Russian and American Suit Up To Prove Worthiness

Russian Mission Control has stated that two astronauts aboard the International Space Station concluded a five-hour spacewalk last Friday to install new equipment and to test new, Russian-made spacesuit.

Russian commander Gennady Padalka and U.S. flight engineer Michael Barratt, wearing Orlan-MK computerized spacesuits, installed three antennas for the Kurs auto-docking system to receive a Russian MIM-2 small research module, which will be delivered on board the next Progress cargo spacecraft. The Orlan-MK’s main improvement is the mini-computer in the Portable Life Support System backpack, which processes data from the spacesuit’s various systems and issues a warning in the event of a malfunction. It then outlines a contingency plan that is displayed on an LCD screen attached to the right breast of the spacesuit. Astronauts previously had to memorize their responses to emergency situations. During the current 180-day mission, the six-member ISS crew will receive and unload three Russian Progress craft and a Japanese HTV-1 space freighter and carry out a series of scientific experiments. The second of the two scheduled spacewalks is set for June 10th, when Padalka and Barratt will work in the depressurized docking bay of the Zvezda module to install a docking cone for MIM-2.