NASA-International Space Station: Astronauts Succeed First Spacewalk Through Atlantis Shuttle

Astronauts Succeed First Spacewalk Through Atlantis Shuttle

Astronauts from the shuttle Atlantis finished the first space walk of their mission, replacing an essential communications antenna on the exterior of the International Space Station. Mission Specialists Mike Foreman and Robert Satcher completed their assignment in six-hour, 37-minute spacewalk at 4:01 p.m. EST. It was the primary of three spacewalks scheduled for Atlantis’ mission to the International Space Station, a flight devoted largely to bringing considerable spare parts to the station to be attached to its exterior.

The spacewalk formally began at 9:24 a.m. when Foreman and Satcher switched their suits to internal power. Their first task was to establish a spare S-band antenna structural assembly on the station’s Z1 truss. That was finished about an hour ahead of schedule.

The spacewalkers then got separated. Foreman installed cables for a space-to-ground antenna on the Destiny laboratory and replaced a handrail on the Unity node with one having a bracket to route an ammonia cable for the Tranquility Node to be delivered next year. He also effectively connected a cable on the Unity Node, which in September had defied efforts by STS-128 astronauts.

Satcher lubricated the latching end effectors on the Japanese robotic arm and an alike attachment device on the station’s mobile base system. They were approximately two hours ahead when the final scheduled task was completed.

A get-ahead task involved fitting of a Payload Attach System (PAS). It was one of three such jobs intended for the second spacewalk. Installation of this PAS, on the Earth-facing side of the Starboard 3 truss, had been planned as a 1.5-hour job on Saturday's spacewalk.

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Posted by CuttsMatt | at 10:57 PM