Thanks very much. I usually follow the launch and landing and some of the mission in between but too much happening on this part of the earth at the same time...:)
Okay, I don’t understand most of what folks are saying on the forum, but the screen shots of the astronaut (Scott?) on the end of that arm repairing the solar array panels take my breath away... and, from the posts, it was solar array 4B that was repaired and deployed?
All the best to Flight Engineer Daniel Tani during his time at the ISS. I’ll be back in the morning!!
No problem. I’ve found NASASpaceFlight to be the best resource around.
As far as the major events, they deployed the P4 array, and it had a tear (this was the first array that they had the most trouble with stowing way back late last year). They don’t know if the tear happened during the deploy or stow. But they had an “Apollo 13” moment where the ground team was working around the clock to figure out a fix and send procedures up to them. They ended up putting what they called “cufflinks” into the array to relieve the tension on the hinge. It seems to have worked because the arrays are holding and are properly tensioned.
Anyway, the payload bay doors are closed and the crew has manoeuvred into the communications attitude awaiting the deorbit burn. I’d love to provide live coverage but I’ll be out for most of entry, I’ll be back in time for wheels down if they take the first attempt, which it looks like they will.