HOUSTON – On Thursday, Aug. 30, NASA Television will broadcast the relocation of a pressurized component of the International Space Station, the first step toward adding new international science laboratories to the orbiting outpost. It will be the first time such a move is conducted without a space shuttle present.
Expedition 15 flight engineers Clayton Anderson and Oleg Kotov will use the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach a large docking adapter from one port of the Unity connecting node and attach it to another port. The docking adapter is designated Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 or PMA 3. NASA TV coverage of the activities, expected to last about five hours, will begin at 4:30 a.m. CDT.
The move will make room for the attachment of the Harmony connecting module, or Node 2, which will be delivered to the station on the next space shuttle mission, targeted for launch in late October. Harmony will provide ports to attach the station’s European and Japanese laboratory modules. The laboratories are targeted to be delivered in late 2007 and early 2008, respectively.
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