Space Station Assembly Resumes with STS-115

Following STS-121’s successful test flight, United Space Alliance and the entire NASA team are about to undertake one of the most demanding and exciting assignments ever – completion of the International Space Station (ISS) by 2010.

STS-115, scheduled to lift off in late August, resumes assembly of the ISS for the first time since late 2002. Up to 16 more Space Shuttle missions will increase the power and cooling capacity of the Station and deliver science platforms for NASA’s International Partners.

Atlantis and her six astronauts will deliver and install the 17.5 ton P3/P4 truss segment to the port side of the integrated truss system of the Station. The truss includes a new set of photovoltaic solar arrays, 240 feet in length, which will provide additional power for the Station in preparation for the delivery of international science modules over the next two years.

The truss also contains the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ), which will rotate 360 degrees, either clockwise or counterclockwise, to position the P4 and P6 solar arrays to track the sun for electrical power generation.

The 11-day mission is commanded by Navy Capt. Brent Jett, a veteran of three previous space flights, including the STS-97 mission to the ISS in 2000 that delivered the first U.S. solar arrays on the P6 truss structure.

Jett is joined by Navy Captain Chris Ferguson, a first-time flyer who will serve as the mission’s pilot. Joe Tanner will lead two teams of spacewalkers in his fourth flight into space. Coast Guard Commander Dan Burbank makes his second flight to the ISS on the STS-115 mission and will serve as flight engineer during launch and landing. Navy Cmdr. Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper makes her spaceflight debut on Atlantis’ mission, joining Tanner for two of the three planned spacewalks. Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Steve MacLean, making his second flight, will join Burbank for the second spacewalk of the flight. He will become the second Canadian astronaut to walk in space, following his colleague, Chris Hadfield.

Duplicating the STS-114 and STS-121 missions, the main objective of Atlantis’ flight will be the inspection of the Shuttle’s Thermal Protection System (TPS) over several days to ensure it is safe to return to Earth. Complex work with both the Shuttle and the Station’s robotic arms will be required to not only inspect Atlantis’s wings and TPS, but to install the huge P3/P4 truss to the existing P1 truss on the port side of the Station.

MacLean, who helped develop the Canadian-built robotic arms for both the Shuttle and the Station, will become the first Canadian to operate both systems during the STS-115 mission.

When Atlantis arrives at the Station two days after its launch, the crew will be greeted by the three-man Expedition 13 crew. Russian Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA Flight Engineer and Science Officer Jeff Williams have been aboard the ISS since April 1. The third member of the Expedition 13 crew is European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter, who was delivered to the Station on the STS-121 mission.

On the third day of the mission, Jett will fly the Shuttle to just 600 feet under the Space Station, where he will execute a slow back-flip rotation of the Orbiter. This will enable Vinogradov and Williams to capture high-resolution digital imagery of Atlantis for engineers on the ground to pursue their analysis of the condition of the Shuttle’s TPS.

Jett will then maneuver Atlantis to a docking with the Station at the forward end of the Destiny Laboratory, setting the stage for a week of joint operations between the two crews.

On Flight Day 9, the crew will inspect Atlantis’ port wing for any damage that may have occurred during on-orbit operations from micrometeoroid debris. A similar inspection of the Shuttle’s starboard wing and nose cap will take place after undocking the next day.

Atlantis will undock and separate from the Station on Flight Day 10, moving to a distance of 40 nautical miles, where an engine firing will place Atlantis in a Station-keeping orbit in the unlikely event it would have to return to the ISS due to damage to its TPS.

The crew will wrap up inspections of the TPS on Atlantis by using the boom sensor crane to view the starboard wing and nose cap of the Shuttle. That will provide the imagery needed to permit mission managers to give Atlantis and its crew the final clearance to return home.

Atlantis is scheduled to land on the morning of Flight Day 12, setting the stage for subsequent Shuttle missions to continue the expansion of the ISS.

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