Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Astronauts Successfully Completed First of Two July EVAs

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: July 10, 2013 5:03:09 PM GMT-06:00
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Astronauts Successfully Completed First of Two July EVAs

Astronauts tackle chore backlog on spacewalk

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In this image made from video provided by NASA, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano stands on the end of a robotic arm during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Tuesday, July 9, 2013. (AP Photo/NASA)
MARCIA DUNN
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Two spacewalking astronauts tackled a backlog of outdoor work at the International Space Station on Tuesday.
It was the first spacewalk for Italy — a major contributor to the orbiting lab — as Luca Parmitano handled a variety of maintenance chores. He was accompanied by American Christopher Cassidy, a veteran spacewalker.
Cassidy encountered a stubborn bolt, eating up precious minutes, as he got started on the first of two planned spacewalks just a week apart. A slim gap of just one-eighth of an inch stalled the installation of a new space-to-ground radio transmitter. The old one failed in December.
"Nothing jumps out at me," Cassidy reported to Mission Control. "I can see a little wear on the bolt."
Finally, the former Navy SEAL managed to attach the transmitter. Mission Control said it appeared to be a tight fit.
It was smoother going for Parmitano as he collected science experiments for return to Earth later this year aboard a commercial SpaceX capsule.
"Any curve balls over there, Luca?" Cassidy asked. "Nope," came the reply.
The spacewalkers made up for lost time as they went through the hodgepodge of chores, removing a bad camera and relocating radiator grapple bars. Some of the work was done to make it easier to swap out bad parts if there's ever a breakdown.
They hustled through cable work in preparation for a new Russian lab due to arrive in December, and took pictures of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a $2 billion cosmic ray detector launched on NASA's next-to-last shuttle mission in 2011. Scientists noticed unusual discoloration on its radiators and requested photos of the instrument, which is anchored to the station.
Parmitano found it awkward to secure a protective cover over a docking port used by NASA's space shuttles until their retirement two years ago. The cover is meant to shield against micrometeorite strikes.
"It's kind of like when you're trying to make your bed by yourself. One side is a little bit shorter than the other," Parmitano said.
Before ending their six-hour excursion, the astronauts got a jump on work intended for a second spacewalk next Tuesday.
"A really great day," Mission Control radioed up.
NASA said the tasks had been piling up over the past couple of years. Managers wanted to wait until the to-do list was long before committing to the time-consuming spacewalks.
Parmitano, 36, a major in the Italian Air Force, arrived at the space station at the end of May for a six-month stay.
Cassidy, 43, will wrap up his half-year mission in September.
The rest of the space station crew — one American and three Russians — assisted the spacewalkers from inside.
This was the fourth spacewalk this year with five more planned, mostly by Russians. In all, 170 spacewalks have been performed over the past 15 years at the space station, totaling nearly 1,074 hours or 45 days.

Copyright © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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AmericaSpace
For a nation that explores
July 9th, 2013
'Luca Skywalker' and 'Iron Man Chris' Complete Six-Hour EVA Outside Space Station
By Ben Evans

Riding the 57-foot-long Canadarm2, Luca Parmitano became Italy's first spacewalker earlier today. He joins representatives of Russia, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, and Canada in having accomplished this remarkable feat. Photo Credit: NASA TV
Two astronauts, including Italy's first spacewalker, ventured outside the International Space Station today on the first of two planned EVAs from the U.S. Operating Segment (USOS) during Expedition 36. Chris Cassidy (EV1, with red stripes on the legs of his space suit for identification) and Luca Parmitano (EV2, in a pure-white suit) spent six hours and seven minutes outside on the 22nd U.S. station-based EVA. The men replaced a failed component on one of two space-to-ground antennas, installed a pair of radiator grapple bars onto the outboard P-1 and S-1 trusses, retrieved two materials science experiments, and tended to a number of "get-ahead" tasks. They remained about 30 minutes ahead of the timeline throughout the EVA, which stands them in good stead for EVA-23, which is presently scheduled to take place Tuesday, 16 July.
As described in yesterday's AmericaSpace preview article, this is the latest spacewalk in a "hot EVA summer" for Expedition 36, which recently saw cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Aleksandr Misurkin working outside the station's Russian Operating Segment (ROS) on 24 June. Today's EVA marked the 22nd time that USOS crew members have ventured outside the station's Quest airlock, without the shuttle present, since an inaugural walk by Expedition 4 astronauts Carl Walz and Dan Bursch way back in February 2002. In addition to their key tasks, Cassidy and Parmitano performed a number of activities to prepare for the arrival of Russia's long-delayed Nauka module, sometime early in 2014. Preparations for today's EVA have consumed the Expedition 36 crew for some time. Last week, the spacewalkers performed standard "fit checks" of their suits inside the station's two-part Quest airlock. They were joined by crewmate Karen Nyberg, who was at the controls of the 57-foot-long Canadarm2 from within the station's Destiny Laboratory Module.

Karen Nyberg (center) assists EVA crewmates Chris Cassidy (left) and Luca Parmitano in the Quest airlock, during a "dry run" of their suit-up procedures on Wednesday 3 July. Photo Credit: NASA
Early this morning, after post-sleep and personal hygiene, Cassidy and Parmitano jumped into a well-trodden path of 60 minutes spent "pre-breathing" on masks, during which time the Quest airlock's inner "equipment lock" was depressed from its "ambient" 14.7 psi down to 10.2 psi. Their next step was to begin the process of donning and purging their bulky Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs)—with Parmitano's suit emblazoned with the red, white, and green stripes of the Italian national flag—after which the atmosphere was repressurized to 14.7 psi. The astronauts then entered a nominal pre-breathing period, lasting about 50 minutes, followed by a further 50 minutes of In-Suit Light Exercise (ISLE). This protocol was first debuted on the STS-134 Shuttle mission in May 2011 and involved Cassidy and Parmitano flexing their knees for four minutes, resting for one minute, and repeating over and over until the 50 minutes were through. ISLE serves to remove nitrogen from the spacewalkers' blood in a much shorter time period.
By 7:19 a.m. EDT, a little under an hour before the EVA was due to start, the fully-suited pair and their equipment transferred into Quest's outer "crew lock" and Nyberg confirmed to Mission Control that the hatches between the two locks had been closed. Shortly afterwards, a "Go" was given to begin depressurization. This was interrupted, as planned, by a brief pause at 5 psi for standard leak checks, after which the process resumed and the crew lock was reduced to vacuum for an EVA start time of 8:02 a.m. EDT—about eight minutes ahead of schedule. The spacewalk officially began when Cassidy and Parmitano transferred their suits' life-support utilities to internal battery power.
Opening the outer hatch of the crew lock, Cassidy pushed his helmeted head into the void for the second time on his current mission. He previously led a contingency spacewalk with Expedition 35's Tom Marshburn, back on 11 May, to identify and resolve an ammonia leak from the P-6 truss. Cassidy also performed three EVAs to install and outfit Japan's Exposed Facility on the STS-127 mission in July 2009. For Parmitano, today's spacewalk was his first experience of EVA, and television viewers glimpsed for the first time the red, white, and green stripes of the Italian flag on the arm of a spacewalker. The astronauts' helmets were also equipped with lights and cameras to enable terrestrial observers to follow their every move.
Chris Cassidy's gloved hands manipulate the Space-to-Ground Transmitter Receiver Controller (SGTRC) during today's removal and replacement procedure. Photo Credit: NASA TV
Upon leaving the airlock, the two men spent little time admiring their surroundings and quickly split up to attend to their respective first tasks. Cassidy moved to the Z-1 truss with a replacement Space-to-Ground Transmitter Receiver Controller (SGTRC), part of the Space-to-Ground Antenna (SGANT) hardware which funnels data between the station and Mission Control through NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite network. There are two SGANTs aboard the ISS, one of which suffered a failure of its SGTRC in December 2012 and was effectively put out of action. This left the station in a "non-fault-tolerant position," which is highly undesirable because a single failure could cause significant problems. Despite encountering difficulties with the settings of his Power Grip Tool and the torquing of bolts, Cassidy successfully swapped out the SGTRC and transferred the faulty unit back to Quest within the first hour of the EVA. At around 9:30 a.m., NASA reported that heaters on the replacement SGTRC had been activated in readiness for checkout.
Parmitano, meanwhile, translated over the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier (ELC)-2 on the starboard S-3 truss to begin the retrieval of two scientific experiments: the Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE)-8 and the Optical Reflector Materials Experiment (ORMatE)-III. They form the latest in a line of payloads to expose new and affordable materials and computing elements to the ultra-vacuum, unfiltered sunlight, swinging temperature extremes, and harsh atomic oxygen environment of low-Earth orbit. MISSE-8 was launched aboard STS-134 in May 2011 and ORMatE-III followed aboard STS-135—the final flight of the space shuttle program—in July. They are housed within a suitcase-like Passive Experiment Container (PEC) and will return to Earth aboard SpaceX's CRS-3 Dragon cargo ship in December 2013.
The suitcase-like Passive Experiment Container (PEC) is removed by Luca Parmitano – Italy's first spacewalker – during today's EVA. Photo Credit: NASA TV
Upon reaching ELC-2, Parmitano photographed the experiments and removed them for transfer back to Quest. By 9:15 a.m., he had stowed both MISSE-8 and ORMatE-III inside Quest, alongside the failed SGTRC, and the two spacewalkers turned to their next critical task: the removal and installation of two Radiator Grapple Bars (RGBs) on the outboard S-1 and P-1 trusses. The bars were delivered to the ISS aboard SpaceX's CRS-2 Dragon cargo ship in March, and their purpose is to provide the capability for Canadarm2 to interface with the station's radiator elements, should the need ever arise to repair or replace them.
To get the work started, Parmitano installed an articulating portable foot restraint onto the end of Canadarm2 and Nyberg—operating from the robotic work station inside Destiny—"flew" him over to the bars' location on the Mobile Base System (MBS). By 10:15 a.m., Parmitano had reached the first of the two bars and Cassidy released its hold-down bolts. Nyberg then "flew" Parmitano and the RGB for 15 minutes over to the S-1 truss for installation. Working with impressive pace—and with his eye keenly focused on the timeline—Cassidy held the RGB in position as Parmitano configured his Power Grip Tool and secured its two bolts. The first of the grapple bars was now in place on the S-1 truss.
Their next step was the retrieval of the Mast Camera—properly known as the Camera/Light Pan/Tilt Assembly (CLPA)—on the MBS, which Cassidy had begun earlier in the EVA by installing a handling fixture (or "scoop"). At 11:00 a.m., about three hours into the spacewalk, Parmitano physically removed the CLPA. It will be returned to Earth aboard the CRS-3 Dragon ship in December. As the minutes ticked away, they remained a full half-hour ahead of schedule, but dived with gusto into the next task of installing the second RGB. By 11:45 a.m., it had been removed from the MBS, transferred to the P-1 truss, and Cassidy bolted it into position with precision and perfection.
Chris Cassidy (left) and Luca Parmitano check out their suits in the Quest airlock. They will perform a second EVA together on Tuesday 16 July. Photo Credit: NASA
The remainder of the EVA saw Cassidy busily working to fit a pair of "jumper cables" onto the Z-1 truss. This area is filled with electrical boxes, cables, and jumpers fitted through the space station's life. It has been nicknamed "the rat's nest." Despite noting the stiffness of the cables, the astronaut office's "Iron Man"—a former U.S. Navy SEAL—ultimately had no issues with the time-consuming procedure. As Cassidy labored, Parmitano headed off to install a protective cover over Pressurized Mating Adaptor (PMA)-2, which is situated at the forward end of the Harmony node. It was last used to support the STS-135 docking in July 2011 and is expected to be used by future Commercial Crew vehicles, but the risks posed by solar radiation, micrometeoroids, and orbital debris are such that the cover will prolong its useful life. Although the installation was timelined as a two-man job, Parmitano completed it alone, securing the cover with Velcro straps.
Still working way ahead of schedule, the spacewalkers turned to their "get-ahead" tasks. Cassidy inspected the Power and Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF) on the Russian Zarya module—the station's oldest component, launched back in November 1998—which it was thought may have had a protruding grounding wire. He saw no evidence of such a wire and extensively photographed the area, then moved on to route an 1153 data cable from the USOS to Zarya's PDGF to eventually link it with the station's data network. Meanwhile, Parmitano worked with storage bags, and by 1:58 p.m. the process of bringing the two spacewalkers back inside Quest had begun. The airlock's outer thermal cover was closed and sealed at 2:00 p.m.—with Parmitano offering thanks in his native language—and EVA-22 officially concluded at 2:09 p.m. when their suits transferred to station power.
Today's EVA—the 170th devoted to ISS construction and maintenance—has left Cassidy with a career spacewalking total of 29 hours and 42 minutes, spread across five EVAs. As the first Italian spacewalker, Parmitano joins a select group of nations, which to date includes Russia, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Sweden, and China. Cassidy and Parmitano can look forward to their second spacewalk on Tuesday 16 July. On that occasion, the pair will also depart Quest at 8:10 a.m. EDT and will also spend 6.5 hours outside. USOS EVA-23 will continue the work of its predecessor. According to NASA's Expedition 36 press kit, the EVA will involve the routing of networking cables for the Nauka module and the removal of insulation from one of the space station's Main Bus Switching Units. A number of other activities, including "get-ahead" tasks, are also planned.

Copyright © 2013 AmericaSpace - All Rights Reserved

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Realtime coverage of U.S. EVA-22
07/09/2013 02:26 PM
By WILLIAM HARWOOD
CBS News

02:20 PM EDT, 07/09/13: Spacewalk ends

Astronauts Christopher Cassidy and Luca Parmitano began repressurizing the International Space Station's Quest airlock at 2:09 p.m. EDT, closing out a six-hour seven-minute spacewalk. The astronauts plan to venture back outside next Tuesday to finish working through a backlog of maintenance and assembly tasks.

This was the 170th spacewalk, or EVA, devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, the fourth of nine planned for this year, the fifth for Cassidy and the first for Parmitano, the first Italian to walk in space.

All told, 112 astronauts and cosmonauts representing nine nations have now logged 1,073 hours and 50 minutes of EVA time outside the station, or 44.7 days.

01:40 PM EDT, 07/09/13: Protective cover installed on forward docking port; astronauts, ahead of schedule, work 'get-ahead' tasks

Running well ahead of schedule, Luca Parmitano installed a protective cover over the forward port of the International Space Station where shuttles once docked.

With their primary objectives successfully accomplished, Parmitano and fellow spacewalker Christopher Cassidy worked through a handful of "get-ahead" tasks originally planned for a second spacewalk next week.

Cassidy began routing a so-called 1553 data cable between the Russian Zarya module and NASA's Tranquility module while Parmitano collected an equipment bag and mounted it near the station's airlock.

Earlier, carrying out another get ahead, Cassidy inspected a power and data grapple fixture on the Russian segment of the station where engineers believed a loose grounding wire might be visible. He was told to pull any slack out of the line, but Cassidy said he did not see anything amiss.

"It looks already done," he reported.

Connection of an ethernet cable that would route data to and from the robot arm attachment fixture was deferred to next week's spacewalk.

Summarizing, the spacewalkers:
Installed a replacement Ku-band communications transceiver to replace a unit that failed last December
Mounted two radiator grapple beam support clamps to the port and starboard sides of the station's power truss; the RGBs are designed to secure radiator panels during repair or replacement work
Retrieved a pair of materials science space exposure experiments
Retrieved a television camera assembly that needs repairs
Routed bypass jumper cables to permit more efficient recovery from electrical problems
Installed a protective cover over the station's forward docking port
Routed power and data cables that will be needed when a new Russian laboratory module arrives late this year or early next
Inspected a robot arm attachment fitting on the Russian Zarya module
Moved an equipment bag back to the Quest airlock

Cassidy and Parmitano plan to stage a second spacewalk next Tuesday to complete a backlog of maintenance and assembly tasks.

12:20 PM EDT, 07/09/13: Second radiator clamp installed; bypass jumpers in work

A second radiator mounting clamp has been installed on the International Space Station's power truss, completing one of the major objectives of today's spacewalk. Astronauts Christopher Cassidy and Luca Parmitano completed the radiator grapple beam's attachment to the left side of the power truss at 11:43 a.m.

Running well ahead of schedule, Cassidy is now working to install bypass jumper cables on the Z1 truss atop the central Unity module. The work will be completed during a second spacewalk next Tuesday. The jumper cables will enable flight controllers to quickly reconfigure electrical loads in the wake of failures that otherwise would require a spacewalk.

Parmitano, meanwhile, got off the station's robot arm and stowed his foot restraint.

He and Cassidy plan to meet back up to install a protective cover over the station's forward port where space shuttles once docked. After the cover is in place, the spacewalkers will make their way back to the Quest airlock.

11:05 AM EDT, 07/09/13: First radiator clamp installed; astronauts ahead of schedule
Astronaut Luca Parmitano, anchored to the end of the space station's robot arm, prepares to pick up a radiator grapple beam after removing a failed camera on the arm's mobile base station. (Credit: NASA TV)
Luca Parmitano and Christopher Cassidy have successfully mounted the first of two large clamps on the International Space Station's power truss. The clamps, known as radiator grapple beams, or RGBs would be used to secure large cooling radiators during any future repair or replacement.

The first RGB was installed on the right side of the power truss at 10:45 a.m. Parmitano, mounted on the end of the station's robot arm, then moved back toward the center of the station to retrieve a failed camera assembly mounted on the arm's mobile base station. He planned to hand the camera off to Cassidy, who will carry it to the station's airlock.

Parmitano then will pick up the second RGB and arm operator Karen Nyberg will move him toward the other side of the power truss where he and Cassidy will attach it to mounting brackets.

After the second RGB is installed, Cassidy will begin work to connect electrical bypass jumpers on the Z1 truss. The jumper cables will enable flight controllers to quickly reconfigure electrical loads in the wake of failures that otherwise would require a spacewalk.

Three hours into a planned 6.5-hour spacewalk, Cassidy and Parmitano were running about 25 minutes ahead of schedule.

09:35 AM EDT, 07/09/13: Ku-band transceiver replaced; materials science experiments retrieved

Ninety minutes into a planned 6.5-hour spacewalk, astronauts Christopher Cassidy and Luca Parmitano have completed their initial objectives.

After struggling a bit with a tight bolt, Cassidy replaced a Ku-band transceiver on the Z1 truss atop the International Space Station's central Unity module to restore redundancy to the lab's high-speed satellite communications network.

Parmitano, meanwhile, retrieved a pair of materials science space exposure experiments from a pallet on the right side of the station's solar power truss that will be returned to Earth later this year.

The astronauts now are turning their attention to moving the first of two large clamps that will be mounted on either side of the station's power truss to hold radiator panels in place if repairs or replacement are ever required.

Parmitano, the first Italian to walk in space, will be anchored to the end of the space station's robot arm for the work to install the radiator grapple beams, or RGBs. Astronaut Karen Nyberg will operate the arm from a robotics work station inside the Destiny lab module.

The astronauts have not encountered any significant problems and as of 09:30 a.m., they were running about 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

"Hey Chris, are you in a place where you can look down?" Parmitano radioed Cassidy as the station sailed 250 miles above Africa just south of Egypt.

"Yeah," Cassidy replied. "Not bad, huh?"

"It's amazing."

08:20 AM EDT, 07/09/13: Spacewalk begins

Floating in the International Space Station's Quest airlock module, astronauts Christopher Cassidy and Luca Parmitano switched their spacesuits to battery power at 8:02 a.m EDT (GMT-4), officially kicking off a planned six-and-a-half hour spacewalk.

The primary goals of the excursion are to replace a Ku-band communications transceiver; to install cabling needed by a Russian laboratory module scheduled for launch late this year; to retrieve a pair of space exposure materials science experiments; to mount a pair of radiator servicing attachment fittings; and to carry out routine maintenance.
Astronaut Luca Parmitano floats moves along the International Space Station's main power truss after retrieving a pair of materials science experiments that will be returned to Earth later this year. (Credit: NASA TV)
For identification, Cassidy, call sign EV-1, is wearing a suit with red stripes using helmet camera No. 20. Parmitano, EV-2, is wearing an unmarked suit. The first Italian to walk in space, Parmitano is using helmet camera No. 17.

This is the 170th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, the fourth so far this year, the fifth for Cassidy and the first for Parmitano.

Both men plan to carry out another spacewalk next Tuesday to complete a long list of maintenance and assembly tasks.

"Why spacewalks now? The program has collected a number of tasks over the last couple of years," said flight director David Korth. "We like to wait to do EVAs because EVAs cost a lot of crew time and in the era of science and utilization, we try to minimize the perturbation to the overall (schedule).

"So the program has strategically placed a couple of EVAs this summer to, as we call it, burn down the list of tasks that require EVA."

Regardless of the strategy, Cassidy and Parmitano said they were eager to venture outside.

"I remember distinctly the feeling the first time I opened the hatch and looking down at the planet," Cassidy said in a NASA interview. "I remember thinking, wow, holy cow, I'm really here!

"It probably was only half a second that I kind of froze and was awestruck by the situation, but it felt like it was probably a minute or two that I was gawking. Fortunately I moved on and quickly got about my work before (then crewmate) Dave Wolf could reach behind and smack me on the head and say, come on, new guy, let's go!"

This time around, the "new guy" is Parmitano. And during a pre-launch news briefing, he said he wasn't taking anything for granted.

"Any spacewalk is challenging. ... just because the environment is so different from anything we know here on Earth," he said. "Chris and I have been training together underwater, preparing for the tasks we will be doing. It's a special challenge.

"Previously during the shuttle times, EVAs were highly choreographed, so everything was planned and choreographed and trained over and over again until every step was perfected. On the station, we don't have that luxury to train as much. So we need to be a lot more flexible."

Space Station Program Manager Mike Suffredini said it takes about 100 hours of crew time to prepare for a spacewalk, time that is lost to research.

As a result, "what you try to do is to get in as many EVAs as you can before you have to re-check the suits, flush the cooling lines, or any number of things we have to do before we do an EVA," he said. "So there's an efficiency to try to go outside a few times in a row. If you know you've got enough tasks to keep you busy, then you try to get as much of those done (as you can)."

Cassidy, a former Navy SEAL, was first out of the Quest hatch, followed by Parmitano. Cassidy's first job was to move up to the Z1 truss atop the central Unity module to replace a space-to-ground transmitter receiver controller, part of a Ku-band communications link, that failed last December.

The system is redundant and station communications are operating normally. But a second failure would have a major impact and mission managers want to restore full redundancy to protect against possible problems in the future.

"We're becoming very reliant on the Ku system," Suffredini said. "So making sure we have this redundant capability is important to us. We can live without it, for sure, but it would be a big impact if we lost it."

While Cassidy works on the transceiver swap out, Parmitano will move to the right side of the station's solar power truss to retrieve a pair of space exposure experiment pallets that will be returned to Earth later this year aboard a commercial SpaceX Dragon cargo ship.

Parmitano also plans to photograph the massive Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle physics detector mounted nearby to help engineers assess its condition after two years in the space environment.

Cassidy and Parmitano then will team up to install two radiator grapple bars, or RGBs, that were delivered to the station aboard a Dragon cargo ship last March. The RGBs are needed, one on each side of the power truss, to hold radiator cooling panels if a swap out is ever required.

Parmitano, anchored to the end of the space station's robot arm, will carry one RGB to the right side of the truss where he and Cassidy will bolt it in place. Astronaut Karen Nyberg, operating the arm from inside the station's Destiny laboratory module, then will move Parmitano back toward the port side of the truss.

Along the way, he plans to remove a failed camera assembly from the robot arm's mobile base so it can be returned to Earth for refurbishment.

While that work is underway, Cassidy will install power and data cables between the Russian segment of the station and the Unity compartment that will be needed by a new Russian multi-purpose laboratory module, or MLM, that will serve as a laboratory, docking port and airlock.

The new module, known as Nauka, will replace the current Pirs airlock compartment. It is scheduled for launch aboard an unmanned Proton booster late this year, but NASA insiders say the flight could slip to the spring timeframe because of assembly delays in Russia.

A Proton rocket carrying three navigation satellites veered out of control, broke apart and crashed seconds after launch July 2 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Protons currently are grounded pending an investigation, but the expected Nauka delay is unrelated to the launch failure. In any case, Protons should be back in service well before the MLM is ready for flight.

After installing the MLM wiring, Cassidy will take the failed camera assembly from Parmitano and carry it back to the Quest airlock. Parmitano, meanwhile, will carry the second RGB to the port side of the truss.

After helping Parmitano install the left-side RGB, Cassidy will begin routing so-called Y-bypass jumper cables on the Z1 truss that will enable flight controllers to quickly reconfigure electrical loads in the wake of failures that otherwise would require a spacewalk.

While Cassidy works to install the bypass jumpers -- the work will be completed during next week's spacewalk -- Nyberg will maneuver Parmitano back to the center of the power truss where he will get off the robot arm and stow the foot restraint that anchored him in place.

Cassidy and Parmitano will meet back up for the final major task of the day, installing a protective cover over the station's forward port where space shuttles once docked. After that, the duo will head back to the Quest airlock and call it a day.
© 2011 William Harwood/CBS News
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Astronauts Successfully Completed First of Two July Spacewalks
July 10, 2013 at 02:40
Matteo Emanuelli

Astronaut Chris Cassidy (left) acquired a total of 29 hours, 42 minutes of spacewalking time. Luca Parmitano (right) is the first Italian performing an EVA (Credits: NASA)
Astronauts Chris Cassidy and Luca Parmitano went outside the International Space Station (ISS) in a scheduled Extravehicular Activity (EVA) on June 9. The EVA was scheduled to perform a variety of activities on the exterior of the US segment of the orbiting laboratory.
"In a few hours, from the AirLock, a new stage of this extraordinary experience will begin," wrote an enthusiastic Parmitano on Twitter before the EVA. "My thoughts are of gratitude for this privilege."
Veteran spacewalker Cassidy and Parmitano, on his first EVA experience, ventured outside the Quest airlock at 12:02 GMT. Both astronauts started their preparation for the EVA while they were still on Earth, going through many rehearsals of their individual tasks. The preparation continued in orbit, reviewing the many procedures that they had to perform, helped also by virtual reality devices.
To enable the spacewalk, the station was moved again to the nominal orientation from the attitude acquired on June 30 to perform the Solar's observations. Cassidy was the first to go out, followed by Parmitano, but they soon separated to performed different tasks. The US astronaut was initially sent to replace the Space to Ground Transmitter Receiver Controller-2 (SGTRC-2), which failed in December 2012. SGTRCs are crucial parts of the station Ku-Band communications systems, used to receive and transfer data via NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. Meanwhile, Parmitano translated on the truss to retrieve the Materials International Space Station Experiment 8 and the Optical Reflector Materials Experiment. Parmitano also took pictures of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 2. The pictures will provide scientists with information on the health of the instrument, after more than 2 years in orbit. Then, Cassidy started the cable routing task in preparation for the arrival of the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, delayed to spring 2014 because of the recent Proton rocket failure.
Both spacewalkers joined force to install the two Radiator Grapple Bars (RGB). RGBs would allow Canadarm2 to handle and hand-off large radiators in the event of a failure of the replacement operation at some point in the future. To support RGBs' installation, Parmitano had to ride the Canadarm2, operated by astronaut Karen Nyberg from inside the station. Cassidy and Parmitano repeated the RGB operation on both the starboard and the port side.
The US EVA-22, the second spacewalk of Expedition 36 after Russian EVA-33, was completed ahead of schedule, in 6 hours and 7 minutes. Cassidy and Parmitano will venture outside once again on July 16, to perform another series of tasks.
Below, highlights of the EVA-22 (Courtesy of NASA TV).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t9Q4E1oILqs

© Copyright 2013 — Space Safety Magazine. All Rights Reserved

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Space Station Astronaut Becomes Italy's 1st Spacewalker
by Miriam Kramer, Staff Writer
09 July 2013 Time: 02:42 PM ET

European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano is moved via the International Space Station's robotic arm to a different part on the outside of the orbiting laboratory. Image released July 9, 2013.
CREDIT: NASA
View full size image
Italy, you have a spacewalker. European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano became the first Italian ever to walk in space today (July 9) outside of the International Space Station.
Parmitano, a 36-year old Italian astronaut , spent just over six hours working outside the space station alongside crewmate Chris Cassidy of NASA, and offered his thanks for an exhilarating first spacewalk.
Clad in a white spacesuit with his country's green, white and red flag decorating his left shoulder, Luca Parmitano emerged from the International Space Station to become Italy's first astronaut to walk in space on July 9, 2013. Prior to his excursion, Parmitano shared a taste of his home country with his crewmates.
CREDIT: NASA
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"Thank you," Parmitano said, adding another round of thanks in his native Italian language before signing off.
Among other tasks, Parmitano and his fellow space station crewmember NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy retrieved a pair of materials science experiments, installed radiator grapple bars and successfully replaced a space-to-ground communications controller unit that failed in December 2012.[See more photos from today's space station spacewalk]
Because Parmitano and Cassidy ran ahead of schedule, the speedy spacewalkers were able to start in on tasks originally scheduled for their second spacewalk next Tuesday (July 16).
"Life is good," Cassidy said near the end of the spacewalk.
Cassidy and Parmitano also readied the station for the launch of a new Russian module later this year. They installed cables that will be used to power the new Multipurpose Laboratory Module upon its arrival at the station.
Parmitano also installed a cover that will protect a docking port where space shuttles attached to the station, according to NASA officials.
The two astronauts took some time to appreciate their unique view of Earth as the station orbited about 260 miles (418 kilometers) above the surface of the planet.
"It's amazing," Parmitano said when looking down at the Earth at the beginning of the spacewalk.
Now five-time veteran spacewalker Cassidy checked in on Parmitano periodically to see if his tasks were going smoothly.
Parmitano was perched on the tip of the Canadian Space Agency built robotic arm for much of the spacewalk. NASA's Karen Nyberg controlled the space station's 57.7 foot (17.6 meter) robotic arm from inside the International Space Station.
"It was fun working with you," Nyberg said as work with the robotic arm came to a close. "It was just like we trained."
Parmitano replied: "Even better."
Cassidy and Parmitano will take to the outside of the space station again on July 16 to continue preparations for the arrival of the new Russian laboratory as well as other jobs. The module is expected to be a staging ground for Russian spacewalks, function as a research facility and docking port, NASA officials have said.
The $100 billion International Space Station is the joint collaboration of five different space agencies that represent 15 countries. Construction of the largest structure ever built in space began in 1998 and has been staffed continuously by a rotating crew of astronauts since 2000. Cassidy and Parmitano's spacewalk is the 170th in support of space station maintenance in 15 years bringing total spacewalking time up to more than 1,000 hours.

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Jul. 9, 2013 6:29 PM
Spacewalkers get the job done, and then some
Astronauts spacewalk to perform upgrades to ISS: Astronauts venture outside the International Space Station to prepare the orbiting complex for a new Russian module and perform additional installations on the station.
Written by
Todd Halvorson
FLORIDA TODAY
CAPE CANAVERAL — Two astronauts ambled through myriad maintenance tasks outside the International Space Station on Tuesday, setting the stage for some finish-it-up work next week.
European astronaut Luca Parmitano and U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy rigged up power lines, retrieved research experiments, swapped out broken parts and staged equipment that would be used to remove failed radiators, if need be.
NASA Mission Commentator Rob Navias said the two worked "with maximum efficiency" as they waltzed through their scheduled work as well as four chores that had been planned for a spacewalk next Tuesday.
"Life is good," Cassidy said as the two headed into the home stretch of a six-hour, seven-minute outing.
"Couldn't be better," Parmitano said.
In Mission Control, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough said: "Concur."
Parmitano became the first Italian to walk in space during the excursion. Cassidy tallied his fifth foray.
Both wore protective spacesuits and were equipped with emergency jet backpacks. The jet backpacks would give astronauts a way to fly back to the outpost if braided steel safety tethers broke and they floated into the void.
The spacewalk was the 170th conducted in the assembly and maintenance of the station.
Cassidy and Parmitano are slated to set out on another planned 6.5-hour excursion at 8:10 a.m. EDT next Tuesday.
Contact Halvorson at thalvorson@floridatoday.com

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