The astronauts folded about half of the old solar collector stages and are preparing for the third spacewalk

Tonight they will try to fix the problem with the heat shield. At the same time, the control personnel from Russia will continue to try to fix the malfunction in the computers of the Russian component of the station

The Atlantis crew on mission STS-117 and members of the space station's 15th crew had a busy day yesterday. They dismantled an old solar collector and began preparations for the third spacewalk that will take place today.

The team members resumed folding the solar collector on the P6 component around 12:25 US time (19:25 Israel time). The flight controllers decided to end the operation a little before 16:00 (23:00 we answered). Almost half of the 31 and a half steps have been folded. The crew and flight control personnel in Houston will attempt to continue the operation today with the assistance of the spacewalkers, if required.

Jim Reilly and Danny Olivas received a review of the processes and techniques they used during the spacewalk that should begin at 13:38 (20:38 Israel time) ahead of their spacewalk tonight. The first task will be to repair the damaged thermal cover in the rocket maneuvering engine pod area at the back of the shuttle.

About an hour and twenty minutes before the scheduled wake-up on Thursday, the crew members were awakened by a noise alarm caused by a reboot of the Russian navigation computers that provide backup for the space station's altitude control and trajectory adjustments. Russian flight controllers continued their efforts to restore the computers to full operation. Currently, the torque gyroscopes that monitor the altitude, as well as the shuttle's drive system provide the required backup. This is a malfunction that has never happened on the space station, and it probably stems from problems with the power supply, which may be solved with the connection of the new solar panel to the station's power grid.