Dec 11 1998
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(New page: Endeavour's Commander Robert D. Cabana and Russian cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev, leading the four other crew members, entered the Unity module for the first time, via an airloc...)
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Endeavour's Commander Robert D. Cabana and Russian cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev, leading the four other crew members, entered the Unity module for the first time, via an airlock attached to the Shuttle. The crew checked air pressure and quality, turned on lights and systems, detached components that were stored in the modules, and set up a communications system, connecting internal components with the two antennas outside Unity. Astronauts Jerry L. Ross and James H. Newman had installed the two antennas on 9 December. The Shuttle crew spent 28 hours inside the modules before turning off the lights and closing the station.
After a one-day delay to correct a software problem, Mars Climate Orbiter launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, atop a Delta II rocket. NASA had scheduled the 1,400-pound (635-kilogram) robotic craft, paired with Mars Polar Lander, to launch on 3 January 1999. Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander, the second pair headed to study Mars following Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor, were part of NASA's "long-term strategy for Mars exploration," calling for small robotic craft "to leave Earth two at a time," about every two years. According to NASA's plan, Climate Orbiter's first task would be to provide a two-way communications relay between ground controllers and Polar Lander after Lander's arrival and during its planned 60-90 day mission. Thereafter, Orbiter would generate weather maps and profile the Martian atmosphere for a full Martian year, or 687 days.
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