Suits Perform Flawlessly On Five EVAs

Hamilton Sundstrand has reason to celebrate the recent successful completion of STS-123. The space suit the company designed performed flawlessly during more and longer space walks than ever before in International Space Station history.

The space walks (EVAs) occurred throughout the 16-day STS-123 mission to the International Space Station, during which the suit facilitated five EVAs totaling over 30 hours.

In addition to allowing preliminary deployment of the Japanese Kibo laboratory, the EVAs also accommodated assembly of the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, also known as Dextre, a Canadian-built robot that will help with future maintenance and service of the International Space Station.

Other EVAs were performed to stow the Orbiter Boom Sensor System onto the station's main truss, and to demonstrate shuttle tile repair materials using the Tile Repair Ablator Dispenser.

"Hamilton Sundstrand is pleased and proud to contribute to our nation's space exploration program," said Ed Francis, vice president and general manager of Hamilton Sundstrand Space, Land & Sea. "Our people work extremely hard to meet and exceed all mission requirements."

STS-123, the longest space shuttle mission ever to the ISS, was the 122nd space shuttle flight, the 25th to the station, and the second of six flights planned for 2008.

FMI: www.hamiltonsundstrand.com, www.nasa.gov