STS-134 astronauts Mike Fincke and Greg Chamitoff switched their suits to battery power at 12:15 a.m. EDT, signifying the start of the final of four spacewalks for the mission. Today’s activities are expected to take six and a half hours.
Most of the spacewalk work will focus on getting the shuttle’s Orbiter Boom Sensor System stored on the space station’s truss system and ready for use by the station’s robotic arm. The spacewalk will start with the station’s robotic arm taking the boom off the hands of the shuttle robotic arm. While Fincke and Chamitoff make their way out of the Quest airlock, Pilot Greg Johnson and Expedition 28 Flight Engineer Ron Garan will maneuver the boom into position for them on the starboard side of the station’s truss, where stanchions will hold it in place. Fincke and Chamitoff will simply lock the boom into place. Afterward, Fincke will connect two grounding connectors, while Chamitoff installs a foot restraint on the station’s robotic arm for use later in the spacewalk.
From there, both spacewalkers will move to the P6 segment of the station’s truss to retrieve a power and data grapple fixture for installation on the boom.
This is the 248th spacewalk conducted by U.S. astronauts, the 159th in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the ninth for Fincke and the second for Chamitoff.
Fincke is wearing an unmarked white suit, and his helmet camera displays number 20. He is lead for this spacewalk. Chamitoff is wearing a suit marked by broken red stripes, and his helmet camera displays number 18.
Drew Feustel, who was lead spacewalker for the first three spacewalks of the mission, will be inside the International Space Station, choreographing the astronauts’ activities and coordinating communications between the spacewalkers and Mission Control in Houston.