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S P E C I A L Repairing Mir

Spacewalk fails to locate source of Mir oxygen leak

Solovyov on Mir's ccargo boom September 6, 1997
Web posted at: 8:18 p.m. EDT (0018 GMT)

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Disappointment was written across faces of Russian and American mission control specialists Saturday after a six-hour spacewalk failed to locate the source of an oxygen leak in a module of the Mir space station.

The walk was the first attempt to repair the damaged hull of the space station since it was rammed by a remote-control supply ship June 25, forcing the crew to seal off part of the ship and raising questions about the space station's future.

"To our great regret, we have found nothing which could be interpreted as a puncture," said Russia's Mission Control chief, Vladimir Solovyov.

vxtreme
Cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyov works outside the Spektr module in the first images from the Mir spacewalk, just before 0300 GMT
John Holliman explains the first pictures of the Mir spacewalk. (NASA)
video icon 663 K/21 sec. QuickTime movie

Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyov and American astronaut Michael Foale found only bent and broken brackets that had fastened radiator panels to the exterior hull, but no damage to the hull itself.

They did succeed in redirecting a solar panel toward the sun by hand, which will allow the Mir to increase its power supply by about 10 percent.

Solovyov did most of the work. He looked for hull damage with a sharp-edged tool, which he used to remove layers of thermal blanketing from the hull. The scraping sent debris floating outside Mir.

"The more (Solovyov) does that, the more the pieces are flying around and the less I can see," said cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, who was filming the spacewalk from the Soyuz escape capsule.

Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyov

Foale, meanwhile, maneuvered Solovyov by manipulating a long cargo boom and shot video footage of the Spektr module's hull.

The mission was considered moderately dangerous because of the risk that debris or jagged edges could puncture a space suit. Nevertheless, the work itself was slow and tedious and reminiscent of two plumbers laboring over a troublesome sink.

Solovyov said he felt fine, but was breathing heavily at times and expressed frustration at one juncture, saying, "Of course, this spacewalk is overloaded with work."

Ground chief Vladimir Solovyov admitted that perhaps those on the ground had "over-assigned" the tasks they wanted Solovyov and Foale to complete.

"It's very hard work. I hope that everything will be fine," said Yuri Semyonov, the chief designer of Mir.

Solovyov holding banner

Foale emerged from the station about 9:07 pm Friday EDT (0107 Saturday GMT) and secured a cargo boom and tools along the side the Kvant-2 module. He was then joined by Solovyov, who was making a record 10th walk in space.

Using the boom to help them negotiate around difficult areas, the crew reached the far end of the Spektr module and had to wait a few minutes for the station's orbit to carry it into the sunlight so they could examine the hull.

The station has been plagued with a number of technical difficulties and occasional power outages since the June collision. Space officials have said it may take as many as five spacewalks to locate and repair the hull damage.


MIR special grfk
· MIR MAIN PAGE · RELATED SITES · HISTORY ·

· TIMELINE · GALLERY · SOYUZ · CREW · REPAIR MISSION ·

 
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