Beginning their space excursion at about 6 a.m. EDT, the pair, Parazynski and Tani, began their spacewalk by disconnecting cables and unscrewing bolts that connect a truss segment (girder)—which is about 35,000 pounds (15,800 kilogram) in weight, at least when on the surface of the Earth—to the space station. They then assisted astronauts Stephanie Wilson and Doug Wheelock, inside the station, in their activities to use the Canadian robotic arm to actually move the truss.

The truss will be temporarily stored for its permanent installation at another location during the spacewalk on Tuesday’s third space walk. Their activities are part of the process of moving a large solar array tower to another location on the station. Spacewalker Tani will also inspect a joint on the solar tower that has been causing problems.

Another task for Tani is to inspect handrails on the robotic arm for sharp edges. On an earlier spacewalk during mission STS-118 in August 2007, astronaut Rick Mastracchio noticed a tear in a portion of his glove. It is thought that a rough surface on the handrail may be the cause that the incident, along with another tear in astronaut Robert Curbeam’s glove during an STS-116 spacewalk.

Another task while outside the confines of the International Space Station is to add some equipment and handrails to the outside of the Harmony module, which was just installed on the first spacewalk. The equipment will allow the crew of the space station to move Harmony to its final location after the shuttle crew head for home at the completion of their assembly mission.

These activities are in preparation of two laboratory modules being installed onto Harmony. The European Space Agency’s Columbus science laboratory is scheduled to be delivered December 2007 onboard space shuttle Atlantis during STS-122. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo (Hope) laboratory is expected to be hooked up in April 2008 onboard space shuttle Discovery during STS-124.



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