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Spacewalkers to unwrap cupola windows tonight BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: February 16, 2010 
Astronauts Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick are gearing up for a third and final spacewalk to activate a second ammonia coolant loop for the space station's new Tranquility module and to remove insulation and launch locks securing shutters to a seven-window observation deck.
This will be the 140th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in 1998, the fourth so far this year and the third for Behnken and Patrick. The first major task will be to open valves routing ammonia coolant to and from Tranquility. The module was tied into one of the station's two independent coolant loops during the crew's second spacewalk, allowing engineers to power up Tranquility's internal systems. Coolant loop B will be activated this evening. The astronauts will then remove a temporary "keep-alive" power cable that is no longer needed and complete outfitting of a pressurized docking port that was moved to Tranquility's outboard port late Monday. From there, the astronauts will make their way to the cupola on Tranquility's Earth-facing port to remove protective insulation covering the observation deck's seven windows. They also will remove launch locks securing aluminum shutters that protect against micrometeoroid impacts. If all goes well, the windows will be uncovered for the first time, one at a time, starting around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. "The plan is, after the spacewalkers have removed the launch locks, we will then be able to open the shutters," said station Flight Director Bob Dempsey. "We want to open them while the spacewalkers are still out there so if there are any problems with these new shutters, they can go over and make sure they can be closed." The cupola will provide spectacular panoramic views for Earth observation and serve as a robot arm work station, giving arm operators direct views of approaching cargo ships and maintenance sites. Robot arm computer displays and control equipment will be moved into the cupola overnight Wednesday. Dempsey said all of the shutters will be opened during initial checkout while this evening's spacewalk is proceeding. "At one point, we will have all the shutters open to sort of verify and get a view," Dempsey said. "The crew will be taking some video inside, we'll also see what video we can get outside with the windows during the spacewalk and after. "I'm not sure we'll get a good view of the astronauts while they're out spacewalking from there. I hope to, but they need to be at least 10 feet away from the open shutters because the water that comes out of their evaporator cooling systems could contaminate the windows a little bit, plus we want to make sure that they're not near it so they physically don't kick or have any tools or anything that bump against the windows and possibly scratch them." Built by Thales Alenia Space, the cupola weighs 1.6 tons, featuring six trapezoidal side windows and a 31.5-inch circular top window, the largest ever launched into space. Each window features a protective "scratch" pane on the interior side, two inch-thick pressure panes and a debris pane on the outside to protect against space debris impacts. When not in use, the windows will be covered by the aluminum shutters, which are manually cranked open and closed by the astronauts. The greatest threat from a debris standpoint is from the front, along the direction of the station's 5-mile-per-second velocity vector. Shutters on the forward-facing windows typically will remain closed unless visibility in that direction is needed. Trailing windows can remain open for longer periods. "We do have a very long flight rule that deals with the operations of this particular set of equipment," Dempsey said. "The two most major concerns of operating the shutters are thermal and micrometeoroid debris. ... The debris concern, obviously, is more severe. There's not a lot of debris out there but it wouldn't take much for a small piece of debris coming through and damaging these windows. "Even though they're reinforced to prevent anything happening to the crew, we want to keep them in good pristine condition so that over a long period of time, the crew will have good views since this will be used for not only Earth observations but for things like capturing, with the robotic arm, upcoming visiting vehicles. "So as long as we can keep within these constraints, the crew can open the windows more or less as needed," Dempsey said. "The windows that are going into the velocity vector where you're more likely to have debris come in and strike it will be closed most of the time. The large round one that faces the Earth, or the nadir, side and the two rear facing ones ... those can pretty much be open as much as the crew wants. So we anticipate that they'll have that open a lot during the crew day to look out, take pictures, whatever they want to do. The other ones, just when they need it for operations." The cupola robotic work station will be used during the next shuttle visit in April to remove a cargo carrier from Discovery's cargo bay and attach it to the station. Here is an updated timeline of today's activity (in EST and mission elapsed time; includes revision I of the NASA television schedule): EST........DD...HH...MM...EVENT 02/16 04:14 PM...08...12...00...STS/ISS crew wakeup 04:54 PM...08...12...40...EVA-3: 14.7 psi repress/hygiene break 05:39 PM...08...13...25...EVA-3: Airlock depress to 10.2 psi 07:19 PM...08...15...05...Cupola vestibule outfitting 07:34 PM...08...15...20...EVA-3: Spacesuit purge 07:49 PM...08...15...35...EVA-3: Spacesuit prebreathe 08:39 PM...08...16...25...EVA-3: Crew lock depressurization 08:49 PM...08...16...35...Cupola audio terminal install 09:09 PM...08...16...55...EVA-3: Spacesuits to battery power 09:14 PM...08...17...00...EVA-3: Airlock egress/setup 09:39 PM...08...17...25...EVA-3: EV1: Open loop B QDs 09:39 PM...08...17...25...EVA-3: EV2: PMA-3 HD cable install 09:49 PM...08...17...35...Cupola UDP install 10:09 PM...08...17...55...EVA-3: EV1: Node 3 LTA cable demate 10:29 PM...08...18...15...MTL sample tool install 10:39 PM...08...18...25...EVA-3: Cupola MLI removal 11:49 PM...08...19...35...EVA-3: EV1: Node 3 outfitting 11:49 PM...08...19...35...EVA-3: EV2: Cupola launch locks 02/17 12:29 AM...08...20...15...EVA-3: EV2: APFR relocation 12:34 AM...08...20...20...Cupola window shutters opened 12:44 AM...08...20...30...Cupola FSS fill 12:49 AM...08...20...35...EVA-3: EV2: VSC video cable routing 12:54 AM...08...20...40...Cupola panel install 01:09 AM...08...20...55...EVA-3: EV1: VSC video cable routing 02:09 AM...08...21...55...EVA-3: Get aheads; node 2 CBM ops 03:09 AM...08...22...55...EVA-3: Cleanup and ingress 03:39 AM...08...23...25...EVA-3: Airlock repressurization 03:54 AM...08...23...40...Spacesuit servicing 04:14 AM...09...00...00...Node 1 Airlock/ITCS reconfig 05:30 AM...09...01...16...Mission status briefing on NTV 07:44 AM...09...03...30...ISS crew sleep begins 08:14 AM...09...04...00...STS crew sleep begins 09:00 AM...09...04...46...Daily highlights reel on NTV 01:30 PM...09...09...16...Flight director's update on NTV 04:14 PM...09...12...00...Crew wakeup
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VIDEO:
STEP-BY-STEP PREVIEW OF SPACEWALK NO. 3 