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CBS NEWS STS-123 STATUS REPORT: 60
Posted: 9:15 PM, 3/22/08

By William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst

Changes and additions:

   SR-57 (03/22/08): Astronauts prepare for fifth spacewalk
   SR-58 (03/22/08): Spacewalk No. 5 begins
   SR-59 (03/22/08): Heat shield inspection boom mounted on station
   SR-60 (03/22/08): Experiment package installed; SARJ inspection

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9:15 PM, 3/22/08, Update: Experiment package installed; solar array joint inspected

Astronaut Robert Behnken successfully mounted an experiment package on the Columbus research module after initial attempts during a spacewalk last week were called off due to problems with an attachment fitting.

Known as MISSE-6, for "materials international space station experiment," the briefcase-size folding package is designed to expose a variety of materials and coatings to the space environment.

"So Houston, that complete the MISSE-adventure," Behnken radioed after he secured it in place.

"And from Houston, Bob and the team, great job," astronaut Steve Robinson called from mission control. "I guess your new call sign will be Thor."

"All right, Thor, Bam Bam, whatever it takes," spacewalk Michael Foreman radioed, using Behnken's nickname. "We're here to serve."

"We're really glad we making humor up here because it alleviates some of the stress," said station flight engineer Garrett Reisman. "Bob's done a great job and we're really happy for the MISSE investigators in that we were able to get these payloads installed for them because we know there's a lot of good science to be had. I know they've been walking on eggshells watching all this, so everything's good."

"Houston definitely concurs," astronaut Steve Robinson radioed from Houston.

Astronaut Michael Foreman, meanwhile, was busy inspecting the space station's right-side solar alpha rotary joint, or SARJ. The SARJ uses a 10-foot-wide drive gear to turn outboard solar arrays to track the sun. But a problem of some sort has marred the right side bearing race ring and generated large amounts of metallic contamination.

During spacewalks late last year and earlier this year, astronauts removed 17 of 22 thermal covers around the joint to inspect the bearing race ring and look for signs of damage. The flight plan called for Foreman to remove the final five covers today to complete the inspection.

Looking inside the mechanism, Foreman observed "it's pretty ugly."

"You're talking about the race ring, right?" Reisman asked.

"Yeah, the race ring. It looks all corroded or something, it's real rough in most spots."

"Garrett, for Mike, we'd like a little bit more description as to what he sees," Robinson radioed. "Is it different than the similar location or the similar site that he saw under a previous cover? Or is it different radially, or circumferentially?"

"It looks exactly the same," Foreman said. "It looks like where the bearing rides on the surface, it's about a one-inch-wide track all the way across. It's like very rough in some spots, just sort of bubbled in other spots. So it looks the same."

Looking under a different cover, Foreman reported: "It looks exactly the same, the same mottled surface. There's a cover missing next to this one so I can see a good three feet of circumference here and it looks all the same. ... Nothing significant. It's not the best lighting conditions, but I don't see ... anything that looks like a divot. I don't see anything like that on this one."

The thermal covers themselves showed no signs of any impacts from orbital debris.

Running well ahead of schedule, Behnken was asked to perform a get-ahead task, installing thermal covers on the massive keel fittings used to hold a newly installed Japanese logistics module in the shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay during launch.

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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
GoogleSatTrack: http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/

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