SPACE CENTER, Houston — Astronauts on space shuttle Endeavour enjoyed some time off Wednesday after a 6 1/2-hour spacewalk that completed power connections for the international space station's electricity-producing solar wings.
Meanwhile, NASA officials were refining their plan to fix a tension problem on one of the space station's wings.
Two cables came off their reels and pulleys when the right wing was extended Sunday night, leaving the blanket of solar cells slack. The problem could cause the fabric to tear or the wing to bend or break during shuttle dockings.
NASA's plan tentatively calls for astronauts Joe Tanner and Carlos Noriega to try to fix the problem at the start of their third spacewalk Thursday.
The astronauts will climb to the top of the truss that holds the solar wings' batteries and electronics and use tools to put back into place the two loose cables.
"We think we have a really good plan in place, and it's a fairly simple task, we believe," said Glenda Laws, lead spacewalk officer. The second wing was released Monday during a nearly two-hour start-and-stop unfurling procedure to prevent what happened to the first wing.
During Tuesday's spacewalk, Noriega used a small TV camera, with three lenses, mounted on his helmet to beam down pictures of the loose tension cables on the right wing.
The helmet cameras — dubbed "Carlos-cam" and "Joe-cam" — are a new spacewalking feature. Tanner's helmet camera, however, stopped working, and the shuttle crew would try to fix it for Thursday's spacewalk.
Also Tuesday, Noriega and Tanner hooked up power cables between the solar wings and the station, while station commander Bill Shepherd and his Russian crew attached cables on the inside to complete the circuit.
"I'm not tired at all. I may be cranky in my old age, but I'm not tired," said the 50-year-old Tanner.
With more electricity, the station's inhabitants will finally have full run of the place. One of space station Alpha's three rooms had been unheated and sealed off.
The $600 million solar wings, 240 feet from tip to tip and 38 feet wide, are capable of producing 65 kilowatts at peak power. That is four times more than Alpha was producing before. The new wings were installed Sunday on the station by Noriega and Tanner.
The installation of the solar wings will also enable NASA to launch its power-hungry Destiny lab module in January as planned.
The spacewalkers made one unexpected discovery: a gouge the size of the tip of a ball point pen and small scratches on a mirrorlike plate outside the space station. It turns out the plate was nicked when it was launched.