Spaceflight Now





All objectives accomplished during spacewalk No. 1
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: September 2, 2009


Bookmark and Share

After removing a 1,300-pound ammonia coolant tank, astronauts John "Danny" Olivas and Nicole Stott waited out a storm-triggered communications blackout before closing out a successful six-hour 35-minute spacewalk by retrieving U.S. and European experiment packages mounted on the International Space Station.

Running ahead of schedule, the astronauts turned to a few get-ahead tasks that were eventually called off. In the process, however, Olivas reported an unusual number of space debris impact sites on a tool box and the Quest airlock module.

"I don't know if you guys are aware of this, but looking at the tool box, there are several MMOD (micrometeoroid/orbital debris) strikes on its face," he said. "I count one, two, three, four, five, six, seven..."

"Yeah, Danny, stay where you are right there and we're going to get a better WVS view," spacewalk coordinator Patrick Forrester radioed from inside Discovery, referring to Olivas' helmet camera.

"Sorry, I left the camera over there."

"That's all right, we can see 'em now, we see one right above the word 'CETA,' a couple below the NASA (logo) meatball," Forrester said.

A few minutes later, Olivas exclaimed, "wow, I'm over here on the top of the airlock, the equipment lock, and there's a pretty good sized MMOD strike on the shield. Do you have video? I can pan back. Also ... one strike on the handrail. I could do this all day."

Inspecting the airlock's micrometeoroid shielding more closely, Olivas said "I count at least three strikes. ... There's a really big one right above the label, too. That one actually sticks out pretty far."

"Houston, copies," Forrester said. "And you're talking about the one right above the alpha there, the A?"

"Yeah, it looks like metal is actually protruding from the surface," Olivas said.

After retrieving a camera, Olivas snapped pictures of the impact sites for analysis on the ground before he and Stott returned to the airlock and ended the excursion at 12:24 a.m. EDT.

This was the 131st spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998 and the first of three planned for Discovery's mission. Station EVA assembly time now stands at 817 hours and 11 minutes.

The astronauts had no problems of any significance removing the ammonia tank assembly from the station's solar power truss and mounting it on the lab's robot arm where it will remain until a spacewalk Thursday to install a new tank.

At that point, a violent storm swept over a ground station in Guam, interrupting space-to-ground communications from one of NASA's Tracking and Data Relay System satellites for about 33 minutes. When communications were restored, Olivas and Stott pressed ahead with the experiment retrievals.

Spaceflight Now Plus
Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: SPACEWALKERS PUT THIRD EXPERIMENT IN SHUTTLE PLAY
VIDEO: BRIEFCASE-LIKE PACKAGE RETRIEVED FROM STATION PLAY
VIDEO: EUROPEAN PAYLOAD MOVED FROM STATION TO SHUTTLE PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKERS FREE COOLANT TANK FROM TRUSS PLAY
VIDEO: DANNY OLIVAS DISCONNECTS OLD AMMONIA TANK PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS EMERGE FROM AIRLOCK TO START EVA PLAY
VIDEO: OVERVIEW OF FLIGHT DAY 5 ACTIVITIES PLAY
VIDEO: STEP-BY-STEP SUMMARY OF SPACEWALK NO. 1 PLAY
VIDEO: TUESDAY MORNING FLIGHT DIRECTOR INTERVIEW PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 4 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY NIGHT'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED OVERVIEW OF THE LEONARDO PAYLOAD PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS OPEN UP AND ENTER LEONARDO MODULE PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF LEONARDO MODULE'S INSTALLATION PLAY
VIDEO: LEONARDO CARGO MODULE ATTACHED TO STATION PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY'S MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: MONDAY MORNING FLIGHT DIRECTOR INTERVIEW PLAY

VIDEO: HIGH DEFINITION: NICOLE STOTT ABOARD STATION PLAY
VIDEO: HIGH DEFINITION: UNITING STATION AND DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: HIGH DEFINITION: BE AN ASTRONAUT DURING DOCKING PLAY
VIDEO: HIGH DEFINITION: LIFE ON RENDEZVOUS DAY PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: SUNDAY NIGHT'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE CREW WELCOMED ABOARD STATION PLAY
VIDEO: DOCKING RING RETRACTED TO JOIN TWO CRAFT PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF DOCKING FROM CENTERLINE PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE FLIES OUT IN FRONT OF STATION PLAY
VIDEO: DISCOVERY PERFORMS 360-DEGREE BACKFLIP PLAY
VIDEO: BEAUTIFUL VIEWS OF DISCOVERY APPROACHING PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE VIEW FROM SHUTTLE DOCKING PORT PLAY
VIDEO: STATION CAMERA CATCHES DISCOVERY'S "TI BURN" PLAY
VIDEO: SUNDAY'S MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKING PLAY
VIDEO: THE MOON SINKS BELOW TAIL OF DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS' HOME MOVIES: DAY 2 PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS' HOME MOVIES: DAY 1 PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY NIGHT'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF SHUTTLE INSPECTIONS PLAY

VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: INSIDE MISSION CONTROL ROOM PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: VAB ROOF PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PRESS SITE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD PERIMETER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: BEACH TRACKER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD CAEMRA 070 PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD CAEMRA 071 PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: UCS-23 TRACKER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PLAYALINDA BEACH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD FRONT CAMERA PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: POST-LAUNCH BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: THE FULL LAUNCH EXPERIENCE PLAY
VIDEO: LIFTOFF OF SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY! PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: COMMANDER RICK STURCKOW BOARDS DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: PILOT KEVIN FORD BOARDS SHUTTLE DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST PAT FORRESTER BOARDS DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST JOSE HERNANDEZ BOARDS SHUTTLE PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST DANNY OLIVAS BOARDS DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST CHRISTER FUGLESANG BOARDS PLAY
VIDEO: MISSION SPECIALIST NICOLE STOTT BOARDS DISCOVERY PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS LEAVE CREW QUARTERS BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW FINISHES GETTING SUITED UP PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: NARRATED MISSION OVERVIEW MOVIE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MEET SHUTTLE DISCOVERY'S ASTRONAUTS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NARRATED REVIEW OF SHUTTLE'S PREPARATIONS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NARRATED REVIEW OF PAYLOADS' PREPARATIONS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: THE "COLBERT" TREADMILL PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: MANAGERS EXPLAIN REASON FOR SECOND SCRUB PLAY
VIDEO: WEATHER SCRUBS FIRST COUNTDOWN PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DEPART QUARTERS FOR PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW GETS SUITED UP FOR LAUNCH ATTEMPT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LAUNCH PAD SERVICE GANTRY ROLLED BACK PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH RICK STURCKOW PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN FORD PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH PAT FORRESTER PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH JOSE HERNANDEZ PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH DANNY OLIVAS PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTER FUGLESANG PLAY
VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH INTERVIEW WITH NICOLE STOTT PLAY

VIDEO: AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: THE LAUNCH COUNTDOWN GETS UNDERWAY PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE AT THE CAPE FOR LAUNCH PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW SETS LAUNCH DATE PLAY

VIDEO: SHUTTLE AND STATION PROGRAM UPDATE PLAY
VIDEO: THE STS-128 MISSION OVERVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW BRIEFING ON MISSION'S SPACEWALKS PLAY
VIDEO: THE ASTRONAUTS' PRE-FLIGHT NEWS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE PROGRAM MANAGER EXPLAINS FOAM ISSUES PLAY

VIDEO: PAYLOAD BAY DOORS CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MISSION CARGO LOADED ABOARD DISCOVERY PLAY | HI-DEF

VIDEO: CREW TOURS PAD'S CLEANROOM PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: SHUTTLE EVACUATION PRACTICE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS BOARD DISCOVERY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: THE LAUNCH DAY SIMULATION BEGINS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: PAD BUNKER TRAINING FOR THE CREW PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW BRIEFED ON EMERGENCY PROCEDURES PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: NIGHTTIME APPROACHES IN TRAINING AIRCRAFT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TEST-DRIVING EMERGENCY ARMORED TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: INFORMAL CREW NEWS CONFERENCE AT LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE FOR PRACTICE COUNTDOWN PLAY

VIDEO: SHUTTLE DISCOVERY ROLLS OUT PAD 39A PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: ORBITER HOISTED FOR MATING TO TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: DISCOVERY MOVED TO ASSEMBLY BUILDING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE OF DISCOVERY ARRIVING IN VAB PLAY

VIDEO: PAYLOADS DELIVERED TO LAUNCH PAD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: LEONARDO PUT INTO TRANSPORTER PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: STATION'S NEW AMMONIA TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: MPLM HATCH CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: INSIDE SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE SHOP PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CREW EQUIPMENT INTERFACE TEST PLAY | HI-DEF
SUBSCRIBE NOW