posted 09-05-2009 08:54 PM               

According to a NASA report, the berthing port may have been "clocked" incorrectly when it was moved on August 7 from Unity's nadir to its port side.

From the September 5, 2009 ISS On-Orbit Status:

After the EVA-2 crew discovered that the PMA-3 (Pressurized Mating Adapter 3) is rotated ("clocked") 90 degrees off ("tail nadir") from the expected orientation ("tail aft")...

It was also confirmed that the actual PMA-3 orientation is the same as in 2007 (Expedition 15) before it was relocated to Node 1 nadir, and that this is the correct orientation expected for HTV rendezvous/ berthing.

There are currently no plans to rectify the situation which requires that entrances to PMA-3 need to be restricted to certain (solar-heated) Beta angle periods to prevent condensation within the module.

The root cause for this discrepancy is under investigation.

PMA-3, as seen during STS-128, as Discovery approached the station. Credit: NASA

posted 09-06-2009 12:53 AM               

Although they do not yet know why the configuration was different from what they trained, the inability to connect the heater cables is not a concern.

If the connection had been possible, the space station's crew would have used PMA-3 to temporarily stow some equipment arriving with JAXA's HTV, but there are other areas on-board station that they can use.

PMA-3 will be moved back to Unity's nadir before Tranquility arrives on STS-130, so that Tranquility can be berthed where PMA-3 is currently.