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STS-97 Mission Overview

If you can imagine what it would be like trying to run your house or office without electricity, you’ll have some idea of why Marc Garneau’s mission in space was so important to the development of the International Space Station.

Garneau and his fellow crew members aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on 30 November 2000, installed the first of four pairs of huge solar power arrays on the Station, which is orbiting around 400 kilometres above Earth. The 12-day mission, STS-97, was Garneau’s third—a record for Canadian astronauts. 

He used the Canadarm to install the solar arrays that now generate electricity to run all the Station’s systems, including life support, daily operations and scientific equipment. Although the two Russian station modules already in orbit do have solar panels, they’re not enough to power the entire Station when it’s fully built. 

Two American astronauts completed the installation of the arrays during two space walks. Working inside the Shuttle, Garneau co-ordinated their activities. He also trained as their backup, so he can take over the duties of either one, if the need arises. 

Once the solar arrays were unfurled, they gave the Station the appearance of a "giant bird," said Garneau. 

Successful installation of the P6 truss and the first set of solar panels was a critical step in construction of the Space Station. Hard on its heels will follow a great deal of power-hungry equipment. The U.S.-built Destiny laboratory will be installed on the Station on the following flight, STS-98, scheduled for launch on January 19, 2001. Then comes several logistics modules—known as space "moving vans"—that carry equipment, supplies and laboratory racks filled with scientific experiments. 

Garneau had another major role on the flight. During the critical and fast-paced eight minutes it took the Shuttle to reach orbit after launch, he was sitting on the flight deck with the commander and pilot, ready to assist with troubleshooting if anything went wrong. He was also involved in managing data during the docking of the Shuttle with the Station.

STS-97 was the first Shuttle flight to dock with the Station since the arrival of the first resident crew, American astronaut Bill Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko. They left Earth on 31 October 2000, for an expected stay of three and a half months. Garneau’s crew, who entered the Space Station six days into their shuttle flight, were their first visitors.

Power to the Station

The two Canadians aboard STS-97—Marc Garneau and the Canadarm—worked together to install the first of four pairs of large solar power arrays on the Space Station. 

Controlling the arm, Garneau reached into Endeavour’s payload bay to pick up the "P6 truss structure"—a section of the Station’s truss on which the solar arrays were installed prior to launch. He then moved the 16,000-kilogram package, which is about 14 metres long, to within a few centimetres of another truss that is already part of the station. Known as the Z1 truss, it has a claw-like latch used to grasp the P6 and hold it in place. 

This procedure was assisted by another Canadian technology—the Orbiter Space Vision System—which provides the Canadarm operator with precise information about the position, orientation and movement of payloads being manoeuvred by the manipulator. 

After the P6 had been put in place, American astronauts Joseph Tanner and Carlos Noriega conducted a space walk to fully close the Z1 latch and bolt down the four corners of the P6 to secure it firmly to the Z1. They then attached cables to provide initial power to the Station and to establish a data link between the solar power system and a computer inside the station. They also connected a supply of ammonia, a coolant that will allow excess heat to be radiated into space from radiator panels mounted on the P6. Finally, they removed restraints that held down the solar arrays during launch so the panels could be unfurled. 

After the solar arrays were secured on the Z1 truss, they began to be unfolded one at a time on either side of the truss, commanded by Station astronauts using a laptop computer. Launched folded up like an accordion, the arrays should need less than 15 minutes each to reach full length. 

The two 34-metre-long rectangular panels, each containing thousands of silicon solar cells, now give the linked modules of the station the appearance of having large gossamer wings. "These are truly enormous arrays and will make the Station look like a giant bird when they are deployed," said Garneau.

Supervising the Space Walks

During the space walks, or extravehicular activities (EVAs), Garneau assisted Tanner and Noriega from inside the Shuttle—a task known as IVA (intravehicular activity). His job was to co-ordinate the activities of the EVA astronauts, helping them to stay on track and make sure nothing’s overlooked. "I’ll be reminding them where to go, what to do, what tools they will need and when it’s time to come in," Garneau said before the flight.

The astronauts are so well trained that they don’t really need much help as long as the space walks go according to plan. It would have been different were problems to occur; Garneau said his role becomes more critical if the EVA astronauts "come to a particular task and it’s not working or they develop a suit problem or get tangled up and lose a tool."

"At that point, the clock is ticking on their life support systems. You may have to re-jig the EVA and reassign priorities—always keeping in mind that the first priority is their safety. That’s where you earn your money." 

Garneau was in a good position to know exactly what the EVA crew were facing because he also trained as their backup. If something had prevented one of them from doing the space walk, Garneau could have stepped in—or rather, stepped out into space. He had practiced all the procedures in the huge water tank NASA uses for EVA training, although, with all his other responsibilities, he could only put in about a quarter of the time the primary EVA astronauts invested in learning the tasks. "Yet, I have to be able to do the job if called upon to do it," he said. 

Although it’s not common for IVA astronauts to train as backup EVA astronauts, Garneau feels the EVA training left him much better prepared for his IVA role because he’s personally performed all the tasks his colleagues will be doing. 

"You’re not imagining them, you’re actually doing them. EVA is not an intellectual process, it’s a physical process." 

The First Eight Minutes

Although Garneau’s participation in installing the solar power system was a key part of the STS-97 Mission, it wasn't his only responsibility. An equally important job—in fact, one that consumed about half of his training time—was to support the two shuttle pilots in the cockpit during the critical eight minutes it took Endeavour to reach orbit. Garneau was the first Canadian to be assigned this role. 

"It’s a bit like being a flight engineer on a large passenger aircraft," he explained. "This means learning all of the shuttle systems, being ready to assist with troubleshooting if necessary and helping the crew stay on the timeline." 

As with being IVA, Garneau’s role is most important if any "anomalies" occurs during the ascent, which is one of the most demanding and dangerous parts of the mission. There’s little time to troubleshoot if things go wrong and failure could have life-threatening consequences. "The pace is really quite a bit faster than when you get into orbit," he said. 

As if all this isn’t enough work, Garneau had several other jobs during the mission. For example, he participated in procedures to dock the Shuttle to the Space Station, using laser and computer tools to manage information about the position of the Shuttle relative to the Station and how fast they’re closing in. 

"I have to operate the laser and we have a computer application that gives us a nice picture of where we are from the Station as we fly in. There’s a certain amount of work required to keep that picture updated and that’s my responsibility." 

Garneau also used the Canadian-developed large-format IMAX camera to film portions of the mission.