STS-123 MCC Status Report #26  

After two busy weeks in space, the crew of space shuttle Endeavour got some downtime Sunday before bidding farewell to the International Space Station today.

The crews’ morning off started at 11:28 a.m., when their wake up call came in the form of the Newsboys song, “I am Free.” The song was played for Mission Specialist Mike Foreman and performed by the Praise Team at his church.

After a morning of free time and calls home, the crew came back together for its midday meal and then spent the afternoon checking out tools for Monday’s undocking and transferring spacewalk equipment back to the shuttle.

At 10:18 p.m., they were scheduled to pause in these activities and come together again, this time for the traditional joint crew news conference. Both the shuttle and station crews will take questions from American and Japanese reporters, as well as from Radio France. Afterward, they’ll document their stay at the station with an official crew photograph.

Before going to bed for the night, Mission Specialist Takao Doi will be activating the Rigidizable Inflatable Get-Away-Special Experiment, or RIGEX. The experiment will take place in the shuttle’s cargo bay while the crew sleeps. It’s designed to test and collect data on inflated and rigid structures in space by heating and cooling inflatable tubes to form structurally stiff tubes.

FMI: www.nasa.gov