Space walk hits glitch

2002-12-01 14:10

Houston - A space walk for work on the International Space Station hit a glitch Saturday when a railed transporter which runs across the station got stuck short of where the astronauts needed it, NASA images showed.

This forced Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington, both of the Space Shuttle Endeavour's crew, to split up in efforts to unhitch the glitch.

As Herrington worked to fix the problem, Lopez-Alegria was installing 33 spool positioning devices - the original purpose of the walk.

The clamp-like devices ensure that the quick disconnect fittings in the station's ammonia coolant lines release as designed, said Nasa.

The plan was to latch the station's double-handed robotic arm Canadarm2, currently attached to the US Destiny laboratory, to the trolley and to use it to ferry one astronaut around the station's exterior to install the spool devices.

With the mobile transporter stuck, Lopez-Alegria had to install the devices "free floating" rather than using the robotic arm.

The astronauts left the depressurisation airlock at 1925 GMT and were expected to work in space about six and a half hours.

This was the third and final space walk on Endeavour's 11-day mission to the station.

Meanwhile, inside the station which was handed over to the three-man replacement team Friday, the old and new teams worked to solve a blackout of one of the station's research bays.

The highly sophisticated Microgravity Science Glovebox is a sealed container with built-in gloves which provides an enclosed work space for investigations conducted in the unique, low-gravity, or micro-gravity, environment.

Endeavour will take the old three-person crew home. The new crew is expected to remain on the station until March 2003. - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA