US spacewalkers get ready for orbiting lab repairs (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhfUyGfBeCmg6xBFo3qFe4PafYHNSTeLu7hARp67rfilo3r4j0iC6gJatpWc6MY6Fmnps9i-UM9YyrFeEyw-0vVQUAGSTNfGNlqwRMZdzw1XKb1cHgmRLyjJll4ibBQwI6MwOuHf5qKVA/s1600/f11d1523c6a2c80571361e8855519d1cbfdb778f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhfUyGfBeCmg6xBFo3qFe4PafYHNSTeLu7hARp67rfilo3r4j0iC6gJatpWc6MY6Fmnps9i-UM9YyrFeEyw-0vVQUAGSTNfGNlqwRMZdzw1XKb1cHgmRLyjJll4ibBQwI6MwOuHf5qKVA/s320/f11d1523c6a2c80571361e8855519d1cbfdb778f.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387609612062_3945" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Washington (AFP) - Two American astronauts are to step out Saturday on the first of three spacewalks to replace a broken cooling pump at the orbiting International Space Station.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387609612062_3975" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">As the ISS spins around the Earth at a speed of five miles (eight kilometers) per second, veteran spacewalker Rick Mastracchio will lead the way, followed by Mike Hopkins, making his first venture outside the global research lab.The spacewalk is set to begin at 7:10 am (1210 GMT) and last six and a half hours, NASA said.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387609612062_3994" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">From the inside, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata will operate the station's 50-foot (15-meter) robotic arm, hoisting Mastracchio and hefty equipment from one section of the lab to another.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387609612062_4003" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"There are quite a bit of arm maneuvers throughout all of these EVAs so I'm sure Koichi will be getting a workout," said lead spacewalk officer Allison Bolinger, using the NASA acronym for spacewalk: extravehicular activity (EVA).</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387609612062_4012" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">While Mastracchio, 53, soars around with his boots attached to a foot-plate on the robotic arm, Hopkins, 44, will be the designated free-floating astronaut of the day.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp portrait onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="13" data-uuid="12679159-6e27-3eee-9bf2-34ccfd5bc026" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/mikhail-tyurin-roscosmos-bottom-flight-engineer-koichi-wakata-photo-022612758.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos (Bottom), Flight Engineer&nbsp;&hellip;"></a><br /><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 381px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp portrait onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="13" data-uuid="12679159-6e27-3eee-9bf2-34ccfd5bc026" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/mikhail-tyurin-roscosmos-bottom-flight-engineer-koichi-wakata-photo-022612758.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos (Bottom), Flight Engineer&nbsp;&hellip;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; 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cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos (Bottom), Flight Engineer&nbsp;&hellip;"><img alt="Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos (Bottom), Flight Engineer&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="381" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/TcCVBohkha1kYl.5z7x3WQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTM4MTtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/d190b9b58589c8ed102c6bd04fb08cc0a0f03a4a.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></a></div><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp portrait onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="13" data-uuid="12679159-6e27-3eee-9bf2-34ccfd5bc026" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/mikhail-tyurin-roscosmos-bottom-flight-engineer-koichi-wakata-photo-022612758.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos (Bottom), Flight Engineer&nbsp;&hellip;"></a><br /><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos (Bottom), Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata and Flight Engineer Rick Mastrac …</div></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387609612062_4021" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The men's first task is to disconnect the ammonia pump, which is about the size of a refrigerator.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387609612062_4030" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">On the second spacewalk, set for Monday, the astronauts are to remove the pump so it can be replaced with a spare that was already stowed at the ISS.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">A third spacewalk is planned for Christmas Day, when the failed pump will be shuttled away and final installations made on its replacement.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">However, there is a chance the astronauts will be able to complete all their work in two spacewalks, NASA has said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">If not, the Christmas Day outing would be the first since 1974, when a pair of NASA astronauts "stepped outside the Skylab space station to retrieve film from a telescope and photograph Comet Kohoutek," the US space agency said.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; 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font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The urgent spacewalks were called for this week due to a faulty valve that caused a partial shutdown in the system that regulates equipment temperature at the space station.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Engineers tried to fix the problem from the ground, but eventually decided they needed to replace the ammonia pump.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The six-man crew was never in danger, but NASA wanted to fix the problem sooner rather than later, agency officials said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The spacewalks meant the first regular commercial cargo supply mission by Orbital Sciences' Cygnus craft, which had been planned for earlier in the week, was postponed until next year.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">NASA also had to rig up some last-minute contingency gear inside the American-made spacesuits, which have not been used since a helmet water leak nearly drowned a European astronaut in July.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Now the helmets carry an extra absorption pad and a snorkel inside, just in case.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387609612062_4058" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The investigation into the cause of the helmet leak is ongoing. Hopkins will be wearing the suit that had the problem, though its inner water pump has been replaced.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1387609612062_4068" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Dina Contella, International Space Station flight director, told reporters on Wednesday the space agency is "confident that this suit is a very clean suit and ready to go."</div></div>

US spacewalkers get ready for orbiting lab repairs (BLOG)

Washington (AFP) - Two American astronauts are to step out Saturday on the first of three spacewalks to replace a broken cooling pump at the...

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