SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
*Crews Complete Array Repair, Deployment* 3 November 2007
Image Above: Astronaut Scott Parazynski, riding on the end of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, assesses his repair work as the solar array is fully deployed. Image credit: NASA TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock successfully repaired a torn solar array today during STS-120’s fourth spacewalk.
Shortly after the spacewalk began, Parazynski rode the station’s robotic arm up to the damaged area of the array. He was secured in a foot restraint on the end of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, or OBSS – the extension to the shuttle robot arm used for inspection of the orbiter’s thermal protection system.
After reaching the area of the damage, Parazynski went to work installing the cufflinks that were built by the crew. Once the five cufflinks were in place, the crew inside then deployed the array half a bay at a time until the array was fully deployed.
The spacewalk is scheduled to wrap up about 1 p.m.