spacetoday.net: ISS crew relocates docking adapter

Posted: Fri, Aug 31, 2007, 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

The crew of the International Space Station moved a docking adapter on the station's Unity module to make way for the arrival later this year of a new module. The ISS crew used the station's robotic arm to move the Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 (PMA-3) from a port on the left side of Unity to one on the bottom of the same module. The unbolting process, when several motorized bolts backed out to allow the adapter to detach, generated several alarms that delayed the move. Engineers on the ground were unable to determine the cause of the alarms, but concluded that they did not pose a problem for the move itself; no other problems were detected during the move. The move frees up the docking port for the Harmony docking node, which will be attached there temporarily during the STS-120 mission in October before moving to its permanent location next to the Destiny lab module.