Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP) – Two Russian astronauts from the International Space Station began space and work king work on Wednesday in preparation for next year’s arrival of the long-delayed lab, but had to break other operations due to a stubborn bolt.
Sergei Ryazikov and Sergei Kud-Sverkov – dubbed Sergei 1 and Sergei 2 by flight controllers – went inside four Americans and one Japanese during their spacewalk, which lasted about seven hours.
With the arrival of the SpaceX capsule, the space station’s population reached seven late Monday, becoming the company’s second astronaut flight.
Ryzykov, the station commander, and Kud-Sverkokov spent about two hours investigating the additional leaks before exiting Russia’s Poisk Air Lock. The 11-year-old compartment had never been used by astronauts before.
“Congratulations. You’re out! “After a long test, the Russian mission control told the first spacecraft Kers.
The astronauts were immediately confronted with a difficult bolt that prevented them from replacing the fluid-flow regulator on the Russian for Russia’s oldest compartment – the Zarya, Dawn. A NASA critic said the old regulator was still working on Zaria – the first part of the space station launched in 1998 – and that it would be postponed to the spacewalk after the swap.
It was better to replace the antenna cable to Ryzykov and Kud-Sverkov, the first step in dismantling Russia’s old Peres spacewalking compartment to make room for a new lab. By then, the spacewalk was four hours apart, and flight controllers near Moscow urged both to rest: “It has intensified.”
The Pierce module will be removed and junk next year to make room for the Russian research laboratory boat for “science.” Many Russian-directed spacewalks will be needed to deal with all this. The plan calls for attaching a cargo ship to Pierce to lead it to a fiery rentry.
The new 22-foot lab – 43 feet (13 meters) long – is so large that it will be launched from Kazakhstan with a powerful proton rocket. Once on a roving outpost, it will double as an airlock and docking port.
The launch of the science lab – almost a decade late – has been targeted for some time early next year due to long-term repairs.
Ryzykov and Kud-Sverkov arrived at the Soyuz capsule with an American last month. Like the newly arrived SpaceX crew, the Russian-launched astronauts will be on board until spring.
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