[meteorite-list] Man-made Bolides

From: Pete Pete <rsvp321_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 21:09:10 -0400
Message-ID: <BAY141-F25D194E4FB19AE24E89919F8F40_at_phx.gbl>

Keep your head up!


>>The agency expects the stanchion to burn up completely, but think pieces
>>of the ammonia tank may reach the Earth's surface.

"We don't know where it's going to land yet...<<

Cheers,
Pete


http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/070718_exp15_toss_preview.html
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/070718_exp15_toss_preview.html

  'Refrigerator-Sized' Object to be Tossed From Space Station
By Dave Mosher
Staff Writer
posted: 18 July 2007
05:29 pm ET


The three-man crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will do a
little housekeeping during a spacewalk next week to make way for future
expansion of the laboratory.

On July 23, Expedition 15 crewmember Clayton Anderson will journey outside
of the space station to throw two large hunks of unneeded equipment towards
Earth, officials said during a press conference today at NASA's Johnson
Space Center in Houston, Texas.

"This is the first time we've ever done a jettison quite like this on the
space station," said Bob Dempsey, NASA's lead flight director for Expedition
15, adding that smaller jettisons have been performed on past ISS and Hubble
Space Telescope missions.

During the upcoming spacewalk, Anderson will jettison a 1,400-pound
(635-kilograms) refrigerator-sized container of ammonia, or Early Ammonia
Servicer (EAS), away from the station at a gentle pace of one mile per hour
(1.6 kph). He'll also toss a 212-pound (96-kilogram) stanchion used to
attach a camera to the space laboratory toward the Earth.

Dempsey explained that discarding the equipment during an extravehicular
activity (EVA), rather than shipping it back to Earth via a NASA shuttle,
was the best choice because of time and space constraints.

"It's not a decision that's made lightly. Besides the fact that it might
have some use in the future, it provides space debris that could later
impact the space station," Dempsey said. He noted that moving the equipment
around will be necessary to make room for additions and repairs to the ISS
during future shuttle missions.

Once tossed from the space station, both objects will be tracked by NASA for
almost a year until they begin entering the atmosphere. The agency expects
the stanchion to burn up completely, but think pieces of the ammonia tank
may reach the Earth's surface.

"We don't know where it's going to land yet," Dempsey said, but added that
it will likely be over the ocean and shouldn't damage satellites or other
spacecraft in orbit.

In addition to tossing the unneeded equipment overboard, cosmonaut Fyodor
Yurchikhin, Expedition 15's commander, will join Anderson on the spacewalk
with cleaning and repair duties. Flight engineer Oleg Kotov will control the
robotic arm to shuttle the astronauts around outside of the station.

When the EVA is complete, the space station will be boosted to a higher
orbit to prepare for docking with Endeavour early next month, as well as to
avoid dangerous encounters with the ejected objects.

"We know the crew's ready," said Daryl Schuck, NASA's lead EVA officer for
Expedition 15, adding that Anderson and Yurchikhin were trained on Earth for
the jettisoning procedure. "We've got confidence in our approach to this and
confidence in our crew."

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Received on Thu 19 Jul 2007 09:09:10 PM PDT