14 DAY TRIAL // Freshly arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday afternoon, the space shuttle Atlantis is already being unloaded of its massive containers carrying spare parts, in the mission's first spacewalk. Three such extra-vehicular activities (EVAs) are scheduled for the 11-day mission. During all of them, spacewalkers will handle the large spare parts that were ferried to orbit with the STS-129 assembly flight. At the time of this article, the first spacewalk of the mission is already taking place.
“At 9:24 am EST (1424 GMT), STS-129 spacewalkers Mike Foreman and Robert L. Satcher, Jr switched their suits to battery power, signifying the start of today’s 6.5-hour excursion. Atlantis mission specialist Randy Bresnik will be inside the International Space Station, choreographing the activities and coordinating communications between the spacewalkers and Mission Control in Houston,” an official press release on NASA's website says.
“Once they get outside, Foreman and Satcher will install a spare S-band antenna structural assembly to the Z1 segment of the station’s truss, or backbone. To get there, Satcher will ride the station’s robotic arm, driven by Atlantis crew mates Charles Hobaugh, Leland Melvin and Barry Wilmore,” the release adds.
The station's Destiny laboratory will also receive a new set of cables, which will prepare it for the future addition of a new space-to-ground antenna, aimed at boosting the station communication capabilities. Additionally, a number of tasks will be dedicated to preparing the outer segments of the ISS for the arrival of NASA's new module, which is known as Node 3, or Tranquility.
The new module is scheduled to be flown to the orbital facility on February 4, 2010, aboard space shuttle Endeavor, during the STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) mission. The two spacewalkers would then proceed to make minor adjustments and perform maintenance work on the S0 truss cable connections, the latching snares on the Japanese space agency's (JAXA) Kibo robotic arm, and also on the outpost's mobile base system.
“This is the 228th spacewalk conducted by U.S. astronauts, the 134th in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the fourth for Foreman and the first for Satcher. Foreman is the lead spacewalker and wears a suit with solid red stripes. His helmet cam displays number 16. Satcher is wearing an all-white spacesuit and his helmet cam displays number 18,” NASA announces. All of the spacewalks can be viewed live, by tuning in on NASA TV. While the spacewalk is ongoing outside, inside the station, NASA astronaut Nicole Stott is celebrating her 47th birthday.