[sarex] One Spacewalk Down, Two to Go

[Arthur Rowe <azrowe80@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

Mission Specialists Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum successfully completed 
STS-121’s first spacewalk at 4:49 p.m. EDT today. The excursion outside 
Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station featured two 
major scheduled tasks.

First, Sellers and Fossum installed a device to block the cutter blade 
on the station’s mobile transporter. The device will prevent the blade 
from cutting a power and data cable that links the mobile transporter to 
the rest of the station. After the installation was complete, they 
reattached the cable. Their work will allow the mobile transporter to 
move the robotic arm along the station’s integrated truss structure, 
once a reel assembly that plays out the cable is replaced during the 
mission’s second spacewalk Monday.

Then, the orbital duo tested the ability of the shuttle’s robotic arm 
and boom extension to be used as a platform for astronauts who would 
conduct heat shield repairs. Sellers worked on the end of the 50-foot 
extension before being joined by Fossum to simulate various working 
conditions.

The space walkers were assisted from inside the shuttle/station complex 
by Pilot Mark Kelly, who was the spacewalk coordinator. Mission 
Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson operated the shuttle’s 
robotic arm. The spacewalk began at 9:17 a.m. EDT.

Monday’s spacewalk is slated to begin at 8:13 a.m. EDT, and the third 
spacewalk will be performed on Wednesday.

+ NASA TV <http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html> | + STS-121 
Shuttle Mission TV Schedule 
<http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/mission_schedule.html>

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