Astronauts prepare for spacewalk through station air lock

Published: Friday, July 20, 2001

SPACE CENTER, Houston {AP}— Astronauts at the international space station got a breather from high-tech electrical and plumbing duties early Friday as they prepared to use a new $164 million portal for the first time.

Space shuttle Atlantis astronauts Michael Gernhardt and James Reilly II were scheduled to start a 4 1/2-hour spacewalk from the new air lock early Saturday.

"I think we're in pretty good shape," flight director Paul Hill told the station's three-member crew and the five astronauts aboard Atlantis.

The astronauts have spent several days fixing minor air and water leaks in lines leading to the air lock, which the astronauts installed on Sunday.

Two new leaks could release a small amount of air from the air lock during Saturday's spacewalk, but Hill said that shouldn't prevent the astronauts from using it. If the leaks become a problem, the astronauts could still re-enter the space station through Atlantis.

NASA officials will be closely monitoring the spacewalk, and the astronauts will keep Mission Control informed through each step of depressurization, Hill said.

Gernhardt and Reilly plan to use the spacewalk to attach the fourth gas tank needed to pressurize the air lock, and they were looking forward to trying out the new entryway.

"It will be very exciting as we open the hatch and come out," Gernhardt said. "As you know, the hatch is facing the Earth, so it will be like stepping off into a big void, dropping down toward Earth."

The air lock, a 6 1/2-ton portal shaped like a mushroom, will let astronauts aboard the space station conduct spacewalks in U.S.-made spacesuits without the aid of a shuttle. Until now, they have had to use Russian spacesuits and exit from a Russian portal, which can't accommodate the American spacesuits.

The two-compartment air lock also provides more space for astronauts to venture out with big equipment as they continue to build the space station. It completes a major phase of construction for the space station that began 2 1/2 years ago. Future flights will primarily add more power and other countries' laboratories.

Atlantis is due to undock from the space station early Sunday and return to Earth on Tuesday.