http://www.nbcnews.com/science/russians-begin-spacewalk-install-new-earth-watching-cameras-2D11999561
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Two Russian space station astronauts took a spacewalk Monday to complete a camera job left undone last month. Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy installed two commercially provided Earth-observing cameras outside the International Space Station, a task requiring multiple power connections. It was a repeat of a task attempted right after Christmas. During that outing, the cameras were hooked up but ground controllers received no data. As a result, the spacewalkers had to haul everything back in. The problem encountered during December's spacewalk was traced to indoor cabling and fixed, according to NASA. The two cameras - a high-resolution imager and a medium-resolution imager - were hooked up and activated as planned on Monday. But a post-installation checkout indicated a spotty data connection for the medium-resolution camera, so the spacewalkers had to detach and reattach one of the electrical connectors. The two men worked so hard - determined to accomplish the job this time - that Russian Mission Control outside Moscow urged them to "get your breath." "We'll force ourselves to rest," one of the spacewalkers replied in Russian. Images from these new cameras will be distributed by the Canadian company that owns them, UrtheCast (pronounced EARTH-cast) Corp. The cameras were launched to the space station last November in a deal between the Vancouver-based UrtheCast and the Russian Space Agency. UrtheCast will post near-real-time video on its website and sell images. The company envisions customers wanting video feeds for environmental, agricultural and humanitarian purposes. The company expects that it will take three months to calibrate the cameras, and that the system should be fully operational by summer. Because of all the camera data trouble during the Dec. 27 spacewalk, which dragged on for eight hours, Kotov and Ryazanskiy had to put off other chores. Those tasks were on Monday's to-do list. The four other space station astronauts - two Americans, one Japanese and another Russian - kept tabs on the spacewalk from inside. Russian flight controllers outside Moscow directed Monday's 260-mile-high (420-kilometer-high) excursion. _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews_etskywarn.net
