Intermittent fault readings on three of the PMA-3 bolts will not clear permanently, and ground controllers have instructed ISS astronauts to hold off unbolting the pressurized mating adapter - a docking port - on the left port of the Unity node. The docking port will be moved 90 degrees, to an earth-facing position.
"It's still not clear whether there's an actual problem with these bolts," said NASA commentator John Ira Petty.
Wearing yellow construction hats, gag gifts from the Endeavour crew, the crew of the International Space Station began robotically moving PMA-3 at 5:30 a.m. EDT today to make room for the Harmony node, which will arrive in late October aboard shuttle Discovery.
Unbolting the PMA-3 began at 6:08 a.m. EDT, after the robot arm grappled PMA-3. The nearly six-hour operation will relocate the 2,607-pound docking port.
Watch The Flame Trench for coverage of the relocation operation.
Click here to see the ISS elements.
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