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Atlantis Mission Extended for 2 Days
The mission of Atlantis space shuttle has been extended from 11 days to 13 days, NASA representatives told RIA Novosti. The astronauts need extra days to fix a thermal blanket that peeled back in time of the launch and is to be repaired during a spacewalk.
Two astronauts, John Olivas and Jim Reilly, made the first spacewalk Monday. Their purpose was to activate truss segments of the third and fourth stations which have new solar battery systems. The segments had been connected to the ISS roughly an hour and a half before the astronauts floated outside the space station.
Olivas and Reilly made the power and data connections and connected the cooling system to new segments. They also installed and unwrapped a new radiator.
Though delayed by over an hour because of the overload of four gyroscopes that properly position the space station, the first spacewalk of astronauts was free of accidents, according to NASA representative.
Meanwhile, the loosened blanket of Atlantis is the matter of first priority for the mission managers. Should the astronauts be able to repair the defect during the scheduled third spacewalk, the additional fourth one would be used to deal with the tasks planned for the next mission.
www.kommersant.com
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