Back to newsletter listDate:
Fri, March 14, 2008 03:34:34 AMFrom:
CBS Space News
Subject:
320a 3/14 Update: Japanese module pulled from payload bay
=================================
CBS NEWS STS-123 STATUS REPORT: 25
Posted: 3:18 AM, 3/14/08
By William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst
Changes and additions:
SR-23 (03/13/08): Spacewalk No. 1 begins
SR-24 (03/13/08): Japanese module prepped for move; spacewalkers begin Dextre assembly work
SR-25 (03/14/08): Japanese module pulled from payload bay; Dextre hands attached
=================================
2:36 AM, 3/14/08, Update: Japanese module pulled from cargo bay; Dextre robot hands attached
Operating the shuttle Endeavour's 50-foot-long robot arm, Japanese astronaut Takao Doi and shuttle commander Dominic Gorie pulled a Japanse supply module out of the shuttle's cargo bay early today for attachment to the international space station.
Astronauts Richard Linnehan and Garrett Reisman, meanwhile, worked through the final stages a spacewalk to attach gripper-like hands to the arms of maintenance robot being built as a $209 million attachment for the station's Canadian-built mechanical arm. Engineers ran into problems routing power to the robot Thursday, but troubleshooters are confident they can resolve the problem before a second spacewalk overnight Saturday to complete the assembly of the special purpose dextrous manipulator, or Dextre for short.
Late Thursday, Reisman and LInnehan prepared the Japanese module for extraction from the shuttle's cargo bay, clearing the way for Doi and Gorie to begin a complex series of arm motions to move the drum-shaped storage facility to a temporary home atop the forward Harmony connecting module. Spectacular television views showed the module suspended against the blue-and-white backdrop of Earth as the shuttle's arm slowly moved it toward Harmony.
"Look at the JLP, it's coming out!" one of the spacewalkers exclaimed.
"Wow!"
A few minutes earlier, both men marveled at the view of America at night as the shuttle-station complex sailed 215 miles above the nation's heartland.
"Wow, wow, wow! What are we going over now? A pretty amzing view at nighttime of a huge city."
"Maybe Chicago?"
"It looks coastal, but it could be Chicago. It could be the lake. Oh, that's beautiful!"
"Wow."
Moving through space at five miles per second, it only took a few moments to move over New England.
"Don't look now, but over your left shoulder is New York," one of the spacewalkers said. "You can make out Long Island Sound, you can see the whole thing at night. Amazing!"
=================================
Quick-Launch Web Links:
CBS News STS-123 Status Reports:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html
CBS News STS-123 Quick-Look Page:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html
NASA Shuttle Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html
NASA Station Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
Spaceflight Now: http://spaceflightnow.com/index.html
=================================
