October 24, 2000 - Awakened to the sounds of "Deja vu" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Commander Brian Duffy advised Mission Control that he and his crew knew what they'd be doing today and hoped to see everyone on the ground soon. They finally got their wish.

Discovery landed today, after poor weather conditions in Florida and California kept the crew in space two days longer than originally planned. Duffy and his crew mates ­ Pilot Pam Melroy and Mission Specialists Leroy Chiao, Bill McArthur, Jeff Wisoff, Mike Lopez-Alegria and NASDA Astronaut Koichi Wakata ­ began their preparations for a return trip to Earth about 9:30 this morning.

On the first of two opportunities to land at Edwards today, Discovery's orbital maneuvering system engines were fired in a deorbit burn at 3:52 p.m. as it passed over the Indian Ocean, just north of Madagascar and east of Kenya, and landed at 4:59 p.m.

Discovery encountered the first traces of the atmosphere while flying over the South Pacific, just south of the Tropic of Capricorn and east of Australia and continued its flight over the Pacific, passing well South of the Hawaiian Islands before arriving on the west coast of the United States. As it headed into Edwards Air Force Base, Discovery passed just south of the Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands before crossing the California coastline over Los Angeles.

The landing today brings to a close the 100th mission in Shuttle program history on a mission that paved the way for the first residents of the orbiting International Space Station.

October 23, 2000 - Discovery's astronauts will remain in space another day after rains near Edwards Air Force Base prevented landing on either of two opportunities at the California site. Discovery had two landing opportunities at Kennedy Space Center, but high winds there made landing weather unacceptable.

After carefully watching cloud cover at Edwards and getting observations from Astronaut Kent Rominger flying weather reconnaissance, entry flight director Leroy Cain decided about 4:30 p.m. EDT to wave-off the first attempt. Landing on second attempt would have been at Edwards at 7:35 p.m. The decision for the second wave-off came at 5:27 p.m.

Landing criteria call for no rain within 30 miles of the runway. Showers were observed on the edge of that circle, and forecasters continued to predict unacceptable conditions.

Discovery will have two opportunities to land at KSC Tuesday, though weather there is predicted to be unacceptable. Discovery is not expected to attempt a landing on the first opportunity, at 1:52 p.m. EDT. They will look at the second opportunity, for 3:28 p.m. Edwards weather is predicted to be acceptable. The first landing opportunity there would see a burn of the orbital maneuvering engines at 3:54 p.m. EDT and a landing at 4:59 p.m.

For the second consecutive day, the crew performed "deorbit backout" procedures after the last wave-off, undoing the preparations they had made to come home. And again, flight controllers in Houston will work through the night and into Tuesday morning to develop a re-entry strategy.

Discovery's crew went to bed shortly after 10 p.m. and be awakened tomorrow at 6:17 a.m. to once again begin preparations for a return trip home.

October 22, 2000 - The crew was awakened at 6:17 a.m. today to the sounds of the U.S. Air Force theme "Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder." Mission Commander ­ and Air Force Colonel ­ Brian Duffy quickly responded that ³You had a couple of us standing and singing up here looking out the window, looking at the wild blue yonder and hoping to enter it today.² Unfortunately Discovery's astronauts will remain in space at least one more day as high winds at the landing site forestalled today's return to the Kennedy Space Center.

After carefully watching cross winds at the Shuttle Landing Facility and receiving real-time observations from Chief Astronaut Charlie Precourt flying weather reconnaissance in Florida, entry flight director Leroy Cain decided to wave-off today's two opportunities to bring the crew home.

There are two landing opportunities tomorrow in Florida and three in California. The second KSC and first Edwards opportunities are on the same orbit, six minutes apart. It is highly unlikely that the crew would be asked to remain suited up for reentry for multiple landing opportunities. A reentry strategy will be developed overnight and through the morning tomorrow to take best advantage of landing conditions at the two sites.

Discovery's crew went to bed shortly after ten and be awakened tomorrow at 6:17 a.m. to once again begin preparations for a return trip home.

October 21, 2000 - STS-92 Mission Commander Brian Duffy along with Pilot Pam Melroy and Mission Specialists Leroy Chiao, Bill McArthur, Mike Lopez-Alegria, Jeff Wisoff and Koichi Wakata were awakened at 6:17 a.m. EDT to begin what should be their final full day in orbit. This morning's wake-up song was "Saturday Night" by The Bay City Rollers.

Discovery's seven astronauts tested reaction control system thrusters that will properly orient the spacecraft as it begins its descent toward a landing. They also tested flight surface controls that will be used to fly the orbiter like an airplane once it enters the atmosphere.

The crew spent much of the day converting Discovery from an orbiting spacecraft to a re-entry vehicle. They took time out from the testing and stowage activity during their last full day in orbit for a 25-minute news conference with U.S. reporters at Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center, and then spent 20 minutes talking with Japanese reporters at Johnson Space Center on Saturday afternoon.

The crew also took some time off near the end of their day before beginning an eight hour sleep period at 10:17 p.m.

Discovery has two landing opportunities Sunday at Kennedy Space Center's 3-mile-long runway. The first, on Discovery's orbit 169, would see a deorbit burn at 1:07 p.m. EDT for the 2:14 p.m. landing. Discovery's track would take it northeastward across the eastern Pacific Ocean, across Nicaragua and Honduras, over western Cuba and up the Florida Peninsula to the landing site.

Forecasters are looking carefully at Sunday weather at the Cape. The main concern is over the possibility of crosswinds gusting too fast over Runway 15.

October 20, 2000 - STS-92 Commander Brian Duffy and his crew were awakened at 6:18 a.m. EDT and Discovery astronauts undocked from the International Space Station Friday after a successful 6-day, 21-hour and 23-minute visit that saw addition of two major elements to the station and four consecutive days of spacewalks to complete those elements' linkup to the orbiting laboratory.

Undocking occurred at 11:08 a.m. EDT as Discovery and the ISS were east-northeast of Brazil's capital Brasilia. After springs in the shuttle's docking system provided an initial push, Pilot Pam Melroy, using Discovery's maneuvering thrusters, slowly backed the Shuttle away from the station. The station was parallel to the Earth's surface and sideways to the direction of travel. Discovery, with its nose pointed downward and its right wing in the direction of travel, dropped behind the station, then maneuvered downward.

The final separation burn was executed about 45 minutes after undocking, moving Discovery into a lower, faster orbit to move it away from the larger and more complete station they had helped prepare for the early November arrival of the first resident crew. They added 10 tons to the station's mass, bringing it to about 80 tons. In addition to the total of 27 hours, 19 minutes spent outside the station on the four spacewalks, the astronauts spent 27 hours and 4 minutes inside, completing connections with the new elements and transferring equipment and supplies for that first crew.

During five missions to the ISS, shuttles have spent a total of 33 days, 4 hours and 44 minutes docked to the International Space Station. Crews completed 20 days, 8 hours and 26 minutes of work inside the station, and 2 days, 21 hours and 34 minutes outside during 10 space walks.

Following undocking and separation, Commander Brian Duffy, Melroy, Mission Specialists Leroy Chiao, Bill McArthur, Mike Lopez-Alegria, Jeff Wisoff and Koichi Wakata enjoyed half a day off. Their scheduled sleep period began at 10:17 p.m. They will be awakened at 6:17 a.m. Saturday morning to prepare for a landing.

October 19, 2000 - The action shifted back inside the International Space Station on Thursday, as Discovery astronauts completed connections for the newly installed Z1 external framework structure and transferred equipment and supplies for the first resident crew of the Station, the Expedition One crew, scheduled to arrive early next month.

The crew also tested the four 630-pound gyroscopes in the truss, called Control Moment Gyros, which will be used to orient the ISS as it orbits the Earth. The crew spun up the gyros to about 100 revolutions per minute, largely to confirm their speed and power consumption. They will ultimately be spun up to about 6,000 revolutions per minute once they assume attitude control of the ISS following the arrival of the U.S. Laboratory Destiny, scheduled for January.

Those tests, and the transfer of supplies into the Russian Zarya Module took longer than expected. As a result, the crew's final departure from the Station's Unity module was delayed until Friday morning, which, in turn, will delay Discovery's undocking from the ISS for about ninety minutes to 11:09 a.m. EDT time Friday. The later undocking time will have no impact on other Shuttle operations for tomorrow.

Pilot Pam Melroy and Mission Specialist Jeff Wisoff took samples from surfaces in Zarya to study the module's environment. Melroy and Wisoff also unclogged a solid waste disposal system in the Shuttle's toilet, which was restored to full operation after a brief interruption in service.

In other news, NASA and Russian officials announced today that the Expedition One crew will be launched on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, Oct. 31 at 2:53 a.m. EDT, 10:53 a.m. Moscow time. The one day adjustment in the launch date was made to accommodate the Soyuz rendezvous requirements needed to reach the ISS two days after liftoff. Docking of the Soyuz and the Expedition One crew, Commander Bill Shepherd, Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev is now set for Thursday, Nov. 2, at 4:20 a.m. EDT, 12:20 p.m. Moscow time.

Discovery's astronauts began an eight-hour sleep period at 10:17 p.m. EDT tonight and will be awakened at 6:17 a.m. Friday to prepare for their undocking.

October 18, 2000 - Mission Specialists Jeff Wisoff and Mike Lopez-Alegria each jetted slowly through space above Discovery's cargo bay today, demonstrating a small rescue backpack that could help a drifting astronaut regain the safety of the spacecraft.

Each astronaut performed one gentle 50-foot flight with the nitrogen powered SAFER (for Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue). Each remained attached to the shuttle with a long tether during the test, and was accompanied by the other astronaut, moving with him on the end of Discovery's robotic arm.

This was the last of four successful spacewalks over four days that prepared the International Space Station for the arrival of its first crew next month. It also paved the way for future station expansion. The Wednesday spacewalk began at 11 a.m. EDT and ended at 5:56 p.m., lasting 6 hours and 56 minutes. It brings the total spacewalk time for the STS-92 mission to 27 hours and 19 minutes, and for all 10 space station assembly spacewalks on five shuttle missions to 69 hours and 34 minutes.

Lopez-Alegria and Wisoff, with Koichi Wakata operating the arm, completed a series of wrap-up tasks during the EVA. They removed a grapple fixture from the Z1 truss, opened and closed a latch assembly that will hold the solar array truss when it arrives in December, deployed a tray that will be used to provide power to the U.S. Laboratory Destiny, scheduled to be attached to the station early next year, and tested the manual berthing mechanism latches that will support Destiny.

Wisoff opened and closed the latches on the capture assembly for the P6 solar arrays using a pistol grip tool. With it he made more than 125 turns to open the latches, then closed and reopened them. He left the capture latch, called "the claw," ready to receive the solar arrays, to be installed by the STS-97 crew in December.

An exercise to test techniques for returning an incapacitated astronaut to the air lock was cancelled because of time constraints.

After the space walk, Commander Brian Duffy and Pilot Pam Melroy completed their third and final reboost of the space station, firing Discovery's reaction control system jets in a series of 18 pulses over a 30-minute period to gently raise the station's orbit to prepare it for the arrival of the first resident crew in early November. This reboost added another 1.7 statute miles to the station's average altitude, making the total for the mission just over 5 miles.

October 17, 2000 - Mission Specialists Leroy Chiao and Bill McArthur completed the third successful spacewalk of Discovery's STS-92 mission at 5:18 p.m. EDT Tuesday, installing two DC-to-DC converter units atop the International Space Station's new Z1 Truss. Those two 129-pound converters, called DDCUs, will convert electricity generated by the huge solar arrays to be attached during the next shuttle mission to the proper voltage.

Today's spacewalk began at 10:30 a.m. and ended at 5:18 p.m., almost exactly as planned. Total time of Tuesday's EVA was 6 hours, 48 minutes. That brings to 20 hours, 23 minutes the total time of the three spacewalks performed thus far in Discovery's mission, and the total time of space station construction spacewalks to 62 hours, 38 minutes. A fourth spacewalk is scheduled for Wednesday. It too will prepare the Z1 Truss for attachment of the solar arrays.

The spacewalkers also completed power cable connections on both the Z1 truss and newly installed docking port, PMA-3. They connected and reconfigured cables to route power from Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 to PMA-3 for the arrival of Endeavour and the STS-97 crew next month. They also attached a second tool storage box on the Z1 truss, providing a place to hold the tools and spacewalking aids for future assembly flights. McArthur stocked the boxes with tools and hardware that had been attached to the Unity module. STS-96 Astronauts Tammy Jernigan and Dan Barry had left the tools on the outside of Unity during a May 1999 spacewalk.

After today's spacewalk, Discovery Commander Brian Duffy and Pilot Pam Melroy completed the second of the three station reboosts scheduled for STS-92. They fired reaction control system jets in a series of pulses of 1.4 seconds each, over a 30-minute period, gently raising the station's orbit by about 1.7 statute miles.

October 16, 2000 - Discovery astronauts Jeff Wisoff and Mike Lopez-Alegria successfully completed the second of STS-92's four scheduled spacewalks on Monday, attaching an additional docking port to the growing International Space Station. The two spacewalkers also prepared the Z1 truss for the installation of the huge solar arrays to be launched aboard the next shuttle flight.

Wisoff and Lopez-Alegria began their spacewalk at 10:15 a.m. EDT, about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Their first job was to release the latches that held the docking port, Pressurized Mating Adapter 3, securely in Discovery's cargo bay. They helped Koichi Wakata, operating the robotic arm, providing eyes for him as he slowly raised the docking port from its support platform.

While Wakata maneuvered PMA-3 to its new location on the Unity module, opposite the Z1 truss installed Saturday, Wisoff and Lopez-Alegria released latches atop the Z1 truss and prepared an attach point for the large solar arrays that will be delivered during the STS-97 mission scheduled for launch next month. Next they worked their way back to Unity, again to act as an extra set of eyes for Wakata as he attached the docking port.

After Discovery astronauts saw a series of "ready to latch" indicators, Pilot Pam Melroy used a laptop computer to command latches and bolts to begin to secure the mating adapter to its new home on the station. She commanded only the first of four stages of the bolting process. The flight crew will do the final commanding Tuesday morning, after flight controllers in Houston confirm that the temperatures of seals on the docking port and Unity's Common Berthing Mechanism have become more nearly equal.

Monday's 7 hour, 7 minute spacewalk, which ended at 5:22 p.m., was the 52nd EVA in the Space Shuttle program and the 91st by Americans in the history of the U.S. space program. It brought to eight the total of ISS assembly spacewalks, with a total time of 55 hours, 50 minutes. With the addition of the 18,000-pound Z1 Truss on Saturday and the 3,000-pound mating adapter, the station has gained about 21,000 pounds during STS-92. If it was on Earth, it would weigh about 80 tons.

As the spacewalk was ending, Discovery Commander Brian Duffy and Pilot Pam Melroy completed the first of three station reboosts scheduled for STS-92. They fired reaction control system jets in 18 pulses of 1.4 seconds each, over a 30-minute period, gently raising the station's orbit by about 1.7 statute miles.

October 15, 2000 - A key structural element for the International Space Station is now electrically connected to the rest of the station and important communications equipment set up after today's successful space walk by Mission Specialists Leroy Chiao and Bill McArthur.

In a 6-hour, 28-minute space walk, McArthur and Chiao connected 10 electrical umbilicals to provide power to heaters and conduits located on the Z1 truss, relocated and deployed two communication antenna assemblies and installed a toolbox for use during future on-orbit construction. The EVA began at 10:27 a.m. EDT and ended at 4:55 p.m. This was the seventh Space Station assembly space walk, the 51st EVA in the Space Shuttle program and the 90th by Americans in the history of the U.S. space program.

Japanese Astronaut Koichi Wakata was again at the controls of the Shuttle's robotic arm, using it to move the two astronauts around Discovery's payload bay and the Space Station. McArthur spent most of the time on the end of the mechanical arm working through the long list of cable connections and other tasks. Chiao worked from the end of the arm late in the space walk as he manually unfolded the large ISS Ku-band antenna to its deployed position. That system will be activated next February.

Both astronauts spent the first hour of the EVA deploying tools and EVA aids including foot restraints and tethers. Following the setup, the astronauts worked to connect the first six umbilical cables between Unity and the truss structure. With the first set of cables attached, McArthur and Chiao removed the S-band Antenna Subassembly (SASA) from its launch position on the Z1 truss and placed it in a temporary location where it will remain until it is moved and activated during the STS-97 mission in late November.

The astronauts are due to start their sleep period at 10:17 p.m. EDT and be awakened at 6:17 a.m. Monday.

October 14, 2000 - The crew of Discovery added nine tons of critical equipment to the International Space Station today, attaching a framework that holds motion control gyroscopes and communications equipment and that will serve as a support for a giant set of solar arrays to be launched on the next Space Shuttle flight.

Earlier this morning, space station flight controllers in Houston successfully activated and checked out controllers and power sources for Unity's common berthing mechanism, preparing it for the Z1 installation. Discovery's robot arm was powered up by NASDA astronaut Koichi Wakata and Mission Specialist Mike Lopez-Alegria. Wakata maneuvered the arm to the Z1 truss in Discovery's payload bay, grappling the box-like frame.

A series of capture latches that secures the truss in place was commanded open and Japanese Astronaut Koichi Wakata gently raise the Z1 out of the payload bay. Wakata began lifting the truss from the shuttle bay about 2 hours and 15 minutes later than originally planned due to a short-circuit aboard the shuttle early in the crew's day that cut off power to some equipment Wakata would need. Flight controllers and the crew quickly developed a plan to use backup equipment and alternate power to regain all functions except the keel camera. Wakata latched the truss to the station at 2:20 p.m. as the complex flew 240 statute miles above southern Russia.

Using a laptop computer, Pilot Pam Melroy commanded 16 bolts to tighten in a four-stage process to secure the Z1 truss to the Unity module, as Wakata released the Shuttle's robot arm and moved it back to its cradled position alongside the payload bay. Final connections and outfitting work for the Z1 truss will be accomplished by space-walking astronauts Bill McArthur, Leroy Chiao, Jeff Wisoff and Mike Lopez-Alegria. Sunday, during the first of four scheduled spacewalks for this flight, McArthur and Chiao will connect a series of power cables, an S-band communications assembly, install a Space to Ground Antenna and boom assembly and install an EVA tool stowage box on the port side of the structure.

With the Z1 installation complete, the astronauts will enter the Zarya module to transfer equipment and supplies for the first resident crew expected to arrive later this month. McArthur and Chiao will configure Discovery's middeck in preparation for Sunday's spacewalk, staging some of the tools, tether and hardware they will use during their planned 61ˇ2-hour EVA.

Because activities were behind schedule following the morning workaround, flight controllers opted to defer the transfer of some gear from the station's Unity module to the Zarya module until the crew next enters the station, planned for day nine of the mission. In Unity, Pilot Pam Melroy and crewmate Jeff Wisoff opened the hatch where the new truss was attached and, inside a pressurized dome, installed grounding connections between the framework and the station. Afterward, the crew exited the station, and, at 6:57 p.m. EDT, Lopez-Alegria and Commander Brian Duffy sealed the station's outermost hatch.

Duffy and Melroy then lowered Discovery's cabin pressure in preparation for a space walk by astronauts Leroy Chiao and Bill McArthur planned to begin at 10:32 a.m. Sunday. Reducing the cabin pressure from a sea-level pressure of 14.7 pounds per square inch (psi) to a pressure of about 10.2 psi is part of a protocol that purges nitrogen from the space walker's body to prevent decompression sickness. Chiao and McArthur spent the last couple of hours of their day preparing equipment in the shuttle's lower deck and airlock for tomorrow's venture outside the cabin. During the space walking construction work, the first of four space walks planned during Discovery's mission, the two will connect electrical and computer data cables between the newly attached truss and Unity and deploy two communications antennas from the truss.

The crew began a sleep period at 10:17 p.m. and will awaken at 6:17 a.m. Sunday to begin preparations for the six and a half-hour space walk.

October 13, 2000 - Discovery's astronauts were awakened shortly after 6 a.m. EDT this morning in preparation for their rendezvous and docking to the International Space Station after an extra hour of sleep to the sounds of "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", by Cyndi Lauper.

As Discovery moved within about a half-mile of the station, Commander Brian Duffy took over manual control of the shuttle's approach, flying the shuttle from controls in the aft cockpit. Discovery arrived at a point about 600 feet directly below the station about 11:38 a.m. EDT, and then began a half-circle of the orbiting outpost. Discovery passed about 350 feet in front of the station and then moved to a point about 250 feet directly above it about 12:05 a.m. EDT.

Duffy began to descend toward the station and, about 12:15 a.m. EDT, held position at a point about 170 feet away. Duffy maintained that distance for almost one hour to allow the station to move within range of Russian ground communications stations to monitor the shuttle's approach and docking. At 1:34 p.m., Duffy held position again briefly at a point about 30 feet from the station to verify the shuttle and station docking mechanisms are precisely aligned.

At 1:45 p.m. EDT Duffy gently maneuvered the Space Shuttle Discovery to a flawless docking with the 70-ton International Space Station as the two craft flew 240 miles above Russia. Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria opened the outermost hatch to the station at about 4:30 p.m. EDT. Soon thereafter, at about 5:15 p.m., Lopez-Alegria opened the hatch into the station's Unity module, and Duffy entered the orbiting outpost, followed closely by Lopez-Alegria and fellow crew members Leroy Chiao and Pilot Pam Melroy. The crew then began transferring equipment and supplies from Discovery to the station, continuing to set up the complex for the arrival of the first resident crew, a mission called Expedition 1 that is planned to launch at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, at the aft controls in Discovery's cockpit, Astronaut Bill McArthur and Japanese Astronaut Koichi Wakata again powered up the Shuttle's mechanical arm. Wakata and McArthur, the backup arm operator for the mission, maneuvered the robotic arm for a camera survey of the station and the Shuttle's payload bay. Tomorrow, Wakata will use the arm to attach the first of two major components Discovery has brought to the complex - an exterior framework that houses gyroscopes and communications equipment called the Z-1 truss.

The shuttle's KU band communications system remains inoperative as Flight controllers have decided to attempt no further troubleshooting regarding its sudden loss yesterday. Although there is no conventional television available from Discovery, the loss of the KU system has no impact to mission objectives. The failure will reduce the amount of television that can be transmitted to the ground during the mission, however the crew did send television of the docking and entry into the station to the ground today through alternate communications systems. A few such opportunities for television will be available each day during the remainder of the flight, although they will usually be only a few minutes in length. Flight controllers also use a sequential still video system, a still image updated every few seconds, to follow activities aboard the Shuttle.

The crew began a sleep period at 10:17 p.m. EDT and awaken at 6:17 a.m. EDT Saturday for day four of the mission.

October 12, 2000 - The STS-92 crew was awakened at 8:17 a.m. EDT with the song, "Incense And Peppermint" by the group, "Strawberry Alarm Clock". The tune is part of the "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" movie soundtrack and was played for the crew members, who are fans of the film.

The seven crew members aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery spent their first full day in orbit today checking equipment in preparation for the major events to come: docking with the International Space Station on Friday and, in following days, attaching an exterior framework and additional Shuttle docking port to the orbiting outpost. Commander Brian Duffy and Pilot Pam Melroy fired the Shuttle's engines twice today to adjust the rate at which Discovery is closing on the station. The continuing series of rendezvous engine firings is planned to culminate in Duffy manually guiding Discovery to a docking with the outpost at 1:45 p.m. EDT Friday.

At about 10 a.m. EDT today, flight controllers noted a failure in Discovery's Ku-Band communications system, a system used for high-rate communications - including television -- that includes a dish-shaped antenna in the Shuttle's cargo bay. The failure, still being analyzed by engineers, prevents the system from transmitting or receiving any usable communications. The Ku-Band system initially worked well when activated yesterday, only a few hours after launch. The Shuttle has other communications systems that are operating well. The loss of the Ku-Band system will not impact the crew's ability to successfully complete all of the flight's objectives. However, the failure of the Ku-Band system may drastically reduce the potential for live television to be transmitted to the ground for the remainder of the mission.

The crew began a sleep period at 10:17 p.m. EDT and will be awakened at 5:17 a.m. EDT Friday for day three of the mission. Discovery is in an orbit with a high point of 235 statute miles and a low point of 188 statute miles.

October 11, 2000 - Discovery's seven astronauts blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center on the 100th mission in Space Shuttle history at 7:17 p.m. EDT to deliver the first external framework structure and a new docking port to the International Space Station. Less than nine minutes after liftoff, Discovery's astronauts went to work to prepare the Shuttle's systems for their planned 11-day mission. The first major task on the flight plan was to open Discovery's cargo bay doors prior to receiving a "go" for orbital operations from Ascent Flight Director Wayne Hale. The astronauts are expected to set up computers and flight deck gear before beginning an eight-hour sleep period at 12:17 a.m. EDT Thursday morning.

Overview - STS-92 will begin the "heart" of station construction in orbit, attaching two major components. Discovery will deliver an exterior framework called the Z-1 Truss and a third mating adapter. The new truss houses four gyroscope devices that will become the station's primary "sense of balance," and Ku-Band communications equipment. The truss contains parts of both systems, but the full systems will not become active until STS-102. The crew will attach the truss and mating adapter using the robotic arm, and then the astronauts will perform four space walks to hook up electrical lines, computer connections and other finish work.

1. ITS Z1 is an early exterior framework to allow first U.S. solar arrays on flight 4A to be temporarily installed on Unity for early power.

2. PMA-3 provides shuttle docking port for solar array installation on 4A, Lab installation on 5A.

3. Ku-band communication system supports early science capability and U.S. television on 6A.

4. CMGs provide non-propulsive (electrically powered) attitude control when activated on 5A.