Spacewalkers Ready Station for New Visitor

Spacewalkers Ready Station for New Visitor
08.03.04

International Space Station crewmembers wrapped up a successful 4-1/2 hour
spacewalk early Tuesday, completing preparations to receive the new
Automated Transfer Vehicle and retrieving materials and contamination
experiments.

The spacewalkers, ISS Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA ISS Science Officer
Mike Fincke used Russian Orlan spacesuits and the airlock in the Pirs
Docking Compartment. They finished well ahead of their timeline, which had
planned the spacewalk for just under six hours.


The European Space Agency's ATV is an unpiloted cargo carrier like the
Russian Progress supply vehicles, but has a cargo capacity about 2-1/2 times
that of Progress. During the spacewalk Padalka and Fincke installed antennas
and laser reflectors to help the ATV dock to the rear of the Zvezda Service
Module.

The ATV is scheduled for its first launch in the fall of 2005 aboard an ESA
Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. In addition to carrying cargo, including
fuel, water, oxygen and nitrogen, it also can reboost the Station. Like the
Progress, the ATV will burn up when it re-enters the atmosphere.

Early in the spacewalk, the crewmembers moved to the rear of Zvezda, vacated
by ISS Progress 14 last Friday. Their first task was to replace an SKK
experiment container that exposes materials to the space environment and
replace it with another. Next they replaced a Kromka experiment, which
measures contamination from thruster firings.

They also installed two ATV-related antennas, then replaced three laser
reflectors with three more advanced versions than the ones launched with
Zvezda in 2000. They also installed a three-dimensional reflector that
replaced three other old reflectors. Additional ATV preparations will be
done during a subsequent spacewalk.

Padalka and Fincke removed another materials experiment, Platan. Before
returning to the airlock, they also disconnected a cable to a camera that
will be replaced in a future spacewalk.

As they worked at the rear of the Service Module, the three 600-pound
Control Moment Gyroscopes that control the orientation in space of the
orbiting laboratory approached their saturation level, a condition that had
been expected. The Station was placed in free drift while the spacewalkers
worked in the area. Subsequently, as power conservation measures were
executed, S-band communication was temporarily lost.


At about 5:15 a.m. EDT, the spacewalkers, who were about 40 minutes ahead of
their timeline, were asked to clear the area. Once they moved forward, the
thrusters on the Service Module resumed attitude control and S-band
communication was restored.

By about 6 a.m., the Control Moment Gyroscopes reassumed attitude control
and the Service Module thrusters were turned off. The spacewalkers returned
to work at the rear of the Service Module.

The spacewalkers used several U.S. tools, including a body-restraint tether
used in their previous spacewalk, and a tool carrier.

The crew began the spacewalk at 2:58 a.m. It ended when they closed the Pirs
airlock hatch at 7:28 a.m.

This spacewalk was Padalka's fifth. It was the third spacewalk for Fincke.
It was the 55th spacewalk for ISS assembly and maintenance. It was the 30th
from the Station itself and the 12th from Pirs.


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info