Space station gets helping hand
HOUSTON (AP) - March 18, 2008 Astronauts Richard Linnehan and Robert Behnken went on a
spacewalk Monday to add a tool belt and two cameras that will serve
as the robot's eyes as it helps maintain the station.
The robot, called Dextre, flew in pieces to the station aboard
the shuttle Endeavour. It has been assembled over the course of
three spacewalks. So far, the 12-foot robot and both of its 11-foot
arms have checked out fine.
On Tuesday evening, astronauts plan to use the space station's
mechanical arm to attach Dextre to the outside of the station's
U.S. lab, Destiny.
The spacewalkers' robot-related chores went smoothly, but
Behnken had some trouble attaching a science experiment to Europe's
Columbus lab. He couldn't get the suitcase-sized experiment to
latch firmly onto the platform.
Behnken ended up carrying the experiment back to Endeavour's
payload bay, repeatedly expressing his disappointment.
"You gave it your all, Bob," Linnehan said. "No one could
have done any better."
Experts on the ground will spend the next couple of days trying
to figure out what's causing the problem and how to fix it or work
around it.
Astronauts participating in one of the mission's final two
spacewalks may end up tying down the experiment and its twin
instead of bolting them, said Zebulon Scoville, the lead spacewalk
officer for Endeavour's mission.
Despite the problem, Scoville said he couldn't have been more
pleased with the spacewalkers' work.
"You're making rock stars question their job choice," Scoville
radioed Behnken before asking him several questions about the
troublesome fitting.
Five spacewalks are planned for Endeavour's 16-day flight, which
is about halfway done. While shuttle astronauts have performed five
spacewalks before on a single flight - on trips to the Hubble Space
Telescope - it will be a record for a shuttle-station mission.
In addition to delivering Dextre to the space station,
Endeavour's crew dropped off a storage compartment for the Japanese
lab that will fly up in May. The astronauts not involved with the
spacewalks - including Japanese astronaut Takao Doi - continued
setting up the storage compartment in preparation for the arrival
of the lab, which is named Kibo. The word is Japanese for hope.
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