US, Russian Astronauts Successfully Repair Faulty Antenna

Despite a spacesuit malfunction, the expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin on Thursday succeeded in folding away a faulty antenna on a Russian cargo ship during a spacewalk outside the international space station (ISS).

During a 6-hour, 18-minute spacewalk that ended at 10:45 a.m. CST Thursday, Lopez-Alegria, the American astronaut and Tyurin, the Russian cosmonaut have managed to retract a stuck antenna on the ISS Progress 23 cargo spacecraft docked at the aft end of the Zvezda service module, to prevent it from snagging when the vessel is undocked from the station in a few weeks.

Besides retracting the malfunctioning antenna, the two men also inspected navigation systems in preparation for the summer docking of a European cargo craft. The Progress also must be ejected from the station before a Soyuz spacecraft can deliver a new crew in early April.

Although, Tyurin had problems with his spacesuit's cooling system, but he along with Lopez-Alegria somehow completed several other tasks in a record fifth and final spacewalk for this station crew.

Early in the spacewalk, which was conducted in Russian Orlan spacesuits, Tyurin found that his spacesuit’s temperature control system was not working, due to which he had to struggle with a fogging faceplate every time he exerted himself.

US Mission Control, which is in Houston, Texas, suggested Tyurin rub his nose against the glass to clear it. In response to a question asked by the spacewalk coordinators that how he was feeling, Tyurin said, "Like in Houston - quite warm."

The temperature in Tyurin's spacesuit rose by as much as 3½ degrees above the desired range of 64.4 to 68, according to Alexander Polishchuk of Mission Control.

The spacewalkers started with snapping a Russian satellite navigation antenna and changing out a Russian materials experiment. They also checked and photographed an antenna for the European cargo craft known as the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and its docking targets as well.

They initially tried to release the antenna latch with a punch and a hammer. When that didn't work, they used a tool that was about the size of garden shears to cut metal tubes holding the antenna in place. That enabled them to partly retract the antenna and secure it with wire ties. They reported, it had about six inches of clearance from Zvezda, adequate for undocking.

The astronauts then took photographs of a German robotics experiment and some of the hardware on the outside of the station for assessment back on Earth as well as pictures of each other.

Launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct.23 at 9:41 a.m. EDT the Progress 23 cargo capsule carried almost 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station's Expedition 14 crew.

Packed with 1,918 pounds of propellant for the Russian thrusters, 110 pounds of oxygen and almost 2,800 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and life support components, including parts for the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system, the cargo spacecraft had reached the station after a flight of just over three days.

The unmanned Russian cargo ship will take litter away from the station and burn up on re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.

The European cargo craft, ATV has more capacity than the Progress and is scheduled to make its maiden trip to the station later this year.

Thursday’s spacewalk was 10th for Lopez-Alegria, a U.S. record, and the 5th for Tyurin. It was the 81st for ISS assembly and maintenance, the 53rd from the station, the 20th from Pirs and the fifth for this station crew.