Astronauts will spend much of today getting ready for a fourth spacewalk during Discovery's mission to the International Space Station.

On Saturday, Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam and Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams finished rewiring the International Space Station during a 7-hour, 31-minute spacewalk.

After planned tasks had been completed smoothly and ahead of schedule, they also shook a balky solar array wing in hopes of completing its retraction. That helped gain some ground - the wing is about 65 percent retracted, compared to less than 50 percent before the spacewalk. About 11 bays remain deployed, compared to about 17 before.

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program has announced that Amateur Radio automatic-mode operations (packet, APRS, slow-scan TV and crossband repeater) are temporarily off the air or will be available only for brief periods until further notice. That's because the ISS Phase II ham station -- a modified Kenwood TM-D700E -- requires reprogramming for modes other than FM voice. The ISS crew will continue to use the Phase II station for ARISS school contacts. "A computer designated for Amateur Radio operations that will allow reprogramming the radio is planned to arrive on the next Progress vehicle in 2007," said ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO.

An International Space Station Expedition 14 ARISS school contact with a visiting shuttle crewmember has been planned with students at Thunmanskolan, Knivsta, Sweden on Sunday 17 Dec. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:19 UTC.

The contact will be a telebridge between stations NA1SS and VK4KHZ . The contact should be audible to anyone in eastern portions of Australia. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. Additional listening options are listed below. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in Swedish.

IRLP - Connect to the IRLP reflector 9010.

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.

Discovery's crew is still working on the retraction of the port P6 solar arrays that began at 1:28 p.m. EST (6:28 utc). The bays have not been folding properly, and astronauts have been repeatedly retracting and deploying the panels in an attempt to properly align them. [IMG]http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/164904main_s116e05789_330px.jpg[/img] S116-E-05789 : port-side P6 solar array Image above: A kink is seen in the port-side P6 solar array during the first attempt to retract it. Image Credit: NASA + View hi-resolution photo http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/164903main_s116e05789.jpg

The International Space Station is now two tons heavier, with the installation today of its newest truss segment during the flight's first spacewalk.

Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang ventured outside the station to attach the P5 segment of the station's truss and replace a failed camera needed to support future assembly tasks. They also were able to fit in some extra tasks that will save future spacewalkers time, including plugging the new segment into the existing truss, removing the locks that held it steady during launch and opening a latch that will allow the P6 segment to be attached when it is moved from its current, temporary location to its permanent place at the end of the port truss.

The construction work was performed by STS-116 spacewalkers Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang and robot arm operators Joan Higginbotham and Sunita Williams. The P5 spacer segment's attachment to the P4 sets the stage for the addition of the P6 and its set of solar arrays.

Two more spacewalks are scheduled during STS-116's stay to reconfigure and redistribute power generated by the station's newest solar arrays. The spacewalks are set for Thursday and Saturday.

Source: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/sarex/48hour/msg00183.html

STS-116 Mission Specialists Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang will go spacewalking today. The primary objective of the spacewalk is to install a new piece to the space station's girder-like truss. The two-ton piece will be the fifth truss segment added to the port side of the station and is called the P5 spacer.

From inside the space station Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham will use the station's robotic arm to move the new segment with only inches of clearance into its installation position. The spacewalkers will assist by providing two extra pairs of eyes as the exacting operation is carried out.

Students from the Thunmanskolan School, Knivsta, Sweden are scheduled to take part in an ARISS contact with ESA Astronaut and STS-116 Mission Specialist Christel Fuglesang SA0AFS/KE5CGR. The contact is expected to be conducted in Swedish. This will be the Scandinavia's first ARISS school event and is planned to take place on Sunday, December 17, 2006 at 18:19 UTC. The ground station supporting this telebridge event will be VK4KHZ located in South Australia.