Cosmonauts’ Second Spacewalk Goes Smoothly Posted on July 19th
Two
Russian spacewalkers installed a docking target and changed out science
experiments during their second career spacewalk on Tuesday outside the
International Space Station.
The
almost six-hour spacewalk began on schedule at 1:08 p.m. EDT (1708 GMT)
and allowed space station commander Sergei Volkov and flight engineer Oleg
Kononenko to finish their tasks on time despite an added, impromptu fix to a
disabled ham radio antenna.
The
normal maintenance duties stood in contrast to the first, riskier spacewalk
that took place on July 10, which required the cosmonauts to remove
an explosive bolt from the Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked to the space
station. Both Volkov and Kononenko completed
that tricky task as first-time spacewalkers.
Todays
second spacewalk involved duties once slated for the July 10 extravehicular
activity, but pushed back due to the ongoing Russian investigation of a
malfunction that caused the past two Soyuz spacecraft to subject their crews to
bumpy ballistic
reentries.
The
cosmonauts began the second spacewalk by installing a docking target on the
zenith, or space-ward, side of the Russian Zvezda module. That will serve to
guide in a new airlock, called the Mini-Research Module 2 (MRM2), which will be
delivered to the Russian part of the space station in 2009.
The
work required the spacewalkers to lift up flaps and insert an adapter into
mounting holes that hold the docking target. Volkov wielded a camera to take
pictures of the installation process, but both cosmonauts appeared eager to get
on with the spacewalk.
Ok,
were not going to waste too much time on that, Oleg [Kononenko], Volkov said,
after taking several pictures.
Kononenko
rode on the end of the 50-foot
Strela hand-powered crane to take additional photos of the space station,
while Volkov maneuvered him using the crane.
Next,
the two spacewalkers secured the Vsplesk or Burst
experiment, using clamps, wire ties, and support tethers. That physics experiment
is designed to measure the effects of high energy particle streams near Earth.
The
cosmonauts took a breather to relax and gaze upon beautiful thunderstorms on
Earth, before finally receiving word that the Burst experiment had started
functioning.
We
have telemetry, said Russian mission control. Vsplesk is alive.
Volkov
was directed to take time out of the schedule to fix a ham radio antenna that
had been disabled. The space station commander straightened out the ham antenna
and fitted it back into its vertical slot.
Please
let me go home, Volkov joked. I guess weve done it all for today?
He
and Kononenko then turned to the final task of retrieving the Biorisk
experiments payload, which was installed by Expedition 15 crew members last summer. That
experiment studied the effects of space radiation and zero gravity on microorganisms.
Kononenko
moved to the experiment location and removed the Biorisk containers, while
Volkov retrieved a foot restraint from where it had been temporarily stowed.
That same foot restraint had given Kononenko trouble on the first spacewalk
when attached to the Strela hand-powered crane.
The
spacewalkers finally reentered the Pirs docking compartment and closed the
hatch at 7:02 p.m. EDT (2302 GMT).
Mission controllers conveyed thanks
for the completion of the assigned tasks and the impromptu fix of the radio
antenna, and remarked upon the July 10 spacewalk as well.
Even
the first attempt was perfect, Russian mission control told the cosmonauts.
Everything was done professionally.