Updates ISS UPDATES

[orb]

EVA underway, live on NASA TV Media channel.

 

[RGClark]

Space suit issue leads to delay of second spacewalk.
Published December 22, 2013
Associated Press

Several hours after Saturday's spacewalk ended, Mission Control bumped spacewalk 2 to Tuesday to give Mastracchio enough time to prepare a spare suit. His original suit was compromised when he inadvertently turned on a water switch in the air lock at the end of Saturday's excursion. NASA officials said Saturday night that it's unclear whether a third spacewalk will be needed and when it might occur, if required. A third spacewalk had been slated for Christmas Day before the latest turn of events. NASA requires a day off between spacewalks for astronaut rest.
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/12/22/space-suit-issue-leads-to-delay-second-spacewalk/

Is this "water switch" on the spacesuit itself or on the air lock?

Bob Clark

 

[kerlix]

I imagine it would be something with the suit itself. But I have no data/reference to back that up.

 

[RGClark]

It is now revealed it was another water leak in this other spacesuit:

NASA halts risky ISS spacewalk, cites drowning astronaut spacesuit ‘flaw’.
NASA is forced to cut short another spacewalk.
By Staff, The Space Reporter
Monday, December 23, 2013

The U.S. space agency NASA has halted its mission to fix the International Space Station, citing revelations of water again entering the astronaut’s suit.
Expedition 38 Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio and fellow astronaut Michael Hopkins were forced to cut short their space mission to repair a ventilation system on the ISS. The mission was originally slated to last five hours and 28 minutes. The three emergency spacewalks are planned for December 21, 23 and 25 in order to fix a broken cooling system at the orbiting outpost.
The spacewalk ended short of its anticipated six-and-a-half-hour time frame when Mastracchio, the lead spacewalker, began complaining about chilly temperatures in his space suit. It was later discovered that the suit had evidence of water.
According to the space agency, the astronaut conducting the spacewalk to fix the issue experienced water in his spacesuit, although it still remains unclear whether the issue is related to an earlier incident in which an astronaut nearly drowned. In a statement released over the weekend, NASA says early indication seem to show the incidents are not related, although additional research is necessary.
http://thespacereporter.com/2013/12...walk-cites-drowning-astronaut-spacesuit-flaw/

Bob Clark

 

[Donamy]

Where's a space shuttle when you need it? ...Oh yea, ...never mind.:facepalm:

 

[Urwumpe]

Where's a space shuttle when you need it? ...Oh yea, ...never mind.:facepalm:

Who do you call.... SPACE SHUTTLE!

 

[MattBaker]

This would be a nice cargo for the Cygnus in January: spacesuits

If it encounters a problem and can't dock you didn't lose something valuable/unique (OK, they're quite expensive but not...) and when everything works perfectly you have new spacesuits.

 

[Ripley]

From Spaceflightnow:

EVA BEGINS. The spacewalk officially began at 6:53 a.m. EST (1153 GMT) with the switching of the spacesuits to internal battery power.

This spacewalk is the eighth in the career of astronaut Rick Mastracchio, following three excursions each on the STS-118 and STS-131 space shuttle missions and Saturday's spacewalk. It's the second EVA for Hopkins.

This is the 176th spacewalk devoted to space station assembly and maintenance.

Hopkins is the lead spacewalker for this EVA, wearing the all-white suit. Mastracchio is wearing the suit with red stripes.

Both astronauts also have helmet-mounted cameras. Mastracchio's view will have the no. 20 in the corner of the screen, and the camera on Hopkins' spacesuit is denoted by the no. 18.

Hopkins and Mastracchio have already opened the hatch of the airlock and will soon head outside.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

From Spaceflightnow:

If you are still wondering what happened yesterday, the EVA concluded with the new pump module all hooked up and the old one stowed on the S1 truss! :tiphat:

NASASpaceflight.com: Astronauts complete installation of new ISS Pump Module

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Last Russian EVA of the year now underway! :thumbup:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Last Russian EVA of the year now underway! :thumbup:

....and as always with EVAs this one did not went as planned: the main task of installing 2 HD Earth observation cameras for a Canadian company was canceled after one of the cameras failed to provide data to the ground during testing. This lengthened the EVA to just over 8 hours - a new Russian record!

NASASpaceflight.com: Russian duo break EVA record – Main task suffers issue

 

[Evil_Onyx]

Friday's spacewalk eclipsed the record for the longest Russian spacewalk set by Expedition 36 Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin, who conducted a 7-hour, 29 minute excursion on Aug. 16.

 

[statickid]

That seems quite a bit more colorful than other videos I've seen :idk:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

....and as always with EVAs this one did not went as planned: the main task of installing 2 HD Earth observation cameras for a Canadian company was canceled after one of the cameras failed to provide data to the ground during testing. This lengthened the EVA to just over 8 hours - a new Russian record!

NASASpaceflight.com: Russian duo break EVA record – Main task suffers issue

An EVA added to finish the tasks above is currently underway. :tiphat:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

An EVA added to finish the tasks above is currently underway. :tiphat:

Old news, but......


...... the main tasks of the EVA were done without issues. :tiphat:

NASASpaceflight.com: Russian EVA duo install Earth-observing cameras

 

[RGClark]

Spacesuit Leak That Nearly Drowned Astronaut Could Have Been Avoided.
By Miriam Kramer, Staff Writer | February 26, 2014 05:42pm ET

A potentially deadly spacesuit water leak that nearly drowned an Italian astronaut during a spacewalk last July was one of the scariest close calls in NASA's spacewalk history. In fact, the spacesuit also leaked during an earlier spacewalk, but went undetected at the time, according to a NASA report released today (Feb. 26).
http://www.space.com/24835-spacesuit-water-leak-nasa-investigation.html

The amount in the second incident was 1.5 liters. Anyone know how much leaked in the first?

Bob Clark

 

[Ripley]

Spaceflightnow:

Koichi Wakata took command of the International Space Station on Sunday to become the first Japanese astronaut to lead an expedition crew aboard the orbiting complex.
...
Wakata took command of the outpost from Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, who is preparing to return to Earth late Monday (U.S. time) with crewmates Sergey Ryazanskiy and NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins. The trio will depart the space station at 0002 GMT Tuesday (8:02 p.m. EDT Monday) inside their Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft, followed by touchdown in Kazakhstan about three hours later.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Spaceflightnow:

Finally after 13+ years a Japanese assumes the honorary position of station commander! :speakcool:

 

[IronRain]

And a video of it

 

[orbitingpluto]

A bit of news about Robonaut:

Robonaut Legs Headed for International Space Station