NASA astronauts Scott Parazynski and Dan Tani are camping out in the U.S. Quest airlock at the International Space Station, preparing to head out early Sunday on the second of five spacewalks planned during Discovery's stay at the outpost.
Parazynski, a shuttle mission specialist, and Tani, a station flight engineer, plan to venture of the the airlock hatch just before 6 a.m. EDT.
The astronauts plan to unhook electrical cables and coolant lines that route toxic ammonia to the P6 truss atop the U.S. Unity module. Crewmate Stephanie Wilson then will lift the 17.5-ton girder off its mount as part of a highly choreographed sequence aimed at moving it to the far left end of the outpost's central truss.
The overnight campout in the airlock will enable Parazynski and Tani to breathe pure oxygen. Doing so will purge nitrogen gas from their bodies, which is key to avoiding decompression sickness while working in a low-pressure spacesuit. Known to SCUBA divers as "the bends," decompression sickness can be debilitating and even deadly.
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.
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