230p 11/22 Update: Initial SARJ cleaning goes smoothly

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CBS NEWS STS-126 STATUS REPORT: 51
Posted: 2:30 PM, 11/22/08

By William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst

Changes and additions:

   SR-49 (11/22/08): Urine processor restarted; crew gears up for third spacewalk
   SR-50 (11/22/08): Spacewalk begins; urine processor troubleshooting continues
   SR-51 (11/22/08): Cleaning goes smoothly in initial stages of EVA

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2:30 PM, 11/22/08, Update: Clean goes smoothly in initial stages of spacewalk

An hour and a half into a planned seven-hour spacewalk, astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Stephen Bowen are running about a half hour ahead of schedule cleaning and lubricating the space station's right-side solar array rotary joint.

Stefanyshyn-Piper has installed the first of six bearing assemblies slated for replacement today while Bowen is working on a different section of the joint's 10-foot-wide drive gear. Because of lost grease guns, the astronauts are sharing tools and Bowen is using grease-impregnated wipes to put a coating of lubricant on the gear to collect metallic debris as he scrapes it off damaged bearing race.

"Steve, it looks like you're still scraping over there?" astronaut Robert "Shane Kimbrough called from inside the shuttle Endeavour.

"Yes, I am," Bowen replied. "I like this technique a little bit better because you can see more clearly where the (debris) pancakes are that you're chipping off. ... I feel like this really is the better method."

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Quick-Launch Web Links:

CBS News STS-126 Status Reports:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html

CBS News STS-126 Quick-Look Page:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html

NASA ISS Expeditions Page:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/index.html

NASA Shuttle Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html
NASA Station Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
Spaceflight Now: http://spaceflightnow.com/index.html
GoogleSatTrack: http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/

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