Table of Contents

Backgrounder

Canada's Contribution to STS-132

Mission Overview

Shuttle:	Atlantis (final flight)
Launch:	May 14, 2010 at 2:20 p.m. EDT
Duration:	12 days with 3 spacewalks
Objectives:	Install the Russian Mini-Research Module-1 and an Integrated Cargo Carrier. Provide Dextre with an enhanced work platform.
Crew:	Commander Ken Ham, Pilot Tony Antonelli, Mission Specialists Steve Bowen, Michael Good, Garrett Reisman and Piers Sellers.

Canadian robotics

Canada's expertise in robotics will continue to be critical to the mission objectives of STS-132, with Canadarm2 responsible for the installation of the Mini-Research Module and the Integrated Cargo Carrier. STS-132 will mark Canadarm2's 27th mission since its installation on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2001 (Canadarm2 has successfully completed 25 Shuttle missions and captured Japan's free-flying HTV spacecraft in 2009—a first for the Station's robotic arm). By the time STS-132 is over, Canadarm2 will have assisted 92 spacewalks and unloaded 41 payloads ferried by the Space Shuttle.

Canadarm2's first task falls on Flight Day 3, when it will remove the Integrated Cargo Carrier from Atlantis's payload bay and place it on the Canadian-built Mobile Base System (the platform that carries Canadarm2 and Dextre across the ISS's main truss). The carrier contains 6 batteries, a Ku-band antenna (built by MDA in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, under contract with Boeing) and Dextre's work storage platform. During the second and third spacewalks of the mission, Canadarm2 will move the cargo carrier close to the astronauts' worksite so they can remove the old batteries and swap them for the new ones. The robotic arm will return the cargo carrier to the Shuttle's payload bay on Flight Day 9.

Dextre, the ISS's Canadian robotic handyman, will be fitted with a new work platform on Flight Day 4. Known as an Enhanced Orbital Replacement Unit Temporary Platform (EOTP), the three-sided platform will give the highly sophisticated robot more space to put down objects in order to free up its “hands” while it works. The platform was built by MDA of Brampton, Ontario, for NASA. NASA Astronaut Garrett Reisman will ride on the end of Canadarm2 to install the platform. This will be Reisman's second time working on Dextre, since he was one of the spacewalkers that installed the two-armed robot on the ISS in 2008.

The Shuttle's Canadarm and Canadarm2 will work together on Flight Day 5 to install the Russian-built Mini Research Module-1 (MRM-1), which will mark the first time the Station's robotic arm installs a Russian module on the International Space Station. MRM-1 will provide additional storage space and a new docking port for the Soyuz and Progress spacecrafts. Also known as Rassvet (“dawn” in Russian), MRM-1 will be permanently attached to the bottom port of the Station's Zarya module. MRM-1 will carry important hardware on its exterior including a radiator, airlock and a spare elbow for the European robotic arm (to be launched in December 2011).

As with every Shuttle mission, the original Canadarm will inspect the Shuttle using its inspection boom on Flight Days 2, with additional inspect time built into Flight Days 5 and 11 if additional data is needed.

Canadian robotics flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, with the support of the Canadian Space Agency's Mission Operations Centre, will assist the astronauts on the ISS by maneuvering Canadarm2 from the ground for certain operations, including: releasing Canadarm2's hold on the cargo carrier on Flight Day 3; putting the robotic arm into position for the second spacewalk of the mission; and setting the arm to return the cargo carrier to Atlantis's payload bay.

Cutting-edge Canadian Science

Hypersole: This new Canadian experiment will determine how skin sensitivity changes between before and after spaceflight, and whether these changes are related to balance control. Changes in sensitivity will be measured on the foot sole, where skin receptors related to balance and maintaining balance while moving are located. The Principal Investigator for Hypersole is Dr Leah R. Bent of the University of Guelph.

Data from Hypersole are expected to make a significant contribution to existing studies of the aging process and reductions in information relayed by skin sensors that lead to a loss of balance control and, among the elderly especially, a greater incidence of falls. The data will also provide knowledge that benefits astronauts as they perform their flight and post-flight duties.

APEX-CSA2: Samples from Canadian white spruce seedlings will return to Earth on board Atlantis after having grown for about 30 days in space. Canadian scientists will analyze their genes to help understand how trees make wood to benefit the forest industry. APEX-CSA2 is led by Dr. Jean Beaulieu of Natural Resources Canada's Canadian Wood Fibre Centre in Quebec City, with the close collaboration of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and NASA.