EASE/ACCESS Postmission Management Report, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) (no date); "Shuttle Mission EVAs to Demonstrate Space Station Assembly Techniques," Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, November 25, 1985, pp. 63-69; "Shuttle EVAs Utilize Techniques Planned for Space Station Assembly," Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, December 9, 1985, pp. 21-23; interview David S. F. Portree with Jerry Ross, January 11, 1996.
The second EASE/ACCESS EVA sought to assess the ability of astronauts to handle large structural elements and the ability of the RMS to support station assembly. Ross and Spring assembled nine bays of ACCESS, then placed parts for the tenth bay on the RMS. Ross stepped into the MFR and Mary Cleave positioned him within reach of the top of the ACCESS girder, where he assembled the tenth bay. The parts were not tethered. Ross performed a cable run assembly simulation by attaching a tether along the side of the tower while Cleave positioned him. Then Spring released the bottom of the tower so Ross could try to precisely handle the beam from the RMS. He replaced it in the assembly jig where it started, demonstrating astronaut ability to assemble a truss in one place and install it in another. Spring then replaced Ross on the MFR. He changed a beam on the tower to simulate structural repair, then pointed the truss at the Moon to judge his handling ability. The astronauts took down ACCESS, and Spring assembled EASE from the RMS. Before finishing, he joined two beams to simulate handling a thermal control heat pipe. Ross unlatched the EASE pyramid so that his partner could maneuver it. Then he replaced Spring on the MFR to duplicate the EASE activities. "This is probably not the preferred way of building a space station," Ross said later of EASE. The astronauts reported that the most difficult part of the EVAs was torquing their own 182-kg (400-lb) masses while holding the EASE beams. Generally speaking, ACCESS worked well, while EASE required too much freefloating. The astronauts judged that performing 6-hr EVAs every other day over a 5- or 6-day period was feasible, and recommended glove changes to reduce hand fatigue. Ross said in the EVA debrief that the crew had tried to have the MMU manifested for use in the second EVA, because "for certain applications it would be very useful... in particular if you were building portions of a space station attached to the orbiter, then moving those portions farther than the manipulator arm could transport them." He added that the MMU could be used to attach cable runs and instruments in places out of reach of the RMS.
EASE/ACCESS Postmission Management Report, NASA MSFC (no date); "Shuttle Mission EVAs to Demonstrate Space Station Assembly Techniques," Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, November 25, 1985, pp. 63-69; "Shuttle EVAs Utilize Techniques Planned for Space Station Assembly," Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, December 9, 1985, pp. 21-23; "Astronauts Believe Lengthy EVA Building Sessions are Feasible," Aviation Week & Space Technology, December 16, 1985, p. 20-21; interview, David S. F Portree with Jerry Ross, January 11, 1996.
December 3
STS-61B/Atlantis landing
1986
January 12–18
STS-61C/Columbia
January 28
STS-51L/Challenger
March 13
Mir/Soyuz-T 15 PE-1 launch
May 5–6
Soyuz-T 15 transfer from Mir to Salyut 7
May 28
1986 EVA 1
World EVA 68 Russian EVA 17 Space Station EVA 25
Duration: 3:50 Spacecraft/mission: Salyut 7 PE-6 Crew: Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov Spacewalkers: Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov Purpose: Test experimental deployable truss; remove space exposure cassettes from Salyut 7's exterior for return to Earth
Seven-time EVA veterans Solovyov and Kizim first visited the new Mir station then transferred to Salyut 7 to tie up loose ends left by the station's previous crew, which had been forced to end its mission early after its commander, Vladimir Vasyutin, became ill. Vasyutin and Alexandr Volkov were to have performed EVA assembly experiments outside Salyut 7 while Viktor Savinykh assisted from inside Salyut 7. Solovyov and Kizim removed and placed inside the transfer compartment space exposure cassettes and the joint Soviet-French micrometeoroid collector deployed in August 1985. The exposure cassettes included:
- Spiral, for study of space effects on cables
- Istok, which looked for changes in threaded connectors (nuts and bolts) caused by space exposure
- Resurs, which studied space effects on metals
- Meduza, which studied space effects on biopolymers
The cosmonauts then attached the cylindrical 150-kg (330-lb) URS space assembly device to the hull outside the airlock hatch. The URS device deployed a 20-kg (44-lb), 12-to-15-m (40-to-50-ft) tubular metal truss held together by hinges and springs. URS was designed and built by the Paton Institute of Electric Welding in Kiev, which also developed the URI tool used by Savitskaya during her 1984 EVA. The URS truss was deployable, as opposed to the erectable EASE and ACCESS systems Ross and Spring worked with 7 mo earlier on STS 61-B. Pravda, quoting Paton Institute sources, stated that the truss' length could be increased to a kilometer or more by adding more folded cassettes. Kizim operated the three buttons that controlled deployment, then climbed halfway up the truss. He found it sturdy, with oscillations limited to a few centimeters of amplitude. The top of the URS truss carried Leningrad Polytechnical Institute's 3-kg (6.6-lb) Fon ("Background") device, which assessed the environment around Salyut 7. The cosmonauts installed the BOSS visible light communications system on a work compartment porthole, then refolded the URS girder and closed out the EVA. Portions of the EVA were televised live to Soviet audiences. They spent the next two days cleaning their Orlan-DM suits, undergoing debriefing, and preparing documentation.
"First Soviet Structure in Space," Air & Cosmos, June 28, 1986, p. 52 (translated from French in USSR Report: Space, JPRS-USP-86-007-L, October 7, 1986, pp. 1-2); "Cosmonauts Deploy Girder from Salyut 7." Pravda, May 29, 1986, p. I (translated in USSR Report: Space, JPRS-USP-86-006, November 12, 1986, p. 1); "Developer Comments on Girder Deployment Experiment," A. Tarasov, Pravda, May 29, 1986, pp. 1, 6 (translated in USSR Report: Space, JPRS-USP-86-006, November 12, 1986, p. 2); "New Structure for Mir," Neville Kidger, Spaceflight, September/October 1986, pp. 346-347; "Problems in the Exploitation of Space," Sergei Grishin and Sergei Chekalin, Novoye v Zhizni, Nauke, Tekhnike: Seriya Kosmonavtika, Astronomiya, January 1988 (excerpted and translated in JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Space, August 17, 1988, pp. 40-43).
May 31
1986 EVA 2
World EVA 69 Russian EVA 18 Space Station EVA 26
Duration: 4:40 Spacecraft/mission: Salyut 7 PE-6 Crew: Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov Spacewalkers: Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov Purpose: Test experimental deployable truss; test URI tool
This eighteenth Soviet EVA was the ninth for the Kizim-Solovyov team and the last carried out on Salyut 7. The cosmonauts extended the URS truss, then used the BOSS device installed on the previous EVA to relay data on truss stability from instruments at the top of the truss. These included a small seismograph built by the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Geophysics for tracking low-frequency (small) vibrations imparted by the station's acceleration, and the Mayak ("beacon") experiment, in which a camera tracked high-frequency vibrations by filming the movements of a small orange light attached to the truss. Solovyov and Kizim then rigidized the truss by welding portions using the URI tool. After closing and dismantling the truss, they installed the Mikrodeformator device built by Kharkov Polytechnical Institute, which studied aluminum-magnesium alloy reactions to repeated ("complex cyclical") structural loads under space conditions. At the end of the EVA, they brought inside the sample of solar cell material left outside by Savinykh and Dzhanibekov in August 1985. According to Pravda, "...successful accomplishment of multifaceted experimental operations in open space confirms the prospects of the technological operations that have been developed, as well as the possibility of their practical application in creating complex, large-size orbiting complexes for scientific and economic purposes." The Paton Institute's V. Lapchinsky asserted that, "[w]e are at the threshold of the era of space construction."
"Cosmonauts Continue Girder Experiments in Second EVA," Pravda, June 1, 1986, p. 1, 4 (translated in USSR Report: Space, JPRS-USP-86-006, November 12, 1986, p. 6); "Commentary on Experiments in Second Girder Deployment," Pravda, June 1, 1986, p. 6 (translated in USSR Report: Space, JPRS-USP-86-006, November 12, 1986, p. 6); "Star Construction Project: Salyut 7, Mir - Our Commentary," B. Paton and Yu. Semenov, Pravda, August 16, 1986 (translated in USSR Report: Space, JPRS-USP-86-006, November 12, 1986, p. 33); "New Structure for Mir," Neville Kidger, Spaceflight, September/October 1986, pp. 346-347; "The Experience in Operation and Improving the Orlan-type Space Suits," I. P. Abramov, Acta Astronautica, Vol. 36, No. 1, July 1995, pp. 1-12.
April 11
Hoften then took the MMU on a short test flight in the payload bay. Frank Cepollina, Solar Max Recovery Mission Project Manager at NASA GSFC, told the astronauts and other NASA JSC employees and contractors involved in the 3-yr effort to rescue the satellite that, "The engineers and managers at Goddard have asked me to express to all of you their respect and admiration for your efforts, and appreciation for a job well done."
STS 41-C Flight Crew Report, (no date); "USAF, NASA Discuss Shuttle Use for Satellite Maintenance," Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, December 17, 1984, pp. 14-17; Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1979-1985, NASA, 1990, p. 474; "Black Sunday... Fat Tuesday," William Gregory, Aviation Week & Space Technology, April 16, 1984, p. 13; "Orbiter Crew Restores Solar Max," Craig Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, April 16, 1984, pp. 18-20; "NASA Believes EVAs Valid Despite Recovery Problem," Aviation Week & Space Technology, April 1984, pp. 21-24; "Repair Mission Became High Drama," Space News Roundup, NASA JSC, April 27, 1984, pp. 1-2.
Salyut 7/Soyuz-T 10b VE-3 landing
STS-41C/Challenger landing
April 23
1984 EVA 5
World EVA 52 Russian EVA 9 Space Station EVA 17
Duration: 4:20 Spacecraft/mission: Salyut 7 PE-3 Crew: Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov, Oleg Atkov Spacewalkers: Leonid Kizim, Vladimir Solovyov Purpose: Prepare worksite for ODU repair
On April 17 Progress 20 docked at Salyut 7's aft port carrying 25 tools and other equipment for repairing the station's main propellant system, the ODU, which suffered an oxidizer system rupture on September 9, 1983. The ODU was located in Salyut 7's unpressurized aft equipment compartment. There were no handholds near the ODU, so engineers attached a special work platform with foot restraints for holding the cosmonauts at the worksite to Progress 20's forward dry cargo module. The TsUP extended the platform by remote control prior to the EVA. Atkov provided support from inside Salyut 7. Total distance between the Salyut 7 airlock hatch and the worksite was 15 m (49 ft). The cosmonauts' progress over the station's hull was impeded by the 40 kg (88 lb) of equipment they carried; this included a tool caddy, cutting tools, wrenches, bypass pipes, a waste container, and, most encumbering of all, a ladder for reaching the worksite. Kizim and Solovyov drove anchor pins into the equipment compartment's plastic skin to attach the ladder and tool containers, then unfolded the ladder to its full 5-m (16-ft) length before closing out this first of two EVAs scheduled for April.
Pravda, April 24, 1984, p. 1 (translated in USSR Report: Space, JPRS-USP-84-006-L, July 20, 1984, p. 31); "Above the Planet: Salyut EVA Operations" (Part Two), Neville Kidger, Spaceflight, March 1989, pp. 105; The Soviet Year in Space 1984, Nicholas Johnson, 1985, pp. 40-42; Gudok, April 27, 1984, p. 3 (translated in USSR Report: Space, JPRS-USP-84-006-L, July 20, 1984, p. 33); Kosomolskaya Pravda, April 27, 1984, p. 4 (translated in USSR Report: Space, JPRS-USP-84-006-L, July 20, 1984, p. 34).