Atlantis arrived at the ISS on Sunday after the last back-flip of its storied career
The last spacewalk of the space shuttle era is due to get underway at 1344BST (1244GMT).
The six-and-a-half hour excursion will retrieve an ailing ammonia pump on the International Space Station (ISS), where shuttle Atlantis is docked.
It will also attach the Robotic Refueling Mission to the station.
The spacewalk is part of a busy schedule for the last shuttle mission, which will also see four tonnes of supplies delivered to the ISS.
More than a tonne of that is enough food to sustain the ISS crew for a year; the balance is spare parts and equipment.
The bumper crop of supplies is anticipation of the end of the shuttle era, as the shuttles offer cargo capacity that currently no other spacecraft can provide.
The shuttles' successors will be developed by private companies, but it remains unclear when the next US manned space vehicle will enter service.
The 160th spacewalk at the ISS will see American astronauts Ron Garan and Mike Fossum - who were aboard the ISS before Atlantis arrived on Sunday - remove an ammonia pump from the station and place it in Atlantis' cargo bay.
The Robotic Refueling Mission that they will then commission is a joint US and Canadian mechanical experiment to test the idea of remotely repairing and refueling satellites at the station.
Nasa extended Atlantis' mission by one day on Monday and will head homeward for the last time on 21 July.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-14121532
Brak komentarzy:
Prześlij komentarz