Author Topic: LIVE: Expedition 35 US Spacewalk (EVA-21) - May 11, 2013 (Read 148203 times)

Space Pete · « **Reply #20 on:** 05/10/2013 11:57 am »

It is actually very convenient that both Cassidy and Marshburn are on the ISS at the time of this failure: Not only have they both previously conducted two EVAs together on STS-127 in July 2009, but one of those EVAs involved the changeout of batteries on the P6 Truss - which is the same worksite as will be used for tomorrow's EVA, and in addition, the batteries use the same type of bolts and alignment guides as the PFCS.

As for an indicator of whether the Soyuz landing has been delayed: Keep an eye on this NASA Gulfstream III aircraft that will bring Marshburn and Hadfield back to the States from Kazakhstan. As it is scheduled to fly out to Kazakhstan today (actually takeoff is scheduled for just 15 minites from now), whether it does take off or not will be a good indication of whether or not the landing has been postponed.

Track the aircraft here: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/NASA2

Galactic Penguin SST · « **Reply #21 on:** 05/10/2013 12:10 pm »

Quote from: Space Pete on 05/10/2013 11:57 am

It is actually very convenient that both Cassidy and Marshburn are on the ISS at the time of this failure: Not only have they both previously conducted two EVAs together on STS-127 in July 2009, but one of those EVAs involved the changeout of batteries on the P6 Truss - which is the same worksite as will be used for tomorrow's EVA, and in addition, the batteries use the same type of bolts and alignment guides as the PFCS.

As for an indicator of whether the Soyuz landing has been delayed: Keep an eye on this NASA Gulfstream III aircraft that will bring Marshburn and Hadfield back to the States from Kazakhstan. As it is scheduled to fly out to Kazakhstan today (actually takeoff is scheduled for just 15 minites from now), whether it does take off or not will be a good indication of whether or not the landing has been postponed.

Track the aircraft here: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/NASA2

Already took off: http://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/nasa2

Space Pete · « **Reply #22 on:** 05/10/2013 12:17 pm »

Quote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 05/10/2013 12:10 pm

Already took off: http://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/nasa2

Hmmm - well if the Soyuz landing is delayed by 10 days, then they could get stuck in central Kazakhstan with not-a-lot to do!

Space Pete · « **Reply #23 on:** 05/10/2013 12:30 pm »

Looks like the two EMUs are ready to go.

-----
Edit:

I wonder what is the record for the shortest time for EVA planning (i.e. the shortest time between the start of EVA planning and going out the door)?

John44 · « **Reply #24 on:** 05/10/2013 12:50 pm »

Expedition 35 - Crew Inside the Airlock Preparing for Saturday’s EVA ?
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8251

John44 · « **Reply #25 on:** 05/10/2013 01:30 pm »

May 10, Friday
4 p.m. - ISS Status Briefing (time subject to change) - JSC (All Channels)

anik · « **Reply #26 on:** 05/10/2013 02:03 pm »

Crew Preparing for Possible Spacewalk Saturday
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition35/e35_051013.html

Following Thursday's identification of an ammonia coolant leak outside the International Space Station, the Expedition 35 crew Friday began preparing for a possible spacewalk Saturday. Mission managers are discussing the information that was gathered overnight about the leak on the far left-side of the station's truss structure, called the P6 with P standing for port. A final decision on whether to go forward with a spacewalk is not expected until late tonight.

The crew is not in danger, and the station continues to operate normally otherwise. Work is underway to reroute power channels to maintain full operation of the systems normally controlled by the solar array that is cooled by the suspect loop.

Expedition 35's Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn began preparing for the possible spacewalk to inspect the area it appears the leak is originating from, and potentially make repairs to the leaking ammonia cooling loop. Station managers are meeting this morning and will meet again tonight to discuss procedures and timeline work for a spacewalk, if approved.

Working in the Quest airlock, astronauts Cassidy and Marshburn checked out the U.S. spacesuits they would wear if a spacewalk is approved, and Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield began preparing to asssist as the “intravehicular” crewmember, or spacewalk choreographer.

Cassidy and Marshburn have each conducted three spacewalks, all on the STS-127 mission to the ISS in 2009. They collaborated on two of those spacewalks.

Late Thursday morning, the Expedition 35 crew reported seeing small white flakes floating away from an area of the station’s P6 truss structure. The crew used handheld cameras and Mission Control used external television cameras to gain additional imagery in an attempt to narrow down the leak’s location. The crew’s reports, along with imagery and data received by flight controllers in Mission Control in Houston, confirmed that the rate of the ammonia leaking from this section of the cooling system increased.

Ammonia is used to cool the station’s power channels that provide electricity to station systems. Each solar array has its own independent cooling loop. This ammonia loop is the same one that spacewalkers attempted to troubleshoot a leak on during a spacewalk on Nov. 1, 2012. It is not yet known whether this increased ammonia flow is from the same leak, which at the time was not visible. It is anticipated that the 2B power channel, which is one of eight power channels to supply electricity for station systems, will be depleted of ammonia coolant by late this morning and will be shut down.

Prober · « **Reply #27 on:** 05/10/2013 02:17 pm »

Quote from: Space Pete on 05/10/2013 08:10 am

Well well, this is getting exciting!

This is when NASA training, and NASA in general look really good.

Squid.erau · « **Reply #28 on:** 05/10/2013 02:19 pm »

IMMT meeting has been going on since 13:00 GMT. Went over the EVA plan that is apparently up on L2, addressed some Russian concerns with having the Soyuz ready to undock if there is a problem during the EVA (requirement for a Russian EVA, but not for a US one here aparently). Currently discussing the plan to not transition to YVV attitude because of charging from the ionosphere. Probably going to turn off the PCUs (plasma contactor units) to reduce shock hazard to the crew, but there will still be some small risk of crew shock. Decision on whether to tape the EMUs still pending, based on crew timeline (do they have time to spare to tape the suits) or whether the risk is small enough to just go.

Space Pete · « **Reply #29 on:** 05/10/2013 02:25 pm »

Quote from: Prober on 05/10/2013 02:17 pm

This is when NASA training, and NASA in general look really good.

100% agree. When the poop hits the fan like this, we really see NASA at its stereotypical, cool, calm, prepared, professional, methodical, diligent, absolute best.

Squid.erau · « **Reply #30 on:** 05/10/2013 02:28 pm »

IMMT complete. EVA go/no-go decision still planned for 5pm CDT (2200 GMT). No major outstanding issues, just working on refining procedures, and looking at the plasma environment.

Lee Jay · « **Reply #31 on:** 05/10/2013 02:31 pm »

One of these is not the same as the others (as expected - look a the currents).

http://spacestationlive.nasa.gov/displays/spartanDisplay1.html

JimO · « **Reply #32 on:** 05/10/2013 02:41 pm »

Quote from: Space Pete on 05/10/2013 02:25 pm

Quote from: Prober on 05/10/2013 02:17 pm
This is when NASA training, and NASA in general look really good.

100% agree. When the poop hits the fan like this, we really see NASA at its stereotypical, cool, calm, prepared, professional, methodical, diligent, absolute best.

Pre-deployment and planning helps.

We had some favorite 'classic quotations' to inspire us:

some chinese general, 200 BC: The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.

Suvorov [who beat Napoleon]: Fighting is easy. training is hard.

Said of Tiberius, Roman emperor who led armies in Germany: "His drills were bloodless battles. His battles were bloody drills."

ADD: Said by Josephus of the roman armies that beat him
http://books.google.com/books?id=v_ZVubRc1mQC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=%22His+drills+were+bloodless+battles.+His+battles+were+bloody+drills.%22&source=bl&ots=BL4gQFUOle&sig=5Ly6P2hx6ImSU237mF9hTTmXRAE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TQiNUd2PNZOA9gTJ34GQCQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22His%20drills%20were%20bloodless%20battles.%20His%20battles%20were%20bloody%20drills.%22&f=false
and also said of Frederick the Great.

psloss · « **Reply #33 on:** 05/10/2013 02:45 pm »

Quote from: Squid.erau on 05/10/2013 02:28 pm

IMMT complete. EVA go/no-go decision still planned for 5pm CDT (2200 GMT). No major outstanding issues, just working on refining procedures, and looking at the plasma environment.

Thanks for the updates -- is 2200 GMT another IMMT meeting?

Squid.erau · « **Reply #34 on:** 05/10/2013 02:53 pm »

Quote

Thanks for the updates -- is 2200 GMT another IMMT meeting?

I believe so.

psloss · « **Reply #35 on:** 05/10/2013 03:04 pm »

NBL development run going on (from today's Space Station Live) with astronauts Terry Virts and Samantha Cristoforetti. (Via PAO Dan Huot's commentary.)

psloss · « **Reply #36 on:** 05/10/2013 03:16 pm »

Per Space Station Live commentary from Dan Huot, one of the factors that increases the desire to do the EVA sooner is to get to the site of the leak while there's still some ammonia, which will hopefully help identify the leak source.

Space Pete · « **Reply #37 on:** 05/10/2013 03:24 pm »

Oooh, I got a Tweet from Doug Wheelock!

Quote

Pete ‏@Space_Pete:
@Astro_Wheels I'm sure your QD experience will come in very handy Wheels!

Douglas H. Wheelock ‏@Astro_Wheels:
@Space_Pete Discussing choreography this morning. These QD's often don't play nice, but confidence is high & the team is ready to execute.

psloss · « **Reply #38 on:** 05/10/2013 03:29 pm »

Quote from: Space Pete on 05/10/2013 03:24 pm

Oooh, I got a Tweet from Doug Wheelock!

Quote
Pete ‏@Space_Pete:
@Astro_Wheels I'm sure your QD experience will come in very handy Wheels!

Douglas H. Wheelock ‏@Astro_Wheels:
@Space_Pete Discussing choreography this morning. These QD's often don't play nice, but confidence is high & the team is ready to execute.

Nice -- yeah, the bolts, too. This ORU has probably been bolted to P6 for close to 20 years.

missinglink · « **Reply #39 on:** 05/10/2013 03:39 pm »

Thank you all, I feel a lot better now having come here to be reassured.