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VIRTUALISATION Space Station set to accordion last of solar wings
VIRTUALISATION Space Station set to accordion last of solar wings | Space Station set to accordion last of solar wings |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Saturday, 21 March 2009 | |
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Previously, on Thursday, March 19th, a pair of astronauts—Steve Swanson and Richard Arnold—took just over six hours to attach the framework that contains the folded up solar panels after astronaut John Phillips used the robotic arm while standing inside the Space Station to lower it into place. The entire contraption was carried up to the Space Station (ISS) within payload bays 3 through 13 of the space shuttle Discovery. During the spacewalk, the two astronauts installed the Starboard 6 (S6) truss to the S5 truss, connected umbilical lines between the S5 and S6 trusses, released various restraints that were put in place for the launch of the STS-119 mission, removed keel pins, stored and removed thermal covers, and deployed the S6 photovoltaic radiator. The unfurling of the solar panels like an accordion will begin at about 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Friday, and is expected to take about five hours—a slow and tedious process that will try the patience of all concerned members of the NASA mission team. Astronaut Phillips stated, “We're looking forward to a wonderful day in space highlighted by the deployment of the S6 solar array wings, which really is going to bring the station to full power. It's going to be a full-up effort from the ground and the crew on orbit and we're really looking forward to working with you." [SpaceflightNow.com: “Power-generating solar wings to be unfurled today”] NASA space station flight director Kwatsi Alibaruho goes into much more detail, within the SpaceflightNow.com article, on the process taken by the astronauts on Friday to fully extend the S6 solar array wings. The astronauts will be extra cautious with these wings because they are the oldest pair of wings to be attached to the ISS. Page two continues with additional information on the mission. |
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