Mon, Jul 20, 2009
Astronauts Perform Second STS-127 Spacewalk
We wonder if there's a little yellow sign that goes up while
it's out of service. No matter, International Space Station
Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Frank De Winne
finished replacing parts on the U.S. Waste and Hygiene Compartment
(WHC) in the Destiny laboratory after the unit's separator pump
became flooded on Sunday. Padalka and De Winne replaced the
separator pump, control panel and the COT, a container that holds
liquid.
They reactivated the system and early indications are it is
working well. The crew has been given a "go" to use WHC.
The WHC is one of three toilets available to the combined
13-member crew, which had been using a similar facility in the
Russian Zvezda module and the facility in space shuttle Endeavour
since Sunday's failure.
Meanwhile, STS-127 lead spacewalker Dave Wolf and Endeavour
Mission Specialist Tom Marshburn undertook the mission's second
spacewalk beginning at 1127 EDT Monday, when they switched their
spacesuits to battery power. The space walk was scheduled for 6.5
hours.
The pair was tasked to retrieve three hardware spares from the
Integrated Cargo Carrier - Vertical Light Deployable, or ICC-VLD,
and place them in a long-term storage location on the outside of
the station's Port 3 truss. On Sunday, robotic arm operators moved
the cargo carrier to a location where Wolf and Marshburn can easily
access it.
File Photo
First, Wolf and Marshburn retrieved a Ku-Band Space-to-Ground
Antenna from the ICC-VLD and place it in the Port 3 External
Stowage Platform, ESP-3. Next, they transfered a Pump Module that
is part of the station's exterior thermal control system, and a
Linear Drive Unit that helps the mobile transporter move along the
truss backbone, to ESP-3. Marshburn took a fixed grapple bar and
prepositioned it on an ammonia tank assembly in preparation for its
replacement on STS-128 in August. Finally, both spacewalkers moved
a television camera that was launched on the Japanese Exposed
Facility (JEF) to its final location on JEF. The spacewalkers were
assisted by Julie Payette and Doug Hurley, who helped move Wolf
from the ICC-VLD to the ESP-3 on the space station robotic arm.
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