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Initial solar array 'wiggle' tests inconclusive BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: December 15, 2006 Flight controllers today began a series of tests to gently shake a partially retracted solar array on the international space station in hopes of freeing an apparently hung up guide wire. The astronauts attempted to retract the P6-4B array Wednesday, but they were only able to pull it in about half way. That was enough for the crew's space station re-wiring mission to proceed but engineers would like to resolve the issue if at all possible without having to stage an additional spacewalk or deferring the work to next year. At 8:49 a.m. commands were sent to rotate the array's central mast 10 degrees on one direction and then back to the starting point after a one-minute pause. The idea of the so-called "wiggle test" was to induce enough motion in the flexible blankets to free a guide wire in a grommet that appears held up by friction. Engineers believe that may explain why the blanket in question did not fold up smoothly during repeated attempts Wednesday. A second wiggle test was carried out at 9:35 a.m. but in both cases, the results were inconclusive. A third test, which included a 40-second pause between the first and second mast rotations, was carried out shortly after 10 a.m. Again, the results were inconclusive, at least to the untrained eye. Live television from the space station showed the array slowly turning, but resulting motion in the solar blankets was subtle and difficult to discern in realtime. NASA's Mission Management Team plans to review the situation this morning and additional tests may be carried out this afternoon. Space station program manager Mike Suffredini told reporters late Thursday it might be possible for an astronaut working out with a resistive exercise device to induce enough motion to achieve results. If additional tests are ordered, they likely will occur after a lengthy shuttle water dump scheduled to end around 2 p.m.
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