Spacewalkers Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins completed the second spacewalk yesterday (24/12/13) that was required for the installation of a replacement ammonia pump, after over seven and a half hours.
Astronaut Mike Hopkins rides on the robotic arm of the International Space Station carrying the 350 kg ammonia pump when the station passed over South America. Photo::
NASA TV
Spacewalkers Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins completed the second spacewalk yesterday (24/12/13) that was required for the installation of a replacement ammonia pump, after over seven and a half hours.
The first task of the spacewalk was to release the spare part from the station's external storage facility #3. After this step was completed, the thought was attached to the S1 component of the station and connected to the cooling loop A of the thermal control system.
Hopkins attached himself to the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm and rode it to the workplace. Mastracchio connected himself to the station and moved to S1 to assist his partner. Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakta operated the arm from the Destiny laboratory on the station.
The two reconnected ammonia pipes and electrical cables to the pump. The electrical power was restored to the pump and it began to operate. However, the flight controllers will perform additional tests before starting the pump and returning it to full operation.
The spacewalk was supposed to take place on Monday, but the control personnel discovered a problem with the spacesuit at the end of the first spacewalk on Saturday, so the astronauts were required to use a different suit. As I remember on Saturday, the two removed the broken pump, the one whose one of the valves stopped working on December 11 and caused the cooling system to be shut down and experiments to be shut down, and in the end was also the reason for replacing the pump.
The broken pump was stored outside the station and will remain there at least until this June.
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The spacewalk was postponed from yesterday to today due to the need to prepare a new spacesuit for Rick Mastracchio, due to a malfunction that occurred during the return to the space station on Saturday.
For news about the previous spacewalk
