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CX2SA > ISS 23.11.06 15:27l 98 Lines 4712 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 14225-CX2SA
Read: GUEST OE7FMI
Subj: ISS STATUS REPORT #06-51
Path: DB0FHN<DB0MRW<DB0SON<DB0SIF<DB0EA<DB0RES<TU5EX<CX2SA
Sent: 061123/1317Z @:CX2SA.LAV.URY.SA #:14225 [Minas] FBB7.00e $:14225-CX2SA
From: CX2SA@CX2SA.LAV.URY.SA
To : ISS@WW
SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
*International Space Station Status Report #06-51*
*12:15 a.m. CST, Thursday, Nov. 23, 2006*
*Expedition 13 Crew*
Two residents of the International Space Station ventured outside the
complex Wednesday for a 5 hour, 38 minute spacewalk to reposition,
deploy and relocate equipment and conduct a commercially sponsored
activity.
With Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter inside to monitor systems, Expedition
14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin
opened the hatch to the Pirs Docking Compartment airlock at 6:17 p.m.
CST as the station flew over the Atlantic Ocean near the west coast of
Africa. They wore Russian Orlan spacesuits for the 19th spacewalk
conducted out of Pirs since it was mated to the Russian segment of the
station in September 2001 during Tyurin’s first flight as part of
Expedition 3.
The start of the spacewalk was delayed more than an hour after Tyurin
encountered a problem with a cooling hose for his spacesuit. He climbed
out of the suit to reposition the hose, and uninterrupted cooling for
the suit was restored.
After setting up tools and equipment outside Pirs, Tyurin placed a
three-gram golf ball on a spring-mounted tee and clamped it onto the
ladder next to the Pirs hatch. Appearing uncomfortable with his feet
planted on the ladder, Tyurin used a gold-plated six-iron to tap the
golf ball safely away from the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module.
Tyurin said he was pleased with his golf shot, and Russian flight
controllers chose not to have him hit another ball so the crew could
tackle other tasks.
Tyurin’s golf shot was part of a demonstration for a commercially
sponsored endeavor between a Canadian golf company and the Russian
Federal Space Agency. The golf club and three balls were flown to the
station on recent Russian Progress cargo ships. NASA's safety analysis
showed that the balls will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up
in about three days. The balls weigh only about as much as three
one-dollar bills.
The two spacewalkers then moved to the end of Zvezda where the recently
arrived ISS Progress 23 cargo ship is docked. Tyurin released a latch on
one of the antennas for the craft’s Kurs automated rendezvous system
that failed to retract when the Progress docked on Oct. 26. Tyurin and
Lopez-Alegria attempted to move the so-called “orientationö antenna back
to its retracted and stowed position with their hands and with a prybar,
but the antenna would not budge. Russian flight controllers also sent
commands to drive the antenna to its retracted position, but that also
failed.
The spacewalkers took a number of pictures to send to Russian engineers,
who will evaluate options for freeing the stuck antenna on a future
spacewalk. The engineers surmise something may be frozen in the linkage
for the antenna’s drive mechanism, preventing it from moving.
While at the aft of Zvezda, Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria spent a few minutes
removing and repositioning one of several communications antennas
previously installed around the module’s docking port. This will assist
the docking of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle that will be
launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana next year.
In its previous location, the antenna partially blocked the opening of
one of Zvezda’s engine covers. The antenna was reinstalled less than a
foot from its original position, out of the way of future operations
with the engine.
Next, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin moved to the top of the forward section
of Zvezda to install an experiment called “BTN-Neutronö that will
measure the volume of neutron particles emitted by solar flares that
reach low Earth orbit. The crew wrapped up its work by jettisoning a
pair of thermal covers for the experiment that will be tracked by flight
controllers to ensure they pose no possibility of hitting the station or
the shuttle Discovery that is scheduled for an assembly mission to the
station in a few weeks.
It was the 73rd spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance
totaling 444 hours and 14 minutes of time outside the outpost and the
first of four scheduled during Expedition 14. The spacewalk was the
sixth in Lopez-Alegria’s career and the fourth for Tyurin.
The next station status report will be issued Dec. 1, or earlier if
events warrant. For more about the crew's activities and station
sighting opportunities, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
----
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