Post by ۞Quaalude™۞ on Oct 30, 2007 10:10:21 GMT -5
Two US astronauts are carrying out a key spacewalk on the International Space Station (ISS).
Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock are due to fit a massive girder that holds giant solar wings.
A problem with the station's existing solar panels means the new solar arrays must work perfectly.
Any problems with the equipment could delay the planned launch in December of the European science laboratory, Columbus.
"Another great day at the office," spacewalk veteran Scott Parazynski told Douglas Wheelock as they floated out of the airlock.
Parazynski will carry out a brief inspection of the malfunctioning gear during the seven-hour spacewalk.
But the main task is to finish moving a 17.5-tonne girder, or truss, to its new home at one end of the ISS.
Astronauts inside the ISS will use a robotic arm to hook up the beam to the station's backbone, helped by their spacewalking colleagues. The girder's huge solar panels will then be unfurled.
On Sunday, a spacewalking astronaut found black dust resembling metal shavings inside a motorised rotary joint that keeps the existing solar panels in the correct orientation to the Sun.
Nasa has extended the latest mission to the ISS by a day to enable astronauts to carry out a more detailed inspection on Thursday.
The crew of space shuttle Discovery has already installed the new Harmony module in a temporary position on the ISS.
Harmony gives ISS crews 18% more room and is the first expansion of living and working space since 2001.
It will provide a passageway between three science laboratories: the existing US Destiny lab; the European Space Agency's Columbus module; and the Japanese Kibo experimental units.
Built in Italy by the company Thales Alenia Space, Harmony weighs some 14 tonnes. It is 7m by 4.6m (23ft by 15ft).
The installation has been led by Italian astronaut and mission specialist Paolo Nespoli. QC
I Want to Be a Space Man !
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7068817.stm