KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - Despite a couple minor glitches, spacewalkers Danny Olicas and Christer Fuglesang successfully completed all major objectives of the third anf final EVA during STS-128, deploying a payload attachment fitting and preparing the Unity connecting node for the arrival of the new Tranquility module next year.
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The first task today was the deployment of the payload attach mechanism on the starboard, or right side, S-3 truss segment of the space station's backbone.
Two Express Logisitic Carriers (ELC) will be installed on the fittings during the next shuttle mission in November.
ELC-1 will be installed on the P-3 truss and will hold a spare control moment gyroscope, an ammonia cooling tank assembly, nitrogen tank assembly, a spare pump module for the cooling system as well as a solar array battery charge/discharge unit, plasma contactor unit and a replacement latching end effector for the station's robot arm.
ELC-2 will be attached on the S-3 mechanism. It will also carry a control moment gyroscope and pump module along with a high-pressure tank, spare robot arm transporter umbilical system and science experiment support hardware.
In total, three ELC platforms will be attached to the outside of the space station to provide it with spare parts for ongoing maintenance after the shuttle, and its heavy load-lifting capability, is retired next year. While not as glamorous as assembly flights, the logisitics support missions are critical to keeping the station operating when the shuttle is no longer flying.
After the payload attach mechanism was deployed, Olivas and Fuglesang replaced a failed rate gyro assembly in the center of the station's truss.
The rate gyro assemblies help flight controllers to maintain and change the attitude of the space station as it orbits around the Earth. It's important to know not only where the station is and in what direction its oriented, but also how fast its orientation is changing, which is the function of the rate gyro assemblies.
To remove the failed assembly, Olivas disconnected two cables and removed two bolts. Fuglesang removeed the other two bolts holding the assembly in place, and then Olivas removed it and temporarily store it nearby. Olivas and Fuglesang will each drive four bolts, and connected its two cables before moving on to the next task.
After the gyro assembly replacement was completed, Olivas went to work to replace two GPS antennas while Fuglesang removed a failed remote power control module.
The RPCM work was time-critical. In order to safe the electrical system and remove the module, several critical station sub-system had to be powered down. This included one of the guidance system's gyroscopes and one of the two external cooling loops on the space station.
The final major task of the EVA was to prepare the outside of the Unity module for the arrival of Node 3, or Tranquility, next year. Both Olivas and Fuglesang worked to snake two 60-foot long power cables from a distribution box on the truss to the left side of Unity.
It was at this point that the first hitch in the spacewalk plan cropped up. Fuglesang was unable to get one of the cables to plug in correctly, so he had to just wrap it with insulation and tie it down for correcting on a future spacewalk.
At some point while he was wrestling with the stiff 1 1/2 inch diameter cables, Fuglesang's helmet camera became detached from his spacesuit, connected only by its power cable.
Olivas unplugged the camera and removed it, but, with nighttime approaching and Fuglesang now without helmet lights, he headed back to the safety of the airlock.
EVA-3 ended at 11:40 p.m. EDT with the represurrization of the station's Quest airlock. During the next two days, the astronauts will work to complete all of the cargo transfer work and pack the Leonardo multi-purpose logistics module with trash, experiments and other items for the return trip to Earth.
Leonardo will be unberthed from the common berthing mechanism on the Harmony module Monday evening shortly before the hatches between Discovery and ISS are closed in preparation for undocking Tuesday afternoon.
(The Spacearium / Space Media Corporation)
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