One American astronaut and another from Canada are in the U.S. Quest airlock at the International Space Station, preparing for a shortened spacewalk aimed at finishing up some assembly work outside the outpost.
U.S. station flight engineer Clay Anderson and Endeavour mission specialist Dave Williams of the Canadian Space Agency are inside the tunnel-like crew lock of the Quest airlock, which now is being depressurized. The depressurion is required to equalize pressure with the vacuum environment in low Earth orbit.
A planned 6.5-hour spacewalk is being shortened by two hours so that the Endeavour astronauts can complete work at the station and close hatches between the joined spacecraft to preserve options for an undocking on Sunday and a landing Tuesday.
The hurry-up is under way as a result of Hurricane Dean, which could make landfall in south Texas late Wednesday or early Thursday. NASA's Mission Management Team will meet at 2 p.m. EDT today to discuss landing options and whether an emergency Mission Control Center would need to be spun up at Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle entry-and-landing operation in that case would be carried out from one of the Firing Rooms in the Launch Control Center at KSC.
Spacewalk preparatins are running about 45 minutes ahead of schedule. The astronauts now are expected to float out of the outer hatch of Quest around 9:15 a.m. EDT.
IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the NASA TV screen grab. It shows Endeavour mission commander Scott Kelly hanging out at the inner hatch of the U.S. Quest airlock at the International Space Station as the two-section chamber was being depressurized in advance of today's spacewalk.
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