| The ISS crew worked in outer space in "outdated" Russian spacesuits Earthly prejudices are often completely inappropriate in orbit. This was once again proven by the crew of the International Space Station last weekend. It is not known how the astronauts themselves, who are considered to be quite superstitious people (one obligatory viewing of “White Sun of the Desert” before the launch is worth it), relate to the expression “God loves a trinity.” However, for Gennady Padalka and Michael Fink, who are now working in orbit, the fourth spacewalk turned out to be the most successful and calmest. The third, on the contrary, was very nervous and caused a lot of unpleasant moments for the ground tracking services - because due to the unexpected turn of the station, communication with the crew was lost for almost 20 minutes.
Without exaggeration, the latest work on the outer surface of the ISS can be called exemplary. Gennady Padalka and Michael Fink acted ahead of schedule and spent almost an hour less in outer space than planned. Moreover, in just over five hours they managed to complete the entire program, the key point of which was the installation on the Zvezda module of three inter-board radio antennas, which will be needed to receive the first cargo ship created by the European Space Agency on the ISS. Three more antennas will have to be fixed by the next crew of the station - Russian Salizhan Sharipov and American Leeroy Chiao. After which the orbital research complex will be completely ready to receive the European ATV Jules Verne truck, the first launch of which is scheduled for the fall of 2005.
It is noteworthy that on Saturday night, the inhabitants of the ISS worked in outer space in Russian Orlan-M spacesuits, which are viewed with some distrust by the American NASA. However, the more modern and comfortable overseas EMU spacesuits are quite capricious - they were created specifically for short-term shuttle flights and require serious preventive maintenance every 180 days, which is more convenient to carry out in terrestrial conditions. Because of the moratorium on shuttle flights announced by NASA after last year's Columbia disaster, the current crew inherited spacesuits that were last checked for serviceability in 2002. And the very first attempt to use them in the spring of this year ended unsuccessfully - during preparations for a spacewalk, a malfunction was discovered in the cooling system of Gennady Padalka’s spacesuit. The Americans initially delayed permission to use the Orlans, but ultimately were forced to agree with the arguments of their Russian colleagues that the outdated model would still be more reliable than the technically faulty one. However, the specialists of the Moscow Region Mission Control Center were let down by Michael Fink, who, during another attempt to enter space, incorrectly adjusted the suit's injector, as a result of which the air pressure in it began to drop.
Despite the fact that in early August, when the cosmonauts made their third spacewalk, there were no complaints about the Orlans, unlike communications, NASA still managed to send spare parts into orbit for repair and maintenance of the EMU on the Russian Progress spacecraft M-50.” And on August 31, Michael Fink reported to Earth about the first “on-the-knee” technical inspection of the most complex system for supporting human life in outer space. The American tinkered for more than four hours, but managed to revive their old spacesuits in orbital conditions. everything works fine.
And yet, the crew of the ninth main expedition was ordered to wear Russian spacesuits for the fourth exit. But the next shift, which will arrive at the ISS in early October, will already work in more convenient EMUs - on Saturday, the cosmonauts installed four guide wires for the safety cords of American spacesuits on the Russian Zarya module. Fedor SEREBRYANSKY |
|
