Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov have just completed their mission’s first space walk aboard the International Space Station. The mission lasted 5 hours, 28 minutes, ending at 1311 UTC.The two astronauts, working in Russian space suits, performed a variety of tasks. Chiao and Sharipov installed a work platform, called the Universal Work Platform, along with its base and associated wiring. They also installed a commercial robotics experiment and a biological experiment on the exterior of the Zvezda Service Module. In addition, they checked vents on systems that help control the Station’s atmosphere and relocated a Japanese physical science experiment.

Residue accumulation around the vents of the Elektron oxygen generator was noted and photographed by Sharipov. Technicians on the ground will analyze the information to determine if this residue has been contributing to the problematic operation of the Elektron.

During this spacewalk, the station again encountered the mysterious forces that have been saturating the Control Moment Gyros during previous spacewalks. Russian thrusters were activated to counter this force.

The walk marks Chiao’s fifth for 31 hours, 34 minutes, accumulated time and Shapirov’s first.

This was the 57th space walk conducted at the Station and the 32nd to be based out of the orbital outpost. Expedition 10 is scheduled to conduct its second spacewalk in March.