The story

Astronauts plowed ahead Monday with the mammoth job of moving a 17½-ton solar array truss on the international space station, a task made even more crucial following the discovery of contamination in an important part of the orbiting lab's power system.

A spacewalking astronaut on Sunday found metal shavings inside a joint that is needed to turn a set of solar power panels. Astronauts used a magnet to determine the shavings were metallic.

The rotary joint, launched and installed just four months ago, controls the huge solar panel wings on the right side of the space station to make sure they're facing the sun. It has been experiencing electrical current spikes in the past 11/2 months. Read full article »

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