A Dynamic Spacewalk Day Aboard Station Today

Two of space shuttle Discovery's crew members will take a walk in space this afternoon to assist with the connection of the huge Starboard 6 solar arrays truss segment on what will be a very dynamic day aboard the orbiting outpost.

Astronauts Steven Swanson and Richard (Ricky) Arnold spent overnight last night in the Quest airlock to prebreathe pure oxygen in preparation for today's spacewalk. Spacewalk #1 is set to start at 1:13 pm EDT, however it could begin several minutes early if the crew is ahead in their time line.

At 2 pm, the installation of the S6 [image above this morning] to the station will begin, followed by the astronauts beginning the connection of the power cables between the two one hour later. The spacewalk is scheduled to wrap up at about 7:43 pm.

Discovery's astronauts awoke this morning at 8:13 am EDT, as the shuttle - space station complex flew 220 statue miles above the north India & Pakistan region. This morning's wake up music was a Spanish dance song, Que Bandera Bonita by Jose Gonzalez, selected for mission specialist Joe Acaba.

Joe Acaba awoke to exclaim to Mission Control as the fun music played, "Good morning, Houston"....[music continues to play]..."Good morning, Houston"...[music finishes up]. "...ready for a busy day with the [S6] truss".