Quest is go
Update for Thursday, July 19, 2001
at 9:30 p.m. EDT

Although minor leaks persist in the new Quest airlock, the amount of air escaping is so trivial that managers have declared the $164 million doorway to space fully operational and ready to support a spacewalk Friday night.

Spacewalkers Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly are in the middle of a dry-run, dress rehearsal for their preparations tomorrow and everything appears to be going well inside the station airlock.

NASA mission commentator Rob Navias reports that the leaks discovered this morning before the crew went to bed are small enough that even if they are not repaired by tomorrow the amount of air that would escape into space is inconsequential, so managers are confident the airlock will work as advertised.

Atlantis astronauts already have staged two spacewalks from the shuttle's airlock during this STS-104 mission. The third spacewalk will be staged from Quest and will see Gernhardt and Reilly heading outside to install the fourth and final high-pressure gas tank on the outside of Quest, among other duties.

The crew tonight also is scheduled to enjoy a half-day off.

On this 32nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, eight humans are living and working in Earth orbit aboard the space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station.

After a busy week that already has seen two ambitious spacewalks and the installation and checkout of the new $164 million Quest airlock -- while solving a plethora of problems -- the Atlantis and Alpha crew members are enjoying a half-day off this morning.

Still to come: a third spacewalk that is to begin just after midnight EDT tonight, undocking and the return of Atlantis to the Kennedy Space Center early Tuesday morning.

Earlier today the crew did a dry run of the procedures they will use tonight for the first-ever spacewalk staged from the Quest airlock, which despite some minor air leaks was given a "go" for use by mission managers.

We will begin posting updates on preparations for the third spacewalk beginning about 10 p.m. EDT tonight. And you are invited to watch our feed of NASA TV during the spacewalk beginning early Saturday.

Astronauts Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly are working inside the new Quest airlock onboard space station Alpha to get ready for their third spacewalk this week and so far everything is A-OK.

The new pre-breathe protocol designed to get rid of nitrogen from the spacewalkers' bloodstreams in a more timely manner appears to have worked fine and they are now inside Quest wearing their helmets and breathing pure oxygen.

Quest is a two-compartment module with a hatch separatating the sections, which are called the equipment lock and the crew lock. The spacewalkers are now in the equipment lock and when they're ready to step outside they will move into the crew lock and shut the hatch behind them. The crew lock will then be depressurized to vacuum and the pair will venture outside.

During the extravehicular activity the pair will help install a fourth high-pressure gas tank to the airlock's exterior, and then they'll climb to the top of the station's solar array tower to make some inspections. That maneuver will also give them their best view yet of the shuttle and station complex.

We will continue to post updates on the spacewalk throughout the evening and you are invited to watch our feed of NASA TV by clicking on the link above.

The crew lock portion of the Quest airlock is depressurizing down to vacuum, but the procedure is taking longer than expected.

Spacewalkers Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly are dressed in their suits and ready to head outside.

We are standing by for the beginning of the spacewalk.

The crew lock portion of the Quest airlock has been depressurized all the way to vacuum and its hatch has been opened, Gernhardt's and Reilly's spacesuits have been switched to battery power and the first extravehicular activity ever to be staged from the International Space Station has begun.

Official start time: 12:35 a.m. EDT.

Once outside the two spacewalkers will help install a high-pressure nitrogen tank onto the exterior of Quest. Station robot arm operator Susan Helms arleady has grappled the tank and will lift it into position before handing it off to Gernhardt and Reilly, who will then guide the doghouse-shaped tank the final few inches and connect it to the station.

Despite problems this week with air leaks, noisy pumps and coolant systems related to the installation of Quest, the new $164 million airlock appears to be working fine tonight, although the final depressurization down to vacuum took longer than expected.

If you'd like to watch the spacewalk on our live feed of NASA TV, click on the link above.

All four high-pressure gas tanks are installed on the exterior of the Quest airlock and working properly, completing the major goals of the STS-104 shuttle Atlantis mission.

Atlantis carried two oxygen tanks, two nitrogen tanks and the Quest airlock into space. The airlock was installed during the first spacewalk last Saturday night, and three of the four tanks were connected during a second spacewalk that began Tuesday night.

Now with the fourth tank installed, spacewalkers Gernhardt and Reilly will climb to the top of the P6 power tower and inspect some hardware related to the electricity-generating solar arrays.

If you are watching the spacewalk on our live NASA TV, you can tell the two spacewalkers apart by the fact that Gernhardt's spacesuit has red stripes.

The first exterior spacewalk to be staged from the International Space Station is in the history books.

Atlantis astronauts Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly are back inside the crew lock of the Quest airlock at space station Alpha after spending 4 hours and 2 minutes working outside the frontier outpost.

During this third spacewalk of the shuttle mission, the pair helped install a nitrogen supply tank to the outside of Quest and then climbed high atop the P6 truss to inspect some equipment associated with the station's electricity-generating solar arrays.

With all of the major goals of the STS-104 mission now accomplished, the remaining time in space will follow what has become a routine timeline: final equipment transfers, a farewell ceremony, undocking, fly around, flight control systems check out, deorbit and landing.

Undocking is the next milestone we will update this page with. That event is now scheduled to take place overnight tonight at 12:54 a.m. EDT Sunday. As we follow the undocking in orbit, we will also be tracking the countdown and -- hopefully -- launch at 3:01 a.m. EDT Sunday of an Atlas rocket on a NASA mission to orbit a GOES weather satellite.

The hatches between Atlantis' airlock and the docking port on Alpha's Destiny laboratory were closed at 10:52 p.m. EDT as preparations for the shuttle's departure from the frontier outpost early Sunday continues right on the timeline.

Undocking is expected at 12:54 a.m. EDT Sunday.

The five shuttle astronauts and three station crew members said farewell to each other shortly after 10 p.m. EDT, exchanging hugs and offering final words of thanks. Station commander Yuri Usachev presented each of the Atlantis astronauts with a pin honoring their contributions to the Expedition Two.

After Atlantis undocks, pilot Charles Hobaugh will take the controls to fly the shuttle around the station one time before maneuvering away to set up for landing early Tuesday morning back at the Kennedy Space Center.

With a gentle push from springs inside the docking mechanism, Atlantis has separated from the International Space Station after spending more than a week at the frontier outpost in a successful bid to install a new airlock and set of high-pressure oxygen and nitrogen tanks onto the station.

Atlantis rookie pilot Charles Hobaugh is now at the controls of the 100-ton orbiter and after reaching a point some 450 feet away from the station will begin a maneuver that will allow Atlantis to fly a giant circle around Alpha so that photos can be taken of the orbital complex.

A 3D IMAX camera inside Atlantis' cargo bay will be among the many recording devices aimed at the station as footage is captured for a movie about the station that is due in theaters next May.

The fly-around will take almost an hour, after which Hobaugh will fire Atlantis' steering jets to adjust the shuttle's orbit and take it a safe distance away from the station, while also setting up Atlantis for its return to Earth early Tuesday morning.

Left behind on the station is Yuri Usachev, Jim Voss and Susan Helms -- the Expedition Two crew who have about one month remaining in their stay in space. Shuttle Discovery is to provide their ride home in August.

Atlantis has fired its maneuvering jets to clear the area surrounding space station Alpha after undocking right on time at 12:54 a.m. EDT.

The two spaceships are now in separate orbits that are increasing the distance between them with each passing moment.

Each of the crews have already turned their attention to their separate missions, with the Expedition Two crew preparing for their return to Earth in August, while the Atlantis crew can look forward to ending their flight early Tuesday morning back at the Kennedy Space Center.

The shuttle crew will be heading for bed at 8:34 a.m. EDT today and awaken at 5:34 p.m. EDT. They'll then spend several hours doing a standard pre-landing drill in which the orbiter's systems and steering jets are tested to ensure they are ready to support the Florida homecoming.

Atlantis lead flight director Paul Hill said the shuttle crew has enough supplies to remain in space until next Thursday night, so that's plenty of time to deal with any rough weather over Florida, as we have been experiencing the past couple of days.

A weather briefing and review of NASA's strategy for landing will be presented during a briefing that is scheduled for 2 a.m. EDT Monday and we'll have a full landing preview posted here following that news conference.

The five astronauts aboard shuttle Atlantis have just about finished packing up for the return home and like everyone else will be watching to see what the weather has in store.

After several days of thunderstorms that have led to localized flooding here and otherwise nasty conditions, the weather appears to be getting better. Despite gloomy forecasts, an Atlas 2A rocket was able to launch from the Cape this morning, and the hope is that the clouds will cooperate as well with Atlantis early Tuesday.

Forecasts for both landing sites in Florida and California are optimistic enough, in fact, that NASA managers say they will shoot for a landing in Florida or keep the crew up until Wednesday, when they will go for Florida again or keep the crew up until Thursday and then land at whichever site is acceptable first.

Those plans could change if the weather does too, but NASA flight director Wayne Hale this morning seemed pretty sure that if the weather doesn' cooperate early Tuesday it looks good for Florida on Wednesday.

That said, here are the latest deorbit and landing times (all EDT) for tonight:

Orbit 185 to KSC deorbit at 11:29 p.m. and land at 12:37 a.m.

Orbit 186 to KSC deorbit at 1:08 a.m. and land at 2:14 a.m.

The first milestone to watch for tonight, in terms of a landing decision, will be at 8:49 p.m. EDT when Atlantis' payload bay doors are to be closed. We'll begin our landing updates to this page then.