site at: Marshall Mellard Catherine Borsché andBradThomas Kendra Phipps Joanne Hale r please call281/244-6397orsendane-mail to For distributionquestionsortosuggest astoryidea, Rm. 166A.ThemailcodeisAP121.V Center employees.TheRoundupof published bythePublicAf Johnson SpaceCenter National Aer The Roundupisanof Space Center Roundup Space Center Spring hassprungatJSC [email protected] http://www onautics andSpaceAdministration, Editor Assistant Editor Graphic Designer .jsc.nasa.gov/r ficial publicationofthe , Houston,T fairs Of . fice forallSpace oundup/online/ exas, andis fice isinBldg.2, isit ourW Staff Writers Staff eb NASA/Blair JSC2006E08803 NASA/Blair JSC2006E08806 U.S. POSTAGE PRSRT STD WEBSTER, TX Permit No.39 PAID NASA/Blair JSC2006E08815 Roundup National Aeronautics andSpaceAdministration National Aeronautics Incredible flyingmachine APRIL 2006 45 •Number4 Volume CENTERROUNDUP SPACE B.JohnsonSpaceCenter Lyndon NASA S81-29212 people were working onboard the station, will also take on tasks to restore operating devoted to later shuttle flights is going to and now we are actually back in a state capability of the station robotic arm’s come in our MPLM.” that we can continue with the assembly.” mobile railcar. One of two power, data On Flight Day 4, the station’s robotic STS-121 will begin its journey to the and video cables for the system was arm will lift Leonardo from the payload station when Discovery lifts off from inadvertently cut in December 2005. bay and attach it to the station’s Unity Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After A third spacewalk will include tasks Connecting Module. Then the station and entering orbit, the crew will spend about to test techniques for inspecting and shuttle crews will spend the next several 48 hours preparing for Discovery’s arrival repairing the reinforced carbon-carbon days unloading the cargo and refilling at the station and conducting inspections (RCC) segments that protect the orbiter’s Leonardo with trash, equipment and of the orbiter’s heat shield. After docking with the space station on Flight Day 3, the STS-121 crewmembers will conduct joint operations with the station’s expedition by Brad Thomas crew. Activities will include cargo transfers 121 and three spacewalks. Discovery is slated to undock from the will continue the on- deliver critical hardware and a new STS-104 flew to the station in 2001. His station on Flight Day 11 and land at NASA orbit testing of new crewmember to the space station, bringing new crew is a mixture of veterans and Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility on stsequipment and repair procedures for space the orbital outpost’s crew complement first-time fliers. Flight Day 13. STS-121 will be the 115th shuttles when mission STS-121 visits the back to three. The pilot is Mark Kelly, who will make shuttle mission and Discovery’s 32nd International Space Station later this year. “The main goals of STS-121, first and his second trip to the station. Kelly, a flight. Also, it will be the 18th space STS-121, the second Return to Flight foremost, are that we’re the second and commander in the U.S. Navy, served as shuttle mission to visit the space station. test mission, will carry on demonstrations final Return to Flight test mission,” the pilot of STS-108 in 2001. The STS-121 crewmembers are of safety improvements that debuted on the Lindsey said. “The second one… is purely Mission Specialist Piers Sellers, who scheduled to perform three spacewalks space station objectives. We will be holds a doctorate in biometeorology, will first Return to Flight mission, STS-114, to conduct tests for on-orbit inspection NASA ISS004E13294 make his second flight into space. Sellers and repair techniques for the orbiter’s The Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module rests in Space Shuttle Endeavour’s payload bay served as a mission specialist on STS-112 heat shield, perform station maintenance in 2002. during a previous trip to the space station. Leonardo will make its fourth trip to the orbital outpost and install spare parts for future use on the during STS-121. Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, station. Sellers and Fossum will perform all Stephanie Wilson and Lisa Nowak will three excursions. Sellers has accumulated nose cone and wing leading edges. The make their first spaceflight on STS-121. 19 hours and 41 minutes of spacewalking inspections will be done with an infrared Wilson and Fossum worked for NASA time during three spacewalks during camera, and the crew will use special before joining the astronaut corps. Nowak STS-112. Fossum will conduct his first sealants and plugs to repair simulated came to NASA from the Navy, where she spacewalks on this mission. RCC segments in Discovery’s payload bay. holds the rank of commander. STS-121’s three spacewalks will be In addition to a new crewmember, 0 Also scheduled to fly to the station on 2 performed from the station’s airlock while Discovery will deliver supplies and 2 7 E Discovery is European Space Agency (ESA) 4 the orbiter is docked to the complex. equipment to the station. More than two 1 1 S astronaut Thomas Reiter. When Discovery During one spacewalk, Sellers and Fossum tons of cargo will make the trip to the A S leaves the station, Reiter will stay behind A will test a 50-foot robotic arm boom station inside NASA’s Italian Multi- N to work under an agreement between ESA The space station soars above the Earth after Space 0 extension as a heat shield repair and Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), 3 3 and the Russian Federal Space Agency. Shuttle Discovery undocked during STS-114 in August 5 E inspection platform. known as Leonardo. This pressurized 4 2005. Discovery is scheduled to make its second 1 1 Reiter’s presence will give the station a S “The idea is that we’re going to test cargo compartment will ride in the space consecutive visit to the station during STS-121. A three-member crew for the first time since S A the suitability of this system for something shuttle’s payload bay along with the spare N Expedition 6 returned to Earth in May The remote manipulator system robot arm and its 50-foot extension, called the orbiter boom to stand on and work from while doing a parts for the station. experiments that will return to Earth. The 2003. He will also be the first ESA sensor system, flex above the Earth during STS-114. The boom will return to action during STS- repair on a shuttle,” Sellers said. “We’re Kelly said that Leonardo will deliver a robotic arm will return Leonardo to the 121 when it is used during inspections of Space Shuttle Discovery’s heat shield. astronaut to live aboard the space station going to put this whole system through wide range of cargo to the station. “We’ve payload bay before Discovery undocks. for a long-term mission. a series of tests to see how well it works as got a lot of supplies for the crew of the STS-121 will be Leonardo’s fourth trip to and build upon those tests. STS-114, transferring back and forth and re- Reiter said that STS-121 and the a stable platform.” space station that will be inside,” Kelly the station. which launched in July 2005, was the supplying the station with transfer items, arrival of a third station crewmember will During another spacewalk, Sellers and said. “We have some racks that will go in The STS-121 mission has a number of first shuttle mission to fly since the loss and also taking off the stuff that’s used be a good sign for the future. Fossum will contribute to the construction the U.S. Laboratory and then a lot of gear. objectives. “It’s going to be a full plate,” of Columbia and the STS-107 crew on up, old food trays and things like that.” “I think this moment signifies that we of the space station by installing a spare Things tend to wear out in space, so we’re Fossum said, “and there’s no one thing Feb. 1, 2003. Lindsey, who served as the pilot are getting back on track, if I may say so,” part on the outside of the station for bringing a lot of supplies that will replace that I could say would be my definition of Discovery and its crew, led by on two previous shuttle missions, Reiter said. “There has been an future use. The spare part is a pump for things within the space station and on the mission success. We’re going for all of it.” Commander Steven Lindsey, will also commanded his first shuttle flight when interruption of three years where only two the station’s thermal control system. They outside of the space station, stuff that’s Roundup 08 Roundup 09 project has to do an orbital debris assessment prior to launch,” Johnson said. “Every report comes through our office and we evaluate by Brad Thomas k if the reports are compliant—if not, we help them.” Johnson said there are four basic addition to the International Space Station Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs, Colo. The principles that the orbital debris group n and other satellites, millions of objects Orbital Debris Program office is responsible for checks. The first principle is the risk of In are orbiting the Earth. The majority of assessing the environment for debris smaller than inadvertently creating debris that is not these objects are the remnants of robotic and human 10 centimeters. necessary; the second is to limit the spacecraft and are known as orbital debris, or Currently, the DOD is tracking more than probability that an explosion can occur in u space junk.