Outside the International Space Station, Expedition 41 Flight Engineers Reid Wiseman and Barry Wilmore of NASA replaced a voltage regulation device and relocated camera and television equipment during a spacewalk Oct. 15, the second excursion outside the Quest airlock by station astronauts in U.S. spacesuits in as many weeks. The voltage regulator, called a Sequential Shunt Unit, failed in May, taking down one of eight power channels for station systems. Its replacement brought the station’s electrical output back to full capacity. The repositioning of the camera and television equipment was the first step in a major reconfiguration of station systems and modules to accommodate next year’s delivery of new docking adapters that will be used by commercial crew vehicles later this decade. The spacewalk was the 183rd in support of station assembly and maintenance, the second by Wiseman and the first for Wilmore.
Tag: Expedition 41
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NASA Astronauts Conduct Spacewalk on ISS
Clad in U.S. spacesuits, Expedition 41 Flight Engineers Reid Wiseman of NASA and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency conducted a spacewalk outside the International Space Station Oct. 7 to relocate a failed cooling pump and to install a power cable device designed to provide backup electrical capability to the station’s rail car system. The spacewalk was the 182nd in support of station assembly and maintenance and the first for both Wiseman and Gerst.
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Training for Blue Dot
ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst recounts his training for his Blue Dot mission to the International Space Station in May 2014. Alexander spent over four years learning science, survival techniques, new languages, robotic operations and Space Station systems to prepare for his mission.
Alexander discusses basic training, overseeing docking of ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle space freighter, spacewalk training in swimming pools, the merits of US and Russian spacesuits and the scientific experiments he will conduct.
Alexander will spend six months on the Space Station performing experiments and maintaining the weightless laboratory. He is part of Expedition 40/41 to be launched May 2014 on a Soyuz spacecraft with cosmonaut commander Maxim Surayev and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman.