14 DAY TRIAL // After inspecting the controversial spacesuits, NASA decided to lift the imposed ban, which allows them to continue with the scheduled program. Due to the incident which took place last Friday, when a Russian trainee smelled smoke, coming from the EMU unit, NASA decided to stop all activity regarding the usage of the spacesuits, except those on board the International Space Station.
This Thursday, the officials involved themselves in verifying the spacesuits, decided that they are clear from further missions, since there is no potential for a fire hazard. This is especially good news for NASA, since they are already behind schedule in the construction of the space station and astronauts on board the station still have to conduct two critical spacewalks next week, to finish the connection of the Harmony module, before the arrival of the shuttle Atlantis.
Though the source of the smell has not yet been identified, the primary suspect is the carbon dioxide scrubber housed inside the Extravehicular Mobility Unit, which has the role of removing the carbon dioxide from the suit, to provide a 100 percent oxygen artificial atmosphere. The restrictions were mainly imposed as a precaution, but no evidence of combustion was found.
The EMUs are critical for spacewalks, since they provide life support for the astronauts using them. A potential fire inside a spacesuit would probably be lethal, due to the high flammability of the rich oxygen atmosphere.
In preparation for the mission planned on 24th of November, astronauts on board the International Space Station refilled the water supplies of the EMUs and installed additional cooling system radiator outside the space station. NASA also approved plans to go ahead with the series of spacewalks scheduled for December, when the shuttle Atlantis will deliver the Columbus laboratory module, which will be docked to one of Harmony's docking ports. Actually, the Harmony module built by Italy was specially created as a node point between the European and Japanese laboratories, on board the space station.
The launch of the Atlantis shuttle is programmed for 6th of December. The mission is planned to last eleven days.