Topic: ISS Expedition 54: Russian spacewalk (2/2/18)
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 46689 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 02-02-2018 08:12 PM
Cosmonauts finish record-breaking spacewalk
Expedition 54 commander Alexander Misurkin and flight engineer Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos completed a spacewalk outside the International Space Station lasting 8 hours and 13 minutes on Friday (Feb. 2). It is the longest Russian spacewalk in history, breaking the previous record of 8 hours and 7 minutes that Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazanskiy set Dec. 27, 2013, on a spacewalk during Expedition 38.
The two cosmonauts opened the hatch to the station's Pirs docking compartment to begin the spacewalk at 10:34 a.m. EST (1534 GMT). They re-entered the airlock and closed the hatch at 6:47 p.m. EST (2347 GMT).
During the record-breaking spacewalk, Misurkin and Shkaplerov installed an electronics and telemetry box for the high gain antenna on the Zvezda service module to enhance communications between Russian flight controllers on the ground and the Russian segment on the station. The antenna system appears to be working normally.
It was the 207th spacewalk in support of International Space Station assembly and maintenance, the fourth in Misurkin’s career, and the second for Shkaplerov. It is the fifth-longest spacewalk in spaceflight history.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 46689 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 02-02-2018 08:26 PM
From Jonathan McDowell on Twitter:
The NASA PAO today ranked EVAs using mixed definitions — NASA rules for NASA EVAs (battery power to repress) and Russian rules for Russian EVAS (hatch open to close), not a fair comparison.
My estimate using NASA rules for all, guessed values, makes today's EVA the second longest ever.
Using Russian rules (hatch open to close), however, the longest EVAs were STS-102 EVA-1 (Helms/Voss), 534 minutes; STS-49 EVA-3, 508 minutes; ISS US EVA 18 (494 minutes), and in fourth place today's (493 minutes).
Using my own rules (50 mbar depress to repress) the record goes to STS-102 EVA-1 again (540 minutes), with today's in second place — 10 min longer than STS-49 EVA 3.
Using time *actually outside* (egress to ingress), my estimate is that Thout and Hieb from STS-49 EVA 3 holds the record. The STS-102 EVA that scores well on the other measures fails on this one because the astronauts spent a very long time in the depressurized airlock.
MCroft04 Member
Posts: 1729 From: Smithfield, Me, USA Registered: Mar 2005
posted 02-03-2018 01:09 AM
After reading Scott Kelly's book "Endurance," I have a whole new respect for those doing EVAs. These guys must have been exhausted well before the end of the EVA.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 46689 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 02-03-2018 12:16 PM
One thing I have noticed that the Russian flight controllers seem to do that their U.S. counterparts do not is to actively (and sometimes forcefully) instruct their cosmonaut spacewalkers to take rest breaks.
That's not to say that U.S. astronauts cannot pause their work, or that the ground might not ask if they need a break or even suggest a pause, but with the Russians it seems to be a much more directed halt of work and rest period.