NASA STS-127 Report #02 7 a.m. CDT Thursday, July 16, 2009
STATUS REPORT Date Released:
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Source: Johnson Space Center
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
HOUSTON - Seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavour awakened at 7:03 a.m. to begin a day of heat shield inspections and preparations for Friday's rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station.
The song "These Are Days" by the band 10,000 Maniacs emanated from speakers inside Endeavour's crew cabin, a wake-up call targeted especially for Mission Specialist Tim Kopra.
Commander Mark Polansky and Pilot Doug Hurley will start their day with an Orbital Maneuvering System engine firing to refine Endeavour's path toward the station. A second burn is planned at the end of the crew's day. In addition, the crew will set up a camera in the shuttle's docking tunnel, extend the Orbiter Docking System ring and check out the hand-held laser range-finder and other equipment that will be used to provide precise distance and approach information for the upcoming docking.
Mission Specialists Chris Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Dave Wolf, Kopra and Julie Payette of the Canadian Space Agency will focus on inspections of Endeavour's heat shield using the shuttle's robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System.
Spacewalkers Wolf, Cassidy, Marshburn and Kopra also will begin checking out the space suits they will wear and the tools they will use on the mission's five spacewalks.
Aboard the station, Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineers Michael Barratt, Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Roman Romanenko, Robert Thirsk of the Canadian Space Agency and Frank De Winne of the European Space Agency, will spend the day packing and preparing for the arrival of visitors. They'll review photography procedures for documenting the condition of the shuttle's heat protection tiles as it completes a rendezvous pitch maneuver during its approach to the station.
Endeavour's crew will go to bed just after 10 p.m.
The next shuttle status report will be issued at the end of the crew's workday, or earlier if events warrant.
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