Troubleshooting Space Suits

The Expedition 7 crew, Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA International Space Station Science Officer Ed Lu, this week conducted science experiments, maintenance activities and prepared for the upcoming departure and arrival of Progress cargo and Soyuz vehicles.

Lu talked with former Station Science Officer Don Pettit to help locate hardware for the Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI) that Lu installed in the Microgravity Science Glovebox Monday. Lu was scheduled to begin science operations with PFMI this week, but was unable to locate an essential cable to complete the installation. Pettit’s ideas as to where he left the cable were fruitful. With the cable now installed, Lu can begin a run of the experiment next week.

Troubleshooting continued this week with the two US spacesuits experiencing cooling system issues onboard. Lu and Malenchenko executed a procedure to closely inspect valves and filters for water circulation in the system of the first suit Lu tried on during the mission. Investigations of the cooling system of the spare suit he re-sized last week are still underway. Even though they are not scheduled to conduct a spacewalk during this mission, Lu and Malenchenko could use the Russian Orlan spacesuits to conduct a spacewalk, if needed, since Lu does not currently have a working US spacesuit to wear.

This week, Malenchenko continued to use oxygen from the Progress cargo vehicles docked to the aft of the Zvezda Service Module and to the Pirs Docking Compartment to repressurize the Station. The extra oxygen is being used before the two spacecraft are undocked, taking with them trash and used supplies to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. The Progress docked to Zvezda will undock Aug. 27 to make room for a new Progress resupply craft scheduled for launch to the Station Aug. 28 (US time). The Progress docked to Pirs will undock Sept. 4 to make room for the Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft scheduled to arrive Oct. 20 with the Expedition 8 crew and European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque.

Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, will replace the Expedition 7 crew. Foale and Kaleri are scheduled to launch to the Station Oct. 18 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, along with Duque who will return to Earth with the Expedition 7 crew after completing more than a week of science activities aboard the Station on Oct. 28.

FMI: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov