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Nov 20, 2009 8:46 am US/Eastern
Robotics Work And Spacewalk Preps for Shuttle Crew
CAPE CANAVERAL (CBS4) ―
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NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-129 lifts off of launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center Nov. 16, 2009, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The astronauts are scheduled for an 11 day mission to deliver vital equipment to the International Space Station.
Matt Stroshane/Getty Images
Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery woke up Friday morning to the song, "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge. It was played for Mission Specialist Leland Melvin.
Friday, the astronauts aboard the shuttle-station complex are getting some extra moving time.
Space shuttle Atlantis has been declared free of any worrisome launch damage. That means the crewmen won't need to conduct another detailed inspection of their ship until after they leave the International Space Station.
They will fill the extra time Friday by moving more supplies over to the outpost.
The first of three spacewalks planned for the mission was carried out successfully Thursday. Atlantis crewmen Michael Foreman and Dr. Robert Satcher Jr. had a spare antenna installed in just two hours. They also hooked up cables and a handrail, and greased some mechanisms, zooming two hours ahead at one point.
"You guys are rocking the house," astronaut Randolph Bresnik called from inside the linked shuttle-station complex.
The hardest job was one they weren't even supposed to tackle Thursday. They jumped ahead and released a cargo platform, after struggling with a jammed spring-loaded device. They had to hammer and wiggle a bolt and brace to free the mechanism, and lost a small metal piece in the process.
The one-eighth-inch sliver, possibly a pin, floated harmlessly away.
Foreman and Satcher fielded congratulations from their colleagues at the end of the 6 1/2-hour spacewalk. Shuttle commander Charles Hobaugh promised them something to eat and a chance to relax.
Two more spacewalks are planned -- on Saturday and Monday -- to perform more space station maintenance and get the orbiting outpost ready for the next shuttle visitors.
Atlantis will remain at the space station until the day before Thanksgiving.
Already, the 12 space travelers have unloaded several tons of pumps, tanks and other big spare parts that came up on Atlantis. All the gear should keep the space station operating well past next fall's shuttle retirement.
NASA plans to keep the outpost running until at least 2015.
Five more shuttle missions remain, all devoted to space station work.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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