Space station's solar boost

The International Space Station (ISS) flashes its newly beefed-up solar setup to the astronauts aboard Discovery as the space shuttle performs a fly-around after undocking from the station two weeks ago. Discovery, which landed safely at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, March 28, 2009, delivered the ISS's starboard 6 (S6) truss segment and the accompanying solar wings (rightmost truss segment and set of solar arrays). The station's newly completed truss, or backbone, spans 335 feet (100 meters)—longer than a football field. And the full complement of solar arrays covers 38,400 square feet (3,570 square meters), nearly an acre. Those arrays, generating up to 120 kilowatts of usable power, supply electricity for the station's day-to-day and science activities and charge onboard batteries for use when the solar panels are partly or totally shadowed by the Earth or by other parts of the station.