Fourth Excursion Planned For Thursday

NASA tells ANN astronauts and ground controllers are looking at apparent damage to the P6 4B solar array spotted by the crew during deployment. NASA halted the deployment of the solar array wing to evaluate the damage. Deployment is about 75 percent complete with 25 of 31 bays deployed.

The crew has been asked to photograph the area on the solar array wing and downlink the images to the ground.

Meanwhile during post-spacewalk activities, Mission Specialist Doug Wheelock reported to the ground that he has noted a hole in one of his gloves. He is sending photos to the ground for assessment.

Along with fellow Mission Specialist Scott Parazynski, Wheelock helped install the P6 truss in its permanent location and inspected the port Solar Alpha Rotary Joint today during STS-120’s third spacewalk. The seven-hour, eight-minute excursion wrapped up at 1153 EDT Tuesday.

Shortly after the spacewalk began, Parazynski and Wheelock went to work at the end of the port truss to help station robotic arm operators attach the P6 to its new location on P5. The two provided verbal cues to Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Dan Tani and Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson as they aligned the truss. Once the 17.5 ton truss was in place, the spacewalkers secured it and attached its power source.

After completing the truss work, Parazynski inspected the port rotary joint and found no evidence of any debris. He described the joint's race rings as "nice and clean." The spacewalkers also installed a spare main bus switching unit on a station storage platform.

Mission Specialist Paolo Nespoli coordinated today’s spacewalk activities. Pilot George Zamka was the shuttle robot arm operator.

STS-120’s fourth spacewalk to perform additional inspections of the starboard rotary joint will take place Thursday.

(Image and story courtesy of NASA)

FMI: www.nasa.gov