SPACEHAB announced Monday that its Integrated Cargo Carrier played a key role in the shuttle Discovery astronauts' second spacewalk outside the International Space Station. The ICC is designed to ferry essential spare parts used in the space station's construction and operation.
During Monday's spacewalk – the second of three planned for this mission – astronauts Piers Sellers and Michael Fossum removed a grapple bar and installed it on a pump module, both transported to space on the cargo carrier.
"This bar allows astronauts Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson to grab the pump module with the station's robotic arm and move it to SPACEHAB's on-orbit stowage platform, a modified version of our ICC that was permanently mounted on the International Space Station during the STS-114 mission last year and now serves as a spare parts warehouse," said Pete Paceley, the company's vice president of shuttle programs.
The astronauts also removed a Transfer Umbilical System Reel Assembly from the ICC during the spacewalk. The original TUS-RA, used on the space station's mobile transporter – which travels the length of the ISS and provides electrical and video connections – was inadvertently severed last year. NASA's new unit is mounted on the top of the ICC for easy access by the crew and has replaced the inoperable unit.
The ICC can accommodate a variety of payloads on both its top and bottom surfaces, SPACEHAB said in a news release. The carrier system can support delivery of power and data services to payloads and comes in a variety of shapes and sizes to meet NASA's assortment of cargo transfer needs.
The ICC, provided in partnership with Astrium GmbH, has been used on six prior space missions and has received numerous crew accolades, the release said.
SPACEHAB engineers are now preparing for NASA's STS-116 shuttle mission scheduled for launch later this year. The flight, also to the space station, will again use the ICC as well as SPACEHAB's Logistics Single Module. The module, a pressurized aluminum habitat housed in the orbiter's cargo bay and connected to the shuttle's flight deck by a tunnel, greatly enhances the onboard working and living environment for the crew.
With the ability to store and transport 6,000 pounds of supplies, equipment and research payloads, SPACEHAB's module system is essential for supporting space-station outfitting and crew provisions, the company's release said.
