Spacewalk Cut Short Due To Glove Damage

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 08.15.07 2145 EDT: And the decision is... to postpone making a decision. NASA engineers announced late Wednesday it would hold off on determining to add a fifth spacewalk to the STS-118 mission, to conduct possibly risky repairs to the shuttle Endeavour's underside.

Engineers said they were close to wrapping up tests, and would decide Thursday whether to order repairs, according to The Associated Press. When mission commander Scott Kelly asked Mission Control which way managers were leaning, the reply was, "Unfortunately, we have no idea which way the wind is blowing at the moment."

A short time later, mission management team chairman John Shannon told reporters he remained "cautiously optimistic" an in-orbit repair attempt would not have to be made.

The decision -- to not make a decision just yet -- came after flight controllers decided to end Wednesday's spacewalk early, because of damage to the outer layer of one of Mission Specialist Rick Mastracchio’s gloves. NASA says there was no threat to his safety, and the decision was made as a precaution.

Up to that point, Mastracchio and Flight Engineer Clay Anderson were about an hour ahead of schedule and had completed the major tasks of the spacewalk. Mastracchio ended his portion of the spacewalk about 1500 EDT, and Anderson wrapped up at 1605. Anderson finished with the retrieval of a transponder on the Port 6 truss after Mastracchio returned to the Quest airlock.

The damage was discovered during a routine scan of the gloves with Mastracchio’s helmet cam. Both gloves had damage, however, it was a small penetration in the outer layer of the left thumb that caused flight controllers to make the decision to end the spacewalk early.

Retrieval of the two MISSE experiments will be deferred to a future spacewalk. The experiments were deployed in August 2006 and will be returned to Earth for analysis.

NASA also told astronauts STS-118’s fourth spacewalk will be moved to Saturday. The decision gives the STS-118 and Expedition 15 crew members an extra day to prepare for the spacewalk, which was added to the mission after the STS-118 crew arrived at the station.

ORIGINAL REPORT

1445 EDT: NASA reports astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Clay Anderson are rolling through their scheduled activities as they work outside the International Space Station, during the third spacewalk of the STS-118 mission to the ISS.

The two men are setting the stage for the relocation of the Port 6 (P6) truss and its solar arrays from atop the station to the end of the Port 5 truss segment. They are moving two Crew Equipment Translation Aid carts along the Integrated Truss Structure rail system. This will allow the station’s arm to perform the P6 relocation work during STS-120.

Earlier in the spacewalk, the duo relocated an antenna from the Port 6 (P6) to the Port 1 (P1) truss. In addition to the antenna relocation, the spacewalkers installed new transponder and signal processor in an S-band communications system upgrade.

Before the excursion ends, Mastracchio and Anderson (above) will retrieve two materials science experiments from the station’s exterior. The experiments were deployed in August 2006 and will be returned to Earth for analysis.

Today’s spacewalk is Mastracchio’s third of the mission. Anderson, who arrived at the station in June, conducted his first spacewalk on July 23 with Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin.

Mission Specialist Tracy Caldwell is the spacewalk coordinator and Pilot Charles Hobaugh is at the controls of the station’s robotic arm.

The spacewalk is slated to end at 1707 EDT.

Meanwhile, NASA engineers continue to deliberate on whether to risk another spacewalk, to attempt to repair the damage to Endeavour's heat shield suffered during last week's launch.

As ANN reported, NASA determined the 3.5-inch gouge in two tiles near the orbiter's right maingear door does not pose any risk to the orbiter's safe reentry... but the agency may still want to repair the rend anyway, to prevent heat-related damage to the shuttle's aluminum skin.

A decision is expected before the end of the day. Stay tuned.

(Photos courtesy of NASA TV)

FMI: www.nasa.gov