The Space Above Us

Hey folks! Also, not to get instantaneously distracted, but I’m just realizing I don’t have a fun collective noun for listeners of The Space Above Us. Anyone have any suggestions?

Anyway, what this post is really about is to mention that the rough version of the detailed outline for the STS-98 episode is now complete. As I was scrolling through it it occurred to me that it’s actually part of why the episodes have been trickling out at a slower pace than in the good old days. Basically, I’ve gotten better at doing research. As time goes on I find more and more sources and also get more meticulous about how I collect and organize information from those sources. The result is that despite having clocked 19.5 hours of work on the STS-98 episode, I still haven’t really properly started the script yet. For context, it used to take around 14-15 hours to make an entire episode from initial research to hitting the publish button.

I’m not exactly giving up on the two week schedule, but I’m starting to not beat myself up as much about not sticking to it, for one simple reason. I think the podcast has been better lately. Maybe you’ll disagree, and if you do, I’d be genuinely interested in your feedback. But with all due respect to the loyal listeners who await each new episode (love you guys!!) the episode is only late once, but will exist forever. People who find the show late, or who are re-listening in the future, will benefit from the more in depth research and more detailed episodes.

But this post isn’t just about patting myself on the back for.. being.. late? No, I also wanted to give a little insight into the production. “Detailed outline” can mean a lot of things since everyone has their own writing process. I thought some folks might be interested to see for themselves what the proto-episode looks like. I also figure people deserve to see just what takes so darn long.

I guess in a sense it’s “spoilers” for a thing that’s historical fact, so no worries if you don’t want to read it. But if Mike Duncan had published something like this in the The History of Rome days I would’ve been all over it.

Below you will find the rough version of the detailed outline. It’s “rough” because I still need to shuffle some bullet points around to help ease the writing of the script, and I still might move around the larger sections and such.

Anyway, without further ado, the outline!

Hello, and welcome to The Space Above Us. Episode 192, Space Shuttle flight 102, ISS 5A, STS-98: Destiny Manifest

=Recap STS-97

=Fun fact (where do I fit this in without breaking flow?)

This is the last Shuttle mission with a number lower than 100

=Crew

=CDR - Ken Cockrell (4/5, CDR STS-80 WSF3, failed EVA with Jones)

=PLT - Mark Polansky (1/3)

=MS1 - Bob Curbeam (2/3, STS-85, CRISTA-SPAS)

=MS2 - Marsha Ivins (5/5, STS-81, Linenger/Blaha swap)

First flight was STS-32, retrieving LDEF

=MS3 - Tom Jones (4/4, STS-80)

We have a LOT of Jones quotes!

=Launch buildup

[PFI Cockrell] Shuttle/station programs aren’t really ready to deal with next flight until it’s time to deal with the next flight. [So a lot of waiting around and basic stuff.. and then a huge rush when you’re up] “A couple of months ago, when the final loads of our software - almost final loads - the final release of the Flight Data File - the paperwork, the checklist of the flight; we hope they’re the final releases - they’ve all started descending upon us.”
[S20Jones] Two year wait to fly due to ISS delays.
[PFI Jones] “So, it has been a special challenge to wait out the slow development of the space station. But, now, the effect is quite the opposite. Instead of a snail’s pace and marking time and hoping that things were [going] to come to maturity sooner or later, now we’re in an avalanche. We’re just tearing downhill at the fastest pace that we can manage, trying to stay on our feet while trying to avoid the giant snowballs rolling down around you.”
[S20Jones] “It starts to accelerate around nine months prior to launch.” “the mission begins to consume our whole life.” If the scheduler doesn’t schedule you time to go to the gym and get lunch, you’ll just wind up with 10 hours of work and you can work out on your own time. “Then from 6-3 months before launch, you begin to lose tracks of the weekends” “From 3 months to launch it’s just crazy, out of control.”
[S20Jones] “Astronauts constantly come back from flights saying that the schedule is too intense and that they need to back off. Not only are you worried about the flight, you see obvious signs that your family is worried, too. There’s nothing you can say to your wife to assure her this is going to be safe, and that’s a very helpless feeling.””
[S20Jones] “In those last few weeks, you lose track of what’s coming up tomorrow. You just know your scheduler has you committed, and you shouldn’t worry about whether you have any free time, because you don’t. You just hope there will be some canceled class or you’ll finish early and you can maybe grab half an hour at your desk. To get off that treadmill is all you want at the very end. I can’t wait to get into quarantine, where we’re isolated from everyone for the last few days before launch. Because then I’ll get some rest.”
[Interesting to consider that this workload is supposedly improved over the Apollo days]

=Delay / launch

[JV3] Rolled out to LC-39A on 3 Jan 2001, but had to roll back on 19 Jan after discovery of SRB issue on STS-92. Back again on 26 Jan.
[JV3] Slight delay with ground and vehicle readings disagreeing with each other at one point but determined to be an issue with ground hardware. Delayed launch by 1m46s.
[MR] Delay of 1m14s, liftoff on Feb 7 2001 at 23:13:01.990 GMT [this math is wrong. It’s 18:13:02 EST, which is 1m46s delay] caused by ground and vehicle disagreeing on reading of aft main bus C when ground power was reduced to load fuel cells.
[PFP] “I don’t know what you can say about on top of a rocket all loaded up and ready to go, it was pretty exciting.“ - Polansky
[PFP] “Six seconds before launch, the solids light.. excuse me, yeah, not the solids I hope. THEN the solids light. That’s why I’m the pilot and he’s the commander.” - Polansky
[JV3] First flight with new software that includes automated firing of FRCS +Z jets [up] for 2.02 seconds during SRB sep. Changes flow pattern from SRB sep motors to protect the front windows. Reduces hazing and debris. Used from now on.
[SFv3.5] Sleep period starts at 11:13pm (5 hours after liftoff)

=Approach/rendezvous

Second and final time Shuttle docks at PMA-3. It’s PMA-2 from here on out.
[Goodman] Last R-bar Shuttle/ISS rendezvous (+V-Bar from here on out)
[PFI Cockrell] Tail forward maneuver: “It turns out, it’s a little more of an art than it is of a science, and it’s taken a lot of practice for us to begin the tail forward maneuver so that we come out of it at the appropriate place and don’t require a lot of thruster firings that waste fuel.”
[PFI Polansky] Start tail forward maneuver at 600 feet. Need to finish by 400 feet to avoid plume impingement issues.
[PFI Cockrell] “Well, I think realistically we have to be ready for a failed capture.” (continued concern about CG issue). Cockrell points out actually slightly better since P6 will move ISS CG forward.
[PFI Curbeam] Operates ODS during docking
[PFI Ivins] Operating handheld laser during approach. Switches to getting camera focused during final approach and calling out the range in inches.
[PFI Jones] Jones in charge of RPOP for rendezvous. Polansky up front entering computer commands.
[MR] Docking at MET 01:17:37:47

=Initial ingress/greetings (FD3)

[PK] open hatches around 2 hours after docking. Greeting and initial cargo transfer.
[MR] Ingress at.. ?? MET
[PFI Cockrell] Lots of food added late due to a delay with Progress flight.
[Harland Creating] Transferred supplies included three bags of water, a backup laptop for Zvezda, and several internal cables which would have to be fitted before Destiny could be activated. Also included gifts from families, fresh food, and movies.
[PFI Curbeam] Transfer as much as possible on day one for contingency reasons and to clear up space on the middeck
[PFI Ivins] Carrying about 30 locker bags worth of transfer items. “And, it’s filling up just about every molecule of space on our middeck.” [reason for early docking]
[S20Jones] Very shuttle-oriented, not interested in months on a space station [this came up in our interview], so was prepared to say “I’m just going to go do my work and get my butt back to the shuttle.” “I was very surprised, though, when we docked. Bob Curbeam and I had the job of opening up the hatch, and there’s this little porthole next to the hatch handle. There were Sergei, Shep, and Yuri on the other side with their noses pressed up against the glass. It was a neat moment to have people appear on the other side, where a few minutes before there had just been empty space.”
[PFI Jones] Really looking forward to talking to the station crew about what it’s like living up there and catching up.
[S20Jones] “It was like stepping into somebody’s home. It wasn’t a laboratory, it wasn’t a submarine, it was somebody’s house. And it was personalized in the way it was organized and decorated, so you respected the fact that we weren’t just going to take it over.”
[MR] Transfer ten bags of water. Five potable, five “technical”
[PK] Enhanced Gaseous Nitrogen Dewar is back with more crystals [maybe mention this with the lack of current science in the Lab]
[JV3] Brought over 3,036 pounds of dry cargo [plus the water!] and brought back 872 pounds.
[Harland Creating] Accidentally left three external cables on the ISS. They had to transfer it in PMA-3 using the pressure lower trick again.
[SFv3.5] Forgot three cables. Had to use PMA-3 like that chamber at a sketchy convenience store [my words, not SF’s]
[SFv3.5] CAM was to avoid tiny fragment of Russian space hardware. [yes, JSC update #6 agrees with 250m]
[SFv3.5] FD3, hatches opened for ~4hr as they transfer some early supplies including 3 bags of water, spare computer for Zvezda, cables to be used in Destiny activation, personal items from families, fresh food, movies.

=EVA1 - PMA-2 move (FD4)

[JV3] [Jenkins says FD4 but really it’s FD3] Cockrell performed a CAM, four +X maneuvers of 4.64s each, raising stack orbit by approx 1 n.mi.
[PK] 28 foot length, 14 foot diameter, 31,000 pounds, cost around $1.4b
[SFv3.5] Lab: 8.534m long, 4.267m diameter, 14,515kg mass.
[PK] Ivins primary RMS op. Cockrell backup. Polansky IVA
[MR] CAM at MET 02:12:35:00 [compare to PMA-2 grapple at 02:14:59 MET]. 2.5ft/sec, raising stack perigee by 1 n.mi. to 186.5x199.4 n.mi.
[PK] Ivins grabs PMA-2 and moves it close to Z1 before EVA even starts
[PFI Cockrell] Not a guarantee that PMA-2 comes right off. It was mated down on the ground and has been attached in space for over two years.
[MR] PMA-2 grapple at MET 02:14:59
[PFI Polansky] Actually trained as backup EVA since important mission. [I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a PLT doing that] “Now, those guys kid me they probably need to lose a limb before they’d let me go out there in their place.”
[CAR FD4] When PMA-2 was released, CDR Cockrell said “if we can get the audio to work, here’s a song from PMA-2 to Node-1”, then played over radio Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Release Me” with lyrics “Please release me, let me go // For I don’t love you anymore”. Ground responded “Atlantis, Houston, thanks for the musical interlude. You and Marsha have a second career as DJs when you get back.” “That’s if you let us come back. We’ll see if we can get this job done first.”
[MR] EVA starts at MET 02:16:36
[PFI Jones] Talked about STS-80 EVA. Never was all that worried because just assumed it would be fixed. And they worked their way through stuff and it became less and less likely. So he was sort of let down over time in stages. So by the time they canceled it he had come to grips with it.
[PFI Jones] “I can’t think of another part of STS-98 that’s going to be personally more rewarding for me than opening that door for the first time and sticking my head out the hatch.”
[PK] Jones EV1 (red stripe), Curbeam EV2 (white)
[PFI Ivins] Robot arm operation in the blind. Can only see PMA-3 and Node-1.
[PFI Ivins] Jones on Z1 just going “come on back, c’mon back” [“mom-back”] “a little left, a little right, pitch a little”. Practiced this in the VR lab
[PFI Curbeam] Lots of training in VR lab, and [apparently??] on the air-bearing floor, which I haven’t heard about since, what, STS-49?
[PFI Curbeam] Rarely working together on EVA. Challenge for IVA.
[S3Jones] “When that sunlight hit my suit, I felt its heat penetrate the suit’s many insulation layers and warm my arms and legs, like on a pleasant spring day. My worries about the spacewalk evaporated.”
[PK] Main objective is to attach Destiny and connect electrical, data, and cooling lines.
[PK] Curbeam disconnects umbilicals between lab and shuttle, CBM cover. Meanwhile, Jones uses pistol grip tool to secure PMA-2 on the front of Z1. While Ivins moves Destiny, both go up to release locks on early cooling system radiator.
[PFI Cockrell] Calls Z1 storage “sort of a poor man’s version of the Common Berthing Mechanism”

=EVA1 cont Lab installation (FD4)

[PFI Cockrell] Why flip? Need a keel pin. But also need to attach truss elements to top of Lab. So, launch it upside down. 4-inch diameter piece of stainless steel. (hell of a “pin”) Will also use that pin to mount pallet with upcoming Canadarm2 until it walks off to get the PDGF. [actually TWO pins, fore and aft]
[MR] Lab is 29,866 pounds
[PFI Ivins] Lab has things that stick out of it (handrails, worksite interface sockets, other EVA stuff) so only about an inch clearance [I think on either side]
[PFI Ivins] Clock is ticking once disconnected from Shuttle. Need to get it hooked up so it can do its own cooling.
[PFI Ivins] “So, I have to flip this thing over 180 degrees. In order to get the arm to do that, there is a certain path it has to fly to do it, and it’s taken us about a year-and-a-half to figure out what that path is.”
Flip. Compare to USB.
[PFI Polansky] “And we always say that Marsha’s going to be our baton twirler with the Lab”
[CAR FD4] EVA1: released launch locks on a radiator for deployment later in flight. Also released launch locks on Ku-band antenna for activation on a future flight.
[PFI Ivins] Scary thing is that miscalibrations line up. Slight miscalibration of the arm, plus slight miscalibration of the cameras, plus slight miscalibration of the rings, and if they all go bad in the same way, you can get into trouble. [This is largely my summarizing]
[MR] PMA-2 install on Z1 at MET 02:17:47. Destiny grapple in PLB at MET 02:18:00. Destiny attach to Node 1 at MET 02:19:47
[PFI Ivins] Debris shielding around both ends of Lab/Node, blocks the view of the mating parts and petals. So don’t see it at all. “So, if that miracle happens and I get this all aligned, we will get a display inside the flight deck that tells us we have made four ready-to-latches.” SVS helps. Gives an X, Y, Z, pitch, roll, yaw to be mated.
[JV3] Curbeam disconnected an umbilical on Destiny and there was an ammonia leak, exposing him. Jones used a brush on him to remove any ammonia crystals and he went through a 30 minute “bake-out” period to sublimate the ammonia. [Jones recalled this as a whole daylight pass]
[PFI Curbeam] There exists a plan to handle a failure to connect power and data lines. Have contingency heater lines to keep it warm and give it keep-alive power.
[PFI Cockrell] Calls the SVS dots “the measles”
[PFI Ivins] Centerline camera is looking at reflection in Lab hatch window. So Ivins is looking through camera at its own reflection. Camera surrounded by ring of LEDs.
[JV3] Because of contamination concern, repressed to 5psia for 15 minutes, then depressed again. Orbiter crew wore masks, but no odors noted and everything was fine.
[S3Jones] “Later, a struck thermostat drove Destiny’s internal temperature to nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but Ken Cockrell and Marsha Ivins sped through activation of Destiny’s cooling systems and prevented any damage.” [was this in the MR?]

=FD5 Destiny ingress

[SFv3.5] FD5, Cockrell and Shepherd enter Destiny together.
[PFI Cockrell] Compares Destiny to Mir Base Block
[PFI Cockrell] Control switches from Moscow to Houston with this flight.
[PFI Cockrell] When asked about what science will be done on the lab: “Well, I’ll give you the flip answer in that I have no idea what is manifested because we’re concentrating so hard on our portion of getting the Lab up to Station and activated, which is the operational side of the Lab”
[PFI Jones] Lab has intercom system. Station is 160 feet long with its installation. Can’t just shout.
[PFI Polansky] CMGs better for science. No thrusters knocking stuff around. [my words]
[Harland Creating] 11 racks assigned to systems to run laboratory (only three installed for launch)
[Harland Creating] With Destiny, ISS now had more pressurized volume that Skylab or Mir
[PFI Polansky] Lab will communicate with Zvezda computers. “they’re connected because we don’t want it to just be a system whereby we do everything on the US side with our laptops, the Russians do everything on their side with their laptops. We don’t want what we call ‘segmented ops’. We want to operate as a big team.”
[PFI Cockrell] Do some refresher training on the Lab for ISS crew, who haven’t seen it in months.
[PFI Cockrell] Air Revitalization rack launched in slot that’s good for CG during launch. Need to move it and turn it around and remount it.
[Harland Creating] Houston switched control back and forth between Zvezda and Destiny over several days, putting CMGs through “control authority” tests.
[PK] Lab partially outfitted with 5 racks containing equipment to provide electrical power and cooling for future racks, and computers for control of ISS. 2 avionics racks, two thermal control system racks, and atmospheric revitalization rack. Will eventually house 23 racks (missing one for the window). More racks coming on future flights.
[PK] Each rack weighs about 1200 pounds.
[SFv3.5] System racks weigh 544kg each
[SFv3.5] Destiny adds 107.5 cubic meters, total now 367.9. ISS is 52.12m long, 27.43 high, 73.15m wide. [this must be pressurized, not habitable]
[PK] Avionics racks house equipment for Comm/Tracking, ECLSS, Thermal Control, C&DH, Electrical Power System. Also audio equipment, video switching, and MDMs that control lab systems.
[PK] Thermal control systems that circulate chilled water to other racks. Low temperature system (4c) and moderate temperature (17c). Uses the early radiators on P6.
[PK] Atmosphere revitalization (AR) removes CO2, trace contaminants, and monitors air quality. (This gets moved on FD5 during outfitting. CG reasons.)
[PK] Destiny has optical quality nadir window
[PK] After Destiny is activated enough to provide cooling, ground will take over activation.
[PFI Ivins] Each rack has 20-30 launch bolts to remove.
[PFI Ivins] Eight soft stowage racks (looks like basically just fabric walls)
[PK] Lab activation will mark transfer of ISS ops from Russian Mission Control Center to Houston. Houston getting state vector and attitude inputs from Russian segment.
[PK] Part of activation is condensation (shell) [sic] heaters. [presumably to prevent the gigantic blobs of water that Mir had?]

=EVA2 - PMA-2 return, window (FD6)

[PK] Move PMA-2 back. Curbeam removes berthing cover from front. Jones releases PMA-2 for Ivins
[PFI Ivins] Moving arm around is difficult. Need to move the EV crew around without being able to see them, don’t hit structure with them or their EMU, but also don’t hit structure with arm. Sometimes need to get someone to stop and watch the clearance on the arm. Especially tricky with Lab window, “when I’m wrapped all the way around the bottom of the arm”
[ShaylerISS] Jones was asked about how the viscosity of the water in the NBL affected his training. “It is noticeable when you make your first spacewalk. You are very aware of how easy it is to manipulate your space suit in three dimensions using just a couple of finger tips on the hand rails. You notice there is no damping from the water. It takes maybe thirty minutes to figure out how your suit moves ever so slightly differently than in the water.”
[ShaylerISS] Jones: “If you are swinging your body around in the water, you get used to the fact that you are swinging your torso or your legs and the motion stops after you cease using your wrist muscles. In space I was doing the same kind of thing. I would swing by body around and of course I wouldn’t stop as quickly as there was no drag from the water, or I would overshoot my motions. During the second EVA, Marsha Ivins was moving PMA-2 up to the front of the laboratory, and I was working very close by on some thermal covers. I swung by body out, overshot, and my thighs slammed right into the shaft of the robot arm above the wrist joint. So I banged into it and the entire PMA-2 vibrated and shook several inches back and forth. They saw that immediately on the TV cameras and said, ‘Wow, what’s going on.’ When they realized I had bumped the arm, they said ‘Tom, calm down."‘ So I had to back off and apologize.” Actually threw off SVS and they had to lock onto the targets again.
[MR] PMA-2 demate from Z1 MET 04:16:24:10, berth to lab at MET 04:18:17:23
[PFI Cockrell] When move PMA-2 to Lab, only partially lock it in place. Need time to thermally settle. Ground will finish later.
[Harland Creating] On EVA2, ahead of scheduled. Started on EVA3 tasks like connecting cables between Destiny and PMA-2, uncovering the window, and installing an external shutter.
[SFv3.5] FD6, EVA2 finished early, kept going. Connected data/power cables between PMA-2 and Destiny, uncovered the window, installed shutter, repositioned PFR
[PK] Jones installs trunnion pin thermal covers (prevents lab from leaking heat). Curbeam installs slide wire along length of lab exterior to help spacewalkers move along the lab. Both install PDGF (power and data grapple fixture). Jones goes and gets it on the PFR while Curbeam removes debris shields so they can access wiring underneath.

=FD7 - rest

[SFv3.5] FD7, half day break
[PFI Cockrell] Don’t go to ISS on day off because not enough nitrogen for another depress to ISS pressure. [really? that doesn’t seem like all that much. is the margin really that low?]

=EVA3 - Misc (FD8)

Mention Jones moment at the end of the EVA, enjoying the view
[SFv3.5] EVA3, used SAFER. Spaceflight says they used SAFER for the incapped crew member test.
[PK] Attach spare SASA to Z1, install exterior shutter on Destiny window [maybe happened on EVA2], SAFER demo, incapacitated crew member demo [looks like this is in Space Station 3D]
[S3Jones] Up on PMA-2. Polansky radios “Ok, come on down to the payload bay and let’s do the incapacitated crew member demo.” Realized that he was leaving the lab for the last time. “Give me a moment out here.” “You got it.”
[S3Jones] Went to front of the lab, hanging on the bottom (“the lab was behind and above me”) lightly gripping handrail with just a couple of fingertips. “I spun slowly around, shifting my hands halfway to view both hemispheres. Glorious Earth was visible below, rolling silently beneath as I completed the circle. I gazed a thousand miles out to the blue horizon, and 220 miles down to the Pacific beneath my boots. Looming above the lab was the vertical P6 truss, holding those golden solar arrays high against black emptiness. I was on the prow of a giant windjammer, falling swiftly, silently around Earth. The inky black of the cosmos arched above all. It was my moment. Emotions swelled in my chest, flushed my cheeks, gave rise to irresistible tears. I knew only a few dozen humans had seen anything like this view, beautiful beyond words. I felt personally grateful that God had given me this gift but humbled at the sheer scale of the scene and my own insignificance. Those moments will never leave me.”
[PFI Ivins] “And then, after that time, mostly I’m done with the arm. The arm and I will be having a big Motrin at that point.”

=100th EVA thing

[SFv3.5] FD8, EVA3, carried placard celebrating the 100th EVA. Curbeam: “This achievement, this golden anniversary so to speak, is a tribute to all the people who have done spacewalks, all the people who designed the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and now Shuttle suits, and we salute all of you and appreciate your hard work and thank you so much.”
By my count, STS-98 EVA-3 was the 98th.
Ta/Treviño (Portree vol 2) says 101 but he’s counting the Shuttle-Mir Orlan ones.
[Harland Creating] Harland also calls EVA3 the 100th EVA
How can we get to 100?
- Include STS-80 (depress, no open)
- Maybe partial depress on STS-31 with McCandless / Sullivan?
- Probably yes to STS-80 and no to STS-31 cause NASA (PK) calls it the 60th Shuttle EVA
- So NASA is counting STS-80 and some mystery EVA pre-shuttle??
- Also, no way STS-80 should count. If it does, then the Apollo surface crews that depressed and threw trash out also count.

=Third ingress (FD8 after EVA)

[SFv3.5] After EVA3, ISS ingress again with more stuff: computer hard drive, tools, tape, printer paper, water, food, spare parts, spare Russian CO2 removal system, clothes, movies, other items
[SFv3.5] Also Tom Jones’ EMU. They could only leave one in case they needed to do a contingency EVA to closer the PLB doors (have a spare EMU)
[PFI Curbeam] Leaving two SAFERs along with Jones’ EMU
[PFI Cockrell] bringing a bunch of trash home since Progress delayed or whatever.

=Reboosts

[MR] First: 03:18:00 MET, L3A/R3A (all), 1 hour
[MR] Second: 03:19:05 MET, 2.5 hours
[MR] Third: 05:16:40 MET, 4 hours
[MR] Fourth: 05:20:53 MET, 1 hour
[MR] Fifth: 06:23:55 MET, 1 hour
[MR] Sixth: 07:16:10 MET, 1h22m
[MR] Seventh: 07:17:43 MET, 3h41m
[MR] Total: 14h33m. Final raise was 15 n.mi (27.7km), final orbit 212.5x199.2 n.mi
[SFv3.5] Total ISS orbit raise, 25.75km
[JV3] first flight use of automated reboost software. left ISS in 213x196 n.mi orbit
[IFA] Second reboost ended early by 122.5 seconds. [check nominal duration]. Problem determined to appear during reboosts that are longer than 4096 seconds. In the flight software, a timer is maintained which is decremented by the period of execution every time the reboost module executes (every 80 ms) until the requested duration is achieved. Due to loss of AP-101 scalar precision, the time remaining decreases by slightly more than 80ms each cycle. “A workaround is being used to enter a compensated maneuver time that will result in the desired maneuver duration” [software people groan]
Note: check when reboosts were wrt to CMG activation. Were these long reboosts possible with CMGs? Or not necessary?

=Departure

[SFv3.5] Total hatch open time: 63 hours, 9 minutes
[MR] Topped off atmosphere to 14.82psi
[PK] Addition of Destiny brings ISS to 112 tons, 171 feet long, 90 feet high, 240 feet wide.
[PFI Curbeam] On ODS for departure, hits the button to leave.
[PFI Ivins] During departure, first chance in six days to get a good view out the windows and to see the station.
[Harland Creating] Polansky flew Atlantis from below to above, completing half-loop before departing
[PFI Cockrell] Track ISS with radar during departure so the next crew will know how it behaves. Will get harder as the station gets bigger and there’s more for it to potentially lock onto.
[ShaylerISS] Jones: Mixed bag of emotions. So relieved to be away from the station so could not mess up on the station. Out of the “exposure to error”. [I think Curbeam said something similar in PFI] “We finally got to slow down and have a leisurely afternoon of being able to get a look at Earth for the first time in a focused way. That was just a wonderful decompression feeling.”
[PFI Curbeam] “But until you undock, as far as the space walkers are concerned anyway the job’s just not done. You never know when they say, ‘Oh, we’re going to need you to, you know, something got screwed up. We’re going to need you to go out for one more time.’ But once you undock, you know that you’ve completed your task, at least to the satisfaction of Houston. And that’s going to be a great feeling. And it’s going to be an absolutely wonderful feeling.”

=Delays / Beefsteak experiment

[MR] Both KSC landing opportunities on FD[?] waved due to excessive crosswinds.
[MR] Both KSC ops on FD[?+1] waved due to excessive crosswinds
[MR] Both KSC ops on FD[?+2] waved. Go to EAFB.
[Smithsonian20] [in my notes I have a screenshot of a long excerpt from an interview here]

=Landing

[JSCSMS] Shuttle accumulated weights, deployed: 1,030,088 lbs (first flight over a million)
[SFv3.5] Entry on FD14
[JSCSMS] CDR and PLT landing HUD showed runway significantly to the right of the actual runway. PLT around 600 feet, CDR around 300. [Clearly visible in PFP]
[PFP] “At about 300 feet above the ground, Roman lowers the landing gear. Don’t like to put it down too early cause of all the drag it causes and you don’t want to put it down too late cause of the drag it would cause on the runway.” - Cockrell
[PFP] Little bounce on landing. “Make a couple of landings here..”
[PFP] Mention that this is a fun PFP to watch
[MR] (Says the same thing)
[MR] Duration: 12d21h20m4s
[PFI Curbeam] “And if we can pull this off I think we can all pat ourselves on the back and say, ‘Gosh, it’s amazing. Look at, you know, look at what we’ve done.’ Well, I’ll be able to sit there in my rocking chair with my lemonade when I’m older and go, ‘Yeah, I had a part in that.’ So I’m really looking forward to doing this flight.”

=Farewell Mir

STS-98 landing: February 20th, 2001 March 23rd, 2001

=Tease STS-102

Next time.. over the last three flights we’ve been hard at work attaching new major components to the ISS. For STS-102 we’ll take a break from assembly, give some friends a ride, and I think we’re going to meet a ninja turtle.

Ad Astra, catch you on the next pass.