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02/16/10: STS-130: 3rd spacewalk: Cupola's window shutters to open tonight.
Mission: STS-130
Orbiter: Endeavour
Launch Pad: 39A
Launch Date: Feb 8, 2010, 04:14 EST (09:14 UT)
Landing: Shuttle Landing Facility, Kennedy Space Center; Feb 21, 22:20 EST/03:20 UT Feb 22 (deorbit burn: 21:15 EST)
Main gear touchdown: 22:20:31 EST
Nose gear touchdown: 21:20:39 EST
Wheels stop: 22:22:10 EST
Orbital Altitude: 122 nautical miles (140 miles)
Orbital Insertion: 191 nautical miles (220 miles)
Orbital Inclination: 51.6 degrees
Distance traveled: ~5.7 million miles
Crew:- Commander: George D. "Zambo" Zamka; Pilot: Terry Virts; Mission Specialists:- MS1 Kathryn P. "Kay" Hire, MS2 Stephen Robinson, MS3 Nicholas Patrick, MS4 Robert L. Behnken.
5 p.m. CST Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
The third of three planned spacewalks for the astronauts of space shuttle Endeavour is on tap for tonight to complete installation of the International Space Station's Tranquility module and unlock the shutters on the station's new observation deck.
The wakeup call for Endeavour's astronauts at 3:14 p.m. was "Window on the World" by Jimmy Buffett, played for Mission Specialist Kathryn Hire.
Spacewalkers Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick are slated to begin their 6.5 hour spacewalk at 8:09 p.m. CST. Behnken will open the second of two ammonia loops to allow coolant to flow through Tranquility and disconnect temporary power cables while Patrick installs heater and data cables from the new node to Pressurized Mating Adapter 3, now located on Tranquility's outboard docking port.
Next the two spacewalkers will remove the insulation from the cupola's seven windows, and Patrick releases launch locks from the windows so Pilot Terry Virts can open the window shutters from inside the module for the first time at approximately 11:30 p.m.
Other tasks for the spacewalk include installation of handrails and other EVA support equipment on Tranquility, routing video signal converter cables from the S0 Truss to the Zarya module to support future Canadarm2 operations from a base on the Russian segment of the station, and removal of clamps and a flex hose rotary coupler on the P1 Truss.
During the spacewalk station Commander Jeff Williams and other crew members will continue outfitting the Tranquility and cupola modules and perform closeout operations on components of the regenerative environmental control system before the last four racks of that system are relocated into Node 3 on Flight Day 11. Early tomorrow morning Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov will replace a failed vacuum valve in the Russian carbon dioxide removal unit.
Feb 16: In the grasp of the Canadarm2, the Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 (PMA-3) is relocated from the Harmony node to the open port on the end of the newly-installed Tranquility node. NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick, both STS-130 mission specialists, operated the station's robotic arm for the move, while Jeffrey Williams, Expedition 22 commander; and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, Expedition 22 flight engineer, dealt with latches and bolts, connecting the port to its new home. Tranquility's Cupola is visible at left center, and a docked Russian Soyuz spacecraft and space shuttle Endeavor are above. Credit: NASA
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