(NASA) – The residents of the International Space Station turned their attention Tuesday to spacewalk preparations as they gear up for a 5-hour, 20-minute excursion next week.
Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov reviewed spacewalk procedures and began configuring the Pirs docking compartment from which the spacewalk will commence.
Image above: Astronaut Michael Fincke (right), Expedition 18 commander; astronaut Sandra Magnus and cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov, both flight engineers, pose for a crew photo between a Russian Orlan spacesuit and an Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit in the Harmony node of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA
Lonchakov made final preparations to EXPOSE-R, a suite of nine European Space Agency experiments designed to expose a variety of seeds and spores to the harsh environment of space. During next week’s spacewalk, Fincke and Lonchakov will reinstall the payload on the exterior of the Zvezda service module.
Lonchakov and Fincke first installed EXPOSE-R during a Dec. 22 spacewalk, but removed it later in the spacewalk and returned it inside when the facility yielded no telemetry.
The Mission Management Team will conduct a final readiness review for the spacewalk on Friday. If approved, the spacewalk will take place on March 10, with hatch opening set for 12:30 p.m. EDT.
In addition to the reinstallation of EXPOSE-R, the spacewalkers will also relocate a micro-meteoroid impact experiment, reinstall a thermal cover on Zvezda and take detailed photographs of the Russian segment.
Meanwhile, Flight Engineer Sandy Magnus focused her time Tuesday on the Smoke Point in Co-flow Experiment, or SPICE, which determines the point at which gas-jet flames begin to emit soot in microgravity. Studying a soot-emitting flame will help scientists understand how fires spread in space and aid in the control of soot for future combustion systems.
In other station activities, the crew conducted a routine on-orbit hearing assessment. Also, Fincke spoke with students in Padthaway, Australia, by amateur radio.
The crew also had time scheduled for Earth observation and photography. The sites selected for observation included the Palmerston Island coral atoll in the South Pacific as part of an international effort to monitor coral reef resources.
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