Posted: Sun, Mar 16, 2003, 2:27 PM ET (1927 GMT)
Two American astronauts will carry out a previously-unscheduled spacewalk outside the International Space Station next month, the Houston Chronicle reported Sunday. Astronauts Ken Bowersox and Don Pettit will carry out the 6.5-hour spacewalk on April 7 or 8 to install a backup power supply on one of four gyroscopes used to orient the station. The gyroscope in question has experienced several intermittent power interruptions that the backup supply is designed to prevent. The spacewalk was planned in the wake of the Columbia tragedy, as a shuttle mission that has been scheduled to visit the ISS this month was going to replace another gyroscope that failed last year. The station can operate on as few as two gyroscopes, but NASA decided to perform the repairs now since the station will soon be occupied by two-person caretaker crews; if those crews had to perform spacewalks there would be no one in the station to monitor their progress. Bowersox and Pettit will also replace a faulty power module on the railcar that runs along the station's truss, as well as make preparations for the addition of additional truss segments once shuttle assembly flights resume.

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•  Houston Chronicle article