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Spektr Leak Not Found During Mir Spacewalk

A six-hour spacewalk outside the Spektr module on the Mir space station September 6 by an American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut failed to turn up any evidence of a hole in the module which led its depressurization after a June collision with a cargo spacecraft.
     Anatoly Solovyov and Michael Foale made an extensive survey of the exterior of the module during their spacewalk, the second joint American-Russian spacewalk outside the space station, but failed to find anything that resembled a gash in the hull of the module.
     In an inspection of five of the seven areas on Spektr believed to be involved in the June 25 collision, Solovyov and Foale saw marks on the module and damage to one of the solar panels, but could not find any holes in the module. The two other areas on Spektr will be checked in a later spacewalk.
     This has led to speculation that the leak may be a loose joint in the solar panel damaged in the collision. The spacewalkers noted that the panel was bent irreparably out of shape, with at least one section broken.
     If the leak is related to the solar panel, it would be "technically the most difficult scenario for us," said Vladimir Solovyov, director at Russian mission control and no relation to the cosmonaut.
     The spacewalk began just after 9:00pm EDT September 5 (0100 UT September 6) and ended six hours later. Neither Foale not Solovyov reported any major problems working outside the station.
     The spacewalk was not a total failure. Solovyov and Foale were able to reorient the working solar panels on the Spektr solar panel to being them in better alignment with the Sun, increasing their energy output. A motor designed to do this automatically failed after power was restored from the panels last month.
     They also removed from the Mir hull an American experiment designed to measure the cosmic radiation environment outside the station. The experiment, attached to the station during a spacewalk on a shuttle docking mission nearly two years ago, will be returned on the shuttle next month.
     The three-person Mir crew continued to struggle with problems on the station, however. The main computer system on Mir shut down September 8 and was offline until repaired the next day. During the computer breakdown power was limited on the station to life support systems.
     It was the third time in as many months that Mir's main computer broke down.
     The spacewalk is likely to be the final highlight of Michael Foale's stay on Mir. The shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch on the seventh shuttle-Mir docking mission, STS-86. Foale will return to Earth on Atlantis and his plane on Mir will be taken by astronaut David Wolf.
     The launch of STS-86 has been set for September 25. Launch of the shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for 10:34pm EDT (0234 UT September 26), on a 10-day mission.

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