LIVE now ISS space walk to install new solar array

This is getting epic-
One of the astronauts is lugging a 750lb solar array into position,and hes connected to the canadian arm,which is moving him about..

Some great shots from different cameras,including body cams.

Well worth checking out:



They have been out for nearly 4 hours,and still lots more to do.

a reply to: Silcone Synapse

Sure is dark up there. I'm not real sure what I'm looking at.

I assume they should be coming back around into the sunlight before too long, right?



eta: Looks like it brightened up right after I posted this comment.

a reply to: BrokenCircles

Ha,Yeah,sorry about that-after being on nice HD cameras for a good while,they changed to their 80's VHS potato cameras just after I posted the link..

Back on the HD body cams now.

Respect to those guys-takes some next level focus to do that for hours outside the station.

a reply to: Silcone Synapse

Right now, their problem is that they don't have a hammer. If it doesn't fit, and it's not falling into place, you need to beat that F'er and make it fit. Apparently, they don't know that.

Hmm,so due to some kind of electrical/computer glitch,they can't unfurl the new solar array today-
They must go back inside,fix the problem from there,then get back out on Sunday to complete the job.

They are going back into the airlock now.

a reply to: Silcone Synapse

Not sure whether or not you heard them talk about this, but that wasn't the only problem they had today. One of the astronauts was having issues with his suit earlier today, that caused them to already be behind schedule. I heard them mention it a couple times on NASA-TV, but I wasn't sure of the details, so I looked it up.

About three hours into today’s spacewalk, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough made his way back to the Quest airlock at the International Space Station to reconnect his spacesuit to an umbilical connection and restarted it. The reset corrected the issues with his spacesuit’s display and controls module that provides him information about the status of his spacesuit.

In addition, after seeing a spike in the reading for pressure in his sublimator, which provides cooling for his spacesuit, flight controllers had Kimbrough cycle the sublimator. The data stabilized.

blogs.nasa.gov...

eta: I was thinking about my previous comment, where I used the phrase "falling into place"...
Of course it's not going to fall into place. Nothing falls in Space.
Zero Gravity = Not Falling


(but they still coulda beat it into place. lol)

a reply to: BrokenCircles
Yeah I caught that about the suit problem,they fixed it by turning it off and on again

I know you are not technically falling in space,but I wonder if the astronauts get a dizzy/vertigo effect from the earth spinning/ISS orbiting.
I'm pretty dang sure I would.

a reply to: Silcone Synapse

I know they prepare for anything and everything, all possible scenarios, and practice extensively, but I wonder exactly what they do to prepare for the possibility of vertigo.

I know when I was younger it wouldn't have been a problem for me, but now that I'm getting a little bit older, I honestly can't say that for sure. I used to love heights, and have worked in some dangerous extremely high locations, and it didn't bother me at all. However, it's been awhile now since I've climbed to any significant height. Over the last few years, there has actually been a few times when I've had that feeling of vertigo just from watching a movie. It's weird.



One thing I've wondered before about astronauts on the ISS, especially when they are near their most southern point of orbit, is if they ever feel like they're upside down or if they ever feel like the Earth is above them. The answer is probably no, but that would be a rather unusual experience if you actually felt like the entire Earth was hanging above you.