Fourth ISS Spacewalk Targeted for Friday

Mission managers announced today that the fourth spacewalk of STS-120 is targeted for Friday. This spacewalk was originally scheduled for Thursday and would have involved work on the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint.

However, the station program has decided to attempt to repair the damaged P6 4B solar array wing during Friday’s spacewalk. Performing the spacewalk on Friday preserves the program’s option to schedule another solar array repair spacewalk during STS-120 if needed.

The STS-120 and Expedition 16 crews are continuing cargo transfers. They took a break this morning to participate in the traditional joint crew news conference. They fielded questions from reporters in America, Italy and Russia.

Early this morning Mission Specialist and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli and STS-120 Commander Pam Melroy talked to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. The astronauts took questions from the Italian leader while they were inside the Harmony node. The newly delivered Harmony was U.S. funded and Italian built.

Source: NASA