ISS Fan Club

Expedition 16 astronauts Dan Tani and Peggy Whitson wrapped up a 6-hour, 56-minute spacewalk focused on International Space Station solar array issues at 11:46 a.m. EST Tuesday.

The spacewalkers looked for the cause of partial loss of electrical power to one of the station's two Beta Gimbal Assemblies (BGAs) for starboard solar wings. They also examined damage to the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ).

The SARJ enables the arrays to rotate in a paddlewheel-like fashion to follow the sun as the station orbits the Earth. The BGA lets the solar wings tilt along their long axis to point more directly to the sun.