Saturday, December 21, 2013

First spacewalk for repairs on the ISS - The Point

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – Two U.S. astronauts NASA conducted Saturday output half past five in the space to begin to repair one of the two circuits cooling the International Space Station (ISS).

this output, the first carried out on the ISS since July, was broadcast live on NASA Television.

Since the beginning of the failure on December 11, cooling station is provided by the second cooling circuit.

The incident forced the six crew members, however, in any danger, to turn off non-essential equipment and cancel dozens of scientific experiments.

The problem is a faulty valve in a pump located outside of the ISS and must be replaced.

The two American astronauts who repair, Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins, started working shortly after 12:00 GMT.

They finished an hour earlier than expected, successful not only out but also remove the faulty pump, five feet wide and weighing 354 pounds, which does should happen during a second output scheduled for Monday. If necessary, a third output will be held Wednesday to finish the job.

Irene Klotz, Guy Kerivel for the French service

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