Orbital repairmen will have to try again

Spacewalkers strike out
On the day of the spacewalk, the two spacewalkers started out with the much more photogenic "space golf" stunt, then moved around to the back end of the Russian-built Zvezda service module, out of sight of the exterior television cameras.

Without the helmet-mounted TV cameras used regularly on American spacesuits, no live images of the worksite or crew activity was possible. Instead, the spacewalkers took about three dozen photographs for downlinking later.

First using their hands, and then a prybar brought for that purpose, the men tried to swing the antenna structure away from where it had lodged. Moscow also sent commands for the motorized drive mechanism to retract — all to no avail.

“There is a big scratch on the surface,” Tyurin reported. “The internal gear must have been blocked – it cannot be folded, it does not move.” Russian specialists later told their NASA colleagues they suspected something was “frozen in the linkage for the antenna’s drive mechanism.”

Tyurin offered to “hammer it a bit,” but Mission Control disagreed, advising him “to let it live a little more.” It was clear by then that another attempt would have to be made later.

Sources told MSNBC.com privately that this second attempt, with much more serious tools, will be made early next year, possibly in late February. The schedule pressure comes from the need to separate the supply spacecraft safely to make room for a Soyuz craft carrying a replacement crew to the station.

Flight planners are still working out which spacesuits and air lock would be used for the spacewalk — the U.S. suits from the Quest air lock, or the Russian suits from the Pirs air lock. NASA planners would prefer that the U.S. suits be used, since adding a fourth spacewalk after the three already-scheduled U.S. outings would be more efficient. They say starting up the full preparations for a new Russian EVA would take two to three times as much crew time.

The Russians, however, are concerned about the barter obligations that using a U.S. suit for Russian requirements would entail.

Soyuz flight delayed
Fortunately, the crew should have some extra time to get this new task done. Last October, a Russian space official told journalists in Moscow that the planned March 9 launch of the new Soyuz would be put off.

“The idea is to sensibly time the crew’s landing in Kazakhstan,” said the official, who spoke to the Russians under conditions that ruled out direct attribution. “All spring landings of crews are now to be shifted from March to April,” since severe spring flooding in recent years has made recovery operations difficult. “Landing on a flooded steppe may be quite dangerous,” the official pointed out.

Furthermore, the official slip of a shuttle mission from Feb. 22 to March 16 also makes the original Soyuz launch date impossible. NASA spokesmen told MSNBC.com they had no information about any change in the Soyuz date, but multiple sources agree that it is now April 9 rather than March 9 — and that is good news for the station crew’s spacewalk sequel.

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