Dec 22 2008
From The Space Library
NASA announced that LRO had successfully completed thermal-vacuum testing at NASA’s GSFC. The testing, which had lasted for approximately two months, simulated the airless conditions and extreme temperature variations that the orbiter would encounter in space. The test was the conclusion of a series of environmental tests of LRO; previous tests had included acoustics testing, electromagnetic compatibility testing, spin testing, and vibration testing. LRO would orbit the Moon for at least one year, using its seven instruments to collect data that scientists could use to choose safe lunar-landing sites, to determine locations for future lunar outposts, and to diminish the risk of radiation for astronauts.
NASA, “Next NASA Moon Mission Completes Major Milestone,” news release 08-335, 22 December 2008, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/dec/HQ_08-335_LRO_Thermal_Complete.html (accessed 22 August 2011).
ISS crew members E. Michael Fincke and Yuri V. Lonchakov spent 6 hours on a spacewalk outside the ISS. They installed a device, known as a Langmuir probe, to monitor the electrical field around the ISS. Russian engineers believed that electrical interference might have damaged the explosive bolts on two Soyuz spacecraft, causing the craft to experience rough flight reentries in October 2007 and April 2008. Fincke and Lonchakov also installed a Russian experiment called Impuls, retrieved the Russian microbe experiment Biorisk, and took photographs of the Russian segment of the ISS. The spacewalkers attempted to install the European biological experiment EXPOSE-R, but the experiment would not activate to relay telemetry. Russian flight controllers eventually ordered Fincke and Lonchakov to remove the experiment and to return it to the ISS. The spacewalk was the first for Lonchakov and the fifth for Fincke.
Mark Carreau, “Space Station Astronauts Finish 6-Hour Spacewalk,” Houston Chronicle, 23 December 2008; Tariq Malik, “Spacewalkers Add New Experiments to Space Station,” Space.com, 23 December 2008, http://www.space.com/6254-spacewalkers-add-experiments-space-station.html (accessed 26 August 2011).
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