Two U.S. astronauts are working in darkness outside the International Space Station to avoid the possibility of electrical shock while removing a faulty solar wing motor drive.
The station now is passing over central Asia and will be in orbital darkness for the next 35 minutes.
Armed with pistol-grip power tools, station commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Dan Tani will be disconnecting five electrical power cables that route electricity from the outpost's starboard solar wing through the motor and ultimately to station systems.
The massive American arrays generate about 160 volts in daylight. But the amount of power generated while the station is in Earth's shadow is negligible. So much of the spacewalking repair work has been carefully coordinated to take place while the station is in orbital darkness.
You can check out the step-by-step procedures the astronauts are following here: Spacewalk Timeline.
And you can watch the action unfold here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the link below the image above to launch our NASA TV viewer and refresh this page for periodic updates.
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