ISS NEWS:(

You know its somehow very comforting that they can lose stuff up there as
well as we do down here. If I could find all the screwdrivers I have in this
house, I could make a lot of cash selling them.

Brian

--

From my IMAP account
Brian Gaff
"Bob Haller" wrote in message
oups.com...



Station walks suspended

Agency worried astronauts could lose connection, float off into void

BY CHRIS KRIDLER
FLORIDA TODAY
Enlarge this image

Tethered. AstronautMichael Lopez-Alegria dangles below the
International Space Station from a tether that is hooked to a
gold-colored handrail. NASA suspended spacewalks due to safety concerns
with the handrails. NASA


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CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA is testing suspect hardware on the ground,
managers say, to make sure space station handrails don't break and send
astronauts floating into the void.

Until the issue is resolved, spacewalks on the U.S. side of the
International Space Station are banned, though limited approval is
expected as soon as today, officials said Wednesday.

Russian-airlock spacewalks also are on hold, because canisters used to
scrub carbon dioxide from the Russian suits are missing.

NASA learned of the potential handrail problem on the U.S. segment of
the International Space Station about a month ago. Each handrail has
supports and a tube. Technicians noticed what they thought was
corrosion on a handrail tube that had not flown to space.

They cut it open and realized it had been treated at a higher
temperature than it should have been, managers said. The overheating
could have changed the properties of the aluminum, raising fears of a
fracture when cargo or people are tethered to the rails.

"Our suspicion is it's very limited, but since we can't exonerate all
the handrails . . . we are currently carrying all of them as suspect,"
said Kirk Shireman, deputy program manager for the station.

By today, tests could prove the materials are OK, he said. If an
emergency spacewalk is required, tethers then could be attached to the
handrail supports.

By the middle of April, toughness tests should be complete that would
clear worries about problems developing as the handrails age.

Then spacewalkers will be able to use the tubes for tethers again and
attach equipment to the handrails if needed, Shireman said.

Handrails on the Russian segment and the shuttles are not in doubt,
NASA officials said.

For safety, spacewalkers tether themselves to handrails as they move
across the station.

American spacesuits also have a kind of jet pack with limited fuel to
help them return to the station if tethers fail -- though no one wants
to be in the position of drifting away.

Meanwhile, a Russian-airlock spacewalk can't happen now because the two
men on the station haven't been able to find the lithium hydroxide
canisters used to scrub deadly carbon dioxide from the Russian
spacesuits.

They probably will find them, Shireman said, and in the meantime, more
canisters will come up on a Progress supply ship.

They would be delivered "well in advance" of a planned spacewalk in the
Russian suits, he said.

The shuttle crew scheduled to arrive in July and the next station crew,
which will launch from Kazakhstan next week, each have multiple
spacewalks planned.

Contact Kridler at 242-3633 or