American given go on spacewalk
■ NASA approves Mir
mission as the second
Russian-U.S. exploration.
MOSCOW (AP) — An
American astronaut who endured
the worst crash in the history of
space exploration - and lots of
other cosmic headaches - got long
awaited good news Thursday: He
gets to cap his thrill-a-minute stay
on Mir with a spacewalk.
NASA approved Michael
Foale’s participation in Saturday’s
mission barely a day before he is to
float out of the Russian space sta
tion. Foale will assist Anatoly
Solovyov on what the agency
described as a six-hour reconnais
sance mission.
Making only the second
Russian-U.S. spacewalk, the two
men are to look for punctures in the
damaged Spektr module, pierced
by a cargo ship in a June 25 colli
sion wit&JM&r. : '
Even though the decision had
been expected for weeks, if had to
be a relief forifoale. He was openly
disappointed at the scrubbing of his
first scheduled spacewalk -
Mission Control called it that
although it was inside the station -
into the airless, sealed-off Spektr in
July. Russian officials opted then to
. JT ‘3; ' -- • ‘ ' %■
leave the job to a replacement crew
of freshly rested cosmonauts.
With Mir safety conditions
under intense scrutiny after a
months of mechanical breakdowns,
accidents and a fire, NASA waited
until almost the last possible
moment before approving the plan
during a meeting with Russian offi
cials at Mission Control outside
Moscow.
Frank Culbertson, director of
NASA’s shuttle-Mir program, said
everyone involved in the reviews,
in both countries, made sure “that
we’ve covered all the bases and that
we understand the levels of risk.”
Speaking from Johnson Space
Center in Houston, Culbertson
described the spacewalk as being of
“moderate risk” and “not very
complicated.”
The main hazards of the walk
are sharp edges on the exterior of
Mir that could rip spacesuits, said
Gregory Harbaugh, acting manager
of NASA’s spacewalk projects
office.
However risky, the task is
unlikely to faze Foale, who since
arriving on Mir in May has lived
through the near-catastrophic June
collision, a power blackout, mal
functions in the oxygen generation
system and a computer crash.
~ The 40-year-old Foale is no
■
rookie, having done a spacewalk
outside a shuttle in 1995. He has
had 44 hours of spacewalk training
inside Mir and 148 hours of
Russian training before his launch
to Mir, according to NASA.
Still, American officials
requested that he be paired with the
veteran Solovyov.
The much-decorated 49-year
old cosmonaut is without peer in
open space, having logged more
than 41 hours there on nine walks.
He also performed vital repairs in
an interior spacewalk with Mir
engineer Pavel Vinogradov last
month.
iuc uugiuai pian lur aaiuruay
was to have Foale and Solovyov
patch any holes they could find in
Spektr. But after Thursday’s plan
ning session, NASA said the agen
da wa$ full even withouLrepair
work and that patching will be left
for future spacewalks.
The spacewalkers will closely
inspect the Mir hull and videotape
any damage, searching in particular
for holes in a radiator that was hit
by the supply ship, as well as
around a solar array on Spektr that
got mangled.
They also wHl try to realign at
least one-of the three undamaged
solar panels, positioning it to col-;
lect more sunlight.
-
If there’s time, the men will also
attach a cap on the core module to
serve as a vent valve for another
carbon dioxide-removal system,
and will try to retrieve a radiation
gauge that was placed outside by
Jerry Linenger during the previous
U.S.-Russian spacewalk last
spring.
Russian space officials, mean
while, argued on in the often harsh
debate about who caused the June
crash.
A space commission reportedly
issued findings that ground con
trollers share responsibility for the
collision with the Mir’s former
crew, contradicting an earlier ver
dict that blamed onlv cosmonauts
Vasily Tsibliyev and Alexander
Lazutkin.
A third, inter-agency commis
sion will have the final say.
Another former Mir cosmonaut
jumped in to back Tsibliyev and
Lazutkin, saying the 11 -year-old
station is full of delapidated equip
ment.
^ The Mir’s equipment is used
-until it’s completely worn out and
this always has very dangerous
consequences,** former Mir flight
engineer Gennady Strekalov told
Associated Press Television. “It’s
all down to a lack of funding. And
the crew can’t be blamed.
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