18 Mar 2009, 1308 hrs IST, AP

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: The 10 astronauts aboard the linked space shuttle and space station are joining forces to install a new set of solar wings.


The work gets under way late Wednesday morning when the framework holding the folded-up solar wings is lifted out of Discovery's payload bay.

The astronauts will wait until Thursday before actually hooking up the $300 million piece of equipment. Two spacewalkers will be outside, helping to attach the framework to the space station. It's the last pair of solar wings for the space station and the main objective of the shuttle mission.

Another high priority, a crew member swap, occurred soon after Discovery arrived at the space station on Tuesday.

Discovery will remain at the orbiting outpost for eight days.