Atlantis Astronauts complete Mission 3rd spacewalk
Atlantis Astronauts complete Mission 3rd spacewalk : WASHINGTON, U.S. astronauts and Robert Randolph Bresnik Satcher Jr. ended after five hours, 42 minutes spacewalk at 2:06 pm EST (1906 GMT) on Monday, which is the third and final spacewalk of space shuttle Atlantis STS-129 mission, NASA said.
During the spacewalk, the pair transferred an oxygen-filled high-pressure gas tank (HPGT) Express Logistics Company 2, located on the starboard beam, a point outside the airlock. The tank, measuring 5 meters by 6.2 meters by 4.5 meters and weighs about 1,240 pounds, will be used to replenish the atmosphere astronauts lost when entering and leaving the station.
While Satcher completed the installation of HPGT, installed the seventh Bresnik Materials International Space Station Experiment, or MISSE 7. This is the most advanced payloads MISSE to date and will be the first to receive energy directly from the station and use the communication system of the station to send commands and downlink data in real time.
Atlantis blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday. Its 11-day flight includes three spacewalks and the installation of two platforms of the station truss, or backbone. The platforms are spare parts to maintain the operations of the station after the shuttle retirement. The shuttle will remain at the station until the day before Thanksgiving. Landing would be the day after.
Atlantis STS – 129 mission is NASA’s fifth and final shuttle mission in 2009. There are only five shuttle launches planned before the planned September 2010 retirement of the space shuttle fleet.
