A pair of Endeavour astronauts will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing with a 6.5 hour space jaunt.
Space shuttle Endeavour crewmembers awoke this morning to the theme from the 1960s TV show "The Thunderbirds." Later today, astronauts Dave Wolf and Tom Marshburn will begin a scheduled six and a half hour spacewalk outside the vehicle.
While Wolf and Marshburn space walk, International Space Station residents Gennady Padalka and Frank DeWinne will work to repair the Waste Hygiene Compartment toilet in the space station's Destiny laboratory. The system's dose pump, which delivers chemicals that separate liquids from solid waste, failed after running for about 15 minutes on Sunday.
Endeavour lifted off last Wednesday after a series of delays caused by faulty equipment and inclement weather.
STS-127, as the mission is called, is a 16-day roundtrip voyage that will see the Endeavour crew work to complete construction of Japan's Kibo space laboratory. The astronauts will add a porch-like platform to the lab's exterior that will allow experiments to be exposed to the vacuum of outer space.
Endeavour crewmember Tim Kopra will remain on the space station while ISS flight engineer Koichi Wakata returns home on the shuttle after a four month stint aboard the ISS.
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