TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Space Station's Solar Wing Rips When Being Unfurled

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARCIA DUNN, The Associated Press

Published: October 31, 2007

CAPE CANAVERAL - A giant solar wing ripped as it was being unfurled by astronauts aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday, creating another problem for NASA at the orbiting outpost.

The next shuttle flight could be delayed if this latest problem is not resolved quickly, said Mike Suffredini, NASA's space station program manager. Atlantis is to lift off in early December with a European laboratory.

'We don't clearly know what we're dealing with yet, and as soon as we know what we're dealing with, then we can talk about what our next steps are,' Suffredini said.

The astronauts immediately halted the wing extension when they spotted the damage. By then, the solar panel was already extended 90 feet of its 115 feet. Space station commander Peggy Whitson said the sun angle prevented her and the others from seeing the 2 1/2 -foot tear sooner.

The torn solar wing can still provide power. NASA's bigger concern is the structural problem posed by a partially deployed panel.

The damage was especially agonizing for the 10 astronauts because it came on the heels of an otherwise hugely successful day. Two of shuttle Discovery's crew had just wrapped up a seven-hour spacewalk and were reveling in the smooth extension of the first of two retracted solar wings on a newly installed beam.

During the spacewalk - the third of their mission - Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock installed a massive beam holding a pair of solar wings, which were folded up like an accordion. It took three days to move the beam from one location on the space station to another 145 feet away, and the project was considered one of the hardest construction jobs ever attempted in orbit.

Parazynski also dealt with the other problem on the space station, inspecting one of two rotary joints that keep the station's solar panels turned toward the sun.

Steel shavings were found during a spacewalk over the weekend in the joint on the right side of the station, and Parazynski was asked to look at the left joint for comparison. Everything inside that joint was shiny and looked pristine.

Until NASA figures out what's grinding inside the gears and fixes it, the right joint will remain in a parked position as much as possible, limiting power collection.

NASA plans to take a closer look at the malfunctioning joint during a spacewalk Thursday. However, that work might be upstaged by the solar wing trouble.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT