NASA Delays Discovery Spacewalks Due To Damage

Boston (dbTechno) - Not long after it was announced on Tuesday that a tear has been found in the solar array of the International Space Station, NASA made the announcement that spacewalks for the Discovery mission would be delayed.

A spacewalk was originally set up to take place on Thursday as there was an inspection set for the rotary joint on the ISS. This spacewalk has been delayed indefinitely as o fright now so it appears that it will never happen.

They have put an end to that spacewalk but did so in order to be ready for a spacewalk on Friday which will be very important. The spacewalk Friday will consist of them trying to fix the torn solar array. Many engineers have been stating that in its current state the solar array is simply not stable.

During spacewalks on Sunday astronauts moved the solar array to a location where it will not again move on the ISS. On Tuesday astronaut noticed a two-and-a-half foot tear in the wings of the solar array.

Mike Suffradini, the space station program manager stated “Given the fact that we could potentially damage this array if we leave it in this configuration, and if we damage it enough we could potentially not have it available for the life of the program, this then becomes our priority.”

So it appears that Friday will be the big day as NASA tries to fix the solar array as part of the modified Discovery mission at the International Space Station.