STS-130

[Moonwalker]

Flight day 5 wakeup call as usual introduced by CAPCOM Shannon Lucid, this time for mission specialist Kay Hire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ca97va08k

You'll notice video laggs. Does anybody else use the high bitrate stream and experiencing laggs sometimes?

Anyway, flight day 5 will include the first EVA of STS-130 and the installation of the Tranquility module. The EVA, i.e. the airlock egress, is scheduled to begin at 09:14 p.m. EST / 03:14 a.m. CET (Feb. 12) or at 3 days and 17 hours into the mission.

[bradleyjs]

Anybody happen to catch this "event" - Earth's Gravity Kept Astronauts Waiting at Space Station's Door

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/space-docking-earth-gravity-100210.html

Interesting how gravity works - even from space.

[Moonwalker]

Interesting how gravity works - even from space.

Indeed. A lot of people think that in zero-g there is no graviation anymore, which is just fundamentally wrong. What is missing just is the counterforce which results in what we call weight. But graviation does not stop above the mesosphere. The graviation always is "active" and keeps the station in earth orbit (and everything as well, and not to mention the massive moon). You constantly "fall" within orbit or space. There is always graviation, if not from the earth you'll get it from the sun or another body. In earth orbit you don't fall vertically (like you also do when you fly to the moon for example), but instead horizontally around the earth. That's the entire myth of weightlessness. It does not happen in space or at a certain place (and remember that mass is location-independent: 1kg on earth remains 1kg in earth orbit or on the surface of the moon as well). It just happens whenever you or somethings falls. Just jump and you'll experience weightlessness everywhere at any time, although it's just a very short moment

Graviation also causes orbits not to be circular, and not even to be properly/100% elliptic. Like airholes, in orbit/space you also have irregularities (speed and altitude variations) due to different earth graviational forces and also correlation with the moon and other bodies. But it's just tiny irregularities that are not really noticeable, well, until you need something to do where graviational effects become noticable: docking.

[spaceboy7441]

Node 3 had been lifted out of Endeavour's payload bay. Now being transfered to Node 1.
Wish we had SRMS control in SSM... (wink wink)  (Please Please)

[Moonwalker]

And we've got another epic wakeup call for flight day 6, introduced by CAPCOM Shannon Lucid for Space Shuttle mission specialist Bob Behnken, as the stack was just orbiting into an orbital sunrise with the newly attached Tranquility module visible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix3CjnHzN74

Today the crew will open the hatch of the newly installed Tranquility module for the first time at 09:09 p.m. EST / 03:09 a.m. CET (Feb 13) or at 4 days, 16 hours and 55 minutes into the mission.

Standing by for the flight day 5 highlights I'm going to upload on Youtube...

[Moonwalker]

I've noticed that they fly Challenger crew pictures on the hatch of the Quest airlock. Well, I knew they fly of course both, STS-51L and STS-107 crew pictures. But I didn't know that those pictures are attached on the hatch of the Quest airlock. This is a shot from NASA TV, which shows a picture of Ronald McNair (STS-51L) on the lower left part of the screen:

[Admin]

Yes, astronauts who have been up in the ISS always mention this fact in their public appearences.

/Admin

[Moonwalker]

The hatch opening of Tranquility last night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxgxWLPZ1Yg

[Moonwalker]

Flight day 5 highlights (tranquility installation):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdiVwAsuNTs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaYy2H-uckE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB7_Onj3KKY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7WChFJ2u2w

[Moonwalker]

I sadly missed it because I really had to get some sleep: the cupolas window shutters have been opened for the first time.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Can't wait to get the first image and HD video downlinks.

PS: time to implement the cupola into SSM2007

[Moonwalker]

Et voilà:

[neosonic2k]

Truly amazing. Kudos to ESA, NASA and the STS-130 crewmembers for Tranquility and Cupola, the station window overflowing with epic win.

Can't wait to try it on SSM.

It's Tranquility rack transfer day in a few more hours. Expected landing, hopefully in the first try, on sunday evening at KSC. ^_^ >.> ...this just in, Obama's gonna call up to Endeavour at 5:15pm ET today. Let's see.

[Moonwalker]

Actually my intention now was to post the first high res images from inside the cupola, until I came across the first HD video shot from the NASA youtube account. It begins within the Shuttle's flight deck where you can see Kay Hire operating the RMS, and then of course the epic view through the cupolas windows. Truly amazing!

Watch in full HD and full-screen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCNpFNi8IMU

--- snip ---

And the nice interview with Obama:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOI0pYlYihc

[bradleyjs]

STS-130 Landing Diagram - anybody know if it's doing a Southern or a Western approach to the Cape tomorrow night?

[christra]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts130/news/landing.html