Spacewalking astronauts Peggy Whitson and Dan Tani removed a trundle bearing assembly from a fouled-up solar wing rotary joint so it can be brought back to Earth for engineering analysis.
The assembly is one of 12 that hold the inboard and outboard race rings of the joint together. It also is the one in the area where the greatest amount of contamination has been found during three spacewalking inspections.
Whitson and Tani now will reconnect electrical cables on the beta gimbal assembly that they inspected earlier today. They had disconnected the cables so that engineers could troubleshoot problems with the device, which was turned off after three associated circuit breakers tripped simultaneously 10 days ago. The assembly is designed to tilt, or pivot, station solar wings on their long axis so that they remain optimally pointed at the sun.
The electrical connections will be the last chore the astronauts take on before heading back to the U.S. Quest airlock.
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