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STS-123 day 7 highlights

The space station's handyman robot Dextre flexed its arms for the first time during Flight Day 7.

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STS-123 day 6 highlights

Flight Day 6 was dedicated to the second spacewalk and continued assembly of the Dextre robot.

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STS-123 day 5 highlights

The station and shuttle crews opened up and entered Japan's new Kibo logistics module during Flight Day 5.

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STS-123 day 4 highlights

Highlights of the Kibo logistics module's attachment to the station and the first spacewalk to begin Dextre assembly.

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STS-123 day 3 highlights

This movie shows the highlights from Flight Day 3 as Endeavour docked to the space station.

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STS-123 day 2 highlights

Flight Day 2 of Endeavour's mission focused on heat shield inspections. This movie shows the day's highlights.

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STS-123 day 1 highlights

The highlights from shuttle Endeavour's launch day are packaged into this movie.

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Launching on the shuttle

Video cameras on the boosters and tank, plus a cockpit camera show what the shuttle and its astronauts experience during the trek to space.

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STS-120: In review

The STS-120 crew narrates highlights from its mission that delivered the station's Harmony module and moved the P6 power truss.

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 Mission film

STS-123: TCDT

The STS-123 astronauts complete their countdown dress rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center.

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STS-123: To the pad

Endeavour travels to pad 39A in the overnight hours of Feb. 18 in preparation for liftoff on STS-123.

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Introduction to ATV

Preview the maiden voyage of European's first Automated Transfer Vehicle, named Jules Verne. The craft will deliver cargo to the International Space Station.

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Spacewalk No. 3 ends
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: March 18, 2008

Astronauts Richard Linnehan and Robert Behnken wrapped up a six-hour 53 minute spacewalk early today, completing assembly of a 3,400-pound Canadian maintenance robot and moving critical spare parts from the shuttle Endeavour to the space station.

"This really was the kind of spacewalk that, when it's all done, you just want to throw your hands up in the air and howl at the moon," said Zeb Scoville, lead spacewalk officer for Endeavour's mission. "It really was a great day for us. There were a few challenges we had along the way, but I consider this a real huge success for the EVA team, for the assembly of (the robot), getting all the (spares) transferred, is just a monumental feat by the robotics team and the EVA team together."

The only problem of any significance cropped up late in the spacewalk when two suitcase-size experiment packages designed to expose a variety of materials and coatings to the space environment could not be installed on the station's hull as planned because of problems getting the first package firmly locked in place.

"Endeavour, Houston, for EVA," astronaut Steve Robinson radioed from mission control. "OK, for MISSE (Materials International Space Station Experiment), we're going to plan right now to reverse course, do your U-turn and Bob, if you would take that right back where you found it."

"OK," Behnken replied. A few moments later, inspecting the troublesome attachment fitting, he added, "I'm not sure what else I can do. You can see metal shavings..."

"Yeah, I could see the metal shavings as I went by, floating," Linnehan said. "So, you know, better look at the quality control, I guess."

"We tried those probes at KSC," Behnken remarked.

"Yeah, I remember. In the shops, and they fit then. ... Anyway, nice work for staying out so long."

This was the 107th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998 and the third of five planned for Endeavour's mission. The spacewalk ended on the 43rd anniversary of history's first spacewalk, a 12-minute excursion in 1965 by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.

Behnken and Michael Foreman plan two more spacewalks Thursday and Saturday to replace a circuit breaker in the station's solar power truss, to test a heat shield repair tool and to mount Endeavour's heat shield inspection boom on the station for use by the next shuttle crew. If time is available, they also will inspect a massive solar array rotary joint as part of an ongoing investigation to find out what is preventing it from freely turning.

Linnehan and Behnken completed assembly of the Canadian Space Agency's special purpose dexterous manipulator, or Dextre, robot, a $209 million attachment for the space station's Canadian-built robot arm that will, in effect, give it a pair of hands and permit replacement of faulty components that might otherwise require a spacewalk.

The spacealkers attached a camera system and a post to hold components being installed or removed. Dextre was assembled on the same Spacelab pallet that was used to carry its components into space inside Endeavour's cargo bay. Early today, the robot was pulled off the assembly pallet and maneuvered to an overnight park position. This evening, the robot will be moved to a mounting fixture on the hull of the Destiny laboratory module.

"SPDM is in its final assembled configuration," lead station Flight Director Dana Weigel told reporters early today. "We ended up leaving two of the (thermal) blankets on it. We don't think that'll be problem (but) we will have to remove those on some future EVA."

Along with completing Dextre's assembly, Linnehan also moved to direct current switching units, or DCSUs, to an external storage depot on the station, along with a spare robot arm yaw joint. While he was moving the spares, Behnken was attempting to install the first materials exposure package on a platform installed on the outboard end of the Columbus lab module. It's not yet clear whether Behnken and Foreman might make another attempt to install the experiment packages later in the mission.

Other than that one snag, the spacewalk went smoothly. The astronauts fell a bit behind schedule early on with Dextre, but they were able to make up most of the lost time. Toward the end of the excursion, Behnken reported a tear in the outer covering of an overglove. The overgloves are now routinely used to protect spacesuit gloves from damage.

"OK, MIke, glove inspection," Behnken called. "I do have, on my left hand, on the overglove, I do have a large piece of RTV that's starting to peel off. I don't see any damage underneath it to the Vectran. But there is a tear in the RTV, there's just a big flap, it's over an inch long. It was delaminated before when we came out, but now it's split all the way through. There's no visible damage on the fingers. And on my right hand, also RTV is coming off of the overglove, but the fingers look pretty good.

Glove damage is a recurring problem for station assembly spacewalkers.

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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF SPACEWALK NO. 3 PLAY

VIDEO: LEFT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING UPWARD PLAY
VIDEO: LEFT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING INBOARD PLAY
VIDEO: LEFT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING DOWNWARD PLAY
VIDEO: RIGHT-HAND BOOSTER CAMERA LOOKING UPWARD PLAY

VIDEO: THE FLIGHT DAY 7 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: DEXTRE MOVES ARMS FOR BRAKE TESTS PLAY
VIDEO: CREW MEDIA INTERVIEWS SUNDAY NIGHT PLAY
VIDEO: SUNDAY NIGHT'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: THE FLIGHT DAY 6 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: SUNDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SECOND ARM ATTACHED TO DEXTRE ROBOT PLAY
VIDEO: FIRST ARM ATTACHED TO THE DEXTRE ROBOT PLAY
VIDEO: SPACEWALKERS HELP DEXTRE DO A SIT-UP PLAY
VIDEO: SECOND DEXTRE ARM PULLED FROM LAUNCH CARRIER PLAY
VIDEO: FIRST ARM REMOVED FROM PALLET WITH FORCE PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF SPACEWALK NO. 2 PLAY

VIDEO: THE FLIGHT DAY 5 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY MORNING MEDIA INTERVIEWS PLAY
VIDEO: STATION ARM GRAPPLES DEXTRE TO PROVIDE POWER PLAY
VIDEO: CEREMONY AT JAPANESE MODULE HATCH OPENING PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: FRIDAY'S MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY

VIDEO: THURSDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: THE FLIGHT DAY 4 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: NEW MODULE CONNECTED TO THE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: JAPANESE MODULE UNBERTHED FROM SHUTTLE PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED PREVIEW OF SPACEWALK NO. 1 PLAY
VIDEO: THURSDAY'S MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM UPDATE PLAY

VIDEO: THE FLIGHT DAY 3 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: DEXTRE PALLET MOVED FROM SHUTTLE TO STATION PLAY
VIDEO: THURSDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE CREW WELCOMED ABOARD STATION PLAY
VIDEO: DOCKING REPLAY FROM OTHER TRUSS CAMERA PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR DOCKS TO SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR PERFORMS THE 360-DEGREE BACKFLIP PLAY
VIDEO: VIEWS OF THE SHUTTLE APPROACHING FROM BELOW PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED ANIMATION OF PREVIEWING THE DOCKING PLAY
VIDEO: UPDATE FROM MISSION MANAGEMENT TEAM PLAY

VIDEO: THE FLIGHT DAY 2 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: WEDNESDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: ANIMATION OF THE HEAT SHIELD INSPECTIONS PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED TOUR OF ENDEAVOUR'S PAYLOAD BAY PLAY

VIDEO: THE FLIGHT DAY 1 HIGHLIGHTS MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: INSIDE MISSION CONTROL DURING LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: THE FULL LAUNCH EXPERIENCE PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR BLASTS OFF! PLAY
VIDEO: THE POST-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO: HIGHLIGHTS FROM ENDEAVOUR'S LAUNCH CAMPAIGN PLAY
VIDEO: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PAYLOADS' LAUNCH CAMPAIGN PLAY

VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: VAB ROOF PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD FRONT PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PRESS SITE PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: WEST TOWER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: PAD PERIMETER PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: UCS-23 WIDESCREEN PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 009 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 049 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 050 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 051 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 054 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 061 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 063 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 070 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA 071 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-1 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-2 PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY: CAMERA CS-6 PLAY

VIDEO: FINAL PRE-LAUNCH POLLS GIVE "GO" FOR LIFTOFF PLAY
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR'S CREW MODULE CLOSED FOR FLIGHT PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUT DOI CLIMBS INTO HIS SEAT PLAY
VIDEO: PILOT JOHNSON CLIMBS INTO HIS SEAT PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUT REISMAN CLIMBS INTO HIS SEAT PLAY
VIDEO: COMMANDER GORIE CLIMBS INTO HIS SEAT PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE AT LAUNCH PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: CREW DEPARTS QUARTERS FOR LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DON SPACESUITS FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: TIME-LAPSE MOVIE OF SUNSET OVER PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: MORNING PREPARATIONS AT LAUNCH PAD 39A PLAY
VIDEO: PAD GANTRY RETRACTED FOR LAUNCH PLAY

VIDEO: OVERVIEW BRIEFING ON CANADA'S DEXTRE ROBOT PLAY
VIDEO: OVERVIEW BRIEFING ON JAPAN'S KIBO FACILITIES PLAY
VIDEO: SUNDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SATURDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: CREW ARRIVES AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO: FRIDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS AND WEATHER BRIEFING PLAY

VIDEO: STS-123 ASTRONAUT BIOGRAPHY MOVIE PLAY
VIDEO: NARRATED SHORT FILM PREVIEW ENDEAVOUR'S FLIGHT PLAY

VIDEO: STS-123 MISSION OVERVIEW BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: BRIEFING ON THE SPACEWALKS PLAY
VIDEO: CREW'S PRE-FLIGHT BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: SHUTTLE AND ISS PROGRAM UPDATE PLAY

VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW: COMMANDER DOM GORIE PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW: PILOT GREG JOHNSON PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW: MS1 BOB BEHNKEN PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW: MS2 MIKE FOREMAN PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW: MS3 TAKAO DOI PLAY
VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW: MS4 RICK LINNEHAN PLAY

VIDEO: FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW NEWS BRIEFING PLAY
VIDEO: TCDT TRAINING HIGHLIGHTS PLAY
VIDEO: PRESS CHAT WITH CREW AT LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: CREW ARRIVES AT KSC FOR PRACTICE COUNT PLAY
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR ARRIVES AT PAD 39A PLAY | XL SIZE
VIDEO: SHUTTLE ROLLS TO THE VAB PLAY | XL SIZE
MORE: STS-123 VIDEO COVERAGE
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