Originally published December 14 2005
U.S. astronaut and Russian cosmonaut prepare for spacewalk
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The crew took a short ride in their lifeboat to clear a docking port for a spacewalk scheduled in the near future. The purpose of the walk is to retrieve science experiments and to deploy an amateur radio experiment.
The crew of the International Space Station took a short ride in their Russian lifeboat today, clearing a docking port for a spacewalk tentatively scheduled to take place early next month.
But NASA officials say the spacewalk might be put off until January to give U.S. astronaut William McArthur and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev time to finish up other work aboard the orbiting outpost.
"We may decide to delay the spacewalk until early next year to ease the crew's work schedule," said Kelly Humphries, a spokesman for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
With Tokarev at the controls, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft backed away from the station's Pirs docking compartment, which doubles as an airlock for spacewalks.
The veteran cosmonaut then piloted the Soyuz on a slow move to an Earth-facing docking port on the Russian Zarya control module.
The Soyuz is the same ship McArthur and Tokarev flew to the station after their Sept. 30 launch, and they also will fly back to Earth in it next April.
The spacecraft would serve as an emergency lifeboat if the crew had to abandon the station.
The port-to-port move will enable McArthur and Tokarev to use the barrel-shaped Pirs compartment as an airlock for a spacewalk now scheduled for Dec. 7.
Working in Russian Orlan spacesuits, the two men plan to retrieve science experiments from mounting points outside the outpost and deploy an amateur radio experiment.
A delay until January would give the crew more time to prepare the station for the arrival in late December of a cargo-carrying Russian space freighter.
McArthur and Tokarev still have to finish unpacking the Progress cargo carrier that now is at the station.
The new freighter is scheduled to launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 21 and then dock at the outpost two days later.
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