Mon, Nov 24, 2008
Endeavour Now Scheduled To Land November 30
Astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Steve Bowen (shown below) began
the fourth and final planned spacewalk of the STS-126 mission to
the International Space Station about 20 minutes ahead of schedule,
switching their spacesuits to internal battery power at 1:24 pm EST
on Monday.
During the planned six hour and 30 minute activity, the
spacewalkers will complete the installation of trundle bearing
assemblies on the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ), and
clean and lubricate the port SARJ.
That joint has been the focus of activities on the first three
spacewalks of Endeavour’s mission to the station. It has been
used sparingly since increased power consumption and vibrations
were noticed in September last year. A test of the joint rotating
in the mode to automatically track the sun will be done early
Tuesday morning to judge the repair work
In addition to repairs to the SARJ, spacewalkers will also
install a camera on the Port 1 truss and attach a Global
Positioning System antenna on the Japanese Experiment Module
Pressurized Section.
The spacewalkers exited the station shortly after receiving word
from NASA their visit to the ISS has been extended by 24 hours.
Endeavour will now undock from the station Friday, one day later
than planned, and will return to Earth Sunday afternoon.
NASA extended the mission to give crews onboard the ISS some
more time to troubleshoot the off-and-on Urine Processor Assembly
(UPA), part of a new water reclamation unit installed onboard the
station. NASA reports the UPA ran for almost three hours Sunday --
the longest successful operation to date -- and processed about a
gallon of liquid, after modifications by Expedition 18 Commander
Mike Fincke and Endeavour Mission Specialist Don Pettit. The system
then shut down.
On Monday, Fincke will install two bolts in the UPA's
distillation assembly to further reduce vibration. Mission
officials believe those vibrations are causing problems for the
UPA's motor assembly... and hope the added measures will relieve
the problem, so to speak.
If the UPA remains uncooperative, NASA will need to fly a new
motor to the ISS... potentially delaying the planned Summer 2009
deployment of the first six-person crew onboard the ISS. The water
reclamation unit is vital to supporting an expanded crew
complement.
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