Station Crew Spacewalk Set for March 28

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/wor..._advancer.html

Station Crew Spacewalk Set for March 28

03.22.05


International Space Station crewmembers will finish setting out a welcome
mat for the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) during their mission's second
and final planned spacewalk early March 28.

Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov will install on
the Zvezda Service Module the final three antennas of a six-antenna set for
the ATV, an unpiloted European cargo carrier scheduled to make its first
trip to the Station early next year.

They also will install a Global Positioning System (GPS) antenna for the
ATV.

The previous Station crew, Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA ISS Science
Officer Mike Fincke, installed the first three antennas of the six-antenna
set.

During this spacewalk, Sharipov and Chiao will deploy a small Russian
experiment called Nanosatellite.

The spacewalk, in Russian Orlan suits using the airlock of the Pirs Docking
Compartment, should last about 5 hours, 40 minutes. It is scheduled to start
at 1:25 a.m. EST. Live coverage on NASA Television will begin at midnight.

Sharipov, designated EV1, or lead spacewalker, is making his second
spacewalk. This is the sixth spacewalk for Chiao, EV2. Both will wear suits
with red stripes. Chiao's suit will have a U.S flag on the shoulder.

After opening the hatch and assembling equipment, Sharipov and Chiao move
from the Pirs back to the small-diameter forward end of Zvezda. There they
install the three WAL antennas, space-to-space communications antennas for
the ATV.

Installation of the WAL antennas and their associated cabling should take
about 2 1/2 hours.

Next the crew moves to the large-diameter section of the Service Module to
install the GPS antenna and its cabling. Their movements to and around the
rear of the Service Module will be carefully coordinated with Mission
Control Moscow to avoid any possibility of contamination should it become
necessary to use Russian thrusters there to adjust the orientation of the
Space Station.

The next task is to inspect and photograph a laser reflector on the Service
Module's aft end-cone. The reflector helps control the ATV's final approach
to the Station, and the inspection is the last ATV-related activity of the
spacewalk.

The final task of the spacewalk is to deploy the Nanosatellite. It is about
a foot long, weighs 11 pounds and contains a transmitter. The crew activates
it before leaving the airlock. The object of the experiment is to develop
small satellite control techniques, monitor satellite operations and develop
new attitude system sensors.

The crew deploys it from the ladder at the Pirs docking compartment, giving
it a push in the direction opposite the direction the Station is traveling.
It should leave the Station at a relative velocity of about one meter per
second.

The crew is scheduled to re-enter the Pirs airlock and close the hatch at 7
a.m. EST.



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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info