[ISS] Crew Fall Short of Completing Major Spacewalk Objective

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 32 Flight Engineers Sunita Williams of NASA and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency conducted a 8 hour, 17 minute spacewalk Aug. 30 to remove an ailing power switching unit from the station's truss and to rig cables for the future arrival of a Russian laboratory module. They failed to install a replacement switching unit, which refused to bolt in place despite repeated attempts. The replacement unit was secured to a handrail on the truss to enable flight controllers and station Program officials to assess a future course of action.

The spacewalk was the 164th in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the fifth for Williams in her career and the first for Hoshide.