NASA Lauds Spacewalk, Ponders ISS Completion

HOUSTON - NASA lauded its astronaut crews today for an unprecedented spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) to stitch up a torn solar array wing.

Mission managers said the spacewalk performed by astronauts Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock broke the record for robotic arm reach and duration and was one of the most exciting they have ever experienced.

"This is a pretty big one," said Dina Contella, the STS-120 mission's lead spacewalk officer, of the spacewalk's rank in history. "I've been working in the spacewalk business for about 12 years, and I'll put it as number one."

ISS lead flight director Derek Hassmann commended astronauts and planning teams on the ground for putting the spacewalk together in a matter of days--a process that typically takes months to do.

"Today's a huge day and just an unbelievable success," Hassmann said.

Quick fix

To repair the maimed solar array, Parazynski snipped off wires thought to be the cause of the damage, then enforced the weakened accordion-like blanket with five handcrafted "cuff links" made by astronauts in space.

Once patched together, Parazynski looked on as Mission Control here in Houston fully deployed the scarred solar array.

"Yay!" Parazynski shouted in his spacesuit after the solar blanket deployed.

ISS program manager Mike Suffredini said the space station's solar arrays were not intended to be stitched-up, but are now functioning as expected.

"It didn't look like we quite expected it," Suffredini said, "but ? you have your baby, your baby's beautiful to you, and our baby is still beautiful to us."

Schedule pressure

The solar array tore on Oct. 30, only two days after spacewalkers found troubling metallic grit in solar-array-rotating gears.

Under pressure to pick one to fix before the space shuttle Discovery and its crew leave, Suffredini said he had no regrets going after the damaged solar blanket.

"I don't look back on that decision and question it," Suffredini said, noting that it was the most important problem to resolve before adding additional pieces to the orbital laboratory. "Fixing this array let us get on with assembly."

Suffredini said adding the Columbus laboratory module with December's STS-122 mission would not be an issue.

But after February's planned launch of Japan's module and a new robotic arm system, the NASA official hinted that the remaining problem--a gritty solar alpha rotary joint (SARJ)--might delay space station construction.

"This is the day in the life of a space station," Suffredini said, noting that he will have astronauts repair the potentially damaged component as soon as possible.

The space shuttle Discovery is set to depart the space station on Monday, Nov. 5 and touch down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) around 4:11 p.m. EDT (2011 GMT). ISS astronaut Clay Anderson will ride Discovery home, leaving STS-120 spacewalker and robotic arm operator Dan Tani to help outfit the space station for the arrival of new laboratories.

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