NASA Adds Two Days, Fourth Spacewalk to Shuttle Mission

At Spacewalkers Continue to Work Outside Space Station

Mission Specialist John "Danny" Olivas (top) exits the International Space Station's Quest airlock during the early moments of the mission's first spacewalk. His partner, Jim Reilly, prepares tools that will be used during the excursion. Image credit: NASA TV

(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) - During a post-mission management briefing held 8:00 PM EDT Monday, John Shannon, chair of the Mission Management Team, announced NASA will extend the Atlantis mission two extra days and add a fourth spacewalk to the mission.

Mission Specialists Jim Reilly and John “Danny” Olivas continue to work outside the International Space Station.

They are performing tasks to activate the Starboard 3 and 4 (S3/S4) truss segment that was attached to the station earlier today.

The spacewalkers' work includes making power, data and cooling connections between the station and the S3/S4, which contains a new set of solar arrays.

The spacewalkers are also scheduled to release locks and launch restraints on the segment’s solar arrays and prepare its radiator and rotary joint for operation.

The radiator will be deployed before the spacewalk concludes, and the solar arrays will be unfurled Tuesday.

The spacewalk began at 4:02 PM EDT and is scheduled to wrap up about 10:30 PM.

Atlantis Pilot Lee Archambault and Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov are at the controls of the station’s robotic arm for the excursion.

Atlantis Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester is coordinating the spacewalk.

The truss was attached to the station at 2:28 PM using the station’s robotic arm.

The S3/S4’s solar arrays will increase the station’s power generation capabilities.

The start of the spacewalk and the attachment of the truss were delayed due to the saturation of the control moment gyros that control the attitude of the station.

Flight controllers performed standard procedures to bring the CMGs back to normal operations.