Table of Contents

Julie's Responsibilities

Every activity planned for the ten-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) had a primary and a backup crewmember assigned to them. This means that in addition to Julie Payette's prime responsibilities she was also at least partly responsible for several other tasks on board. A description of her duties follows:

Mission Specialist Julie Payette's Prime Responsibilities:

Space Station Systems
(of the U.S. module Unity and the Russian module Zarya)
Julie Payette was responsible for all of what is called the "nominal" or required/normal system operations i.e., system monitoring, system activation/deactivation etc.

Space Station contingencies/in-flight maintenance
This refers to the fact that Julie Payette was trained to execute specific procedures should an emergency situation or repair contingency arise. She had to be able to repair the systems onboard the Station, should damage or problems occur before or during her mission. Indeed a problem did occur and she was tasked, along with her Russian crewmate Valery Tokarev, to proceed with changing the 18 integration units, part of the solar battery system of the Russian module Zarya.

The small, cellular phone-sized units, are part of a system that indicates the level of charge for each of Zarya's six batteries and in turn dictate when the onboard charging system believes the batteries to be fully charged and begins to taper off its supply of power. This was a very critical objective of the mission, as these units were believed to be responsible for the less than optimum performance of the Zarya batteries.

Space Station Transfer and Stowage
(ISS "Stow Master")
As the ISS Stow Master, she organized storage and installation of items (i.e. cameras, computer equipment, clothes, tools) across the Station and directed the stowage activities of other crew members while recording the exact location of each item so that future crew members can easily access the supplies/equipment.

Intra-vehicular (IV) operator for extravehicular activity (EVA) support
Julie Payette was the intra-vehicular (IV) operation supervisor for the space walk. She monitored and assisted the space walking astronauts by performing a full routine of checks and verifications of the suits and communication systems, monitoring the depressurization steps, supervising all phases of the space walk operations and acting as the main communication link between the space walkers, the Shuttle and ground control.

Arm operator
She operated the Canadarm on three different occasions during the flight. Firstly to check out the arm on flight day 2, then to conduct a test of a robotic tool designed to help arm operation (also on flight day 2). The third occurence was after the space walk on flight day 4, to perform a close inspection of the targets of the Space Vision System installed on the exterior surface of the International Space Station, using the camera mounted at the end of the arm. She was also the backup arm operator (for Ellen Ochoa) during the space walk operations.

Flight deck on ENTRY
This refers to the fact that she was seated behind the pilot, upon landing back on Earth, in the cockpit as Shuttle flight crew. There, she was to keep a record of system functions, and in case of emergency, determine which and how other systems would be affected by any system failures.

Photo and TV Camera equipment, Earth Observation, Station Photo survey/docked operations documentation
Julie Payette was responsible for all camera equipment onboard and used it to collect a record of the less photographed areas of our world, as well as photo documentation of the Station as it exists currently. The pictures and video are to be used to check the status of the outside of the Station and to train future crewmembers.

STARSHINE deployment
STARSHINE is an educational project, a small ''disco-ball''-like satellite which students can observe at dusk and dawn for educational projects and calculations. Julie Payette armed the ejection mechanism and triggered the "fire" switch for the deployment of the satellite.

Payload Bay Door close out for Deorbit
The 18-meter long doors also act as the radiators to cool the Shuttle, and thus they are kept open as long as possible. Julie Payette was tasked to carefully align and close these doors just before the return back to Earth.

Crew medical officer
Julie Payette and Dan Barry were the experts should a medical emergency among the crew occur.

Mission Specialist Julie Payette's Secondary (backup) Responsibilities:

SPACEHAB Activation/Deactivation/ Operation – The SPACEHAB is a large, pressurized cylinder installed in the Shuttle Cargo Bay, which was used for storage of equipment, and to which astronauts had access once in orbit.

SPACEHAB activation involved opening hatches, installing air ducting, turning on power, lights and fans, reconfiguring pressure relief valves, opening the window port, installing and activating the SPACEHAB computer system, configuring the communication system, and preparing the module for transfer operations. Deactivation implied the reverse of all preceding tasks as well as SPACEHAB storage, for which Julie Payette was to ensure that all equipment and loose items were properly re-stored in the SPACEHAB before re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

Orbiter Computer Systems, Cable Routing and Plug-in Plan
Her responsibility was to know the proper wiring for the portable computers of the Shuttle as well as the installation and connection of the various cables and the routing of all equipment.

SPACEHAB contingencies/in-flight maintenance
In case of an emergency, she was responsible for knowing the necessary procedures and for repairing any problems with the SPACEHAB.

Space Station ingress/egress operations
She was responsible for opening and closing hatches, ensuring that the airlocks were properly pressurized, ventilated and that the temperature was stabilized upon arrival (ingress) and departure (egress) to and from the International Space Station.

Orbital post-insertion reconfiguration
Post-insertion literally means, "after being inserted into orbit", referring to the fact that in space the Shuttle must be reconfigured to become more like a space station and less like a rocket-ship. This was done by folding the seats away, drying and hanging the pressure suits (also referred to as Launch and Entry Suits), and reconfiguring the Shuttle interior.

Payload Bay Door opening and Deorbit Preparation
More information may be found under Julie Payette's Prime Responsibility of Payload Bay Door close out. Deorbit preparation included stowing away equipment, putting on pressure suits, and closing the Payload Bay doors.