Exp 30 EVA Updates

ISS Expedition 30 - Spacewalk Updates

Russian Crewmembers complete challenging Spacewalk

February 16, 2012

Photo: NASA TV

The Russian duo of Spacewalkers, Oleg Kononenko and Anton Shkaplerov, successfully completed a 6-hour 15-minute EVA on Thursday, February 16, to outfit the exterior of the Russian Segment.
The Crew began the EVA at 14:31 GMT (9:31am EST) after nominal Spacewalk Preparations including Suit-Up and Depressurization of the Pirs Docking Compartment. A minor issue with the outer hatch of the Airlock came up and delayed the start of the EVA which was originally planned 16 minutes earlier. Both of the Cosmonauts made their way out of the Hatch and embarked on what was going to the the 162nd Spacewalk dedicated to International Space Station Assembly and Maintenance. Their first task was also the prime task of today’s spacewalk consuming almost all of the EVA Time. A Strela Equipment Crane was to be relocated from the DC-1 Module (Pirs) to the Mini-Research Module 1.

Two Strela Cranes are installed on ISS, both need to be moved from DC-1 to other locations because the module will be undocked from ISS to make room for a new Russian Research Module next year. Oleg Kononenko controlled the arm at the elbow control panel while both Spacewalkers unstowed and deployed Strela 2 in order to move the other Strela. Both Cosmonauts had quite a difficult time out there working with the booms that were moving around very easily – giving them no chance to secure themselves to complete the operation which caused the team to fall behind the EVA timeline. 1 hour behind of schedule, the duo finally deployed Strela-2 and maneuvered it into position near the other boom to start the actual move. Subsequently, both Strelas were attached to one another and the complex was slowly moved. The Spacewalkers had to stop during orbital night to avoid any clearance issues as the operation was taking place close to other modules of the Russian Segment. Communication ways were busy as the two Crewmembers had to choreograph even slight movements with the large pieces of equipment they were handling. Once at MRM-2, Strela 1 was secured in place. A piece of Multilayer Insulation that was removed for Strela 1 Installation was jettisoned by the crew for disposal via atmospheric re-entry. At the time of Strela-1 Securing, the crew was about 90 minutes behind the timeline causing tasks to be deferred to the next Russian EVA. The two-hour task of installing Debris Shields on the Service Module will be performed on EVA-31 planned for later this year. To end the Spacewalk, the team undeployed Strela-2 and conducted some get-ahead tasks involving material science experiments that were placed outside the Station. They also retrieved an experiment module that was exposed to the space environment for an extended period of time. The Vinoslivost Sample Experiment was installed on Handrails on the Service Module while Strela-2 was still deployed to wait for daylight to make sure it was not coming into contact with other ISS modules. The final task of the EVA was the installation of two Hardware Units for the TEST Experiment. Time was running out and Oleg Kononenko was only able to install one of the units before entering the Airlock to end the Spacewalk. The Pirs Hatch was closed and repressurization procedures started.

Photo: NASA TV

The official end of this challenging EVA occurred at 20:46 GMT making it a 6-hour, 15-minute Spacewalk taking total ISS EVA Time up to 1,021 Hours and 37 Minutes. It was Oleg Kononenko’s third ISS Spacewalk for a total of 18 hours and 27 minutes. It was Anton Shkaplerov’s Spacewalk debut.
The next International Space Station EVA is planned for August 2012. For that month, two EVA’s are scheduled, Russian EVA-31 and US EVA-19 – both in support of Station Maintenance.

EVA Preview

February 15, 2012

On Thursday, February 16, 2012, two of the Russian ISS Expedition 30 Crewmembers will conduct a Spacewalk to outfit the exterior of the Russian Segment. Oleg Kononenko and Anton Shkaplerov are set to exit the Station out of the Pirs Airlock at 14:15 GMT (9:15am EST) to start a 6-hour and 3-minute (planned) Spacewalk.
The first task on their busy timeline is to move the Strela 1 Boom (Equipment Crane) from Pirs to Mini Research Module 2 for future use as Pirs is expected to be removed from ISS later this year or early next year. They will use Strela 2 to perform the relocation. This task is relatively complicated and will take 3 hours and 15 minutes. Originally, the procedure was planned for the most recent ISS EVA which was performed on August 3, 2011 by Cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Alexander Samokutyaev (EVA Report: Here), but the task had to be deferred due to timeline issues because problems with other activities consumed too much time.

Photo: NASA TV

The Strela Relocation is the prime objective for this EVA and will be the first task the two crewmembers will complete. While moving the Strela Crane, the EV Crewmembers will jettison a Multilayer-Insulation Cover. One more task is on the prime EVA Timeline. The Cosmonauts are planned to Install 5 Service Module Debris Panels on a Handrail outside the Sation. Should the two Cosmonauts have more time available after completing these tasks, they will start with get-ahead tasks that have been selected for this Spacewalk. For that, they will perform the ‘TEST’ experiment with two samplers on the Service Module RO1 area. The second get-ahead task is the installation of support struts on the EVA ladder that is located on the Pirs Module of ISS. Should more time be available, the team will translate to Mini Research Module 2 where they would install experiments hardware for an exposure experiment ‘Vynoslivost’ which will evaluate different materials when exposed to the Space Environment.

ISS ingress and hatch closure is planned for 20:18 GMT after just over 6 hours of EVA Time. Subsequent Operations will be Airlock Repressurization and Orlan Spacesuit Reconfigurations.
This will be the 162 EVA dedicated to ISS Assembly and Maintenance. It is going to be Oleg Kononenko’s third ISS Spacecwalk, he already has 12 hours and 12 minutes of EVA Time under his belt. For Anton Shkaplerov, it will be the first EVA. It is the only Spacewalk planned for Expedition 30.
Preparations for this spacewalk began several weeks ago with the set-up of tools that will be used during the EVA including US tools that were retrieved from the US Airlock. The two EVA Crewmembers started special training operations to ensure their hands will not get tired over the duration of the spacewalk as the Russian Orlan Suits operate at a higher pressure than US Spacesuits and tend to be stiff especially in the glove area. Also, the two spacesuits were configured for the Spacewalk. These configurations included the installation of NASA Cameras on the Orlans for wireless video transmission. Both Crewmembers will be wearing Suits with blue stripes. On February 14, Kononenko and Shkaplerov performed an EVA rehearsal. They donned their Suits and performed several operations to make sure suit fit is good and all systems inside the backpack were working properly. On Wednesday, they made final suit preparations installing drink bags and charging batteries of various in-suit systems. For the Spacewalk, the other Astronauts on ISS will assist with Airlock Depress/Repress Operations and help the two Cosmonauts put on their Orlan Suits. Progress M-14M which is docked to the Pirs Module is in an Undocking Configuration with Hatches Closed and Docking Pins removed should an emergency undocking become necessary during the Spacewalk.
Because of the location of the activities, Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank of NASA and Russian Flight Engineer Anatoly Ivanishin will be isolated in their Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft. The other two crewmembers, Andre Kuipers and Don Pettit will be conducting nominal operations inside the US Segment.
The Spacewalk will be live on NASA TV. Coverage starts at 13:45 GMT (8:45am EST) on Thursday.