Spacewalking astonauts have successfully unattached a huge solar power array from the ISS. Now comes the hard part. On Tuesday, using the robot arm, they will attempt to maneuver the array to its permanent position on ISS and reattach it.
During the procedure, astronaut Daniel Tari discovered meral shaving at the connection of the power array to the station. Mission control had Tari collect samples of the shavings. The discovery is a reminder of the stresses that act on large structures assembled in space. Maintaining a space station over long periods of time requires effort, as the Russians learned over decades with several stations.
NASA has various robots to help with station maintenance in development. If ISS is to last another decade or more, those robots will be needed. Similar robots will likely accompany all large ships wherever humans travel in space.
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