Spacewalk scrubbed

Friday's (Nov. 23) spacewalk with cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin was postponed due to an issue with the water coolant system pump on Prokopyev’s Orlan spacesuit.

The two cosmonauts had not yet entered the airlock to begin what had been planned as a six-hour, 40-minute extravehicular activity (EVA), when Prokopyev reported an issue with the cooling system in his Orlan spacesuit. To troubleshoot the issue, both Prokopyev and Petelin got out of their spacesuits to disconnect and then reconnect the cables that attach the ventilation unit to their liquid cooling garments. They then donned their spacesuits again and tested the pumps.

The primary pump on Prokopyev’s suit was operating normally, but the backup pump would not, resulting in the decision by Russian flight controllers to postpone the spacewalk.

Spacewalk reset

After addressing a spacesuit issue that delayed their spacewalk originally scheduled for Nov. 24, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin are again ready to work outside of the International Space Station beginning on Wednesday (Dec. 14) at 9:20 p.m. EST (0214 GMT Dec. 15).

The duo will oversee the removal of a radiator from the Rassvet module then connect it to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Anna Kikina, working inside the station, will control the European Robotic Arm for the transfer.

Spacewalk called off due to Soyuz coolant leak

Russian flight controllers canceled tonight's (Dec. 14) spacewalk as a result of a significant coolant leak observed from Soyuz MS-22.

Flight controllers said the space station is safe.

Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin were in their Orlan spacesuits and depressurizing the Poisk airlock when the call came from Mission Control Korolyov that the EVA was canceled.

Spacewalk rescheduled for April 18

On Tuesday, April 18, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin will exit the Poisk module's airlock and spend about six hours and 40 minutes moving a radiator from the Rassvet module to the Nauka science module outside of the International Space Station.

The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 9:30 p.m. EDT (0130 GMT on April 19).

Andrey Fedyaev will assist the spacewalkers from inside the station operating the European robotic arm and maneuvering the radiator from Rassvet to Nauka.

Spacewalkers relocate radiator

Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin conducted a 7 hour, 55 minute EVA (extravehicular activity) overnight on Tuesday (April 18 to April 19) to relocate the radiator from one Russian module to another.

Prokopyev and Petelin exited the station's space-facing Poisk module on Tuesday at 9:40 p.m. EDT (0140 GMT on April 19). The two cosmonauts made their way to the Rassvet mini-research module, where the radiator has been mounted since its launch in May 2010. There, Prokopyev and Petelin released cables, removed protective covers and manually freed locks holding the radiator to the module.

It was then up to the European Robotic Arm to move the 1,256 lbs (570 kg) radiator from Rassvet to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Expedition 69 flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev operated the robotic arm from inside the space station.

While waiting for the radiator's transfer, Prokopyev and Petelin attached an adapter for the robotic arm to an extendable boom that will be used during their next spacewalk together to move an experiment airlock from Rassvet to Nauka. The cosmonauts then made their way to the Nauka module to oversee the radiator's installation.

After the radiator came into contact with its new attach point on Nauka, Prokopyev and Petelin then set about securing cables and connectors to the radiator, tying the hardware into the module's coolant and power supply.

With all the tasks they set out to achieve complete, Prokopyev and Petelin packed up their tools and made their way back to the Poisk module. Closing the hatch to begin re-pressurizing the airlock, the spacewalk came to an end at 5:35 a.m. EDT.

The EVA was the fourth for Prokopyev, who has now logged 29 hours and 51 minutes outside of the International Space Station. It was the second spacewalk for Petelin, who has spent 14 hours and 20 minutes on EVA. The two are scheduled to conduct two more spacewalks on Tuesday, April 25 and Thursday, May 4.

The spacewalk was the third for the year and the 260th since 1998 in support of assembly and maintenance of the ISS.