At 3:10 a.m. EDT, STS-134 spacewalkers Drew Feustel and Greg Chamitoff switched their suits to battery power, signifying the start of today’s planned six and a half hour excursion. Endeavour Mission Specialist Mike Fincke will be inside the International Space Station, choreographing the activities and coordinating communications between the spacewalkers and Mission Control in Houston.
This is the 245th spacewalk conducted by U.S. astronauts, the 156th in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the fourth for Feustel and the first for Chamitoff.
Feustel is wearing a spacesuit marked with solid red stripes, and his helmet camera displays number 18. Chamitoff’s suit is marked by broken red stripes, and his helmet camera displays number 20. Feustel is lead for this spacewalk.
Once outside, their first task is to retrieve two Materials International Space Station Experiments – MISSEs 7A and 7B. They were delivered to the station in November 2009 and installed during one of the spacewalks on the STS-129 mission. To remove the experiments, Chamitoff will disconnect one power cable from each of them. He will then close the experiment and remove two pins holding MISSE 7B in place and carry it back to Endeavour’s cargo bay for return home. Feustel will do the same with 7A.
The two experiments returning home will be stored opposite from each other on the side of the shuttle’s cargo bay and secured using two latches. When they are in place, Feustel will retrieve MISSE 8, brought up by Endeavour, and carry it back to the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier 2 for installation in 7A’s place. He will install two pins to hold the experiment in place, open the experiment and connect two power cables.