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The STS-101 astronauts aboard Atlantis were awakened at 3:41 p.m. CDT to begin their sixth day in space and third day of docked operations with the International Space Station. Today's wake up song from Mission Control was a long distance dedication from Kathy Halsell to her husband, Mission Commander Jim Halsell, the Flamingoes tune "I Only Have Eyes for You." Halsell along with Pilot Scott Horowitz and Mission Specialists Mary Ellen Weber, Jeff Williams, Susan Helms, Jim Voss and Yury Usachev will spend their second day inside the station as they continue the maintenance work and supply transfer activities that began yesterday. During their first day, Atlantis' crew moved 870 pounds of supplies and equipment inside the station. That material along with the 326 pounds of equipment attached to the exterior of the station by Williams and Voss during their space walk means almost 1,200 pounds of gear already have been transferred to the station. A total of 3,381 pounds of equipment and provisions will be transferred to the station before Atlantis undocks. Maintenance work on Flight Day Six will include the third of four planned replacements of station batteries. Helms and Usachev will repeat the procedures they followed yesterday when the first two batteries were replaced. One of the batteries replaced yesterday already has been recharged and been pronounced in excellent condition. The second replacement battery will go through its charging and checkout shortly. All of the battery replacement work is carefully designed so that at least four batteries are always online and available to support station operations. Other maintenance work on schedule today includes the installation of new smoke detectors, and replacement of fire extinguishers that are nearing the end of their design life. The first of three planned station reboost maneuvers is scheduled to take place tonight at 7:01 p.m. CDT. The maneuver will see Atlantis' steering jets fire 27 times over a 58 minute period to boost the average altitude of the station by about nine statute miles. A similar process will be repeated tomorrow and again on Thursday to increase the station's average altitude by a total of about 27 statute miles before Atlantis departs. The higher altitude will aim the International Space Station toward the optimum orbit for a link up with the Russian Zvezda living quarters module planned for launch in July. Late this evening, Halsell, Williams and Voss will take a few minutes to conduct a trio of interviews with reporters from the Cable News Network, Armed Forces Television and Space.Com. The interviews are scheduled to begin at 11:41 p.m. CDT. The Atlantis and station complex continues to operate in fine fashion orbiting the Earth once every 91 minutes. The next status report will be issued at 6 a.m. on Wednesday. ### NASA Johnson Space Center Mission 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 e-mail 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. |
