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INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
STATUS REPORT #99-21 All systems on the complex are in excellent shape with the station orbiting in its routine, unstaffed position with Unity pointed at the Earth and Zarya pointed toward space. Available power levels currently are about 865 watts to provide thermal conditioning to the Early Communications System on Unity that was restored to full service by the astronauts during STS-96. The mission evaluation team confirmed the failure of the Early Communications System return link was due to a switch inside the power distribution box. The actual cause of the failure remains under investigation. The other major in-flight maintenance work that was performed by the crew during Discovery's mission was to change 18 small voltage regulators for Zarya's six batteries. Telemetry from the ISS shows all are working properly. Russian flight controllers now need only charge and recharge the batteries once every six months. The next shuttle flight to
visit the ISS is scheduled for December following the launch, docking
and checkout of the Zvezda Service Module living quarters in November.
Updates on the status of shuttle launch preparations are available
on the Internet at: The International Space Station is in an orbit with a high point of 252 statute miles and a low point of 240 statute miles, circling the Earth once approximately every 92 minutes. The Station has completed more than 3,150 orbits of Earth since its launch. As it passes overhead at dawn or dusk, the station is easily visible from the ground. Space station viewing opportunities for locations worldwide are available on the Internet at: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ The next International Space Station status will be issued June 17. Note: For further information,
please contact the NASA Public Affairs Office at the Johnson Space
Center, Houston, Texas, 281-483-5111.
NASA Johnson Space Center Shuttle Mission/Space Station Status Reports and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to majordomo@listserver.jsc.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type "subscribe hsfnews" (no quotes). This will add the email address that sent the subscribe message to the news release distribution list. The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. Once you have subscribed you will receive future news releases via e-mail. To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe hsfnews" in the body of a message (without the quotes) to majordomo@listserver.jsc.nasa.gov. |
