14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at NASA announce that the first of two extra-vehicular activities aimed at repairing a malfunctioning ammonia pump on the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed by 24 hours. As per the space agency's announcements, two flight engineers on the orbital facility should have put their space suits on, and started the repair effort tomorrow, Friday. But crews on the ground, including engineers, ISS engineers and mission specialists said that they need an additional day to get all the details of the first spacewalk ready. The activity was therefore rescheduled for Saturday, August 7.
If the new time line is agreed upon and respected, then the second EVA could take place on Wednesday, August 11. Scientists at Mission Control say that developing all the operations procedures associated with a spacewalk in less than a week is an achievement in itself. Teams on the ground, based at various NASA research centers and facilities, have been working around the clock for 5-6 days, in a bid to make a spacewalk possible in such a short time. NASA astronauts Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson, both part of ISS' Expedition 24, will conduct the repair activities.
On July 31, an ammonia pumping station on the ISS went haywire. The malfunction forced astronauts to close down one of the two cooling loops on the station. Loop A played a crucial role in removing excess heat from a number of modules and research laboratories, and flight engineers now need to keep activities to a minimum, to avoid overheating. NASA says that the ISS crew was never in any danger, but adds that it needs to repair the glitch as soon as possible, given that the lack of two cooling loops affects the way that football field-sized machine functions.
“Teams of flight controllers, engineers, and spacewalk experts have made significant progress in preparing for the first spacewalk, but need an additional day to get ready. The additional time allows for final procedures to be sent late Thursday to the station, giving the crew a full day to review the plans developed by Mission Control. Managers also moved the second spacewalk to Wednesday to give the crew more time to rest and prepare,” NASA representatives say in a press release.