Author Topic: RS EVA VKD-61 - Nauka outfitting/RTOd leak tasks - Oct 25 2023 (Kononenko, Chub) (Read 32593 times)

eeergo · « **on:** 10/10/2023 05:21 pm »

Spacewalk still on in spite of the leak on Nauka's external radiator, although understandably modified to account for it.

https://twitter.com/katlinegrey/status/1711779893954883950

SMS · « **Reply #1 on:** 10/10/2023 05:25 pm »

Quote from: eeergo on 10/10/2023 05:21 pm

Spacewalk still on in spite of the leak on Nauka's external radiator, although understandably modified to account for it.

https://twitter.com/katlinegrey/status/1711779893954883950

October 25th, 2023 is correct schedule date!

eeergo · « **Reply #2 on:** 10/10/2023 05:36 pm »

Well spotted, thanks!

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #3 on:** 10/16/2023 09:22 am »

https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv/

Wednesday, Oct. 25
2 p.m. — Coverage of Russian Spacewalk 61 at the International Space Station to install a synthetic radar communications system, deploy a solar sail technology satellite, replace electrical connector patch panels, and photograph the Multipurpose Laboratory Module’s external radiator. Spacewalk expected to begin at approx. 2:30 p.m. and last approx. 6 hours, 45 minutes

= ~18:30 UTC

russianhalo117 · « **Reply #4 on:** 10/16/2023 09:13 pm »

Quote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 10/16/2023 09:22 am

https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv/

Wednesday, Oct. 25
2 p.m. — Coverage of Russian Spacewalk 61 at the International Space Station to install a synthetic radar communications system, deploy a solar sail technology satellite, replace electrical connector patch panels, and photograph the Multipurpose Laboratory Module’s external radiator. Spacewalk expected to begin at approx. 2:30 p.m. and last approx. 6 hours, 45 minutes

= ~18:30 UTC

The SAR instrument to be installed is Rakurs and was built by IPG. The instrument will be mounted on a special adapter of the UFP2 passive standard attachment point of the Nauka module

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #5 on:** 10/23/2023 03:18 pm »

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-roscosmos-spacewalk-outside-space-station/

Quote

NASA will provide live coverage as two Roscosmos cosmonauts conduct a spacewalk outside the International Space Station Wednesday, Oct. 25, to install communications hardware and inspect a portion of the orbital complex.

Coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. EDT on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. The spacewalk is expected to begin at 2:10 p.m. and could last up to seven hours.

Expedition 70 cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub will venture outside of the station’s Poisk module to install a synthetic radar communications system and release a nanosatellite to test solar sail technology. While outside the station, they also will inspect and photograph an external backup radiator on the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module that experienced a coolant leak on Oct. 9.

The spacewalk will be the 268th in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades. It will be the sixth for Kononenko, who will wear the Orlan spacesuit with red stripes and the first for Chub, who will wear the spacesuit with blue stripes.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #6 on:** 10/24/2023 11:10 pm »

Here's the YouTube link for Russian-language coverage:

as well as the press kit imagery from Roscosmos's Telegram.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #7 on:** 10/24/2023 11:11 pm »

And the rest of the press kit:

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #8 on:** 10/24/2023 11:25 pm »

The Napor-miniRSA equipment that will be installed on the exterior of Nauka was reportedly launched to the station with Progress MS-22 back in February 2023:

https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/87787/

Quote

The spaceship is also carrying kits for Russian scientific experiments, including Kardiovektor, Neiroimmunitet, Pilot-T, Matryoshka-R, Biomag-M, Antiseptik, Probiovit, Struktura, Fotobioreaktor, Biodegradatsiya, Biopolimer, and Sepatsiya.

Additionally, it will supply equipment for the Napor-miniRSA experiment and an ASN-KM satellite navigation antenna to be installed on the exterior of Russian modules during spacewalk.

There are some references to another Napor-miniRSA experiment in the 2016-17 timeframe, so I'm not sure how those are related.

Edit - after some additional research, it seems like Napor-miniRSA involves both an optical and a radar component, and the optical part's been up there for a while - it's those cameras that UrtheCast sent up there back in 2013 that took a couple EVAs to successfully install during Expedition 38. Now that Nauka's up and running, they can finally install the SAR component and start cross-referencing between the observations.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #9 on:** 10/25/2023 01:24 pm »

Russian comms have switched over to Space-to-Ground 2 in advance of today's spacewalk.

Targeteer · « **Reply #10 on:** 10/25/2023 01:28 pm »

Quote from: Yellowstone10 on 10/25/2023 01:24 pm

Russian comms have switched over to Space-to-Ground 2 in advance of today's spacewalk.

Quote from: Yellowstone10 on 10/25/2023 01:24 pm

Russian comms have switched over to Space-to-Ground 2 in advance of today's spacewalk.

Sometoday, maybe today, I wish an expert/insider would explain the functional differences between SG 1 and SG 2..

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #11 on:** 10/25/2023 03:25 pm »

Port and starboard SARJs are both in Shutdown mode as of about 15:20Z. (Presumably for EVA ops?)

The video feed is also now on a "No WVS Video" test screen, and the Node 1 WETA is one of the downlink video sources.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #12 on:** 10/25/2023 03:59 pm »

SG2 now has a Russian-to-English translator narrating the spacewalk preps.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #13 on:** 10/25/2023 04:40 pm »

Working through leak checks on Poisk - sounds like everything's going as planned so far.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #14 on:** 10/25/2023 05:04 pm »

Waiting for the prebreathe period to finish up...

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #15 on:** 10/25/2023 05:21 pm »

Prebreathe is finishing up right about now. They're currently about 8 minutes ahead of schedule.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #16 on:** 10/25/2023 05:29 pm »

Pressure is down to 35 millimeters.

theonlyspace · « **Reply #17 on:** 10/25/2023 05:32 pm »

nICE VIEW OF THE THREE SPACECRAFT

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #18 on:** 10/25/2023 05:34 pm »

NASA TV coverage has started. Rob Navias is today's commentator.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #19 on:** 10/25/2023 05:38 pm »

Thermal Loop #1 is the leaky one, and Loop #2 is active. Both loops go through both the body mounted radiators and the external radiator - but they'll be closing some valves at the radiator to shut off both loops from the RTOd at this point. They'll also connect the external radiator part of Loop #2 to the fluid reservoir they used to fill it, so as to provide thermal expansion space, since they're not draining that loop. Eventually they hope to bring up more fluid to refill Loop #1.

Navias is also discussing the additional clean-up steps they'll take to mitigate any risk of bringing coolant inside the ISS - careful wipedowns, plus an extra filtration system activated in Poisk for about 24 hours.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #20 on:** 10/25/2023 05:41 pm »

Mission Control views. David Saint-Jacques of CSA is the USOS capcom.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #21 on:** 10/25/2023 05:50 pm »

Hatch is open, EVA has officially begun - 12:49 pm Central, 1:49 pm Eastern.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #22 on:** 10/25/2023 05:53 pm »

Navias reports that the first 3 hours or so of the EVA will be dedicated to radiator ops.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #23 on:** 10/25/2023 05:54 pm »

Protective ring has been installed, hatch is secured open. Nikolai Chub will be the first one out the hatch so he can start acclimating himself to movement in the suit (this being his first EVA).

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #24 on:** 10/25/2023 05:58 pm »

Cosmonauts are bringing a couple of equipment bundles outside the airlock. No video coverage at the moment, they're in that Ku-band dead spot over the Indian Ocean.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #25 on:** 10/25/2023 06:06 pm »

snrk:

One cosmonaut, presumably Chub: "This is not really convenient."

The other, presumably Kononenko: "Better get used to it."

(also inconvenient, the lack of video coverage)

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #26 on:** 10/25/2023 06:15 pm »

One cosmonaut reports that he's feeling warm in his suit. The other (given that they're in an orbital night) quips that it must be the moonlight heating him up.

(25 minutes into this EVA and still audio-only. Is this what it was like to follow EVAs back in the Shuttle era?)

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #27 on:** 10/25/2023 06:16 pm »

A helmet camera view! Although I'm not sure who or of what.

Edit - there's a view of the SAR antenna that will be deployed with the Napor-miniRSA experiment, from Chub's helmet.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #28 on:** 10/25/2023 06:22 pm »

Napor antenna is also outside the airlock - that's the last of it, they'll now move those down to Nauka.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #29 on:** 10/25/2023 06:25 pm »

Chub is by the operator station of Strela, to start moving stuff down from Poisk down to the worksite.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #30 on:** 10/25/2023 06:28 pm »

Looking forward towards the back side of the truss - with a small cameo by Crew Dragon.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #31 on:** 10/25/2023 06:32 pm »

Still trying to work out the best way to tether everything to the movable ring on Strela. The object Chub is holding is the mount on which they'll affix the radar antenna.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #32 on:** 10/25/2023 06:35 pm »

Actually I think we had the cosmonauts backwards - we can now see the blue stripes on the other one's suit, so that's Chub, and the camera must be on Kononenko.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #33 on:** 10/25/2023 06:38 pm »

The cosmonauts have the radiator in view - one of them mentioned not seeing any obvious defects, at least from this angle.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #34 on:** 10/25/2023 06:41 pm »

The blocky thing is the dispenser for the Parus satellite they'll deploy later in the spacewalk.

First-time spacewalker Chub notes that the sun is really quite bright.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #35 on:** 10/25/2023 06:48 pm »

A great view down of Baja California. MCC-Moscow reports having issues receiving both cosmonauts' helmet cam views, which must be referring to the standard-definition older cameras (rather than the HECA on Kononenko).

Edit - also, our first view from a station camera, of some feet.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #36 on:** 10/25/2023 06:52 pm »

Lots and lots of tethers.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #37 on:** 10/25/2023 07:03 pm »

Still more discussion of tethers, but they're finally translating down toward Nauka (over an hour into the EVA).

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #38 on:** 10/25/2023 07:11 pm »

Now getting things tethered / secured to Nauka, near the base of the radiator.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #39 on:** 10/25/2023 07:20 pm »

Kononenko has translated down to the ERA operator post, below the radiator. Lots of flakes as he went by, but I suspect that's his helmet knocking off paint chips.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #40 on:** 10/25/2023 07:24 pm »

~~Chub~~ Kononenko opened valves 1-KL and 2-KL on a bypass line of some sort.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #41 on:** 10/25/2023 07:33 pm »

Actually Chub this time, working on closing some valves at the radiator itself. (Navias has gotten them backwards a few times.)

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #42 on:** 10/25/2023 07:37 pm »

More valves. MCC-Moscow suggests that Chub might want to take a short break.

Edit - interestingly, he did a couple (4 and 5) with a wrench and then the rest with a hand tool. Not sure what the difference was there? The ones that he's doing by hand (6 to 9), he's doing a quarter turn at a time down the row, then repeating that over and over.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #43 on:** 10/25/2023 07:45 pm »

Navias reports that they are 25-30 minutes ahead of schedule.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #44 on:** 10/25/2023 07:49 pm »

Chub is now on his 26th pass over the valves, one-quarter turn at a time... He was warned that some coolant might come out after this point, so to be careful.

And now up to 29!

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #45 on:** 10/25/2023 07:57 pm »

Chub eventually got to 34 quarter-turns, then Kononenko opened valve KR-2 (I think) to connect the radiator loop to the coolant reservoir. They wrapped up with close-out photos.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #46 on:** 10/25/2023 08:01 pm »

Chub is reviewing the radiator - he reports some black spotting and slight rippling in the panels.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #47 on:** 10/25/2023 08:20 pm »

Got called off into a meeting at just the wrong time - there's now a large blob of coolant on one of the lines at the radiator joint, that's occasionally spitting off droplets.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #48 on:** 10/25/2023 08:27 pm »

One end of a tether got soaked in coolant and was splashing droplets around. The spacewalkers have been told to leave the area. They quite sensibly concluded that the famous Russian space towels would not be up to the job of cleaning that up.

Edit - added a picture of the tether getting wetted by the coolant.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #49 on:** 10/25/2023 08:42 pm »

Kononenko and Chub are now back at Poisk to retrieve the equipment for their next tasks.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #50 on:** 10/25/2023 08:49 pm »

Kononenko has the radar antenna, but one of the deployment pins has popped out prematurely. They're trying to get it re-seated, but can't seem to push it far enough in - don't really have anything thin enough.

Update - they found a wrench that did the trick.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #51 on:** 10/25/2023 09:06 pm »

Here's a freeze-frame showing a bubble that's just about to pop - shows exactly where the point of the leak is.

centaurinasa · « **Reply #52 on:** 10/25/2023 09:14 pm »

Quote

RS EVA-61 (ET: 3:15; 5:04pm EDT): Kononenko and Chub are now working to install a mini synthetic aperture radar instrument on a fixture attached to the Nauka module; no more work at the radiator leak site is planned

https://twitter.com/cbs_spacenews/status/1717288264455913607

centaurinasa · « **Reply #53 on:** 10/25/2023 09:16 pm »

Quote

After arranging their cargo, the spacewalkers are now returning to Nauka for the installation of a remote-sensing radar, the module's first scientific instrument:

https://twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb/status/1717287625021706472

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #54 on:** 10/25/2023 09:17 pm »

The spacewalkers are back down at Nauka, pretty close to the radiator - I haven't heard any remarks about any change of procedure to avoid the coolant blob, so they must not be too worried.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #55 on:** 10/25/2023 09:28 pm »

Heading to the next worksite, although apparently a handrail wasn't quite in the spot they expected, which caused a bit of difficulty.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #56 on:** 10/25/2023 09:30 pm »

Sunrise on the ISS.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #57 on:** 10/25/2023 09:34 pm »

Another view of the Napor-miniRSA radar antenna on its mounting frame.

Edit - also, there's the portable workstation that was deployed during the previous Russian spacewalk.

Robotbeat · « **Reply #58 on:** 10/25/2023 09:37 pm »

What is the actual coolant composition?

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #59 on:** 10/25/2023 09:41 pm »

MCC-Moscow: "OK guys, relax, rest, and enjoy the view."

Cosmonaut: "That's what we're doing!"

(Mission Control has repeated themselves several times. They seem dubious.)

Quote from: Robotbeat on 10/25/2023 09:37 pm

What is the actual coolant composition?

Some type of silicone oil - polymethylsiloxane or something like that. Not particularly volatile, as you can tell.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #60 on:** 10/25/2023 09:44 pm »

Positioning the radar equipment over the mounting point.

centaurinasa · « **Reply #61 on:** 10/25/2023 09:45 pm »

Quote

RS EVA-61 (ET: 3:14; 5:03pm EDT): Taking a break from the radar installation work, a cosmonaut observed "the view here is just... knock you off your feet;" MCC-Moscow: "All right, guys, relax, rest and enjoy the view;" cosmonaut: "That's exactly what we're doing"

https://twitter.com/cbs_spacenews/status/1717295318310478327

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #62 on:** 10/25/2023 09:54 pm »

About 4 hours into the EVA. No Pistol Grip Tools on the Russian side, so instead the equipment is installed by turning a handle. They've turned said handle several dozen rotations, and the radar equipment isn't coming away from the mounting point, but it's also still loose.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #63 on:** 10/25/2023 10:00 pm »

They got the adapter installed firmly (and this was confirmed by telemetry from ground controllers). Chub wire-tied the handle in place, and Kononenko is demating some cables that they will presumably hook up to the radar.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #64 on:** 10/25/2023 10:08 pm »

Now that the equipment is affixed to the station, Chub is working to un-spool the cables they'll use to hook up the radar.

centaurinasa · « **Reply #65 on:** 10/25/2023 10:08 pm »

Quote

RS EVA-61 (ET: 4:15; 6:04pm EDT): The cosmonauts are wrapping up installation of the payload adapter that will support the synthetic aperture radar instrument; meanwhile, a nice helmetcam view of the southern Pacific Ocean 260 miles below

https://twitter.com/cbs_spacenews/status/1717301275073696231

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #66 on:** 10/25/2023 10:13 pm »

If any of the USOS crew are up and about, they're probably getting a good view from the Cupola there.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #67 on:** 10/25/2023 10:28 pm »

Cabling work.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #68 on:** 10/25/2023 10:44 pm »

Interesting - that component with the handles and the crank was actually a multiple-use manual actuator unit that they have now removed.

centaurinasa · « **Reply #69 on:** 10/25/2023 10:47 pm »

Quote

Nearly five hours into today's spacewalk, two cosmonauts successfully install a radar communications system to a payload adapter on the Nauka module

https://twitter.com/Space_Station/status/1717311321656463493

catdlr · « **Reply #70 on:** 10/25/2023 10:48 pm »

Quote from: Robotbeat on 10/25/2023 09:37 pm

What is the actual coolant composition?

Video is available of the Coolant leak in the MLM discussion thread

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=59664.msg2534781#msg2534781

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=59664.msg2534792#msg2534792

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #71 on:** 10/25/2023 10:55 pm »

Ground controllers report that they've confirmed via telemetry that all cables for the radar unit have been hooked up correctly.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #72 on:** 10/25/2023 10:59 pm »

Kononenko and Chub are discussing the differences between training in the Hydro Lab and the real thing - for one, they note that you can move with less resistance in space.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #73 on:** 10/25/2023 11:09 pm »

The Parus dispenser has been clamped to a handrail. Mission Control is now talking to Borisov on another channel to make sure he's ready to get imagery of the deployment.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #74 on:** 10/25/2023 11:15 pm »

Borisov is getting the camera positioned for the desired view. Kononenko joked to MCC-Moscow that he'd already pulled the safety pin - really he just attached a tether to it.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #75 on:** 10/25/2023 11:19 pm »

Nanosat's power LEDs are on.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #76 on:** 10/25/2023 11:23 pm »

Parus satellite deployed at 6:20 pm Central, albeit in slightly janky fashion - the door opened, but the spring didn't push it out right away, possibly due to a temperature issue.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #77 on:** 10/25/2023 11:29 pm »

The radar monoblock is also apparently deploying, but the camera angles are focused on the nanosat. It's supposed to deploy its sail very shortly.

(Er... they're now saying that the sail should have deployed already. It has not.)

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #78 on:** 10/25/2023 11:38 pm »

The radar antenna looks pretty well deployed.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #79 on:** 10/25/2023 11:43 pm »

Kononenko is back up at the zenith end of Nauka, having brought the Parus dispenser back with him. Still no joy on the solar sail deployment.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #80 on:** 10/25/2023 11:50 pm »

Two of the four panels of the radar only partially deployed (the other two deployed fully), so the spacewalkers are going to head back to that worksite and attempt to manually deploy them the rest of the way.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #81 on:** 10/25/2023 11:59 pm »

This view shows the hinge that didn't quite deploy to 180°.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #82 on:** 10/26/2023 12:14 am »

It seems that the panel can move to the full 180-degree position, but it's not locking into place and springs back to 160 degrees or so.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #83 on:** 10/26/2023 12:26 am »

It looks like those pins are supposed to be held in place by latches once they move to 180°, but the latches aren't working for some reason. Chub is fiddling around inside the latch socket area with tools to see if he can get it to move.

MCC Moscow has just told him to stand down, but Chub doesn't sound happy with this.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #84 on:** 10/26/2023 12:54 am »

The spacewalkers are working their way back up to Poisk.

(I have to drop offline for a bit - may or may not be back for airlock entry and repress, so if anyone wants to tag in please go ahead!)

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #85 on:** 10/26/2023 01:35 am »

Hatch closure time was 8:30 pm Central, 9:30 pm Eastern for an EVA duration of 7 hours 41 minutes.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #86 on:** 10/26/2023 01:43 am »

The obligatory "By the Numbers" shot, plus one of the video board at MCC Moscow.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #87 on:** 10/26/2023 01:46 am »

Navias has signed off, wrapping up NASA TV coverage.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #88 on:** 10/26/2023 02:01 am »

For /u/jcm's records, in addition to the Parus deployment, there were also two towels / towel bundles discarded around 9:05 pm Eastern, one for each cosmonaut.

jcm · « **Reply #89 on:** 10/26/2023 03:57 am »

Quote from: Yellowstone10 on 10/26/2023 02:01 am

For /u/jcm's records, in addition to the Parus deployment, there were also two towels / towel bundles discarded around 9:05 pm Eastern, one for each cosmonaut.

Thanks for this, I was stuck in meetings and other duties today.

LtCmdr · « **Reply #90 on:** 10/26/2023 11:37 am »

Elbow repair on the Russian Orlan MKS n° 4 space suit ?
Check these September 2021 and October 2023 photos $:-\$

SMS · « **Reply #91 on:** 10/26/2023 07:42 pm »

NASA ISS EVA stats:

space_19771999 · « **Reply #92 on:** 10/26/2023 11:27 pm »

NASA photos

FutureSpaceTourist · « **Reply #93 on:** 10/30/2023 07:22 pm »

Couple more photos posted by NASA

https://flic.kr/p/2pcJJK2

https://flic.kr/p/2pcMaia

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #94 on:** 12/16/2023 04:24 am »

Minor update while I'm looking at Celestrak tonight: the two towel bundles that were jettisoned during this EVA were tracked as 1998-067VZ, which decayed on 12 November 2023, and -067WB, which decayed on 15 November. The Parus nanosatellite has descended about 20 km to a semi-major axis of 395 km.

Yellowstone10 · « **Reply #95 on:** 04/01/2024 11:57 pm »

According to Celestrak, the Parus nanosatellite that was deployed during this EVA (which was tracked as 1998-067WA) reentered on 29 March 2024.

https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/graph-altitude.php?CATNR=58174