International Space Station Status Report #35 - 2004

International Space Station Status Report #04-35
10 a.m. CDT, Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Expedition 9 Crew

Mission managers today gave a green light to proceed on Wednesday with a
second spacewalk to attempt to repair a circuit breaker on the International
Space Station. The repair is planned to restore power to one of four
gyroscopes that help orient the complex.

The Expedition 9 crew's first spacewalk was cut short Thursday when flight
controllers in Moscow noticed almost immediately an unexpectedly high rate
of pressure loss in the primary oxygen bottle on Astronaut Mike Fincke's
Russian spacesuit.

Based on analysis, testing and on-orbit troubleshooting, managers concluded
that the excessive oxygen pressure drop was caused by an open oxygen flow
switch on Fincke's suit. The switch was not fully seated into the normal
flow position before the spacewalk started, causing an unexpectedly swift
flow of oxygen from the primary oxygen bottle into Fincke's spacesuit.
Russian technicians concluded that it was an isolated event and gave the
crew approval to use the same suits for tomorrow's rescheduled spacewalk.
The spacewalk procedures have been updated to provide additional crew
verification steps to ensure the handle is properly positioned.

The objective of the spacewalk is to restore power to Control Moment
Gyroscope (CMG) 2 by replacing a Remote Power Controller Module (RPCM). CMG
2 was taken off line April 21 by the failure of a circuit breaker in the
RPCM. Because of the failure of CMG 1 about two years ago, the attitude of
the Station is being adequately controlled by the two remaining CMGs.

Coverage and commentary of the spacewalk will begin Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
CDT. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 4:40 p.m. The excursion is
expected to last up to six hours.

Because the spacewalk will be occurring simultaneously with the arrival of
the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft at Saturn, coverage of the spacewalk will be
broadcast on AMC-9, Transponder 5, C-band, 85 degrees west longitude,
vertical polarization, 3800 MHz with audio at 6.8 MHz. Cassini's mission
will be seen on NASA Television's regular satellite channel, AMC-9,
Transponder 9, 85 degrees west longitude, vertical polarization, 3880 MHz
with audio at 6.8 MHz.

Both the spacewalk and Cassini programs will be broadcast live on the
Internet at:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Information on the crew's activities aboard the Space Station, future launch
dates, as well as Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth,
is available on the Internet at:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

Details on Station science operations can be found on an Internet site
administered by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., at:

http://scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/

The next ISS status report will be issued Wednesday night following the
spacewalk.


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info