Mission STS-123 First Spacewalk Completed
“Now I wouldn’t go as far to say that we’re worried it’s going to go run amok and take over the space station or turn evil or anything because we all know how it’s operated and it doesn’t have a lot of its own intelligence,” Garrett Reisman, one of the seven astronauts of mission STS-123, told AP news. He also admitted to being slightly nervous about the size of the gigantic robot. “But I’ll tell you something. He’s enormous and to see him with his giant arms, it is a little scary. It’s a little monstrous. Almost like it’s Frankenstein’s monster coming alive.”
Lasting approximately seven hours and one minute, mission specialist Rick Linnehan and Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman had completed their first spacewalk at 4:19 a.m. Thursday morning. Making the walk a little more challenging was the fact the International Space Station had trouble getting power to the gigantic robot with 11-foot arms that needed to be assembled by astronauts.
The second spacewalk will focus on the robot assembly as this first spacewalk, and whether or not there will be a power problem is yet unknown. Power is very important for the robot–heating the joints and limbs, keeping the electronics warm enough to operate, checking the overall system of the robot, and to move it once assembled. Mike Suffredini, the NASA space station program manager, said he felt sure the problems was able to be resolved in a quick and efficient manner even though the initial attempts to route power to Dextre were not part of the first spacewalk.
Canadian engineers are working on a computer software patch for the problem, as they feel the problem is with a timer. But other options are being considered, which include problems with the relay power to Dextre, through the space station’s robot arm.
Commander Dom Gorie and Japanese astronaut Takao Doi moved the J LP, the first component of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo Laboratory, using the space shuttle’s robotic arm. The second goal is to assemble Dextre on the second spacewalk. A 12-foot-high mechanical robot, Dextre has 11-foot arms and a shoulder span of nearly 8 feet, with the robot being developed by the Canadian Space Agency. Once it is up and running properly, the gigantic robot will play a very important role at the ISS, such as moving and maneuvering large objects while also performing delicate little tasks that normally are the sole responsibility for the crewmembers.
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 10:21 pm and is filed under Public Relations, Space Agency News, Technical Concerns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
