Schlegel and Walheim
Airlock depressurizing
Suited up for a spacewalk, Rex Walheim and Hans Schlegel waited in the airlock as the pressure was released preparing them to exit.
"OK guys, are you ready to go EVA?" asked space station commander Peggy Whitson.
"We are ready!" said Walheim.
"We are ready!" added Schlegel.
They face one big task during the 6.5-hour spacewalk scheduled to begin at 9:35 a.m. EST. The pair will install a nitrogen tank assembly on the P-1 truss and bring the old tank back to the payload bay for return to Earth. Mission Control has lined up several get ahead tasks if the pair finishes the tank installation early.
This is Walheim's fourth spacewalk. Schlegel missed his first spacewalk Monday due a medical condition that NASA would not disclose. He has recovered.
We'll have live coverage here this morning. Stay tuned.
Click for interactive graphic on Columbus installation.
Click for STS-122 fact sheet.
Click for NASA-TV schedule, which details mission events.
The nitrogen tank assembly (NTA) sits in the payload bay beneath two European experiments, SOLAR and EUTEF. The spacewalkers will return the old tank to the payload bay.
No comments:
Post a Comment