* Astronomy

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RE: International Space Station

Blobrana · L

Astronauts have carried out the first of five spacewalks to be performed by the crew of the shuttle Endeavour at the International Space Station (ISS).
American astronauts Tim Kopra and Dave Wolf spent nearly six hours outside the ISS, attaching a large platform - the final piece of Japan's space lab, Kibo.

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Blobrana · L

Astronauts have begun the first of five spacewalks to be performed by the crew of the shuttle Endeavour at the International Space Station (ISS).
American astronauts Tim Kopra and Dave Wolf are preparing Japan's space lab Kibo for the installation of its final piece - a large external platform.

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Astronauts to attach platform to ISS
Two astronauts will be walking in space Saturday.
They will be attaching a platform for Japan's billion-dollar lab at the International Space Station Saturday afternoon.

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The space shuttle Endeavour fired its thrusters late Friday just hours after linking up with the International Space Station in order to move the outpost clear of a piece of orbital junk.
Endeavour fired its rocket thrusters for about 15 minutes to move the space station about a mile higher above Earth to steer clear of the incoming piece of debris, which was slated to zoom past the docked shuttle and station early Saturday at 09:11 GMT. The station typically flies about 354 km above Earth.
Mission Control at NASA's Johnson Space Centre in Houston had been tracking the piece of space debris since Thursday, but the space agency was unsure what the object actually is, its size or how close it would ultimately come to the station. But its trajectory, mission managers said, would bring it too close for comfort.

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Blobrana · L

It's spacewalking day at the shuttle-station complex.
At high noon Saturday, two astronauts will venture out to help attach a platform for science experiments. It's the third and final piece of Japan's huge billion-dollar lab. And it's the first of five spacewalks planned for the shuttle flight.

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Date: Jun 11 10:34 2009

Two international space station crew members began a spacewalk, despite initial concerns about high carbon dioxide levels in their redesigned Russian space suits.

The walk started more than a half-hour late after ground telemetry showed high carbon dioxide readings in the Orlon-MK space suits worn by both space walkers.

High concentrations of the gas can cause dizziness, nausea and other problems, but both crew members said they felt fine and ground controllers decided the readings presented no threat.

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NASA Unveils New Tranquility Module At KSC
In a ceremony that marked the beginning of an end, NASA on Monday unveiled the U.S. Tranquility module -- a barrel-shaped spacecraft that will be the final major American addition to the International Space Station.
Four of the six astronauts destined to deliver the module to the station next February were on hand at Kennedy Space Centre as dozens of managers, engineers and technicians from the U.S. and Europe crowded into the high bay at NASA's Space Station Processing Facility.

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Blobrana · L

International Space Station Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Mike Barratt completed a 4-hour, 54 minute spacewalk at 8:46 a.m. EDT Friday to prepare the Zvezda service module for the arrival of a new Russian module. The spacewalk was the seventh for Padalka and the first for Barratt.
The spacewalkers installed docking antennas, a docking target and electrical connectors for the Kurs automated rendezvous equipment. Barratt then rode on the end of the Strela boom, a manually operated crane, to take photographs of the antennas.

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Docking brings space station to full staff of 6
A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three new space station residents docked at the orbiting complex Friday. With three astronauts there to greet them, the space station now has a full staff of six for the first time in its 10-year history.

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