The International Space Station should now be the second brightest object in the night sky, following the successful deployment of the S6 solar wings.
Astronauts on board the ISS and space shuttle Discovery unfurled the arrays, successfully carrying out the main objective of the STS-119 mission. “Today was a great day,” said ISS commander Mike Fincke to mission control Friday afternoon. “Today is the day the station went to full power.”
The length of the arrays unfurled Friday measures 73 meters (240 feet), tip to tip, with the S6 truss in between. The S6 solar array pair adds 2,926 square meters (9,600 square feet) to the station solar arrays, bringing the total surface area to nearly an acre. The station’s arrays now will generate as much as 120 kilowatts of usable electricity, enough to power about 42 854 square meter (2800-square-foot) homes.
The station should now be the second brightest object in the night sky –even brighter than Venus, and second only to the Moon.
Dave Reneke: www.skyandspace.com.au
