TIM FURNISS / LONDON
ISS becomes self-contained after Shuttle crew overcomes technical problems to fit fifth module during spacewalk
The Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on 25 July after its STS 104 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The landing had been waived off by bad weather on 23 July.
Attention at the KSC now turns to the STS 105 mission by the orbiter Discovery, due for launch on 9 August to deliver more equipment to the ISS aboard the Italian Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, Leonardo, and the third expedition crew. Discovery will return to Earth expedition crew two which boarded the station in March.
The crew of mission STS 104 successfully attached the Quest joint airlock to the ISS and conducted its inaugural spacewalk from the new module on 20 July, to attach the second of two nitrogen gas tanks on the unit's exterior. Oxygen tanks were attached earlier.
The addition of Quest ends the first assembly phase, making the ISS a self-contained space station able to conduct full operations without the Shuttle. ISS crew can also now make EVAs using either Russian or US spacesuits. Quest becomes the station's fifth module, joining Russia's Zarya and Zvezda, and the US Unity and Destiny modules.
Although the STS 104 mission met its objectives, it encountered air and water leaks, a malfunctioning valve and pump on the Quest, and a computer problem on the ISS. The Quest was slow to bleed off air prior to the third EVA, delaying the exit by 30 minutes.
Transfer of the 9,500kg (20,900lb), $164 million Quest involved the use of the Canadian Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), which had suffered major computer control problems following its installation on the previous Shuttle mission in April. Quest was transferred by the SSRMS with the assistance of two spacewalking astronauts using the Shuttle's RMS, marking the first dual use of orbital arm systems operated from different workstations.
BLOB The $2 billion Space Shuttle orbiter Columbia could be mothballed on a "ready-to-be-reactivated" mode due to a projected $800 million budget shortfall to 2007. Other measures being considered are cancellating some planned Space Shuttle upgrades and closing some test facilities. Columbia, which has flown 26 missions since inaugurating the programme with STS 1 in April 1981, is the only orbiter not equipped to dock with the ISS and is scheduled for just two firm flights next year - a Hubble Space Telescope refurbishment mission and a science research flight.
Source: Flight International
