SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Spacewalkers Upgrade Communications System, Prepare for P6 Relocation*

Flight Engineer Clay Anderson holds a Crew Equipment Translation Aid cartImage above: Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Clay Anderson holds a Crew Equipment Translation Aid cart as he rides on the end of the International Space Station's robotic arm during STS-118's third spacewalk. Image: NASA TV TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Clay Anderson are rolling through their scheduled activities as they work outside the International Space Station.

They are currently setting the stage for the relocation of the Port 6 (P6) truss and its solar arrays from atop the station to the end of the Port 5 truss segment. They are 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.

Earlier 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 new transponder and signal processor in an S-band communications system upgrade.

Before the excursion ends, Mastracchio and Anderson will retrieve two materials science experiments from the station’s exterior. The experiments were deployed in August 2006 and will be returned to Earth for analysis.

Today’s spacewalk is 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.

The spacewalk is slated to end at 5:07 p.m. (2107 UTC)

*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