Cosmonauts at the station begin their spacewalk – Spaceflight Now

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS AND USED WITH PERMISSION

On Wednesday, two Russian cosmonauts prepared for a spacewalk outside the International Space Station to begin preparing the Pirs airlock and docking compartment for their withdrawal next year to make room for the attachment of a new laboratory module.

The excursion, which begins around 9:30 a.m. EST, will also be validated using the Poisk docking compartment, across from Pirs station, as an airlock for future Russian spacewalks after its older counterpart. has been removed.

The spacewalk comes two days after the arrival of four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon commercial ferryboat and will be carried out by Expedition 64 Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, both performing their first trips outside the space station.

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 planned to spend around an hour ensuring that Poisk’s never-used side hatch could be safely opened and closed with an airtight seal and that the hatch leading to the main body of the station is sealed when the compartment is empty or nearly empty.

Dressed in their Orlan spacesuits, Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov initially planned to partially depressurize Poisk for a first round of leak checks. NASA teammate Kate Rubins will perform similar tests from inside the Russian segment of the station.

Cosmonauts will then take Poisk to vacuum, open the spacewalk hatch for the first time in the module’s history, and inspect its seals for any sign of debris or damage by a foreign object. Replacement sealing material is available if required.

They then plan to close the hatch and perform additional leak checks before reopening it and floating outside 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 is to install a new pump to help circulate fluids in Russia’s Zarya module, the station’s first module, launched 20 years ago on November 20.

Cosmonauts will then retrieve a materials science space exhibit pallet from the Pirs module and disconnect a telemetry cable. The cable will be reconnected to Poisk, beginning the process of terminating the use of Pirs as an airlock.

After clearing a window on the Zvezda module, space walkers will reposition a rocket plume impact detector and collect an experience tray that helps engineers assess micrometeoroid impacts. Their final task is to photograph the exterior of the Russian segment.