STS-132 astronauts Michael Good and Garrett Reisman completed the first task of today’s spacewalk at 7:04 a.m. EDT. They installed an ammonia jumper cable between the port 4 and 5 trusses of the International Space Station. The cable is a backup for the existing system. It would allow for an easier swap to this fluid line for ammonia, which is used to cool the space station’s systems.
Next, Good and Reisman will move on to the primary task for today of installing two more batteries on one half of one of the station’s four solar arrays. The old batteries are designated 5 and 6, and the new batteries are designated E and F.
They will remove an old battery from the solar array’s integrated electrical assembly using two “scoops.” After removing two bolts, they will hand the first old battery back and forth as they move down the station’s backbone, or truss. The process is called “shepherding,” and might appear as though the spacewalkers are “inch-worming” along the truss, except that one person is always holding a 375-pound battery.
They will then install the old battery in a temporary storage location on the integrated electrical assembly, remove the first new battery from the pallet on which it launched to the station (the space station robotic arm will be holding the pallet nearby for the spacewalkers’ access) and shepherd it back to the integrated electrical assembly for installation. The process will continue until the two batteries have been installed.