CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- While much attention is focussed on the impending launch of shuttle Columbia Thursday for a 16-day science mission, the International Space Station (ISS) has nudged its way back into the limelight with a long-delayed spacewalk scheduled for two astronauts Wednesday.
Expedition Six commander Ken Bowersox and science officer Don Pettit are to spend nearly seven hours working about the orbiting complex, taking care of a handful of tasks that will prepare the ISS for future assembly operations.
"We're going to leave this station better than before, and more complete," said Daryl Schuck, spacewalk officer for Expedition Six at Mission Control in Houston.
Wearing American spacesuits, Bowersox and Pettit are scheduled to depart the U.S. Quest airlock about 7:30 a.m. EST (1230 GMT) Wednesday.
During the next few hours the spacewalking duo will put in some mileage making stops at five different modules.
Their tasks include releasing a radiator panel, cleaning a docking port, installing a light fixture, taking measurements on an ammonia line and retrieving tools from a storage container and bringing them back inside through the airlock.
The spacewalk originally was scheduled for December but was postponed due to medical concerns with Expedition Six Soyuz commander Nikolai Budarin.
NASA flight surgeons bumped him from the spacewalk reportedly because of concerns about Budarin's cardiovascular system that were raised following a routine exercise session done in early December.
Because this is a spacewalk being staged from the U.S. airlock and uses American spacesuits, NASA doctors have authority for certifying crewmembers for the spacewalk and decided to replace Budarin with Pettit.
NASA officials said Tuesday that if the situation were reversed and this had been a Russian-staged spacewalk, it would have been the Russian doctors who would have made the call on Budarin.
NASA managers wouldn't speculate on what the Russian physicians would decide.
Budarin is a veteran of eight spacewalks, spending 44 hours outside during two visits to the Mir space station.
Pettit, a spaceflight rookie, originally was a backup crewmember for Expedition Six but was promoted to the prime crew because of a medical issue certifying another astronaut for the flight.
Officials expressed confidence Pettit would do well during a spacewalk for which he received about half the training of his colleagues.
"I think he continus to shake his head and wonder what's next," Schuck said.
The spacewalk will be carried live on NASA TV.
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