NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn have completed their spacewalking task, one of the most important and complex of the ISS mission to date, completion of the hook-up of the Japanese ISS $2.4 billion KIBO Lab complex “outdoor” platform. While on their walk the astronauts also took time to do some electrical work and rewire the ISS steering system, replaced some batteries and repaired the thermal covering for the Canadian construction robotic arm.
A mission that has been fraught with near-misses and mishaps from day one has completed its ultimate mission without too much of a hitch. Well, if you count a leaking space suit a hitchless event. Now it remains to bring home the Shuttle Endeavor crew safely.
When the mission began NASA officials had some concerns during take-off when cameras revealed that the underbelly of the Shuttle had been hit several times quite hard by debris from the booster rocket. The take-off had already been delayed by as much as a month due to equipment failure and bad weather. Once Endeavor was safely docked to the ISS the crew began an extensive inspection of their craft to see if any real damage had been inflicted by the debris. The damage appeared minor but could ground the Endeavor for good once it is back on Earth.
Endeavor is set to leave the ISS today (07/28/09) without Tim Kopra. Kopra will remain as part of the crew of the ISS taking over the duties of ISS veteran astronaut from Japan Koichi Wakata who is looking forward to coming home after nearly 5 months on the station. Koichi has become a national hero in his home country. Endeavor is schedule to touch down on Friday, July 31 in Florida.
The next schedule Shuttle mission to the ISS is set for late August.
My congratulations to all the crew members and to those who were involved in this remarkable achievement of mankind. Let NASA continue with its efforts in exploring the space and hope the U.S government reacts quickly in saving NASA from the impact of global recession. The recent economic downturn has put pressure on our government to decrease unnecessary spending. nasa is a vulnerable organization with discretionary funding that could possibly be slashed to save funds. The newly elected administration will decide nasa’s future fate. President-elect Barack Obama has promised funds to nasa but it is questionable if he will be able to keep all of his promises. He will have to cut things out of the budget. In our struggle to get stop this economic downturn, some sacrifices will need to be made and not every government funded organization will be satisfied with the funds they receive. nasa is in a dilemma with the proposed retirement of the space shuttle in 2010.
Interesting link on how global crisis has impacted NASA
link : http://en.oboulo.com/what-tough-economic-times-may-mean-for-nasa-63382.html