NASA: Spacewalks Urgently Needed to Fix International Space Station

NASA station managers issued an order on Tuesday for two American astronauts to set out for a series of spacewalks in order to replace a broken cooling pump valve at the International Space Station. The job will require at least three spacewalks to be undertaken on Saturday, Monday and on Wednesday, which is Christmas Day.

Pump not functioning

The two astronauts who will carry out the critical assignment are Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio. They will begin working outside the station on December 21 and proceed to do spacewalks on December 23 and 25. To complete the task, the two astronauts will need to take out the pump. Total replacement is necessary since the pump has not been functioning since December 11. The space station pump is responsible in the distribution of ammonia through the coils found outside the station for the purpose of cooling the equipment. The station is still working although its performances could not be sustained long enough due to the defective cooling system.

Serious problem

Rick Mastracchio, one of the two astronauts set out for the spacewalks, said the problem is serious and it must be addressed immediately to avoid further damage. He said however that the malfunctioning orbiting lab does not really worry him since there has been no significant effect on the situation at the space station.

Powered down

The activities usually done in the station consist of simple science experiments and some upgrades in the systems but because of the cooling system issues, they have to be powered down in the meantime. Mastracchio is an experienced astronaut and a member of the six-man crew who are working and staying at the space station. His present assignment gives him the fourth chance to spaceflight. The other members of the Expedition 38 crew are Mikhail Tyurin, Sergey Ryazanskiy and Oleg Kotov of Russia and Koichi Wakata of Japan.

Triggered by bad valve

The space station’s cooling system began to have hiccups when a couple of its cooling valves located in the orbiting area stopped working after the temperature went very low. It could have been triggered by a bad valve in one of the pumps located at the station’s main truss. NASA engineers have been analyzing the problem since Wednesday and realized it needs to be replaced already.

Space cargo delivery

While NASA is busy with deliberations on the slated spacewalks, the Orbital Sciences Corporation, a commercial spaceflight company is scheduled to launch Cygnus, an unmanned spacecraft that will carry cargo for the first time to the space station. The Orbital Sciences Corporation has a $1.9 billion worth of eight-delivery space transport contract with NASA. Included in the cargo delivery are some special foods, treats, new clothes and other surprises from the astronauts’ families back home.

Artificial satellite

The ISS or International Space Station is an artificial satellite hovering above the earth’s orbit. It is a habitable space station manned by astronaut crewmembers from the United States, Russia and Japan. Being the biggest artificial figure in space, it is visible to the naked eye and appears like an illuminated planet or star from the earth. The ISS functions as a space environment and microgravity laboratory where researches, studies and experiments are conducted on physics, astronomy, meteorology, biology and other scientific disciplines.

Photo Credit: Astronaut in free space