Shuttle Surgery a Success
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Astronauts successfully unfurled a torn solar power wing at the international space station yesterday after spacewalker Scott Parazynski cut loose a tangled clump of wires and patched everything up.
His emergency surgery saved the solar energy panel — and the space station.
“This was just a fabulous effort,” the space station’s program manager, Mike Suffredini, said. “Our baby is still beautiful to us.”
In the tense buildup to the spacewalk — one of the most difficult and dangerous ever attempted — NASA repeatedly warned that station construction would have to be halted if the wing could not be fixed.
The prospect was so grave that NASA felt it had no choice but to put Mr. Parazynski practically right up against the swaying power grid, which was coursing with more than 100 volts of electricity. No other astronaut had ever been so far away from the safe confines of the cabin.
Even before Mr. Parazynski made his way back inside, the radio traffic was full of cheers and congratulations.
Shouts of “Yay! All right! Beautiful! Great news!” streamed from the linked shuttle-station complex once the wing was unfurled to its full 115-foot length. Mission Control promptly relayed thanks from NASA’s top brass.
“It was an honor,” Mr. Parazynski replied.
The commander of the docked shuttle Discovery, Pamela Melroy, who supervised the wing repairs, cautioned everyone to hold off on “the victory dance” until Mr. Parazynski and his spacewalking partner, Douglas Wheelock, were safely back inside. “Then we can all rejoice,” she said.
