(NASA) – Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt completed an “internal” spacewalk Wednesday at 3:07 a.m. EDT.
Padalka and Barratt replaced a Zvezda hatch with a docking cone. The excursion took place internally with the spacewalkers attached to umbilicals in Zvezda for life support. It lasted about 12 minutes.
Image above: Spacewalkers Gennady Padalka and Michael Barratt. Credit: NASA
Docking antennas, a docking target and electrical connectors were installed on the exterior of the Zvezda service module during their first spacewalk Friday.
The station is now ready for the docking of the Mini-Research Module 2, or MRM2, later this year. The MRM2 will dock automatically to the zenith port of Zvezda and will serve as an additional docking port for Russian vehicles.
Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata continued preparing for his return to Earth aboard space shuttle Endeavour later this month. When the STS-127 crew members deliver the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility and Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section to the station, they will bring along astronaut Timothy Kopra, who will take Wakata’s place aboard the orbital outpost.
Meanwhile, without crew involvement, ground engineers used the station’s robotic arm to complete the relocation of the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, known as “Dextre”, from the Mobile Base System to a grapple fixture on the Destiny Laboratory. This move puts Dextre in the proper position to be serviced during the fifth spacewalk of the STS-127 mission.
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