EVAs in July

[GordonD]

26 JULY

 

1990 Anatoli Solovyov & Aleksandr Balandin (Mir Expedition 6)

 

Duration 3 hr 31 min

 

Analysis of the TV pictures sent back during the previous EVA satisfied engineers that the damaged thermal blankets posed no risk to Soyuz TM-9 and it was in excellent condition for the return to Earth. Before the spacecraft could undock, however, it was necessary that the ladders and tools used on the inspection be removed. In addition, Mission Control wanted the cosmonauts to examine the Kvant 2 hatch, which had been damaged when it was unlatched too early. With the airlock out of action, the cosmonauts again depressurised the module's instrument compartment and emerged into open space. The TV images of the hatch showed that one of the hinges was obviously deformed, so while the engineers thought that over the cosmonauts moved to the docked TM-9 and began dismantling the worksite. At the end of the EVA they were instructed to try to force the hatch shut, which they eventually managed, as they found difficulty in gaining enough leverage. The airlock chamber and instrument compartment were repressurised and the inner airlock hatch closed, after which the cosmonauts removed their space-suits. After 24 hours the airlock showed no sign of leakage, so they were given permission to leave the inner hatch open. On 4 August, as the cosmonauts handed over control of Mir to the new resident crew, Vladimir Shatalov, head of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, was quoted on Radio Moscow as saying that a single EVA would suffice to repair the hatch. However, some felt that this was over-optimistic and intended to placate those critics of Mir who claimed that too much time was required for maintenance to keep the station running, decreasing the amount of scientific work that could be done.

 

Second EVA for both cosmonauts; Balandin's last, giving a career total of 10 hr 47 min.

[GordonD]

27 JULY

 

1991 Anatoli Artsebarski & Sergei Krikalev (Mir Expedition 9)

 

Duration 6 hr 49 min

 

The first task was to jettison a worn-out space-suit which was no longer considered usable, though Pravda pointed out that it could have been returned to Earth and sold to a museum. This done, the cosmonauts assembled the three remaining segments of the Sofora boom, then attached the truss to its mounting platform and raised until it was nearly perpendicular to the station's long axis. Artsebarski then climbed to the top and attached a Soviet flag in a metal frame. However, his suit heat exchanger ran out of water, which caused his helmet to fog up and Krikalev had to guide him back down. Sofora was described as being the height of a five-storey building, with an attachment point at the top on which a thruster package could be mounted. If after a year of exposure to the harsh conditions of space the boom was still in good condition, the thruster would be put in place: there was a hinge halfway along its length so that the upper portion could be folded down to bring it within easy reach.

 

Sixth EVA for both cosmonauts; Artsebarski's last, giving him a total of 32 hr 9 min.

 

 

2009 Thomas Marshburn & Chris Cassidy (STS-127/ISS)

 

Duration 4 hr 54 min

 

The astronauts focused on "get ahead" tasks for the upcoming STS-128 mission, reconfiguring electrical connectors on a patch panel, securing thermal insulation on the Dextre robot's wrist joints, and mounting two external video cameras on the Japanese Kibo module's exposed facility, a task left over when the previous EVA ran out of time. Kibo was also fitted with a handrail, a foot restraint, and a gap spanner, which is a fabric strap that can be used to route fluid umbilicals, act as a handrail, or an anchor for tethers.

 

Third EVA for both astronauts.

 

To date, Cassidy has performed ten EVAs, eight of them in the month of July (in three different years). The other two took place in May and June, so all of his space-walks have been clustered around a small part of the year.

 

 

 
2010 Fyodor Yurchikhin & Mikhail Korniyenko (ISS Expedition 24)

 

Duration 6 hr 42 min

 

The cosmonauts rerouted data cables on the Zarya and Zvezda modules, as well as removing a degraded TV camera (which was jettisoned into space) and replacing it with a more advanced model which would provide video images of arriving cargo vehicles.

 

Fourth EVA for Yurchikhin; the first for Korniyenko.

[GordonD]

28 JULY

 

1999 Viktor Afanaseyev & Sergei Avdeyev (Mir Expedition 27)

 

Duration 5 hr 22 min

 

The cosmonauts worked on the communications antenna which they had been unable to fully deploy on the previous EVA, and this time succeeded in opening it to its maximum extent. However, this was clearly a short-term experiment as once it had been evaluated it was disconnected and jettisoned! Two external experiment packages were retrieved and replaced by two different ones, and the cassettes of the ion spectrometer were changed out.

 

Seventh and last EVA for Afanasayev, bringing his career total to 38 hr 36 min. Tenth and last for Avdeyev: his total amounts to 41 hr 59 min.

[GordonD]

29 JULY

 

1978 Vladimir Kovalyonok & Aleksandr Ivanchenkov (Salyut 6 Expedition 2)

 

Duration 2 hr 5 min

 

This was the first full Soviet EVA since 1969, and only their fourth overall. (There had been a brief Stand-up EVA the previous December to inspect the docking mechanism but this was the first time since the Soyuz 5/4 transfer that cosmonauts had completely emerged from their craft.) The purpose was to retrieve space exposure experiments and to install new meteoroid dust collectors and radiation sensors. The cosmonauts took a break during orbital night and were treated to the sight of a meteor burning up in the atmosphere below them. Ivanchenkov also took photographs of the Black Sea, Kazakhstan and China. Just before Salyut passed out of radio contact, the cosmonauts were instructed to return inside, but Kovalyonok decided that they could stretch the EVA another twenty minutes so they could enjoy the view of the Great Barrier Reef and New Zealand.

 

This was both cosmonauts' only EVA.

[GordonD]

30 JULY

 

1982 Valentin Lebedev & Anatoli Berezovoi (Salyut 7 Expedition 1)

 

Duration 2 hr 33 min

 

This was the first EVA conducted from Salyut 7. The cosmonauts were wearing upgraded versions of the Orlan-D spacesuits used previously: these were fitted with external connectors that enabled them to use the station's air and cooling water through umbilicals, thus avoiding draining the suits' own supply until they were ready to venture outside. Lebedev carried out most of the work in the early part of the EVA, testing the thermomechanical joining of pipeline sections, while Berezovoi passed him the equipment. The cosmonauts also tested threaded connectors made of various materials and tried out an experimental wrench. They collected and replaced twenty space exposure cassettes holding such materials as gasket rubber, glass for window ports and camera lenses, and insulation coatings.

 

The only EVA for both cosmonauts.

 

 

2005 Stephen Robinson & Soichi Noguchi (STS-114/ISS)

 

Duration 6 hr 50 min

 

In addition to installing the External Stowage Platform Attachment Device to the growing ISS and replacing the GPS antenna, the astronauts tested repair techniques for the Orbiter's Thermal Protection System, using a new tool called the Emittance Wash Applicator on deliberately damaged tile samples in the cargo bay. This was the first Shuttle mission following the Columbia accident and tile repairs, should they become necessary, were seen as a priority.

 

First EVA for both men.

 

[GordonD]

31 JULY

 

1971 Dave Scott [SEVA] (Apollo 15 LM)

 

Duration 33 min

 

Two hours after LM Falcon touched down at Hadley Rille, Dave Scott carried out a manoeuvre not repeated on any other Apollo mission when he removed the docking drogue, opened the top hatch and climbed onto the ascent engine cover to look out at the surrounding landscape. This was partly due to the navigation problems experienced during Apollo 14: it was hoped that this would enable Scott to get his bearings as to exactly where they were. In the one-sixth lunar gravity he had no difficulty in supporting his body weight with his elbows on the hatch rim, and was able to report that the ground was "very hummocky" but that there were no large boulders that might hinder the progress of the lunar rover.

 

Scott's second EVA (the first also being a Stand-up).

 

 

1971 Dave Scott & Jim Irwin [LSEVA] (Apollo 15 LM)

 

Duration 6 hr 34 min

 

After a sleep period the astronauts began the first of three surface EVAs planned for this, the first J-series mission heavily devoted to science. Falcon had landed with one footpad in a small crater, causing it to tilt thirty degrees. This meant that the PLSS backpacks were also tilted, resulting in bubbles forming in Irwin's water supply, which set off false warning signals during the EVA. The first task on the surface was to deploy the Lunar Roving Vehicle, which was ingeniously folded up and stowed in one side of the descent stage. Though intended to be a one-man operation, it took both men to configure it for use. Once the vehicle was ready, Scott found that the front steering was not working; fortunately the rear wheels were also steerable and the vehicle could be driven just as easily. A further problem emerged when it was discovered that the seatbelts were a tight fit around the pressurised spacesuits but again this was only a minor difficulty. Some three hours into the EVA the astronauts set off on a 10.3km drive south along the rim of Elbow Crater to St George Crater, 2.25km across. They found that light reflected from the surface sometimes made it hard to see obstacles. At the target area they used a rake to retrieve walnut-sized rock samples; meanwhile the LRV's camera was being controlled from Earth and the astronauts were directed to pick up specimens which the geologists felt looked interesting. They then returned to the LM to deploy the ALSEP experiments package: Scott drilled a hole for the heat-flow, which used more oxygen than anticipated so the EVA was cut short by thirty minutes. It was later revealed that Irwin had gone without water during the EVA as his drink bag failed to operate. He also decided to trim his fingernails before the second excursion as his suit gloves were pressing hard against his fingertips.

 

Third EVA for Scott; Irwin's first.