Table of Contents

STS-118 Mission Images

• Unveiling of the Winning Patch
• Mission gallery
• Training gallery
• Demonstration Tests for Mission STS-118
• Videos
• Animation clip gallery

Videos

Flight Day 14 – Space Shuttle Endeavour glided in for a perfect landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Touchdown occurred at 12:32 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on runway 15 with STS-118 Commander Scott Kelly and Pilot Charles Hobaugh at the controls. Endeavour returned home two weeks after it launched from the Kennedy Space Center. (Video: NASA)
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Flight Day 13 – Canadian astronaut Dave Williams with NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Barbara Morgan took part in a 20-minute downlink with students from La Ronge in Saskatchewan at 11:46 a.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time. From the Northlands College of La Ronge, students had the unique opportunity to ask their questions to Canadian Space Agency astronaut Dave Williams and his colleagues Scott Kelly and Barbara Morgan aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour. (Video: NASA)
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Flight Day 12 – Space Shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station, ending an almost nine-day stay at the orbital outpost for the STS-118 crew. Later, the crew conducted the post-docking heat shield inspection using the Canadian extension boom (OBSS) to make sure Endeavour is ready for landing. (Video: NASA)
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Flight Day 11 – Dave Williams and Clay Anderson worked outside the International Space Station. The orbital duo’s scheduled tasks for the shortened spacewalk included the installation of an External Wireless Instrumentation System antenna, installation of a stand for the shuttle’s robotic arm Canadian extension boom and retrieval of two containers of the Materials International Space Station Experiment. (Video: NASA)
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Flight Day 10 – The shuttle crew and the International Space Station crew took part in a live downlink. Canadian, US and Russian media were offered the opportunity to speak live with the astronauts in space. During the press conference, Barbara Morgan, Tracy Caldwell, Scott Kelly and Dave Williams answered several questions. Dave expressed his confidence in the mission managers' decision not to repair the damaged tile and that the crew safety was not at risk. (Video: NASA)
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Flight Day 8 – Astronauts Clay Anderson and Rick Mastracchio stepped out the International Space Station at 10:37 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time for the third spacewalk of mission STS-118. They replaced parts of the station's communication system, installed a new signal processor and relocated a communication antenna. (Video: NASA)
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Flight Day 7 – Mission Specialists Tracy Caldwell and Barbara Morgan used Space Shuttle Endeavour's Canadarm to lift the External Stowage Platform 3 out of the payload bay and to hand it off to the Canadarm2. STS-118 Pilot Charles Hobaugh and Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Clay Anderson used the Canadarm2 to attach the platform to the station's Port 3 truss segment. (Video: NASA)
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Flight Day 6 – Dave Williams and Rick Mastracchio replaced a faulty Control Moment Gyroscope, which the orbiting outpost uses for attitude control. Despite weighing nearly 600 kg, Williams picked up the Control Moment Gyroscope and its mounting hardware from Endeavour's payload bay using only his arms and he was slowly flown back to the space station. (Video: NASA)
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Flight Day 5 – Canadian astronaut Dave Williams performed the Canadian scientific experiment called Perceptual-Motor Deficits in Space (PMDIS). The crew also proceeded with a focused inspection of Space Shuttle Endeavour's heat shield using the Canadian extension boom. (Video: NASA)
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Flight Day 4 – Dave Williams and partner Rick Mastracchio guided station robot arm operator Charles Hobaugh, STS-118's pilot, as he moved the S5 to the attachment point. The spacewalkers then firmly attached the new starboard truss segment (S5) onto the existing (S4) backbone of the station using bolts and electrical connectors. (Video: NASA)
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Flight Day 3 – After successfully docking, the Shuttle Commander and the Russian ISS Commander opened the hatches from their respective spacecraft. Following the Handshake Ceremony, astronaut Tracy Caldwell picked-up the S5 truss segment from the shuttle's cargo bay using the Carnadarm and passed it on to Pilot Charles Hobaugh at the controls of the Canadarm2. (Video: NASA)
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Flight Day 2 – The Canadarm was powered up and maneuvered to grapple the Orbiter Boom Sensor System and used to perform a survey of the starboard, nose and port sections of the shuttle's thermal protection system. Mission specialists Dave Williams (CSA) and Barbara Morgan (NASA) joined Astronaut Mastracchio for the latter part of the survey. (Video: NASA)
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Flight Day 1 – Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Dave Williams launched successfully aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour August 8, 2007 at 6:36 p.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center. (Video: NASA)

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STS-118 Education briefing
Briefing on educational components of the STS-118 mission with NASA and Canadian Space Agency representatives. Marilyn Steinberg, Program Manager, Space Awareness and Learning, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) describes the CSA educational resources developed around the activities of Canadian astronaut Dave Williams during the mission. For more information, please visit the educational section Learning with Dr. Dave in the Mission STS-118 Web pages.

(Video: NASA)
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Animation

Approach: Mission STS-118 - Endeavour's approach and rendezvous manoeuvre with the International Space Station. (Animation: NASA)

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Canadian Space Agency Dave Williams will work to replace the station's Control Moment Gyro (CMG) 3. Attached to the end of the Canadarm2, he will lift the CMG, similar in size to a washing machine, and move it from the shuttle payload bay to the Z1 truss (located near the centre of the Integrated Truss Structure) where it will replace a defective CMG. (Animation: NASA)

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Docking to the ISS: Endeavour docks with the ISS. (Animation: NASA)

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External Stowage Installation (ESP3) (Animation: NASA)

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External Stowage Platform Overview (Animation: NASA)

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Shuttle Inspection: Inspection of the shuttle using the Canadian extension boom (OBSS) to ensure safety of the shuttle and crew. (Animation: NASA)

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Station Flyaround (Animation: NASA)

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Payload Overview (Shuttle cargo bay) (Animation: NASA)

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Roll pitch manoeuvre (Animation: NASA)

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Once docked to the station, the Canadarm2 will play a critical role in the assembly operations. The arm will be deployed in three of the four spacewalks to help the astronauts complete a range of complex tasks, including the assembly of the S5 truss segment, transporting Dave Williams for 6.5 hours as he replaces the station's Control Moment Gyro 3, and the transfer of the ESP-3. Operations of the Canadarm2 are controlled by operators via a Canadian-built robotic workstation located inside the station's U.S. Laboratory module Destiny.

During this flight, the renowned Canadarm and its next generation arm, the Canadarm2, will work hand-in-hand bringing support to the astronauts in building the International Space Station. On flight day three , the two robotic devices will execute a "robotic handshake" as the Canadarm picks up the S5 truss segment from the shuttle's payload bay and deftly passes it to the Canadarm2 in preparation for installation. On flight day seven , the same operation using both arms will be repeated to reposition the ESP-3. During this particular manoeuvre, as the Canadarm2 grapples the platform, the arm will provide it power in order to get video feedback from ESP-3 cameras. This will be a first time attempt and will provide new types of images to Charles Hobaugh at the controls of the Canadarm2. (Animation: NASA)

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3D animation of the S5 truss (Animation: NASA)

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Undocking: The Shuttle will undock and separate from the Space Station (Animation: NASA)

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Transcription

Friday, September 29, 2006
Mission STS-115 video highlights

Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Steve MacLean launched onboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on September 9, 2006 at 11:15 EDT from the Kennedy Space Center for a 12-day mission. Mission STS-115 carried the first Canadian astronaut to space since 2001.

The crew successfully resumed the assembly of the International Space Station and Canadian technology played a key role during this mission, and this flight showcased once again the valuable expertise of Canadians.

Steve MacLean took part in the success of mission STS-115 by operating Canadarm2 almost every day, becoming the first Canadian to operate the International Space Station's robotic arm in space. He also used the Space Vision System, developed by Neptec of Ottawa, Ontario, to help install a pair of solar panels on the station. With the addition of these panels, there is now more electricity to run all the station's systems, including life support, daily operations and scientific equipment.

During this mission, Steve MacLean performed his first spacewalk, becoming the second Canadian to step out into the vacuum of space. In preparation for a safe return, MacLean operated the Shuttle's Canadarm with its Canadian-made boom extension and laser camera as part of the inspection of the surface and tiles of the spacecraft.

Canadian Flight Controllers based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and at the Canadian Space Agency headquarters in Longueuil, Quebec, provided critical support throughout the mission. They worked jointly with their American counterparts to ensure that the two robotic arms functioned smoothly through many delicate operations.

Steve's space flight ended on September 21, 2006 at 6:21 a.m. EDT in a perfect landing at 6:21 a.m. EDT at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Canada will soon see another of its astronauts in space. Astronaut Dave Williams is preparing to embark on mission STS-118, currently slated to launch in June 2007, and he will perform three spacewalks during this assembly mission.

Congratulations Steve! Congratulations STS-115!

Thursday, September 21, 2006
STS-115 crew conference

Lisa Laflamme from CTV National News:
I'd like to ask Steve MacLean: Was there a personal moment that will define this mission for you?

Steve MacLean:
Yes, very much so. When we were working on that bolt, I actually broke a socket initially on another bolt and that was pretty serious because if we lost another socket we would be cranking everything by hand and that would take a lot more time. And when we got to that second bolt, and it didn't go, at first, and it was tight I said: "Oh man, I am not coming inside until this thing is off" but I got it to turn an eight of a turn-and Dan had already stripped it a little bit earlier-but when both of us started to work on it and it started to go even though it took a long time, that was a very good feeling because we kew that we would be able to rotate the solar array joints and that we would have a good mission for sure. And plus, when you are at the end of the truss, like that, you're splitting the Earth and space while you're working and it's a great place to be.

Brent Jett (Mission Commander)
Steve is a very intelligent man and he's very capable in space. He proved that during the spacewalk. He and Dan just did a phenomenal job and Steve really helped us out a lot during the mission. He has extensive experience in robotics and even though he wasn't a prime operator he was always there watching over all the robotics operations and offering his experience and support.

Thursday, September 14, 2006 (Day 6)
Downlink event with Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean from space

Marilyn Steinberg:
Atlantis, this is CSA. Do you hear me?

Steve:
We hear you loud and clear.

Marilyn Steinberg:
Commander Jett and Steve, welcome to the Canadian Space Agency. Joining you this morning, we have young people from Sun Youth Summer Camp, from Collège Durocher, Thorndale School and Steve Maclean Public School, who are very patiently waiting to ask their questions about living and working on the International Space Station. So, without further delay, I would ask our event MCs, Mathieu Caron and Jaimie Sevigny to begin question period.

Mathieu Caron:
Bonjour Steve. Ici, Mathieu Caron. J'ai Lili Trudel du Collège Durocher avec moi, qui aimerait vous poser la première question.

Lili Trudel :
Quels sont les préparatifs avant le décollage?

Steve :
Il y a toutes sortes de préparatifs. Il y a l'entraînement de base. Ensuite, on a l'entraînement avancé. Et au cours de l'entraînement avancé, on étudie beaucoup la robotique et aussi les sorties extravéhiculaires. Et aussi, il est très important d'être en bonne forme physique. Avant tout, je dois dire que nous sommes très occupés, jusqu'à peut-être six mois à un an avant le décollage, on est très occupés pour l'entraînement.

Jacqueline Bouchard:
Hi Steve. My name is Jacqueline Bouchard. I'm from Sun Youth Summer Camp. And my question is: If everything is weightless in space, why do you need a robotic arm to move payloads on orbit?

Steve:
It is true that we are in zero gravity up here, and things aren't affected by gravity but they still have inertia and I guess that's something that Einstein came across about 100 years ago. There is equivalence between mass and gravity and mass and inertia so we need to control something. So if we start moving this 36,000-pound payload, the solar panels that we have, and we just kind of pushed it, it would keep going forever. So, we need the robotic arm to stop it and that's why we have the robotic arm. It is interesting to note though that the arm can't support its weight on Earth. But, on orbit, the big arm, the one that I was trying can actually pick up the shuttle, which is 200,000 pounds, and move it around. And we've never done that yet but it has this capability.

Jaimie Sevigny:
Thank you, Steve. This is Jaimie Sevigny. Hello to both of you. I have a question from Neil Surette from Thorndale School and he's going to ask the question to Commander Jett.

Neil Surette:
Why do you need to fix the solar panels on the International Space Station?

Commander Jett:
Was the question: Why do we have solar panels attached to the Space Station? Did I hear you correctly?

Jaimie Sevigny:
That is correct. The question is: Why do you need solar panels?

Commander Jett:
Okay, on the Space Station, we use the energy from the sun to generate electricity. The way we do that is we use large solar panels, two of which we brought up today, and we proceeded to get them out. And now we've potentially doubled the electrical capability of the Station. Like everything else in your home or at school, we need electricity to power TV cameras, large support systems; just about anything we need to survive; we need it powered by electricity and that comes from the sun through the solar panels.

Mathieu Caron:
Thank you. Merci. Gabriel Mainville du College Durocher posera maintenant la prochaine question à Steve Maclean.

Gabriel Mainville :
M. MacLean, en quoi votre expertise et vos études en physique optique sont-elles importantes à la réalisation de la mission STS-115?

Steve :
Ça c'est une très bonne question parce que j'ai beaucoup étudié dans les lasers, les fibres optiques quand j'étais étudiant. Et ce qui est intéressant, c'est qu'il y a un laser qui a été developpé au Centre national de recherches du Canada, par un collègue à moi, Marc Rioux. On l'utilise ici à bord de la navette pour vérifier les ailes de la navette après le lancement. Et c'est une chose dont je suis très fier, utiliser une technologie sur laquelle j'ai travaillé avec un collègue. Ça fonctionne très bien dans l'espace. C'est un laser 3D. J'ai vu les images. Quand on a pris des images pendant le deuxième jour de la mission, elles étaient très, très bonnes et aussi, pour nous, ça nous a donné confiance parce que les ailes étaient toutes en bon état et sont prêtes pour la rentrée dans l'atmosphère.

Marilyn:
Steve, sorry to break in. I have a special guest on line for you. Mr. Prime Minister, please go ahead.

Stephen Harper :
Oui, merci. Bonjour au commandant Jett et Steve et à tous les étudiants qui sont à Longueuil. C'est pour moi un grand honneur de vous transmettre des salutations et des félicitations de millions de Canadiens et de Canadiennes. Et, Steve, nous sommes tous fiers de toi.

Steve :
Merci beaucoup M. le Premier ministre. C'est vraiment un privilège pour moi de participer à cette mission. Étant donné qu'on a autant de technologie canadienne fantastique, je dois dire que j'ai utilisé quelque chose du Canada à chaque jour de la mission jusqu'à date, et ça va continuer comme ca pour le reste de la mission.

Stephen Harper :
Je comprends que la technologie canadienne est une partie très importante. Steve, as I just said, all of us are very proud of you. We followed your space walk yesterday and your work with Canadarm. What part of the mission have you enjoyed the most so far?

Steve:
I think there are two aspects to it. One is, we've got two generations of robotics up here. Literally, spanning over 30 years and to see those two arms cradling with confidence the critical technology for the International Space Station was really a privilege for me to be a part of that and especially to be 220 miles above the surface of the Earth doing that. But I do have to say that the highlight was the EVA. Especially, when we were working that bolt that did not want to move, the view I had was fantastic. I felt like I was on top of the Station with the curvature of the Earth on one side; totally in blue on one side and totally in black on the other side, and being frustrated with this bolt in the middle. That, for sure was a personal highlight.

Stephen Harper:
I'm sure it's an adventure of a lifetime and I guess we all hope and I expect your mission will inspire millions of young, millions of Canadians, particularly young people and maybe even some who are talking here today have become interested in space and science and technology. My son's interests are maybe a little more pedestrian. He wants to know what time you go to bed up there.

Steve:
Oh that's a good question because in our mission, with where the sun is, we have 55 minutes of daylight followed by 35 minutes of darkness, of the night, and that does affect our circadian rythm of living but what drives us from when we sleep and we wake up, is driven by the rendez-vous that we do with the Station and that's kind of the key milestone. Then we arrange our sleep schedule around that. But you can tell your son that sleeping is safe and wonderful. We all sleep down in the mid-deck. Some of us right side up, some of us on the side and some of us are upside down because there's no orientation up here. Basically, wherever your head is, is up. Then, of course, the whole shuttle is upside down and so it's pretty entertaining.

Stephen Harper:
Well I won't keep you, Steve. I know that you said at the beginning of the mission that you wanted to bring home a gold medal for Canada. From everything I've seen, on your performance yesterday, you're well on your way. So, well done. And to Commander Jett and the entire crew, I hope you enjoy the rest of the mission. I hope it's productive. Have a safe trip home and Steve, on a bien hâte de te voir revenir sur Terre.

Steve :
Merci beaucoup. C'est vraiment un plaisir.

Stephen Harper :
Au revoir.

Marylin Steinberg:
Thank you very much Mr. Harper. Steve, let's get right back to the students' questions. Jamie take it away!

Allright I have a question for astronaut MacLean and this is from Corinne Staff of the Steve MacLean Public School.

Corinne Staff:
I heard that you were going to do the Star Count experiment during your mission. How many stars have you counted?

Steve:
We're planning on doing that experiment at the end of the mission after we undock and the reason for that is that is this window right here is very very good to look at the stars with the attitude we're going to have when we undock. But I'll tell you this when we look at the Milky Way and you adapt your eyes so they are dark adapted what happens is that milky colors of the Milky Way seem to expand into a complete sphere around you and you're actually not only looking at stars but you're looking at intergalactic light as well and that's something that is amazing. But when we undock I'll put out on the Web how that little experiment went and we'll go from there.

Jamie:
Thank you Steve. I now have a question on behalf of Seamus, a 9-year old from the Telus World of Science in Calgary, Alberta, and his question is: "I was wondering if time goes faster in space like it does in sci-fi films?"

Steve:
It's a good question too. We're actually moving at Mach 25, so it takes about 20 minutes to cross Canada, 90 minutes to go around the world, and if we wanted to go to the Moon it would take us 3 days, and if we wanted to go to Mars that would be somewhere between six months to a year depending on where Mars was (on its orbit). But time for us doesn't appear to be slow, but if you ask Eisntein it is. We are going at Mach 25 so we actually end up slowing down time a little bit but it isn't really perceptible to us because we're not up here that long. I'm not sure I believe all that but time to us looks basically the same but we are moving pretty quickly.

Mathieu Caron :
Merci. La prochaine question est pour Steve de Riordan Azam du Cosmodôme de Laval (Québec) qui veut savoir : "Combien d'années d'études avez-vous faites pour devenir astronaute?".

Steve :
On a fait beaucoup d'études différentes pour devenir astronaute. Moi j'étais dans le domaine de la physique et après j'ai travaillé beaucoup dans le domaine de la robotique. Et quand j'ai été sélectionné pour être astronaute, on a subi toutes sortes d'entraînement en commençant avec l'entraînement de base mais je pense que ce que j'ai aimé le plus c'est l'entraînement avancé avec tous les détails de la navette, comment on effectue un rendez-vous et tous les exercices pour cela et comment utiliser les bras robotiques canadiens. J'ai beaucoup aimé cette expérience durant l'entraînement et nous avons aussi une piscine de 200 pieds, par 100 pieds par 40 pieds avec toutes les maquettes de la station spatiale à l'intérieur et je me suis beaucoup entraîné à chaque plongée avec notre combinaison pour les sorties extravéhiculaires.

Marilyn Steinberg:
Commander Jett, Steve, I want to thank you both on everybody's behalf today for taking the time to speak with us and our special guests and really to inspire our next space generation. Thank you very much.

Steve:
Thank you very much, it's my pleasure and I just want to congratulate everybody at the Canadian Space Agency for doing such a good job and helping me to prepare for this mission, and I just want to say a big hello to Canada, it's so much fun up here and I'm glad that it looks like a lot of people are watching and it really makes us all feel good here. The whole team is feeling pretty good about what we've done so far and we look forward to finishing out the mission with total success.

Monday, September 11, 2006 (Day 3)
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin comments on the Canadian participation in the International Space Station Program

Indeed, everything that we do to manipulate objects on the Space Station as we continue with this return to assembly is done with, aided by the Canadian arms. The arms on the Shuttle that we use for inspection and to manipulate payloads are supplied by Canada. I have pointed out on several occasions that where human spaceflight is concerned what we really have come to without a lot of people maybe noticing is that what we have is a world human spaceflight program consisting of those nations who are sufficiently advanced to participate and sufficiently interested to participate. We look forward to adding more partners as we return to the Moon and prepare for voyages to Mars but Canada has been a steadfast partner since day one on the Shuttle, (even) since before day one on the Shuttle, and continues to be a steadfast partner on the Station which I think shows that you don't have to be a large, an extremely large nation, in order to find areas where you can make a real contribution and of course that is symbolized by Steve MacLean's flight today but Steve is hardly the first Canadian astronaut to fly with us and certainly will not be the last.