preview of tomorrow's spacewalk

Spacewalkers tread lightly amid dock dangers

Snag to be targeted Thursday; new crew must able to dock in early April

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17263302/

By James Oberg, NBC News space analyst // Special to MSNBC

Hard experience has taught Russia and the United States not to take space
dockings and undockings of the robot freighter Progress lightly.

In 100 missions over the course of 30 years, the freighters have always
succeeded in docking with the space station, but sometimes requiring
dramatic second or even third attempts or with assistance of cosmonauts
during emergency spacewalks.

During one undocking and redocking test in 1997, an off-course Progress
smashed a crack in the hull of the Mir space station and very nearly killed
the three men on board.

Such near calamities explain the extreme caution that Russian space
planners have approached a mechanical docking snag with their Progress M-58
supply ship now docked with international space station. It must undock
smoothly in early April to clear the way for the arrival of a new crew
aboard a 'Soyuz' spacecraft.

A spacewalk Thursday morning is planned to insure a smooth undocking six
weeks from now. Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and American spacewalk
champion Michael Lopez-Alegria will take a collection of U.S. and Russian
tools to the back end of the station and try to clear the snag.



also -- hi res of jammed antenna:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/...014e07953.html