Spacewalkers Scott Parazynski and Dan Tani both are outside the International Space Station, having exited the U.S. Quest airlock as linked shuttle Discovery and the outpost flew 220 miles above Earth.
The spacewalk is the fifth for Parazynski, the second for Tani.
"Good to be back, Dan?" Parazynski asked.
"It's good to be back in space," Tani replied.
The astronauts are crawling, hand-over-hand, from one handrail to the next, toward the Z-1 truss, which is mounted atop the U.S. Unity module -- the pressurized passage way that separates the American and Russian sections of the station.
They'll scale the 10-foot-tall Z-1 to reach the P6 truss -- a three-story solar array truss that provided power to the U.S. Destiny lab during the early stages of outpost assembly.
Nine power and data cables running from the Z-1 to the P6 truss will be disconnected along with grounding straps. The spacewalkers will unfasten four bolts secure the P6 to the Z-1.
Crewmates Stephanie Wilson and Douglas Wheelock then will use the station's 57-foot robot arm the detach the P6 from the Z-1. The work must be done to move the truss to the far left end of the station's central truss, a process that will take three days to complete.
Take a look at our advance story here: Thread The Needle
You can watch the spacewalk live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the link below the image above to launch our NASA TV viewer and round-the-clock coverage of NASA's 120th shuttle mission.
Take a look at the crew's detailed timeline and messages from Mission Control here in the Flight Day 6 Execute Package: FD06exec.pdf
Major mission events are listed in the latest version -- Rev D -- of the NASA TV schedule: tvsked_revd.pdf
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