STS-97
Report # 05 
Saturday, Dec. 2, 2000 - 8:30 p.m. CST 
 
  Endeavour^s astronauts executed a flawless docking to the
inhabited International Space Station at 2 p.m. Saturday and took the
first step in providing additional power to the orbiting complex in
preparation for the first of three planned spacewalks Sunday.

  With Expedition One crewmembers Bill Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko and
Sergei Krikalev looking on, Commander Brent Jett guided the Shuttle to
a smooth linkup with the ISS as the two craft sailed 230 statute miles
above northeast Kazakhstan. Endeavour is attached to a new station
docking port installed last month by the STS-92 astronauts.

  The ISS residents went to sleep a short time after docking, to be
awakened just after midnight for their 32nd day aboard the
station. The station and shuttle crews are maintaining separate sleep
cycles to match the work they need to accomplish during their week of
joint activities.

  A little over two hours after docking, Canadian Space Agency
astronaut Marc Garneau maneuvered Endeavour^s Canadian-built robot
arm and grappled the 45-foot-long, 17 1/2 ton P6 solar array truss
structure at 4:17 p.m., lifting it out of its berthing latches in the
shuttle^s cargo bay a few minutes later. Garneau tilted the truss
structure 30-degrees to the cargo bay, where it will remain overnight
attached to the arm to properly warm its components. The P6 will be
mated to the Z1 external truss atop the Unity module Sunday by Garneau
with the assistance of spacewalkers Joe Tanner and Carlos Noriega
during their 6-hour excursion outside Endeavour.

  After leak checks were completed between the two vehicles, and with
Pilot Mike Bloomfield looking on, Tanner and Noriega made their way
through Endeavour^s docking tunnel and opened the hatch to the ISS
docking port to leave supplies and computer hardware on the doorstep
of the station. The hatch refused to open at first because of a slight
pressure differential between Endeavour and the ISS, but Tanner used a
little muscle to finally push it free. Shepherd and his crewmates are
scheduled to enter the Unity module for the first time Sunday morning
and will open their hatch to the docking adapter to retrieve the items
left behind by their shuttle counterparts. The two crews will not
greet each other face-to-face until Friday morning when the hatches
are open between the two spacecraft following completion of the
spacewalks.

  Once the P6 is mated to the Z1 truss, the solar arrays tower will be
commanded to unfurl, increasing the power supply to the ISS by five
times its current output. The spacewalk by Tanner and Noriega is
scheduled to begin at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday, but could start as much
as 45 minutes earlier if they complete preparations ahead of schedule.

  Endeavour^s astronauts were set to begin an eight-hour sleep
period at about 11:30 tonight and will be awakened at 7:36
a.m. Sunday.

  The Endeavour-ISS complex is orbiting the Earth at an altitude of
235 statute miles with all systems operating in excellent fashion.

  The next STS-97 status report will be issued Sunday morning after
the Shuttle crew is awakened.

###

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