Fourth and final STS-117 spacewalk completed

The fourth spacewalk for Atlantis astronauts was completed on Sunday, accomplishing all extravehicular goals of the STS-117 mission. With a cleared heat shield, the shuttle is slated to close hatches with the ISS on Monday and undock the following day.

Carpenter Newton reporting for Digital Journal –– Astronauts Patrick Forrester and Steven Swanson completed the fourth and final spacewalk of Atlantis’ STS-117 mission today, wrapping up a successful mission of EVA activity in the continuing construction of the International Space Station. Today’s spacewalk began at 12:25 p.m. EDT when Forrester and Swanson installed a holding unit for a television camera. The two then split up and headed to the newly installed S3 truss, where Forrester helped correct a stuck Drive Lock Assembly that slowed progress down on a previous spacewalk and Swanson removed launch restraints on the space station’s Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ). Now that the SARJ is active, new solar arrays installed last Monday can rotate and track the sun. Forrester and Swanson then turned attention to several get ahead tasks, including placing portable foot platforms that will be used on future space shuttle missions, routing a cable for a LAN network and opening a hydrogen vent valve. Before the astronauts returned to the ISS, they wished their fathers a happy Father’s Day. “Absolutely, a lot of fathers on this flight and we’re all enjoying a great Father’s Day,” astronaut James Reilly commented from inside the ISS. The fourth spacewalk lasted 6 hours, 29 minutes, bringing STS-117 EVA time to a final total of 27 hours, 58 minutes. In all, 88 spacewalks have been devoted to ISS assembly and maintenance. Atlantis Mission Could Still Be Extended At tonight’s Mission Status Briefing, NASA officials said that STS-117 could be extended by another day if critical computers that recently failed on the ISS do not perform adequately during a test to be performed Monday morning. Hatches between the ISS and shuttle are scheduled to close at 6:23 p.m. EDT tomorrow, and Atlantis is to undock on Tuesday morning.