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Astronauts Wrestle With Kink On Space Station Solar Array
Houston TX (SPX) Dec 14, 2006 Astronauts on space shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station grappled Wednesday with a balky solar array in preparation of two spacewalks to rewire the orbiting laboratory. On Tuesday, a pair of Discovery astronauts installed a two-tonne truss on the ISS during the first of three space walks in the 12-day mission that began Saturday. Astronauts on Wednesday were trying to retract a 115-foot (35-meter) solar array on the ISS that had been unfurled for more than six years, when they encountered a kink, NASA said. Some 20 minutes after starting to refold the array, the system apparently jammed. Mission Control Center at Houston, Texas, was examining the options, a commentator on NASA television said. "A map never goes back to the way you bought it, it just doesn't," said John Curry, flight director for the space station. A partial refolding of the array is necessary to allow a new solar array, delivered and installed on the ISS in September, to rotate to track the sun. The new array will double the space station's electricity supply and is expected to be activated Wednesday once another array is retracted. At that point the extension and rewiring of the space station can begin in two highly complex space walks, scheduled Thursday and Saturday. Discovery mission specialist Robert Curbeam and Sweden's first astronaut Christer Fuglesang, of the European Space Agency, performed the first space walk and were tapped for Thursday's task. The astronauts are tasked with reconfiguring and rewiring the electricity and climate control of the US-made portion of the ISS from its present, temporary set-up. During the work, power to half of the ISS will be switched off. On Saturday Curbeam and mission specialist Sunita Williams will install cameras outside the ISS expected to greatly facilitate future construction work. A minor hiccup in the Discovery construction mission, apparently without serious consequences, happened during the first space walk, when Fuglesang lost an extender on a tool and it floated off in space, Tricia Mack, director of the space walk, told a news conference late Tuesday. The girder-like ISS is being assembled piece by piece. Construction resumed in September with the Atlantis mission, after a three-year hiatus following the 2003 Columbia disaster. The Discovery mission is part of 14 shuttle flights NASA has planned over the next four years to finish the ISS by 2010, when the shuttle fleet, down to three vehicles, is to be retired. Discovery blasted off late Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida -- the first nighttime liftoff in four years. It docked on the station Monday and is to remain there eight days. National Aeronautics and Space Administration engineers said two preliminary inspections carried out after takeoff and shortly before Discovery docked with the ISS found no damage to the Discovery's heat shield during launch. Such inspections on the shuttles have become routine since the Columbia tragedy. Columbia's heat shield was pierced by foam insulation that peeled off its fuel tank during liftoff, causing the shuttle to disintegrate during its return to Earth in February 1, 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board.
earlier related report The operation was particularly sensitive because the astronauts had to move the truss within centimeters (inches) of the fragile solar arrays that provide electricity to the orbiting laboratory. In a delicate maneuver, the 3.37-meter (11-foot) truss, called P5 spacer, was guided by the ISS robotic arm operated by US astronaut Joan Higginbotham in coordination with Curbeam and Fuglesang, who bolted the structure in place. The modular, girder-like structure of the ISS is being assembled piece by piece. Construction of the space station resumed in September with the Atlantis mission, after a three-year hiatus following the Columbia disaster. Discovery co-pilot Bill Oefelein directed the heavy construction work in space that extended the ISS's total length to 120 meters (394 feet). Curbeam and Fuglesang also hooked up six cables on the ISS for electricity, commmunications and climate control. Last on their worksheet were maneuvers to allow enough room for the new solar arrays to track the sun's rays in a 360-degree rotation. Two other spacewalks, scheduled on Thursday and Saturday, are expected to be highly complex because the astronauts will rewire the electricity and climate control of the US-made portion of the ISS from its present, temporary set-up. The work, during which power to half of the ISS will be switched off, includes activating the solar arrays installed by an Atlantis mission in September that will double the present electrical output of the ISS. Curbeam and Fuglesang will work on the ISS on Thursday, and on Saturday Curbeam and mission specialist Sunita Williams will install cameras outside the ISS expected to greatly facilitate future construction work. The Discovery mission is part of 14 shuttle flights NASA has planned over the next four years to finish the ISS by 2010, when the shuttle fleet, down to three orbiters, is to be retired. Discovery blasted off late Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida -- the first nighttime liftoff in four years -- on its 12-day construction mission to the ISS. It docked on the station Monday and is to remain there eight days. Williams replaced Thomas Reiter of Germany on the space station. Reiter arrived at the ISS in July on Discovery and will return to Earth on the same shuttle, set to land on December 21. In a mission that has gone smoothly so far, National Aeronautics and Space Administration engineers said that Discovery's heat shield had not suffered any damage. Two preliminary inspections carried out after takeoff and shortly before Discovery docked with the ISS had shown no damage. Such inspections on the shuttles have become routine since the Columbia tragedy. Columbia's heat shield was pierced by foam insulation that peeled off its fuel tank during liftoff, causing the shuttle to disintegrate during its return to Earth in February 1, 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board.
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ESA's Swedish Astronaut Christer Fuglesang Reaches Orbit
Paris, France (ESA) Dec 12, 2006Christer Fuglesang was launched last night onboard NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery on a mission to proceed with the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) and to bring back to Earth another ESA astronaut, Thomas Reiter, who has been working in the orbital outpost for five months. |
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