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More Details for 2001-10-15

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Scientific research moved outside the International Space Station today as two Russian cosmonauts mounted a variety of instruments outside the Zvezda service module in a 5 hour, 52 minute space walk.

Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin opened the hatch on the Pirs Docking Compartment at 4:17 a.m. Central time (917 GMT) and installed three separate sets of experiment equipment designed to learn more about the space environment around their orbiting outpost. Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson helped from inside, positioning Canadarm2 so that its cameras could provide television pictures of the workmen as they completed their tasks outside.

Dezhurov and Tyurin moved hand-over-hand to work sites on the Zvezda service module, using handrails to get to a site near the back end of the module. At that location, they installed a Russian experiment called Kromka, which is designed to accumulate any contamination caused by Zvezda steering jets for analysis in the design of better thrusters for future spacecraft.

The duo then moved on to a nearby site, where they assembled a small truss structure and attached three suitcase-sized experiment packages provided by NASDA, the Japanese space agency. The Micro-Particles Capturer will employ aerogel and foam substances to collect naturally occurring micrometeoroids and human-made orbital debris particles. A companion Space Environment Exposure Device will expose a variety of materials such as paint, insulation and solid lubricants to the harsh environment of space.

On their way back to the Pirs hatch, they removed a placard and exposure experiment with the image of the Russian Federation flag, and replaced it with another exposure experiment as part of a commercial agreement.

It was the 28th spacewalk in support of the assembly of the station, increasing the total to 178 hours, 14 minutes, the fourth space walk staged out of the station itself, and the 101st space walk in Russian history. It was Dezhurov's seventh space walk spanning two flights and the second for Tyurin, who is midway through his first flight into space.

With all work successfully completed, Dezhurov and Tyurin re-entered the Pirs compartment and closed the hatch at 10:09 a.m. Central time (1509 GMT).

A third space walk by Culbertson and Dezhurov is scheduled for November 5 to complete the exterior outfitting of Pirs, that was begun by Dezhurov and Tyurin on their first space walk of the expedition on Oct. 8.

The new Docking Compartment docking port will be used for the first time on Oct. 19, when the Expedition Three crew temporarily leaves the station and boards its Soyuz rescue craft to relocate it from its current docked position on the nadir port of the Zarya module to the Pirs. The undocking and redocking of the Soyuz is expected to begin with a separation at 5:56 a.m. CDT (1056 GMT), and take about 30 minutes to complete, with redocking expected at 6:15 a.m. CDT (1115 GMT).

That will set the stage for the launch of a fresh Soyuz return craft on Oct. 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A taxi crew consisting of Commander Victor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and Flight Engineer Claudie Haignere representing CNES, the French Space Agency, will arrive at the station Oct. 23 for an eight-day stay and will return to Earth on Oct. 31 aboard the Soyuz currently at the station.

With all of its systems operating in good shape, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 250 statute miles (395 km).

The orbiting trio will continue its scientific investigations this coming week as it prepares for the relocation of the Soyuz craft. Oversight of science investigations on the station from the ground is handled by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. the Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.