spacetoday.net: Spacewalkers repair shuttle, retract solar panel

Posted: Sat, Jun 16, 2007, 10:59 AM ET (1459 GMT)
STS-117: EVA #3 (NASA)

A pair of shuttle astronauts performed an EVA Friday, repairing a thermal blanket on the shuttle and helping complete the retraction of a solar panel on the International Space Station. Astronauts Jim Reilly and Danny Olivas spent nearly eight hours outside the shuttle-station complex of Friday, initially working on repairing a thermal blanket that tore loose on the aft section of Atlantis. Olivas, using a medical stapler and pins, was able to secure the 10-by-15-centimeter flap that was loose in about two hours' of work, while Reilly installed a hydrogen vent valve on the Destiny module of ISS. The two then helped guide the retraction of the remaining sections of a solar panel on the P6 truss segment, work that started earlier this week. The retraction was required so that the truss segment can be moved to its final location on a future mission. A fourth EVA, added to the mission just earlier this week, is scheduled for Monday to perform some additional work outside the station in preparation for future station assembly work.