Working around lost tools, astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper said an alternative approach, using grease-impregnated wipes to apply a coating of lubricant to a damaged solar array drive gear, works just as well as lubricant from a grease gun to contain debris freed up by a scraper tool.

The success of the alternative cleaning method might make it possible to complete solar array rotary joint cleaning without having to improvise additional tools to take the place of two grease guns that were lost overboard during a spacewalk Tuesday.

"I think both methods are comparable," Stefanyshyn-Piper reported. "I think you get a larger area of grease coverage when you go over with a wet wipe and tamp all over the place. And then for the scraping, you just have to be very careful because you don't have as much grease on the surface to hold things together and so you just have to wipe the scraper tool more often than you did before, because before there was a lot of grease holding debris. But both Steve (Bowen) and I did notice yesterday (Tuesday during spacewalk No. 1) that even as you were scraping there were particles that were coming up and sometimes even a little blob of grease would fly away."

"But you think they both give the same effect in the end?" shuttle pilot Eric Boe asked.

"Yeah. I think this one, like I said, with the blob of grease you get better coverage right underneath where the grease is," said Stefanyshyn-Piper. "But this way, I really made sure I took the grease wipe and really coated the entire outer canted surface and so I got more coverage. Because I noticed something when I was scraping, is that it would be really good right where I laid the bead of grease but you could tell, as I drew the scraper tool over, you could tell exactly where the bead of grease was laid."

"Houston copies and based on what you just said, you're go to use the wet wipe method for the remainder of the EVA," mission control called.

Stefanyshyn-Piper and Robert "Shane" Kimbrough began today's EVA about 45 minutes ahead of schedule, switching their spacesuits to internal battery power at 12:58 p.m. to officially begin a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk.

The astronauts have completed moving two equipment carts on the front side of the space station's solar power truss. Stefanyshyn-Piper now is positioned on the right side of the power truss and Kimbrough is located toward the center of the truss, working to lubricate the capture snares on the station's robot arm. Once he is done, he will join Stefanyshyn-Piper at the starboard SARJ to help clean, lubricate and install new bearings.

This is the 116th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began 10 years ago today. It is the 17th station spacewalk so far this year and the second of four planned for Endeavour's mission. Going into today's EVA, more than 80 astronauts and cosmonauts had logged 725 hours and 40 minutes of spacewalk construction time.

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