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Shuttle mission extended a day

Alpha's new air lock can be seen sticking from the right side of the space station
Alpha's new air lock can be seen sticking from the right side of the space station  


By Richard Stenger
CNN

(CNN) -- Shuttle managers extended the mission of space shuttle Atlantis by one day to make up time lost dealing with pesky leaks of air, water and battery acid.

Meanwhile, crewmembers on both Atlantis and Alpha prepared for another spacewalk to work on the space station's newly installed air lock before going to sleep about 9 a.m. EDT.

The crews were awakened about 5 p.m. EDT to "Happy Birthday, Darlin'" by Conway Twitty. The song was played in honor of mission specialist Janet Kavandi who turned 42 on Tuesday.

Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly will conduct their second spacewalk of the mission, this one to hang two of four high-pressure gas tanks on Alpha.

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The oxygen and nitrogen tanks are three feet in diameter and weigh 1,200 pounds each. They are needed to use the air lock that Gernhardt and Reilly attached to the orbiting outpost during a spacewalk on Sunday. Without the $164 million entryway, Alpha crews could not don NASA suits and venture into space without the assistance of visiting shuttles.

On Tuesday, Gernhardt will be tethered to the end of the shuttle's robotic arm for much of the second spacewalk, which is scheduled to begin at about 10 p.m. EDT and last around six hours.

The remaining two tanks will be installed during the third spacewalk, which will be the first to be conducted from the new air lock. The third spacewalk was scheduled for Thursday, but it was pushed back to Friday after NASA added the day to the mission.

Leaks and alarms

The shuttle and station crews have lost about a half-day's work tackling leaks and spills -- described by NASA as minor -- since Atlantis arrived on orbit last Thursday.

The Atlantis crew: Seated with the insignia, Commander Steve Lindsey, right, and pilot Charles Hobaugh. In the rear, Mike Gernhardt, left, Janet Kavandi and Jim Reilly
The Atlantis crew: Seated with the insignia, Commander Steve Lindsey, right, and pilot Charles Hobaugh. In the rear, Mike Gernhardt, left, Janet Kavandi and Jim Reilly  

On Monday, astronauts dealt with air and water leaks as well as loud alarms as they prepared the 6.5-ton air lock for use. Jim Voss, an Alpha resident, said he could hear the leak.

"Just using our highly sensitive instrument -- our ears -- the starboard aft IMV(Intermodule Ventilation assembly) valve seems to be where the leak is. We can hear some air flow through there as the vestibule continues to re-pressurize using the station air," said Voss.

The crewmembers capped the leaky valve, but set aside troubleshooting until after Tuesday's spacewalk, according to NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries.

Earlier, an alarm blared from the space station laboratory Destiny. The computers seemed to have detected a water pressure drop and turned off the lab's cooling system.

Before that, Alpha and Atlantis crews mopped up a small amount of water that had spilled from a cooling link near the near air lock.

The cooling system, which prevents lab equipment from becoming too hot, resumed operations without a problem. But the alarm temporarily delayed astronauts as they worked on the air lock.

Earlier in the mission, on Friday, Atlantis astronauts discovered suspected battery acid leaking from a spare spacesuit. The possible toxic leak triggered a swift emergency cleanup by the Atlantis crew, which donned gloves and wiped down the area.

The Alpha crew: Jim Voss, left, Yury Usachev and Susan Helms
The Alpha crew: Jim Voss, left, Yury Usachev and Susan Helms  

NASA said it would return the spacesuit to Earth instead of storing it in the space station as originally planned.

Despite the leaks and spills, NASA said Alpha's new robot arm performed well when it moved the air lock from the shuttle payload bay to the station.

The $600 million, multi-jointed crane had worried mission controllers when it developed a stiff shoulder joint during testing.

The three persons living on Alpha were delighted to see the five crewmembers of Atlantis, the first visitors to the space station in more than two months.

"They brought up some special food items like pork chops and chocolate that we definitely appreciated," Alpha resident Susan Helms said during a televised news conference.

The Alpha crew is scheduled to return to Earth in August after spending almost half a year in orbit.

Now that the mission has been extended, Atlantis is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center early next Tuesday.






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