[sarex] Spacewalk Preparations, Cargo Transfers on Tap Today

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Spacewalk Preparations, Cargo Transfers on Tap Today*

Image above: Mission Specialist Dave Williams floats near torso portions 
of two extravehicular mobility unit spacesuits in the Quest Airlock of 
the International Space Station. Image: NASA
TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.ht

Today, the STS-118 and Expedition 15 crews will continue cargo transfers 
and prepare for Saturday’s spacewalk. The 10 astronauts and cosmonauts 
will also hold the traditional joint crew news conference.

The Mission Management Team decided Thursday that Saturday’s spacewalk 
will not include repair of Space Shuttle Endeavour’s heat shield. After 
hours of reviewing data and imagery collected during the inspections by 
the STS-118 crew , the managers decided the damage did not pose a safety 
risk to the crew or Endeavour.

The spacewalk preparations include preparing equipment and reviewing 
procedures. Mission Specialist Dave Williams and space station Flight 
Engineer Clay Anderson will conduct the excursion, which is slated to 
kick off at 10:01 a.m. EDT(1404 UTC) Saturday.

The cargo transfers have been ongoing since shortly after Endeavour 
arrived Aug. 10. STS-118 delivered supplies and equipment to the orbital 
outpost and will return unneeded station items and science experiments 
to Earth.

The joint news conference will take place at 1:34 p.m.(1734 UTC) The 
crew members will field questions from reporters on the ground.