Posted on 01/31/2007 5:04:29 PM PST by xcamel
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Two U.S. astronauts aboard the International Space Station successfully completed a space walk on Wednesday, doing some chores for the orbital outpost, according to NASA TV.
Astronauts Sunita Williams (L) and Michael Lopez-Algeria are shown during a space walk on the International Space Station, Jan. 31, 2007. (NASA TV)
This is the first of unprecedented three space walks in nine days by Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Sunita Williams. Lopez-Alegria, the lead space walker wearing the suit with red stripes, and Williams, in the all-white suit, stepped out of Quest airlock at 10:14 a.m. EST (1514 GMT).
During the more-than-seven-hour excursion, the duo reconfigured one of two cooling loops for the U.S. Destiny module, rearranged electrical connections and secured and covered the starboard radiator of the retracted truss segment. They also removed a solar shade and thermal shrouds that are no longer needed.
Despite a sighting of ammonia coolant flakes, suggesting the possibility of contamination during the space walk, the astronauts found no visible traces of the toxic chemical on their spacesuits. After reentering the airlock, they will spend about 25 extra minutes "baking out" their spacesuits to prevent any possibility of ammonia contamination.
Two other space walks from Quest will follow. Lopez-Alegria and Williams are scheduled to make the second space walk on Feb. 4 and the third for Feb. 8. The first two focus on the reconfiguration of station power and cooling systems to permanent ones.
The three space walks from the Quest airlock in U.S. spacesuits and a Russian space walk scheduled for Feb. 22 are the most ever done by station crew members during a single month. They also will bring to 10 the total number of space walks by Lopez-Alegria, an astronaut record. Williams will have a total of four, the most ever by a woman.
space ping
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Small amounts of toxic ammonia leaked from a fluid line Sunday as two astronauts conducted the second of what could be a precedent-setting three spacewalks in nine days, upgrading the international space station's cooling system.
The liquid ammonia, which freezes into flakes when it hits the vacuum of space, did not appear to touch Michael Lopez-Alegria or Sunita Williams. Mission Control told them to continue their task of hooking up ammonia fluid lines from a temporary cooling system to a permanent one.
The astronauts looked over their spacesuits, gloves and helmets and found no ammonia residue.
"I think we're happy with what we see," Lopez-Alegria said.
Mission Control told the astronauts that exposing their spacesuits to sunlight would "bake off" any ammonia residue that may have gotten on them...
"They look like pinpoints," Lopez-Alegria said of the flakes Sunday. "They don't look like what we saw the other day, but they are coming out with some velocity."
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