After a deft ballet between a quartet of robot arm operators, a 17.5-ton solar power girder now is poised to be mounted Tuesday on the far left end of the International Space Station's central truss.
In what amounted to a splt shift overnight, astronauts first snatch the three-story-tall girder from the station's 57.5-foot construction crane with the shuttle's slightly smaller, 50-foot robot arm.
The station arm was perched atop a high-tech mobile rail cart, which was moved across by tracks by remote control from a work station near the middle of the station's metallic backbone to another as far out on the left end of the central truss as possible.
Then around 9:10 a.m. EDT, the astronauts once again grappled the girder with the station's construction crane, taking a high-flying hand-off from the shuttle's robot arm.
Station flight engineer Dan Tani and shuttle mission specialist Clay Anderson were controlling the station crane. Discovery pilot George Zamka and mission specialist Stephanie Wilson were operating the shuttle's robotic arm.
Rock-and-roll music was blaring through the inside of the U.S. Destiny science lab at the time.
"Houston, Alpha. Heck of a lot more fun flying the arm with Huey Lewis playing in the background," Tani told colleagues in Mission Control.
No word on what the song was, but we're guessing it was: "Working For A Livin'".
The P6 truss segment is being left in a park position overnight.
Coming up later today, at 1:43 p.m. EDT, the astronauts will field questions from three media organizations: ABC News, NBC News and CNN.
You can watch the mission unfold live here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the link below the top image to launch or NASA TV viewer and round-the-clock coverage of NASA's 120th shuttle mission.
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