Today in Space: Discovery's Last Spacewalk

In a couple of hours, former teachers Joe Acaba and Richard Arnold will resume preparations for the third and final spacewalk of shuttle Discovery's 13-day mission.

You can watch the entire spacewalk live here on The Flame Trench. Click on the NASA TV still image at right to launch a NASA TV viewer.

With a scheduled start time of 11:43 a.m., the two "educator astronauts" will begin the second spacewalks of their careers, expected to last about 6 hours and 30 minutes.

Arnold joined Steve Swanson on the mission's first spacewalk Thursday, which successfully installed the orbiting science complex's last truss segment and solar arrays.

Acaba and Swanson paired up on Saturday, but a few unfinished tasks will be picked up today.

The main one is an attempt to deploy a carrier for spare parts and experiments that appeared stuck in place on the Port 3 truss Saturday. NASA's suggested fix: pull on it really hard.

++ 6:43 a.m.: Discovery, International Space Station crews awake.

++ 7:19 a.m.: Preparations resume for mission’s third and final spacewalk.

++ 11:43 a.m.: Joe Acaba and Richard Arnold begin third spacewalk.

++ 12:33 p.m.: Relocation of Crew Equipment Translation Aid cart from Port 1 to Starboard 1 truss.

++ 1:33 p.m.: Work on Starboard 1 truss connector and fluid jumper tasks.

++ 3:03 p.m.: Repair and lubrication of station robotic arm snares.

++ 3:43 p.m.: Work on remote power control module replacement.

++ 6:13 p.m.: Third spacewalk ends.

++ 9:43 p.m.: Station crew sleep begins.

++ 10:13 p.m.: Discovery crew sleep begins.

Click on this NASA TV schedule to see a schedule of the rest of the mission's highlights.

IMAGE NOTE: On Saturday, astronaut Joseph Acaba, STS-119 mission specialist, participates in the mission's second scheduled session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 30-minute spacewalk Acaba and astronaut Steve Swanson (out of frame) prepared a worksite so the STS-127 spacewalkers can more easily change out the Port 6 truss batteries later this year. On the Japanese Kibo laboratory they installed a second Global Positioning Satellite antenna that will be used for the planned rendezvous of the Japanese HTV cargo ship in September. They photographed areas of radiator panels extended from the Port 1 and Starboard 1 trusses and reconfigured connectors at a patch panel on the Zenith 1 truss that power Control Moment Gyroscopes. Source: NASA.