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| Image above: Mission Specialist Bob Curbeam works
with a solar array during the fourth spacewalk of the STS-116 mission.
Image Credit: NASA TV |
The STS-116 crew folded the port solar array on the International Space
Station’s P6 truss during the mission's fourth spacewalk.
The 6-hour, 38 minute excursion by Mission Specialists Robert Curbeam
and Christer Fuglesang concluded at 8:38 p.m. EST Monday.
Curbeam and Fuglesang freed up the array for retraction with several
techniques -- pulling guide wires, flipping grommets, and pushing panel
hinges. The spacewalkers also shook the solar array panel. The final bay
was folded about 6:54 p.m. EST.
One of the guide wires looped out of the proper configuration during
the folding process and the spacewalkers tightened it before commands
were sent to latch the arrays.
Another objective of Monday’s spacewalk, which was STS-116’s
fourth, was to collect information that could prove useful when the opposite
side of the array is retracted during the STS-117 mission in March.
The start of the spacewalk at 2 p.m. was a historic moment for Curbeam,
who became the first astronaut to conduct four spacewalks during a single
mission. This was Fuglesang’s third. Expedition 14 Flight Engineer
Sunita Williams conducted one.
Pilot Bill Oefelein coordinated the spacewalk activities. Mission Specialist
Joan Higginbotham and Williams were at the controls of the station’s
robot arm, Canadarm2.
Attention now turns to Discovery’s departure. Discovery is scheduled
to undock at 5:09 p.m. Tuesday, ending STS-116’s eight-day stay
at the station.
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