11.23.06

12:15 a.m CST, Thursday, Nov. 23, 2006
Mission Control Center, Houston 
STATUS REPORT: ISS06-51

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT #06-51

Two residents of the International Space Station ventured outside the 
complex Wednesday for a 5 hour, 38 minute spacewalk to reposition, 
deploy and relocate equipment and conduct a commercially sponsored 
activity. 

With Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter inside to monitor systems, 
Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer 
Mikhail Tyurin opened the hatch to the Pirs Docking Compartment 
airlock at 6:17 p.m. CST as the station flew over the Atlantic Ocean 
near the west coast of Africa. They wore Russian Orlan spacesuits for 
the 19th spacewalk conducted out of Pirs since it was mated to the 
Russian segment of the station in September 2001 during Tyurin’s 
first flight as part of Expedition 3. 

The start of the spacewalk was delayed more than an hour after Tyurin 
encountered a problem with a cooling hose for his spacesuit. He 
climbed out of the suit to reposition the hose, and uninterrupted 
cooling for the suit was restored. 

After setting up tools and equipment outside Pirs, Tyurin placed a 
three-gram golf ball on a spring-mounted tee and clamped it onto the 
ladder next to the Pirs hatch. Appearing uncomfortable with his feet 
planted on the ladder, Tyurin used a gold-plated six-iron to tap the 
golf ball safely away from the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module. 
Tyurin said he was pleased with his golf shot, and Russian flight 
controllers chose not to have him hit another ball so the crew could 
tackle other tasks. 

Tyurin’s golf shot was part of a demonstration for a commercially 
sponsored endeavor between a Canadian golf company and the Russian 
Federal Space Agency. The golf club and three balls were flown to the 
station on recent Russian Progress cargo ships. NASA's safety 
analysis showed that the balls will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere 
and burn up in about three days. The balls weigh only about as much 
as three one-dollar bills. 

The two spacewalkers then moved to the end of Zvezda where the 
recently arrived ISS Progress 23 cargo ship is docked. Tyurin 
released a latch on one of the antennas for the craft’s Kurs 
automated rendezvous system that failed to retract when the Progress 
docked on Oct. 26. Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria attempted to move the 
so-called “orientation” antenna back to its retracted and stowed 
position with their hands and with a prybar, but the antenna would 
not budge. Russian flight controllers also sent commands to drive the 
antenna to its retracted position, but that also failed. 

The spacewalkers took a number of pictures to send to Russian 
engineers, who will evaluate options for freeing the stuck antenna on 
a future spacewalk. The engineers surmise something may be frozen in 
the linkage for the antenna’s drive mechanism, preventing it from 
moving. 

While at the aft of Zvezda, Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria spent a few 
minutes removing and repositioning one of several communications 
antennas previously installed around the module’s docking port. This 
will assist the docking of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle 
that will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French 
Guiana next year. 

In its previous location, the antenna partially blocked the opening of 
one of Zvezda’s engine covers. The antenna was reinstalled less than 
a foot from its original position, out of the way of future 
operations with the engine. 

Next, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin moved to the top of the forward section 
of Zvezda to install an experiment called “BTN-Neutron” that will 
measure the volume of neutron particles emitted by solar flares that 
reach low Earth orbit. The crew wrapped up its work by jettisoning a 
pair of thermal covers for the experiment that will be tracked by 
flight controllers to ensure they pose no possibility of hitting the 
station or the shuttle Discovery that is scheduled for an assembly 
mission to the station in a few weeks. 

It was the 73rd spacewalk in support of station assembly and 
maintenance totaling 444 hours and 14 minutes of time outside the 
outpost and the first of four scheduled during Expedition 14. The 
spacewalk was the sixth in Lopez-Alegria’s career and the fourth for 
Tyurin. 

The next station status report will be issued Dec. 1, or earlier if 
events warrant. For more about the crew's activities and station 
sighting opportunities, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/station

	
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