Mission: STS-126, 27th station flight (ULF2)
Orbiter: Endeavour (OV-105)
Mission Number: Shuttle flight No. 125
Launch Date: Nov 14, 2008, 19:55 EST/00:55 UT
Launch Pad: 39A map  weather
Docking: Nov 16, 17:01 EST/22:01 UT
Mission Elapsed Time: 15 days, 20 hrs, 30 mins, 34 secs
[Chamitoff spent 183 days in space, 179 aboard the ISS, where Magnus remains]
EVAs: 4
Landing Site: Edwards Air Force Base, California
Landing: November 30, 2008:
main landing gear touchdown: 15:25:06 CST
nose gear: 15:25:21 CST
wheels stop: 15:26:03
Distance Traveled: 6,615,109 miles
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Primary Payload: Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM)
Crew: Mission Commander: Christopher J. Ferguson; Pilot: Eric A. Boe; Mission Specialists: Stephen G. Bowen, Donald R. Petit, Robert S. Kimbrough, Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, launch: Sandra H. Magnus (Flight Engineer, NASA science officer, Expedition 17, 18), landing: Gregory Chamitoff (Expedition 17 Flight Engineer) Crew portrait
Contingency Shuttle Crew Support Mission: STS-319 (Rescue STS-126) - Discovery (OV-103).
Video: Windows Media Player .wmv format
STS-126 launches 2.07 MB
STS-126 ready for launch on Pad 39A 1.57 MB
Crew walks out to Astrovan 2.36 MB

10 p.m. CST Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

STS-126 Mission Control Center Status Report #09

Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve Bowen completed the first of four spacewalks scheduled for Endeavour's mission to the International Space Station today. The spacewalk was the 115th in support of ISS construction.

Piper and Bowen began the spacewalk at 12:09 p.m. CST and ended it at 7:01 p.m. They spent six hours and 52 minutes outside the station working on several tasks, including removing a depleted nitrogen tank from a stowage platform on the outside of the complex and moving it into Endeavour's cargo bay. They also moved a flex hose rotary coupler from the shuttle to the station stowage platform, as well as removing some insulation blankets from the common berthing mechanism on the Kibo laboratory.

The majority of the spacewalk was spent focusing on one of the station's Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ). These joints are the large, circular devices that allow the complex's solar arrays to automatically rotate and track the sun as the station orbits the Earth. Piper and Bowen worked to clean and lubricate part of the joint and to remove two of the joint's 12 trundle bearing assemblies. This work will continue during the rest of the mission's scheduled spacewalks.

Nov 18: Astronaut Steve Bowen, STS-126 mission specialist, participates in the mission's first session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 52-minute spacewalk, Bowen and astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (out of frame), mission specialist, worked to clean and lubricate part of the station's starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ) and to remove two of SARJ's 12 trundle bearing assemblies. The spacewalkers also removed a depleted nitrogen tank from a stowage platform on the outside of the complex and moved it into Endeavour's cargo bay. They also moved a flex hose rotary coupler from the shuttle to the station stowage platform, as well as removing some insulation blankets from the common berthing mechanism on the Kibo laboratory. Credit: NASA

About halfway into the spacewalk, one of the grease guns that Piper was preparing to use on the SARJ released some Braycote grease into her crew lock bag, which is the tool bag the spacewalkers use during their activities. As she was cleaning the inside of the bag, it drifted away from her and toward the aft and starboard portion of the International Space Station. Inside the bag were two grease guns, scrapers, several wipes and tethers and some tool caddies. Piper and Bowen spent the remainder of the spacewalk sharing a duplicate set of tools from the other crew lock bag they had with them. The next spacewalk of the mission will take place on Thursday, which will be the 10th anniversary of the launch of the first element of the station, the Zarya module.

Inside the station, Endeavour's crew and the Expedition 18 crew worked to continue moving items out of the Leonardo Multipurpose Logistics Module (MPLM) that was docked with the station yesterday. The crew is ahead of its transfer timeline and focused on moving two water recovery system (WRS) racks and one of the new sleep stations into the ISS. The transfer tasks will continue on throughout Endeavour's visit to the station, when the MPLM will be undocked and placed back into Endeavour's payload bay for return to Earth.

The crew is due to go to sleep tonight at 11:55 p.m. CST and will wake up at 7:55 a.m. tomorrow. The next shuttle status report will be issued after crew wake-up or earlier if events warrant.

Nov 18: Anchored to a Canadarm2 mobile foot restraint, astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, STS-126 mission specialist, participates in the mission's first session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Nov 18: A extravehicular activity (EVA) tool bag drifts away from the International Space Station during the mission's first scheduled spacewalk for STS-126. About halfway into the spacewalk, one of the grease guns that astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (out of frame), mission specialist, was preparing to use on the SARJ released some Braycote grease into her crew lock bag, which is the tool bag the spacewalkers use during their activities. As she was cleaning the inside of the bag, it drifted away from her and toward the aft and starboard portion of the International Space Station. Inside the bag were two grease guns, scrapers, several wipes and tethers and some tool caddies. Credit: NASA

STS-126 Mission Coverage

- courtesy of NASA

Nov 18: Attired in their Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits, astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (right) and Steve Bowen, both STS-126 mission specialists, are pictured in the Quest Airlock of the International Space Station as the mission's first session of extravehicular activity (EVA) draws to a close. Astronauts Chris Ferguson (foreground, center), STS-126 commander, and Greg Chamitoff, mission specialist, assist with the doffing of the spacesuits. Credit: NASA

Nov 18: Astronaut Steve Bowen, STS-126 mission specialist, participates in the mission's first session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Nov 18: Interior view of the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module attached to the Earth-facing port of the International Space Station's Harmony node. Leonardo was moved from Space Shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay and linked to the station on Nov. 17, carrying two water recovery systems racks for recycling urine into potable water, a second toilet system, new gallery components, two new food warmers, a food refrigerator, an experiment freezer, combustion science experiment rack, two separate sleeping quarters and a resistance exercise device (aRED) that allows station crewmembers to perform a variety of exercises. Credit: NASA