Shuttle gap sets off station scramble

James Oberg NBC News space analyst

HOUSTON - With plans for an extra day docked to the space station now receiving official blessing, astronauts and ground specialists are developing plans on how best to exploit the time. New tasks on that day, and possibly on the third planned space walk, have been necessitated by the startling debris losses during the shuttle’s launch.

Facing a delay of uncertain duration before the arrival of the next shuttle mission, astronauts on the international space station have been grabbing hold of anything extra they can beg, borrow or steal from the shuttle Discovery to enhance the station's long-term habitability, and even its survivability.

The crew's activities are being supported by an aggressive support staff at NASA's Johnson Space Center, who are putting together shopping lists and refiguring budgets in light of this week's suspension of future shuttle flights.

The suspension, prompted by the unexpectedly large debris shedding from Discovery's external fuel tank during Tuesday's launch, will have an impact on the station crew's immediate needs — and potentially on NASA's scientific programs and diplomatic arrangements as well.

For now, NASA officials are focusing most intently on what the shuttle currently docked to the space station — the first shuttle to visit in almost three years, and perhaps the last to visit this year — can do to further support the crew there.

On Friday, shuttle deputy program manager Wayne Hale announced that an official request had been received from the space station program, and he expected the request to be approved over the weekend.

The extra day was made possible by power savings early in the mission that accumulated to the equivalent of a full day of usage. Hale explained that only a single extra day would be possible.

Hale said that the extra day could be used to fix the station's trouble-plagued motorized treadmill, which the station crew uses to keep fit and ward off the muscle-wasting effects of long-term weightlessness. Repairing the treadmill now, he added, would allow broken parts to be brought back to Earth immediately for repair and relaunch, perhaps aboard a Russian robot supply ship. There are no remaining spare parts currently on Earth.

Space scavenger hunt
Space engineers also have been drawing up plans to cannibalize any usable parts from the shuttle. "We've had our eyes on the light fixtures in the 'MPLM,'" one engineer told MSNBC.com on condition of anonymity, in a reference to the Italian-built Raffaello multipurpose logistics module that was brought to the station aboard Discovery.

There are at least half a dozen fixtures that could be removed once the Raffaello module is loaded with Earth-bound cargo and garbage. The equipment would be compatible with lighting fixtures inside the station's U.S. segment that have been burning out at an alarming rate — often leaving some parts of the station too dark for detailed work.

"When we asked for them before, we were told the crew wouldn't have time to disconnect them," the engineer said. But an extra docked day would provide more than enough manpower for this and other scavenging.

Everything from spare rolls of duct tape (the repair aid preferred by astronauts) to tools, cameras, laptops, consumables (such as food and batteries) and even spare clothing are being considered for this space scavenger hunt. The shuttle is already scheduled to give a slight boost to the station's orbit, and analysts are looking at ways to wring a little more push from the shuttle's fuel tanks.

"We've asked the team to go off and look at additional water transfer," Hale explained, referring to a spare water bag or two now reserved for shuttle use. "We're doing some extra nitrogen transfer," he added.

On Friday, in response to a question from MSNBC.com, Hale described a suggested addition to the already-scheduled third spacewalk. A motor that turns a large radiator panel outside the station has been malfunctioning mysteriously, and engineers now want to retrieve it for examination to determine if there is a generic problem that could soon impact other such motors on the station.

Schedule in limbo
The space station's immediate shortages may be lessened by such measures, but a postponement of future shuttle flights could pose threats to other aspects of the space station project as well.

It's not clear how long the hold on shuttle flights will last. A slip of two to four months would not be a big impact, since station assembly missions weren't expected to begin until later in 2006 anyway. But at this point, it's only prudent to assume the delay could last longer — and that would have serious repercussions.

The first shuttle mission to be impacted would be STS-121, the Atlantis mission that had been scheduled for September.

Like Discovery, Atlantis is supposed to bring up a pressurized cargo module, packed with more supplies and spare parts as well as several complex equipment racks for the station's Destiny laboratory. But the cargo on the current mission, plus the extra gear now being scrounged, should be able to carry the space station well into 2006, as long as Russia's robotic supply missions also continue.

Sometime in that time frame, the first flight of the European robotic transport craft (the ATV, for "Automated Transfer Vehicle") should occur — and just in time. Like Russia's Progress supply ships, the ATV can carry only equipment that can be passed through the 30-inch-wide tunnel leading through the docking port on the end of the station's Zvezda service module.

Currently, the cargo on the first ATV (dubbed "Jules Verne") is focused on enhancing the scientific capability of the station. But if the shuttle launch delay extends into 2006, the Europeans will need to make a nearly complete cargo change, replacing scientific equipment with more urgently needed crew supplies and generic spare parts.

MORE FROM HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT

Human Spaceflight Section Front

Space station trio lands safely in Kazakhstan Crew shrinks to two on space station Shuttle fliers land with families on their minds Astronauts surprised by holiday turkey dinners New dad-in-space: Focusing on shuttle job easy Plan for human mission to asteroid gains speed Space shuttle lifts off amid tons of tweets Countdown begins for NASA's uncertain future Space hotel says it's on schedule to open in 2012 Space clown comes back down to Earth Human Spaceflight Section Front   Add Human Spaceflight headlines to your news reader: