CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Spacewalking cosmonauts breezed through some critical repair work at the International Space Station Monday, apparently clearing the way for NASA's shuttle Endeavour to set sail for the outpost Tuesday.
Working outside the station with cosmonaut colleague Mikhail Turin, Vladimir Dezhurov used a cutting tool to remove an errant rubber seal that had prevented a Russian Progress supply ship from docking firmly at the outpost after its arrival last week.
The Progress problem prompted NASA officials to delay the planned launch last Thursday of Endeavour on a station crew rotation mission.
The spacewalking repair work enabled latches between the Progress and the station to be snapped shut by ground controllers, creating a tight seal between the craft. Once leak checks are performed, NASA mission managers are expected to give Endeavour a green light for a 5:45 p.m. EST (2345 GMT) Tuesday launch from Kennedy Space Center.
"Guys, congratulations. Excellent job," a specialist in Russia's Mission Control Center told Dezhurov and Turin after the Progress was securely docked to the outpost.
"Thank you very much," one of the cosmonauts replied.Dressed in Russian Orlan spacesuits, Dezhurov and Turin floated out of the station's Pirs airlock at 8:20 a.m. EST (1320 GMT) as the outpost soared some 240 miles (384 kilometers) above Earth.
The two spent about an hour making their way to the rear end of the station's Russian-built crew quarters, where the Progress had been loosely docked since its arrival at the outpost last Wednesday.
A drogue and probe docking mechanism had been holding the Progress onto the so-called Zvezda, or Star, module, but a lengthy strand of debris kept latches between the craft from snapping shut.
With Dezhurov and Turin watching on, ground controllers extended the bar-like probe, creating a small gap between the Progress and the station.
The two cosmonauts then spotted a rubber O-ring seal that inadvertently stuck to Zvezda's aft berthing port when an older Progress craft was jettisoned from the station Nov. 22.
"Okay. I see something. It's rubber," Dezhurov told ground controllers. "It goes around the entire perimeter (of the berthing port) and I can see it from my side very clearly. And it's a little twisted or bent."
"Okay, guys. Now you have to figure out how to remove it," a ground controller said.
Armed with a cutting tool, Dezhurov quickly clipped the rubber seal, clearing the debris from the berthing port. Ground controllers then retracted the Progress docking probe so that latches between the craft could be closed.
The repair work was completed about 90 minutes after Dezhurov and Turin headed outside the station.
NASA contractor technicians, meanwhile, continued to gear up for the planned launch of Endeavour. The shuttle is to ferry a new crew and some 6.5 tons of supplies and equipment to the station and then return to Earth with the outpost's current tenants.
Flying up on Endeavour: shuttle skipper Dom Gorie, pilot Mark Kelly, mission specialists Linda Godwin and Daniel Tani and three station-bound passengers: Russian station commander Yuri Onufrienko and two American flight engineers, Daniel Bursch and Carl Walz.
Coming home on the shuttle: current station commander Frank Culbertson and his two cosmonaut colleagues, Dezhurov and Turin, the three of whom have been in space since August.
A shuttle launch Tuesday would lead to a Dec. 15 landing here at KSC. For Culbertson and his crew, a touch down that day would cap a 127-day stay in space.
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