EVAs in January

[GordonD]

24 JANUARY

 

No EVAs on this date

[GordonD]

25 JANUARY

 

2002 Yuri Onufrienko & Daniel Bursch (ISS Expedition 4)

 

Duration 5 hr 59 min

 

Primary task was to install six plume deflectors around the attitude thrusters at the rear of the Zvezda Module and to replace a device named Kromka which captured material resulting from thruster firings. The original device would be returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-33 and its results later compared with the new one to see what effect the deflectors had. The astronauts also connected a ham radio antenna and installed three materials experiments on the exterior of the module.

 

Bursch's first EVA; Onufriyenko's eight and last: his total time is 42 hr 33 min. 

 

 

2020 Andrew Morgan & Luca Parmitano (ISS Expedition 61)

 

Duration 6 hr 16 min

 

The astronauts carried out maintenance on the station's Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, conducting leak checks on its cooling system before opening a valve to allow it to be pressurised. Over the next few days ground controllers will fill the thermal control system with carbon dioxide, allow the system to stabilise, then power on the pumps to verify and optimise their performance.

 

Morgan's seventh EVA: his total time is 45 hr 48 min; Parmitano's sixth: his time is 33 hr 9 min.

[GordonD]

26 JANUARY

 

1990 Aleksandr Viktorenko & Aleksandr Serebrov (Mir Expedition 5)

 

Duration 3 hr 5 min

 

This was the first use of the Orlan space-suit with power supply, telemetry and communications supplied by an internal package, rather than being routed through the umbilical line as on previous Soviet EVAs: only a simple tether anchored the cosmonauts to the station. It was also the first time that the dedicated airlock on Kvant 2 had been used. Aside from evaluating the new suits, the cosmonauts installed a mooring post for the SPK (Sredstvo Peredvizheniy Kosmonavtov or Cosmonaut Manoeuvring Equipment; the Soviet equivalent of the MMU) on the exterior of the station. This device was currently stored inside the airlock but would not be tested yet. They then removed an antenna and installed materials exposure packages to the exterior.

 

Third EVA for both cosmonauts.

 

 

 
1991 Viktor Afanaseyev & Musa Manarov (Mir Expedition 8 )

 

Duration 6 hr 20 min

 

The cosmonauts installed supports for solar arrays on either side of the Kvant Module, ready for their transfer from Kristall. They also installed laser retroreflectors.

 

Third EVA for Afanaseyev; sixth for Manarov

 

 

2005 Salizhan Sharipov & Leroy Chiao (ISS Expedition 10)

 

Duration 5 hr 28 min

 

With the Space Shuttle still grounded in the wake of the Columbia accident, and the ISS operating with a caretaker crew, the EVA meant that nobody was left aboard the station so its systems were switched to autonomous operation for the duration. The astronauts first installed the Universal Work Platform and numerous experiments to Zvezda’s exterior, then attached the German experiment Rokviss, which consisted of a small flexible robotic arm, an illumination device, and a power source as well as an antenna that would allow it to be controlled either by the station crew or from the ground. At first the arm did not work but began operating correctly after the astronauts reconnected two power cables. The crew then transported the Japanese MPAC/SEED experiment to an adjacent bracket on Zvezda. Sharipov also photographed white and brown residues and an oily substance around the Zvezda vent. The deposits were byproducts of the Elektron oxygen generator, Vozdukh carbon dioxide scrubber, and a particle purification device. The crew concluded the spacewalk with the installation of the Russian experiment Biorisk. The study observed the effects of the space environment on micro-organisms.

 

Sharipov's first EVA; Chiao's fifth.

 

 

[GordonD]

27 JANUARY

 

2014 Oleg Kotov & Sergei Ryazansky (ISS Expedition 38)

 

Duration 6 hr 8 min

 

The cosmonauts completed tasks that had to be left unfinished during their previous EVA on 27 December. They installed high and medium resolution cameras to the exterior of Zvezda, intended to supply Earth imagery to internet subscribers with a Canadian firm; however, as before, there were telemetry problems with the medium-res camera. They also retrieved a materials exposure experiment from Pirs and removed an interface adapter from a grapple fixture on Zarya: this would ensure that future operations with the manipulator arm would not be impeded.

 

Ryazansky's third EVA; Kotov's sixth and last: his total time amounts to 36 hr 51 min.

[GordonD]

28 JANUARY

 

No EVAs on this date

[GordonD]

29 JANUARY

 

No EVAs on this date

[GordonD]

30 JANUARY

 

2008 Peggy Whitson & Dan Tani (ISS Expedition 16)

 

Duration 7 hr 10 min

 

The main task was to replace the motor driving one of the starboard solar arrays. This took around three hours, as the astronauts could only work when the ISS was on Earth's night side. Once the job was complete, Mission Control tested the motor by rotating the array by 360 degrees. The astronauts also examined the array's Solar Alpha Rotary Joint: previous inspections in November and December had revealed contamination and debris inside the joint. The work this time involved removing eight covers to look inside.

 

Whitson's sixth EVA (first woman to reach this number); Tani's sixth and last - his total career time is 39 hours 11 min. 

[GordonD]

31 JANUARY

 

2007 Michael Lopez-Alegria & Sunita Williams (ISS Expedition 14)

 

Duration 7 hr 55 min

 

The astronauts worked on a panel known as 'the rats' nest' near the base of the Z1 Truss, which carried numerous electrical and fluid connections, rerouting fluid and power lines from a temporary set-up to the permanent configuration. Lopez-Alegria also hooked up an electrical cable that would allow a docked Shuttle Orbiter to draw power from the ISS. The astronauts then waited as Mission Control retracted the starboard radiator on the P6 Truss, then secured it in position and installed a shroud over it. They also removed one of two fluid lines from the Early Ammonia Servicer: with the station's permanent cooling system operational this was no longer required and would be jettisoned on a future EVA once the second line had been disconnected. At the end of the EVA the astronauts remained in the airlock for 25 minutes with the outer hatch open, allowing the sunlight to 'bake off' any traces of ammonia from their suits, to avoid contaminating the interior of the station.

 

Lopez-Alegria;'s seventh EVA; the second for Williams.