Expedition 9 commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineer Michael Fincke, the station's current occupants, are now scheduled to leave the ISS in their Russian Orlan spacesuits no earlier than June 24, NASA spokesman Rob Navias told SPACE.com.
Previously, Padalka and Fincke were preparing to conduct the spacewalk on June 15 at the earliest, but mission controllers needed more time to go over the details of extravehicular activity (EVA).
"It's just to fine-tune procedures for the EVA itself," Navias said.
If the June 24 date holds, the Expedition 9 crew would begin EVA procedures at about 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) that day and spend about six hours working outside the space station, Navias added.
Maintenance
The goal of the upcoming spacewalk is to repair a faulty device called a remote power controller module, which regulates power to one of three operational gyroscopes used to keep the space station positioned correctly.
The power controller failed on April 21, after Padalka and Fincke boarded the ISS, cutting power to its gyroscope. A minimum of two gyroscopes is required to orient the space station without the use of Russian thrusters. A fourth gyroscope failed in 2002 and NASA officials hope to replace it once space shuttle flights resume.
Fincke has said that he and Padalka have both been trained in a wide variety of general repairs, and feel fully capable of performing the spacewalk.
The Expedition 9 crew has spent the last three days preparing for their repair spacewalk and have checked out their Orlan spacesuits, installing equipment they will need during the EVA. ISS mission controllers originally planned to stage the spacewalk from the U.S.-built Quest airlock and use the NASA's Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits. A cooling problem with Padalka's suit led ground controllers to decide on using the Orlan spacesuits and stage the spacewalk out of the Russian Pirs docking compartment.
Ground support
NASA officials have said the spacewalk would mark the first time that flight controllers in Houston and Moscow took turns as the EVA's primary ground support team.
A June 4 description of the spacewalk's plan called for Russian experts to monitor Padalka and Fincke as they don their Orlan suits, exit the Pirs airlock and use the space station's Russian-built Strela crane to reach the U.S. built portion of the ISS. There, U.S. flight controllers in Houston will watch over the power controller repair.
Once power has been restored to the space station's gyroscope, Padalka and Fincke will pull themselves hand-over-hand to the Russian crane, where Houston flight controllers will handoff EVA ground support back to their Moscow counterparts.
The space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm has been positioned so that its cameras will give ground support teams a good view of the spacewalk's work area.
Navias said any changes in scheduling for the upcoming spacewalk will not affect the timeline for two other EVAs, one in July and another in August, aimed at station upkeep and preparing the ISS to receive an automated transport vehicle under development by the European Space Agency.
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