ISS Spacewalk Successful

ISS Spacewalk Successful
09.03.04

International Space Station Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA ISS Science
Officer Mike Fincke wrapped up a successful, 5-hour, 21-minute spacewalk at
6:04 p.m. EDT, about 28 minutes ahead of schedule.

They replaced and installed new equipment outside the Station. Some of that
equipment, three new antennas, will help guide the new Automated Transfer
Vehicle (ATV) to its first docking to the Station late next year.

Wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits -- Paldalka's with red stripes, Fincke's
with blue -- they used the airlock of the Pirs Docking Compartment. Hatch
opening, beginning the spacewalk, was at 12:43 p.m. EDT.

The first task during the spacewalk was replacement of a pump panel atop the
Zarya module. It is part of the ISS Russian segment cooling system. This
replacement was done as the panel approached the end of its designed service
life. It took about an hour.

Pump panel sensors monitor coolant levels and temperature and regulate the
amount of coolant flowing through a radiator. The higher the temperature,
the greater the coolant flow through the radiator.

Next the spacewalkers installed fairleads, called "pigtails" because of
their circular shape, on Zarya handrails. Their function is to keep Russian
spacesuit tethers from touching delicate experiments or equipment outside
the Station or snagging during spacewalks.

Two were installed just before an orbital sunset. During darkness, Padalka
and Fincke rested for about 30 minutes and remained still for 15 of those
minutes as part of a Motionless Test. It was designed to see how
spacewalkers affect the attitude, or orientation in space, of the ISS. Two
additional fairleads were installed after that test.

Fincke photographed the Japanese Micro-Particles Capture/Space Environment
Exposure Device (MPAC/SEED) experiment. Being flown under a commercial
agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency, the experiment exposes
various materials to the harsh environment of space.

Installation of the three ATV antennas and associated cables at the rear of
the Zvezda Service Module went smoothly. Attitude control thrusters were
disabled then, for the crew's safety. The European Space Agency's ATV is
similar in some respects to the Russian Progress unpiloted cargo spacecraft,
but it has a cargo capacity about 2.5 times that of the Progress. Its first
flight is scheduled for the fall of 2005.

The site is not far from the three laser reflectors and other antennas for
the same system they installed during their Aug. 3 spacewalk. Three
additional antennas will be installed during an Expedition 10 spacewalk
scheduled for February.

Expedition 10 crewmembers, Astronaut Leroy Chiao, commander, and Flight
Engineer Salizhan Sharipov, are to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome
in Kazakhstan to the Station Oct. 9. Sharipov's fellow Cosmonaut Yuri
Shargin will fly to the ISS with Expedition 10 and return to Earth with
Expedition 9.

Finally, just before re-entering the Pirs, Padalka installed three of four
handrail limiters near the airlock's hatch No. 2. These are covers that
protect the handrails and act as a cushioning doorstop for the hatch. The
fourth cover would not fit, a minor issue.

The spacewalk was completed earlier than scheduled largely because the
spacewalkers continued working through some of the periods of orbital
darkness instead of resting.

The spacewalk was the fourth for Fincke and the sixth for Padalka.



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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info