Still serving the GOD that is the ISS

Dutifully the U.S. keeps spending money it no longer has on this
albatross. Adding more and more labs, modules, wiring to the edifice
that keeps on taking. To what end?

Spacewalking astronauts hook up Harmony module

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A pair of astronauts went on a spacewalk
Saturday to finish wiring the international space station's newest
room, the last hurdle the crew had to clear before the shuttle
Atlantis can deliver a new European laboratory.

Commander Peggy Whitson and Daniel Tani hooked up more electrical and
fluid connections linking the space station and the Harmony
compartment that was delivered by the shuttle Discovery last month.

That will allow Harmony to serve as a docking port for the European
lab, named Columbus, which is scheduled to be delivered in December. A
Japanese lab due to be delivered early next year also will dock to the
school bus-sized module.

Flight controllers on the ground plan to check all of Harmony's
systems on Sunday before giving Atlantis the go-ahead to deliver
Columbus.

Much of Saturday's work involved lugging a second 18 1/2-foot, 300-pound
tray holding fluid lines to Harmony and bolting it down. The lines
carry ammonia, a coolant. The astronauts moved and installed another
fluid tray on Tuesday.

"Don't rush," Whitson told Tani as they struggled to move the bulky
tray. They took turns handling the equipment, with one astronaut
passing it to the other and then crawling forward for another hand-
off.

"Cool, I can feel the ammonia rushing in," Tani commented after he
hooked up one of the fluid lines.

Later Saturday, Tani plans to inspect a jammed joint that is needed to
turn one of the space station's two sets of huge solar wings. The gear
has been experiencing electrical current spikes and must be repaired
over the coming months to continue station construction.

Tani found steel shavings inside the joint while spacewalking last
month during Discovery's visit.

On Saturday, he plans to remove one of the joint's covers so he can
take digital pictures and collect samples of any debris. He will leave
the cover off so the astronauts can shoot videos of the gear later.

As he worked, Tani said hello to his mother, who was watching an
Internet broadcast of the spacewalk. He said his wife was tuned in to
the spacewalk, as well.

"Now that I know my mom and my wife are watching I'm getting nervous,"
he joked.

The space station's three residents have been working almost nonstop
since Discovery's departure on November 5, and just last week moved
Harmony to its permanent location. This is their third spacewalk and
the last planned before Atlantis arrives.

The American spacewalkers' Russian crewmate, Yuri Malenchenko,
remained in the station during Saturday's outing.

Atlantis is scheduled to blast off on December 6.

Rich wrote:

Dutifully the U.S. keeps spending money it no longer has on this
albatross. Adding more and more labs, modules, wiring to the edifice
that keeps on taking. To what end?

Spacewalking astronauts hook up Harmony module

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A pair of astronauts went on a spacewalk
Saturday to finish wiring the international space station's newest
room, the last hurdle the crew had to clear before the shuttle
Atlantis can deliver a new European laboratory.

Commander Peggy Whitson and Daniel Tani hooked up more electrical and
fluid connections linking the space station and the Harmony
compartment that was delivered by the shuttle Discovery last month.

That will allow Harmony to serve as a docking port for the European
lab, named Columbus, which is scheduled to be delivered in December. A
Japanese lab due to be delivered early next year also will dock to the
school bus-sized module.

Flight controllers on the ground plan to check all of Harmony's
systems on Sunday before giving Atlantis the go-ahead to deliver
Columbus.

Much of Saturday's work involved lugging a second 18 1/2-foot, 300-pound
tray holding fluid lines to Harmony and bolting it down. The lines
carry ammonia, a coolant. The astronauts moved and installed another
fluid tray on Tuesday.

"Don't rush," Whitson told Tani as they struggled to move the bulky
tray. They took turns handling the equipment, with one astronaut
passing it to the other and then crawling forward for another hand-
off.

"Cool, I can feel the ammonia rushing in," Tani commented after he
hooked up one of the fluid lines.

Later Saturday, Tani plans to inspect a jammed joint that is needed to
turn one of the space station's two sets of huge solar wings. The gear
has been experiencing electrical current spikes and must be repaired
over the coming months to continue station construction.

Tani found steel shavings inside the joint while spacewalking last
month during Discovery's visit.

On Saturday, he plans to remove one of the joint's covers so he can
take digital pictures and collect samples of any debris. He will leave
the cover off so the astronauts can shoot videos of the gear later.

As he worked, Tani said hello to his mother, who was watching an
Internet broadcast of the spacewalk. He said his wife was tuned in to
the spacewalk, as well.

"Now that I know my mom and my wife are watching I'm getting nervous,"
he joked.

The space station's three residents have been working almost nonstop
since Discovery's departure on November 5, and just last week moved
Harmony to its permanent location. This is their third spacewalk and
the last planned before Atlantis arrives.

The American spacewalkers' Russian crewmate, Yuri Malenchenko,
remained in the station during Saturday's outing.

Atlantis is scheduled to blast off on December 6.

Glad to see you are no longer complaining about Walrus Blubber.
That's progress!