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Mir Spacewalk A Success
A four-hour spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts on the Russian Mir space station August 22 to reconnect power cables from solar panels mounted on the damaged Spektr module was a success, although the power generated by the panels was less than expected.
![[image of Spektr model]](../9709/images2/spektr.jpg)
Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov overcame a few problems just before the spacewalk began to successfully complete the repair, which involved replacing the hatch to the Spektr module with one that includes connectors for power cables from the module's solar panels.
"This is a super day," said American astronaut Michael Foale, who monitored the spacewalk from inside the Soyuz spacecraft docked to Mir. "We carried out everything we set out to do and more. Well done, everybody."
The spacewalk, which had been slated to begin around 5am EDT (0900 UT) August 22, was first delayed when the crew had problems depressurizing the docking node, which served as the staging area for the spacewalk. The hatch sealing off the Kristall module from the docking node was leaking air, and required the cosmonauts to reseal the hatch.
Then, just before the spacewalk was to begin, Vinogradov noticed the left glove of his spacesuit was leaking air: a dangerous, potentially fatal situation in vacuum. The crew found a replacement glove which sealed properly after about an hour's delay.
Russian mission control considered canceling the spacewalk, since the crew had already used more than an hour of the oxygen available in their spacesuits, but decided to proceed after consultations with the crew.
After all the problems leading up to the spacewalk, the repairs themselves were almost anticlimactic. The two spacewalkers were able to easily replace the old Spektr hatch with the new one and connected 11 cables from Spektr's three functioning solar panels to the new hatch.
Solovyov and Vinogradov also reported that the Spektr module was in much better shape that anyone expected, with no evidence of a hull puncture from the June collision with a Progress cargo spacecraft the depressurized the module. They were able to retrieve some equipment left behind in the module when it was sealed off after the accident.
After a weekend of rest, the crew connected the solar panels to the station's power supply. The new panels generated about 140 amps of current, less than the 300 amps predicted by Russian officials before the spacewalk. A faulty motor used to move the solar panels into alignment with the Sun may be the cause of the lack of current.
The crew used the new source of electricity to power up equipment in two modules, Kristall and Kvant-2. Power will be used later to restart equipment in the Priroda module.
The spacewalk had been scheduled for August 20, but was delayed two days when the main computer on Mir failed August 18, requiring two days of repairs to bring the station back online.