EXPEDITION-11 CONTINUES

On August 9, Krikalev and Phillips began preparation of the Pirs airlock and the tools that they would use in their next Stage EVA, planned for after the STS-114 flight, the work continued throughout the week. In Zvezda, the Russian Vozdukh carbon dioxide removal system stopped working on August 11. While Russian engin­eers began troubleshooting, controllers at Houston activated the American Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly to scrub the station’s atmosphere. At 01: 44, August 12, Krikalev surpassed the 747 days 14 hours 14 minutes 11 seconds human spaceflight endurance record held by Sergei Avdeyev. He discussed the moment in his pre-launch interview:

“I probably never paid enough attention to this record-setting subject because [the] job itself is very interesting for me. Being there and being able to look back to Earth, to do something challenging; that was really important. How many days was not as important.’’

The 62nd EVA in the ISS programme began at 03: 02, August 18, 2005, when Krikalev and Phillips exited Pirs wearing Orlan suits. After preparing their tools, their first task was to recover three canisters from the Biorisk experiment that had been installed on the exterior of Pirs, in January 2005, during the Expedition-10 flight. Next they moved to the exterior of Zvezda and prepared the MPAC/SEEDs exposure samples for removal. Leaving the samples in position for the time being, they moved to Zvezda’s wake, to install a back-up television camera to assist in the docking of ESA’s ATV during its first flight, planned for 2006. They also photo­graphed the condition of the Kroma experiment, which measured the residue from Zvezda’s thrusters as well as replacing the sample containers in the Russian material exposure experiment. When they returned to Pirs with their tools and the MPAC and SEED experiments, they were running 45 minutes behind schedule. As the next task, the relocation of the grapple fixture that had originally held a Strela crane from the exterior of Zarya to PMA-3 on the exterior of Unity, was estimated to take 2 hours, Russian controllers decided to delay the task to a later EVA. Krikalev and Phillips closed the hatch on Pirs at 20: 00, ending the EVA after 4 hours 58 minutes.

Following the loss of the Russian Vozdukh system, the American Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly also failed, on August 18, due to a stuck valve.

Following the landing of STS-114, Administrator Griffin let it be known that he still hoped to solve the foam-shedding problem on the ET and launch STS-121 on

schedule, in September 2005. That changed on August 18, when the launch was moved back to March 2006. At the same time the decision was made to swap orbiters and free Atlantis for STS-115. STS-121 was scheduled as the second test-flight, following the flight of STS-114. It would carry an MPLM full of equipment and stores to ISS before STS-115 launched the next element of the ITS and resumed the construction of ISS. Meanwhile, those ETs that had been previously delivered to KSC were returned to the Michoud Assembly Facility, Louisiana for testing and any modifications identified as a result of the post-STS-114 investigation.

With their EVA behind them, Krikalev and Phillips completed unpacking the supplies delivered by STS-114. They also commenced filling Progress M-53 with rubbish, in preparation for its undocking, on September 7. On August 23, Krikalev replaced a faulty valve in the Vozdukh carbon dioxide removal system, returning the unit to full operation. The following day, Phillips replaced a laptop computer used as part of the station’s inventory system. On the same day the crew exercised a depressurisation emergency on the station.

The following week the two men prepared the station’s laptop computers for a software update that would be up-linked later in the month. They also rehearsed an emergency evacuation on Soyuz TMA-6 and completed new medical experiments, delivered by STS-114. Progress M-53 was fully packed by the end of the first week in September, by which time the crew had also upgraded their treadmill, during two days of work using parts delivered by the Shuttle.