Spacewalks delayed by Claudia Sonea

The space shuttle Discovery launched by NASA on 23 October this year, on mission STS-120, has the goals of delivering module Harmony and reconfiguring a portion of the International Space Station in preparation for future assembly missions. The first one was completed successfully; however the latter gives them a hard time. There were scheduled five spacewalks in order to make the necessary configurations and possible repairs. The one that was due on Thursday was canceled a day before by NASA, because to the problem they has with the rotary joint for the solar wings on the right side of the space station it was added the issue of a ripped solar wing. The two power problems are competing for the small amount of time left of the Discovery's mission which was already extended with one day. Besides the fact that future missions will be delayed, there is always the misfortune to not finish in time the orbiting outpost before the space shuttle must head back. After Hubble Space Telescope, Discovery is the first one fulfilling such a mission that involves five spacewalks. It is a record in the 26-year history of space shuttle flight. The second female commander of a space shuttle, Pamela Melroy stated on Wednesday that her crew is ready to fulfill whatever the ground orders them, even if the mission is extended and another spacewalk is added. The canceled spacewalk should have been performed by astronauts Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock with the purpose of inspecting a malfunctioning rotary joint that keeps the station's solar panels turned toward the sun. The fifth spacewalk was due on Saturday for additional station construction, but there is no news on the matter. Usually there is a day break between each mission in order for the astronauts the get some rest and prepare the space station. There is a must to repair at least one of the issues in order to be able to support the new European lab that will be delivered in December by Atlantis and the new Japanese lab that is scheduled for February, next year. NASA engineers couldn't find out the causes of the wing's damage despite the fact that astronauts took hundred of pictures of the wing tear; nor the causes of the rotary joint malfunction couldn't be identified. Until further discoveries, the right joint will remain in a parked position as much as possible in order to limit power collection. Stay connected and keep in touch with space news.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071031/ap_on_sc/space_shuttle;_ylt=AkGqNL52CKnos45xF5GS9zOs0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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