Status Report

ISS Status Report #36 – 15 Oct 2001

By SpaceRef Editor
October 15, 2001
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Scientific research
moved outside the International Space Station today as two Russian cosmonauts
mounted a variety of instruments outside the Zvezda service module in
a 5 hour, 52 minute space walk.


Pilot Vladimir
Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin opened the hatch on the
Pirs Docking Compartment at 4:17 a.m. Central time (917 GMT) and installed
three separate sets of experiment equipment designed to learn more about
the space environment around their orbiting outpost. Expedition Three
Commander Frank Culbertson helped from inside, positioning Canadarm2
so that its cameras could provide television pictures of the workmen
as they completed their tasks outside.


Dezhurov and Tyurin
moved hand-over-hand to work sites on the Zvezda service module, using
handrails to get to a site near the back end of the module. At that
location, they installed a Russian experiment called Kromka, which is
designed to accumulate any contamination caused by Zvezda steering jets
for analysis in the design of better thrusters for future spacecraft.


The duo then moved
on to a nearby site, where they assembled a small truss structure and
attached three suitcase-sized experiment packages provided by NASDA,
the Japanese space agency. The Micro-Particles Capturer will employ
aerogel and foam substances to collect naturally occurring micrometeoroids
and human-made orbital debris particles. A companion Space Environment
Exposure Device will expose a variety of materials such as paint, insulation
and solid lubricants to the harsh environment of space.


On their way back
to the Pirs hatch, they removed a placard and exposure experiment with
the image of the Russian Federation flag, and replaced it with another
exposure experiment as part of a commercial agreement.


It was the 28th
spacewalk in support of the assembly of the station, increasing the
total to 178 hours, 14 minutes, the fourth space walk staged out of
the station itself, and the 101st space walk in Russian history. It
was Dezhurov’s seventh space walk spanning two flights and the
second for Tyurin, who is midway through his first flight into space.


With all work successfully
completed, Dezhurov and Tyurin re-entered the Pirs compartment and closed
the hatch at 10:09 a.m. Central time (1509 GMT).


A third space walk
by Culbertson and Dezhurov is scheduled for November 5 to complete the
exterior outfitting of Pirs, that was begun by Dezhurov and Tyurin on
their first space walk of the expedition on Oct. 8.


The new Docking
Compartment docking port will be used for the first time on Oct. 19,
when the Expedition Three crew temporarily leaves the station and boards
its Soyuz rescue craft to relocate it from its current docked position
on the nadir port of the Zarya module to the Pirs. The undocking and
redocking of the Soyuz is expected to begin with a separation at 5:56
a.m. CDT (1056 GMT), and take about 30 minutes to complete, with redocking
expected at 6:15 a.m. CDT (1115 GMT).


That will set the
stage for the launch of a fresh Soyuz return craft on Oct. 21 from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A taxi crew consisting of Commander
Victor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and Flight Engineer
Claudie Haignere representing CNES, the French Space Agency, will arrive
at the station Oct. 23 for an eight-day stay and will return to Earth
on Oct. 31 aboard the Soyuz currently at the station.


With all of its
systems operating in good shape, the station is orbiting at an average
altitude of 250 statute miles (395 km). For additional information,
including sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth, visit:


http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/


The orbiting trio
will continue its scientific investigations this coming week as it prepares
for the relocation of the Soyuz craft. Oversight of science investigations
on the station from the ground is handled by the Payload Operations
Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL.
the Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.
Details on ISS science operations can be found at the center’s
web site:


http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov


The next ISS status
report will be issued on Wednesday, Oct. 10, or earlier, if events warrant.

SpaceRef staff editor.