ISS Status Report Report #42 – 7 Nov 2001
The Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, continue to make preparations for the third and final space walk of their mission to be conducted on Monday, the fifth space walk to take place from the International Space Station (ISS).
During the spacewalk Monday, which is scheduled to begin around 3 p.m. CST, Culbertson and Dezhurov will complete the exterior outfitting of the Russian docking compartment Pirs that was begun by Dezhurov and Tyurin on their initial spacewalk Oct. 8. They also will inspect one solar array panel on the Zvezda Service Module which failed to deploy after launch in July 2000, but which has had no impact on station operations.
During two previous Expedition Three spacewalks, conducted by Dezhurov and Tyurin, the pair linked Pirs’ data and power cables to Zvezda, to which Pirs is docked. The two also mounted experiments on Zvezda’s exterior. On Monday, Dezhurov will wear a spacesuit bearing red stripes. It will be the eighth spacewalk of his career. Culbertson will wear a blue-striped suit and be making his first spacewalk. Tyurin will monitor the spacewalk from inside the ISS and will operate the Canadarm2 robotic arm to provide lighting for the spacewalkers and television views for flight controllers.
The Expedition Three crew is scheduled to return to Earth in December on shuttle mission STS-108, which will launch their replacements, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and flight engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch. The space shuttle Endeavour is targeted to lift off on STS-108 Nov. 29. A firm launch date will be established late next week following a Flight Readiness Review by shuttle and station managers. The STS-108 and Expedition Four crews are at KSC this week conducting a dress rehearsal of the launch countdown.
In addition to bringing the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled with equipment and supplies to the ISS on STS-108, two of Endeavour’s astronauts will do a spacewalk to place thermal blankets around bearing assemblies on the station’s P6 truss. Bearings in these assemblies, which allow the station’s solar arrays to rotate while tracking the sun, have experienced electrical power spikes. Engineers believe the thermal blankets will eliminate this occurrence.
In addition to preparing spacesuits and equipment for their Monday spacewalk, the Expedition Three crew continued scientific investigations aboard the station this week. These investigations include measuring space radiation aboard the ISS and growing crystals that may help researchers better design drugs to fight diseases such as diabetes. Oversight of ISS science investigations is the responsibility of the Payload Operations Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center. Details on ISS science operations can be found on the Web at:
http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov
With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (395 km). For additional information on station activities, including sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth, visit the Web at:
The next ISS status report will be issued on Monday, Nov. 12 following the Expedition Three spacewalk, or earlier, if events warrant.
