Astronauts to Add Truss to Station; Spacewalk Set for Afternoon

The STS-117 and Expedition 15 crew members will put on their construction hats today to continue the assembly of the International Space Station. They will use the station’s robotic arm and conduct a spacewalk to attach and activate a new truss segment.

Robot arm operators will begin moving the Starboard 3 and 4 (S3/S4) truss segment into position shortly after 11 a.m. EDT for attachment onto the end of the station’s Starboard 1 segment. Four bolts will be commanded to secure the new truss.

Later in the day, STS-117 spacewalkers Jim Reilly and John “Danny” Olivas will go to work outside of the space station to begin activation of the S3/S4. The spacewalk, which is the first of three scheduled for STS-117, will start at 2:53 p.m. and last 6.5 hours.

The spacewalking duo will make power, data and cooling connections between the station and the S3/S4, which contains a new set of solar arrays. Reilly and Olivas will also release locks and launch restraints on the segment’s solar arrays and rotary joint.