First Spacewalk Complete; Focused Inspection to Proceed

NASA - STS-134 Mission patch.

Sat, 21 May 2011

Endeavour astronauts completed a 6-hour, 19-minute spacewalk at the International Space Station Friday, retrieving materials experiments and installing another, and installing an antenna.

STS-134 Daily Mission Recap - Flight Day 5

 

Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff also installed a light on a station handcart, set up equipment for adding ammonia to a cooling loop and installed a cover on a rotary joint for solar arrays.

An issue with a carbon dioxide level sensor in Chamitoff’s suit caused replanning of the later part of the spacewalk. Removal of a micro meteoroid debris shield to access some cable connection points and to hookup some of the cables was put on hold to ensure Chamitoff would be back in the airlock early. The spacewalk ended at 9:29 a.m. EDT.

The Mission Management Team decided to proceed with a focused inspection of one damage site on Endeavour’s underside Saturday morning. The location is between the right main landing gear door and the External Tank disconnect door.

The rest of Endeavour’s heat shield has been cleared for entry from ascent debris damage.

Image above: Mission Specialist Drew Feustel is seen in this view from the helmet camera of Mission Specialist Greg Chamitoff as they conduct the first spacewalk of the STS-134 mission. Photo credit: NASA TV.

The crew members for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission are Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori.

Image above: Astronaut Drew Feustel works in the vacuum of space during the first of four spacewalks during the STS-134 mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV.

During the 16-day mission, Endeavour and its crew will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for Dextre.

NASA's web coverage of STS-134 includes mission information, a press kit, interactive features, news conference images, graphics and videos. Mission coverage, including the latest NASA Television schedule, is available on the main space shuttle website at: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

NASA is providing continuous television and Internet coverage of the mission. NASA TV features live mission events, daily status news conferences and 24-hour commentary. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Images, Video, Text, Credit: NASA / NASA TV.

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