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TOPIC: International Space Station


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Posts: 131433
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RE: ISS
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Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin retracted a stuck antenna on a cargo spacecraft during a 6-hour, 18-minute spacewalk that ended at 10:45 a.m. CST Thursday.
On Oct. 26, the antenna failed to retract when the Progress vehicle docked to the station's Zvezda Service Module. Moving the antenna was necessary to ensure it would not interfere with the Progress undocking in April.
Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin had planned to release the antenna latch with a punch and a hammer. When clearance issues prevented that, they cut struts supporting the antenna. That enabled them to partly retract the antenna and secure it with wire ties. They reported it had about six inches of clearance from Zvezda, adequate for undocking.
Early in the spacewalk, Tyurin had problems with his spacesuit's cooling system, which caused his visor to fog up. But he and Lopez-Alegria were able to complete a number of other tasks. They began the spacewalk by photographing a Russian satellite navigation antenna and changing out a Russian materials experiment. They also inspected and photographed an antenna for the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). The European cargo craft has more capacity than the Progress and is scheduled to make its first trip to the station later this year. The spacewalkers also photographed ATV docking targets.
They photographed a German robotics experiment, inspected, remated and photographed hardware connectors and inspected retention mechanisms and bolted joints on a hand-operated Strela crane that helps transport people and equipment outside Pirs. They also stowed two foot restraints on a ladder at Pirs before ending the spacewalk.
The spacewalk from the Pirs docking compartment was conducted in Russian Orlan spacesuits. It was the 81st for station assembly and maintenance, the 53rd from the station, the 20th from Pirs and the fifth for this station crew. This was the 10th spacewalk for Lopez-Alegria, a U.S. record, and the fifth for Tyurin.

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A U.S. astronaut and his Russian crewmate ventured outside the international space station on Thursday for a six-hour spacewalk intended to fix a faulty antenna.
The main mission of Michael Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin was to fold an antenna on a Russian Progress cargo ship that could be an obstacle when the vessel needs to be undocked to make room for a new space ferry.
Not long after they left the station to start crawling toward the antenna, mission control told Tyurin that his suit's temperature control system was not working as well as it should, and advised him to take it easy and not get too hot.
Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin were expected to spend most of their time outside the station trying to free the cargo ship's antenna, which got stuck in a railing on the station during its docking in October.

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Crewmembers prepare for their fifth spacewalk
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This week, the Expedition 14 crew continued to focus on preparation for their final planned spacewalk ahead of the space shuttle Atlantis’ arrival in March. This comes following Sunday’s unexpected circuit breaker trip on the International Space Station and subsequent resetting of affected equipment.
As Atlantis was moved to the launch pad this week, station Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin conducted leak checks of the Russian Orlan spacesuits they will wear for their Feb. 22 venture outside the station. They installed some additional equipment on the suits, including lights that will assist in their tasks.
Friday, the crew verified the suits' readiness by conducting telemetry and communications checks with flight controllers in Russia at the Mission Control Centre in Korolev.
The spacewalk will be the fifth by the Expedition 14 crew, a record for a station crew. It will be the fourth spacewalk conducted from the space station in the past three weeks. The spacewalk, scheduled to begin at approximately 4 a.m. CST, is expected to last six hours.

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RE: ISS
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NASA will hold a briefing at 1 p.m. CST Friday, Feb. 16 to preview the fourth spacewalk this month by the residents of the International Space Station. The spacewalk is set to begin at 4 a.m. CST Feb. 22.
The Feb. 16 briefing will originate from NASA's Johnson Space Centre, Houston, and will include questions from journalists at participating NASA locations. Reporters should call their preferred field centre to confirm participation availability.
Participants in the briefing will include: - Rick LaBrode, International Space Station spacewalk flight director - Glenda Laws, lead spacewalk officer for Expedition 14
For the spacewalk, Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will venture outside the station wearing Russian spacesuits for six hours. They will retract a stuck antenna on a cargo craft that is docked at the rear of the complex. The navigation antenna did not retract properly when the ISS Progress 23 cargo craft docked to the station in October. The antenna needs to be retracted before the cargo craft is undocked from the complex in April. Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin also will inspect systems to be used by a new European Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo craft that is due to fly to the station this summer. During the spacewalk, Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Suni Williams will assist from inside the station.

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NASA Announces Three ISS Crews
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NASA and its international partners have named the crews that will live and work aboard the International Space Station for the next two years. The crew members make up three expeditions to the station and represent four space agencies.
The assignments include the first long-duration station flight for a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut and the second long-duration station flight for an astronaut from the European Space Agency (ESA). The JAXA and ESA astronauts will work on the installation and checkout of the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo and European Columbus laboratories on the station.
NASA astronaut and veteran station crew member Peggy A. Whitson will command Expedition 16, set to begin in fall 2007. The flight engineers for the mission include cosmonaut and Russian Air Force Col. Yuri I. Malenchenko, ESA astronaut and French Air Force Brig. Gen. Leopold Eyharts and NASA astronaut Garrett E. Reisman.

    * Malenchenko will command the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that will carry him and Whitson to the station and return them to Earth in spring 2008. They will join NASA astronaut Daniel M. Tani aboard the station.
    * Eyharts will fly to the station on space shuttle mission STS-122, which is expected to deliver the Columbus lab this fall. Eyharts will remain on the station to oversee activation and checkout of the laboratory, while Tani takes the shuttle home.
    * Reisman will fly on shuttle Endeavour's STS-123 mission to replace Eyharts. Reisman will remain on the station for about six months and return on shuttle mission STS-119, targeted for summer 2008.

Russian Air Force Lt. Col. Sergei Volkov will command Expedition 17. Expedition 17 flight engineers include cosmonaut Oleg D. Kononenko and NASA astronaut Sandra H. Magnus.

    * Kononenko will command the Soyuz spacecraft that will carry him and Volkov to the station in spring 2008 and bring them home in fall 2008.
    * Magnus will arrive on STS-119 and remain aboard the station. Magnus will return on the STS-126 mission targeted for summer 2008.

NASA astronaut and station veteran Air Force Lt. Col. E. Michael Fincke will command Expedition 18. Expedition 18 flight engineers include cosmonaut and veteran station crew member Russian Air Force Col. Salizhan S. Sharipov, JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata and NASA astronaut Gregory E. Chamitoff.

    * Sharipov will command the Soyuz that will carry him and Fincke to the station in fall 2008 and back to Earth in spring 2009.
    * Wakata will fly to the station on STS-126 to replace Magnus. Magnus will return to Earth on STS-126.
    * Chamitoff will fly to the station on the STS-127 mission, targeted for winter 2008, the third and final flight for assembly of the Japanese Kibo lab. Wakata will return to Earth on STS-127. Chamitoff will return home on a later shuttle or Soyuz mission.

Expedition 16 backup crew members:

    * Fincke for Whitson
    * Sharipov for Malenchenko
    * ESA astronaut Frank DeWinne for Eyharts
    * NASA astronaut Army Lt. Col. Timothy L. Kopra for Reisman.

Expedition 17 backup crew members:

    * Cosmonaut and veteran station crew member Sergei Krikalev for Volkov
    * Cosmonaut Russian Air Force Col. Maxim V. Suraev for Kononenko
    * NASA astronaut Nicole P. Stott for Magnus.

Expedition 18 backup crew members:

    * NASA astronaut Dr. Michael R. Barratt for Fincke
    * Cosmonaut Russian Air Force Lt. Col. Yuri V. Lonchakov for Sharipov
    * JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi for Wakata
    * NASA astronaut Army Col. Timothy J. Creamer for Chamitoff.

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L

Posts: 131433
Date:
RE: ISS
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NASA scientists were testing systems affected by a weekend power failure aboard the International Space Station.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration mission controllers in Houston said none of the station's three crew members was in any danger during the blackout.
About 1 a.m. Sunday a power channels in the station's P4 solar array electrical system failed because of a glitch with a direct current switching unit, NASA said. That unit controls power distribution from the solar array to the battery systems and other hardware.

Source UPI

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ISS Spacewalk
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Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria broke the U.S. record of most time walking in space Thursday as he and another astronaut did maintenance work outside the international space station during their third spacewalk in nine days.
Lopez-Alegria surpassed the previous U.S. record of 58 hours and 32 minutes midway through his chores with fellow American Sunita Williams. He has a ways to go to claim the all-time record, though _ Russian Anatoly Solovyov has logged more than 82 hours.
Lopez-Alegria and Williams finished a primary mission of the their spacewalk: tossing quilt-sized thermal sheets from the international space station.

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Posts: 131433
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RE: ISS
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Astronaut Sunita Williams has ventured out of the ISS with Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, for her fourth space walk and to set  another record - the woman with most the most spacewalks.

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Two members of the 14th crew of the International Space Station have started their third spacewalk in nine days.

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L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Sunita Williams
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US astronaut Sunita Williams has now spent more time walking in space than any other woman.
The record was set as she and a crewmate upgraded the International Space Station's cooling system on Sunday.
Ms Williams broke the previous record set by American Kathryn Thornton of just over 21 hours; setting a new one of 22 hours and 27 minutes.

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