Spacewalker Employs "Brute Force" To Free Fluid Line

Spacewalking astronaut Doug Wheelock was given a go to shake a stuck fluid line "violently" and ultimately freed the hose without any significant leak of toxic ammonia coolant.

Fellow flight engineer Tracy Caldwell-Dyson was watching on as Wheelock used a pry-bar to loosen ammonia ice freezing the recalcitrant coolant hose to a faulty ammonia pump, which the two failed to free during a first spacewalk last Saturday. Then he finally used his gloved hands to disconnect the fluid line about two hours into a planned six-hour excursion.

"So when in doubt, brute force overcomes everything," NASA mission commentator Rob Navias said.

Wheelock and Caldwell-Dyson now will set out to remove five electrical cables that route power and data to the failed pump, which is housed inside a 780-pound module the size of a bathtub. Four bolts then will be unfastened so the large module can be removed and then stowed on the station's mobile rail cart.

A spare pump module is to be installed on a third spacewalk tentatively scheduled for Sunday.