In the course of extravehicular activity, they turned off the hydraulic circuits of the radiation heat exchanger, from which a leak occurred on October 9
MOSCOW, October 26. /tass/. Roscosmos Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (TASS special correspondent on the ISS) and Nikolai Chub closed the exit hatch of the Search module of the International Space Station (ISS), completing the first spacewalk as part of the 70th long-term expedition to the station, follows from the Roscosmos broadcast.
Kononenko and Chub went into outer space at 20:49 Moscow time on Wednesday. The astronauts coped with the tasks of extravehicular activity (VCD) in 7 hours and 41 minutes.
During the EVA, the astronauts turned off the hydraulic circuits of the radiation heat exchanger, from which a leak occurred on October 9. They also examined and photographed the place of depressurization - the data obtained will help specialists on Earth to determine its causes.
Continuation of the leak
Examining the radiator, the astronauts found that the coolant continued to accumulate at the leak site. "I think towels will not do here," Kononenko commented on a large drop formed near the leak site.
In order to avoid the ingress of foreign matter into the station, Chub and Kononenko thoroughly cleaned their spacesuits and instruments before returning on board, and one of Kononenko's halyards, on which flakes of coolant fell, the astronauts discarded from the station along with other waste. According to a representative of the NASA Mission Control Center in Houston, an air filtration system will operate at the station within a day after the completion of the EVA.
Sail and locator
The cosmonauts launched the Parus nanosatellite made by students of Bauman Moscow State Technical University from the Nauka module at about 02:20 Moscow Time. Five minutes after the launch of the satellite, a solar sail was supposed to open on it, but this did not happen. As of 04:33 Moscow time, there was no information about the deployment of the sail.
Also, a small-sized radar designed to monitor the Earth's surface, which Kononenko and Chub installed on the Nauka module, could not fully open. After several locator panels could not be deployed automatically, Nikolai Chub tried to set them to the desired position manually. After several unsuccessful attempts, the astronauts received a command to turn off work overboard.
As the representative of the NASA Mission Control Center in Houston stressed, this issue will be resolved within the framework of the next EVA under the Russian program, but for now the locator does not interfere with the work of the station in any way, including the upcoming spacewalk on Monday under the American program.
The first exit of the Forelock
This EVA was the sixth for Oleg Kononenko, dressed in the Orlan-ISS spacesuit No. 5 with red lamps, and Nikolai Chub, who worked in the Orlan-ISS spacesuit No. 4 with blue lamps, went into outer space for the first time.
Shortly after going overboard of the station, Chub noted that working in a spacesuit is not always comfortable. "It seems to be convenient, but inconvenient," he said. "But this is the case all the time," said his more experienced colleague Kononenko.
During the extravehicular activity, the specialists gave the astronauts time to rest several times, since a significant part of the work done was related to fine motor skills. "I won't say that I'm just tired," Chub replied to one of these suggestions, but he agreed to a break anyway.
For the first time in outer space, Chub also did not miss the opportunity to admire the views from the station. "Oh, what a beautiful moon," the cosmonaut said shortly after the spacewalk.