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 Scott Parazynski installed a homemade brace on the torn wing and then began clipping the snarled wires that ripped the wing in two places as it was being unfurled Tuesday. The damage must be repaired for space station construction to continue.
"Well done," Discovery commander Pamela Melroy said after Parazynski finished installing the brace. She also warned him to be careful.
Perched at the tip of a 90-foot robotic arm and boom extension, Parazynski rode to the damage site at the far left end of the linked shuttle-station complex. It's about half a football field away from the pressurized compartments where the astronauts work and live.
The ugly snag involved a guide wire, two hinge wires and two grommets. Parazynski first clipped a hinge wire near the larger tear, using a special tool that looked like a hockey stick to make sure the panel didn't spring back and hit him.
The solar panel captures sunlight to generate electricity, and is alive with more than 100 volts of electricity, possibly as much as 160 volts.
"It's a bit of a reach here," Parazynski said as he stretched to cut part of the guide wire.
"It's what those monkey arms are for," Melroy said, referring to Parazynski's 6-foot-2 height.
Parazynski's helmet camera sent close-up pictures of the damage to Mission Control and the space station, allowing the astronauts and experts on the ground to discuss the best way to tackle the damage on the gold-colored wing.
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 To reduce the risk of Parazynski being shocked by the electricity generated by the panel, all of the metal parts on his space suit were covered with insulating tape
- triple-taped, in fact - as were all his tools.
During his ride to the wing, Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli read Parazynski a long list of warnings about sharp edges, shock hazards and other potential problems.
"I'm not sure there's much left to touch," Parazynski jokingly replied.
Astronaut Douglas Wheelock, Parazynski's spacewalking partner, was positioned at the base of the wing and guided Parazynski and the astronauts operating the robotic arm.
Without repairs, the wing poses a structural hazard for the international space station. The damage could worsen and the wing could become unstable, possibly forcing NASA to cut it loose and lose a vital power source for future laboratories.
It was Parazynski's fourth spacewalk this mission and the seventh of his 15-year astronaut career.
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On the Net:
NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/
[Associated Press; By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
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