Back to the News Index

Defintions/Terms

Copyright © 2001 International Space Station Guide

ISS News & Mission: STS-108 (UF-1 MPLM) & ISS-4 Crew Development Events of the MPLM

Mission Overview

The Crew: Commander: Dominic Gorie Pilot: Mark E. Kelly Mission Specialist: Linda M. Godwin Mission Specialist: Daniel M. Tani Delivering ISS-4 Crew - ISS-4 Commander: Yury Onufrienko ISS-4 Flight Engineer: Carl Walz ISS-4 Flight Engineer: Dan Bursch Returning ISS-3 Crew - ISS-3 Commander: Frank Culbertson ISS-3 Flight Engineer: Mikhail Tyurin ISS-3 Flight Engineer: Vladimir Dezhurov

Endeavour approaches the ISS. The MPLM, logictics carrier, and docking port are visible

The ISS as it was configured for STS-108. From left to right, Progress, Service Module, DC1, FGB, Node 1, P6, MPLM, Airlock, US Lab, and SSRMS.

Major Mission Goals: Deliver ISS-4 crew Return ISS-3 crew MPLM delivers supplies EVA to attempt repair of solar array motors Orbital reboost

STS-108 Brief Mission Plan The STS-108/UF-1 mission was to deliver the ISS-4 crew and return the ISS-3 and perform resupply of the station using the MPLM module. The missions name "UF-1" comes from the Utilization Flight idea which was inserted into the schedule in 1994 to provide early opportunity to do more science on the station rather than have only assembly missions. In actual practice, UF-1 bears little difference from 7A.1 that proceeded it and 7A.1 itself was a mix of utilization flight and assembly mission. An EVA will be carried out in an attempt to correct a minor problem with a rotating joint of the P6 solar arrays. Resupply of the station will also be done. Launch of Endeavour was delayed due to weather, and the failure to hard dock Progress M1-7 (Progress 6 in history blind NASA designtaions). An unplanned EVA was required from the DC1 airlock to clear a long thin gasket from the dockign collar of the Service Module which was preventing a air tight seal between the Progress and the Service Module. This was reminicent to the EVA carried out on Mir early in its assembly with the Kvant module also failed to make an air tight seal due to a plastic garbage bag which had become snagged to the docking port due to im proper closing of a Progress hatch after loading it with trash before it undocked prior to the Kvant docking. Day 1 - Launch Day 2 - Rendezvous preparations Day 3 - Docking & hatch opening, crews meet, cargo transfer begins Day 4 - ISS-3 & 4 exchange, MPLM docking Day 5 - EVA preparation and space suit checkout, Cargo transfers Day 6 - EVA from shuttle airlock, Cargo transfers Day 7 - Cargo transfers and continued ISS-2 & 3 crew exchange Day 8 - Cargo transfers Day 9 - MPLM undocking Day 10 - Shuttle undocking Day 11 - Landing Preparations Day 12 - Landing The MPLM For a detailed development events list for the MPLM, see MPLM Development. For a general description of the MPLM see MPLM component. The MPLM, a reusable logistics carrier, will be the primary delivery system used to resupply and return station cargo requiring a pressurized environment. It is one of Italy's major contributions to the International Space Station Program. The cylindrical module is approximately 21 feet long and 15 feet in diameter, weighting almost 4.5 tons excluding its capability to hold up to 20,000 pounds of contents. Launched in the Space Shuttle's payload bay, it will be docked to the International Space Station once on orbit. It will transport supplies, science experiments, spare parts and other logistical components to the International Space Station. The MPLM was an element planned in the Space Station Freedom design and carried through the Alpha and ISS designs. The MPLM is required deliver the standard sized racks of equipment to the US, European and Japanese modules of the space station. The shuttle's hatchways are too small for the standard rack design, and after the addition of Russia to the ISS and use of the APAS-89 docking system also is too small to allow racks to pass between the shuttle and ISS. This also means that standard racks can't be moved to the Russian segment of the ISS because they would have to pass into the FGB which also uses the APAS-89 docking system. So MPLM's are attached to the ISS modules directly to transfer racks in and out of the ISS. Since the mission of the MPLM's is short, they are equipped with minimal life support systems with no back up systems since its considered a low probability that the systems will fail within several days in such a way to make the MPLM completely uninhabitable, perhaps uncomfortable at most. Three MPLM's have been constructed to service the ISS. The MPLM design was also reused in the ESA's Columbus Orbital Facility lab module to be added to the ISS in the future. The MPLM design also was adopted for US Nodes-2 and 3 which are being contributed by the ESA to the US station as payment for the launch of the COF lab module on the shuttle. The MPLM design is generally considered to be superior to the US Boeing designed modules like Node-1 and the US Lab. The Italian Multipurpose Logistics Module Raffaello is making its second visit to the space station. It first flew aboard Endeavour on STS-100 in April 2001. It is one of three virtually identical modules that serve as pressurized moving vans, bringing equipment and supplies to the space station. A sister module Leonardo has visited the station, on STS-102 in March 2001 and on STS-105 in August 2001. The MPLM should not be confused with the future Japanese provided Experiment Logistics Module which will be docked to the Japanese Kibo lab module. The MPLM for STS-108 contains Resupply Storage Rack's, and Resupply Storage Platform's. The Resuppy Stowage Racks and Resupply Stowage Platforms are filled with Cargo Transfer Bags that contain equipment and supplies for the station. The six Resupply Stowage Racks contain almost 3,200 pounds of cargo and the four Resupply Stowage Platforms contain about 1,200 pounds of cargo, not including the weight of the Cargo Transfer Bags, the foam packing around the cargo or the straps and fences that hold the bags in place. After the cargo is removed, the Resupply Stowage Racks and Resupply Stowage Platforms, which remain aboard the MPLM will be filled with any unneeded station equipment and trash. Empty Cargo Transfer Bags and packing foam also will be loaded. EVA EVA suits will be moved from the Quest Airlock module to the shuttle where Godwin and Tani will conduct the EVA in order to conserve station Airlock resources. The purpose of the spacewalk is to install thermal blankets over the Beta Gimbal Assemblies (BGAs) of the P6 solar arrays. The blankets are hoped to fix a for now minor problem noticed when one gimbal periodically requires higher then normal power surges to rotate. Covering the gimbals with the insulation will help them maintain a more constant temperature and hopefully prevent power surges in the future. The only alternative is to replace the gimbal which is a complex procedure. While replacing the gimbal was considered to be done on STS-108 earlier in the flight planning and it could give engineers on the ground the actual mechanism to analyze for the root cause of the problem. But, a work around was devised where adding insulation to the gimbals might avoid the problem by controlling the temperature. They will also retrieve a now stowed cover for the S-Band antenna and return it to Earth for possible reuse on another truss segment launch in the future. Tools needed for the S0 truss installation on mission 8A next year will be retrieved from tool bags outside the station and stowed inside the station until 8A arrives. Two Circuit interrupt devices will also be left outside the Z1 truss for use in the 8A assembly tasks. Station Program Status Budget problems continue to plague the US portion of the ISS project. Massive overruns caused by unexpectedly large operating costs and costs related to the delays in initial assembly had not been accurately projected or planned for. A crew of 3 will be all that the station can support for many years due to CRV program shelving due to the budget overruns. A 3 person crew provides 20 Hours a week total science work, and addition of European and Japanese research modules may be effected by the inability of those countries to have its own researchers on their modules.

The STS-108 crew, Expedition 3 crew, and Expedition 4 crew meet in the US Lab module just after docking.

A ceremony in mission control and on the space station was held on 3 months after the September 11 terrorist attacks

Joint press conference with STS-108, Expedition and 4 crews

ISS Increment 4 Mission The ISS-4 crews mission will be focused on preparing for further assembly operations (the addition of the S0 truss), change-out of the Soyuz escape capsule, and continuing scientific studies. - Mid-January - EVA's from Pirs by Onufrienko and Walz, and Onufrienko and Bursch. The EVA's include: Completion of Srtela crane on Pirs. Installation of thruster deflectors on the Zvezda service module. Installation of contamination-control system experiments pallets on the docking compartment and Zvezda. Installation of four antennas, for Ham Radio and Glisser TV, on Zvezda. Retrieval of the old Kromka materials experiment and installation of new samples. Placing extensions to several cables between the Service Module Kurs system (which will be disconnected) and connected to the Pirs Kurs system. Photograph the Zvezda solar array undeployed segment. - 6 weeks before STS-110/8A - new software for control of station with the S0 truss will be uploaded and installed on the stations computers and tested. Two Solid State storage systems (replacement for hard disk drives) are on the station already, but have not been installed since there have been no hard disk failures since the 6A missions failures. Replacement of the hard disks with solid state disks is planned by the Expedition 4 crew prior to the 8A mission which will require a new set of station control software to be installed. - 6P Progress undocking & reentry - 7P Progress launch & docking - April - 2 EVA's are tentatively scheduled by the crew using the US Airlock to complete S0 installation. - 4S Soyuz-TM replacement taxi mission - STS-111 UF-2 crew rotation & logistics flight

Ground example of new insulating cover installation for the solar array gimbals

Frank Culbertson in the US Lab during the STS-108 mission with bags of transfer logistics in the background

The solar array Beta gimbals are the cylinders at the base of arrays

Cargo and packing materials and bags are seen packed into the MPLM

STS-108 Shuttle Cargo Bay Payloads: The shuttle also brings to the ISS in its cargo bay the Light weigh Mission Peculiar Support Structure Carrier with four Get Away Special (GAS) experiments. Another cargo-bay payload is he Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1), is situated between Endeavour’s airlock and Raffaello. Among its payloads is he Starshine satellite. Starshine is an 85-pound, 19-inch-diameter ball with a surface covered with 845 aluminum mirrors and 31 laser retro reflectors. More than 25,000 students from 26 countries polished the mirrors. Starshine (the name is an acronym for Student Tracked Atmospheric Research Satellite for Heuristic International Networking Experiment) will be deployed by a spring mechanism from Endeavour’s cargo bay the day before landing. It is among several small, optically reflective spherical Starshine student satellites, built by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, that are being deployed by NASA. The first was placed in orbit from Discovery on STS-96 in June 1999. A second was launched Sept. 29, 2001, from the Kodiak launch complex in Alaska. Students and other observers around the world precisely observe its position, calculate its orbi al decay and use the information to study the density of the atmosphere. Also aboard he Hitchhiker is the Capillary Pumped Loop Experiment-3, the Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector, two Space Experiment Modules containing multiple small experiments and a GAS can containing seven experiments. Just forward of the Hitchhiker, on the right payload bay wall, will be two GAS containers, one housing seven experiments from Utah State University and the other with an experiment looking at smoldering combustion in microgravity. Behind Raffaello, at the rear of the cargo bay, is the Lightweigh Multipurpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier (LMC), with four more GAS cans. One has three Penn State University experiments and another contains 10 studen experiments. A third houses a Swedish Space Corp. experiment focusing on weak Marangoni flows and he fourth, from Ames Research Center, is a test of a prototype instrument cooler for planetary missions. In Endeavour’s middeck area is the Avian Development Facility and the Commercial Biomedical Testing Module – Animal Enclosure Module. The Avian Development Facility is flown to validate subsystems and will contain two experiments on development in space of Japanese quail eggs. The Animal Enclosure Module is a commercial experiment using mice and seeking information that could lead to better understanding of osteoporosis in humans.

The STS-108 crew inspects the cargo bay prior to launch in the Orbiter Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center

A complete guide to the Soviet manned space program from 1960 to 1990 Details & Order information

Sample of Chapter 5

Images from NASA

email:issguide@attbi.com

All material unless otherwise indicated is Copyright © 2001 International Space Station Guide all rights reserved. Please write for permission to use material. Additional material Copyright © as shown or supplied by NASA.