Former West Islander Dave Williams marked another Canadian cosmic milestone last night, as the astronaut blasted off on the space shuttle Endeavour from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The mission's fiery birth was welcomed with cheers and clapping by about 200 employees and their friends in a packed auditorium at Canadian Space Agency headquarters in Longueuil.
"It's exciting. It's kind of like final exam time after all this preparing," said Mathieu Caron, 35, a mission controller who will monitor the operations of the Canadarm2 from the CSA starting at 6 a.m. today and during the 11- to 14-day mission.
The mission will include a lot more space time for Canada and the Maple Leaf.
Williams will be the first Canadian to ride the Canadarm during one of three spacewalks, the most by any Canadian. And he will perform a Canadian-conceived hand-eye coordination test on a shuttle computer.
But after the shuttle's two solid rocket boosters fell away from the craft like spent birthday candles last night, some in the room in Longueuil couldn't help but feel a sense of uncertainty.
With just 12 more missions planned and only eight not yet staffed, Williams could be the last Canadian in space for quite a while.
Among Endeavour's five-man, two-woman crew will be the first teacher sent into space since the 1986 Challenger explosion tragically ended the dream of another pioneering educator.
Teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, 55, trained alongside fellow teacher Christa McAuliffe in the 1980s as a backup for the Challenger shuttle mission. McAuliffe was killed in the Challenger explosion.
Williams, 53, a former lifeguard at the Pointe Claire Aquatic Centre, is poised to spend up to 191/2 hours spacewalking during the mission if, as expected, the International Space Station's power system is successfully upgraded on Saturday.
If that operation succeeds, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will extend the mission to 14 days.
A longer mission would give Williams the opportunity to be part of the mission's fourth spacewalk - and it would be a record-setting third for Williams.
Saturday, Williams and fellow astronaut Rick Mastracchio will take a 61/2-hour spacewalk - Williams's first - during which they will help guide the installation of the S5 truss, a van-sized aluminum part of the space station structural spine weighing nearly 2,270 kilograms.
They'll guide the truss to its new home by talking to Charles Hobaugh, who will be at the controls of the Canadarm 2.
Once the truss section is installed, the astronauts will take a stroll along the rest of the truss, using handrails to guide them to the centre of the space station. From there they will climb to the highest point on the station, fold a solar panel heat radiator and stow it for future use.
Saturday will also see the first tryout of a new power distribution module for the space station. The part will enable the shuttle to convert electricity from the space station so the shuttle can stay docked for longer periods.
On Monday, Williams will ride a small platform on the end of the Canadarm 2, from where he will replace a defective component, the Control Moment Gyro 3, a gyroscope the orbiting outpost uses to position itself.
Williams will lift the new 600-kilogram CMG 3 - about the size of a washing machine - out of the shuttle's payload bay using just his arms - thanks to the microgravity, or near weightlessness, of space.
He'll slowly be moved by the Canadarm so that he can install the new CMG and then remove the old one.
Steve MacLean, one of Canada's four currently active astronauts, said last night in Longueuil that Williams's first spacewalk will probably be the emotional highlight of the mission for the Canadian.
"When the Canadarm flips him around from looking out at the universe and he faces the Earth, it'll probably an unbelievable sight," said MacLean, 52, who has flown on two shuttle missions but never spacewalked.
If nature calls during the lengthy spacewalks, the astronauts simply let go in their suits.
"Oh, yeah, we wear diapers," Canadian astronaut Julie Payette said in Cape Canaveral.
Payette, 43, said the astronauts stay hydrated during the spacewalks by using a straw to drink water that is a by-product created by the space station's liquid hydrogen fuel cells.
On Aug. 17, in the mission's fourth and final spacewalk, Williams will wrap up the outside work on the station with the installation of a new wireless transmission assembly, a new antenna system used with helmet cameras during spacewalks.
They will also outfit the station's hull with new foot restraints and toolboxes for future construction work.
After the relief of a smooth launch last night, Caron said his focus was on this mission, not the long term. But he admitted he is not sure exactly what he or the Canadian space program will be up to after the current crop of shuttles is retired in 2010 and the space station is completed by Russian Soyuz space crews by 2015.
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The mission's fiery birth was welcomed with cheers and clapping by about 200 employees and their friends in a packed auditorium at Canadian Space Agency headquarters in Longueuil.
"It's exciting. It's kind of like final exam time after all this preparing," said Mathieu Caron, 35, a mission controller who will monitor the operations of the Canadarm2 from the CSA starting at 6 a.m. today and during the 11- to 14-day mission.
The mission will include a lot more space time for Canada and the Maple Leaf.
Williams will be the first Canadian to ride the Canadarm during one of three spacewalks, the most by any Canadian. And he will perform a Canadian-conceived hand-eye coordination test on a shuttle computer.
But after the shuttle's two solid rocket boosters fell away from the craft like spent birthday candles last night, some in the room in Longueuil couldn't help but feel a sense of uncertainty.
With just 12 more missions planned and only eight not yet staffed, Williams could be the last Canadian in space for quite a while.
Among Endeavour's five-man, two-woman crew will be the first teacher sent into space since the 1986 Challenger explosion tragically ended the dream of another pioneering educator.
Teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, 55, trained alongside fellow teacher Christa McAuliffe in the 1980s as a backup for the Challenger shuttle mission. McAuliffe was killed in the Challenger explosion.
Williams, 53, a former lifeguard at the Pointe Claire Aquatic Centre, is poised to spend up to 191/2 hours spacewalking during the mission if, as expected, the International Space Station's power system is successfully upgraded on Saturday.
If that operation succeeds, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will extend the mission to 14 days.
A longer mission would give Williams the opportunity to be part of the mission's fourth spacewalk - and it would be a record-setting third for Williams.
Saturday, Williams and fellow astronaut Rick Mastracchio will take a 61/2-hour spacewalk - Williams's first - during which they will help guide the installation of the S5 truss, a van-sized aluminum part of the space station structural spine weighing nearly 2,270 kilograms.
They'll guide the truss to its new home by talking to Charles Hobaugh, who will be at the controls of the Canadarm 2.
Once the truss section is installed, the astronauts will take a stroll along the rest of the truss, using handrails to guide them to the centre of the space station. From there they will climb to the highest point on the station, fold a solar panel heat radiator and stow it for future use.
Saturday will also see the first tryout of a new power distribution module for the space station. The part will enable the shuttle to convert electricity from the space station so the shuttle can stay docked for longer periods.
On Monday, Williams will ride a small platform on the end of the Canadarm 2, from where he will replace a defective component, the Control Moment Gyro 3, a gyroscope the orbiting outpost uses to position itself.
Williams will lift the new 600-kilogram CMG 3 - about the size of a washing machine - out of the shuttle's payload bay using just his arms - thanks to the microgravity, or near weightlessness, of space.
He'll slowly be moved by the Canadarm so that he can install the new CMG and then remove the old one.
Steve MacLean, one of Canada's four currently active astronauts, said last night in Longueuil that Williams's first spacewalk will probably be the emotional highlight of the mission for the Canadian.
"When the Canadarm flips him around from looking out at the universe and he faces the Earth, it'll probably an unbelievable sight," said MacLean, 52, who has flown on two shuttle missions but never spacewalked.
If nature calls during the lengthy spacewalks, the astronauts simply let go in their suits.
"Oh, yeah, we wear diapers," Canadian astronaut Julie Payette said in Cape Canaveral.
Payette, 43, said the astronauts stay hydrated during the spacewalks by using a straw to drink water that is a by-product created by the space station's liquid hydrogen fuel cells.
On Aug. 17, in the mission's fourth and final spacewalk, Williams will wrap up the outside work on the station with the installation of a new wireless transmission assembly, a new antenna system used with helmet cameras during spacewalks.
They will also outfit the station's hull with new foot restraints and toolboxes for future construction work.
After the relief of a smooth launch last night, Caron said his focus was on this mission, not the long term. But he admitted he is not sure exactly what he or the Canadian space program will be up to after the current crop of shuttles is retired in 2010 and the space station is completed by Russian Soyuz space crews by 2015.
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