KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - Spacewalking astronauts Danny Olivas and Christer Fuglesang stepped outside the space station today for the second EVA of STS-128, successfully installing a new cooling system ammonia tank on the station's P! poert-side truss segment during a six hour, thirty-nine minute spacewalk that began at 6:12 p.m. EDT when the two astronauts switched their suits to battery power and stepped outside the Quest airlock.
COMPLETE STS-128 MISSION STORY AND VIDEO ARCHIVE PHOTO GALLERIES VISIT OUR ONLINE STORE FOR SPACE COLLECTIBLES FREE VIDEOS: WATCH VIDEO: CREW CHOICE VIDEO DOWNLINK WATCH VIDEO: EVA 2 OVERVIEW WATCH VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY SIX HIGHLIGHTS WATCH VIDEO: ISS FLIGHT DIRECTOR UPDATE WATCH VIDEO: MISSION STATUS BRIEFING WATCH VIDEO: SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER CAMERA REPLAYS ALL-ACCESS SUBSCRIBERS: DOWNLOAD VIDEO: SOLID ROCKET BOOSTER CAMERA REPLAYS - 1.2 MBPS VIDEO DOWNLOAD HI-DEF VIDEO: HD FLIGHT DAY SIX HIGHLIGHTS The EVA began almost an hour late while the chin strap on Olivas' communications cap underneath the suit helmet was adjusted. Mission control wants to avoid a repeat of a recurring situation during the last shuttle mission when there were communications problems with Chris Cassidy's suite because the microphone wouldn't stay in place. The first task of the spacewalk was to remove the new ammonia tank assembly from its carrier pallet in Discovery's payload bay, which took about an hour. After it was unmounted from the pallet, Fuglseang grabbed the 1700-pound unit and held it manually for transport to the work site on the truss. Anchored in a foot restraint on the station's robot arm, shuttle astronaut Kevin Ford slowly backed the arm away from the payload bay and moved Fuglseang, the new ammonia tank and the depleted tank that was removed during EVA 1 but still grappled by the arm to the P1 truss. The delicate maneuvering took about a half hour to complete. Meanwhile Olivas translated over to the worksite to meet his fellow spacewalker and the tank. With Fuglesang still on the arm and Olivas anchored to the station's truss, Ford gently lowered the new tank into place. Fuglseang and Ford drove four bolts to firmly mounting it in place. Then they hooked up electrical lines, the ammonia servicing lines and plumbing for the nitrogen pressurizing gas. "The new ATA has been checked out, it's fully integrated and is doing well," spcaecraft communicator Robert Hanley radioed from mission control. After the new tank was successfully installed, the astronauts returned to the shuttle's payload bay and mounted the spent ammonia tank onto the pallet that had previously held the new ATA. Even though the spacewalk got a late start, Olivas and Fuglseang made relatively quick work with the tank assembly, finishing well ahead of schedule before moving on to several get-ahead tasks that flight controllers put in the planning in case there was time available. Fuglseang installed protective covers over some cameras on the station's arm and relocated a portable foot restraint on the truss structure. Meanwhile Olivas set about connecting a heater cable on one of the complex's pressurized mating adapters. However, when he arrived at the work site, the cable wasn't where it was supposed to be, so mission control told him to skip the task and leave it for a future spacewalk so they can assess the discrepency. The final spacewalk of the mission will take place Saturday evening. Again Olivas and Fuglesang will step out of the Quest airlock and perform maintenance on the station. Tasks for EVA 3 include deploying a payload attach fitting that will be used to hold spare parts that will be delivered on the next shuttle flight and set up cabling in preparation for the installation of the Tranquility module next year. This was the 132nd spacewalk devoted to space station assembly and maintenance. With the completion of the EVA at 12:51 a.m. EDT, total space station EVA time now stands at 823 hours and 50 minutes. (The Spacearium / Space Media Corporation)
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