Spacewalkers prepare to enter airlock
Schlegel and Walheim
Tank secured, other tasks ahead
With the primary task of the spacewalk complete, Rex Walheim and Hans Schlegel turned to get ahead tanks.
Schlegel installed thermal covers on the trunions that held the Columbus module in place in the payload bay. Walheim collected the tools he used during the tank exchange. Then Schlegel checked shields on the Destiny laboratory.
The new nitrogen tank was installed and operating at 12:39 p.m. EST. The old tank was returned to the payload bay for a trip back to Earth.
Walheim and Schlegel are about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, having made up a slight deficit in the timeline. Mission controllers planned to send one spacewalker to photograph a divot in a handrail spotted by Stan Love on Monday's spacewalk.
Nitrogen in the tank is used to pressurize the space station's cooling system, which circulates ammonia, a toxic form of nitrogen with three hydrogen atoms attached.
The mission's second spacewalk began at 9:27 a.m. EST.
A European astronaut, Schlegel is on a mission of redemption, having missed his first spacewalk Monday due a medical condition that neither NASA nor he would disclose. He has recovered.
Click for interactive graphic on Columbus installation.
Click for flight day 7 execute package.
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.
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