Spacewalkers Prepare Space Station for Module Move

This story was updated at 2:25 p.m. EST.

Spacewalking astronauts primed the International Space Station (ISS) for the upcoming move of two massive modules Friday as they continued construction of their high-flying laboratory.

Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko cleared a space shuttle docking port for its planned Monday move to the end of the new Harmony node during a nearly seven-hour spacewalk outside the ISS.

?You guys did a great job,? said Expedition 16 flight engineer Dan Tani, who choreographed the extravehicular activity (EVA) from inside the ISS

The two astronauts wrestled with tough bolts - one of which prevented the installation of a new handrail - and tackled stubborn electrical cables which Whitson said felt glued on at times.

?Looks like, for the next EVA, we?ll need one of those hydraulic jaws-of-life machines,? Tani said.

The Expedition 16 crew will either attach or disconnect some 77 electrical and cooling lines - half of them today - by the end of their spacewalk trio later this month, NASA said.

The astronauts were initially slated to perform today?s spacewalk during NASA?s recent STS-120 shuttle mission to the ISS, but vital repairs to a torn solar wing delayed the activity.

Busy week ahead

Whitson and Malenchenko stepped outside the station?s Quest airlock at 4:54 a.m. EST (0954 GMT) - a full hour early - to begin the first of three spacewalks planned for the next two weeks.

The spacewalks and two critical hardware relocations next week will equip Harmony with a shuttle docking port, then perch the nearly 16-ton hub to the front of Destiny. The docking port, known as Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 (PMA-2), currently sits at the tip of Destiny and also must be moved.

?We have a very ambitious, very challenging, stage ahead of us,? NASA?s lead ISS flight director Derek Hassmann told reporters after today?s spacewalk.

Harmony is an Italian-built module about the size of a small school bus that is designed to serve as the docking point for European and Japanese laboratories at the ISS. Astronauts installed the multi-port node at a temporary spot during the STS-120 mission, but must move it to a permanent berth before the European Space Agency?s Columbus lab can launch toward the station aboard NASA?s shuttle Atlantis on Dec. 6.

Hassmann said that whether the ISS will be ready for Atlantis? launch, or need to ask shuttle officials to delay the orbiter?s STS-122 mission by a few days, is still uncertain.

?From my perspective, I?m taking it one day at a time,? Hassmann said. ?I would say today it?s too early to say whether we?d be ready on [December] sixth, the seventh or the eighth.?

Once the station?s PMA-2 docking port is attached to Harmony on Monday using the outpost?s crane-like robotic arm, the entire assembly will be relocated to the front of Destiny on Wednesday. Two more spacewalks, on Nov. 20 and Nov. 24, will follow to make final power and cooling connections between Harmony and the ISS.

The Expedition 16 astronauts have agreed to work through their Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 22 in a bid to ready the space station in time to launch Columbus in December, mission managers have said.

Columbus?s launch, as well as those of other components built by NASA?s ISS partner nations, has been delayed for years as the U.S. agency recovered from the 2003 Columbia accident and improved shuttle flight safety.

Friday?s spacewalk marked the 97th dedicated to space station maintenance or construction. It also marked Whitson?s second career spacewalk, for a total time of 11 hours and 20 minutes working outside a spacecraft. Malenchenko made his fourth spacewalk for a total of 24 hours and 12 minutes.

Protected gloves

NASA?s lead spacewalk officer Tomas Gonzalez-Torres said that a plan to avoid spacesuit damage by having Whitson and Malenchenko wear coverings known as ?overgloves? over their spacesuit gloves appeared to work well.

?There was no damage to either one of the overgloves or the gloves themselves on this EVA, which is great,? Gonzalez-Torres said, adding that Malenchenko did describe a slight layer separation on his overglove that appeared to be a manufacturing issue, not damage.

Spacesuit glove damage cut an August spacewalk short and astronauts now check their gloves periodically to ensure they are safe to continue working outside the ISS.

During their six-hour, 55-minute spacewalk, Whitson and Malenchenko also replaced a broken ISS circuit breaker box, removed an external light, retrieved an antenna electronics box, and removed a foil-lined cover dubbed the ?shower cap? from the end of Harmony.

?I?m looking through this window and all I can see is aluminum foil,? said Tani of the cover while the spacewalkers returned to the station?s airlock. ?It looks like a turkey cooking in the oven.?

?That would be us!? joked Whitson.

• VIDEO: ISS Commander Peggy Whitson Takes Charge
• SPACE.com VIDEO Interplayer: STS-120 Mission Brings 'Harmony' to ISS
• Complete ISS Expedition Coverage