Live In Orbit: Astronauts Suited Up For Spacewalk

LIVE IMAGES: Refresh this page for updates and the latest still image from NASA TV.

Discovery mission specialists Ricky Arnold and Joe Acaba are suited up in the U.S. Quest airlock at the International Space Station, preparing to venture outside on the last of three spacewalks planned during the shuttle's stay at the outpost.

Arnold and Acaba are scheduled to exit the airlock at 11:45 a.m. EDT, and we'll have live coverage of the 6.5-hour excursion here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box on the righthand side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer and live coverage. Be sure to refresh this page, too, for periodic updates.

The two spacewalkers will set out first to move the station's mobile rail cart, putting it in position for future assembly and maintenance work at the outpost.

Then Arnold and Acaba -- both teachers-turned-astronauts -- will try to set up an experiment platform on the port side of the station's central truss. Acaba and crewmate Steve Swanson were unable to get the platform fully deployed during a spacewalk Saturday because a latching pin was installed backward and interfered with full deployment.

The astronauts also aim to set up a second Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Attachment System platform on the same P3 segment of the central truss, and then they'll move on to the deployment of a similar Payload Attachment System pallet on the S3 segment of the truss.

It will be the second spacewalk for both Arnold and Acaba, the latter of whom taught freshman science at Melbourne High School 10 years ago. Swanson will direct the action from inside the joined shuttle-station complex.

You can see the crew's detailed timeline here in the official Flight Day 9 Execute Package

The timing for all major mission milestone can be found on this latest revision -- Rev K -- of the STS-119 NASA TV Schedule

ABOUT THE IMAGE: Click to enlarge the NASA TV screen grab that shows Ricky Arnold getting suited up for the third and final spacewalk of Discovery's mission to the International Space Station.