NASA: Spacewalkers ready space station for new module

A commander and flight engineer on the International Space Station successfully completed a spacewalk early this morning, preparing for the arrival of a new Russian module.

Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Mike Barratt spent a little less than five hours outside of the space station. The mission, according to NASA, included installing docking antennas, a docking target and electrical connectors.

All of the new gear was installed to get the space station ready for the arrival of the Russian Mini-Research Module-2, which also is known as MRM2, later this year. The new module will serve as an additional docking port for Russian spacecraft.

The space station saw its crew double from the traditional three astronauts to six late last week. The station now is able to host more people because of a recent upgrade to its power capabilities.

The start of the spacewalk was delayed slightly because Russian ground teams reported that data sent back to Earth from the Russian Orlan spacesuits showed slightly elevated levels of carbon dioxide. The astronauts said they felt fine during the walk, however.

Another spacewalk is scheduled for Wednesday so an internal docking mechanism can be installed.

NASA astronauts on the space shuttle Atlantisperformed five spacewalks last month in their 13-day mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronauts installed new batteries, new gyroscopes, a new computer and new cameras on the 19-year-old orbiter. The telescope will soon be looking out toward the edge of the observable universe, probing the early history of the cosmos.

For more enterprise computing news, visit Computerworld. Story copyright Computerworld, Inc.