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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