Spacewalker loses bolt and springAtlantis' truss and collapsed solar arrays can be seen in this photo taken from the International Space Station. A third array, as well Newton's apple seed descendants and a rock from the summit of Mt. Everest remains out of view inside the crew compartment. Credit: NASA.
This illustration depicts the current configuration of the ISS (faded) with the addition of its new Port 3/Port 4 (P3/P4) truss and solar arrays (in color at right) after NASA's STS-115 shuttle flight is complete. Credit: NASA.
STS-115 astronaut Steven MacLean and ISS flight engineer Jeffrey Williams used the station's robotic arm to attach thee 17.5-ton Port 3/Port 4 truss segments in its berth on the orbital lab's port side on Sept. 12, 2006. Credit: NASA TV.
STS-115 spacewalker Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper is silhouetted against the Earth after swinging out the arm-like boxes of a new solar array (right) outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Sept. 12, 2006.
In other space news:Pluto is Now Just a Number: 134340.
Pluto has been given a new name to reflect its new status as a dwarf planet.
On Sept. 7, the former 9th planet was assigned the asteroid number 134340 by the Minor Planet Center (MPC), the official organization responsible for collecting data about asteroids and comets in our solar system.
The move reinforces the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) recent decision to strip Pluto of its planethood and places it in the same category as other small solar-system bodies with accurately known orbits.
Pluto's companion satellites, Charon, Nix and Hydra are considered part of the same system and will not be assigned separate asteroid numbers, said MPC director emeritus Brian Marsden. Instead, they will be called 134340 I, II and III, respectively.
There are currently 136,563 asteroid objects recognized by the MPC; 2,224 new objects were added last week, of which Pluto was the first.