Astronauts in Xmas Eve ISS repairs spacewalk
Print Edition
Two NASA astronauts stepped out yesterday on a rare Christmas Eve spacewalk to wrap up repairs to an equipment cooling system at the International Space Station.
Americans Rick Mastracchio, 53, and Mike Hopkins, 44, floated outside the orbiting lab on a second outing to replace an ammonia pump module whose internal control valve failed on December 11.
Their task was to retrieve a spare pump module from an external stowage platform and install it and, despite recent concerns about leaking spacesuits, the spacewalk got off to a smooth start.
After about two hours of maneuvers outside the station, Hopkins, riding a 15-meter robotic arm operated from inside the station by Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, managed to unhook all the connectors on the spare pump module.
“Okay, my friend you have yourself a pump module,” said a NASA official at mission control in Houston, Texas, overheard in footage broadcast live on the United States space agency’s online television station.
With his boots affixed to the Canadian-made arm, Hopkins grasped the refrigerator-sized pump module as Wakata maneuvered him over to its installation location.
Then, Hopkins and Mastracchio pushed the module into its slot and began affixing it in place.
Hopkins and Mastracchio must complete five electrical connections and four fluid connections before the pump can be activated.
Yesterday’s spacewalk was expected to last six and a half hours, which the US space agency estimated would be enough time to complete the repair job.
NASA said tests would be done on the new pump later Tuesday to see how well it is working.
Earlier in the day, Mastracchio reported seeing a tiny piece of space junk strike the space station near where the spare pump was stowed.
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