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Atlantis Astronauts Put Final Touches On New ISS Power Station
Houston (AFP) Sep 15, 2006 Two US astronauts on Friday put the finishing touches on the installation of a solar power system for the International Space Station in the third and final spacewalk of the Atlantis mission. Astronauts Joe Tanner and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper finished the installation of a set of solar arrays on the orbiting ISS during nearly seven hours in space. The pair deployed a radiator on the solar structure and repaired wireless television antennas. They also made preparations for future spacewalks by fellow astronauts and cosmonauts as the Atlantis mission marks the resumption of construction of the International Space Station (ISS) after the 2003 space shuttle Columbia disaster. Friday's extra-vehicular activity -- NASA talk for spacewalk -- will complete the series of three spacewalks for the 11-day mission that began Saturday. The spacewalk began at 1000 GMT after a 45-minute delay due to a problem that affected the depressurization pump in the chamber where the two astronauts had slept breathing pure oxygen to prepare their bodies for the effects of space. It concluded six hours and 42 minutes later at 1542 GMT, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said. "We have to say what a wonderful job you both did today, especially you, Joe, with a legendary performance," said Pam Melroy at the Johnson Space Center's Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas. Tanner and Stefanyshyn-Piper, the only woman in the Atlantis six-member crew, removed the restraints on a radiator and deployed it on the ISS. The radiator will be used to prevent the overheating of the new solar array system. The two astronauts had performed the mission's first spacewalk on Tuesday, using a robotic arm to attach a new 16-tonne structure bearing the solar arrays that Atlantis delivered to the ISS. On Wednesday, two Atlantis astronauts went on a seven-hour spacewalk to remove launch restraints on the solar arrays that prevented damage when Atlantis lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. On Thursday, astronauts stretched out the new set of solar arrays measuring 240 feet (73 meters) on the ISS. It will ultimately provide a quarter of ISS power needs once the orbiting laboratory is completed in 2010. The additional electricity furnished by the second set of solar arrays is expected to be sufficient to power the European Columbus laboratory and the Japanese Kibo laboratory, which are to be installed in later missions. The new solar system will not be activated until the next scheduled shuttle mission, by Discovery, in December. At the end of ISS construction in 2010, once the four sets of double arrays are in place, they will generate a combined 110 kilowatts of electricity, equivalent to the consumption of 55 average households. Saturday will bring a half-day of free time for the six astronauts. Atlantis, whose protective thermal shield was declared in perfect shape for reentry, is scheduled to land on September 20 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The last ISS assembly work was in November 2002 after which the Columbia accident forced NASA to work on improving flight safety. Columbia was doomed by foam insulation that peeled off its external fuel tank during liftoff and pierced its heat shield, causing it to disintegrate as it returned to Earth in February 2003.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Space Station News at Space-Travel.Com Space Station News at Space-Travel.Com
New Lockheed Martin Solar Arrays Begin Providing Power To Space Station
Sunnyvale CA (SPX) Sep 15, 2006The second of four pairs of massive solar arrays and a Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ), built by Lockheed Martin at its Space Systems facility in Sunnyvale, have been installed on the International Space Station by the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis. |
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