Technology news and Jobs 
Science Dangerous bolt removed from Soyuz during Russian spacewalk
Science Dangerous bolt removed from Soyuz during Russian spacewalk | Dangerous bolt removed from Soyuz during Russian spacewalk |
|
| by William Atkins | |
| Saturday, 12 July 2008 | |
|
Page 1 of 2   
Featured Whitepaper
5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support
Science DiscussionsPositioned at a location on their Soyuz spacecraft where bolts on two previous Soyuz mission were suspected of not firing, it was removed so another abnormal “ballistic” descent would not occur, like on the previous two descents of Soyuz spacecraft. Russian space officials with the Russian Federal Space Agency (RSA) wanted the bolt removed so that it could be inspected back on Earth. Also, RSA officials wanted to make sure that it would not have any chance of not firing again when they return home in their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft, along with U.S. spaceflight partaicipant Richard Garriott, in October 2008. The two members of the International Space Station Expedition 17 crew, Commander Volkov and Flight Engineer Kononenko, successfully completed their spacewalk without incident. The spacewalk began at approximately 2.48 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), Florida time at Kennedy Space Center. During their space work, the two cosmonauts removed multilayer, shiny insulation away from the immediate area surrounding the bolt on the Soyuz spacecraft with a serrated knife. The bolts—one of ten—holds the propulsion and instrument modules to the crew module of the Soyuz spacecraft. The propulsion and instrument modules on the Russian Soyuz capsule separate during descent and are destroyed by the atmospheric friction of re-entry. The two Russian spacewalkers next installed devices designed to eliminate static electricity around their work area. Finally, a socket wrench was used to remove the three-inch explosive bolt. The cosmonauts placed the pyrotechnic bolt into a stainless-steel blast-proof container so it could be safety returned inside the International Space Station. The cosmonauts were much relieved to have the explosive bolt safety contained. Please read on. |
| < Next story in category | Previous story in the category > |
|---|
