Update: Third Spacewalk Done, SARJ Not

The third spacewalk of shuttle Endeavour's 15-day mission is in the books.

Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve Bowen worked for nearly seven hours to repair a faulty International Space Station rotary joint.

They nearly finished the job, but were called inside with one trundle bearing assembly still needing to be replaced.

"I know it's painful to call it quits like that, but we think it's the right thing to do," flight communicator Marke Vande Hei said from NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston.

The final touches will be put on the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, or SARJ, during Monday's fourth and final spacewalk.

That spacewalk, expected to last more than six hours, is also scheduled to lubricate the port rotary joint, hoping to prevent the kind of damage that occurred on the starboard side because of grinding bearings.

Bowen and Shane Kimbrough, both first-time shuttle flyers, are assigned to the fourth spacewalk.

"It's time for the new guys," joked Stefanyshyn-Piper, shown at left with Bowen after returning inside the station's pressurized Quest airlock.

Stefanyshyn-Piper's completed her fifth spacewalk and probably her last, since she intends to retire from NASA after the mission. Her career total spacewalking time of 33 hours and 42 seconds now ranks 25th all-time among NASA astronauts, and second among women.

A test of the rotary joint must wait until after Monday's spacewalk and will probably be done Tuesday, two day's before the shuttle’s planned departure from the outpost.

That will give the Endeavour crew an idea of how successful their repairs were.

Meanwhile, NASA engineers are still troubleshooting problems activating a urine processor, which sensors have shut down several times.

Endeavour is scheduled to depart the space station Thanksgiving morning, and land at Kennedy Space Center next Saturday.

But the crew and mission managers have said they will extend the mission one day if that allows them to collect a water sample from the urine processor.

A water sample was collected today from a related system that processes sweat and other condensation.

A mission status briefing at 10:30 p.m. should provide more insight on the urine processor's condition and the possibility of a mission extension.

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