STS-123 MCC Status
Report #13
(17 March 2008) A new robot came alive
and moved its arms outside the International Space Station
overnight.
Astronauts onboard the station moved Dextre, the
Canadian Space Agency's Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, for the first
time.
Station Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman and Mission Specialist
Robert L. Behnken first put Dextre through a series of tests to make sure the
brakes on the joints on the two 11-foot arms on the robot work. Dextre passed
those tests Sunday evening.
Later, Reisman and Behnken were the first to
move Dextre's arms, positioning them for Dextre's final assembly during the
mission's third spacewalk. The movement was completed at 11:22 p.m. CDT. The
placement will allow Behnken and Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan to install
additional accessories and remove thermal blankets from Dextre.
Work
inside the Japanese Kibo Experiment Logistics Module-Pressurized Section
continued ahead of schedule. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Astronaut Takao
Doi and European Space Agency Astronaut Leopold Eyharts gathered supplies to
prepare for the STS-124 mission, when space shuttle Discovery will bring up
Kibo's laboratory module.
The spacewalkers, Linnehan and Behnken, are
camping out in the Quest Airlock. The hatch was closed at 4:53 a.m.
All
ten crewmembers are scheduled to awaken at 1:28 p.m.
Preparations for
today's spacewalk will resume at 2:08 p.m. and the spacewalk is scheduled to
begin at 6:23 p.m.
The next STS-123 status report will be issued after
crew wake-up on Monday, or earlier if events warrant.
(source:
NASA)
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