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Nasa okays spacewalk for space station astronauts
Cape Canaveral, Fla, Feb 25: Nasa has overcome initial safety concerns and approved a spacewalk that will leave the orbiting international space station empty later this week, the US space agency said.
Cape Canaveral, Fla, Feb 25: Nasa has overcome initial safety concerns and approved a spacewalk that will leave the orbiting international space station empty later this week, the US space agency said.
The two astronauts aboard the station -- one American, the
other Russian -- will work outside for several hours with no one
inside to help them should a hatch get stuck, communications drop
out, or power fail.
During past space station spacewalks, there has always been a crew member inside or a space shuttle docked nearby.
A top space station official told reporters yesterday that the US space agency was initially sceptical of Russian plans for the joint spacewalk, known in Nasa parlance as an EVA, for extra-vehicular activity.
``We`ve had quite a lot of discussion about this EVA since it was first proposed by our Russian partners. It was met with some scepticism at that time,`` said Mike Seffredini, the space station`s operations manager.
That was last summer, when Nasa thought its remaining space shuttles would be ready to fly this summer. That date has slipped to late winter of 2005. The shuttles have been grounded since the fatal crash of the space shuttle Columbia in February 2003.
The shuttles are needed to deliver water and other critical supplies to the international space station, which has been limited to two astronauts since May.
Bureau Report
During past space station spacewalks, there has always been a crew member inside or a space shuttle docked nearby.
A top space station official told reporters yesterday that the US space agency was initially sceptical of Russian plans for the joint spacewalk, known in Nasa parlance as an EVA, for extra-vehicular activity.
``We`ve had quite a lot of discussion about this EVA since it was first proposed by our Russian partners. It was met with some scepticism at that time,`` said Mike Seffredini, the space station`s operations manager.
That was last summer, when Nasa thought its remaining space shuttles would be ready to fly this summer. That date has slipped to late winter of 2005. The shuttles have been grounded since the fatal crash of the space shuttle Columbia in February 2003.
The shuttles are needed to deliver water and other critical supplies to the international space station, which has been limited to two astronauts since May.
Bureau Report