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Dressed in bulky space suits, two Russian cosmonauts used the International Space Station’s Poisk docking bay as an airlock for the first time on a spacewalk on Wednesday to begin preparing the nearly identical Pirs module for removal. next year. A new laboratory module will be parked in its place later.
Expedition 64 commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov began the eighth spacewalk of the year at 10:12 a.m. EST. The excursion, the first for the two cosmonauts, comes two days later arrival of four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon commercial ferry.
For identification, Ryzhikov, call sign EV-1, wears a red striped space suit and uses the 20 helmet camera while Kud-Sverchkov, EV-2, uses a blue striped suit and an 18 helmet camera.
How to watch spacewalk today
- What: Two Russian cosmonauts perform a spacewalk outside the International Space Station
- Dated: Wednesday 18 November 2020
- Time: It’s scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. ET and run for six hours.
- Stream online: Live in the player above and on your mobile or streaming device
For identification, Ryzhikov, call sign EV-1, will wear a red striped space suit and use the 20 helmet camera while Kud-Sverchkov, EV-2, will use a blue stripe suit and an 18 helmet camera.
Almost identical to Pirs, Poisk was launched almost exactly 11 years ago, on November 10, 2009, and attached to the top port of the Zvezda module two days later. It has been used several times as a docking port for unmanned Progress freight carriers and Soyuz crew ferries, but never as an airlock.
Before venturing outside, the cosmonauts spent about an hour ensuring that Poisk’s never-used side hatch can be safely opened and closed with an airtight seal and that the hatch leading the main body of the station is sealed when the compartment is empty or almost empty.
NASA
Dressed in their Orlan spacesuits, Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov partially depressurize Poisk for a first round of leak checks. NASA teammate Kate Rubins performed similar tests from inside the Russian segment of the station.
Cosmonauts then took Poisk to vacuum, opened the spacewalk hatch for the first time in the module’s history, and inspected his seals for any sign of debris or damage from a foreign object. Replacement sealing material is available if needed, but inspection revealed no signs of a problem.
They then closed the hatch and performed additional leak checks before reopening it and floating outside just after 11 a.m. to begin the 232nd spacewalk dedicated to the assembly and maintenance of the station. , the eighth EVA station so far this year.
The first item on the agenda was to replace a fluid flow regulator on the Russian Zarya module, the station’s first component, launched 20 years ago on November 20.
The cosmonauts then planned to retrieve a pallet of space exhibition of materials science from the Pirs module and to disconnect a telemetry cable. The cable will be reconnected to Poisk, beginning the process of terminating the use of Pirs as an airlock.
After cleaning a window on the Zvezda module, the astronauts planned to reposition a rocket plume impact detector and retrieve an experimentation tray that helps engineers assess micrometeoroid impacts. Their final task is to photograph the exterior of the Russian segment.
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