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Spacewalkers leave one item for next teamMar 23, 2009 (Houston Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Not everything went their way on Monday, but two science teachers-turned-NASA-astronauts displayed the right stuff as they joined forces for a day's work outside the international space station. The 6 1/2 -hour spacewalk 220 miles above the Earth was the second for Ricky Arnold and Joe Acaba, two of the shuttle Discovery's seven astronauts. But it was their first without journeyman astronaut Steve Swanson alongside. "Take your time, enjoy it and do good work," space station commander Mike Fincke told the two former biology and environmental sciences instructors as they prepared to set out. "We're counting on you." NASA didn't make it easy for Arnold -- whose resume includes middle school math and science teaching jobs in the Middle East, Indonesia, Romania -- nor Acaba, who taught the same subjects at Florida middle and high schools. The outing sent the two men who joined NASA's educator-astronaut program five years ago up and down the station's 356-foot-long power truss with a list of tasks. On Sunday, NASA reoriented the space station so a 4-inch piece of Chinese rocket debris would not zip dangerously close during their excursion. High on the work list was a misaligned external storage platform with a jammed locking pin. Their assignment was to free the pin -- using a hammer and pry bar if necessary -- so the platform for space parts storage could be properly mounted. Arnold tugged with his hands and hammered, finally managing to free the pin. But, as some station engineers on Earth suspected, that was not enough to free the platform. "OK, Rick give it a try," Acaba cheered on his hammer-wielding colleague. "No joy," Arnold reported. "Try a little harder," urged Acaba. "I'm cranking on it," Arnold assured. "I will try a little bit harder." "Sweet," Acaba called out as the stubborn pin budged. But that was as far as they got with the platform. Mission Control directed them to lash down the platform with four straps and move on to other tasks. Another spacewalking team will try after some more troubleshooting by the engineer experts, Mission Control's Rick Davis said. "Great work out there guys," assured Swanson, who choreographed the spacewalk from inside the station. "You did a great job getting it in a safe configuration." Monday's outing also took Acaba on a breathtaking ride over the middle of the space station while his feet were secured in the tip of the station's robot arm. As he moved 356 feet from one side of the station to the other, Acaba exclaimed to no one in particular: "The Earth looks beautiful!" [email protected] To see more of the Houston Chronicle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.HoustonChronicle.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Houston Chronicle Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |