Hoping For 'A Walk In The Park'

With just a little more construction work remaining, shuttle Atlantis' astronauts were upbeat heading into their third and final spacewalk outside the international space station.

Piers Sellers, one of the two spacewalkers, said he expected Monday's excursion to be "a walk in the park" compared with last week's difficult yet successful outings.

"But it's not over 'til the fat lady floats," he told reporters Sunday.

Sellers and David Wolf had to finish installing the $390 million space station girder that was delivered by Atlantis almost one week ago. Their chores included connecting the last bit of plumbing and attaching more pressure-relief clamps to the coolant lines.

During spacewalks on Thursday and Saturday, Sellers and Wolf encountered a slew of stiff bolts and pipes in hooking up the 14-ton girder and had to install one of two TV cameras without the use of the station's robot arm as a work platform.

All nine space travelers got to see the results of their handiwork Sunday, with the smooth rotation of the three exterior radiators on the girder. Because of a minor electrical problem, however, they had to wait until Monday for the main event: the unfolding of one of the radiators to its full 75 feet in length.

"This is new hardware," Mission Control said, apologizing for the delay.

The astronauts huddled around windows as they watched the folded-up radiators swing back and forth in unison on their rotating beam, under the command of ground controllers. It's part of a massive, elaborate air conditioning system that will be activated next year.

"It looks like it's moving pretty fast, guys - but not out of control," shuttle astronaut Sandra Magnus told Mission Control. She was informed the radiator beam was moving 45 degrees per minute; it's designed to rotate 105 degrees in each direction.

"It's a great sight," she said.

The extension of the middle radiator was meant as a test to make sure all the moving parts work. Once all three are deployed, the radiating surface will be about the size of a tennis court - enough area to cool the equivalent of four 2,000-square-foot homes.

NASA will aim the radiators at deep space, to keep the ammonia coolant in the lines as cold as possible.

During a news conference Sunday, space station resident Peggy Whitson said she's already gone through much of the salsa her shuttle friends brought. She had been craving spice after four months in orbit and put in an order for lots of salsa.

She also is enjoying the pecan pie that came up on Atlantis.

"Pecan pie is one of the few things that doesn't really need salsa," she said with a laugh.

Whitson and her two Russian crewmates are scheduled to return to Earth next month. Atlantis' crew, meanwhile, will leave the space station Wednesday.

By Marcia Dunn