Two Russian space station astronauts took a spacewalk Monday to complete a camera job left unfinished last month.
Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy quickly got one of two commercially provided cameras installed outside the International Space Station, a task requiring multiple power connections.
Everything checked out well, unlike the spacewalk last month.
The two men worked so hard that Russian Mission Control outside Moscow urged them to "get your breath."
"We'll force ourselves to rest," one of the spacewalkers replied in Russian.
The astronauts had hooked up the Earth-observing cameras during a spacewalk after Christmas but ground controllers received no data from the cameras, and the spacewalkers had to haul everything back in.
The problem was traced to indoor cabling and fixed, according to NASA.
This time, after the spacewalkers reattached the high-definition camera to the outside of the Russian portion of the space station, good electrical connectivity was reported between the instrument and Russian Mission Control.
NASA spokesman Rob Navias said Russian flight controllers were pleased with the results.
Next, Kotov and Ryazanskiy tackled the medium-resolution camera.
Images from these new cameras will be distributed by the Canadian company that owns them, UrtheCast Corp.
The cameras were launched to the space station in November in a deal between UrtheCast and the Russian Space Agency.
UrtheCast will post video on its website and sell images. The company expects it will take three months to calibrate the cameras, and that the system should be fully operational by summer.
The four other space station astronauts—two Americans, one Japanese and another Russian—monitored the spacewalk from inside.
 |
| Oleg Kotov |
Everything checked out well, unlike the spacewalk last month.
The two men worked so hard that Russian Mission Control outside Moscow urged them to "get your breath."
"We'll force ourselves to rest," one of the spacewalkers replied in Russian.
The astronauts had hooked up the Earth-observing cameras during a spacewalk after Christmas but ground controllers received no data from the cameras, and the spacewalkers had to haul everything back in.
The problem was traced to indoor cabling and fixed, according to NASA.
 |
| Sergey Ryazanskiy |
NASA spokesman Rob Navias said Russian flight controllers were pleased with the results.
Next, Kotov and Ryazanskiy tackled the medium-resolution camera.
Images from these new cameras will be distributed by the Canadian company that owns them, UrtheCast Corp.
The cameras were launched to the space station in November in a deal between UrtheCast and the Russian Space Agency.
UrtheCast will post video on its website and sell images. The company expects it will take three months to calibrate the cameras, and that the system should be fully operational by summer.
The four other space station astronauts—two Americans, one Japanese and another Russian—monitored the spacewalk from inside.
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