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CNN Live Today

Atlantis Astronauts Beginning a Challenging Construction Job

Aired April 11, 2002 - 11:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We will change topics and go to one that's quite a bit more pleasant, this out in space. Atlantis astronauts are right now beginning a challenging construction job. They began this mission to install a huge girder on the International Space Station.

Our John Zarrella is monitoring the spacewalk. He is in our bureau in Miami this morning -- hello, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Leon. Well, that's right. The astronauts, two of them, are outside of Space Shuttle Atlantis right now, outside of the International Space Station. They have begun their work. Right now, we don't have a live picture from space. We have lost that signal, but they have been out now about 40 minutes. It's astronauts Steve Smith, a veteran, now on his fourth space flight, and Rex Walheim, who is the rookie astronaut out there.

Now, what they did this morning, the first thing this morning before the astronauts went out into space was to lift the giant S-Zero truss out of the shuttle's cargo bay. Now, what you are seeing here is actually the shuttle there beneath the space station attached to the space station, and they began to grab with the Canada arm, that S- Zero truss. Now, this is major building block on to the space station. It will be attached to the Destiny module, one of about eight that will eventually be placed end to end. It will be more than a football field long when it's finally assembled in about two years.

The bottom line on it is that what it will amount to is really a spinal column, a backbone, and on the end of that backbone will be attached solar arrays for future power to the space station and to power-up additional space laboratories from Europe and Japan when they are installed. Also cooling systems, electrical cables will have to be run through there.

So this today is the first six-and-a-half hour spacewalk of four spacewalks to begin this massive assembly project. You are looking there at the astronauts just a little while ago. That's Steve Smith out there, the veteran astronaut, as he began to install a foot restraint. Above his head is that S-Zero truss that you can see there.

Now, astronaut Rex Walheim, a rookie space flyer and rookie spacewalker, he talked to us about a month ago about this mission and about what his role would be on this spacewalk. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REX WALHEIM, MISSION SPECIALIST: It's not much different than anchoring some strong bolts on a big tire. So I mean, they are very large bolts. We drill them with a -- bolt them in with a pistol grip tool, a power tool. Then we put a tork multiplier to multiply it, so we have to really get it torked down. And that's all there is to it. But doing that in a spacesuit on the end of a mechanical arm can be a little tricky at times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now, this truss, the S-Zero truss, weighs tons and tons, but of course, in the zero gravity of space, it's a lot easier to maneuver and work about. But these are the first 40 minutes of the spacewalk. Again, astronauts Steve Smith out there beginning the process installing foot restraints that they will be using to work from during the rest of this six-and-a-half hour spacewalk, as they begin to install the bolts and anchor this section of the truss, 43 feet long, down to the Destiny module.

Again, three will be three more spacewalks, and one of the interesting notes is that for the first time ever in history, we are going to have a railroad in space. There is a locomotive/railcar that sits on top of that S-Zero truss, and eventually it will be used to go across the entire football field length of that truss assembly, when it's finally all put together in a couple of years. And from there, astronauts as well as mission control can work robotic arms, and they can begin the installation process using this railcar as a platform all along this giant girder assembly as they put in the solar arrays, they put in cooling systems and more electrical connections and electrical wires.

So again, we are going to be following for the next five-and-a- half to six hours the remainder of this space flight, this spacewalk, very important, the first one in an installation assembly of the S- Zero truss by astronauts on board the Shuttle Atlantis.

This is John Zarrella reporting live from Miami.

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