Spacewalkers Camping Out in Airlock; Station Steering Clear of Debris

A minor reboost of the International Space Station will be performed at 8:27 p.m. EDT to ensure plenty of clearance in relation to an unknown piece of space debris. That maneuver using Endeavour’s small vernier thrusters will last about 15 minutes and change the overall velocity of the shuttle/station complex by about 0.8 meter per second.

Spacewalkers Dave Wolf and Tim Kopra will begin their “campout” at 9:28 p.m., spending the night in the Quest airlock to reduce the preparation time needed for the mission’s first spacewalk on Saturday.

The station crew is scheduled to go to bed at about 10:30 p.m. and the shuttle crew 30 minutes later at 11. Wake up for both crews Saturday is scheduled for 7:03 a.m.

Image above: STS-127 Mission Specialist Tom Marshburn looks through an overhead window on the aft flight deck of space shuttle Endeavour. Photo credit: NASA

Shuttle, Station Crews Begin 11 Days of Joint Operations

The space shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station at 1:47 p.m. EDT, delivering the final pieces of the Japanese Kibo complex and a new flight engineer to join the Expedition 20 crew.

Endeavour Commander Mark Polansky guided the shuttle to a docking as the two aircraft flew 220 miles about the northern coast of Australia. Before closing the final 600 feet to the station, Polansky commanded Endeavour through a “backflip” allowing the station’s Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt to take photos that imagery experts will review to assess the health of Endeavour’s heat shield.

The shuttle and station crews opened hatches and greeted one another at 3:48 p.m., beginning more than a week of joint operations between the two crews.

One of the first major tasks of the crews was to swap station crew member Koichi Wakata for NASA astronaut Tim Kopra. The official swap occurred when a specially fitted seat liner was installed in the Soyuz crew vehicle. That swap at 5:22 p.m. signified the official designation change making Kopra an Expedition 20 flight engineer and Wakata a shuttle mission specialist.