spacetoday.net: ISS spacewalk completed, SuitSat fails after release

Posted: Sat, Feb 4, 2006, 11:54 AM ET (1654 GMT)
ISS spacewalkers release SuitSat (NASA)

The crew of the International Space Station performed a spacewalk Friday, releasing an old spacesuit that had been converted into a satellite and attempting to repair a cable cutter on the station's exterior. Bill McArthur and Valery Tokarev started the five-hour, 43-minute EVA at 5:44 pm EST (2244 GMT) Friday, the second spacewalk for the Expedition 12 crew. McArthur and Tokarev released an old Russian Orlan-M spacesuit that has been converted into a satellite, dubbed SuitSat, with an amateur radio transmitter inside. SuitSat was designed to operate for several days as it drifted away from the station, but stopped transmitting after a few hours, apparently when its batteries became too cold. The two spacewalkers then attempted to safe a bolt on a cable cutting device for cables that service the mobile transporter on the station's truss. A similar device mysteriously activated in December, severing one of two cables that provide power and data for the transporter. The spacewalkers were unable to secure the bolt, so instead moved the cable outside the cutting mechanism. The unit is scheduled to be repaired on the next shuttle mission to the ISS later this year. McArthur and Tokarev completed some other tasks while outside the station, including retrieving experiments and taking photos of the station's exterior.