Mir spacewalk finished, but repairs aren't

Cosmonauts to go back next week to fix solar panel

April 1, 1998
Web posted at: 7:40 p.m. EST (0040 GMT)

KOROLYOV, Russia (CNN) -- Two Russian cosmonauts on the space station Mir completed their spacewalk Wednesday but were unable to finish the task of shoring up a solar panel damaged in a collision with a cargo ship last June.

Cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin spent more than six hours in space before closing the hatch at about midnight. The third member of Mir's crew, American astronaut Andrew Thomas, remained inside, filming his colleagues' progress.

The cosmonauts successfully installed a hand rail needed to move around the damaged panel. But that task took so long they were unable to install a metal splint to reinforce the panel.

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A L S O :

Image gallery of the Mir spacewalk

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"It would have been wrong to rush the cosmonauts. They couldn't work faster than they did," said Viktor Blagov, chief of Russian Mission Control. "It took a longer time to adjust the hand rail than we expected."

"Today's work was quite difficult, and, in fact, from the very start, we had doubts that we would manage to get all the work done."

Musabayev, left, Budarin

Because oxygen tanks used by cosmonauts carry only enough oxygen for a seven-hour foray, the length of spacewalks is strictly limited.

The solar panel targeted for repair is part of Spektr, one of the modules that make up Mir. It was badly bent in last summer's collision with an unmanned cargo ship, and Russian space officials are concerned that it could break off and damage the station.

This was the second time an attempt to repair the panel has been postponed. Last month, Musabayev and Budarin could not open an exit door to even start the spacewalk.

Blagov said the cosmonauts would try again in a spacewalk on April 6, the second of five spacewalks planned for April.

Reuters contributed to this report.

· MIR MAIN PAGE · RELATED SITES · HISTORY · TIMELINE

· GALLERY · SOYUZ · CREW · REPAIR MISSION

Related stories:

• New Mir troubles: overworked crew, sweltering heat - March 19, 1998
• Supply ship carrying needed tools docks with Mir - March 16, 1998

Related sites:

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• Mir Space Station
• How to See Mir in Space
• SpaceViews: Mir Interactive Display

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