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Article: Astronauts tame stubborn solar array.
- Article from:
- The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, FL)
- Article date:
- June 13, 2007
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2007 The Orlando Sentinel. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Robyn Shelton
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. _ Two spacewalking astronauts struggled Wednesday to guide a stubborn solar array back into its storage box on the International Space Station.
At times using a long tool dubbed the "hockey stick," Steve Swanson and Patrick Forrester smoothed out panels so the 115-foot array would fold up properly as it was mechanically retracted.
NASA had pulled in 28 feet of the array before the spacewalk began shortly after 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. With the astronauts' help, another 20 feet was retracted successfully.
The work was tedious and slow, with frequent stops to fix panels that were bunching up. The construction workers were ...