Spacewalk Cut Short Due To Glove Damage
ANN REALTIME UPDATE 08.15.07 2145
EDT: And the decision is... to postpone making a decision.
NASA engineers announced late Wednesday it would hold off on
determining to add a fifth spacewalk to the STS-118 mission, to
conduct possibly risky repairs to the shuttle Endeavour's
underside.
Engineers said they were close to wrapping up tests, and would
decide Thursday whether to order repairs, according to The
Associated Press. When mission commander Scott Kelly asked Mission
Control which way managers were leaning, the reply was,
"Unfortunately, we have no idea which way the wind is blowing at
the moment."
A short time later, mission management team chairman John
Shannon told reporters he remained "cautiously optimistic" an
in-orbit repair attempt would not have to be made.
The decision -- to not make a decision just yet -- came after
flight controllers decided to end Wednesday's spacewalk early,
because of damage to the outer layer of one of Mission Specialist
Rick Mastracchio’s gloves. NASA says there was no threat to
his safety, and the decision was made as a precaution.
Up to that point, Mastracchio and Flight Engineer Clay Anderson
were about an hour ahead of schedule and had completed the major
tasks of the spacewalk. Mastracchio ended his portion of the
spacewalk about 1500 EDT, and Anderson wrapped up at 1605. Anderson
finished with the retrieval of a transponder on the Port 6 truss
after Mastracchio returned to the Quest airlock.
The damage was discovered during a routine scan of the gloves
with Mastracchio’s helmet cam. Both gloves had damage,
however, it was a small penetration in the outer layer of the left
thumb that caused flight controllers to make the decision to end
the spacewalk early.
Retrieval of the two MISSE experiments will be deferred to a
future spacewalk. The experiments were deployed in August 2006 and
will be returned to Earth for analysis.
NASA also told astronauts STS-118’s fourth spacewalk will
be moved to Saturday. The decision gives the STS-118 and Expedition
15 crew members an extra day to prepare for the spacewalk, which
was added to the mission after the STS-118 crew arrived at the
station.
ORIGINAL REPORT
1445 EDT: NASA reports astronauts Rick
Mastracchio and Clay Anderson are rolling through their scheduled
activities as they work outside the International Space Station,
during the third spacewalk of the STS-118 mission to the ISS.
The two men are setting the stage for the relocation of the Port
6 (P6) truss and its solar arrays from atop the station to the end
of the Port 5 truss segment. They are moving two Crew Equipment
Translation Aid carts along the Integrated Truss Structure rail
system. This will allow the station’s arm to perform the P6
relocation work during STS-120.
Earlier in the spacewalk, the duo relocated an antenna from the
Port 6 (P6) to the Port 1 (P1) truss. In addition to the antenna
relocation, the spacewalkers installed new transponder and signal
processor in an S-band communications system upgrade.
Before the excursion ends, Mastracchio and Anderson (above) will
retrieve two materials science experiments from the station’s
exterior. The experiments were deployed in August 2006 and will be
returned to Earth for analysis.
Today’s spacewalk is Mastracchio’s third of the
mission. Anderson, who arrived at the station in June, conducted
his first spacewalk on July 23 with Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor
Yurchikhin.
Mission Specialist Tracy Caldwell is the spacewalk coordinator
and Pilot Charles Hobaugh is at the controls of the station’s
robotic arm.
The spacewalk is slated to end at 1707 EDT.
Meanwhile, NASA engineers continue to deliberate on whether to
risk another spacewalk, to attempt to repair the damage to
Endeavour's heat shield suffered during last week's launch.
As ANN reported, NASA
determined the 3.5-inch gouge in two tiles near the orbiter's right
maingear door does not pose any risk to the orbiter's safe
reentry... but the agency may still want to repair the rend anyway,
to prevent heat-related damage to the shuttle's aluminum skin.
A decision is expected before the end of the day. Stay
tuned.
(Photos courtesy of NASA TV)