(rshsdepot) High Speed Space-Age Rail Debuts :-)

["David S. Rose" <lists_@_rosegremse.com>]

Workin' on the Space Railroad

CAPE CANAVERAL -- Astronauts from the space shuttle Atlantis made their
third spacewalk in four days yesterday, this time to prepare the first
railway in space for its inaugural run.

The rail car, installed outside the International Space Station on the
crew's first spacewalk, will have a top speed of just 1 inch per second.
Ground controllers said they may not open it up all the way in their first
test today.

The rail car is part of the 44-foot-long truss, the centerpiece of what is
to be a 360-foot truss that will support an acre of solar panels generating
power for use throughout the space station.

Spacewalkers Steve Smith and Rex Walheim will release launch restraints on
the rail car, which rode to space in the shuttle's cargo bay, and make a
number of power connections.

Slow Going

With that, the Mobile Transporter, as the rail car is officially known, will
be ready for its first test.

"As far as speed in concerned, it's probably going to be in the fractions of
an inch velocity — on the order of a tenth of an inch per second," Ben
Sellari, the launch package manager at mission control, said of today's test
speeds.

The small trolley is designed to roll the station's giant robotic arm from
one construction site to another as work progresses on the station over the
next several years.

The Big Arm, as it is known, is 58 feet long and able to heft entire station
modules out of shuttle cargo bays. The two spacewalkers will also rewire the
Big Arm so it will draw its power through the truss.

Eight more truss segments will be added on future missions.


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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