Atlantis delivers Columbus to orbit
Bob Scheid
Issue date: 2/12/08 Section: Campus News
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Like many organizations, NASA prefers not to discuss medical conditions of its employees because of privacy concerns, and so results are lacking as of press time Sunday. Officially, all that was released from NASA was that German astronaut Hans Schlegel had been replaced by Stanley Love in the first spacewalk with Rex Walheim, one of the other mission specialists.
The Associated Free Press and other news sources reported late Saturday that Schlegel was unwell, and quoted mission chief John Shannon as saying "It's a private medical matter," adding that it was "not serious" and would not "impact any of the objectives of the mission."
The spacewalk was also pushed back to 9:35 Monday morning, a day later than originally planned; this in turn will push back other mission events, including landing, which is now scheduled for the morning of Feb. 19. NASA had considered extending the mission to the 19th anyway, in order to give an extra day of shuttle support in getting the European Columbus science module up and running. In addition, another one-day extension that had been in the works even before launch may still be added.
Besides the EVA rescheduling, NASA has been shuffling the other activities of the mission. This includes some equipment transfers to and from the ISS, along with a handoff between one of the ISS crew; astronaut Dan Tani, who has been living on the ISS since October, will be returning aboard STS-122 after being replaced by Leopold Eyharts, a General in the French Air Force. As handover from one crew to another typically takes several days, the opportunity to get started early will be used.
Two other minor technological problems have surfaced. First, some of the thermal protection blankets on the top of the Orbital Maneuvering System rockets were pulled up during ascent. The blankets are designed to keep the shuttle safe during reentry, blocking superheated air from penetrating the spacecraft and damaging or destroying it. Atlantis' last flight had the same problem when a four-by-six-inch piece of the blanket in the same area was pulled away; it was fixed in orbit using surgical staples to hold it in place. This mission's tear appears to be smaller; as of press time, there was no information about whether a fix would be necessary or attempted, and what it would be.
Second, one of Atlantis' five General Purpose Computers failed to initialize properly prior to docking with the ISS. During computer startup, the No. 3 unit started normally but would not transition into operation mode from standby; the backup computer is working normally and has taken over its duties while troubleshooting is taking place. Flight engineers believe the computer is still healthy, and work is continuing.
Despite these three problems and issues last year with the Engine Cut-Off sensors, the mission is proceeding and Columbus was slated to be installed Monday. The three spacewalks planned in the mission will physically mount the module on the space station (with the help of remote manipulator arms), connect electrical and coolant umbilicals and transfer a scientific instrument suite to monitor solar phenomena from outside the station.
STS-123, which will deliver Canada's Dextre robotic manipulator system and the first part of the Japanese Kibo module to the station, is slated for launch March 11. This will be the second of possibly six shuttle missions this year.
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