Monday, March 17, 2008

Watch 3rd Spacewalk Live Tonight

Watch 3rd Spacewalk
* LIVE Tonight*
On NASA TELEVISION
Monday evening
, March 17, 2008 ...

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Linnehan and Mission Specialist Robert Behnken ended their day Sunday by “camping out” in the station’s Quest Airlock to purge the nitrogen from their bodies before they begin the third spacewalk of the mission this Monday evening.

Note: Preparations for today’s spacewalk will resume at 2:08pm CDT and the spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 6:23pm CDT.
Info taken from the NASA.gov website
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About Photo: March 15/16, 2008 -- Astronauts Rick Linnehan and Mike Foreman, both STS-123 mission specialists, participate in the mission's second scheduled session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the 7-hour, 8-minute spacewalk, Linnehan and Foreman, assembled the stick-figure-shaped Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator (SPDM), a task that included attaching its two arms. Designed for station maintenance and service, Dextre is capable of sensing forces and movement of objects it is manipulating. It can automatically compensate for those forces and movements to ensure an object is moved smoothly. Dextre is the final element of the station's Mobile Servicing System. The blackness of space and Earth's horizon provide the backdrop for the scene.
Photo Credit: NASA

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Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Robert L. Behnken are hard at work outside the orbiting complex formed by the docked International Space Station and space shuttle Endeavour. The two astronauts began the third spacewalk of the STS-123 mission at 5:51pm CDT. The primary goal of this excursion is the outfitting of Dextre, the final element of the station’s Mobile Servicing System.

With Mission Specialist Mike Foreman coordinating spacewalk activities from inside the orbiting complex, Linnehan and Behnken are installing a spare parts platform and tool handling assembly for Dextre. Among other tasks, they also are checking out and calibrating Dextre’s end effector and moving some spare parts.

In addition, the spacewalkers are tasked with installing the MISSE-6 materials experiment on the outside of the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory.

Space shuttle Endeavour Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman are operating the station’s robot arm during the spacewalk.

Behnken and Foreman are slated to begin the mission’s fourth spacewalk at 5:28pm CDT Thursday. The two will perform tasks that include a shuttle tile repair test and change out of a circuit breaker on the station.
Info taken from the NASA.gov website

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Read Latest News and Updates +
Mission Elapsed Time Clock

at
NASA.gov
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* Watch the Spacewalk Live HERE *
ENJOY!!!

**************************** About Photo: Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan participates in the mission's third spacewalk.
Photo Credit: NASA TV
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* UPDATE: Tuesday, 8:00am CDT *
With the completion of the third STS-123 spacewalk, Dextre has been outfitted with the tools for its work. The International Space Station’s robot arm grabbed Dextre and moved it into an overnight parking position. The new robotic system will be activated on a power and data grapple fixture located on the U.S. laboratory Destiny on flight day nine.

Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan and Robert L. Behnken completed the third spacewalk of the STS-123 mission at 1:44 a.m. EDT. The excursion lasted six hours and 53 minutes.

With Mission Specialist Mike Foreman coordinating spacewalk activities from inside the orbiting complex, Linnehan and Behnken installed a spare parts platform and tool handling assembly for Dextre. Among other tasks, they also checked out and calibrated Dextre’s end effector and attached critical spare parts to an external stowage platform.

They were unable to attach a materials science experiment to the Columbus module, but may have another opportunity later in the mission.

Space shuttle Endeavour Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman operated the station’s robot arm during the spacewalk.

Behnken and Foreman are slated to begin the mission’s fourth spacewalk at 5:28pm CDT Thursday. The two will perform tasks that include a shuttle tile repair test and change out of a circuit breaker on the station.
Info taken from the NASA.gov website
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* View STS-123 Interactive Timeline - Here *
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I’ll be posting on all the spacewalks over the next few days so check back!!!
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GOD SPEED to the Crew of STS-123 Endeavour...
AubreyJ.........

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