After more analysis of International Space Station hardware in space and on the ground, managers have determined it's OK to go ahead and move the Cupola observation deck to its permanent home. Concern about tight clearances against protective hatch covers has been resolved.
"As is turned out, when we looked at everything, we actually have just a little bit more clearance," station flight director Mike Lammers said this afternoon. "We've gotten completely comfortable that the problem won't represent itself."
Through consultation with crew members -- particularly station manager Jeff Williams -- and study of records and models on the ground, engineers determined that a simple bolt head was responsible for the clearance problem.
Crews had been trying to attach a protective disk over the hatch that the cupola, a dome-shaped observation deck with seven windows, would leave open when it was pulled from the end of the Tranquility module.
Engineers feared crews would be trying to jam the cupola into its new home on the module's Earth-facing port if the same tight clearance was found there.
No more.
Station and shuttle crew members plan to begin depressurizing the Italian-built cupola at 6:54 p.m. EST, about three hours after waking up.
Then they'll grab it with the station's 57-foot robotic arm at 9:04 p.m. and install it in its new location just after midnight.
They plan to complete the day of robotics work by grappling Pressurized Mating Adapter-3, a mechanism that allows spacecraft to dock at modules. PMA-3 is expected to be moved Monday night to the Tranquility port that was vacated by the cupola.
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