First of Two Spacewalks Set for Friday to Fix ISS Cooling Loop
NASA has set Friday, August 6, as the day for the first of two spacewalks to fix a broken ammonia pump for one of the two International Space Station’s cooling loops. As reported earlier, the pump blew a circuit breaker on the station Saturday night and it could not be reset. Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson were preparing for a spacewalk on Thursday already for an unrelated task and now will shift their attention to solving this problem instead.
A second spacewalk will take place on Monday, August 9, to complete the repairs. The pump is located on the exterior of the space station, on the S1 truss, and spare pumps are stored there. NASA stresses that space station systems are stable and the crew is in no danger.
NASA TV will broadcast the spacewalks. They both are scheduled to begin at 5:55 am Central Time (6:55 am EDT). Press briefings are scheduled for approximately two hours after the end of each spacewalk.
Correction: An earlier posting of this article misspelled astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson’s name.
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