Spacesuit released; students to track it (AP) Updated: 2006-02-04 09:56
The crew of the international space station shoved an unmanned spacesuit
stuffed with discarded clothing and radio equipment out the door Friday,
creating a ghostly scene that resembled a cosmonaut tumbling away from the
orbiting outpost.
SuitSat-1 is seen
in a televion image floating away from the International Space Station,
Friday, Feb. 3, 2006. SuitSat-1, that is outfitted with a special radio
trasmitter and other gear, was a spacesuit that was near the end of its
useful life and will remain in its own orbit for as long as six weeks
before re-entering the earth's atmosphere and burning. SuitSat-1 wil
broadcast recorded ham radio messages in Russian , Japanese, Spanish,
German, French and English. [AP] | Complete with helmet and gloves, the spacesuit floated past the Russian
section of the space station, 220 miles above Earth, before rotating away feet
first and beginning its orbit around the globe.
"Goodbye, Mr. Smith," Russian flight engineer Valery Tokarev said, giving the
figure a nickname as he and U.S. commander Bill McArthur began a six-hour
spacewalk to perform maintenance and photography tasks.
The Russian suit was equipped with a radio transmitter that will send
recorded messages in six languages to amateur radio operators for several days
before eventually re-entering Earth's atmosphere and burning up, NASA officials
said.
The spacesuit project, known as SuitSat-1, was the brainchild of a Russian
ham radio operator. It will send several words in code for schoolchildren
listening on the ground. Radio operators will be able to pick up the messages by
tuning into FM frequency 145.990 MHz.
Along with the radio transmitter, the stuffed spacesuit also has internal
sensors to monitor temperature and battery power. As it floats along, it will
transmit its temperature, battery power and time it has been in space to the
ground.
Students and others can also follow its progress on a NASA Web site. The suit
is expected to pass over the U.S. between midnight and 4 a.m. according to NASA.
"We expect the ham radio operators on the ground to be able to receive the
suit signal for several days," said Kwatsi Alibaruho, flight director for the
spacewalk at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
During Friday's spacewalk, Tokarev and McArthur were scheduled to cover a
wide swath of the 240-foot-wide, 140-foot-long floating station as they take on
several chores. It will be the fourth spacewalk for McArthur and the second for
Tokarev.
One of their chores involves taking steps to protect an important cable
connected to a transporter that moves a platform holding the station's robotic
arm.
A twin cable which provides power, data and video to the mobile transporter
was inadvertently cut in December. Mission managers want to make sure that does
not happen to the remaining cable. The cut cable will be repaired at a later
time.
The other tasks include creating storage space, retrieving a Russian science
experiment and photographing handrails, antennas and sensors to see how they
have held up in space.
"By the conclusion of this (spacewalk), Bill and Valery will have traversed
to the extreme ends of just about every length of the international space
station, a rare feat that they are really looking forward to," said Anna Jarvis,
NASA's spacewalk officer.
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