14 DAY TRIAL // Following a spectacular launch, the shuttle Endeavour reached its target, the International Space Station, on Sunday, nearly two days after take-off. The ISS and the Endeavour crews greeted each other warmly and after the newly-arrived accommodated, they proceeded to their tasks. The main goals were to unload and install a hefty supply of equipment that would double the crew that the station could support and to repair a stuck joint of the solar panel that prevented it from rotating and acquire the maximum amount of energy.
The unloading of the 21-foot (6.4-meter) long container called "Leonardo", which contains about 15,000 pounds (6.8 tons) of equipment, is going as planned. The new toilet, kitchenette, beds, fridge, exercise machine and the novel water purifying device that transforms urine and condensation into drinking water will help the space station to be able to hold six persons instead of just three during 2009's space missions.
Prior to Endeavour's docking procedures, the astronauts aboard the ISS took pictures of the shuttle, which, together with the ones taken upon launch, will help NASA technicians assess whether it has sustained any damage during the lift-off procedures. They believed that a piece of its thermal blanket had been ripped off, but based on the images obtained, they are more convinced that the piece of debris they observed was just a small chunk of ice which did not affect the shuttle.
The work on the clogged joint began yesterday with the crew's first of the four spacewalks that would be mainly focused on repairing it. Lubrication, wiping the metal shavings and replacing the bearings of the joint are thought to bring it back into operating conditions. Also, similar preventing works are being performed on the joint's counterpart from the opposite side of the station. During the operation, astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper accidentally lost grip on her tool bag, following the explosion of a grease gun within it.
She was trying to wipe clean the other tools in the bag when she dropped the greased tote, but she still continued to perform the joint maintenance activity with tools provided by her colleague, Stephen Bowen. “Despite my little hiccup, or major hiccup, I think we did a good job out there,” said Stefanyshyn-Piper, quoted by the Associated Press and cited by MSNBC.
This is not the first time astronauts drop tools in space, and the mission's flight director Ginger Kerrick stated that they're already too far (more than 2.5 miles – 4 kilometers) in order to represent any threat for the mission or for Endeavour. The mission is slated to be accomplished by the end of the month.