[sarex] STS-120 Astronauts to Go Spacewalking Today

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*STS-120 Astronauts to Go Spacewalking Today*
26 October 2007

The STS-120 and Expedition 16 crews are preparing for today’s spacewalk 
to install the Harmony module onto the International Space Station. 
STS-120 Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock are 
slated to begin their orbital stroll at 6:28 a.m. EDT.

The excursion is scheduled to last 6.5 hours. Mission Specialist Paolo 
Nespoli will be the spacewalk coordinator, assisting the spacewalkers 
with their tasks from inside the spacecraft. Mission Specialists 
Stephanie Wilson and Clay Anderson and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer 
Daniel Tani will be at the controls of the station’s Canadian-built 
robotic arm.

The spacewalkers’ first task will be the removal and stowage of the 
S-band Antenna Structural Assembly. Next, they will move on to the 
Harmony preparation work. They will secure a Payload and Data Grapple 
Fixture onto Harmony that could not be in place during launch, remove 
contamination covers and disconnect the power cables linking Harmony to 
Discovery.

The station robotic arm operators then will remove Harmony from the 
payload bay and begin moving it toward its position on Unity. Finally, 
the spacewalkers will prepare the P6 truss for its relocation.

*Mission Information*
+ STS-120 Mission Overview 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts120/index.html>
+ Harmony Node 2 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/behindscenes/harmony_payload.html> 

+ Space Shuttle Discovery 
<http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/shuttleoperations/orbiters/discovery-info.html>