Solar Array Deployment Servicing Mission 3B

Astronaut Richard M. Linnehan, STS-109 mission specialist, anchored on the end of the Space Shuttle Columbia’s Remote Manipulator System (RMS) robotic arm, unfolds a rigid solar array during the mission’s first scheduled session of extravehicular activity (EVA). Astronaut John M. Grunsfeld (out of frame), payload commander, worked in tandem with Linnehan during the spacewalk to replace one of the two Hubble Space Telescope (HST) second-generation flexible solar arrays, known as SA2, and a Diode Box Assembly. The solar array was replaced with a new, rigid, third-generation solar array (SA3). The spacewalkers also performed some preparatory tasks for the mission's other EVAs.