STS-106

STS -106 (English Space Transportation System) is the designation for a flight mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis ( OV -104 ) from NASA. The launch took place on 8 September 2000. It was the 99th Space Shuttle mission, the 22nd flight of the space shuttle Atlantis and the fourth flight of a shuttle to the International Space Station (ISS).

Team

  • Terence Wilcutt (4th space flight), Commander
  • Scott Altman ( second space flight), Pilot
  • Daniel Burbank ( 1 space flight), Mission Specialist
  • Edward Lu ( second space flight), Mission Specialist
  • Yuri Malenchenko ( second space flight), Mission Specialist ( Roscosmos / Russia)
  • Richard Mastracchio ( first space flight), Mission Specialist
  • Boris Morukow ( first space flight), Mission Specialist ( Roscosmos / Russia)

Mission Description

The Atlantis docked with the International Space Station on the second flight day. Main tasks were the transport of supplies, preparing the station for the arrival of the first permanent crew and installation work outside the station. On September 11, Lu and Malenchenko got out for 6 hours and 14 minutes to assemble one about 2 feet long boom with a magnetometer and to install multiple cables between the Zarya module and the new module Zvezda. The magnetometer is part of a navigation system with which the position of the station in the space based on the direction and strength of the earth's magnetic field can be determined. Of the total 9 cables used 4 of the power supply, 2 belong to a station -wide video system, 2 are data lines to control the solar cells of Zarya on the orientation systems of Zvezda. A fiber optic cable improves in the future to communicate with exit maneuvers.

After the 12 hatches open, the quality of the air in the new Zvezda module was first checked. Among the total of approximately 3 tons of material that have been unloaded from a double - Spacehab module in the cargo bay of Atlantis and from the docked transport spaceship Progress M1 -3, were provided food, clothing, 6 filled water containers, medical equipment, an amateur radio for the ARISS project, computers with their accessories and personal items of the first resident crew. In addition, two space suits of the type " Orlan " in the phase- lock were installed, three additional batteries with charging control devices, voltage and current stabilizers in Zvezda mounted, replaced two older batteries in Sarja and installed converter for energy exchange between American and Russian systems. Dismantled and brought back to Earth was the approach and docking system Toru in the rear part of Zarya. To the crew of the installation work included the installation of a bathroom, an oxygen generator of the type electron in which oxygen is produced by electrolysis of water, a carbon dioxide filter, and a treadmill. This is mounted on a particular platform, which is substantially isolated from the outer wall of the station. Thus, the resulting training of astronauts movements are not transmitted to the entire station and thus can interfere with sensitive experiments. Furthermore, charging stations have been installed for docked ships in Zvezda, made ​​fire extinguishers and protective masks for emergency operational and executed work on the ventilation system. The noise level was after these operations, according to the Department not later than the Shuttle. After about 8 days, the Atlantis docked on the station and walked around it several times. In this common with manual and video cameras images the ISS made ​​to document the progress in the development and expansion. While the shared flight, the train station in 4 Drive periods was increased by about 22.5 kilometers.

In shuttle flew with several experiments that took place largely automatic. These included studies of the effect of weightlessness on the development of the nervous system of fruit flies, as well as to genetic changes of kidney cells and the formation of kidney tissue (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus), experiments by students of various American schools in special containers ( Getaway Special 782 and Space Experiment Module 8), the testing of a consisting of small, autonomous units measuring and recording system that wirelessly transmits its data to a central station ( HTD 1403 Micro Wireless Instrumentation System ), and the demonstration of the viability of a new, low-cost system for obtaining large and pure protein crystals (Protein Crystal Growth Enhanced Gaseaus Nitrogen Devar ). In this case, material samples are snap frozen on the ground and housed in a vessel containing liquid nitrogen. In space, boiling and then the nitrogen evaporates slowly and are thus the crystallization of the samples free. This happens very slowly, which allows extremely large protein crystals are formed. Proteins play a major role in all life processes in the human body. Large crystals can be studied well by X-rays and determine their structure.

More routine experiments concerned the navigation using the Global Positioning System, the reactivation of dormant viruses in zero gravity, the function of the immune system and the investigation of disturbances of equilibrium and re- adaptation to gravity after spaceflight. The Atlantis landed at night on the grounds of NASA in Florida.

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