NASA STS-117 Status
Report #15
(16 June 2007) The situation aboard
space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station improved greatly
today following repair of a protruding thermal blanket, restoring power to
problematic Russian navigation computers, and completing retraction of a
finicky solar array.
Mission Specialists Jim Reilly and Danny
Olivas worked outside the station for 7 hours, 58 minutes and completed all
their planned tasks. Olivas spent two hours stapling and pinning down a thermal
blanket on Atlantis' orbital manoeuvring system pod. A 4-by-6-inch corner of
the blanket peeled up during the shuttle's launch last week.
Meanwhile,
Reilly installed the hydrogen vent valve of a new oxygen generation system on
the Destiny laboratory. The system will separate oxygen from water to provide
breathing air, while dumping the remaining component - hydrogen -
overboard.
When those tasks were completed, the two astronauts joined
forces with their colleagues inside the shuttle and station and flight
controllers in Houston to complete the delicate process of folding an older
solar array so that it can be moved from its temporary location to its
permanent home during a shuttle mission this fall.
Armed with lessons
learned from last December's shuttle mission when the other half of the array
posed an identical challenge, the STS-117 mission team followed well-trained
procedures to retract the array into its protective box. The retraction was
completed and latches closed at 7:40 p.m. (7 hours, 15 minutes into the
spacewalk). Reilly and Olivas provided hands-on assistance throughout the
process.
The retraction sequence today required 28 commands, bringing
the total for the retraction to 45.
Behind the scenes while the
spacewalk was ongoing, Russian flight controllers were troubleshooting two
Russian computers that provide backup attitude control and orbital altitude
adjustments for the station's control moment gyroscopes. Station commander
Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov were able to get two of three
lanes in both computers up and running after bypassing with external cabling
what appeared to be a faulty power switch.
The computers are now being
monitored for proper operation, awaiting additional data evaluation overnight
when the station passes over Russian ground stations for detailed telemetry
downlink. Each computer requires only one lane running to perform its
duties.
One final spacewalk is planned for Sunday, when Mission
Specialists Patrick Forrester and Steve Swanson will perform get-ahead tasks
and finish preparing the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint for activation. Its function
is to allow a new pair of solar arrays to track the Sun as the station circles
the Earth.
The crew will spend part of Saturday getting ready for the
last spacewalk and discuss the mission during the traditional news conference
at 3 p.m.
The next STS-117 status report will be issued Saturday
morning, or earlier if events warrant.
(source: NASA Johnson Space
Center)