocity less than mach 2.5
07:52:35 AM		Velocity less than mach 1
07:53:23 AM		Shuttle on the HAC
07:56:57 AM		Landing

01:00 p.m., 09/20/06, Update: Atlantis cleared for Thursday landing

The Atlantis astronauts were cleared today for a day-late landing Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center after a tedious robot-arm inspection showed the ship's heat shield was in good shape.

"We are cleared for entry," shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale told reporters during a noon news conference. "Nothing was found to be missing or damaged from the thermal protection system, the heat shield of the space shuttle Atlantis, or, in fact, any other part of the shuttle Atlantis.

"So we feel very confident that we're heading for a good landing opportunity tomorrow morning. The weather forecast is excellent, whereas today is not, in Florida, a good day to land so we spent our day profitably making sure everything is ready to come home."

The unusual inspection was ordered and the flight extended one day after an unknown object, presumably from Atlantis, was spotted early Tuesday flying just below the shuttle. A second bit of debris was seen later, along with several smaller objects.

More of the same was spotted today, but the inspection using cameras on the shuttle's robot arm and a 50-foot-long sensor boom showed the heat shield was in good shape. Whatever the debris might have been, Hale said, it did not come from any place critical for a safe re-entry.

"All those items came from the space shuttle, they didn't come from some other place," Hale said. "We're too far from the station now, we're not orbiting in the same orbit exactly with it or the Soyuz or the Progress (supply ship), so the things we have seen that are drifting away at a very low speed, or co-orbital, with the shuttle came from the shuttle.

"As for exactly where they came from, we'll continue to look at that. I expect that we will probably wind up still scratching our heads after we get on the ground where some of this came from. We have been looking at it for quite a long time and all the obvious things, we fixed. So it just appears to be an artifact of human occupancy that we leave detritus around. We're going to continue work on that."

The inspection showed a protruding tile spacer called a "gap filler" and a plastic shim, both seen earlier in the mission sticking up from between adjacent tiles on two external tank propellant feedline doors in the belly of the shuttle, had worked their way free and were no longer visible.

Engineers speculated Tuesday that the plastic shim might have shaken loose during hydraulic system tests early Tuesday and floated away, becoming the first of the two mystery objects spotted by the crew and flight controllers. Hale said that remains a possibility.

"This is most likely the culprit," he said, holding up a plastic shim similar to those used on the shuttle. "It's not a guarantee and I don't know that we'll ever be able to positively prove it. It was there before, it's not there now, it was most likely shaken loose during the flight control system checkout. We probably will never know for sure."

As for the smaller bits of debris spotted near Atlantis, lead flight director Paul Dye said it was not unusual for small items inadvertently left in the shuttle's cargo bay during maintenance to work free and float away during a mission. While such "foreign object debris," or FOD, is typically seen early in flight, it was not surprising that Atlantis, making its first flight since 2002, might be carrying a bit more debris than usual, engineers said.

Here is an updated entry timeline for the crew's two opportunities to land in Florida Thursday (in EDT):

DATE/EDT		REV 186 DEORBIT TO KSC

01:14:23 AM		Begin deorbit timeline
01:29:23 AM		Radiator stow(MS) seat installation
01:45:23 AM		Computers set for deorbit prep
01:49:23 AM		Hydraulic system configuration
02:14:23 AM		Flash evaporator cooling system checkout
02:20:23 AM		Final payload deactivation
02:34:23 AM		Payload bay doors closed
02:44:23 AM		Mission control 'go' for OPS-3 entry software load
02:54:23 AM		OPS-3 transition
03:19:23 AM		Entry switchlist verification
03:29:23 AM		Deorbit data update
03:34:23 AM		Crew entry review
03:49:23 AM		CDR/PLT don entry suits
04:06:23 AM		Navigation system alignment
04:14:23 AM		CDR/PLT strap in; MS suit don
04:31:23 AM		Shuttle steering check
04:34:23 AM		Hydraulic power unit (APU) prestart
04:41:23 AM		Toilet deactivation
04:49:23 AM		Vent doors closed for entry
04:54:23 AM		Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn
05:00:23 AM		MS seat ingress
05:09:23 AM		Single APU start

05:14:23 AM		Deorbit ignition (dT: 2:44; dV: 207 mph)
05:17:06 AM		Deorbit burn complete

05:49:47 AM		Shuttle falls into discernible atmosphere (400k feet)
05:54:17 AM		STS-107: EI+4:30 - 1st unusual data
05:54:41 AM		1st roll command to left
06:00:02 AM		STS-107: EI+10:15 - 1st MCC mention
06:04:34 AM		STS-107: EI+14:47 - Tire alarm
06:05:43 AM		STS-107: EI+15:56 - Last valid data
06:03:58 AM		1st left-to-right roll reversal
06:14:53 AM		Velocity less than mach 2.5
06:17:04 AM		Velocity less than mach 1
06:17:32 AM		Shuttle on the HAC
06:21:28 AM		Landing

DATE/EDT		REV 187 DEORBIT TO KSC

06:30:51 AM		MCC 'go' for deorbit burn
06:36:51 AM		MS seat ingress
06:45:51 AM		Single APU start

06:50:51 AM		Deorbit ignition
06:53:35 AM		Deorbit burn complete

07:25:21 AM		Entry interface
07:29:51 AM		STS-107: EI+4:30 - 1st unusual data
07:30:12 AM		1st roll command to left
07:35:36 AM		STS-107: EI+10:15 - 1st MCC mention
07:43:46 AM		1st left-to-right roll reversal
07:40:08 AM		STS-107: EI+14:47 - Tire alarm
07:41:17 AM		STS-107: EI+15:56 - Last valid data
07:50:24 AM		Velocity less than mach 2.5
07:52:35 AM		Velocity less than mach 1
07:53:23 AM		Shuttle on the HAC
07:56:57 AM		Landing
Here are the remaining landing opportunities at Kennedy, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and Northrup Strip at White Sands, NM (all in EDT):

DATE	ORBIT	BURN		LANDING		SITE

09/22	201		04:02 AM	05:10 AM	KSC
09/22	202		05:37 AM	06:45 AM	KSC
09/22	203		07:07 AM	08:15 AM	EDW
09/22	203		07:09 AM	08:16 AM	NOR
09/22	204		08:43 AM	09:50 AM	EDW
09/22	204		08:45 AM	09:52 AM	NOR
09/22	205		10:19 AM	11:26 AM	EDW

09/23	217		04:24 AM	05:32 AM	KSC
09/23	218		05:56 AM	07:03 AM	NOR
09/23	218		06:00 AM	07:08 AM	KSC
09/23	219		07:30 AM	08:37 AM	EDW
09/23	219		07:32 AM	08:39 AM	NOR
09/23	220		09:06 AM	10:13 AM	EDW
"At the end of this exciting mission, I just have to remind everybody that we are back in the (space station) assembly business," Hale said. "I couldn't be prouder of the team. This is one of the most complex missions that's ever been flown in space. ... It has been an outstanding effort."

"We're set up in a very good way for the next set of assembly flights. There are about six in a row here that we really need to pull off in fairly rapid order without major problems in order to keep the assembly going."

Next up is launch of the shuttle Discovery in December on a mission to rewire the space station's electrical system, to ferry a fresh flight engineer to the outpost - Sunita Williams - and to bring European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter back to Earth.

The current launch target is Dec. 14, but Hale said launch managers at the Kennedy Space Center are looking into the possibility of moving the flight up one week to avoid having a mission in progress over Christmas.

"We have asked the team to evaluate the potential of working a little bit extra hard, getting perhaps a week ahead, looking at a Dec. 7 potential launch date and thereby letting our folks have the Christmas holidays off," Hale said. "If that's not an incentive, I don't know what is."

Looking ahead to a series of critical flights in 2007 to build out the station's solar array truss, Hale said "if we are able to pull them off with even half the success that we saw on this flight, we will have a great year in 2007 and I think we will be well down the road to getting the space station assembled on time."

09:00 a.m., 09/20/06, Update: Mission status briefing; more debris seen, but no heat shield damage

Despite spotting more debris floating near the shuttle Atlantis, astronauts conducting a detailed heat shield inspection have not seen any signs of damage that would prevent a day-late landing Thursday. NASA's Mission Management Team will meet later this morning to discuss the results of the inspection and whether to press ahead with re-entry preparations.

At a mission status briefing, entry flight director Steve Stich said Atlantis' heat shield appears to be in good condition.

"We did two different sets of inspections," Stich said. "The first one was using the shuttle's remote manipulator system (robot arm), we looked at both wing leading edges, we looked at the nose cap and we looked at the under surface of the shuttle. We didn't see any evidence of any kind of damage."

A second inspection was carried out using a 50-foot sensor boom attached to the end of the robot arm to examine areas that were not clearly seen with the robot arm's camera.

"I didn't see anything particularly anomalous from what we've done so far," said lead flight director Paul Dye. "I expect the crew is going to be finished and ready for Steve to bring them in tomorrow."

The inspections were ordered Tuesday after flight controllers spotted presumed debris from the shuttle moving along the same orbital track below the spacecraft. A second object was spotted later in the day, along with numerous small pieces of debris floating near the shuttle.

Earlier today, the astronauts spotted three more bits of debris, described as "two rings and a piece of foil."

Stich and Dye said it was not unusual for small items inadvertently left in the shuttle's cargo bay during maintenance to work free and float away during a mission. While such "foreign object debris," or FOD, is typically seen early in flight, Stich said Atlantis, which is making its first flight since 2002, could be expected to be carrying a bit more debris than usual.

"It's not uncommon to see little bits of pieces of things floating out," Dye said. "it's amazing how something in bright sunlight can look much bigger than it really is. So it's very hard to identify what those little things might be. it's not a particularly uncommon thing when you're concentrating cameras in sunlight ... to see small objects floating out."

During the heat shield inspection earlier today, engineers were not surprised to discover a protruding tile spacer and a plastic shim, both seen earlier in the mission sticking up from between adjacent tiles on two external tank propellant feedline doors in the belly of the shuttle, had worked their way free and were no longer visible.

Engineers speculated Tuesday that the plastic shim might have shaken loose during hydraulic system tests early Tuesday and floated away, becoming the first of the two mystery objects spotted by the crew and flight controllers. That remains a possibility, although it's not clear if NASA will ever have definitive proof.

"The shuttle is continuing to perform beautifully in terms of the systems," Stich said. "The plan for today is, we'll go complete the inspections on the exterior of the vehicle. If we don't see anything anomalous, the Mission Management Team will meet today and I fully expect ... we'll deorbit and land tomorrow."

He said forecasters are predicting ideal weather, with light winds and only a few scattered clouds at the Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle has two landing opportunities on successive orbits at 6:21 a.m. and 7:57 a.m.

06:00 a.m., 09/20/06, Update: Initial survey ends; no obvious problems seen but additional inspections ordered with sensor boom

An impromptu robot arm inspection of the shuttle Atlantis early today revealed no obvious problems with the ship's critical heat shield, but mission managers ordered additional inspections with a long sensor boom to make absolutely sure.

The initial inspection, using a camera on the end of the shuttle's robot arm to look for signs of damage that might be associated with an unusual object that apparently floated away from the shuttle Tuesday, took four-and-a-half hours to complete.

While the astronauts took a lunch break, NASA managers assessed downlinked video and ultimately decided to press ahead with a second round of inspections, this one using a 50-foot-long sensor boom attached to the end of the arm. The boom is a post-Columbia upgrade designed to provide close-up laser scans and high-resolution photography of the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edge panels to look for signs of post-launch impact damage.

For today's survey, the boom will be used to inspect areas that can't be seen well with the robot arm, which is mounted on the left side of the shuttle's cargo bay, starting with the right wing's leading edge panels, the right side of the shuttle's nose cap, the left side of the nose, then the underside of large steering elevons at the back of both wings. New hardware was installed in the elevon areas before launch and engineers want to make sure those systems are sound. The boom also will be used to inspect both sides of the rudder/speedbrake on the shuttle's tail fin.

Time needed to unberth the orbiter boom sensor system, or OBSS, carry out the additional inspections and re-berth the boom will add about three hours to the overall inspection procedure. NASA managers said Tuesday an OBSS inspection could extend the crew's day and push landing to Friday. But as of this writing, no final decisions have been made on when Atlantis will be cleared for entry.

Engineers still don't know what might have floated away from Atlantis Tuesday, prompting an initial 24-hour landing delay from Wednesday to Thursday. The first object in question was seen flying below the shuttle shortly after pre-landing tests of the shuttle's re-entry systems.

Engineers speculated that whatever it was, the object got shaken off during the tests, which generated a fair amount of vibration. One possible candidate was a plastic shim spotted earlier in the flight extending up from between two tiles on the shuttle's belly. During today's inspection, the shim was no longer visible.

A second piece of debris spotted by the astronauts shortly after noon Tuesday remains a mystery as well.

Assuming the OBSS inspection goes smoothly, no problems are found and the crew gets done in time, NASA managers could opt to press ahead with plans to bring Atlantis back to Earth on Thursday. In that case, commander Brent Jett and pilot Chris Ferguson would fire Atlantis' twin braking rockets around 5:19 a.m. Thursday for a day-late touchdown around 6:21 a.m. at the Kennedy Space Center.

But if today's OBSS inspection keeps the crew up late, NASA managers may opt to "give them another day on orbit to rest up before the critical entry phase" to make sure "we have a well rested and prepare crew to fly the critical phases of entry," said shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale. "We don't want to do that with folks who are tired or overly concerned about anything."

Atlantis has enough on-board supplies to remain in orbit until Saturday if absolutely necessary. Good weather is expected Thursday and Friday at the Kennedy Space Center.

02:30 a.m., 09/20/06, Update: Shuttle robot arm survey begins

The Atlantis astronauts began a five-hour robot arm inspection of the shuttle's heat shield early today, on the look out for any signs of damage that might be associated with an object that apparently floated away from the ship Tuesday.

The tedious inspection work began shortly after midnight, initially focusing on the right wing's leading edge panels and then the ship's carbon composite nose cap. Around 2:15 a.m., arm operators moved the space crane into position to inspect the left wing's leading edge panels.

As of that point, no obvious problems had been seen.

Later this morning, the arm will peer underneath the shuttle, looking obliquely across heat shield tiles on the belly of the orbiter to look for signs of anything amiss.

If nothing is seen - and engineers believe any damage associated with the mystery object seen Tuesday would be easily visible - NASA managers could opt to press ahead with plans to bring Atlantis back to Earth on Thursday at 6:21 a.m. Good weather is expected.

If anything unusual is detected, or if lighting precludes a good assessment of heat shield health, the astronauts could be asked to use the shuttle's 50-foot-long heat shield inspection boom for more focused inspections.

But that would take additional time and could push landing to Friday, officials said Tuesday, even if no problems are found. The shuttle has enough on-board supplies to remain in orbit until Saturday.

10:15 p.m., 09/19/06, Update: Astronauts awake; inspection timeline discussed; Jett describes second object

The Atlantis astronauts were awakened late Tuesday by a recording of U2's "Beautiful Day" beamed up from mission control in Houston. Flight controllers promptly informed the astronauts they would be carrying out an inspection to look for signs of possible damage after two unidentified objects were spotted floating away from Atlantis earlier in the day.

"Good morning, Houston," called Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, before a morning update from mission control. "And it really is a beautiful day, I think any day in space is a beautiful day and hopefully tomorrow, it will be a beautiful day in Florida and we'll be back home."

European Space Agency astronaut Hans Schlegel in mission control then radioed up the "big picture" for today's activity, telling the crew engineers still don't know the identity of debris seen below the shuttle early today and a second object seen separating from the spacecraft shortly after noon.

"So far, we do not know the identity of the two things which floated away yesterday," he said. "Today, though, we want you to survey the vehicle to make sure it's ready for entry. Last night, we already surveyed it from the ground. When you look at today's timeline, you'll see we have a shuttle survey in the morning and only as a contingency, the OBSS survey in the afternoon."

The OBSS is the orbiter boom sensor system, a 50-foot-long extension that can be picked up by the shuttle's robot arm to provide laser scans and high-resolution views of virtually the entire space shuttle.

"We expect that the resolution of the RMS (robot arm camera) survey will be high enough so that the OBSS survey in the afternoon is not needed," Schlegel said. "However, if that's not the case, or if some findings direct us, then and only then we need you to execute the OBSS survey in the afternoon. How copy?"

"OK, Hans, thanks a lot, that was pretty clear and we'll put that in work," Piper said.

The first object in question was seen flying below the shuttle shortly after pre-landing tests of the shuttle's re-entry systems. Engineers speculate that whatever it might be got shaken off during the tests, which generate a fair amount of vibration. One possible candidate is a plastic shim spotted earlier in the flight extending up from between two tiles on the shuttle's belly.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-115/html/iss013e79758.html

Schlegel asked commander Brent Jett to provide an additional description of a second object seen floating away from Atlantis shortly after noon. Jett photographed the object, but it wasn't clear what it might have been or where it came from. Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale said earlier it reminded him of a plastic bag.

"If it's possible, would you please give us a more detailed description of the object you saw floating away," Schlegel said. "We were thinking of speed, direction, shape, appearance and how long could you see it?"

"It was shiny, Dan (Burbank) when he first saw it thought it looked like a staple," Jett said. "It was actually a little bigger than that, it looked like a clip, some kind of a metal clip, something like you might, uh, if you were home hanging up a picture, maybe, you know, like one of those picture-hanging clips, although it obviously wasn't that.

"In terms of speed and direction, if you were sitting in the commander's seat it was moving away from the vehicle from the 10 o'clock position, relatively level, although it did track a little bit toward the nose as it was moving away so there was a little bit of left to right. ... It's really tough to estimate the velocity. It was moving away pretty quickly, I only was able to get six pictures, and I was shooting fairly quickly, before I could no longer track it. So I was estimating one to two feet per second, perhaps, in velocity."

The robot arm inspection is scheduled to begin around 11:45 p.m.

08:50 p.m., 09/19/06, Update: Astronauts will inspect heat shield Wednesday; Thursday landing on tap if no problems found; NASA optimistic mystery object not a major problem

The Atlantis astronauts will spend their early morning hours Wednesday using the shuttle's robot arm to examine the ship from top to bottom and stem to stern for any signs of damage or missing hardware that might explain the source of a mysterious object that apparently floated away from the orbiter earlier today.

Concern about that object prompted NASA to delay Atlantis' return to Earth by 24 hours, from Wednesday to Thursday, to give the astronauts and engineers time to make sure the ship's heat shield and other critical systems are healthy before committing the ship to a fiery re-entry.

Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale said late today he's hopeful whatever the object might be it's not something that poses a threat to the shuttle or its crew. He said it may be something as simple as a plastic shim that shook out from between two tiles during pre-landing tests earlier today.

Such shims are used to make sure adjacent tiles are properly spaced during installation to account for expansion and contraction of the shuttle's aluminum skin during broad temperature swings in space. A piece of shim stock was spotted during a heat shield inspection two days after launch sticking up from between tiles on one of Atlantis' propellant feedline doors.

Whether activation of the shuttle's hydraulic system or jarring test firings of the shuttle maneuvering jets today could have shaken the shim free is not yet known. The shim does not pose any threat to the shuttle, but engineers don't yet know if it is, in fact, what showed up in the downlinked television views. Likewise, it's not yet known whether a second object spotted by commander Brent Jett that was seen floating away from the shuttle shortly after noon is a problem or not.

But Hale said engineers have dismissed earlier concern about eight potential impact "events" detected by wing leading edge sensors. Analysis of timing data shows the sensors were simply responding to vibrations induced by the shuttle's hydraulic system during a routine pre-landing flight control system checkout.

To make sure Atlantis' heat shield is, in fact, intact, the astronauts will unlimber the shuttle's robot arm for a five-hour overnight inspection. Cameras on the 50-foot-long robot arm should be able to spot any critical damage to the shuttle's wing leading edge panels or heat-shield tiles that's above the threshold need to cause problems.

"This data is not like the very fine, almost microscopic inspections we've done of the (wing leading edge panels) before," Hale said. "We think if this piece came off (the heat shield), this is going to be easy to see. So we can look further back, we can scan faster, we can do it with less delicate sensors. This is a standard television camera and by going down the line at a relatively slow pace you can see right away is there something big missing or is it generally in good shape? This inspection is appropriate for the concern that we might have something like that."

If poor lighting or other problems associated with oblique viewing angles develops, the astronauts will use the arm to pick up a 50-foot-long heat-shield inspection boom for a more thorough inspection or a focused look at a particular area of interest.

If the boom has to be used, the long crew day could prompt NASA to delay re-entry until Friday to make sure the crew has time to rest up after a busy day in space. If no problems are seen during the robot arm survey, Atlantis likely will be cleared for landing Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center.

The shuttle has enough on-board supplies to remain in orbit until Saturday. The weather forecast for Thursday and Friday calls for good conditions at the Kennedy Space Center.

Here is an updated timeline of overnight activity (in EDT and mission elapsed time):

09/19/06
Tue  09:45 PM	10	10	30	Crew wakeup
Tue  11:45 PM	10	12	30	Robot arm survey

09/20/06
Wed  04:45 AM	10	17	30	Crew lunch
Wed  05:45 AM	10	18	30	Orbiter boom sensor system unberth (if needed)
Wed  06:40 AM	10	19	25	OBSS survey (if needed)
Wed  09:55 AM	10	22	40	OBSS berthing (if needed)
Wed  10:30 AM	10	23	15	Robot arm powerdown (if needed)
Wed  01:45 PM	11	02	30	Crew sleep begins
Wed  09:45 PM	11	10	30	Crew wakeup

09/21/06
Thu  05:19 AM	11	18	04	Deorbit burn (orbit 186; if no problems seen)
Thu  06:21 AM	11	19	06	Landing at the Kennedy Space Center
Thu  06:55 AM	11	19	40	Backup deorbit ignition (orbit 187)
Thu  07:57 AM	11	20	42	Backup landing opportunity
"The crew's going to wake up about (9:45 p.m.), we will let them get up and do the normal things they do in post sleep for about two hours, get breakfast, start their day, then we will start a survey of the vehicle with the remote manipulator system cameras that we think will take about five hours.

"The goal of that survey is to get the general sense to make sure we're not missing any large pieces of the thermal protection system. We don't think we are, but this is to make sure. We think at the end of that survey we will be in a very good posture to believe we are good to come home.

"However, we have built an option into the plan that after the crew's lunch period they can get the orbiter boom sensor system out and spend another three hours with that additional boom looking at some hard-to-see areas."

With the OBSS attached to the robot arm, the astronauts have the ability to inspect virtually the entire shuttle, including all areas of the belly that would be of critical concern for re-entry. But the robot arm alone should be able to do the trick, Hale said. Anything large enough to cause problems is well within the detection of the arm's cameras.

The shim stock, for example, was easily visible during Atlantis' final approach to the international space station Sept. 11. Camera views showed the reddish, rectangular piece of plastic sticking up at an angle between tiles on a door used to cover one of two external tank propellant feedline entrances in the belly of the shuttle.

Engineers determined the shim posed no threat to the shuttle and would harmlessly melt or blow off during re-entry. As a result, NASA managers decided to simply leave it in place.

"If we are satisfied at the crew's lunch hour that we have a good inspection and we believe there's nothing untoward, then we won't get the OBSS out and we'll come home normally (Thursday).

"One of the things I think a lot of folks have talked about quite a bit as the most likely candidate is that piece of shim stock that we saw sticking out from the underside of the orbiter ... on flight day three as we approached the international space station. It's very likely the flight control system checkout provided the impetus, the shock, the vibration ... that shook that loose and it floated out. We don't know for sure, but it's a highly likely candidate. "If, in fact, we go look and that piece of shim stock is missing, we had quite the interesting debate in the Mission Management Team about whether that in itself was sufficient and we could just quit there. The discussion came to the conclusion that no, since we've got the arm out and we can't conclusively prove one way or the other that it was the whim stock, we ought to go complete the survey and make sure we don't see anything else that would cause us any concern."

Engineers do not believe the mystery object was the result of an impact with orbital debris or a micrometeoroid. A high-energy impact would have imparted a higher departure velocity to any debris and other sensors likely would have detected the disturbance.

Engineers also haven't found any signs of unusual temperatures on the shuttle that might otherwise be expected if a thermal blanket or heat-shield tiles were missing.

"We're just doing what I would call due diligence here," Hale said. "We have the capability to remain in orbit until Saturday, we have the tools to go off and make sure we are safe for re-entry so we have no reason, in fact, not to go take a look and put every concern to rest. And that's what the plan is built to do and executing this plan we think we'll have a good feeling about coming home on Thursday."

But if the inspections keep the crew up late, NASA managers may opt to "give them another day on orbit to rest up before the critical entry phase" to make sure "we have a well rested and prepare crew to fly the critical phases of entry and we don't want to do that with folks who are tired or overly concerned about anything. So we're going to put all that to rest."

Here is a list of all the available landing opportunities through Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and Northtrup Strip at White Sands, N.M. (all times in EDT):

DATE	ORBIT	D/O BURN	LANDING		SITE

09/21	186		05:14 AM	06:22 AM	Kennedy Space Center
09/21	187		06:46 AM	07:54 AM	Northrup Strip
09/21	187		06:50 AM	07:57 AM	KSC
09/21	188		08:20 AM	09:27 AM	Edwards Air Force Base
09/21	188		08:22 AM	09:29 AM	NOR
09/21	189		09:56 AM	11: 0003 AM	EDW

09/22	201		04:02 AM	05:10 AM	KSC
09/22	202		05:37 AM	06:45 AM	KSC
09/22	203		07:07 AM	08:15 AM	EDW
09/22	203		07:09 AM	08:16 AM	NOR
09/22	204		08:43 AM	09:50 AM	EDW
09/22	204		08:45 AM	09:52 AM	NOR
09/22	205		10:19 AM	11:26 AM	EDW

09/23	217		04:24 AM	05:32 AM	KSC
09/23	218		05:56 AM	07:03 AM	NOR
09/23	218		06:00 AM	07:08 AM	KSC
09/23	219		07:30 AM	08:37 AM	EDW
09/23	219		07:32 AM	08:39 AM	NOR
09/23	220		09:06 AM	10:13 AM	EDW

01:30 p.m., 09/19/06, Update: Landing delayed 24 hours; possible heat shield inspections after unusual object spotted below shuttle; Jett reports second object

UPDATED at 3 p.m. with additional details on wing leading edge sensors

NASA managers today ordered the Atlantis astronauts to stop their landing preparations and to delay re-entry 24 hours to Thursday to give flight controllers additional time to assess the implications of an unusual object spotted earlier today flying below the shuttle.

The object may have shaken off the shuttle earlier today, possibly due to vibrations associated with routine pre-landing tests of the shuttle's hydraulic system and maneuvering jets. The concern is the possibility of damage to the shuttle's heat shield or some other critical component that could cause problems during re-entry.

Engineers monitoring data from sensors mounted behind the ship's carbon composite wing leading edge panels recorded eight "events" over a two-minute period earlier today. But additional analysis of the timing of the data indicates those events, spread out over two minutes, were associated with the known behavior of the hydraulic system during the pre-landing tests, sources said. As such, the sensors probably were not reflecting any untoward events.

During a noon news briefing by shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale to discuss the decision to delay re-entry, shuttle commander Brent Jett radioed mission control to report the crew saw yet another object departing the area of the shuttle.

"OK, we're not joking about this, but Dan (Burbank) was at window one, he looked out, he saw an object floating nearby," Jett said. "We took several pictures of it, it was fairly small. But we did get several pictures we can send down."

"Did you have a time on that?" astronaut Terry Virts radioed from mission control.

"It just happened."

Whether that object is anything of significance or related to the object that prompted the concern in the first place is not yet known. The origin of that first object is unknown, but NASA managers want to make sure whatever it is did not come from any critical systems on Atlantis, including its heat shield tiles and wing leading edge panels.

In a worst-case scenario, the crew has rudimentary repair equipment on board to fix relatively minor damage to the heat shield tiles and wing leading edge panels. The astronauts also have the capability to return to the international space station to make repairs or await rescue by another shuttle.

But those are strictly last-ditch contingency plans and Hale stressed that such speculation was extremely premature. The events today could be minor and have no impact on Atlantis' safe return.

"I feel very comfortable we'll resolve this and protect the crew's safety no matter what the outcome might be," he said. "Right now, i won't speculate any more."

Hale said the first object was noticed by a flight controller who was using one of Atlantis' cargo bay camera for Earth observation photography, a common practice when the cameras aren't needed for operational tasks.

"Today, as they were doing that, they came across a very interesting object in the field of view," Hale said. "There is a very small black object, which because we moved the camera around a couple of times we know it's not one of those camera lens artifacts, it's not a piece of lint on the lens or a reflection into the camera, which we sometimes see. But there is a very small object in that picture. It is clearly co-orbital with the space shuttle. We took a look at it and frankly there is not enough resolution ... to tell what that is. But it did get everybody's attention."

Earlier today, Jett and pilot Chris Ferguson fired up one of the shuttle's hydraulic power systems in a routine pre-entry test, moving the big elevons, or elevators, on the back of each wing through their full range of motion. They also test fired the ship's maneuvering jets in another standard pre-landing check.

"We shake the ship pretty good when we do this," Hale said. "And when we fire the reaction control system jets, some crews have commented it's like standing next to a howitzer when it goes off. So we have all this vibration going on in the shuttle. And apparently, something shook loose. I say 'apparently' because it's co-orbiting with the shuttle and the question is, what is it? Is it something very benign? ... Is it some ice, because we know ice forms on certain parts of the shuttle orbiter, is it something benign like that that we've seem before? Or is it something more critical that we should pay attention to?

"So coupling that with the fact that the weather is bad tomorrow, the MMT decided we should delay deorbit for a day and spend our time productively making sure we're comfortable with the status of the orbiter's heat shield in particular."

The astronauts were told to power up the shuttle's robot arm before going to bed so flight controllers could use its cameras to get a better view of the orbiter's payload bay and upper surfaces. Unless something obvious is seen, the astronauts likely will use the arm and a 50-foot-long sensor boom extension Wednesday to inspect the underside of Atlantis and other areas that can't otherwise be seen.

The wing leading edge sensor data triggered a fair amount of initial concern. The new sensors, installed in the wake of Columbia disaster, recorded a possible impact on the left wing 14 seconds after liftoff. A close-up inspection revealed no damage and the rest of the heat shield checked out as well. In fact, Atlantis' tiles and wing leading edge panels appears almost pristine.

But earlier today, "we saw some eight small indications over a couple of minute period," Hale said. "To me, eight indications is not necessarily what I would expect from a micrometeoroid event. It could be some residual from the flight control system check out or the reaction control system hotfire we do. So the team is off looking at that."

Within a few hours, engineers were able to precisely time out the data, showing the sensor was responding to vibrations associated with the hydraulic system. The wing leading edge sensors have never been operational during flight control system checkout and as one source said, "we learn something new on every flight."

Sensor data aside, Hale said "the suspicion is this is something that occurred around the flight control system checkout, because it does shake the vehicle pretty good. ... I don't want to make this overly dramatic. This is something we've seen, we want to make sure its safe for us to come home and we have plans in place if it turns out the other way. But I'm not here trying to write newspaper headlines, we're just trying to bring you up to speed."

Columbia was destroyed during re-entry Feb. 1, 2003, because of a hole in its left wing leading edge that allowed super-heated gas to burn its way into the interior of the wing. The hole was caused by a piece of foam insulation that broke free during launch and hit the wing.

NASA has upgraded the shuttle's insulation system since then and installed a variety of new cameras and other sensors to make sure no heat shield damage is ever missed again.

Along with ground-based photography during launch, the Atlantis astronauts photographed the ship's external tank after reaching orbit and carried out an extensive inspection the next day to check the health of the wing leading edge panels and carbon carbon nose cap, which see the most extreme temperatures during re-entry. Additional inspections were carried out during final approach to the space station and again, after Atlantis departed Sunday. The final inspection was in place to check for signs of impacts from space debris or micrometeoroids that might have hit the ship since the initial inspections earlier in the mission.

In all cases, the heat shield appeared in excellent condition and the Mission Management Team formally cleared Atlantis for entry. The crew was packing up for a landing Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center when the MMT decided to delay entry for 24 hours.

The shuttle has enough supplies on board to stay in orbit until Saturday and more than enough fuel to re-rendezvous with the space station if necessary. Assuming the issue turns out to be benign, the forecast for Thursday and Friday in Florida is excellent, with the first of two Thursday opportunities on tap at 6:22 a.m. Thursday.

10:15 a.m., 09/19/06, Update: Shuttle TV antenna stow delayed to give ground controllers time to look for unusual object seen earlier below shuttle

Flight controllers spotted an unusual object below the space shuttle Atlantis earlier today in video downlinked from the orbiter. Not sure what it might be, controllers asked the crew to delay stowing the ship's KU-band television antenna and teardown of the crew's laptop computer network to permit engineers to continue looking for the object while the astronauts sleep.

The object was spotted by a flight controller who was operating the shuttle's payload bay cameras around 2:45 a.m., a NASA spokeswoman said. Videotape replayed just before 10 a.m. showed what appeared to be a small object below the shuttle flying at roughly the same speed and in the same direction.

"INCO had seen an object in the video during Earth observations and we just want to keep the KU up and possibly downlink more video here in the near term," astronaut Terry Virts called from mission control in Houston. "We're looking at keeping it up overnight."

"Ok, that makes sense. Just let us know what you want to do," an Atlantis astronaut replied. "And you don't need OCA router for all that, right? We can go ahead and tear that down?"

"We'd actually like to keep the whole PGSC network up," Virts replied.

No other details were immediately available. Shuttle program manager Wayne Hale may discuss the matter, however, at a previously planned Mission Management Team briefing at 12 p.m.

09:30 a.m., 09/19/06, Update: Weather front poses challenge for Wednesday landing; outlook good Thursday and Friday

An approaching front is expected to bring high winds and possible thunder showers to Florida's Space Coast early Wednesday, threatening NASA's plans to bring the shuttle Atlantis back to Earth after a successful space station construction mission.

The Atlantis astronauts have two Florida landing opportunities Wednesday on successive orbits, at 5:59 a.m. and 7:34 a.m.:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts115/mission_docs/landing.html

Entry flight director Steve Stich said if the weather doesn't cooperate, the astronauts will remain in orbit an additional day and make another attempt to get back to the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday.

The shuttle has enough on-board supplies to stay in space until Saturday, but the forecast for Thursday and Friday calls for good weather.

"The weather outlook for tomorrow is not as promising as I would like," Stich told reporters today. "The front that came through the Houston area Sunday and yesterday will be in the Kennedy Space Center area on landing day. So our forecast is for crosswinds out of limits on our first rev, which is a night opportunity, and also some showers within 30 miles and the possibility of some low ceilings. So we'll have to deal with that.

"The weather forecasters tell me they think the front will be through there right around the time between these two deorbit opportunities. So we'll watch the weather very carefully and if it's a good day to land we'll do so and if the weather doesn't meet our criteria, we'll have to go around again and try to land Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center. The forecast for Thursday and Friday calls for light winds and no threatening showers. Stich said that could change if the front stalls over Florida, but assuming it keeps moving as forecasters expect, NASA's strategy will be to make landing attempts in Florida only Wednesday and Thursday before activating the agency's backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for attempts Friday, on one coast or the other, if needed.

The first landing opportunity Wednesday calls for a deorbit rocket firing, on orbit 170, at 4:52:08 a.m. and a pre-sunrise landing at 5:59:19 a.m. after an approach up the east coast of Florida. The forecast calls for a possible broken cloud deck at 5,000 feet, a chance of thundershowers within 30 nautical miles and crosswinds peaking at 15 knots. The crosswind limit for a pre-dawn landing is 12 knots.

The second landing opportunity calls for a deorbit rocket firing one orbit later at 6:27:02 a.m. and a landing at 7:33:39 a.m. The forecast remains roughly the same, but the crosswind limit goes up to 15 knots for a daylight landing.

"There are rain showers and thunderstorms out in front of the front and so basically whether Wednesday is a good opportunity or not is going to depend on the front passage," astronaut Tony Antonelli radioed the crew from mission control in Houston.

"The models have the front passing between the two revs. We'll take a look at it when we come in tomorrow and see. We're going to try to be smart with the timeline. If it looks like we have a chance, we're going to press all the way through deorbit prep. If it looks early like we don't have a chance, then we'll try to knock it off early so we don't waste your efforts."

"OK, Tony, we appreciate the information," Atlantis commander Brent Jett replied. "Obviously, we're ready to do whatever you guys need and we'll be ready to go tomorrow if the weather's good."

Here's a timeline of re-entry activities for both Wednesday landing opportunities (in EDT; includes final approach and docking of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft at the international space station):

TIME/EDT		ORBIT 170 OPPORTUNITY TO KSC
_________________________________________________________________

12:30:00 AM		(NASA TV coverage of Soyuz docking begins)
12:37:00 AM		Mission control weather briefing
12:52:00 AM		Begin deorbit timeline
01:04:00 AM		(Soyuz fly-around of space station begins)
01:07:00 AM		Radiator stow
01:15:00 AM		(Soyuz final approach begins)
01:17:00 AM		Mission specialists seat installation
01:23:00 AM		Computers set for deorbit prep
01:24:00 AM		(Soyuz TMA-9 docks with space station)
01:27:00 AM		Hydraulic system configuration
01:40:00 AM		Post-docking news conference at Russian control center
01:52:00 AM		Flash evaporator cooling system checkout
02:07:00 AM		Mission control "go" for payload bay door closing
02:12:00 AM		Payload bay doors closed
02:22:00 AM		Mission control 'go' for OPS-3 entry software load
02:32:00 AM		OPS-3 transition
02:57:00 AM		Entry switch list verification
03:07:00 AM		Deorbit rocket firing update
03:12:00 AM		Crew entry review
03:27:00 AM		Jett/Ferguson don entry suits
03:44:00 AM		Navigation unit alignment
03:52:00 AM		Jett/Ferguson strap in; other crew members don suits
04:09:00 AM		Shuttle steering check
04:10:00 AM		(NASA coverage of Soyuz hatch opening begins)
04:12:00 AM		Hydraulic power unit prestart
04:19:00 AM		Toilet deactivation
04:27:00 AM		Vent doors closed for entry
04;30:00 AM		(Russian TV coverage of Soyuz hatch opening)
04:32:00 AM		Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn
04:38:00 AM		Astronauts strap in
04:43:00 AM		(End of Russian TV coverage of Soyuz activities)
04:47:00 AM		Single hydraulic power unit start
04:48:00 AM		TDRS-West comsat acquisition of signal
04:52:08 AM		Deorbit ignition
04:54:52 AM		Deorbit burn complete	
05:27:42 AM		Altitude 400,000 feet; shuttle in discernible atmosphere
05:32:12 AM		(STS-107: EI+4:30 - 1st unusual data)
05:32:40 AM		1st roll command to left
05:43:38 AM		(STS-107: EI+15:56 - Last valid data)
05:47:41 AM		1st left-to-right roll reversal
05:52:45 AM		Velocity less than Mach 2.5
05:54:58 AM		Velocity less than Mach 1
05:56:09 AM		Shuttle banks around heading alignment cylinder
05:59:19 AM		Landing on runway 15

TIME/EDT		ORBIT 171 OPPORTUNITY TO KSC
_________________________________________________________________

06:07:00 AM		MCC 'go' for deorbit burn
06:13:00 AM		Astronaut seat ingress
06:22:00 AM		Single hydraulic power unit start
06:27:02 AM		Deorbit ignition
06:29:47 AM		Deorbit burn complete
07:02:02 AM		Altitude 400,000 feet
07:06:32 AM		(STS-107: EI+4:30 - 1st unusual data)
07:06:56 AM		1st roll command to left
07:16:30 AM		1st left-to-right roll reversal
07:17:58 AM		(STS-107: EI+15:56 - Last valid data)
07:27:07 AM		Velocity less than Mach 2.5
07:29:18 AM		Velocity less than Mach 1
07:29:53 AM		Shuttle on the heading alignment cylinder
07:33:39 AM		Landing on runway 33
If the weather doesn't cooperate, the astronauts will have multiple landing opportunities Thursday and Friday at the Kennedy Space Center, Edwards Air Force Base and Northrup Strip near White Sands, N.M., if worst comes to worst. Here are all the possible landing opportunities through Saturday (all times in EDT):

DATE	ORBIT	D/O BURN	LANDING		SITE

09/20	170		04:52 AM	05:59 AM	Kennedy Space Center
09/20	171		06:27 AM	07:34 AM	KSC

09/21	186		05:14 AM	06:22 AM	KSC
09/21	187		06:46 AM	07:54 AM	Northrup Strip
09/21	187		06:50 AM	07:57 AM	KSC
09/21	188		08:20 AM	09:27 AM	Edwards Air Force Base
09/21	188		08:22 AM	09:29 AM	NOR
09/21	189		09:56 AM	11:03 AM	EDW

09/22	201		04:02 AM	05:10 AM	KSC
09/22	202		05:37 AM	06:45 AM	KSC
09/22	203		07:07 AM	08:15 AM	EDW
09/22	203		07:09 AM	08:16 AM	NOR
09/22	204		08:43 AM	09:50 AM	EDW
09/22	204		08:45 AM	09:52 AM	NOR
09/22	205		10:19 AM	11:26 AM	EDW

09/23	217		04:24 AM	05:32 AM	KSC
09/23	218		05:56 AM	07:03 AM	NOR
09/23	218		06:00 AM	07:08 AM	KSC
09/23	219		07:30 AM	08:37 AM	EDW
09/23	219		07:32 AM	08:39 AM	NOR
09/23	220		09:06 AM	10:13 AM	EDW

03:50 a.m., 09/19/06, Update: Shuttle, station, Soyuz crews enjoy complex conference call

The 12 men and women currently off the planet got a chance to chat this morning, thanks to a long-distance conference call connecting the space shuttle Atlantis, the international space station and a Russian Soyuz capsule carrying a space tourist and the station's next crew.

The call took place just after 3 a.m., as the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft, carrying Expedition 14 commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, Mikhail "Misha" Tyurin and space tourist Anousheh Ansari sailed across Russia while the shuttle and space station, separated by about 98 miles, were passing 220 miles above Australia.

"Good to hear your voice, Misha," station flight engineer Jeff Williams called. "And good morning Mike and Anousheh. It's a little crowded in the sky this morning with not only Atlantis and you all and us, but also the Progress free flier."

Late Monday, Russian flight controllers sent commands to the space station to undock a Progress supply ship, loaded with trash and no-longer-needed equipment. It burned up in the atmosphere as planned a few hours later, clearing the way for arrival of the Soyuz Wednesday.

"We were wondering if we had to hire some more air traffic controllers for the increased traffic up here," joked Lopez-Alegria.

"We'll just have to keep eyeballs out a little more than usual," Williams replied. "How's your flight been going, Mike?"

"Everything has been (Russian phrase)," Lopez-Alegria said. The Soyuz blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Sunday and if all goes well, Tyurin will guide it to a docking with the space station at 1:24 a.m. Wednesday.

"Hello Misha, Mike and Anousheh," called station flight engineer Thomas Reiter. "Good to hear your voices!"

"Hello everyone," said Ansari, who is believed to have paid in the neighborhood of $20 million for the trip. "I look forward to seeing you on the station."

"In just a few hours, you will be here," Reiter said.

"Yes," she said.

"Yeah, we look forward to welcoming you all on board," Williams said. "Atlantis, do you want to step in here and say hello?"

"Yeah, 14, how do you hear Atlantis?" shuttle commander Brent Jett called.

"Brent, we have you loud and clear. How us?" asked Lopez-Alegria.

"Loud and clear also, LA," Jett said. "Joe (Tanner) just mentioned three hogs in space and I think you have a tactical advantage right now in terms of fighter position."

Jett was referring to an astronaut class mascot and the fact that the Soyuz was trailing the space station and Atlantis by about 6,550 miles, catching up to the lab complex in a lower, faster orbit.

"Well, you guys are probably sorry to be heading home," Lopez-Alegria said, "but it'll be nice to have a cold beer and a shower."

"It's been real short for us, you know," Jett said. "It's kind of funny, you guys are just starting a really long journey in space and our very short one is quickly coming to an end, sooner than we would like."

After a short drop out, Lopez-Alegria asked Jett about landing preparations.

"Yeah, entry day, our first opportunity's tomorrow, the weather's not looking all that good for tomorrow at KSC (Kennedy Space Center) but it's supposed to be real good the next day. So we may end up getting an extra day on orbit, which would not be all bad."

"Just make sure you save some good food," Lopez-Alegria joked.

"Actually, they gave all the food to us to save for you," Williams chimed in.

"They cleaned us out pretty good, looking out for you guys," Jett confirmed.

"Misha says as long as there's (unintelligible) he'll be happy."

"I think you guys will be happy with the supplies on board, we're well supplied with two shuttle visits and a Progress," Williams said.

"Hey Mike, before you go, Jeff and Pavel and Thomas, they've taken great care of station, it's really in great shape," Jett said. "We were really impressed, they've done a fantastic job. This mission would not have been a success without them. They were an integral part of it. So you're going to be impressed when you get there and I know you guys are going to have a good time."

"We know we have a lot to learn from all of them and we look forward to our time together, especially having Anousheh on board," said Lopez-Alegria. "It's too bad that the Atlantis crew won't get to meet her, maybe at some opportunity on the ground in the future. But I think she should have a great short stay aboard and we look forward (to seeing the rest of you)."

"And we look forward to getting you guys on board," Williams replied. "We're going to get up bright and early, or dark and early, however you want to say it, tomorrow morning and bring out the welcome mat."

By docking time, the Soyuz crew should have its space legs. Tyurin told Russian flight controllers late Monday that Lopez-Alegria and Ansari were experiencing at least some of the symptoms of space adaptation syndrome, which affects about half the men and women who fly in weightlessness.

As the conference call was breaking up, a Russian controller called the Soyuz to say a flight surgeon was standing by to chat with Ansari. But she sounded in good spirits when she hailed the space station.

02:15 a.m., 09/19/06, Update: Astronauts pack up, test re-entry systems

The Atlantis astronauts tested the shuttle's re-entry systems today and began packing up for a Florida landing Wednesday, weather permitting, to close out a successful space station assembly mission.

Flight controllers in Houston and Moscow, meanwhile, had their hands full tracking Atlantis, the space station and the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft launched early Monday from Kazakhstan carrying the station's next commander, a fresh flight engineer and a space tourist.

Giving new meaning to the phrase "long distance," controllers worked to set up a 3 a.m. conference call between Atlantis, the station and the Soyuz to give all 12 astronauts and cosmonauts - six on the shuttle, three on the station and three on the Soyuz - a chance to chat for a few moments as they raced through space at five miles per second.

The Soyuz TMA-9 capsule, carrying Expedition 14 commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, flight engineer and Soyuz commander Mikhail Tyurin and space tourist Anousheh Ansari, is closing in on the space station for a planned docking Wednesday at 1:24 a.m. The linkup will come about four-and-a-half hours before Atlantis' planned 5:59 a.m. landing at the Kennedy Space Center.

If all goes well, Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Jeff Williams and Ansari will return to Earth Sept. 28 aboard the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft that carried the two station crewmen into space last spring. Expedition 13 flight engineer Thomas Reiter, who was carried to the station aboard the shuttle Discovery in July, will remain aboard the outpost as a member of the Expedition 14 crew. Aboard Atlantis today, commander Brent Jett, pilot Chris Ferguson and flight engineer Dan Burbank checked out the shuttle's re-entry systems, powering up one of the ship's three hydraulic power units before test firing a battery of maneuvering jets. Later this morning, the two pilots will take turns practicing landing procedures using a computer simulator before a final round of media interviews beginning at 5:30 a.m. The astronauts will enjoy two hours of off-duty time after their midday meal before breaking down their laptop computer network, storing an exercise machine and stowing the ship's KU-band antenna.

Here is an updated timeline of today's activities (in EDT and mission elapsed time):

TIME/EDT	DD	HH	MM	EVENT

12:30 AM	09	13	15	Cabin stow begins
01:20 AM	09	14	05	Flight control system checkout
02:30 AM	09	15	15	Reaction control system hotfire
03:00 AM	09	15	45	Shuttle-station-Soyuz audio call
04:00 AM	09	16	45	Simulator landing practice for Jett, Ferguson
05:00 AM	09	17	45	Deorbit review
05:30 AM	09	18	15	Media interviews with shuttle astronauts
05:50 AM	09	18	35	Crew meal
06:50 AM	09	19	35	Crew off duty time begins
08:00 AM	09	20	45	Mission status briefing on NASA TV
08:50 AM	09	21	35	Cabin stow resumes
09:00 AM	09	21	45	Entry video setup
10:20 AM	09	23	05	Laptop computer teardown (part 1)
10:30 AM	09	23	15	Ergometer stow
11:00 AM	09	23	45	Ku-band antenna stow
12:00 PM	10	00	45	Post-Mission Management Team status briefing
01:00 Pm	10	01	45	Video file on NASA TV
01:45 PM	10	02	30	Crew sleep begins
06:00 PM	10	06	45	Daily video highlights reel
09:45 PM	10	10	30	Crew wakeup
For readers interested in a look ahead to landing day, an updated entry events timeline is now posted listing all major activities for two landing opportunities Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center.

A forecast released Monday calls for possible thundershowers within 30 nautical miles of the shuttle's runway Wednesday morning and crosswinds gusting to 15 knots, right at NASA's safety limit. The outlook for Thursday and Friday includes only a slight chance of showers and light winds.

Atlantis has enough on-board supplies to remain in orbit until Saturday if absolutely necessary. Entry flight director Steve Stich will outline his landing strategy later today, but given the forecast he's unlikely to activate NASA's backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., until Thursday or Friday.

Here are all four Florida landing opportunities for Wednesday and Thursday (in EDT and mission elapsed time):

DATE/EDT	DD	HH	MM	EVENT

09/20/06
04:52 AM	10	17	37	Deorbit ignition (orbit 170)
05:59 AM	10	18	44	1st KSC landing opportunity
06:27 AM	10	19	12	Backup deorbit ignition (orbit 171)
07:34 AM	10	20	19	2nd KSC landing opportunity
01:45 PM	11	02	30	Crew sleep (if waveoff)
09:45 PM	11	10	30	Crew wakeup
		
09/21/06
05:19 AM	11	18	04	Backup deorbit ignition (orbit 186)
06:21 AM	11	19	06	3rd KSC landing opportunity
06:55 AM	11	19	40	Backup deorbit ignition (orbit 187)
07:57 AM	11	20	42	4th KSC landing opportunity

03:30 a.m., 09/18/06, Update: Atlantis astronauts carry out final heat shield inspection

The Atlantis astronauts carried out a final inspection of the shuttle's heat shield today, using a laser on the end of a long boom to look for signs of damage on the ship's nose cap and wing leading edge panels.

An identical inspection was carried out Sept. 10, the day after launch, to make sure the most critical parts of the heat shield came through the climb to space in good condition. Today's inspection was designed to make sure no space debris or micrometeoroids hit the shuttle unnoticed while docked with the international space station.

"The first one is obviously geared towards any debris which came off during ascent and may have hit the orbiter," commander Brent Jett said in a NASA interview. "ThereÕs a second threat to your thermal protection system, and that is from micrometeorite damage. ItÕs a threat we deal with on every mission."

Heat shield inspections are carried out using a 50-foot-long boom attached to the end of the shuttle's 50-foot-long robot arm. A laser scanner and a high-resolution camera are mounted on the end of the orbiter boom sensor system to look for signs of damage to the reinforced carbon carbon material making up the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edge panels. Those areas experience the most extreme heating during re-entry, some 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

"ThereÕs an analysis done that gives you the probability of being struck by a micrometeorite," Jett said. "It all depends on what attitude youÕre flying and what orbit youÕre flying in. The thought is that if you inspect early in the mission for ascent debris, you might want to inspect late in the mission to see if youÕve sustained any damage from a micrometeorite hit on the RCC, a critical area of the orbiter."

Along with carrying out the heat shield inspection, Jett and his crewmates - pilot Chris Ferguson, flight engineer Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Canadian Steve MacLean and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper - also plan to begin initial packing for re-entry and landing Wednesday. Cabin stow will begin in earnest Tuesday, when the astronauts also will test the shuttle's re-entry systems.

Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EDT and mission elapsed time):

TIME/EDT	DD	HH	MM	EVENT

02:20 AM	08	15	05	Orbiter boom sensor system (OBSS) unberth
03:25 AM	08	16	10	OBSS starboard wing leading edge survey
04:15 AM	08	17	00	Cabin stow begins
04:55 AM	08	17	40	OBSS nose cap survey
06:25 AM	08	19	10	Crew meal
07:25 AM	08	20	10	OBSS port wing leading edge survey
08:00 AM	08	20	45	Mission status briefing on NASA TV
08:55 AM	08	21	40	OBSS berthing
09:30 AM	08	22	15	Robot arm berthing and powerdown
10:15 AM	08	23	00	Laser dynamic range imager downlink
01:20 PM	09	02	05	NC-7 rocket firing
02:15 PM	09	03	00	Crew sleep begins
03:00 PM	09	03	45	Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV
08:28 PM	09	09	13	Progress cargo ship undocks from ISS
10:15 PM	09	11	00	Crew wakeup
Atlantis undocked from the space station early Sunday to make way for arrival of the lab's next commander and flight engineer, Mike Lopez-Alegria and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin. The Expedition 14 crew members, along with space tourist Anousheh Ansari, blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:09 a.m. EDT today aboard the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft.

If all goes well, they will dock with the station at 1:24 a.m. Wednesday, just a few hours before Atlantis is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center.

Ansari will return to Earth on Sept. 28 with the station's outgoing crew, Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeff Williams. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, ferried to the station aboard the shuttle Discovery in July, will remain aboard the outpost as part of the Expedition 14 crew until December, when he will return to Earth with the crew of the next shuttle assembly mission.

01:00 p.m., 09/17/06, Update: Atlantis undocks from space station; fly-around video thrills NASA managers; adding quotes from mission status briefing, Soyuz TMA-9 pre-launch briefing

The shuttle Atlantis undocked from the international space station today, beaming down spectacular video of the lab complex and clearing the way for launch of the station's next full-time crew early Monday to kick off the 14th long-duration expedition.

"In the next three days on station, they'll be having a shuttle undock, a Progress (supply ship) undock, a shuttle land and us dock," Expedition 14 commander Mike Lopez-Alegria said at a pre-flight news conference at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

"It's a consequence of the complexity of the task that we're trying to undertake that as you need more air traffic controllers when the airport gets busier, that's the situation that we're facing. I frankly think it's very exciting. I think it bodes well for our future and I think we all look forward to the era of the construction of the station."

Atlantis undocked from the space station at 8:50 a.m., about 15 hours before the scheduled launch of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft at 12:09 a.m. EDT Monday. The shuttle flew a slow loop around the station for photo documentation, the first 360-degree fly around in the post-Columbia era.

Dramatic video showed the station's new solar arrays gleaming against the blue and white backdrop of planet Earth as the two spacecraft streaked 220 miles above the heartland of America, the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway at 5 miles per second.

The station had a distinctly asymmetrical look with the newly added 240-foot-long P4 solar arrays arrays positioned at right angles to the lab's other major set of solar panels, known as P6.

P6 provided power for the early stages of station assembly in a temporary position on a truss atop the multi-hatch Unity module that connects the U.S. and Russian segments of the lab. Next year, if all goes well, P6 will be moved to its permanent position adjacent to the P4 arrays on the left end of the station's main power truss.

"Hey Jeff, we completed the fly-around," shuttle commander Brent Jett called as the shuttle began moving away. "I just wanted to let you know we got a lot of great pictures, it was really a spectacular sight to see your vehicle from above, looking down on the Earth. So hopefully, we'll get to send some of those to you over the next couple of days and we'll see you back on Earth in a little while."

"Yeah, we'll look forward to seeing those," station flight engineer Jeff Williams replied from the lab complex. "I think we got some pretty good pictures and video of you guys in the fly around as well, especially underneath with the Earth in the background. So those pictures will be on the ground when you get there, waiting for you. It was a great mission, thanks for all the good work, enjoyed the time together and look forward to seeing you back in Houston."

"Yeah, we really appreciate it," Jett replied, "it was fun working with you guys. Be safe the rest of your mission."

"You bet. So long now."

At the sprawling Baikonur Cosmodrome, meanwhile, Russian rocket engineers were preparing the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft for launch. Monday night, a Progress supply ship loaded with trash and no-longer-needed equipment will undock from the Russian Zvezda command module's aft port, clearing the way for Lopez-Alegria, cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and space tourist Anousheh Ansari to dock at 1:24 a.m Wednesday.

Four-and-a-half-hours later, Atlantis is scheduled for landing at the Kennedy Space Center.

Ansari will return to Earth Sept. 28 with Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeff Williams. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, who flew to the station aboard the shuttle Discovery in July, will remain aboard the lab complex as a member of the Expedition 14 crew until late December.

Ansari, born in Iran and a naturalized U.S. citizen, is the fourth private citizen to buy a seat on a Soyuz for a trip to the international space station. She helped sponsor the $10 million Ansari X-Prize competition for development of sub-orbital space flight and while she would not disclose the actual cost of her space station trip, it is believed to be in the neighborhood of $20 million.

Lopez-Alegria, asked if space tourism was a good idea, told a reporter "if you would have asked me that question a couple of years ago, I might have answered quite differently because I was sort of a critic of space tourism." He added that "sending people to the international space station while it was still under construction was still by no means a place for the light hearted."

"But I recognize the requirements that the Russian space agency has to keep its program alive, we can't do what we're doing without them, so if that's what the correct solution is, and if somebody like Anousheh can be that person, then I have come to the realization that not only is it good from a technical standpoint, just to keep the program going, but it's also good from the standpoint that she represents a great dream and a great hope for a lot of people, not just in our country and iran, but all over the world. I think it was short sighted of me, perhaps, to think the way I did a couple of years ago so I'm somewhat of a convert."

Tyurin agreed, saying it was time for spaceflight to move beyond government-only sponsorship. As for Ansari's presence on the crew, "I was sincerely surprised when we started working together by the high level of professionalism she has even though she's not a professional cosmonaut. She became such a natural part of our crew we have the impression we've been working together for maybe 10 years."

Ansari, wearing a blue flight suit sporting a personally designed mission patch, pointed out that she would be taking off in a Soyuz spacecraft that is very similar to Russian capsules launched at the dawn of the space age.

"It's been over 45 years since the first human flew to space and over these 45 years, only government agencies have been working toward the goal of space exploration," Ansari said. "In order for us to make giant leaps toward space exploration ... we need private industry to get involved and help the government agencies and work collaboratively together to be able to make that lofty goal come true in the near future for us.

"So I'm hoping to be an ambassador to take this message out and get more people interested and more private investment made into space exploration," she said. "I also want to add that taking an orbital flight is not an easy task. ... It does require a lot of training, you have to be mentally and physically prepared for it, you have to get to know the system that you're flying because there's a lot of dangers out there. It definitely requires a lot of training and it's not necessarily for the light of heart."

Ansari plans to describe her experiences throughout the flight in a blog hosted by the X-Prize Foundation: http://spaceblog.xprize.org/2006/09/17/the-day-has-come/ Atlantis was launched Sept. 9 and docked with the station last Monday. Over the next five days, Jett, pilot Chris Ferguson, Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Canadian Steve MacLean and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper installed the new arrays, wired them into the station's power grid, and activated a massive rotary joint that will drive the panels like huge waterwheels to track the sun as the station circles the globe.

The P4 and P6 solar panels stretch 240 feet from tip to tip. The new P4 arrays currently are locked in place because of interference with the left wing of the P6 array. That wing will be retracted in December in preparation for moving P6 to the main truss next August.

Between now and December, the P4 arrays will remain stationary and canted at slightly different angles to prevent rocket plume contamination from the shuttle on the front end and Soyuz/Progress arrivals and departures on the back end.

Over the next half-dozen flights, considered the most complex in manned spaceflight history, shuttle crews will build out the solar array truss, re-wire the station's power system, activate complex ammonia coolant loops and prepare the station for arrival of European and Japanese research modules.

Given the success of Atlantis' mission, Phil Engelauf, a senior manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said flight planners, engineers and managers are optimistic about the work ahead.

But not overly confident.

"You feel confident in the sense that you've got one tough hurdle behind you," he said today. "But that doesn't really change the equation for the outlying flights. I think everybody at NASA involved in this program has commented about the difficulty of this sequence of flights, how each one of them really has to go well in order for the whole sequence to work.

"We now have one of those under our belt and that certainly a good feeling. (But) there are a lot of difficult milestones ahead and we're far from finished. We're one lap down, but it's a long race."

With hugs and handshakes, the Atlantis astronauts bid farewell to their space station colleagues today, signed the lab's logbook and closed hatches between the two spacecraft.

"Houston, the log book has been completed, all of the ceremonies have taken place and the STS-115 crew is egressing the station for the final time," Jett radioed as the farewell ceremony broke up.

Williams, following naval tradition, then rang the ship's bell and called out: "STS-115, the crew of Atlantis departing" as the shuttle astronauts left the Destiny laboratory module and floated back into the orbiter.

The shuttle's hatch was closed at 6:27 a.m. and the vestibule between the hatch and the station was depressurized.

With Ferguson at the controls, Atlantis' docking system was disengaged on time at 8:50 a.m. and powerful springs pushed the shuttle, tail toward Earth and cargo bay facing the station, straight away along the direction of travel.

After reaching a point roughly 400 feet directly ahead of the station, Ferguson guided the spaceplane though a 360-degree loop around the lab complex, passing 600 feet directly above, behind, below and back out directly in front again before leaving the area for good.

The astronauts plan to carry out a final heat shield inspection Monday before packing up and testing the shuttle's re-entry systems Tuesday. Landing at the Kennedy Space Center is targeted for 5:58 a.m. Wednesday.

10:30 a.m., 09/17/06, Update: Atlantis completes station fly around; bids station crew farewell

Shuttle pilot Chris Ferguson piloted Atlantis through a slow, looping fly around of the international space station today, beaming back spectacular video of the orbital lab complex with its new solar arrays gleaming against the blue-and-white backdrop of planet Earth.

It was the first 360-degree shuttle-station fly around of the post-Columbia era and the first since 2002 to show the station with a significant new addition: the P3/P4 solar array truss carried aloft and installed by Atlantis' crew.

Streaking through space at 5 miles per second 220 miles above the heartland of America, the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, the new array gave the outpost a distinctly asymmetrical look, positioned at right angles to its other major set of solar panels, the P6 array.

P6 provided power for the early stages of station assembly in a temporary position atop a truss on the Unity module. Next year, if all goes well, it will be moved to its permanent position adjacent to the P4 arrays on the left end of the station's main power truss.

"Hey Jeff, we completed the fly-around," shuttle commander Brent Jett called as the shuttle began moving away. "I just wanted to let you know we got a lot of great pictures, it was really a spectacular sight to see your vehicle from above, looking down on the Earth. So hopefully, we'll get to send some of those to you over the next couple of days and we'll see you back on Earth in a little while."

"Yeah, we'll look forward to seeing those," station flight engineer Jeff Williams replied from the lab complex. "I think we got some pretty good pictures and video of you guys in the fly around as well, especially underneath with the Earth in the background. So those pictures will be on the ground when you get there, waiting for you. It was a great mission, thanks for all the good work, enjoyed the time together and look forward to seeing you back in Houston."

"Yeah, we really appreciate it," Jett replied, "it was fun working with you guys. Be safe the rest of your mission."

"You bet. So long now."

08:55 a.m., 09/17/06, Update: Atlantis undocks from space station

The shuttle Atlantis undocked from the international space station today, closing out a successful visit to attach a new set of solar arrays and clearing the way for launch of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft early Monday carrying the lab's next commander, a fresh flight engineer and a space tourist.

With pilot Chris Ferguson at the controls, Atlantis' docking system was disengaged on time at 8:50 a.m. and powerful springs pushed the shuttle, tail toward Earth and cargo bay facing the station, straight away as the two spacecraft sailed 220 miles above the Pacific Ocean southeast of Australia.

After reaching a point roughly 400 feet directly ahead of the station, the flight plan called for Ferguson to guide the shuttle though a 360-degree loop around the lab complex, passing directly above, behind, below and back out directly in front again before leaving the area for good.

07:15 a.m., 09/17/06, Update: Crew farewells; station/shuttle hatches closed

With hugs and handshakes, the Atlantis astronauts bid farewell to their space station colleagues today, signed the lab's logbook and closed hatches between the two spacecraft, setting the stage for undocking at 8:50 a.m.

"Houston, the log book has been completed, all of the ceremonies have taken place and the STS-115 crew is egressing the station for the final time," shuttle commander Brent Jett radioed as the farewell ceremony broke up.

Station flight engineer Jeff Williams, following naval tradition, rang the ship's bell and called out: "STS-115, the crew of Atlantis departing" as the shuttle astronauts left the Destiny laboratory module and floated back into the orbiter.

The shuttle's hatch was closed at 6:27 a.m. and the vestibule between the hatch and the station was depressurized. See the 4 a.m. status report for a detailed timeline.

04:00 a.m., 09/17/06, Update: Atlantis astronauts prepare for undocking

The Atlantis astronauts are rigging the shuttle for undocking from the international space station this morning. A final joint meal with the station crew is planned for 5 a.m. with a farewell ceremony and hatch closing on tap at 6 a.m. and 6:24 a.m. respectively.

With shuttle pilot Chris Ferguson at the controls, Atlantis is scheduled to undock from pressurized mating adapter No. 2 on the front of the Destiny laboratory module at 8:50 a.m. Ferguson will guide the shuttle to a point about 400 feet directly in front of the lab complex before beginning a 360-degree fly around for photo documentation.

"We're really looking forward to the fly-around, seeing the station in a new configuration," said lead flight director Paul Dye. "I just think itÕs going to be gorgeous. The views I've seen already - you know, the beautiful gold arrays, and the Earth in the background - itÕs going to be real nice."

Passing 600 feet directly above, behind and below the space station, Ferguson will guide Atlantis back to a point directly in front of the outpost and carry out the first of two rocket firings at 10:05 a.m. to begin the shuttle's final separation.

This will be the first complete space station fly around since the Columbia disaster and engineers are looking forward to getting a good look at the lab complex and its new set of solar arrays.

"It wasn't a real high priority, but it's certainly nice to have and I think we should get some pretty spectacular video of the station," Dye said. "And that helps everybody, because if you have any questions about the external configuration, you can go back and look for it."

A second separation burn is scheduled for 10:33 a.m. Atlantis will drop back to a point about 40 nautical miles behind the space station where it will remain through Monday when the crew plans to carry out a final heat shield inspection.

At the sprawling Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, meanwhile, Russian rocket engineers are preparing the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft for launch at 12:09 a.m. Monday to ferry the station's next full-time crew to the international outpost.

If all goes well, Expedition 14 commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and space tourist Anousheh Ansari will dock at the aft port of the Russian Zvezda command module at 1:24 a.m Wednesday, about four-and-a-half-hours before Atlantis is scheduled for landing at the Kennedy Space Center.

NASA television coverage of the Soyuz TMA-9 launch begins at 11:30 p.m. Ansari will return to Earth Sept. 28 with Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeff Williams. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, who flew to the station aboard the shuttle Discovery in July, will remain aboard the lab complex as a member of the Expedition 14 crew until late December.

Here is an updated timeline of today's activities that combines the NASA television schedule (rev. N), the crew's summary flight plan and the detailed undocking timeline (in EDT and mission elapsed time):

TIME/EDT	DD	HH	MM	EVENT

12:15 AM	07	13	00	STS/ISS crew wakeup
02:35 AM	07	15	20	Transfers resume
03:35 AM	07	16	20	Rendezvous tools checkout
04:15 AM	07	17	00	Oxygen transfer hardware tear down
04:35 AM	07	17	20	Transfer tagup
05:00 AM	07	17	45	Joint crew meal
06:00 AM	07	18	45	Farewell ceremony
06:24 AM	07	19	09	Hatch closure
06:45 AM	07	19	30	Centerline camera installation
06:45 AM	07	19	30	Orbiter docking system leak check
07:30 AM	07	20	15	Spacesuit installation
07:30 AM	07	20	15	Group B computer powerup
07:36 AM	07	20	21	Sunrise
07:45 AM	07	20	30	ISS maneuver to undocking attitude
08:00 AM	07	20	45	Shuttle undocking timeline begins
08:07 AM	07	20	52	Noon
08:30 AM	07	21	15	P6 solar arrays feathered
08:37 AM	07	21	22	U.S. feathering complete
08:36 AM	07	21	21	Sunset

08:50 AM	07	21	35	Atlantis undocks from space station

08:51 AM	07	21	36	Initial orbiter separation (+10 seconds)
08:52 AM	07	21	37	ISS holds current attitude
08:55 AM	07	21	40	Range: 50 feet; reselect -X jets
08:57 AM	07	21	42	Range: 75 feet; low-Z jets
09:00 AM	07	21	45	Russian arrays resume tracking
09:05 AM	07	21	50	Range: 170 feet
09:08 AM	07	21	53	Sunrise
09:19 AM	07	22	04	Range: 400 feet; start flyaround
09:29 AM	07	22	14	Range: 600 feet
09:30 AM	07	22	15	P6 arrays resume tracking
09:30 AM	07	22	15	ISS maneuvers (+YVV)
09:31 AM	07	22	16	Atlantis directly above ISS
09:38 AM	07	22	23	Noon
09:42 AM	07	22	27	Atlantis directly behind ISS
09:54 AM	07	22	39	Atlantis directly below ISS
10:05 AM	07	22	50	Atlantis directly in front of ISS
10:05 AM	07	22	50	Separation burn No. 1
10:08 AM	07	22	53	Sunset
10:30 AM	07	23	15	PMA-2 depressurization
10:33 AM	07	23	18	Separation burn No. 2
10:35 AM	07	23	20	Group B computer powerdown
10:39 AM	07	23	24	Sunrise
11:00 AM	07	23	45	Mission status briefing on NASA TV
11:15 AM	08	00	00	Undocking videotape replay
12:00 PM	08	00	45	ISS-14 pre-launch briefing replay on NASA TV
12:15 PM	08	01	00	NC-5 rocket firing
03:15 PM	08	04	00	STS crew sleep begins
03:45 PM	08	04	30	ISS crew sleep begins
04:00 PM	08	04	45	Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV
10:30 PM	08	11	15	ISS-14 pre-launch b-roll feel on NASA TV
11:15 PM	08	12	00	STS crew wakeup
11:30 PM	08	12	15	ISS-14 launch coverage begins on NASA TV
12:09 AM	08	12	54	ISS-14/Soyuz TMA-9 launch

10:45 a.m., 09/16/06, Update: Veteran spacewalker credits rookies with saving the day on station

The successful attachment and deployment of a huge new set of solar arrays on the international space station "bodes well" for a complex set of upcoming shuttle flights to build out the main power truss and ready the craft for attachment of European and Japanese research modules, Atlantis commander Brent Jett said today.

Atlantis' flight marks the resumption of station assembly after a three-and-a-half-year hiatus and while Jett said he was heartened by his crew's success, every flight must go well for NASA to complete the outpost by the Bush administration's 2010 deadline.

"I think it's certainly a good start," Jett told CBS News in an interview today. "Obviously, we have a lot of complex missions ahead to finish the station by 2010. We needed to get the first one off, we had a few small problems but the team on the ground did a wonderful job resolving them. So I think it bodes well for the future. Plus, the lessons we learned on this mission we can pass on to future missions with similar hardware."

Space station Program Manager Mike Suffredini joked Friday that Jett's crew was so successful his biggest challenge now is convincing people station construction is as difficult as NASA managers and astronauts have been saying.

But Joe Tanner, a four-flight veteran who now ranks fourth in the world for total time spacewalking, said Atlantis' mission might not have gone so well if two rookies - Dan Burbank and Canadian flier Steve MacLean - hadn't gotten a galled bolt out during the crew's second spacewalk.

Asking about Suffredini's joking comment, Tanner said "I want to squash that bug right now. These EVAs were not easy. The fact that everybody said they looked easy is a real compliment to these three other people here and we appreciate it. Thank you very much."

Floating on Atlantis' aft flight deck by Burbank, MacLean and his own partner, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Tanner then reached down and pulled up a giant wrench.

"I know these two guys, these big, strong guys, aren't going to brag on themselves, so I want to show you the tool that they used on EVA-2," Tanner said. "This is a ratchet wrench with a nine-inch rigid extension and a cheater bar to give yourself a little more leverage. The moment arm here is around two feet and these guys backed out a bolt that was sticky, they're estimating it was probably 130 to 140 foot pounds of torque. They basically cut some new threads in a pretty sizable bolt. That was not in any shape or form easy.

"If we hadn't gotten that bolt out, the arrays would not have been able to deploy and we'd be scratching our heads right now trying to figure out how to get that bolt out. So thanks for telling us we made it look easy, but it certainly was not."

Atlantis blasted off Sept. 9, one day after a fuel tank hydrogen sensor malfunctioned and forced a 24-hour delay. NASA managers considered launching Atlantis that same day, despite a flight rule that calls for a 24-hour stand down in that situation. In the end, launch was scrubbed during a final hold at the T-minus nine-minute mark.

Jett said today he agreed with the decision to stand down in accordance with the applicable launch commit criteria, or LCC. But he didn't mind taking the countdown into the final hold while the issue was discussed.

"When we left for the pad, we sort of expected that we were not going to launch," he said. "We knew what the LCC rule was, it was written very clearly. We write those rules ahead of time so when we get into a situation with launch pressure, or maybe a little bit of launch fever, we can go to the rules and (know) we've debated all that rationale in a calmer environment.

"We were ready to go, obviously, but we expected to go out and at some point scrub in the launch. But we felt it was a very worthwhile exercise because we know it was good to check out as many of the systems on the vehicle, take the count as far as you can, to try to discover any potential issues for that launch attempt on Saturday."

Jett, Tanner, Burbank, Piper, MacLean and pilot Chris Ferguson enjoyed a half-day off earlier today. Sunday morning, Atlantis is scheduled to undock from the space station and, after a one-and-a-quarter-loop fly-around for a photo survey of the lab complex, back away to a point about 40 nautical miles away.

On Monday, the crew will carry out a second inspection of the shuttle's nose cap and wing leading edge panels, which experience the most extreme heating during re-entry, to make sure no space debris or micrometeoroids hit the craft after a similar inspection the day after launch.

Assuming no problems are found, the astronauts will pack up Tuesday and test the shuttle's re-entry systems before heading back to the Kennedy Space Center Wednesday morning.

Touchdown is targeted for 5:57 a.m., but high crosswinds and possible thundershowers could cause problems. Atlantis has enough on-board supplies, however, to stay in orbit for at least three additional days if necessary. The forecast improves Thursday, with light winds and only a slight chance of showers.

06:00 a.m., 09/16/06, Update: Astronauts enjoy off-duty time; Soyuz moved to launch pad; timeline of upcoming events

The Atlantis astronauts, the major tasks of their space station assembly mission behind them, took a half-day off Saturday to relax and enjoy the view from 220 miles up.

The combined space station and shuttle crews will enjoy a joint meal later this morning before participating in a news conference and network television interviews.

Here is an updated timeline of the crew's activities (in EDT and mission elasped time):

TIME/EDT	DD	HH	MM	EVENT

12:15 AM	06	13	00	STS/ISS crew wakeup
03:15 AM	06	16	00	STS crew off duty time begins
07:15 AM	06	20	00	Joint crew meal
08:15 AM	06	21	00	Joint crew photo
08:35 AM	06	21	20	Joint crew news conference
09:10 AM	06	21	55	Speed brake
09:15 AM	06	22	00	REBA removal
09:35 AM	06	22	20	CBS/NBC/ABC network interviews
09:50 AM	06	22	35	Transfers continue
09:50 AM	06	22	35	EVA prep for shuttle transfer
10:00 AM	06	22	15	Mission status briefing on NASA TV
10:30 AM	06	23	15	News conference replay on NASA TV
12:00 PM	06	00	45	ISS-14 video file on NASA TV
01:25 PM	07	02	10	Transfer tagup
03:45 PM	07	04	30	ISS crew sleep begins
04:15 PM	07	05	00	STS crew sleep begins
05:00 PM	07	05	45	Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV
The next few days will be extremely busy for U.S. and Russian space station managers, with the departure of Atlantis early Sunday, launch of the station's next crew aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket early Monday, undocking of a Progress supply ship Monday night and arrival of the Soyuz on Wednesday.

At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan late Friday night (U.S. time), the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft was rolled to the launch pad and erected for blastoff to ferry Expedition 14 commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and space tourist Anousheh Ansari to the space station.

Soyuz TMA-9 is hauled to the launch pad. (Rob Navias/NASA)



Soyuz TMA-9 readied for launch Monday. (Rob Navias/NASA)

Ansari, a businesswoman and space enthusiast who helped fund the Ansari X-Prize competition for sub-orbital spaceflight, is the fourth "space tourist" to buy a seat on a Soyuz and a trip to the space station.

"Everything looks perfect, everything's prepared just right and everyone's excited and ready," she told CBS News Friday.

Ansari was added to the Soyuz crew when a Japanese space tourist was disqualified for medical reasons. Asked about the risk of riding a rocket into space, she said it was the means to realize a life-long dream.

"To me, there are certain things worth taking the risk for," she said by telephone from Baikonur. "I am not a big adventurous person who would take risks just to have an adrenalin rush. So I'm not particularly fond of riding rockets, necessarily, but to me, that's the means for me to get to space, which is my destination.

"The risks involved are what I felt comfortable (with) and the price to pay to be able to realize my dream. It's something that's hard to describe for me. I think space travel is important enough that you can see astronauts and cosmonauts taking risks every day because they believe in it, they believe it's necessary for the future of our species. ... There are people who are the pioneers, people who are moving to take this type of early risk to pave the way for the rest of us. I'm hoping to be one of those people."

Launch is targeted for 12:09 a.m. EDT Monday. The Progress supply ship currently docked at the Zvezda command module's aft port will depart Monday night at 8:28 p.m. EDT, clearing the way for the Soyuz docking at 1:24 a.m. Wednesday.

The station's current crew - Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov, Jeff Williams and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter - spent the day today loading the Progress with no-longer-needed equipment and trash.

Vinogradov, Williams and Ansari will strap into the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft and undock at 5:54 p.m. EDT Sept. 28 for a landing that night at 9:10 p.m. EDT. Reiter will remain aboard the station as part of the Expedition 14 crew until December, when he will be replaced by astronaut Sunita Williams during the next space shuttle assembly mission.

Here is a timeline of the upcoming station traffic (in EDT):

09/17/06
08:50:00 AM	Atlantis undocks from ISS
10:33:00 AM	Shuttle departs area after ISS flyaround
12:00:00 PM	ISS-14 pre-launch news conference replay on NASA TV
10:30:00 PM	Soyuz TMA-9/ISS-14 b-roll footage on NASA TV
11:30:00 PM	NASA TV Soyuz TMA-9 launch coverage begins

09/18/06
12:08:40 AM	Launch of Soyuz TMA-9/ISS-14 from Baikonur Cosmodrome
02:30:00 AM	Post-launch activities on NASA TV
03:25:00 AM	Atlantis crew carries out final heat shield inspection
08:28:00 PM	Progress M-56 undocking from ISS Zvezda aft port
11:27:00 PM	Progress M-56 deorbit ignition (dT: 2:40; dV: 190 mph)

09/19/06
12:03:00 AM	Progress M-56 falls into the atmosphere
02:35:00 AM	Atlantis crew tests flight control system; cabin stow
	
09/20/06
01:24:00 AM	Soyuz TMA-9 docking with ISS at Zvezda aft port
04:20:00 AM	Soyuz TMA-9 hatch open
04:55:00 AM	Atlantis deorbit ignition
05:57:00 AM	Atlantis lands at the Kennedy Space Center
	
09/28/06
05:51:00 PM	Soyuz TMA-8 undocking command
05:54:00 PM	Hooks open, separation
05:57:00 PM	Separation burn (dT: 8s; dV: 1.2 mph)
08:20:23 PM	Deorbit burn (dT: 4:20; dV: 258 mph)
08:24:43 PM	Deorbit burn complete
08:43:57 PM	Soyuz module separation
08:46:52 PM	Soyuz crew module hits discernible atmosphere
08:53:06 PM	Maximum deceleration
08:55:09 PM	Parachute open command
09:10:09 PM	Landing (17 minutes before sunrise)

01:00 p.m., 09/15/06, Update: Spacewalk No. 3 ends

Astronauts Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper began repressurizing space station's Quest airlock today at 12:42 p.m. to officially close out a third and final space station assembly spacewalk.

The spacewalk began at 6 a.m. for a duration of six hours and 42 minutes. Tanner and Piper logged six hours and 26 minutes during a spacewalk Tuesday, giving them a total of 13 hours and eight minutes, while Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean put in seven hours and 11 minutes during an excursion Wednesday.

Total spacewalk time for Atlantis' mission was 20 hours and 19 minutes and Tanner, now a veteran of seven spacewalks, moved up to No. 4 on the world EVA list with a total of nearly 46-and-a-half hours.

"OK, well I guess that's it for me," Tanner said just before re-entering the airlock to close out his final spacewalk.

"Yep, the sun goes down on an era," Piper said. "I should say 'on a legend.'"

"Ah, I don't think so," replied Tanner, veteran of a 1997 Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission and three other station spacewalks in 2000.

A few minutes later, he thanked the spacewalk trainers at the Johnson Space Center for preparing the Atlantis crew for all three EVAs. Astronaut Pam Melroy in mission control credited him with "another legendary performance."

Today's spacealk was the 72nd devoted to space station assembly and maintenance since construction began in December 1998. Forty-five Americans, 13 Russians, two Canadians, one Japanese astronaut and one French flier have now logged 438 hours and 36 minutes of station spacewalk time.

09:10 a.m., 09/15/06, Update: Solar array radiator deployed

With launch restraints removed, flight controllers sent commands to unfold a 44-foot-long radiator panel on the international space station today that will help keep the electronics inside a new solar array module cool once it comes on line.

Television shots from space showed the big radiator, made up of seven hinged panels, unfolding and stretching away from the P4 solar array as the station sailed 218 miles above Saudi Arabia. Dual coolant loops will help control temperatures in the array's integrated electronics assembly, which houses the gear needed to regulate power from the solar panels.

The 1,600-pound radiator is 44 feet long, 12 feet wide and can dissipate up to 14 kilowatts of heat.

Astronauts Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, meanwhile, enjoyed the view from a safe distance away where they were working to upgrade the station's S-band communications gear.

"That's a pretty above-average view I've got right now," Tanner said, looking across the station's main solar array truss and the nose of Atlantis at the blue-and-white Earth below.

"That's the Suez Canal, the Holy Land... wow," Tanner marveled a few moments later. "Wow."

06:05 a.m., 09/15/06, Update: Spacewalk No. 3 begins

Astronauts Joe Tanner (EV-1) and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (EV-2), floating inside the Quest airlock module, switched their spacesuits to internal battery power at 6 a.m. to officially begin the third and final planned spacewalk for Atlantis' space station assembly mission.

The spacewalk began 45 minutes late because of time lost troubleshooting the cause of a circuit breaker trip. Here is a revised timeline of today's EVA (times approximate; in EDT and spacewalk elapsed time):

TIME/EDT	HH	MM	EVENT
______________________________________________

06:00 AM	00	00	Spacesuits to battery power
06:05 AM	00	05	EVA-3: Airlock egress/setup
06:20 AM	00	20	EVA-3: EV1: EVA-P6 BGA clips installation
06:20 AM	00	20	EVA-3: EV2: MISSE 5 retrieval
06:50 AM	00	50	EVA-3: EV2: P4 radiator prep/deploy
07:15 AM	01	15	EVA-3: EV1: P4 radiator prep/deploy
07:40 AM	01	40	EVA-3: P3 cleanup/foot restraint move
08:00 AM	02	00	Radiator deploy
08:10 AM	02	10	EVA-3: S-band antenna support assembly R&R
10:00 AM	04	00	EVA-3: EV2: S-band processor/transponder R&R
10:10 AM	04	10	EVA-3: EV1: KU thermal blanket install
10:30 AM	04	30	EVA-3: EV1: EWIS antenna installation
11:00 AM	05	00	EVA-3: EV2: EWIS antenna installation
11:20 AM	05	20	EVA-3: EV1: Infrared camera DTO
12:00 PM	06	00	EVA-3: Cleanup
12:25 PM	06	25	EVA-3: Airlock repressurization


04:30 a.m., 09/15/06, Update: Spacewalk start time revised

Time lost because of an airlock circuit breaker trip earlier today has put spacewalk preparations about 45 minutes behind schedule. The excursion by astronauts Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper is now expected to begin around 6 a.m.

03:30 a.m., 09/15/06, Update: Astronauts prepare for final spacewalk

Astronauts Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper are gearing up for a final spacewalk today to close out work on a new solar array truss and upgrade the international space station's communications system. An airlock circuit breaker tripped early today, but engineers did not see any signs of a short and the device was reset without incident.

The goals of today's excursion, scheduled to begin around 5:15 a.m., are to wrap up final work to ready the new P3/P4 solar array truss segments for operation, releasing restraints holding a set of seven folding radiator panels in place on the P4 segment. Extending 44 feet when fully deployed, the radiator's dual ammonia coolant loops will keep the solar arrays internal electronics at the proper temperature once the system goes into operation.

Tanner and Piper also will upgrade the space station's S-band communications system, install a thermal blanket around electronics used by the station's high-speed KU-band antenna and retrieve a space exposure experiment. Finally, they will install a wireless antenna system to collect structural data on the solar array truss and clear a safety tether that ended up draped over the path of the station's mobile transporter after a spacewalk Wednesday.

The mobile transporter is a high-tech cart that creeps along rails along the front side of the solar array truss. It can lock itself down at various work sites to provide a stable work platform for the Canadarm 2 space crane. Later today, flight controllers will send commands to move the transporter from work site 7 to a new work site - WS-8 - on P3 that will be needed in December to attach another truss segment.

Today's spacewalk will be the 72nd devoted to space station assembly and maintenance and the third for the Atlantis astronauts. Tanner and Piper spent six hours and 26 minutes outside Tuesday, wiring in the new P3/P4 truss segments while Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean staged a seven-hour 11-minute spacewalk Wednesday preparing a large solar array drive mechanism for operation. Those two EVAs pushed total spacewalk time on the space station to 431 hours and 54 minutes since assembly began in 1998.

As with the previous two spacewalks, Tanner and Piper spent the night inside the Quest airlock module at a reduced pressure of 10.2 pounds per square inch to help purge nitrogen from their bloodstreams, part of a procedure to ensure they don't suffer the bends working in their 5-psi spacesuits.

Early today, a remote power controller, or RPC, tripped off, taking down power to the airlock module and its depressurization pump, but engineers later determined there had not been a short and decided to reset the device.

"We reset the RPC, we watched the data for a while and then we turned the depress pump back on and it seems to be running just fine now," astronaut Kevin Ford in mission control.

"OK. And this is one of those known conditions, characteristics of RPCs?" asked station astronaut Jeff Williams.

"We don't think it was a nominal kind of thing, Jeff, we did see a little spike in the current of the depress pump," Ford said. "But it definitely did not look like a short."

Tanner's call sign is EV-1 and for identification, his spacesuit features solid red stripes around the legs. Piper is EV-2 and her suit has no markings.

Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (NOTE: the NASA TV schedule is not yet in synch with the revised spacewalk timeline; in EDT and mission elapsed time):

TIME/EDT	DD	HH	MM	EVENT
_____________________________________________

12:15 AM	05	13	00	STS/ISS crew wakeup
12:45 AM	05	13	30	EVA-3: Hygiene break/pre-breathe
01:00 AM	05	13	45	EVA-3: Crew lock repress
01:30 AM	05	14	15	EVA-3: Crew lock depress to 10.2 psi
02:05 AM	05	14	50	EVA-3: Campout EVA prep
03:35 AM	05	16	20	EVA-3: Spacesuit purge
03:50 AM	05	16	35	EVA-3: Spacesuit oxygen pre-breathe
04:40 AM	05	17	25	EVA-3: Crew lock depressurization
05:15 AM	05	18	00	ISS: ISS-13 departure preparation
05:15 AM	05	18	00	EVA-3: Airlock egress/setup; spacewalk begins*
05:30 AM	05	18	15	EVA-3: EV1: P6 BGA latch clips install
05:30 AM	05	18	15	EVA-3: EV2: MISSE 5 experiment retrieval
06:00 AM	05	18	45	EVA-3: EV2: P4 radiator prep and deploy
06:25 AM	05	19	10	EVA-3: EV1: P4 radiator prep and deploy
06:50 AM	05	19	35	EVA-3: P3 cleanup (foot restraints moved)
07:20 AM	05	20	05	EVA-3: S-band antenna support assembly R&R
09:10 AM	05	21	55	EVA-3: EV2: S-band signal processor and transponder R&R
09:20 AM	05	22	05	EVA-3: EV1: KU heat shield installation
09:40 AM	05	22	25	EVA-3: EV1: EWIS antenna installation
10:10 AM	05	22	55	EVA-3: EV2: EWIS antenna installation
10:30 AM	05	23	15	EVA-3: EV1: Infrared camera DTO
11:15 AM	06	00	00	EVA-3: Cleanup
11:35 AM	06	00	20	EVA-3: Airlock repressurization
11:50 AM	06	00	35	Post-EVA spacesuit servicing
12:50 PM	06	01	35	Transporter move from WS-7 to WS-8
01:45 PM	06	02	30	BSA init
02:00 PM	06	02	45	Mission status briefing on NASA TV
02:20 PM	06	03	05	WS-8 checkout
02:35 PM	06	03	20	Transporter move from WS-8 to WS-4 on S0
03:00 PM	06	03	45	Video file on NASA TV
03:45 PM	06	04	30	ISS crew sleep begins
04:15 PM	06	05	00	STS crew sleep begin
05:00 PM	06	05	45	Daily video highlights reel on NASA TV

*May be impacted by RPC troubleshooting
"EVA 3 is a cleanup of P3 primarily, to prepare it for future missions," Tanner said in a NASA interview. "On P4 we have two activities. One to prepare the radiator for deploy, and then loosen some bolts on an MMOD (micrometeoroid orbital debris) cover. That's kind of a get-ahead, but we'll probably do that as well, and then relocate some foot restraints for (the next assembly crew)."

Tanner also will test an infrared camera under development as a diagnostic tool that could help future crews spot damage to the shuttle's wing leading edge panels. It may also prove useful for space station inspections.

"If everything that we have planned right now ends up on the plate for EVA 3, it'll take two-and-a-half or three hours probably, of activity (on the new truss)," Tanner said. "Then we say goodbye to P3/P4 and bring all of our tools back in and our tethers and start to work on changing out some things on S1, some tool boxes and the S-band transponder and a signal processor in the S-band communication system."

"Heide will be working on an electronic instrumentation antenna on the lab and I'll be heading up to the top of P6 to take care of some unfinished business up there from STS-97, on one balky latch up there, and then putting some clips on some bolts and finally bringing down a science experiment known as MISSE-5. I'll be up on the top for 45 minutes or so and Heide and I will really be separated. And then we join back up again and finish up probably a six, six-and--a-half hour EVA and then head back in."

Burbank and MacLean completed some of the tasks originally planned for today during their spacewalk Wednesday, including removal of no-longer-needed hardware to clear the mobile transporter's path from work site 7 to the new work site 8 on the far left end of the solar array truss.

09:15 a.m., 09/14/06, Update: Second solar array deployed
UPDATED at 2:20 p.m. with quotes from news conference; booster cam video

The Atlantis astronauts successfully unfurled a second solar array today, giving the international space station a new set of wings stretching some 240 feet from tip to tip and completing the primary goal of the 116th shuttle mission.

While the mission is far from over - a third spacewalk is on tap Friday - getting the new solar arrays attached and deployed marks a critical first step in the resumption of space station assembly after a three-and-a-half-year hiatus.

"We're happy to be here to tell you the truss, the P3/P4 truss is installed, the SARJ joint's checked out, the solar arrays are deployed, we're in outstanding shape," space station Program Manager Mike Suffredini told reporters. "The bottom line is, this flight has gone better than my wildest dreams."

This afternoon, NASA released spectacular video of Atlantis' launch Sept. 9 that was shot by cameras mounted on the ship's twin solid-fuel boosters and in a WB-57 jet aircraft flying at 60,000 feet near the launch pad.

The booster cams showed no obvious problems with the shuttle's external tank insulation and no signs of any heat shield damage. While the WB-57 footage was not as sharp, it provided dramatic views of the shuttle well after booster separation, including ignition of Atlantis' orbital maneuvering system engines for additional boost.

But deployment of the space station's new solar arrays was the clear highlight of today's activity in space.

The P3/P4 arrays are needed for the next planned assembly mission in December as NASA works through a complex sequence of flights that must be accomplished in series to build out the lab's main solar array truss and prepare the station for arrival of European and Japanese research modules.

The only real hitch in an otherwise by-the-book mission was a software commanding problem Wednesday that held up test and check out of a drive system needed to rotate the new arrays to keep them face on to the sun as the station circles the globe.

As it turned out, the glitch was actually a safety feature built into higher level supervisory software that controllers had not taken into account. Once they did, checkout of the solar alpha rotary joint, or SARJ, went smoothly and the Atlantis astronauts were cleared to press ahead with array deployment early today.

During extension of an identical set of arrays in 2000, many of the compressed slats in the solar blanket initially stuck together due to the effects of low temperatures and atomic oxygen.

When the stuck panels broke free during deployment, the arrays oscillated more than expected and caused a tension cable to jump from its guide. The system was repaired during a spacewalk and procedures were changed for today's deploy.

Flight controllers first extended each wing a few feet to improve warming and release compression. Then the astronauts deployed the panels, one at a time, first to 49 percent and then, after waiting for more solar warming, out to a full 100 percent. The extension was done in a high-tension mode to help prevent the panels from pulling up at the bottom as the self-assembling masts extended.

The procedure worked as planned and no problems were encountered.

"Good deploy of the 2A array, very similar to the deploy of the 4A array," Atlantis commander Brent Jett called around 8:45 a.m. after the second wing was fully extended.

"Good day for space station," replied astronaut Pam Melroy from mission control in Houston. "We confirm the solar array is also fully deployed on telemetry. Congratulations!"

"We're very happy to get the array out today," Brent said. "There was never any motion on the tension mechanism until it was supposed to move at the very end. There was, however, quite a bit of spring tension and when the (stuck) panels would release, the boxes would move quite a bit, but that was the same on both arrays."

Suffredini was elated with how the deployment played out.

"A lot of folks have spent time talking about a couple of bolts (and) the software feature we rediscovered last night," he said. "But if you told me before this flight these were the only issues we were going to deal with as a program, I would have taken that and run. The only real problem I have is getting everybody to understand when we say these things are hard, really believing us, because the next flight is going to be even more difficult.

"But we're ecstatic today," he said. "The vehicle has performed in an outstanding way, the systems that make up the P3/P4 truss have all performed as advertised and we're well on our way to returning to assembly."

The new