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Man to be sentenced for burning 83-year-old alive
Study finds kids watching hours of TV at home daycare
Lethal mix's creator OK with new method
Senate Democrats at odds on health-care legislation
National news briefs - Nov. 23
Terror suspects vow to speak out
Holidays will test bottleneck for air travelers in New York
Most Read Stories
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Victim of beating in Kent last week is declared dead at Akron hospital
Can DNA tests free ex-Akron captain?
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Browns find another way to lose
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Sunday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Browns sick after sick loss in Detroit
Akron Zips:
Zips advance to Sweet Sixteen
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Post-game defensive quotes
Kent State Sports:
Kent State defeats Rochester College, 63-44
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
The Sunday Sanity Challenge
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (69) The Brookings Institute Study on "Bending the Curve" – Four General Strategies
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Faye Dunaway to be Evicted?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – You are All Wrong About Jobs, or the Lack of Jobs, Being the Reason People Do Not Live in NEO
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
By Associated Press
POSTED: 04:50 p.m. EST, Nov 22, 2008
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.: Astronauts stepped out for the longest and hardest spacewalk of their mission today to wrap up greasy repair work on a gummed-up joint at the international space station.
As spacewalk No. 3 was getting under way, a new recycling system for converting urine into drinking water broke down again.
It was the third day in a row that the urine processor shut down, and it appeared to be the same kind of sluggish motor trouble seen before. Engineers on the ground scrambled to figure out what might be wrong; the problem could jeopardize NASA's plan to return recycled water to Earth for testing when space shuttle Endeavour lands next weekend.
The $154 million water-recycling system, delivered a week ago by Endeavour, is essential for allowing more astronauts to live on the space station next year.
Today's spacewalk by Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Stephen Bowen focused entirely on the clogged solar wing-rotating joint. The joint stopped working properly more than a year ago, after it became jammed with metal grit from grinding parts, and cannot keep the solar wings on the right side of the space station pointed toward the sun.
The astronauts got started on the unprecedented clean and lube job and bearing replacements on Tuesday.
NASA expected Saturday's repairs to last at least seven hours. Any chores left undone could be squeezed into the fourth and final spacewalk on Monday. That's when astronauts are supposed to grease up the good rotary joint on the left side of the orbiting complex.
Stefanyshyn-Piper who lost a $100,000 tool kit during Tuesday's spacewalk had to share grease guns with Bowen 225 miles up. To make up for the grease gun shortage, they took out a caulking gun normally reserved for repairs to the shuttle's heat shield.
As for the broken urine-recycling system, flight controllers and astronauts alike were disappointed when it stopped working again today.
Earlier today, flight director Brian Smith had said the machine for converting sweat and other condensation into drinking water was working fine, and that the two crews were trying to create more condensation in order to collect samples. The astronauts turned off the air conditioner on the Russian side of the space station, cranked up the heat in the docked shuttle, and waited for condensation to form on equipment in the American compartments.
Even though there would be no samples of urine-converted water, at least there would be samples of processed condensation if the plan works, Smith said.
NASA wants samples of the recycled water returned aboard Endeavour to conduct tests to ensure that it's safe to drink. The equipment is supposed to run for at least 90 days before anyone takes a sip.
The space agency cannot expand the size of the space station crew from three to six unless the water-recycling system is working. NASA still hopes for that to happen by June.
Endeavour is supposed to leave the space station on Thanksgiving, but its departure could be put back a day to collect enough samples from the recycling equipment.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.: Astronauts stepped out for the longest and hardest spacewalk of their mission today to wrap up greasy repair work on a gummed-up joint at the international space station.
As spacewalk No. 3 was getting under way, a new recycling system for converting urine into drinking water broke down again.
It was the third day in a row that the urine processor shut down, and it appeared to be the same kind of sluggish motor trouble seen before. Engineers on the ground scrambled to figure out what might be wrong; the problem could jeopardize NASA's plan to return recycled water to Earth for testing when space shuttle Endeavour lands next weekend.
The $154 million water-recycling system, delivered a week ago by Endeavour, is essential for allowing more astronauts to live on the space station next year.
Today's spacewalk by Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Stephen Bowen focused entirely on the clogged solar wing-rotating joint. The joint stopped working properly more than a year ago, after it became jammed with metal grit from grinding parts, and cannot keep the solar wings on the right side of the space station pointed toward the sun.
The astronauts got started on the unprecedented clean and lube job and bearing replacements on Tuesday.
NASA expected Saturday's repairs to last at least seven hours. Any chores left undone could be squeezed into the fourth and final spacewalk on Monday. That's when astronauts are supposed to grease up the good rotary joint on the left side of the orbiting complex.
Stefanyshyn-Piper who lost a $100,000 tool kit during Tuesday's spacewalk had to share grease guns with Bowen 225 miles up. To make up for the grease gun shortage, they took out a caulking gun normally reserved for repairs to the shuttle's heat shield.
As for the broken urine-recycling system, flight controllers and astronauts alike were disappointed when it stopped working again today.
Earlier today, flight director Brian Smith had said the machine for converting sweat and other condensation into drinking water was working fine, and that the two crews were trying to create more condensation in order to collect samples. The astronauts turned off the air conditioner on the Russian side of the space station, cranked up the heat in the docked shuttle, and waited for condensation to form on equipment in the American compartments.
Even though there would be no samples of urine-converted water, at least there would be samples of processed condensation if the plan works, Smith said.
NASA wants samples of the recycled water returned aboard Endeavour to conduct tests to ensure that it's safe to drink. The equipment is supposed to run for at least 90 days before anyone takes a sip.
The space agency cannot expand the size of the space station crew from three to six unless the water-recycling system is working. NASA still hopes for that to happen by June.
Endeavour is supposed to leave the space station on Thanksgiving, but its departure could be put back a day to collect enough samples from the recycling equipment.
