[sarex] Thermal Blanket Repair Complete;

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Thermal Blanket Repair Complete; Spacewalkers to Assist Array Folding*


STS-117 spacewalker Danny Olivas completed repair work on a thermal 
blanket that was out of position on space shuttle Atlantis. He and his 
partner, Mission Specialist Jim Reilly, will assist with the retraction 
of the Port 6 (P6) solar array before the completion of today’s spacewalk.

The orbital stroll began at 1:24 p.m. EDT with the duo tackling separate 
tasks. Olivas, while attached to the shuttle robot arm, tucked the 
blanket back into place and then used a medical stapler to secure it to 
adjacent blankets on Atlantis’ left orbital maneuvering system pod.

Meanwhile, Reilly went to work outside the International Space Station 
with the installation of a hydrogen vent on the Destiny Laboratory. The 
vent is for a new oxygen generation system.

During the second half of the spacewalk, they will be on top of the P6 
to assist with the retraction of the starboard solar array. Over a 
two-day period, the crew has folded about half of the array bays. A 
future shuttle crew will relocate the P6 to the end of the Port 5 truss.

If time allows, Reilly and Olivas will tackle other tasks outside the 
station. The spacewalk is scheduled to wrap up just before 8 p.m.

Mission Specialist Pat Forrester is coordinating today’s spacewalk 
activities. Pilot Lee Archambault and Mission Specialist Steve Swanson 
are the robot arm operators.

*Navigation Computers Troubleshooting Efforts Continue*

This afternoon, the crew inside the International Space Station was able 
to power-up two lanes of the Russian Central Computer and two lanes of 
the Terminal Computer by using a jumper cable to bypass a faulty 
secondary power switch. The current plan is to allow the computers to 
operate overnight and analyze the data Saturday morning.

Earlier in the day, International Space Station Program Manager Mike 
Suffredini told reporters Russian and U.S. flight controllers and 
engineers are focusing on efforts for recovering the computers and 
options to maintain attitude control until the problem is resolved.

“I think we’re in good shape,” Suffredini said. “We still have a lot of 
options to go through to recover these machines. We’ve got a talented 
group of people to look at attitude control.”

The navigation computers provide backup attitude control and orbital 
altitude adjustments. For now, the station’s control moment gyroscopes 
are handling attitude control, with the shuttle’s propulsion system 
providing backup.