Astronauts dismantle tank outside space dock
Source: Agencies |
April 10, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TWO spacewalking astronauts disconnected an empty ammonia tank outside the International Space Station yesterday and prepared another to replace it.
In the first of three spacewalks needed to complete the job, Clayton Anderson had no problem taking apart the ammonia lines on the old tank. But he needed a pry bar to remove the new tank out of space shuttle Discovery's payload bay. The tank got hung up on a bolt.
"Go nice and easy, Clay," spacewalking partner Rick Mastracchio warned as Anderson pushed and prodded with the pry bar. After several tries, the tank finally came free. "We got it!" Anderson called out.
The two men lifted the 771-kilogram tank out of Discovery and handed it to a robot arm, which maneuvered it into temporary storage at the space station.
The actual swap of the two tanks will take place during the second spacewalk on Sunday, with the entire job finally wrapping up on Tuesday.
Besides the tank work, Mastracchio and Anderson collected a science experiment from the space station's Japanese lab and replaced a failed station-positioning device.
Then the game plan changed. Instead of tackling battery work, they focused on hoses and clamps. Astronaut Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, directing the spacewalk from inside, urged the men to go slow because of the switch.
Mastracchio and Anderson were originally scheduled to work on old batteries on the far left end of the space station, along the sprawling power truss. But NASA canceled the task this week because of concern the two might get shocked. The work instead will be carried out on the next shuttle flight, once the spacesuits are better protected.
There were a few tense moments early in yesterday's spacewalk when Mastracchio reported that he bumped a large V-shaped bar in the shuttle payload bay and it was sliding around. He said it did not appear to be off its mooring.
Mission control later said engineers were "pretty convinced" it was normal for the clamp to move around a bit, but as a precaution, warned the spacewalkers to stay away from it.
In the first of three spacewalks needed to complete the job, Clayton Anderson had no problem taking apart the ammonia lines on the old tank. But he needed a pry bar to remove the new tank out of space shuttle Discovery's payload bay. The tank got hung up on a bolt.
"Go nice and easy, Clay," spacewalking partner Rick Mastracchio warned as Anderson pushed and prodded with the pry bar. After several tries, the tank finally came free. "We got it!" Anderson called out.
The two men lifted the 771-kilogram tank out of Discovery and handed it to a robot arm, which maneuvered it into temporary storage at the space station.
The actual swap of the two tanks will take place during the second spacewalk on Sunday, with the entire job finally wrapping up on Tuesday.
Besides the tank work, Mastracchio and Anderson collected a science experiment from the space station's Japanese lab and replaced a failed station-positioning device.
Then the game plan changed. Instead of tackling battery work, they focused on hoses and clamps. Astronaut Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, directing the spacewalk from inside, urged the men to go slow because of the switch.
Mastracchio and Anderson were originally scheduled to work on old batteries on the far left end of the space station, along the sprawling power truss. But NASA canceled the task this week because of concern the two might get shocked. The work instead will be carried out on the next shuttle flight, once the spacesuits are better protected.
There were a few tense moments early in yesterday's spacewalk when Mastracchio reported that he bumped a large V-shaped bar in the shuttle payload bay and it was sliding around. He said it did not appear to be off its mooring.
Mission control later said engineers were "pretty convinced" it was normal for the clamp to move around a bit, but as a precaution, warned the spacewalkers to stay away from it.
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