Two spacewalking electricians completed half of STS-116's rewiring today, and when flight controllers threw the switch, the lights inside the International Space Station turned on again without a hitch.

Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang began their second spacewalk at 1:41 p.m. CST. Less than two hours later, they had the first half of the station's permanent power system - channels two and three - up and running, taking advantage of power generated by the solar arrays delivered in September.

The earliest possible launch date for the GeneSat-1 satellite, which carries an Amateur Radio payload, is Saturday, December 16, from Wallops Island, Virginia. Problems with testing of TacSat-2, the primary satellite aboard the Minotaur launch vehicle, forced NASA to postpone the launch, originally scheduled for December 11. A collaboration of NASA Ames Research Center, industry and local universities, the GeneSat-1 CubeSat will transmit AX.25 1200 bps FM/AFSK telemetry on 437.075 MHz. The space shuttle Discovery carried four other ham radio payloads to the International Space Station for deployment later this month.