Crews on the International Space Station have successfully unfurled its eighth and final solar array wing. "Initial look looks good for a full deployment," said shuttle Discovery commander Lee Archambault at 1:17 p.m.
"Tremendous news, great work, guys," came the reply from NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston. "We've got a whole bunch of happy people down here." After further visual inspection of the wing on the outpost's starboard side, Archambault confirmed that "all looks good."
"We think we're fully deployed. We think we're done with this procedure," he said."You are complete with the procedure. Great work," a flight controller said.
"We're very happy as well, and we're pressing on," said Archambault.
Activation of the final pair of solar wings brings the station to full power - enough to light up a small neighborhood. The added power doubles to 30 kilowatts the amount of electricity available for science experiments in orbit, and helps NASA advance its goal of doubling station crews to six people this year.
The deployment accomplishes the top goal of Discovery's 13-day mission.
The crew experienced none of the problems that have frustrated other crews during past deployments, such as arrays sticking or tearing as they unfold.
Astronaut Sandra Magnus continues to work to install a new centrifuge assembly in the outpost's urine processor, a device designed to purify urine for use as drinking water.
That's another important system needed to support larger crews.
2 comments:
I wish NASA PAO and everyone else would stop saying solar array "wings" they are in no way shape or form wings, they are just solar arrays.
Thanks for the note. Just wanted to point out that NASA's technical term for the devices is in fact "Solar Array Wings," or SAWs.
Their "wingspan" is longer than a 747's, and they can rotate and turn. But if they start flapping, something's gone very wrong.
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