STS-127

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  35633 / 09038A Launch date - time  15 Jul 2009 - 22:03 UT Launch site  KSC, LC39A Launch vehicle  Space Shuttle Orbiter  Endeavour #23 Primary payload  JEM-EF Mass (kg)  97390 kg Docking date - time  17 Jul 2009 - 17:47:11 UT Target spacecraft/port  ISS/ (Harmony PMA-2 port??) Earth orbit on :    - Perigee / Apogee  ~350 km    - Inclination  51.6°    - Period   min Undocking date - time  28 Jul 2009 - 17:26 UT Landing date - time  31 Jul 2009 - 14:48 UT Landing location  KSC, runway 15 Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  15d 16h 45m Nbr orbits  248 Landing crew  Kopra replaced by Wakata (crew STS-119)

Launch Crew

Backup Crew Nr. Name Job 7  Creamer, Timothy John  Flight Engineer

Mission details:

• Mission: ISS-2J/A JEM EF, JEM ELM-ES.
  
  

  STS-127 on pad

  STS-127 launch

  
  
• Originally the launch was planned for Jun 13, 2009. NASA cancelled the launch attempt of the Endeavour because of a leak in the gaseous hydrogen vent system. The same problem forced to scrub a second launch attempt on Jun 17, 2009. Running a month late because of hydrogen leaks and stormy weather, the shuttle Endeavour finally blasted off on its sixth try.
• Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched from Kennedy Space Center on Jul 15, 2009 carrying the Kibo Exposed Facility and the Kibo ELM Exposed Section. The flight is Shuttle mission STS-127, Station mission 2J/A. Launch was at 22:03 UTC; at 22:11 UTC, Endeavour and external tank ET-131 reached a 58 x 230 km x 51.6 deg orbit. At 22:41 UTC Endeavour fired its engines to raise its orbit to 155 x 232 km x 51.6 deg.
• The Kibo Exposed Facility and Experiment Logistics Module (Exposed Section) will be addeed to the Station. On the ELM-ES the Japanese MAXI (Monitor of All Sky X-ray Image) experiment will be installed, which should replace the aging Rossi XTE All Sky Monitor as an early warning system for flaring X-ray sources.
  

    STS-127 cargo manifest:
    ----------------------
  
    Name                             Bay location   Mass (kg,guess)
  
    Orbiter Docking System           1-2            1800
     with EMU 3003, 3018 suits                       260?
    APC/SPDU                         3 port           17?
    APC/SSPL                         3 stbd           51
     Dragonsat                                         6
    Kibo JEM Exposed Facility        4-7            3820
    APC/ECSH                         5 port           33?
    APC/PPSU                         5 stbd           20
    APC/PPSU                         6 stbd           20
    Kibo ELM Exposed Section         8-9            2453
    ICC-VLD                          11             3946
    APC/ECSH                         13 port          33?
    SPA/CAPE/ANDE-2                  13 stbd         265
     ICU container                                    54
     ANDE Active satellite                            50
     ANDE Passive satellite                           25
    RMS                              Sill            410
    OBSS                             Sill            382?
   ------------------------------------------------------
                                     Cargo total  13645 kg?
  

  
  
• Endeavor docked to the Station at 17:47 UTC on Jul 17, 2009. The hatches were open by 19:48 UTC, and at 21:22 UTC Tim Kopra replaced Koichi Wakata on the Expedition 20A crew.
• During the flight there were a record 13 people on board the Station; this also equals the record total number of people in space at one time:
  (Mar 1995: Soyuz TM-21, Mir, STS-67; Feb 1997: Soyuz TM-25, Mir, STS-82; Mar 2009: Soyuz TMA-14, ISS, STS-119).
  
  

  Arrives at the ISS

  EVA Kopra

  
  
• On Jul 18, 2009 at 00:35, the ISS orbit was boosted slightly to avoid a close pass with a debris object. Object 34180 is what's known as an 'analyst object', an object whose orbit and origin aren't well known enough to be put in the main catalog, and its orbital data are not public.
• EVA-1: On Jul 18, 2009 at 16:13 UTC the Quest airlock was depressurized to 0.7 psi with Dave Wolf in EMU spacesuit 3003 and Tim Kopra in EMU 3005 (5h 32m). The hatch was opened at 16:18 UTC, and Kopra and Wolf emerged to install the JEM Exposed Facility (EF) on the Kibo module. Wolf jettisoned a thermal cover from Kibo at 17:42 UTC. The Station SSRMS arm grappled the EF at 15:05 UTC and unberthed it at 17:59 UTC. Then, SSRMS handed it to Endeavour's RMS; the RMS grappled the EF at 18:30 UTC, and the SSRMS released it at 18:46 UTC. The UCCAS structure (for mounting science experiments) was deployed from the P3 truss at around 20:00 UTC, after having become stuck on a previous mission. The astronauts returned to the airlock with hatch closed at 21:48 UTC and repressurization at 21:51 UTC. The EF was connected to the Kibo module starting at 22:15 UTC, with the structure latched at 22:47 UTC.
• On Jul 19, the ICC (Integrated Cargo Carrier) was moved from the Shuttle bay to a storage area on the ISS transporter's MBS (Mobile Base System).
  The Shuttle RMS unberthed ICC, and handed it to the Station SSRMS which installed it.
• EVA-2 on Jul 20 saw the transfer of spares from the ICC-VLD truss to the ESP-3 storage area. Depress was around 15:08 UTC with hatch open at 15:24 UTC and battery power at 15:27; hatch closed at 2215 and repressurization at 2220 UTC. These parts include: an SGANT antenna, a pump module and a rail mechanism that allows a transporter to move up and down the truss. They also relocated a grapple bar as a get-ahead for the STS-129 mission, targeted for November 2009. Lastly, they installed a camera that will provide video of experiments on the forward end of the exposed facility. The spacewalkers were Tom Marshburn and Dave Wolf, in EMUs 3005 and 3003 (6h 53m).
• On Jul 21, it was the turn of the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section (JEM ELM-ES), known more simply as the Japanese Logistics Element, JLE or "Jelly" for short. JLE was unberthed from the Shuttle bay and handed off from the Shuttle RMS to the Station SSRMS which installed it on the end of the Kibo EF. Them the SSRMS picked up the ICC from the Mobile Base System and moved it to near the P6 truss in preparation for EVA-3.
  
  

  EVA Wolf

  EVA Cassidy

  
  
• The third EVA (5h59m), on Jul 22, 2009 featured Chris Cassidy in EMU 3018 and Dave Wolf again in EMU 3003. They depressurized Quest at 14:28 UTC and opened the hatch at 14:31 UTC. Cassidy's first stop was the Kibo EF, where he removed four thermal covers to prepare the EF for experiment installation. Three of the covers were jettisoned into space, between 15:07 and 15:20 UTC, and are cataloged as 1998-67BS, BT, BU. The fourth cover was returned to the airlock. The rest of the EVA was carried out at P6, with old batteries in the P6 IEA (Integrated Electronics Assembly) being replaced by new ones from the ICC truss.
  This EVA was shortened by NASA managers when astronaut Chris Cassidy's LiOH unit, used to scrub CO2 from his air supply, malfunctioned after the astronauts energetic activity, and the spacewalk was cut short at 20:05 UTC with airlock repressurization at 20:31 UTC. The calling off the spacewalk was simply a precaution.
• The next day saw robot arm work by the Japanese Kibo RMS. The Kibo arm moved three experiments from the JLE to the EF: MAXI, IOCS and SEDA-AP MAXI is an X-ray astronomy all-sky monitor experiment.
• On Jul 24, Cassidy and Marshburn, in EMUs 3018 and 3005, went outside again for EVA-4 (7h 12m), to complete the battery replacements on P6. The airlock was depressurized from 13:45 UTC to 21:07 UTC.
  Also, they installed a second camera that will provide video of experiments on the aft end of the exposed facility.
  
  

  EVA Marshburn

  ISS after STS-127

  
  
• The JLE was moved back to the Shuttle payload bay on Jul 26.
• On Jul 27 Cassidy and Marshburn carried out the fifth and final spacewalk (4h 54m), with hatch open at 11:32 UTC and repress at 16:27 UTC; they worked on electrical cables on the Z1 truss, thermal covers on the Dextre robotic arm, reconfigure cables on a panel for some circuit breakers and deploy two additional payload attachment systems. Finally, they replaced an TV camera installation on the Kibo EF.
  
  

  Landing STS-127

  
  
• Endeavour undocked at 17:26 UTC on Jul 28, leaving the six-strong Expedition 20B crew on ISS.
• On Jul 30 at 1234:30 UTC, the Dragonsat experiment was ejected from a small launcher in the Shuttle payload bay into a 325 x 332 km orbit.
  Dragonsat consists of two small 1.5 kg student-built cubesats, BEVO-1 from UT Austin and Aggiesat 2 by Texas A&M University. The two satellites are launched attached to each other; they were to be separated by springs but this failed to occur. The satellites carry GPS receivers for a test of components for a future rendezvous system.
• On Jul 30 at 1723:02 UTC the ANDE-2 canister was jettisoned from Endeavour. At 1723:39 the upper canister separated from the lower and the ANDE Passive satellite separated. At 1723:56 the ANDE center avionics section separated from the lower canister and the ANDE Active satellite separated.
  ANDE Active and Passive are also called Castor and Pollux.
  This unimaginative name for twin satellites has been used previously for the French D-5A/D-5B satellites in May 1975, which also studied the upper atmosphere.
• On Jul 31 Endeavour fired the OMS engines at 1341 UTC to lose 92 m/s, lowering the orbit to about 17 x 335 km and beginning the journey home. It landed on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 1448 UTC.
• The four thermal covers jettisoned during the mission reentered between Jul 26 and Aug 2. In addition, the Crew Lock toolbag lost during a spacewalk in Nov 2008 reentered on Aug 3.

External links:

• JAXA: Mission Information

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel KSC. Credit: J. Vd Dr.

Landing cancel KSC. Credit: J. Vd Dr.