FWD: Possible one-day extension for Discovery?

....There's rumor tonight that Discovery's mission will be extended for
at least one day. This reportedly comes from a request by the ISS crew
so as to give them time to stuff the Raphael Module with as much trash
and returnables as they can. The reasoning is that the Module can
carry as much as 7 or 8 Progress cargo pods, and that it might be some
time before another Shuttle makes the trip to ISS. Apparently the
trash has been backing up a bit on ISS, and Streaklov sees this as an
opportunity to play a bit of catch-up.

....There's one problem with this rumor, tho - It not only was first
reported on the Weeknight Edition of whatever the Art Bell Show is
calling itself when he's not running his mouth on it - Coast to Coast
AM with George Knaury, or something like that - the source was our
other favorite ****wit troll himself, Richard "Conjob" Hoagland.

....And to make matters worse, he also called our own Phill Plait a
coward because he refuses to waste his time debating Hoaxland on his
retarded bogus theories.

....In any case, Jim, I leave it up to you to confirm or debunk this
one. If anyone else had reported it, I wouldn't be concerned about
disinformation. But Hoaxland's proven he's incapable of telling the
truth about anything.

OM

--

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On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 02:33:19 -0500, OM
om@our_blessed_lady_mary_of_the_holy_NASA_researc h_facility.org wrote:

...There's one problem with this rumor, tho - It not only was first
reported on the Weeknight Edition of whatever the Art Bell Show is
calling itself when he's not running his mouth on it - Coast to Coast
AM with George Knaury, or something like that - the source was our
other favorite ****wit troll himself, Richard "Conjob" Hoagland.

It's more than a rumor. Wayne Hale pretty much announced the extension
in his press briefing today. If it hasn't been made official yet, it probably
will be during tomorrow's press briefing, with ISS officials attending that
one.

Dale

BTW, Hale also said that rather than just leaving parts to
repair the ISS' troublesome treadmill, they might repair it
during the extra day so Discovery can carry the old parts
back to Earth. And some added "get ahead" tasks are being
considered for EVA 3.

I guess they're getting ready for a long winter.

Dale

also, I went fishing at the 5 pm presser yesterday and innocently asked
about
what ELSE the station folks might want to ask, such as, oh, on any EVAs?
Struck paydirt with that question. Answer is yes, a new task, maybe, on
EVA-3.

Jim Oberg wrote:

also, I went fishing at the 5 pm presser yesterday and innocently asked
about
what ELSE the station folks might want to ask, such as, oh, on any EVAs?
Struck paydirt with that question. Answer is yes, a new task, maybe, on
EVA-3.



They going to have a look at the underbelly nose tile ding by any chance?

Pat

OM wrote:
The reasoning is that the Module can
carry as much as 7 or 8 Progress cargo pods, and that it might be some
time before another Shuttle makes the trip to ISS. Apparently the
trash has been backing up a bit on ISS, and Streaklov sees this as an
opportunity to play a bit of catch-up.

Does anyone have an inventory of the "trash" they intend t bring back ? Since,
for the past 2 years, only progress has been supplying the station, the amount
of input would not be so much bigger than the amount Progress can bring back.

Where the MPLM really comes in handy is returning large items such as racks
which can't fit in the Progress (and would burn up).

Also, the ISS crew would have spent a lot of time prior to shuttle arriving
preparing for what the MPLM would be returning with. I find it odd that at
that time, the NASA folks would have restricted what could and couldn't return
in the MPLM and would now be open to allowing such stuff to come back.


Perhaps they decided that some extra racks might be coming home now instead of
a future mission ? (which would explain needing an extra day since the rack
would have to be removed/disconnected etc etc and that requires planning and time).


My guess on the extension is simply to make maximum possible user of the
shutle and crew to perform tasks and give them time to breathe. Also, the
shuttle would then be able to deliver extra water to ISS.