Live In Orbit: Spacewalkers Tackle Next Job

Spacewalkers Steve Swanson and Joe Acaba are ambling on to their next big task: deploying an external payload pallet that will give researchers a place to mount experiments outside the outpost.

Crawling hand over hand, the two astronauts made their way from the far left end of the station's 335-foot central truss to a segment in the middle of the skeletal backbone. Now they're setting up their work site so they can deploy an unpressurized cargo carrier attachment system. The UCCAS is integrated into the P3 truss segment and must be swung into position and secured before experiments can be mounted upon it. That's the job Swanson and Acaba aim to carry out.

Swanson and Acaba both are wearing helmets that are equipped with cameras that can beam back images that give crewmates and engineers in NASA's Mission Control Center a close-up look at the work being done.

A small 16 in the righthand corner of a close-up image shows the view is coming from Swanson's helmet-cam. A small 18 shows the view is coming from Acaba's helmet-cam.

You can watch the action unfold right here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box at the righthand side of this page to launch our NASA TV viewer and live coverage. Be sure to refresh this page, too, for periodic updates.

Click here to see and save your copy of the Flight Day 7 Execute Plan. It includes the crew's detailed timeline for the day.

The timing of all major mission milestones can be viewed in the latest revision -- Rev I -- of the STS-119 NASA TV Schedule

ABOUT THE IMAGES: Click to enlarge and save the NASA TV screen grabs. They show Steve Swanson and Joe Acaba working at the P3 section of the International Space Station's central truss. Swanson is wearing the spacesuit with the red stripe on its legs. Acaba is wearing the suit with the broken red stripes.