Astronauts Install Last Pair of Solar Panels

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 19, 2009 6:55 PM CDT
Astronauts Install Last Pair of Solar Panels
In this image from NASA TV, space shuttle Discovery crew member Steven Swanson works outside the space station.   (AP Photo/NASA TV)

The International Space Station is about to get full power for the first time. Two astronauts today installed the last pair of solar panels for the station in a six-hour spacewalk, reports Space.com. The station, which now has a total of eight solar panels, will unfurl the newly installed pair tomorrow. Astronauts Steven Swanson and Richard Arnold had some trouble with cables, but nothing major.

"It wasn't quite as smooth as we had hoped, but those guys did a great job," said Discovery astronaut Joseph Acaba.


  (More International Space Station stories.)

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