Vinogradov and Williams will begin their extravehicular activity - Vinogradov's sixth and Williams's second, but their first together - at 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time. The spacewalk is scheduled to last five hours and 43 minutes.

"They were given a clear �go' for the EVA at this morning's mission planning meeting," Kylie Clem, a NASA spokeswoman at Johnson Space Center in Houston, told SpaceDaily.com.

Clem said the repair operations will include fixing a vent on the station's Elektron unit, which produces breathable oxygen; removing slack from a cable on the Zvezda service module, and replacing a video camera on the Strela rail-car system.

Vinogradov and Williams will leave the station via the airlock on the Russian Pirs docking compartment. They will wear Russian Orlan spacesuits, with Vinogradov, the mission commander - designated the lead spacewalker, or EV1 - wearing a red-striped suit.

He and Williams, EV2 - wearing a suit with blue stripes - will move out of the airlock and onto the Strela, using it to move about the station's Russian segment.

Vinogradov first will install a new hydrogen vent and nozzle for the Elektron unit, which produces breathable oxygen for the crew, because the existing vent is clogged.

Earlier in the mission, Vinogradov had to reroute Elektron's hydrogen vent line to a vent also used by the Vozdukh carbon-dioxide removal system. The repair will re-establish the original vent configuration.

NASA mission controllers estimate the repair will take about 35 minutes, and will be followed by about 10 minutes of photography.

Next, Vinogradov will remove a plate from the Russian Kromka experiment, designed to detect contamination from thruster jet firings and the effectiveness of devices intended to protect the station's exterior from that contamination.

At the same time, Williams will remove a Biorisk experiment container from Pirs for return to the station's interior. Biorisk studies the effect of spaceflight on microorganisms.

Vinogradov then will remove slack in an antenna cable on Zvezda. The unit will accommodate the docking of the unpiloted European Automated Transfer Vehicle, scheduled for its first launch next year.

The spacewalk's final and longest major task will be replacing a malfunctioning camera on the Mobile Base System, which moves the Canadarm2 robotic arm along the rails on the station's main truss. Both crewmembers will work on that task, estimated to require about one hour and 25 minutes.

Vinogradov and Williams will secure the Strela before re-entering Pirs to conclude the spacewalk.

One activity scrubbed from the day's activities is Vinogradov's attempt to hit a radio-transmitting golf ball into Earth orbit. Russian space officials have postponed the stunt indefinitely.

The golf shot was to be performed by Vinogradov for an undisclosed amount of money paid by Element 21, a Canadian golf equipment manufacturer.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Station at NASA
Space Station News at Space-Travel.Com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News