SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
*Spacewalk Ends Early; Major Tasks Completed*
Flight controllers decided just before 3 p.m. EDT to end today’s spacewalk early because of damage to the outer layer of one of Mission Specialist Rick Mastracchio’s gloves. Even though there is no threat to his safety, the decision was made as a precaution.
His spacewalking partner, Clay Anderson, is finishing with the retrieval of a transponder on the Port 6 truss. Mastracchio will remain in the Quest airlock until Anderson returns to the airlock following finishing that task.
Retrieval of the two MISSE experiments will be deferred to a future spacewalk. The experiments were deployed in August 2006 and will be returned to Earth for analysis.
Mastracchio and Anderson have completed most of the scheduled spacewalk activities. They continued preparations for the relocation of the Port 6 (P6) truss and its solar arrays by moving two Crew Equipment Translation Aid carts along the Integrated Truss Structure rail system. This will allow the station’s arm to perform the P6 relocation work during STS-120. The P6 will be moved from atop the station to the end of the Port 5 truss.
Early in the spacewalk, the duo relocated an antenna from the Port 6 (P6) to the Port 1 (P1) truss. In addition to the antenna relocation, the spacewalkers installed a new transponder and signal processor in an S-band communications system upgrade.
Today’s spacewalk was Mastracchio’s third of the mission. Anderson, who arrived at the station in June, conducted his first spacewalk on July 23 with Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin.
Mission Specialist Tracy Caldwell is the spacewalk coordinator, and Pilot Charles Hobaugh is at the controls of the station’s robotic arm.
*Mission Management Team Update*
Mission managers have determined that damage to a small section of Endeavour’s heat shield poses no threat to crew safety or mission operations. However, they are discussing options for possible repair work that would ensure preparations on the ground for Endeavour’s next flight will go more smoothly. The damage occurred during the climb to orbit on Aug. 8.
+ View video of tile damage http://www.nasa.gov/mov/186009main_STS118_Site1_Rev2.mov
*Orbiter Thermal Protection System Inspection and Repair Techniques* STS-114 Press Kit excerpt, July 2005 + Identifying and repairing tile damage in flight (444 Kb pdf) http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/186088main_sts114_excerpt_inflight_repair.pdf + Orbiter's Thermal Protection System http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/sts_sys.html#sts-tps + Thermal Protection System Fact sheet http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/nasafact/tps.htm + 'How Things Work' Thermal Protection System video http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/videos/metafiles/ksc_022805_htw_tps.ram
*Mission Information* + View Barbara Morgan Video javascript:watchNASAOnDemandTV('','http://mfile.akamai.com/18565/rm/etouchsyst2.download.akamai.com/18355/real.nasa-global/sts-118/STS118_Morgan.ram','http://mfile.akamai.com/18566/wmv/etouchsyst2.download.akamai.com/18355/wm.nasa-global/STS-118/STS118_Morgan.asx') + STS-118 Mission Overview http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts118/index.html + STS-118 Fact Sheet (900 Kb PDF) http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/184910main_sts118_factsheet4.pdf + STS-118 NASA TV Schedule http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/mission_schedule.html + STS-118 Briefing Animations http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts118/multimedia/sts118_anim_07102007.html + STS-117 Mission Archive http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts117/main/index.html