Crew Readies Dextre For Action; NASA May Extend Endeavour's Stay

Robots ruled Tuesday for the STS-123 and Expedition 16 crews, as crewmembers spent some time indoors following two successful spacewalks three days.

Canadarm 2, the International Space Station’s robot arm, grabbed the pallet that secured Dextre during its journey to the orbital outpost, and return the pallet to space shuttle Endeavour’s payload bay for return to Earth, according to NASA.

The Canadian-built Dextre is the final element of the station’s Mobile Servicing System. Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan (shown above) and Mike Foreman finished assembling Dextre Sunday during the second spacewalk of STS-123.

As ANN reported, Linnehan and Robert L. Behnken installed the orbiting, all-purpose repair-bot's "eyes" (a pair of waist-mounted cameras) and "hands" (a number of tools) during a spacewalk late Monday evening.

The station and shuttle crews also will prepare hardware to be used in a shuttle tile repair test on the next spacewalk, and they will get some much needed off duty time.

Foreman and Behnken are slated to begin the mission’s fourth spacewalk at 1828 EDT Thursday. The two will perform tasks that include the shuttle tile repair test and change out of a circuit breaker on the station.

FMI: www.nasa.gov