STS-100/6A emblem

The mission had to be extended by just over a full day; but space and ground crews between them managed to re-establish enough computer control to complete the mission as planned. Endeavour has brought Destiny's errant prime computer back to Earth for study: hundreds of people have worked over the last few days to improvise a solution, and they would all like to know just precisely what went wrong.

But for the Shuttle's seven crew members, that is no longer their problem - for the moment, at least. They are all somewhat disoriented by the transition from the freedom of weightlessness to life at the bottom of the Earth's gravity well, and they are a little disappointed by their Edwards landing: bad weather prevented a touchdown in Florida, where their families were awaiting them.

Tomorrow, rested and mostly recovered, they will fly to Houston to a public welcome at Ellington Field. There will be time for family reunions, too, out of the public gaze. They're home.

Guidoni mission highlights webpage >>  
 

The Raffaello module is moved away from the ISS using Endeavour's robotic arm

Previous status reports:
 
Tuesday 1 May - Homeward bound
The Space Shuttle Endeavour is on track for a landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 14.04 pm CET. The seven crew members, including the ESA's Umberto Guidoni, the first European astronaut to board the International Space Station, have been spending their last hours in space cleaning up and stowing away equipment no longer needed for the mission.

It is a routine chore, but not as easy as it sounds: in the weightlessness of orbit, everyday objects from pens and clipboards to breakfast crumbs have a surprising ability to find their way into the most awkward places. That's why spacefarers soon learn to be tidy, and why crews aboard the ultra-high-technology Shuttle make sure they have plenty of low-technology sticky tape to stop things getting lost in the first place.

Endeavour's people - and the three members of the ISS crew - can congratulate themselves on a tough mission well executed. When the Shuttle docked with the ISS on 21 April, it brought a new robotic arm, extra communications equipment and the Italian-built Raffaello logistics module, crammed with stores and scientific equipment. The crew successfully installed the arm and the communications gear, and docked Raffaello securely to the station. The job involved two long spacewalks and a good deal of hard work by everyone, but it turned out to be the easy part of the mission.

A series of computer failures in the station's Destiny module brought near-paralysis for several days. Without Destiny's command-and-control functions, it was impossible to move the new robotic arm, or even to undock Raffaello for return to Earth. For a time, it looked like the computer glitches would prolong Endeavour's stay for several days - which would have caused a space traffic jam when a scheduled Russian Soyuz "taxi flight" arrived on Saturday morning.

In fact, the team in space and flight controllers on the ground between them patched together enough computing power to bring the mission tgo a successful conclusion just 27 hours later than planned. By the time Soyuz docked, Endeavour was well clear.

Endeavour's mission could face one final difficulty that has nothing to do with computers: the weather. Forecasts for the Florida landing strip are not too good. The Shuttle will have two landing opportunities this afternoon: either at 14:04 CET or one orbit later at 15:39. If stormy weather prevents landing, Endeavour may have to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The diversion is written into mission planning but it would disappoint the crew, whose families are waiting for them in Florida.

Monday 30 April - Mission accomplished!
ESA astronaut Umberto Guidoni and his six shipmates aboard the Shuttle Endeavour waved goodbye to the International Space Station at 18:34 CET yesterday. Endeavour undocked almost 27 hours later than originally planned - the result of a series of ISS computer problems that at one point threatened several important mission objectives. Although the ISS computers are still giving trouble, some clever work-arounds and a series of improvisations allowed the seven Endeavour astronauts and the ISS crew of three to accomplish their mission with little more than a day's delay.

Endeavour brought to the ISS the Canadarm2 robotic manipulator, some communications equipment and the Italian-built logistics module Raffaello, crammed with experiment racks and other equipment. Until last Tuesday night, all went well. Raffaello docked with the ISS, its ESA-provided life support system was activated and station crew began unloading. Two spacewalks installed the new comms equipment and Canadarm2.

Then the three command-and-control computers in the ISS Destiny module refused to cooperate. At one time, the prime computer and both its backups were offline. Without at least two working, there was no way to undock Raffaello or perform any other complex operation.

Both crews wrestled with the problem - as did around 500 people on the ground. There were some tense moments. But by swapping around hard drives and pressing into service some station laptops, the team acquired just enough command-and-control to complete the mission. For the time being, Destiny has one backup computer running normally, with a second computer has functional RAM but no drive. The Russian computer aboard the Zevzda module and its software, an ESA contribution, continue to function perfectly. Destiny's prime computer, the first to fail, is aboard Endeavour and can expect a thorough "post-mortem" on the ground.

Springs in the docking port pushed the loaded Shuttle gently away from the station. Then, before igniting her main motor for orbital separation, the Shuttle flew slowly around the station at a distance of around 150 metres while Mission Specialist Yuri Lonchakov took pictures with an IMAX camera. The separation burn took place at 19.28 CET, and Endeavour is now hundreds of kilometres from the ISS.

Landing is scheduled at the Kennedy Space Center at 14.03 CET tomorrow. Before that, the crew will give a live press conference from space, postponed several times because of the mission's problems. The press conference should begin at 17.01 CET this evening.

Meanwhile, the ISS crew have new guests. The Russian Soyuz "taxi flight", with two cosmonauts and space tourist Denis Titov on board, docked this morning.

Sunday 29 April - Preparing to head for home
After a tense few days dominated by computer problems, the crews of the Space Shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station are very near to bringing their troubled mission to a successful conclusion. The recovery is a tribute to their professional skills, born of long training, and sheer hard work. A little bit of luck may have helped, too, and not before time: the mission has had much more than its fair share of misfortune.

The mission schedule went awry last Tuesday night, when a baffling series of computer failures brought near-paralysis. At one point, none of the Destiny module's three command-and-control computers were working. Without at least two of them up and running, it was difficult or downright impossible to use much of the sophisticated equipment on the ISS. The station's new Canadarm2 robotic arm, installed only hours before, was effectively useless. And the Italian-built Raffaello logistics module was trapped in its docking port: the locking bolts that secured it were immoveable without computer assistance.

The mission began to come back together late on Friday, when astronauts were at last able to undock Raffaello . The job was done with just one of Destiny's three computers working, with a station laptop pressed into service as a backup. ESA's Umberto Guidoni and NASA's Scott Parazynski then used Endeavour's robotic arm to stow Raffaello in the Shuttle's cargo bay.

The transfer should have been accomplished by the station's own robotic arm, but flight crew and ground controllers alike were unwilling to risk any further computer glitches that could have left Raffaello stranded in space. Yesterday, though, the team managed to get both of Destiny's backup computers working - the prime computer remained out of action - and Canadarm2 was at last in action. Station engineer Susan Helms used it to move a loading pallet - technically an Unpressurized Load Carrier - from its parking place back towards Endeavour. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield then picked it up with the Shuttle's own arm and stowed it in place.

The operation was carefully planned to minimize the load on the untrustworthy command computers, so only one of Canadarm2's seven moveable joints was used. But the crew have been cannibalizing station laptops for spare parts and loading new software transmitted from Earth. They hope to have three computers running this morning, which will allow Endeavour to undock and begin her journey home at around 7 pm CET today, just one day later than planned.

If all goes well, Endeavour will be clear of the station before the arrival of a scheduled Russian Soyuz "taxi flight" with two cosmonauts and the world's first space tourist - American millionaire Denis Tito - on board. There is a little air in the schedule: if necessary, the Russian craft can spend an extra day alone in orbit.

Endeavour's crew are not wasting their extra time in space. Those not engaged in solving the computer problem are working with the ISS team to repair the station's exercise treadmill. Its walking surface had "degraded", according to NASA: that is to say, it had worn out. So when Endeavour leaves, it will be "back to the treadmill" for Station Commander Yury Usachev and astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms.

Saturday 28 April
8:56 am CET: The crew of the ISS and Space Shuttle Endeavour are enjoying a well-earned night's rest after a hectic day that saw the resolution of most of the mission's problems. And ESA's Umberto Guidoni can sleep as sound as any: the Raffaello logistics module, his special charge, is safely back in the Shuttle cargo bay.

The mission has been plagued by computer problems since Tuesday night, when the Destiny module's prime command and control computer went off-line, followed shortly by both of the two back-up computers. The Data Management System in the Zevzda - an ESA contribution to the ISS - still functioned normally, so there were no problems with life support or basic station guidance. But without at least two of Destiny's computers up and running, the mission's objectives were at risk.

The first problem affected the Raffaello logistics module. Until the malfunctioning computers could be persuaded to issue the appropriate commands, it remained firmly bolted to its docking point on the station and could not be moved to Endeavour's waiting cargo bay. There were other command difficulties with the station's new robotic arm, installed on Tuesday. The device was in perfect working order, but it, too, depended on computer input.

In space and on the ground, astronauts and flight controllers have wrestled with their problems. They got one of the backup computers working, but the other two remained intractable. Controllers were reluctant to attempt to undock Raffaello with only one computer, since any glitch could have left the module awkwardly half-attached to the station. But a laptop computer loaded with software beamed from the ground was pressed into service as a backup, and Raffaello was successfully undocked about 8.30 pm CET yesterday.

The module had already been deactivated and packed with 800 kg of material to be returned to Earth -- work that could be accomplished without computer assistance. And Endeavour fired her motors to boost the station's altitude by about 4 kilometres: the Shuttle's own computers could handle that.

The mission plan called for the station's own Canadarm2 robotic arm to move Raffaello into the Shuttle cargo bay - the arm's first real working test. But given the flaky state of the ISS computers, controllers were reluctant to take any risks. Instead, astronauts Umberto Guidoni and Scott Parazynski used Endeavour's own robot arm to do the job.

Controllers last night were sending new software to the stalled prime command computer. With support from reprogrammed laptop computers brought up with Endeavour's payload, they hope to use the station's robotic arm today to move its loading pallet to the Shuttle. The flawed prime computer will also be part of Endeavour's return cargo, slated for disassembly and analysis: everyone wants to find out just what went wrong. It will be replaced temporarily with another laptop.

Yesterday's good work has reduced the possible two-day delay in Endeavour's departure to just one day. Meanwhile, the Russian Soyuz "taxi flight" to the station has launched on schedule, at 8.37 a.m. CET. On board is the first space tourist, American millionaire Denis Tito. The ISS computer crisis came close to costing him his trip. As things stand, he will have to endure an extra full day at least in orbit in the cramped Soyuz craft: it cannot dock with the ISS until Endeavour leaves.

Friday 27 April

The seven Shuttle astronauts and three ISS crew members began their day in excellent health but with a deepening sense of frustration. Continuing computer problems have stalled some important mission activities, and Endeavour's undocking, originally scheduled for tomorrow, has been postponed for one or two days, pending Russian concurrence.

Until three days ago, the STS-100 mission had gone perfectly. The Shuttle Endeavour had delivered the Italian-built logistics module Raffaello and the Canadarm2 robotic arm to the ISS. In two superbly executed spacewalks, astronauts Chris Hadfield and Scott Parazynski mounted the robotic arm. Raffaello was successfully docked to the station and its contents - scientific experiment racks, supplies and other equipment - duly unloaded under the supervision of ESA astronaut Umberto Guidoni.

The trouble started on Tuesday night as astronauts slept. ISS flight controllers on the ground "lost" the US lab module Destiny's prime Command and Control computer. Attempts to shift the workload to the station's two backup computer systems also failed, and for a time station communications had to routed through Endeavour.

After a series of reboots, controllers got one of the station's systems up and running. But with no working backup available, mission tasks planned for Wednesday and Thursday had to be postponed.

The problem seems to lie in the complex software in the Destiny computers. While experts on the ground check out thousands of lines of code, flight controllers are planning a tricky resynchronization procedure later today that should bring their recalcitrant machines back on line.

Fortunately, the ESA-provided data-management system in the Russian Service Module Zvezda - the software that actually "flies" the station and looks after most routine functions - is working smoothly, so the astronauts on board are in no danger. And since Endeavour has more than enough power and supplies to remain in orbit as long as necessary, the two-day extension poses no problems for the Shuttle crew.

The delay in Endeavour's departure has a knock-on effect on the launch of a Russian Soyuz craft planned for Saturday 28 April, since the ISS cannot at present accommodate a Soyuz and a Shuttle at the same time.

The Soyuz mission is what ISS people call a "taxi flight". A Soyuz craft is always docked to the station, to serve as a "lifeboat" in case of a dangerous emergency. But the spacecraft's systems and propellant stores deteriorate with time, so every six months a replacement is launched. Its crew will pass a few days with the ISS crew, then return in the Soyuz that has reached its "best-before" date and leave their own craft as the new lifeboat.

Saturday's Soyuz launch would have been an interesting space first. The three-seater craft needs only two cosmonauts to operate it. The third seat would have been filled by the world's first space tourist, American millionaire Dennis Tito, who has paid the Russian space agency a hefty price for his ticket. The ISS partners agreed to Tito's trip with some misgivings. Could it turn out that the world's first space tourist runs into the world's first space charter flight cancellation? Thursday 26 April
As Shuttle Mission STS-100 approaches its end - Endeavour will undock from the ISS on 28 April - there was no let-up for the crew, including ESA's Umberto Guidoni.

The logistics module Raffaello has now been almost completely unloaded, and the Shuttle and ISS crews have been busy installing new equipment and scientific experiments on the station. They would have been even busier if work schedules had not been affected by an annoying computer problem.

You can watch the yesterday’s Guidoni interview on video highlights.

The trouble showed up in the early hours yesterday, as the ten astronauts slept after a hard day's work. ISS flight controllers on the ground reported that the station's Command and Control Computer number 1 was no longer responding to their inputs. The ISS has three of these "CC" computers, so the controllers spent much of the night assigning CC-1's functions to the two backups. But they, too, seemed to be affected by the same software glitch and for a time the station's communications had to be routed through the docked Shuttle Endeavour's systems. Controllers have been rebooting and restarting the computers in an attempt to clear the fault. Although the problem is neither life-threatening nor safety-critical, it is certainly an irritation.

One consequence was the postponement of a scheduled manoeuvre with the newly-fitted Canadarm2 robotic arm. The arm was carried to the station on the European-built Spacelab pallet during Tuesday's EVA. After installing the arm, astronauts left the pallet "parked" beside the station. Yesterday, they planned to use the arm to lift the pallet back into the Endeavour's cargo bay.

With luck, the job should be accomplished some time today. It will be the most complicated operation so far performed by Canadarm2, but a task easily within the capabilities of the world's most sophisticated robot handling device.

Unlike its predecessors - the original Canadarm is the robot lifter fitted in the cargo bay of each Space Shuttle - the 17-metre Canadarm2 has no permanent anchor point. The European Robotic Arm that will later serve the Russian Zvezda module, is similarly dextrous. Each end is equipped with a Latching End Effector that can seize hold of the station while the other end deals with the job in hand. Canadarm2 can actually flip itself around the station, moving from anchor point to anchor point.

The device is really three robots in one. There is the main arm itself, of course. Then there is the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM - nicknamed "Speed'em") - a two-handed robot that can be attached to either end of the main arm for delicate work. Finally, the Mobile Remote Servicer Base System (MBS) is a moveable platform that slides along rails on the station's main truss and greatly extends Canadarm2's working range.

Wednesday 25 April
Six days after launch, shuttle mission STS-100 continues according to plan. On Monday, Shuttle astronauts, including the European Space Agency's Umberto Guidoni, used Endeavour's robot arm to lift the Italian-built Raffaello module from the shuttle cargo bay and dock it with the International Space Station. Yesterday, the space station crew activated the module - which carries up to nine tonnes of cargo to and from the station - and checked out its Environmental Control and Life Support Subsystem, provided by ESA.

Today, the station crew - Commander Yury Usachev and astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms - will begin to transfer equipment and experiment racks from Raffaello to the ISS. Thanks to the ECLSS they will work in shirt-sleeve comfort, but for the time being they will be on their own. Although Endeavour is still firmly docked with the station and astronaut Umberto Guidoni will supervise the unloading by radio link, the Shuttle is operating at a lower air pressure than the ISS and right now the hatch between the two is sealed.

The pressure differential is necessary because of the series of EVAs that Shuttle astronauts have been making in order to install new station equipment, especially the Canadarm robotic arm they successfully fitted yesterday. Lower air pressure aboard the Shuttle makes the business of suiting up and unsuiting quicker and less wasteful of on-board oxygen supplies.The reduction in pressure makes no difference to the crew's breathing: as overall pressure falls, the proportion of oxygen is increased to compensate. Low air pressure is even more important for spacewalking astronauts. "Normal" air pressure would make their spacesuits hopelessly stiff and unmanageable. But after Endeavour's EVAs are complete, the Shuttle will match pressure with the station and the two crews will once more be able to share the same space.

Endeavour's schedule allows for a maximum of three EVAs. But yesterday's intense activity - astronauts Chris Hadfield and Scott Parazynski were at work for almost 8 hours - went so well that the third EVA will probably be unnecessary. Pressures will be equalized some time today and the Shuttle crew will help Usachev, Voss and Helms with their unloading and restowing of Raffaello's contents until the time comes to undock on 28 April. The Canadarm was given its first test after installation yesterday when it lifted the pallet on which it had been carried to orbit from the Shuttle cargo bay to a parking space close to the station. Today, the Canadarm will "pass" the pallet to the Shuttle's own robotic arm.

"Pallet" is actually quite a misleading name. The device has nothing in common with the wooden pack-and stack units used by fork-lift trucks on Earth. It is a sophisticated payload carrier, and one with a long history. Back in the 1980s, when the European Space Agency built the pressurized modules for the Spacelab programme, it also built the unpressurized payload carriers without which the crewed modules would have been useless.

The two Spacelabs have long since been retired (one of them is now on display in Bremen; the other is in Washington's Smithsonian Museum). But the unpressurized modules, the humble pallets are still at work on the ISS. Raffaello and the other MPLMs are often described as "space moving vans. If so, then the pallets are the pick-up trucks, robust and long-lasting.

Tuesday 24 April
Yesterday morning around 11:25 CET the first European astronaut stepped inside the Space Station, when Umberto Guidoni followed his Endeavour crew colleagues through the hatches linking Endeavour and the ISS. Another milestone for Europe was the attachment of the Raffaello ‘space van’ yesterday evening.

The Rafaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) was attached to the ISS yesterday around 18:00 Central European time (16:05 GMT). Assisted by Umberto Guidoni, Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski used Endeavour’s smaller robot arm to lift Raffaello out of the Orbiter’s cargo bay and attach it to the station’s Unity Module (nadir port).

Unloading of Raffaello's 3 tonnes of supplies and science racks for the space station, takes place today, with Umberto Guidoni supervising.

In preparation, the vestibule between Unity and Raffaello has been pressurised and the MPLM has been activated. The first of the MPLM’s Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) - developed by ASI for ESA - was activated, namely the air temperature sensor. Today, before the hatch is opened, a sample of Raffaello's air will be taken and analysed to confirm no cabin air contamination. At that point the Inter-Module Ventilation valves will be open and the cabin fan activated to provide for a comfortable environment for the crew during their operations. The Positive Pressure Relief valves will be de-activated, since the ISS controls air pressure control during open hatch operations.

Yesterday was a busy day all around for the 10 astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS. The two crews performed over ten hours of joint operations before the hatches were closed again in preparation for today’s spacewalk.

The new 11.3 m long Canadian-built Canadarm2 robot arm took its first step, 'walking off' a pallet mounted at the top of the Destiny Laboratory to grab onto an electrical grapple fixture on Destiny capable of providing data, power and telemetry to the dexterous appendage. With Expedition Two Flight Engineer Susan Helms sending commands from a workstation inside Destiny, the arm began to move off the pallet at 11:13 GMT. Three hours later, after an extensive checkout of all of its new joints, the arm affixed itself to the Destiny grapple point where it will remain overnight in preparation for its first active grappling of a payload - the pallet on which it was launched – later today.

Commander Kent Rominger and Pilot Ashby also fired the shuttle's jets to raise the space station's altitude 4 kilometres. Two more reboosts are planned on Wednesday and Thursday to leave the Station at the correct altitude for the arrival of a Russian-commanded 'taxi' crew next week delivering a fresh Soyuz return vehicle to the complex.

Hatches were closed again at 19:26 GMT in preparation for today’s space walk. Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Chris Hadfield are due to begin today’s EVA at 13:06 GMT (15:06 CET).

Their tasks during the 6.5 hour spacewalk are: to rewire the base of the newly installed Canadarm2 so it can operate from its new home on the Destiny Laboratory, to remove a communications antenna from Unity which is no longer needed and to mount a spare electrical converter unit on a stowage platform on Destiny for future Station use.

Monday 23 April
At 11:25 CET (9:25 GMT) today the Expedition Two crew welcomed the seven STS-100 crewmembers aboard the International Space Station. The 10 astronauts and cosmonauts have a busy day ahead, that includes opening the hatch linking the two spacecraft, the first steps of the new Canadarm2 and berthing of Raffaello.

You can watch the highlights of yesterday’s activities in the video highlights.

The Canadarm2 was installed and unfolded on Sunday during a 7 hour, 10 minute spacewalk by Scott Parazynski and Chris Hadfield. They also installed a UHF antenna on the station’s U.S. laboratory Destiny. The two spacewalkers took time out to watch the Southern lights as they travelled over the south Pacific near Australia.

Later today, STS-100 Pilot Jeff Ashby, backed up by Umberto Guidoni, will use Space Shuttle Endeavour’s robotic arm to lift the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module out of the payload bay and attach it to the International Space Station’s Unity Module. Raffaello, a reusable cargo module supplied by the Italian Space Agency, contains supplies and science racks for the station’s US Destiny Laboratory Module. The hatches between the two spacecraft will be closed again this afternoon so that cabin pressure can once again be lowered to prepare for Tuesday’s space walk, but will reopen again once the spacewalk is completed.

After additional checkouts by Helms and Voss today, the arm will 'walk' off the Spacelab pallet on which it was launched. Its free end will be attached to a Power and Data Grapple Fixture on Destiny, becoming the arm’s base.

Endeavour’s own robotic arm, operated by Ashby and Guidoni, will grapple the Raffaello logistics module in the cargo bay and dock it to the Unity module. Its installation there should be complete about 17:00 CET (13:00 GMT) today. Tomorrow, the Expedition Two crew will begin transferring the food, supplies, equipment and two experiment racks for installation in Destiny from Raffaello to the station. Sunday 22 April
STS-100 Mission Specialists Chris Hadfield and Scott Parazynski began the mission’s first space walk at 11:45 GMT (13:45 CET), scheduled to last around 6.5 hours.

The main objectives of the space walk are the installation of Canadarm2 - a robotic arm - and an ultra-high frequency (UHF) antenna on the International Space Station.

John Phillips is the space walk 'choreographer', while Pilot Jeff Ashby and ESA astronaut Umberto Guidoni operate the shuttle’s robotic arm to install the new arm on the outside of the Destiny laboratory. You can follow their progress on the NASA webcast

Prior to the start of the space walk, Ashby used the shuttle arm to lift the pallet containing the Canadarm2, which is also known as the Space Station Remote Manipulator System, out of Endeavour’s payload bay. Then he attached the pallet to the station’s US Destiny Laboratory Module. The space walk will last around 6.5 hours, ending around 18:15 GMT (20:15 CET) this evening.

Saturday 21 April
Space Shuttle Endeavour successfully docked with the International Space Station at 13:59 GMT (15:59 Central European Time), at an altitude of around 400 km (240 miles) above the Southern Pacific, southeast of New Zealand.

The STS-100 crew will now begin transfering supplies into the station’s docking port and start preparations for Sunday’s space walk by Mission Specialists Chris Hadfield and Scott Parazynski. This will be the first of two scheduled space walks to install and activate the station’s new Canadian-built robotic arm and is scheduled to begin at 11:21 GMT (13:21 CET) Sunday 22 April.

On Monday, once the Canadian robotic arm has been installed, Umberto Guidoni will oversee attachment of the Rafaello MPLM to the Unity laboratory module and organise the daunting task of transferring the ten tonnes of equipment into the Space Station.

The Expedition Two crew of Russian Commander Yury Usachev and astronauts Jim Voss and Susan Helmshave, having already been aboard the station for more than a month, are keen to welcome the new arrivals. But though joined together, due to cabin pressure differences, the two crews will not meet face-to-face until Monday, after the first space walk.

Friday 20 April
Space Shuttle Endeavour launched from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., yesterday to begin STS-100, the ninth space shuttle mission in the International Space Station assembly sequence. Liftoff occurred at 20:41 Central European Time (18:41 GMT). Endeavour and its seven-member crew will deliver a new-generation robot arm and the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station. Endeavour is scheduled to dock with the station Saturday 21 April at 15:36 CET (13:36 GMT ). Less than nine minutes after launch, Endeavour reached its preliminary orbit and began its pursuit of the station ready for docking on Saturday. The seven astronauts began to configure systems for on-orbit operations and opened the Shuttle’s cargo bay doors before going to sleep.

Meanwhile aboard the ISS, all systems continue to function normally as Usachev, Voss and Helms get ready to receive for their first visitors since beginning their expedition one month ago. On Monday 17 April, a Russian Progress resupply vehicle was jettisoned from the aft docking port of the Zvezda module, enabling the station crew to undock its Soyuz return capsule from the nadir port of the Zarya module yesterday and fly it to a redocking with Zvezda in a 21-minute maneouvre. This has cleared the Zarya docking port for the arrival of the Soyuz rotation ‘taxi’ crew at the ISS later this month. The taxi crew will deliver a fresh Soyuz capsule for the Expedition crew members’ use as an emergency return vehicle. The Soyuz vehicles need to be rotated approximately every six months.

Endeavour is circling the Earth in excellent shape as it flies in an orbit inclined 51.6 degrees to either side of the Equator. The wakeup call to Endeavour’s astronauts from Mission Control is at 09:41 Central European Time (07:41 GMT).

Thursday 19 April 2001, 20.41 CET (18.41 GMT) - STS-100 launched

Perfect lift-off of STS-100 exactly on schedule at 18:41 GMT (20:41 Central European Time).

Thursday 19 April 2001 - STS-100 launch countdown continues

STS-100 launch countdown activities continue at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, with liftoff set for 18:41 GMT (20:41 Central European Time) this evening. NASA reports that the fueling of Endeavour's external tank could begin as early as 09:15 GMT (11.15 CET) this morning. Forecasts still predict a 90-percent chance of favourable weather.

Wednesday 18 April 2001 - STS-100 launch countdown underway

The countdown for the launch of STS-100 began at 22:00 GMT Monday 17 April ( T minus 43-hours) at Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

Tonight at 22:30 GMT the Rotating Service Structure is scheduled to be moved to the park position, and fuelling of Space Shuttle Endeavour’s external tank planned for 09:45 GMT Thursday morning. NASA reports a 90-percent chance of favourable weather at launch, which is scheduled for 18:41 GMT Thursday 19 April.

Tuesday 17 April 2001 - STS-100 flight crew arrives in Florida

With STS-100's launch rapidly approaching, the seven-member flight crew, including Umberto Guidoni, the first European to visit the International Space Station, arrived at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Monday 16 April. Meanwhile, preparations continue at Launch Pad 39A for Thursday's liftoff, scheduled for 18:41 GMT.
 
 
Guidoni mission highlights webpage >>