Spacewalkers Swapping Out Ammonia Tanks

Spacewalkers Rick Mastracchio and Clay Anderson removed electrical connections and bolts that held a spent Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) on the International Space Station’s starboard truss. Then Jim Dutton and Stephanie Wilson plucked the refrigerator-sized ATA away and temporarily stowed it on a Crew and Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) cart.

Next, the station arm will retrieve a new ATA from the Payload Orbital Replacement Unit Attachment (POA) and install it on the truss, where the old ATA had been.

While the arm is retrieving the new ATA, Mastracchio and Anderson will install two radiator grapple fixture stowage beams on the station’s truss. The beams will be used to temporarily store handles that would be necessary if a radiator ever needed to be replaced during the life of the space station.