ISS - Expedition 68 Mission patch.
Dec 21, 2022
While flight control teams were preparing for today’s U.S. spacewalk, updated tracking data on a fragment of Russian Fregat-SB upper stage debris showed a close approach to station. Based on this new data, flight control teams directed the crew to stop spacewalk preparations as the ground team stepped into procedures to perform a Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM.)
The maneuver will use the Roscosmos Progress 81 thrusters to provide the complex an extra measure of distance away from the predicted track of the debris. Thruster firing is targeted to occur at 8:42 a.m. EST. The crew is not in any immediate danger.
Image above: Astronaut Josh Cassada is pictured during a spacewalk on Nov. 15, 2022, to ready the space station for future rollout solar array installation work. Image Credit: NASA.
Without the maneuver, it is predicted that the fragment could pass within less than a quarter mile from the station.
NASA managers will assess the next possible opportunity to perform the day’s planned spacewalk to install a new set of roll-out solar arrays to augment the station’s power capabilities.
Space Station Maneuvers to Avoid Debris After Conjunction Postpones Spacewalk
The International Space Station conducted a Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) today, Dec. 21, at 8:42 a.m. EST. The decision to conduct the maneuver was based on tracking data that showed a close approach to station of a fragment of Russian Fregat-SB upper stage debris.
Image above: The space station was pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during its departure on Nov. 8, 2021. Image Credit: NASA.
During the manuever, the Roscosmos Progress 81 thrusters fired for 10 minutes, 21 seconds to provide the complex an extra measure of distance away from the predicted track of the debris. Without the maneuver, it was estimated that the debris could have passed less than a quarter of a mile from the station.
The decision to conduct the maneuver earlier this morning resulted in a postponement of today’s planned spacewalk by NASA astronauts Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada. The crew was never in any immediate danger.
Spacewalk Postponed to Thursday, Managers Discuss Soyuz Leak Inquiry
NASA astronauts Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada are now scheduled to begin a spacewalk at 8:30 a.m. EST Thursday to augment the International Space Station’s power generation system. Wednesday’s spacewalk was postponed for 24 hours so that the orbiting lab’s ISS Progress 81 cargo craft could fire its engines at 8:42 a.m. to maneuver the station and avoid an approaching piece of rocket debris.
Image above: NASA astronauts (from left) Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada will conduct their third spacewalk together and install the space station’s fourth roll-out solar array. Image Credit: NASA.
Spacewalkers Rubio and Cassada will install another roll-out solar array, also known as an International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA), on the space station’s truss structure. This time the duo will maneuver to the opposite side of the station and install the fourth iROSA on the Port-4 truss structure. The external installation job will last about seven hours and broadcast live on NASA TV on the agency’s app and its website.
Expedition 68 Flight Engineers Nicole Mann of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will operate the Canadarm2 robotic arm to support the spacewalkers during the fine-tuned iROSA installation job. The duo will also assist Rubio and Cassada in and out of their spacesuits, also known as Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs), in the Quest airlock before and after their spacewalk.
Image above: (Dec. 3, 2022) --- The International Space Station was orbiting 271 miles above the southern Pacific Ocean when NASA astronaut and Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Josh Cassada captured this photograph of the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module, the Prichal docking module, and the Soyuz MS-22 crew ship during a spacewalk. Image Credit: NASA.
While Thursday’s spacewalk is under way, NASA space station program manager Joel Montalbano and Roscosmos human spaceflight executive director Sergei Krikalev will hold an audio-only media teleconference 11 a.m. The two space executives will discuss the ongoing investigation of an external leak detected on the Soyuz MS-22 crew ship on a live audio call streaming on NASA’s website at https://www.nasa.gov/live.
The three cosmonauts representing Expedition 68, Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin and Anna Kikina, stayed focused on lab maintenance servicing and cleaning a variety station hardware today.
Related articles:
Российский грузовой корабль увел МКС от столкновения с космическим мусором / Russian cargo ship steered the ISS away from space debris
https://www.roscosmos.ru/38650/
NASA to Host Media Briefing on Space Station Spacecraft Leak Probe
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-host-media-briefing-on-space-station-spacecraft-leak-probe
Related links:
Expedition 68: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition68/index.html
Port-4 truss structure: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/truss-structure
Canadarm2 robotic arm: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/mobile-servicing-system.html
Quest airlock: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/joint-quest-airlock
Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/overview.html
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.
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