Walheim and Love return to the payload bay
Walheim and Love
They've done it
Some five hours and 39 minutes into the third spacewalk, Rex Walheim and Stan Love have placed EuTEF onto a rack on the Columbus module. They are bolting down and connecting the European Technology Exposure Facility.
EuTEF carries nine space exposure experiments. It was third of three large components the pair installed today. Earlier they installed a solar observatory and relocated a failed gyroscope to the shuttle's payload bay.
Making up a nearly half-hour deficit from the spacewalk timeline, Walheim and Love are now about 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
Love's glove was slightly damaged, but he was given permission to continue working.
The spacewalk officially began when the pair switched their spacesuits to battery power at 8:07 a.m. EST. Walheim's helmet camera is No. 18, while his spacesuit has an unbroken line. Love's camera is No. 16, while his spacesuit has a broken line.
If the 6.5-hour spacewalk runs ahead of schedule, Walheim and Love will have several additional tasks: inspecting the starboard solar alpha rotary joint and inspecting damage to a handrail that might be causing glove damage.
Atlantis is scheduled to land at 9:06 a.m. Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center, shortly before the Navy shoots down a low-orbiting, non-functioning spy satellite that carries a toxic half-ton of hydrazine rocket fuel.
Click for interactive graphic on Columbus installation.
Click for flight day 9 execute package.
Click for STS-122 fact sheet.
Click for NASA-TV schedule, which details mission events.
The SOLAR and EuTEF modules sit on a rack in the shuttle's payload bay.
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