spacetoday.net: ISS spacewalk a success

Posted: Tue, Aug 3, 2004, 2:16 PM ET (1816 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

The crew of the International Space Station performed a spacewalk Tuesday morning, completing their tasks ahead of schedule despite a communications glitch. Gennady Padalka and Michael Fincke exited the station through the Pirs airlock at 2:58 am EDT (0658 GMT) and performed a number of tasks around the aft end of the Zvezda service module. Their work included installing new antennas and laser reflectors that will be used by the docking system for the European ATV cargo spacecraft that will begin service to the station next year. The two also retrieved experiments mounted on the outside of the station. During the EVA the station's gyros, which provide attitude control for the station, became saturated, and ground controllers put the station into free drift. As part of related power conservation measures, the communications link to the station was inadvertently cut off, but was restored after about 20 minutes. The two spacewalkers returned inside the station four and a half hours after the EVA started; the spacewalk was scheduled to last six hours but the two completed all their tasks ahead of schedule. Another EVA is planned for September 3.