A Japanese and an American astronaut yesterday stepped out into space to remove two protruding fibers from the underside of the shuttle Discovery that could compromise its return to earth.
As well as the unprecedented repair operation, the space walkers will also mount a tool platform and a material science experiment to the International Space Station (ISS) and retrieve a faulty heat dissipator on the orbiting space station.
Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi and mission specialist Stephen Robinson suited up and stepped outside the Discovery-ISS complex at 8:48am GMT, for what could be a seven-hour space walk.
PHOTO: AP
Attached to a foot restraint at the end of the shuttle's robotic arm -- which for this operation will be attached to the ISS -- Robinson will try to remove the protruding tile-gap filler with a pair of forceps.
Should the fibres resist the tugging, Robinson will try again with a makeshift hacksaw, NASA said.
"I am pretty comfortable with using tools very carefully," Robinson said in a press conference from the Discovery on Tuesday. "But no doubt about it, this is going to be a very delicate task. But, as I say, a simple one."
Deputy shuttle program director Wayne Hale said that if the hacksaw did not work another spacewalk could be organized for today or tomorrow with a new technique.
Although the ceramic fiber strands stuffed between the shuttle's thermal tiles are not needed for protection during reentry -- they prevent acoustic vibrations during liftoff, by protruding they break the smooth contour of the shuttle's underside, which is essential for a problem-free re-entry, NASA said.
The shuttle could overheat because of instability that the gap fillers, dangling about 2.5cm from between thermal tiles on the underside of the shuttle, could cause during the fiery descent to Earth.
A crack in the shuttle's thermal shield caused by a falling piece of foam during liftoff caused the destruction of the Columbia during its reentry and the death of its seven astronauts on Feb. 1, 2003.
In all, yesterday's space walk could last as long as seven hours, NASA said. It is the third and possibly final space walk in the Discovery's mission, which is the first since the Columbia disaster.
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