April 10, 2001. Copyright 2001. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

Endeavour to lend a hand Ð and an ÒarmÓ Ð to space station Alpha 

LONDON, April 10, Graphic News: With a crew that hails from across the globe, the space shuttle Endeavour will extend the reach of humans in space as it delivers a new generation Canadian robotic arm to the International Space Station.

Mission STS-100 -- scheduled to blast off on April 19 -- will carry Canadarm2, a robotic arm for the station that is longer, stronger, more flexible and more capable than the shuttleÕs own robotic arm. Endeavour will also carry the second Italian Space Agency-supplied station logistics module, a $150 million cargo van named Raffaello that will carry more research equipment and supplies than any previous mission. Experiments carried aboard Endeavour range from plant growth research to studies of space radiation.

EndeavourÕs crew -- composed of seven space fliers from NASA, Canada, Russia and the European Space Agency (ESA) -- is the most diverse international crew ever flown aboard the shuttle. 

The U.S. crew members are: Shuttle commander Kent Rominger, 44, a Navy captain and veteran of four past shuttle flights; pilot Jeff Ashby, 46, also a Navy captain and veteran of one shuttle flight; and NASA mission specialists Scott Parazynski, 39, and John Phillips, 50. 

The others, also mission specialists, are Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield, 41, a colonel in the Canadian Air Force; ESA astronaut Umberto Guidoni, 46; and Russian Aviation and Space Agency cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov, 36, a colonel in the Russian Air Force. During EndeavourÕs mission, Guidoni will become the first ESA astronaut to enter station Alpha.

The star of the mission is Canadarm2, known in astronaut jargon as the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS). Canadarm2 is a 17-metre (55.7 ft) long arm with seven motorized joints which can lift a payload of up to 100 tonnes.

During a space walk, astronaut Chris Hadfield will remove the Òtie-downsÓ that hold the arm in place in the shuttle payload bay. The SSRMS will deploy itself and actually ÒwalkÓ out of the launch pallet and install itself on the exterior of the stationÕs Destiny laboratory.

Canadarm2 has unprecedented capabilities. In addition to being able to move more than three times as much mass as the shuttleÕs robotic arm, it is also able to ÒwalkÓ by moving end-over-end about the stationÕs exterior in inchworm fashion. It can use either end to manipulate cargos, provide electrical power and make computer connections with the objects it moves.

Chris Woodland, director of the Mobile Servicing System program for MD Robotics, said, ÒThe Canadarm has long been the workhorse of space shuttle missions. Now, a new century will see a new technological marvel in space, again wearing the Canadian flag with pride. Thousands of Canadians from coast to coast are responsible for developing this unprecedented technology.Ó 

Hadfield and Parazynski will perform at least two space walks, with the capability to add a third if it is needed. In addition to installing the Canadarm2, they will attach an Ultra High Frequency (UHF) antenna to enable future space walk communications outside the station as well as shuttle-station communications. They will also attach a spare piece of electronics equipment to an exterior stowage platform on Destiny and remove an unnecessary early communications system antenna from the stationÕs Unity module.
/ENDS
Sources: NASA