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By Jeff Franks
HOUSTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Two spacewalking astronauts unbolted a huge solar power truss from the International Space Station on Sunday to get it ready for a move to a new place on the space outpost.
Daniel Tani and Scott Parazynski disconnected cables and unbolted the 18-tonne unit from the top of the station, where it has been for seven years.
A robot arm lifted it away and on Tuesday will place it at the end of the station's structural backbone to help clear the way for station expansion.
The astronauts were part of a seven-member crew that arrived at the station on Tuesday aboard space shuttle Discovery. Their spacewalk was the second of five planned before the shuttle returns to Earth on Nov. 6.
After finishing with the solar power unit, Parazynski went to work on the newly-installed Harmony module, and Tani was to take a look at a balky joint that rotates electricity-producing solar panels.
At one point, Tani, making his first spacewalk, was instructed by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli to "wave at Ireland" as they passed above it.
"Cool. Can't see it, it's cloudy of course because it's Ireland," joked Tani, whose wife is Irish.
The relocation of the solar array and Friday's installation of Harmony in a temporary port are the two main objectives of this shuttle mission.
NASA has said the Tuesday shift of the solar unit will be challenging because of the truss's size and the remoteness of its new location. "You have this big truss, the (robot) arm is fully extended and you're trying to thread a needle without
really good visuals, so it's extremely complex," flight director Rick LaBrode said.
The Italian-built Harmony was the first living space added to the station in six years and will also be the berthing port for European and Japanese laboratories to be attached in shuttle missions starting in December.
On Saturday, the shuttle astronauts and three-member space station crew floated in and out of the bus-sized Harmony, enjoying the station's additional elbow room.
After Discovery's departure, Harmony will be relocated permanently to the port where the shuttle is now docked.
Harmony adds 2,600 cubic feet (74 cubic metres) of space to the station, which measured 15,000 cubic feet (425 cubic metres) before its arrival.
NASA plans call for completing the $100 billion space station by 2010, when the aging U.S. shuttle fleet is set to be retired.
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