ISS - Expedition 42 Mission patch.
February 25, 2015
Image above: NASA astronaut Terry, Virts Flight Engineer of Expedition 42 is seen working to complete a cable routing task while near the forward facing port of the Harmony module on the International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA TV.
NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts ended their spacewalk at 1:34 p.m. EST with the repressurization of the Quest airlock. Wilmore and Virts completed all the scheduled tasks for today. They completed rigging a series of power cables on Pressurized Mating Adapter-2, lubricated the Latching End Effecter of the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm, and prepared the Tranquility module for the station’s upcoming reconfiguration in preparation for the arrival of commercial crew vehicles later this decade. They also were able to complete get-ahead work for the installation during Sunday’s spacewalk of the Common Communications for Visiting Vehicles (C2V2) system by pre-staging wire-ties that will be used to secure some 400 feet of cable.
Spacewalk continues prepping of ISS for new docking ports
The 6-hour, 43-minute spacewalk was the third for Wilmore and the second for Virts. Wilmore now has spent 19 hours and 58 minutes in the void of space during his three spacewalks. Virts has now spent 13 hours and 24 minutes outside during his two excursions. Crews have now spent a total of 1,165 hours and 51 minutes conducting space station assembly and maintenance during 186 spacewalks.
Image above: Spacewalkers Terry Virts and Barry Wilmore work outside Pressurized Mating Adapter-2. Image Credit: NASA TV.
The duo will venture outside the space station again on Sunday, March 1, to install the C2V2 equipment commercial spacecraft delivering crews to the space station will use to rendezvous and dock with the orbital laboratory. NASA TV coverage will begin at 6 a.m. Sunday ahead of a planned 7:10 a.m. start time for the spacewalk.
NASA astronaut and spacewalker Terry Virts reported seeing a small amount of water floating free in his helmet during airlock repressurization at the conclusion of Wednesday’s spacewalk. There was no report of water during the spacewalk itself, and the crew was never in any danger. After removing the helmet, Expedition 42 crew member Samantha Cristoforetti reported on the free floating water inside the helmet and indicated the helmet absorption pad was damp. Ground teams are currently analyzing the situation to confirm the source of the water.
Image above: (From left) Spacewalker Terry Virts, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov are in the Quest airlock checking out the spacesuit helmet reported to have a small amount of water in it. Image Credit: NASA TV.
Virts was wearing spacesuit #3005, which experienced a similar issue after a spacewalk in December 2013.
The teams will carefully evaluate the spacesuit data and perform a detailed assessment prior to the next spacewalk. Virts and fellow spacewalker Barry Wilmore are scheduled to perform their third and final spacewalk on Sunday, March 1.
For more information about the International Space Station (ISS), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Image (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/NASA TV.
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