Two NASA astronauts today will practice spacewalking procedures in a Johnson Space Center swimming pool that will help counterparts on the International Space Station perform critical repairs later this week. Sunita Williams, a former station resident, and Catherine Coleman, a backup for the current Expedition 24 crew, will enter the giant pool to help choreograph the first of two spacewalks expected to be performed to remove and replace a failed coolant loop pump.
One of the outpost's two coolant loops failed Saturday evening, prompting its six crew members -- three Americans and three Russians -- to shut down various systems to prevent the U.S. segment from overheating.
Some experiment samples were successfully moved from a freezer in the Japanese lab to one in the U.S. Destiny lab.
NASA astronauts Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson, who were preparing for an unrelated spacewalk Thursday morning, now plan to use that time replace the faulty assembly that pumps ammonia through coolant loops outside the station's starboard side.
On Tuesday, Discovery astronauts Timothy Kopra and Alvin Drew will perform a second rehearsal to fine-tune procedures in the pool called the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, or NBL.
The practice procedures will help map out each step the spacewalkers will need to take, the tools they'll use and how they'll interact with the station's robotic arm.
NASA managers plan a readiness review Wednesday before the first spacewalk, which is expected to start at 6:55 a.m. EDT Thursday.
The second spacewalk, to complete hookups of new ammonia pump, would follow no earlier than Sunday after evaluation of the first spacewalk and more practice runs in the pool.
A news conference to discuss the pump failure and plans to restore Loop A of the station's Thermal Control System is planned today at 4 p.m. EDT. You can watch it live here by clicking on the NASA TV box on the right side of this page.
8 comments:
They had better hope that the pump is the bad item and not a short in the wiring.
This will use one of two spare pumps. Will it be possible to ship another on one of the two remaining Shuttle flights? Or are they small enough to fit in one of the unmanned resupply vehicles?
Keeping the ISS flying until 2015, let alone 2020 isn't going to be easy without the Shuttle.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Soon things will start failing up there that will need the shuttle to resupply. But oh wait...the shuttle program is being terminated so we can send hundreds of millions of dollars to the Russians and cancel out any way to launch large cargo. So, to hell with the space station I guess. If the shuttle program is not extended, the space station is going to be abandoned for one reason or another before 2020...hands down...no question.
Conor: turns out there are four spare ammonia pump modules already on orbit. Though large, they are small enough to fly on HTV or Dragon, if NASA decided to fly another. But presumably that wouldn't leave much mass for other supplies on those vehicles.
Is it a coincidence that "Something" fails on orbit . . . . Just as the "Last Scheduled Shuttle Flight Hoopla" starts to heat up???
First The Orbiters were mandated to Stand Down and complete the program by end of FY 2010 . . . .
Then there is a delay with the AMS (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) which stretches the program out till Feb 2011 , , , , ,
Then 1000 USA workers get pink slips . . . .
But wait . . . we can fly one more flight with the extra ET and SRB set . . . .
Now we see things happen that may neccesitate or rationalize prolonging the Shuttle even more . . . Voices saying, "We cant repair this without the Shuttle . . . Wouldn;t it be great if we can fly this up on the shuttle . . . ."
Am I on to somthing?
Thanks James. I'm still with Mark on this though. I see the Shuttle as a detachable part of the ISS. And vital to its long term future.
The whole purpose of the space shuttle is to shuttle back and forth to and from a space station...not to just build it. It's completely ridiculous to terminate the program just after construction completion. The space station needs the shuttle to maintain it as well.
I concur with Mark....
Post a Comment