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Two Russian cosmonauts wearing bulky space suits first used the International Space Station’s docking compartment for the first time Wednesday as an airlock on a spacewalk to prepare the nearly identical Pirs module for removal next year. A new laboratory module will subsequently be parked in its place.
Expedition 64 commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov started the eighth spacewalk of the year at 10:12 am EST. The excursion, the first for both cosmonauts, takes place only two days later Arrival of four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon commercial ferry.
For identification purposes Ryzhikov, callsign EV-1, wears a spacesuit with red stripes and helmet camera 20, while Kud-Sverchkov, EV-2, wears a suit with blue stripes and helmet camera 18.
Almost identical to Pirs, Poisk was launched almost exactly 11 years ago, on November 10, 2009, and was connected to the top port of the Zvezda module two days later. It has been used many times as a docking port for Progress unmanned cargo ships and Soyuz ferries, but never as an airlock.
NASA
Before venturing outside, the cosmonauts spent about an hour making sure that Poisk’s side hatch, never used before, could be securely opened and closed with an airtight seal and that the hatch leading to the station’s main body was inside the compartment. free or close to the void.
Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov don their Orlan spacesuits and partially depressurize Poisk for a first round of leak testing. NASA teammate Kate Rubins conducted similar tests in the Russian segment of the station.
The cosmonauts then took Poisk to vacuum, opened the side hatch for the spacewalk for the first time in the module’s history, and examined the seals for any signs of foreign objects or damage. Replacement gasket material is available if needed, but no signs of problems were found during the inspection.
Then they closed the hatch and performed further leak tests before reopening it and floated outside just after 11 to begin the 232nd spacewalk dedicated to station assembly and maintenance, the eighth station EVA this year.
The first item on the agenda was the replacement of a liquid flow regulator on the Russian Zarya module, the station’s first component, introduced 20 years ago on November 20.
The cosmonauts then planned to extract a materials science display palette from the Pirs module and disconnect a telemetry cable. The cable is reconnected to Poisk, thus ending the use of Pirs as an airlock.
After cleaning a window on the Zvezda module, the spacewalkers planned to reposition a rocket flag impact detector and obtain an experimental tray that engineers can use to evaluate the effects of micrometeoroids. Your final task is to photograph the exterior of the Russian segment.
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