spacetoday.net: Japanese lab component installed on station

Posted: Sun, Jul 19, 2009, 1:14 PM ET (1714 GMT)
STS-127: EVA #1 (NASA)

Two spacewalkers worked through communications glitches Saturday as part of successful efforts to install a external experiment platform to the International Space Station. Astronauts Dave Wolf and Tim Kopra spent five hours and 32 minutes outside the ISS on a spacewalk that ended at 5:51 pm EDT (2151 GMT) preparing the Kibo lab module on the station for the installation of the Japanese Exposed Facility (JEF), brought to the station on the shuttle. The JEF was moved from the shuttle's cargo bay and attached to Kibo by the shuttle's and station's robotic arms shortly after the spacewalk was over. The two also completed the deployment of a cargo carrier attachment system that failed to deploy properly during an EVA on a previous shuttle mission. The two carried out their work despite heavy static that made it difficult for the astronauts to communicate with controllers. The second of five spacewalks for the STS-127 mission is scheduled for Monday.