Cosmonauts Complete Third October Spacewalk
October 22, 2014
Russian spacewalkers Max Suraev and Alexander Samokutyaev work outside the Pirs docking compartment during an Oct. 22 spacewalk.
Image Credit:
NASA TV
Spacewalker Maxim Suraev works outside the Poisk mini-research module in January 2010.
Russian spacewalkers Max Suraev and Alexander Samokutyaev.
Image Credit:
NASA TV
Russian spacewalkers Max Suraev and Alexander Samokutyaev closed the Pirs docking compartment hatch at 1:06 p.m. EDT ending the third spacewalk for Expedition 41. The cosmonauts were outside the International Space Station for three hours and 38 minutes. Two U.S. spacewalks took place Oct. 7 and 15.
The duo’s first task was to remove the Radiometriya experiment that was installed on the Zvezda service module in 2011 and which is no longer required for data collection. They jettisoned it for a later reentry into the atmosphere where it will burn up. The experiment gathered data to help scientists predict seismic events and earthquakes.
The veteran cosmonauts moved on to another external experiment and removed its protective cover. They photographed the Expose-R experiment before taking a break during the orbital night period.
After orbital sunrise, they took more photographs of the work area, translated back to Pirs and placed the protective cover inside. The European Space Agency study exposes organic and biological samples to the harsh environment of space and observes how they are affected by cosmic radiation, vacuum and night and day cycles.
Suraev and Samokutyaev then removed hardware from Pirs and collected samples of particulate matter on the outside of the docking compartment. Dubbed the TEST experiment, the samples will be analyzed on the ground for chemical and toxicological contaminants including microbes.
The Russian spacewalkers then translated over to the Poisk mini-research module on the space-facing side of the Russian segment. Once there, they reached a pair of rendezvous antennas no longer needed that were blocking translation paths for future spacewalks. They removed both antennas and jettisoned them from the orbital laboratory.
Finally, the cosmonauts conducted a detailed photographic survey of the exterior surface of the Russian modules.
This was Suraev’s second spacewalk of his career. His first was in January of 2010 during Expedition 22 when he spent five hours, 44 minutes outside the station setting up Poisk for future vehicle dockings. Suraev's two spacewalks total 9 hours, 22 minutes.
This was also Samokutyaev’s second spacewalk. He worked outside the station in August 2011 for six hours, 23 minutes installing science and communications gear and relocating a cargo boom during Expedition 28. Samokutyaev's two spacewalks total 10 hours, 1 minute.
Wednesday’s spacewalk was the 184th in support of station assembly and maintenance.
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