ISS Will Soon Have Its Own Robot

Dextre's good to go... now, it just needs its "eyes" and "hands." STS-123 Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Robert L. Behnken were hard at work Monday evening, outside the orbiting complex formed by the docked International Space Station and space shuttle Endeavour.

The two astronauts began the third spacewalk of the STS-123 mission at 1851 EDT. The primary goal of the excursion was the outfitting of Dextre, the final element of the station’s Mobile Servicing System. As ANN reported, Dextre was powered on Sunday morning, after some early stumbling blocks.

With Mission Specialist Mike Foreman coordinating spacewalk activities from inside the orbiting complex, Linnehan and Behnken installed a spare parts platform and tool handling assembly for Dextre. Among other tasks, they also checked out and calibrated Dextre’s end effector, and moving some spare parts.

As part of the third of five planned spacewalks during Endeavour's stay at the ISS, Dextre also received its "eyes" -- two cameras, located at waist-level on the 11.5-foot robot, according to The Canadian Press. In addition, the spacewalkers installed the MISSE-6 materials experiment on the outside of the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory.

Space shuttle Endeavour Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman operated the station’s robot arm during the spacewalk.

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

FMI: www.nasa.gov