As you know by now the Endeavour and its seven-member crew lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 7:55 p.m. EST Friday to repair and remodel the International Space Station (it was an amazing sight with a full moon illuminating the night.) The crew has lots of DIY (Do It Yourself) projects to the tune of 32,000 pounds, which includes supplies and equipment necessary to double the crew size from three to six members in spring 2009. The new station cargo includes additional sleeping quarters, a second toilet, a water reclamation system and a resistance exercise device.
The mission’s four planned spacewalks will focus on servicing the station’s two Solar Alpha Rotary Joints, which allow the outpost’s solar arrays to track the sun. The starboard SARJ has had limited use since September 2007.
Shortly before launch, Commander Chris Ferguson thanked the teams that helped make the launch possible. “It’s our turn to take home improvement to a new level after 10 years of International Space Station construction,” he said. “Endeavour is good to go.”
Joining Ferguson on Endeavour’s 15-day flight are Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists Donald Pettit, Steve Bowen, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Shane Kimbrough and Sandra Magnus. Magnus will replace current station crew member Greg Chamitoff, who has lived on the outpost since June. She will return to Earth on Discovery’s STS-119 mission, targeted for February 2009.
Part of the 32,000 pounds of cargo in NASA’s space shuttle Endeavour also includes a camera that will help U.S. farmers, and provide unique educational opportunities for students. Students and faculty at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, built the Agricultural Camera, known as AgCam, that will be delivered and installed on the International Space Station. The students will operate the camera from their campus and work closely with NASA engineers and station astronauts to shoot images in visible and infrared light of growing crops, rangeland, grasslands, forests and wetlands in the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions. The data will prove useful to agricultural producers in North Dakota and neighboring states, benefiting farmers and ranchers and providing ways for them to protect the environment. Images from the camera will be shared with educators throughout the country for use in their classrooms. AgCam is an example of a space-related research project that delivers direct benefits to the general public. AgCam imagery also may assist in disaster management, such as flood monitoring and wild fire mapping.
Also along on this Most Excellent Adventure is Leonardo, the first of the Multi-Purpose Pressurized Logistics Modules (MPLM) developed by Thales Alenia Space for the International Space Station (ISS). This is its fourth mission, and now on the STS 126, is the eighth to be carried out by the Shuttle with an Italian-made MPLM module. The MPLM is a Multi-Purpose Pressurized Logistics Module used to transport equipment, supplies and material to the International Space Station, via the Space Shuttle. Three flight models have been built: Leonardo, Raffaello and Donatello. The modules’ design is based on the concept of flexible, multipurpose orbital operation. Once docked to the International Space Station, the modules allow both active and passive storage, as well as offering sufficient habitable space for two astronauts.
The Shuttle will be docked to the Space Station about two days after launch. The ISS crew will remove Leonardo from the shuttle’s hold and connect it to another major part of the space station, Node 2 (Harmony), also produced by Thales Alenia Space’s Turin plant, and launched in October 2007. Leonardo is again carrying the equipment and supplies needed for both scientific experiments and to support the Station’s crew. Leonardo was the first of the MPLM modules to be commissioned, with two launches to the ISS in 2001, followed by two more launches of its twin Raffaello, in 2001 and 2005.
