Discovery Astronauts Gear Up For Monday's Spacewalk
CAPE CANAVERAL (CBS4) - Rested after their long flight from Earth, Discovery's astronauts on the international space station are gearing up for their first spacewalk of the mission.
Shuttle commander Steven Lindsey and his crew had a late night Saturday installing an equipment platform to the orbiting platform.
Astronaut Stephen Bowen, who will take part in Monday's spacewalk is a latecomer to the mission. He joined the crew last month, replacing lead spacewalker Timothy Kopra, who was hurt in a bicycle crash. Kopra -- still on crutches -- will help direct both spacewalks from Mission Control.
"Steve will do just fine, and we have absolutely every confidence that we'll knock off all these tasks," said flight director David Korth.
Monday's spacewalk will involve Bowen and astronaut moving a broken ammonia pump to a better storage area and installing an extension power cable. The cable extension needs to be hooked up before a chamber full of supplies can be installed permanently on the orbiting lab; the Italian-built compartment was carried up aboard Discovery to serve as an extra closet.
The first humanoid robot in space -- Robonaut 2 or R2 for short -- will remain boxed up inside the compartment for another few months. Beginning in spring or early summer, it will be tested as an astronaut helper. R2 will remain indoors; future versions may venture out on spacewalks.
"Today my crew is going to be getting ready for the mission's 1st spacewalk," R2 said in a tweet, posted by a human colleague back on Earth. "Wish I could go with them! Maybe someday."
On Sunday the crew got some good news. Flight controllers at Mission Control said Discovery had made it through its final liftoff relatively unscathed, and that no further inspections would be needed before undocking next weekend.
NASA officials had said they did not suspect any damage from a section of insulating foam that broke off the fuel tank and struck Discovery's belly. At least four pieces of debris came off the tank during Thursday's launch, though none posed a safety concern.
This is the last flight for Discovery, after 39 missions spread over 26 years. The shuttle will be retired when it returns to Earth in just over a week and sent to the Smithsonian Institution.
Two launches remain -- by Endeavour in April and Atlantis at the end of June.
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