Endeavour's astronauts took a big step toward finishing construction of the International Space Station today by putting in place the last large wing of the U.S. section of the outpost.Operating the station's Canadian-built robot arm from inside the U.S. Destiny laboratory, Endeavour pilot Terry Virts and mission specialist Kay Hire gently eased the 15-ton module from the shuttle's cargo bay and carefully lifted it to a berthing port on the left side of the central U.S. Unity module, which links the American and Russian segments of the complex.
Four capture latches provided the initial link between the two modules and then 16 powered bolts were motor-driven into position and torqued on computer command, providing a tight seal between Tranquility and Unity. The mating operation was completed at 1:20 a.m. as the joined shuttle-station complex flew 216 miles over Asia just west of Singapore.
Endeavour mission specialists Bob Behnken and Nicholas Patrick are providing a spacewalking assist, rigging up electrical power and data cables between the two modules.
Click Read More to see a series of 13 NASA TV screen grabs that show the lift and mating operation in reverse:
Click to enlarge any or all of the images:
No comments:
Post a Comment