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| Image above: Shuttle crew members take a break from
the schedule to participate in media interviews. Image Credit: NASA
TV |
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Crew prepares for fourth spacewalk
The STS-116 crew prepared on Sunday for its fourth spacewalk. The excursion,
which was added Saturday, will be an attempt to retract the P6 port solar
array on the International Space Station.
Throughout the day, astronauts prepared tools and spacesuits for use
by the spacewalkers. Flight controllers put the finishing touches on the
spacewalk’s timeline for review by the crew. Mission Specialist
Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang, SA0AFS/KE5CGR, will conduct the
spacewalk, which is slated to begin at 2:12 p.m. EST Monday.
In other activities Sunday, the STS-116 and Expedition 14 crews transferred
cargo between the station and Space Shuttle Discovery. Shuttle crew members
took a break from the schedule at 6:27 p.m. to talk with the Associated
Press TV Network, WLS TV in Chicago, WMAQ TV in Chicago and Black Entertainment
Television.
Overnight, Curbeam and Fuglesang will sleep in the Quest airlock for
the pre-spacewalk campout procedure. During a campout, the pressure is
lowered in the airlock to the pressure normally found on Earth at 10,000
feet above sea level. The procedure protects against decompression sickness
as spacewalkers go to the even lower pressure in the spacesuits for the
spacewalk.
During the spacewalk, Curbeam and Fuglesang will attempt to free up the
array for retraction with several techniques - pulling guide wires, flipping
grommets, and pushing panel hinges. If necessary, the spacewalkers will
shake the panel.
Another objective of the fourth spacewalk is to collect additional information
that could prove useful when the opposite side of the array is retracted
on STS-117 in March.
The fourth spacewalk resulted in an extra day at the station for the
STS-116 crew.
Discovery is scheduled to undock at 5:09 p.m. Tuesday. Landing is now
targeted for 3:55 p.m. Friday at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
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