Thu, Jul 01, 2004
Both Astronauts Going Out The Hatch
The two-man crew aboard the International Space Station was set
Wednesday to try it again -- a spacewalk to repair a gyro-critical
circuit breaker. Both American Michael Fincke and his Russian
counterpart, Gennady Padalka were to participate in the walk,
leaving the station itself unmanned for approximately six
hours.
The spacewalk is aimed at restoring power to a gyroscope that
helps control the Station's orientation in orbit.
The Expedition 9 crew's first spacewalk was cut short last
Thursday when flight controllers in Moscow noticed almost
immediately an unexpectedly high rate of pressure loss in the
primary oxygen bottle on Astronaut Mike Fincke's Russian
spacesuit.
Based on analysis, testing and troubleshooting by the crew,
managers concluded the excessive oxygen pressure drop was caused by
an open oxygen flow switch on Fincke's suit. The switch was not
fully seated into the normal flow position before the spacewalk
started, causing an unexpectedly swift flow of oxygen from the
primary oxygen bottle into Fincke's spacesuit. Russian technicians
concluded that it was an isolated event and gave the crew approval
to use the same suits for tomorrow's rescheduled spacewalk. The
spacewalk procedures have been updated to provide additional crew
verification steps to ensure the handle is properly positioned.
The two spacewalkers will restore power to Control Moment
Gyroscope (CMG) #2 by replacing a Remote Power Controller Module
(RPCM). CMG #2 was taken off line April 21 by the failure of a
circuit breaker in the RPCM. Currently, because of the failure of
CMG #1 about two years ago, the attitude of the Station is being
controlled by the two remaining CMGs.
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