Oct 31
NASA Delays 4th Spacewalk
Houston, TX–October 31, ‘07–NASA canceled a spacewalk Wednesday as it scrambled to deal with two power problems at the international space station.
The spacewalk set for Thursday was supposed to deal with a malfunctioning rotary joint for the solar wings on the right side of the space station. Instead, the astronauts were informed that their next spacewalk would be Friday –at the earliest–and involve work with the station’s ripped solar wing.
Both issues are competing for the precious little spacewalking time that’s left in Discovery’s mission, which already was extended a day after the joint problem cropped up last weekend. The problems could delay future missions and make it even harder to finish building the orbiting outpost before the space shuttles must be retired.
Five spacewalks had been scheduled for Discovery’s space station construction mission, the most ever attempted for a mission like this. In the 26-year history of space shuttle flight, five spacewalks have been performed only on Hubble Space Telescope repair missions.
NASA generally needs at least one day in between spacewalks to allow the astronauts to rest and get the space station prepared for the outings.
The solar wing damage occurred as it was being unfurled Tuesday. The tear forced NASA to halt the process before the wing was full extended.
Until at least one of the problems is resolved, the station won’t be able to generate enough power to support new equipment, such as a European lab that is supposed to be delivered by Atlantis in December. Delaying that mission would set back other deliveries, including the planned February installation of a new Japanese lab. More at NASA