NASA''s space shuttle Discovery will be visible in Kuwait Monday evening, said astronomer Adel AlـSaadoun on Sunday. Speaking to KUNA, he said that the shuttle, which had fused to the space station, would be shining brightly above Kuwait and could thus be seen with the naked eye. The light of the shuttle will be brighter than that of Venus, he said. He added that the space station and the fused shuttle would be visible over Kuwait''s northwestern horizon at 6:31 p.m. (local time), and would have reached the middle of the sky by 6:44 p.m., and will then disappear towards the northeast after a total of six minutes of visibility.
AlـSaadoun noted that the station and the shuttle fused to it would be traveling at a speed of 27,600 km/hr ـ equivalent to one round around Earth every 90 minutes, or 15.7 rounds per day ـ at a maximum distance of 360 km from Earth.
In related development, the astronauts have made their third and final spacewalk, installing equipment on the International Space Station. However, NASA officials said one job had to be left undone after the cables failed to connect. Two spacewalking astronauts took on cable and antenna work at the International Space Station in their final trek outside, but encountered lastـminute difficulty with a connector and had to leave one job undone.
Lead spacewalker Danny Olivas and his partner Christer Fuglesang unreeled 60 feet (18 meters) of cable for a new room that will be added to the orbiting complex early next year. The pair also hooked up a couple of Global Positioning System antennas and replaced some electronic equipment in their second excursion in three days.
Everything went well until near the end of the sevenـhour spacewalk, when Fuglesang had trouble hooking up one of the cable connectors to a panel on the space station. Worse, his helmet camera came loose and it was difficult for flight controllers to watch him work, given the wobbly, upsideـdown pictures.
Mission Control told Fuglesang to wrap insulation around the loose power connector and leave it like that. But then the camera and light assembly on his helmet came off entirely. Olivas removed the stillـtethered assembly for him.
With darkness looming, Fuglesang was ordered back to the space station''s air lock, while Olivas took over the insulating job late Saturday night (early Sunday GMT).
Mission Control advised Fuglesang to use his helmet light as a flashlight if necessary; while he was carrying the unit. He made it back safely and speculated he may have bumped his helmet while struggling with the connector.
The cables were routed in advance of the Tranquility liveـin chamber that is supposed to be launched in February aboard shuttle Endeavour. Mission Control said another effort to plug in the primary power connector would be made on a future mission.
Earlier in the evening, the two spacewalkers got off to a fast start, making their way out along a girder and pulling open a shelf that will be used to store big spare parts later this year. Olivas helped install the framework on the right side of the space station two years ago.
An identical shelf on the opposite side of the space station jammed when astronauts tried to pull it open back in March. It took a special tool and another mission to get the shelf open. Olivas and Fuglesang had the tool with them in case they ran into trouble, but the job went smoothly.
NASA loaded Saturday night''s spacewalk ـ the third and final one of Discovery''s space station visit ـ with all sorts of odds and ends, most of them mundane.
During the first two spacewalks, astronauts gave the orbiting complex a fresh tank of coolant.
Fuglesang, a Swede, is the only nonـAmerican on Discovery''s sevenـperson crew. But the space station has one Belgian, one Canadian, two Russians and two Americans living on it. The combined crews make for a recordـtying crowd of 13 in space.
Saturday night''s spacewalk was the last major job for the seven shuttle astronauts before they depart Tuesday. Their 13ـday flight is scheduled to end with a landing back in Florida on Thursday.

Alwatan Daily