spacetoday.net: ISS spacewalk rescheduled for Wednesday night

Posted: Mon, Jun 28, 2004, 2:19 PM ET (1819 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

International Space Station managers have rescheduled for Wednesday night a spacewalk that was aborted last week just minutes after it began. The EVA by Gennady Padalka and Michael Fincke is now set to begin at around 5:40 pm EDT (1940 GMT) Wednesday; a final decision on the date and time is expected on Tuesday. The spacewalk was scheduled for last Thursday, but controllers ended the spacewalk only minutes after it began when they noticed a steep decline in the oxygen tank pressure in Fincke's suit. The problem was later traced to a switch that regulates oxygen flow from the tank: the switch indicated oxygen was flowing at its normal rate when, in fact, the switch was still at its high setting. The purpose of the EVA is to repair a gyroscope on the American section of the station that failed earlier this year.