Astronauts Take Third Spacewalk to Complete Tricky Cable Job
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Astronauts Take Third Spacewalk to Complete Tricky Cable Job |
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Spacewalking astronauts
ventured out for the third time in just over a week Sunday to complete an
extensive, tricky cable job at the International Space Station.
The advance work involving nearly 800 feet of cable over
three spacewalks -- is needed for new crew capsules commissioned by NASA. A
pair of docking ports will fly up later this year, followed by the capsules
themselves, with astronauts aboard, in 2017.
American astronauts Terry Virts and Butch Wilmore had 400
more feet of power and data cable to install Sunday, as well as two sets of
antennas. They successfully routed 364 feet on their first two excursions, on
Feb. 21 and last Wednesday.
NASA hasn't conducted such a quick succession of spacewalks
since its former shuttle days, and the amount of cable work is unprecedented.
Even more spacewalks will be needed once new docking ports start arriving in
June.
"Good luck, guys," Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti
said from inside as the spacewalk got underway early.
Within the first hour, the spacewalkers had hooked up both
antenna booms and got started on the cable work. There were wires everywhere,
and the men had to move their bodies in different positions to access one
especially cramped work site.
This month, meanwhile, marks the 50th anniversary of the
world's first spacewalk. Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov floated out into the
vacuum of space on March 18, 1965, beating America's first spacewalker, Gemini
4's Edward White II, by just 2 1/2 months.
Before approving Sunday's spacewalk, NASA spent two days
analyzing a water leak in Virts' helmet that occurred at the end of Wednesday's
outing.
A small amount of water got into Virts' helmet once he was
back in the air lock and the chamber was being repressurized. Engineers
concluded it was the result of condensation, and a safe and well understood
circumstance that had occurred several times before with the same spacesuit.
Virts was never in danger, according to NASA.
Wilmore's suit functioned perfectly during the first two
spacewalks, but on Sunday morning, a pressure sensor briefly malfunctioned
before he floated out. A mechanical gauge, however, was operating fine. Mission
Control told Wilmore that he would need to pay extra attention to how his suit
was feeling throughout the seven-hour excursion.
Wilmore is due to return to Earth next week following a 5
1/2-month mission. Virts is midway through his expedition. Russian Soyuz
spacecraft carried them both up, with NASA paying for the multimillion-dollar
tickets.
To save money and stop being so reliant on the Russian Space
Agency, NASA has hired Boeing and SpaceX to develop spacecraft capable of
transporting astronauts to the space station. The two contracts are worth
nearly $7 billion. SpaceX already is delivering cargo under a separate
agreement with NASA.
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