Astronauts Prepare for Another Spacewalk

U.S. space shuttle and space station crews took some time off Monday before resuming preparations for the third spacewalk of the STS-120 mission.

The spacewalk by astronauts Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock is to involve use of the shuttle’s and station’s robotic arms to move the P6 truss segment and attach it to the exiting P5 truss.

Parazynski and Wheelock were to conduct an overnight campout Monday night in the station’s airlock to prepare for the spacewalk that was scheduled to begin at 5:28 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

During the initial spacewalk of the mission Friday, the astronauts installed the Harmony module in its temporary location during a 6-hour, 14-minute spacewalk.

The second spacewalk, conducted Sunday by Parazynski and astronaut Daniel Tani, included inspections requested by National Aeronautics and Space Administration controllers in Houston.

NASA subsequently cleared the space shuttle’s heat shield for re-entry when the spacecraft undocks to begin its return to Earth Sunday.