The 250-ton International Space Station is swinging back into Earth's shadow, clearing the way for two spacewalking astronauts to wire up a new solar wing motor drive with a significantly reduced chance of electrical shock.
Station commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Dan Tani aim to connect a large electrical cable to the new motor drive and then engineers in the NASA Mission Control Center in Houston will test the spare to make certain it's working properly.
About the size of a beer keg, the motor drive is designed to pivot the station's starboard solar wing to keep it optimally pointed at the sun while the outpost circles the planet. The old motor short-circuited in December, significantly reducing the amount of power being generated at the outpost. The replacement work is key to pressing ahead with the final stages of station assembly.
The motor also transfers power from the solar wing to station systems so the astronauts want to avoid any shock hazard. The final cable connections are being made in orbital darkness -- a period when the station's solar wings are not generating a lot of power.
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