15 September 2011
ESA, NASA officials, and astronauts met at Ascension Island in the Atlantic to observe the movement of ESA's heavy-lift vehicle today. Dubbed 'Aquila' for this mission, the vehicle began its short trek from the Large-Scale Orbiter Maintenance Facility (LOMF) to the Sensitive Materials Facility (SMF), where the cargo bay will be opened up and several station components will be inserted and seated in its bay.
Mission Commander Greg Williams, Pilot Celeste Lynch, and Mission / Payload Specialists Angela Rister, Tessa Stapleton, and Ryan Demelo adjourned to Wideawake International's Astronaut Training Facility for the first of a five-segment training series, known as the semi-formal 'dress rehearsal' for their flight, which is scheduled to depart Ascension Island no earlier than January 12, 2012. They will be responsible for rendezvous with the station already in flight by Flight Day 2, where they will install the Artemis and Habitation modules to the space station.
The space station will also get an extra remote manipulator arm as a result.