Posted on 12/18/2006 7:38:17 AM PST by NormsRevenge
HOUSTON - The space shuttle Discovery crew was awakened by the Beach Boys hit "Good Vibrations" on Monday to get them ready for a day of work trying to shake loose a jammed solar energy array.
Two spacewalking astronauts were scheduled to work on the stuck solar wing, with instructions from their counterparts inside the international space station and in Mission Control.
It was to be the fourth spacewalk of this now 13-day mission. NASA added it to the schedule on Saturday after several attempts to fully fold the solar array were unsuccessful.
U.S. astronaut Robert Curbeam was poised to set a new record for the most spacewalks completed on a mission by a single crew member, this being his fourth. Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang, who paired up with Curbeam on two earlier spacewalks, will assist as Curbeam attempts to loosen stuck grommets on the 115-foot array.
The planned activity inspired the "Good Vibrations" wake-up music.
"Good morning, Discovery," Mission Control astronaut Shannon Lucid radioed up. "We sort of thought that the wakeup music this morning summed up our hopes for the day."
NASA began retracting the accordion-like structure on Wednesday to make room for some new solar arrays that must rotate to face the sun in order to generate electricity. The new arrays would kick in after astronauts rewired the station over two spacewalks.
Reconfiguring the orbiting space lab's interim power system to a permanent electricity grid was a primary goal of the Discovery mission. But the old array, part of the interim system, retracted only halfway before stalling. That was enough to allow the new arrays to rotate but NASA needs it to fold fully into a box so it can be moved to a permanent position on a later shuttle flight.
On the last scheduled spacewalk, which took place Saturday, Curbeam and Sunita Williams went to the array after completing their main tasks, and spent about two hours shaking the array, trying to coax apart the problem grommets. They partially succeeded and other astronauts were able to command the array to retract several degrees more. But more grommets got stuck and the spacewalking duo's time was up.
Asked by a reporter how important is it to get the arrays retracted, crew member Joan Higginbotham, who will be operating a crane-like robotic arm during the spacewalk, offered this assessment: "It's very important from a personal standpoint," she said. "I think we're all very Type A personalities — I think my crew would agree with me there — so we always like to accomplish the task that we are given."
The array could safely be left in its current configuration for a couple of months, but NASA managers decided to take advantage of the extra hands on deck and the flexibility in their time schedule to try and resolve the problem now.
"Of course it's a little more challenging because we haven't done the training on the ground for it, but we did have a lot of generic training for solar array wing deploy and retract," Curbeam said in an interview Sunday evening. "I have a pretty good feeling that we've got a good chance for success."
The robotic arm will take Curbeam to the trouble spots on the array, and he'll have a variety of tools with which to pry the grommets — and a guide wire that runs through them — free.
Curbeam said he'll treat the spacewalk like any other, but added, "Probably the most important thing is for us to keep in mind that since it's my fourth — and you tend to get more and more comfortable as you go along — just to make sure we don't make any mistakes."
Discovery is set to land on Friday, having left the space station with a 2-ton, $11 million addition installed and a new power system. They'll leave Williams on the space station as its newest resident and bring back her predecessor, German astronaut Thomas Reiter.
In this image from NASA Television, astronauts, clockwise from top right, Mark Polansky, Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Robert Curbeam, and William Oefelein say goodbye after a televised conference, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2006. Discovery's crew on Sunday prepared spacesuits, relocated the station's robotic arm and mobile platform so they can be used during the spacewalk and moved cargo from the station to the shuttle for the trip home. (AP Photo/NASA TV)
Mission Specialist Sunita Williams rides a portable foot restraint attached to a robotic arm down into the cargo bay of the space shuttle Discovery on December 16. Astronauts are set to undertake another space walk to dislodge a stuck solar array on the International Space Station, following several failed attempts to fold the array automatically.(AFP/NASA/File)
The kinks in the International Space Station's troublesome P6 solar arrays are shown in NASA TV December 17, 2006 video grab. Shuttle Discovery crew members Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuslesang are preparing for an additional spacewalk to shake the array in order to aid in its complete retraction. REUTERS/NASA TV (UNITED STATES)
Give me a pair of 12" vise grips , a dead blow hammer, some duct tape and a "wonder-bar"..
We need a robotic arm that can make a fist to pound that sucker closed.
LOL
MY wife asked about this
I told her the space crew would go aout with a broomstick and bang on the darn thing.
I believe the correct term is vacuum welding for the base issue. If they had only hit with a dose of WD40 before launch......
As long as they have a can of WD-40 and a rubber mallet, they should get it fixed. They could end up jettisoning any arrays that prove unruly as a last resort and replace later.
It was kind of funny how the ground control advised the gal how to shake the panel ,, she's not going to be out there today, the Swede guy will be out and about with Curbeam.
The spacewalk is slated to begin at 2:12 p.m. EST. A little over 6½ hours has been scheduled if needed.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
click on Launch Video Player for Nasa TV coverage
spaceflightnow.com
1730 GMT (12:30 p.m. EST)
Astronauts Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang, Sweden's first man in space, are preparing for a fourth spacewalk today to help coax a recalcitrant solar array to fully retract. The astronauts are running a few minutes ahead of schedule and the spacewalk, the 77th devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, is expected to begin around 2 p.m.
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This spacewalk, organized on the fly, is dangerous. They will be retracting the array while the astronauts are out there. Be very, very careful!
spaceflightnow.com
1840 GMT (1:40 p.m. EST)
Depressurization of the airlock is underway.
Every EVA is dangerous, Mr. Whale. This one isn't really all that bad, unless they start trying to use their hands instead of their tools. Ack!
(There was talk of using the golf club, it's one of the longest things we've got on-orbit, and it already has a handle.)
spaceflightnow.com
1900 GMT (2:00 p.m. EST)
EVA BEGINS. Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang switched their spacesuits to internal battery power at 2:00 p.m. EST, marking the start time for today's spacewalk to assist retraction of the troublesome solar array.
This is Curbeam's seventh EVA and fourth of Discovery's mission. He is the first astronaut to ever conduct four spacewalks during a single shuttle flight. Fuglesang is making his third EVA.
Not to mention the not-fully-unfolded high-gain antenna on Galileo, reducing the return data rate to hundreds of bps.
In this image taken from NASA video, US space shuttle Discovery astronaut Robert Curbeam exits the Quest airlock on the International Space Station, December 16. Astronauts are set to undertake another space walk to dislodge a stuck solar array on the International Space Station, following several failed attempts to fold the array automatically.(AFP/NASA/File)
spaceflightnow.com
2012 GMT (3:12 p.m. EST)
Curbeam is performing his first hands-on work with the solar array. He is using a scrapper tool to adjust grommets and the guide wire.
spaceflightnow.com
2018 GMT (3:18 p.m. EST)
All of the grommets have been freed. The robot arm is backing Curbeam away from the array in preparation for a wing retraction attempt.
2015 GMT (3:15 p.m. EST)
A fray in the guide wire is snagging the grommets. Curbeam is using the scraper flick the grommets over the fray.
a putty scraper or a windshield ice scraper
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works for me. ;-)
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