Torn Solar Wing Repaired During Risky Spacewalk

Torn solar wing repaired during risky spacewalk WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) — Two U.S. astronauts successfully repaired a torn solar array on the International Space Station during a risky spacewalk on Saturday.

The 7-hour, 19-minute excursion, conducted by Scott Parazynski and Douglas Wheelock — mission specialists of the space shuttle Discovery’s crew, wrapped up at 1:22 p.m. EDT (1722 GMT), according to NASA TV.

Shortly after the spacewalk began, Parazynski rode the station’s robotic arm and edged close up to the damaged area of the solar array. He untangled some wires and installed the cufflinks that were built by the crew.

Once the five cufflinks were in place, the crew inside then deployed the array half a bay at a time. Finally the array is leftbehind stable and fully-deployed.

The solar panel bay ripped as it was being unfurled from a newly relocated truss on the station on Tuesday. To devise the repair plan, NASA mission control delayed the mission’s fourth spacewalk from Thursday to Friday, then to Saturday.

Five spacewalks were originally scheduled for Discovery’s STS- 120 mission, and due to the unexpected delays of the fourth, NASA was forced to call off the fifth spacewalk.

If no other problems pop up, Discovery is scheduled to undock from the station on Monday and return to Earth on Nov. 7. It lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 23, deliveringa new Harmony connecting module to the orbital outpost.

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