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

5:30 p.m. CST Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

STS-126 Mission Control Center Status Report #19

Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Endeavour Mission Specialist Don Pettit have proven their knack for detailed maintenance work during previous stays at the International Space Station and have once again put their skills to use.

The Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) inside the Water Recovery System (WRS), which recycles condensate and urine onboard the station, has experienced several shutdowns during testing. Engineers believe motion of the centrifuge caused physical interference within the UPA, resulting in increased power draw and temperatures.

Fincke and Pettit removed grommets from the UPA and hard-mounted it into the WRS rack. The grommets were serving as isolators to dampen vibrations from the centrifuge, but might have been allowing too much motion and causing the interference. Mission Control has been monitoring the UPA's operation and it has been running normally for two hours without prematurely shutting down.

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

Endeavour crew members enjoyed four hours of free time, Pettit choosing to join Fincke during that time to work on the UPA. Then transfer activities continued, with more than 76 percent of that work complete, as well as preparations for Monday's spacewalk.

Bowen and Kimbrough are scheduled to leave the station's Quest airlock at 12:45 p.m. Monday on the mission's fourth spacewalk and continue work on the station's Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ). They both will remove insulating covers on the port SARJ and Kimbrough will follow through with its lubrication. Bowen will finish tasks on the starboard SARJ to install the final trundle bearing assembly.

Bowen will install a multi-layer insulation blanket on the station's Kibo module that was removed during the first spacewalk. The cover is associated with the Exposed Facility Berthing Mechanism on Kibo, which has since been remotely tested from inside station, and the cover can be reinstalled. During that testing, however, one of the four latches did not close properly and Bowen will help complete the checkout procedure in person.

Other tasks include installing a television camera on the port truss and a Global Positioning System antenna on Kibo that will be used for Japanese cargo craft arrivals.

Endeavour's crew is scheduled to go to bed at 11:55 p.m. today and be awakened at 7:55 a.m. Monday. The next shuttle status report will be issued after the crew awakens, or earlier if events warrant.

STS-126 Mission Coverage

- courtesy of NASA