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International Space Station – October 30, 2007– Astronauts and ground controllers are looking at apparent damage to the P6 4B solar array spotted by the crew during deployment. NASA halted the deployment of the solar array wing to evaluate the damage. Deployment is about 75 percent complete with 25 of 31 bays exposed.
The crew has takes pictures of the damaged area on the solar array wing and will send them to mission control for evaluation.
Meanwhile during post-spacewalk activities, Mission Specialist Doug Wheelock reported to the ground that he has noted a hole in one of his gloves. He is also sending photos to the ground for review.
Earlier in the day, Wheelock and fellow Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski installed the P6 truss in its permanent location during STS-120’s third spacewalk. The 7-hour, 8-minute excursion wrapped up at 11:53 a.m. EDT.
Shortly after the spacewalk began, Parazynski and Wheelock went to work at the end of the port truss to help station robotic arm operators attach the P6 to its new location on P5. The two provided verbal cues to Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Dan Tani and Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson as they aligned the truss. Once the 17.5 ton truss was in place, the spacewalkers secured it and attached its power source.
After completing the truss work, Parazynski inspected the port rotary joint and found no evidence of any debris. He described the joint's race rings as "nice and clean."
Earlier in the mission, managers decided Parazynski should take a closer look at the rotary joint after analyzing photos of debris found inside the station’s starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint. The joints rotate the solar arrays to track the sun for electrical power generation.
The spacewalkers also installed a spare main bus switching unit on a station storage platform.
Mission Specialist Paolo Nespoli coordinated today’s spacewalk activities. Pilot George Zamka was the shuttle robot arm operator.
STS-120’s fourth spacewalk to perform additional inspections of the starboard rotary joint will take place Thursday.
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A view of P6 4B solar array wing. The solar array provides power to the station and sustained damage today while astronauts were attempting to open the array. Image credit: NASA TV
NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski hangs out near the airlock used to move between the space station and space. This is the third of five space walks scheduled for this mission.
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