Clay Anderson and Rick Mastracchio have begun final preparations for the second spacewalk

STS-131 MCC Status Report #12

HOUSTON – Mission Specialists Clay Anderson and Rick Mastracchio have begun final preparations for the second spacewalk of this mission, planned for 1:16 a.m. CDT.

The two, who are making their fifth spacewalk, will remove a spent ammonia tank from the station’s starboard, right-side, truss and replace it with the new 1,700-pound, refrigerator-size tank they removed from Discovery’s payload bay on Friday. The ammonia is used for the station’s cooling system.

Discovery’s crew was awakened at 8:26 p.m. with “Stairway to the Stars” by Ella Fitzgerald, played for Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson, who will be operating the station’s robotic arm to support today’s spacewalk.

Mission Specialist Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger again will choreograph the spacewalk, serving as the intravehicular officer. Commander Alan G. Poindexter and Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. also will assist with the planned 6-1/2 hour spacewalk.

Mission Specialist Naoko Yamazaki, along with the Expedition 23 crew, will continue with the transfer of supplies from the shuttle to the station. The crew has transferred 72 percent of the items on the shuttle’s middeck and 33 percent in the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module.

Anderson and Mastracchio will begin the second spacewalk at the spent ammonia tank to release it, move it and then store it until the final spacewalk on Tuesday. Next, the two will install two beams on the station’s port, left-side, truss to stow handles for use should a radiator need repairing before returning to the starboard side to install the new tank.