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CNN Live Saturday

Spacewalk #2 for Atlantis Astronauts Gets Under Way

Aired October 12, 2002 - 15:54   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Spacewalk number two for the Atlantis astronauts and it's under way about 245 miles overhead and it's a high flying construction job at that. Space correspondent Miles O'Brien takes a peak into the work in progress. Hi again, Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka. Yes, happy to do that, happy to give a little break from the news of the day to tell you a little bit about what's going on in space. And things, actually, going well and ahead of schedule in space, 20 minutes ahead of schedule, so much that the spacewalkers seen here: Piers Sellers, Dave Wolf. Let's see: there's Mr. Wolf, and Mr. Sellers is right there. About 20 minutes ahead of schedule, doing some get-ahead tasks.

By the way, you see Sellers there, he's attached to the end of the billion-dollar robotic arm built by the Canadians, kind of a world class cherry picker is what he's become as they continue this effort to attach a series and correct a series of connections in ammonia lines which interlace the exterior of the space station. You can see some of those lines there, cooling lines that are sealed up too tightly. I'll explain a little bit more about what they're doing in just a few moments. They did have a few moments, however, to stop and share a view or too, via their helmet cams.

Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERS SELLERS, NASA ASTRONAUT: Man, Dave, that's beautiful. Let me give you a pan across to the shuttle, across -- I've got a tether grabbing. Darn it. Not going to let me turn. Oh, boy, wow!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Wow indeed. There, of course, you see the Space Shuttle Atlantis, attached to the international space station. And there's us down in the blue planet, looking up at them. There you see, by the way, one of the tethers that they're always attached to. Space walkers are out there floating around in a self-contained suit, but they are always attached by two tethers to the space station. You do not want to become disconnected. They do have a little jet pack that would get them back into the safety of inside the space station if need be, but nevertheless, they stay tethered.

Anyway, we did talk to Dave Wolf, who just shared that view with us, wow indeed. We asked him before he left, what were the things about this spacewalk that worried him so much that it kept him up late at night?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE WOLF, ATLANTIS ASTRONAUT: It's the thing we're not thinking about that will bite us. And so you've hit it very well. I go to bed thinking about what am I not thinking about, what have we missed here? That haunts you a little bit as we can't find it. We think we've thought of everything, practiced everything and tested it, and we will all find out the truth when we really go there and try to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right. Now, let's explain about these connectors for just a moment. You'll excuse me. I'm going to put my space geek hat on for just a minute and tell you about this collar they're putting on these quick disconnects. There are 24 of them that they were addressing. Essentially, these connects, which are right in here, are too tight. It's like a sealed up vacuum sealed jar. So what they're doing is, they're putting on these specially designed collars right there. It actually increases the distance here just a little bit, allows a little pressure to release, sort of like unscrewing the top of a Coke can. And that means that quick disconnect will, in fact, not freeze up. Or at least, that's the goal. So far so good, I'm doing that.

A quick picture of live shot from space. These are still pictures coming down right now, once again, from Piers Sellers and Dave Wolf's helmet camera. As you look at the $390 million truss they installed a few days ago on the space station. Another hour and they should be buttoned up inside, back inside and ready to have a delicious dinner, both of them having, Fredricka, meatloaf. The space walkers have been training so long together, they're eating the same thing: meatloaf and potatoes. They're meat and potatoes kind of guys.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, that's not bad at all. Keeping it simple up there.

O'BRIEN: Yes, yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Right. See you.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 12, 2002 - 15:54   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Spacewalk number two for the Atlantis astronauts and it's under way about 245 miles overhead and it's a high flying construction job at that. Space correspondent Miles O'Brien takes a peak into the work in progress. Hi again, Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka. Yes, happy to do that, happy to give a little break from the news of the day to tell you a little bit about what's going on in space. And things, actually, going well and ahead of schedule in space, 20 minutes ahead of schedule, so much that the spacewalkers seen here: Piers Sellers, Dave Wolf. Let's see: there's Mr. Wolf, and Mr. Sellers is right there. About 20 minutes ahead of schedule, doing some get-ahead tasks.

By the way, you see Sellers there, he's attached to the end of the billion-dollar robotic arm built by the Canadians, kind of a world class cherry picker is what he's become as they continue this effort to attach a series and correct a series of connections in ammonia lines which interlace the exterior of the space station. You can see some of those lines there, cooling lines that are sealed up too tightly. I'll explain a little bit more about what they're doing in just a few moments. They did have a few moments, however, to stop and share a view or too, via their helmet cams.

Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERS SELLERS, NASA ASTRONAUT: Man, Dave, that's beautiful. Let me give you a pan across to the shuttle, across -- I've got a tether grabbing. Darn it. Not going to let me turn. Oh, boy, wow!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Wow indeed. There, of course, you see the Space Shuttle Atlantis, attached to the international space station. And there's us down in the blue planet, looking up at them. There you see, by the way, one of the tethers that they're always attached to. Space walkers are out there floating around in a self-contained suit, but they are always attached by two tethers to the space station. You do not want to become disconnected. They do have a little jet pack that would get them back into the safety of inside the space station if need be, but nevertheless, they stay tethered.

Anyway, we did talk to Dave Wolf, who just shared that view with us, wow indeed. We asked him before he left, what were the things about this spacewalk that worried him so much that it kept him up late at night?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE WOLF, ATLANTIS ASTRONAUT: It's the thing we're not thinking about that will bite us. And so you've hit it very well. I go to bed thinking about what am I not thinking about, what have we missed here? That haunts you a little bit as we can't find it. We think we've thought of everything, practiced everything and tested it, and we will all find out the truth when we really go there and try to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: All right. Now, let's explain about these connectors for just a moment. You'll excuse me. I'm going to put my space geek hat on for just a minute and tell you about this collar they're putting on these quick disconnects. There are 24 of them that they were addressing. Essentially, these connects, which are right in here, are too tight. It's like a sealed up vacuum sealed jar. So what they're doing is, they're putting on these specially designed collars right there. It actually increases the distance here just a little bit, allows a little pressure to release, sort of like unscrewing the top of a Coke can. And that means that quick disconnect will, in fact, not freeze up. Or at least, that's the goal. So far so good, I'm doing that.

A quick picture of live shot from space. These are still pictures coming down right now, once again, from Piers Sellers and Dave Wolf's helmet camera. As you look at the $390 million truss they installed a few days ago on the space station. Another hour and they should be buttoned up inside, back inside and ready to have a delicious dinner, both of them having, Fredricka, meatloaf. The space walkers have been training so long together, they're eating the same thing: meatloaf and potatoes. They're meat and potatoes kind of guys.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, that's not bad at all. Keeping it simple up there.

O'BRIEN: Yes, yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Right. See you.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com