41. Space shuttle Endeavour blasted off Thursday night carrying five astronauts and giant solar wings for the international space station. 42. Space shuttle Endeavour flew away from space station Alpha on Saturday, leaving behind powerful solar wings that already have improved life on the orbiting outpost. 43. The biggest, most powerful, most expensive set of solar wings ever built for a spacecraft is about to take flight. 44. Tanner and Noriega will make electrical connections so that power from the newly installed solar wings can be distributed to the rest of the station. 45. The framework will hold electricity-generating solar wings and radiators needed for the extra laboratories that are planned. 46. The equipment was installed and began receiving electricity from the solar wings early Tuesday. 47. The installation of the solar wings will also enable NASA to launch its power-hungry Destiny lab module in January as planned. 48. The motors keep the solar wings pointing toward the sun and generating electricity. 49. The men also inspected and photographed a Russian solar wing that never fully deployed. 50. The new solar wing passed its initial tests. |