The crew of space shuttle Atlantis awoke at 3:20 a.m. EDT to the song “Alive Again” by Matt Maher, played for Mission Specialist Mike Good.
The crew has been told there will be no focused inspection of the shuttle’s heat shield, but they will gather some additional imagery of it on flight day 5.
The fourth day of the mission will focus on the first spacewalk, expected to begin at about 8:15 a.m. and last 6.5 hours.
Spacewalkers Garrett Reisman and Steve Bowen will install a second station space-to-ground Ku-band antenna and a spare parts platform on Dextre, the two-armed robotic Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator.
The first spacewalk will be the only one not devoted to battery replacement, but Reisman and Bowen will loosen battery bolts on the port-6 backbone segment of the station in preparation for the other spacewalks. Atlantis brought to the station six new 375-pound batteries to be installed during the second and third spacewalks.