The hatches between the International Space Station and its new Russian Rassvet module were opened for the first time at 5:52 a.m. CDT Thursday.
Also known as Mini-Research Module 1, Rassvet is almost 20 feet long, 7.7 feet wide and weighs 11,188 pounds. Carrying almost 6,500 pounds of internal and external cargo to the station, Rassvet has eight science work stations and will be used both as a docking and stowage compartment.
Mission Specialists Mike Good and Reisman prepared for their Friday spacewalk, configuring tools and preparing suits and the airlock. The major task of the spacewalk is to replace the final two of the six batteries being changed out on the Port 6 truss.
Four were replaced Wednesday. Spacewalkers also will install an ammonia jumper and take a power and data grapple fixture from Atlantis' cargo bay into the station. It will be installed later on the Zarya module, to provide a base for the station arm to work in that area.
The crew got about four hours of afternoon free time, until the spacewalk procedure review near the end of their workday. The spacewalkers will spend the night in the Quest airlock with its pressure reduced to 10.2 to psi.
Third Spacewalk Starts Friday Morning
The third spacewalk of the mission with astronauts Michael Good and Garrett Reisman is expected to begin at 6:45 a.m. EDT Friday. The spacewalkers will replace the final two batteries on the Port 6 truss.
They also will install an ammonia jumper on the Port 4/Port 5 truss and retrieve a power and data grapple fixture from the shuttle's payload bay. The grapple fixture will be installed later on the Zarya module.
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