Consequently, first priority has been given to repairing the torn solar array, which is torn in two places—a one-foot tear and a three-foot one.

Thus, on Saturday morning, November 3, 2007, spacewalkers would go outside the space station to repair the solar panel. Currently, the array is damaged in two places, with possible problems to a hinge that may have been pulled loose.

Plans are to place the space shuttle’s 50-foot (15-meter) inspection boom on the end of the space station’s 57-foot (17-meter) Canadarm2 robotic arm, and then place astronaut Scott Parazynski on the boom in order to reach the spots where the tears are located. Astronaut Doug Wheelock will assist Parazynski on the task.

Parazynski will disengage a snagged guide wire and stitch up the torn piece of the 4B solar array panel, which is attached to the Port 6 truss segment.

In preparation for the repair task, the astronauts are making some repair devices for the task. The devices are made from two 4-inch (10-centimeter) aluminum bars wrapped in orange insulating tape, with steel wires positioned through the center of the bars. They are being calling “cufflink” type devices.

When Parazynski gets to the two torn pieces of the solar array he will thread a cufflink device through each of the two existing holes of the damaged solar array in order to fix the tears.

Once the tears are repaired, there is no danger that the tear will extend further and bring more instability to the entire system. However, if the repair work doesn’t help, then another spacewalk may be scheduled to try again. NASA officials state that if all else fails, they may have to jettison the damaged solar panel—but this is only a last resort.

Early Thursday morning (November 1), the crew of the space station positioned the robotic arm in a central location on the space station in preparation for the spacewalk.

The rotary joint will be looked at after the Discovery/STS-120 crew departs the space station.

Because of the two problems, less electricity is being produced for the station. This problem is tolerable now but it must be fixed before two scientific laboratories, one from Europe and the other from Japan, are installed on the station on the next two space missions. These modules need the extra electricity that the 110-foot solar panels are not yet delivering due to the torn solar panel and the faulty rotary joint.

NASA TV will cover the spacewalk on website: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html. A time for Saturday’s spacewalk has not been yet announced.


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