28.03.2005, Korolev, Moscow Area.
The Expedition Crew 10 (ISS-10) of the International
Space Station (ISS) performed the second egress into space
out of the two EVAs scheduled in the flight program.
The extravehicular activities were preceded by the onboard
crew preparation, as well as relevant medical examination.
The crew prepared and checked the Russian EVA spacesuits
and equipment of the transfer compartment of Zvezda module
and Pirs docking compartment-module of the ISS Russian
Segment. By results of the preparation and talks with specialists
of the Mission Control Center in Moscow (MCC-M) the EVA
timeline was updated, the station onboard systems were
put in a state of readiness prior to EVA.
The crew commander, Leroy Chiao, NASA astronaut, and flight
engineer, Salizhan Sharipov, Russian Cosmonaut left the
Orbital Complex through the egress hatch of the Pirs compartment-module,
that was open at 10:25 Moscow time.
In the course of EVA the crew installed and connected three
proximity communication equipment antennas on Zvezda working
compartment to ensure docking of the new European cargo
vehicle (ATV) to the ISS, mounted the satellite navigation
antenna unit on Zvezda instrument compartment and took
photo survey of the videometer installed by the previous
ISS crew (Gennady Padalko and Michael Fincke ) during EVA.
The EVAs were completed with a launch of a five-kilogram
mini-satellite Nanosat, which signals have already been
received at MCC-M. At launch S. Sharipov imparted a velocity
of one m/sec to the satellite in the direction opposite
to the velocity vector of the ISS flight, thus having excluded
their potential subsequent collision.
The mini-satellite will stay in orbit for about 100 days.
The specialists hope that the experience in operating the
satellite will enable to develop miniature spacecraft for
various intended utilization in future.
Upon completion of the scheduled EVA program activities
that took about 4.5 hours, the crew came back to Pirs module,
having closed the egress hatch at 14:55.
The data exchange between the ISS and Mission Control Center
in Moscow (MCC-M) was performed in the Russian ground site
coverage. Outside this coverage the data was exchanged
through the U.S. communication systems.
According to the reports made by the crew and LOCT providing
control and monitoring of the Russian Segment flight from
MCC-M under the direction of V.A. Soloviev, RSC Energia
Deputy Designer General, Flight Cosmonaut, the crew feels
well, and status of the ISS onboard systems is consistent
with the designed specifications.
The ISS on-orbit complex consists of Functional Cargo Module
Zarya, Service Module Zvezda, docking compartment-module
Pirs, transport spacecraft Soyuz-TMA-5 and Progress M-52,
modules Unity and Destiny, airlock Kvest, multi-link truss
structure with deployed solar arrays.
The progress of EVA operations was observed by managers
and specialists of S.P. Korolev RSC Energia, Roskosmos,
Yu. Gagarin CTC RGNII and other companies and industry
organizations supporting the EVA program implementation,
which were present at MCC-M.
Upon completion of these operations a briefing was held
for journalists present at MCC-M, at which professional
activity of S. Sharipov and L. Chiao was highly commended.
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