MIR Three broken wrenches later, the cosmonauts on Mir were still unable to remove the tenth and final latch from the faulty external hatch. While a stronger wrench was found two days later, Nikolai Budarin and Talgat Musabayev could not find it in time for their March 4 spacewalk to repair the external hatch and to place a brace on a solar panel damaged by last years collision. The 6 hour walk had been delayed when a problem was detected with the pressure controls. American astronaut Andy Thomas discovered a faulty valve in time for the space walk to proceed. ISS NASA is seeking a ten week slip in the construction schedule of the International Space Station.
Reasons cited include slow construction of components and continued problems with funding.
NASA officials now admit that the launch of the Russian-built Service Module will likely be delayed from December to March 1999. In addition the manufacturer of the Service Module did not receive its scheduled Feb 15 payment from the Russian government. The satellite was carried into orbit on an Ariane 42P with two solid rocket boosters. This was the 34th consecutive successful Ariane 4 launch. The next flight is scheduled for March 20.