Wed, Oct 31, 2007
Fourth Excursion Planned For Thursday
NASA tells ANN astronauts and ground controllers are looking at
apparent damage to the P6 4B solar array spotted by the crew during
deployment. NASA halted the deployment of the solar array wing to
evaluate the damage. Deployment is about 75 percent complete with
25 of 31 bays deployed.
The crew has been asked to photograph the area on the solar
array wing and downlink the images to the ground.
Meanwhile during post-spacewalk activities, Mission Specialist
Doug Wheelock reported to the ground that he has noted a hole in
one of his gloves. He is sending photos to the ground for
assessment.
Along with fellow Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski, Wheelock
helped install the P6 truss in its permanent location and inspected
the port Solar Alpha Rotary Joint today during STS-120’s
third spacewalk. The seven-hour, eight-minute excursion wrapped up
at 1153 EDT Tuesday.
Shortly after the spacewalk began, Parazynski and Wheelock went
to work at the end of the port truss to help station robotic arm
operators attach the P6 to its new location on P5. The two provided
verbal cues to Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Dan Tani and Mission
Specialist Stephanie Wilson as they aligned the truss. Once the
17.5 ton truss was in place, the spacewalkers secured it and
attached its power source.
After completing the truss work, Parazynski inspected the port
rotary joint and found no evidence of any debris. He described the
joint's race rings as "nice and clean." The spacewalkers also
installed a spare main bus switching unit on a station storage
platform.
Mission Specialist Paolo Nespoli coordinated today’s
spacewalk activities. Pilot George Zamka was the shuttle robot arm
operator.
STS-120’s fourth spacewalk to perform additional
inspections of the starboard rotary joint will take place
Thursday.
(Image and story courtesy of NASA)
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