Spacewalking astronauts are stepping through an excursion outside linked shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station today, moving on to work aimed at preparing the U.S. Harmony module for delivery to the outpost later today.
Shuttle mission specialists Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock are inside Discovery's payload bay, fixing to tether a grapple fixture onto the cylindrical module. Then the astronauts will remove contamination covers and disconnect power cables linking Harmony to Discovery.
The work will set the stage for the 15.5-ton module to be hoisted out of the payload bay later today. Harmony will be temporarily attached to a berthing port on the U.S. Unity module. It will be moved to the front end of the U.S. Destiny lab after the shuttle crew departs the station in early November.
Parazynski and Wheelock appear to be enjoying their work -- particularly the panorama it affords.
"Look at the full moon, Wheels, off to your right, off the starboard wing," Parazynski said. "What a view!"
The S-Band Antenna Structural Assembly was locked down in the shuttle's cargo bay one hour and 28 minutes into the planned 6.5-hour spacewalk.
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 24/7 coverage of NASA's 120th shuttle mission.
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