Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

ISS Crew Install Cables For 2017 Arrival of Commercial Capsules

Posted by timothy on from the in-meters-they're-even-longer dept.

The Associated Press, as carried by the San Francisco Chronicle, reports that NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Terry Virts have attached more than 300 feet of cable to the exterior of the International Space Station in a series of three planned spacewalks; in total, the wiring job they're undertaking will involve 764 feet of power and data cables. The extensive rewiring is needed to prepare for NASA’s next phase 260 miles up: the 2017 arrival of the first commercial spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts to the orbiting lab. NASA is paying Boeing and SpaceX to build the capsules and fly them from Cape Canaveral, which hasn’t seen a manned launch since the shuttles retired in 2011. Instead, Russia is doing all the taxi work — for a steep price. The first of two docking ports for the Boeing and SpaceX vessels — still under development — is due to arrive in June. Even more spacewalks will be needed to set everything up. Mission Control left two cables — or about 24 feet worth — for the next spacewalk coming up Wednesday. Four hundred feet of additional cable will be installed next Sunday on spacewalk No. 3.

1 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. The shuttle ports (PMAs) have mechanical docking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    latches, that need something massing close to the mass of the shuttle to engage properly.
    They are also in inconvenient locations, and they need to be able to dock two crew capable vehicles at the station at all times to serve as life boats.
    There are currently always 2 Soyuz capsules docked to the Station except during crew change. Each Soyuz can carry three crew members, and 2 docked Soyuz give them the ability to evacuate the entire 6 man crew in an emergency.

    The new crew capsules are capable of carrying between 4 and 7 crew members depending on configuration, and that will allow them to expand the full time station crew to the full compliment of 7. But they'll need to be able to have 2 docked at all times (probably a Russian Soyuz for the Russian Crew Members and a Dragon or Boeing capsule for the US + International Crew.

    The Current Dragon capsule flies close to the Station, and is then grappled with the CanadArm2 and maneuvered into docking with one of the Common Berthing Ports. Dragon Cargo flights next year will be bring up two new Common Berthing Ports to be installed for the new crew vehicles. I believe the Dragon v2 and Boeing Crew vehicles will engage in piloted/automated docking, rather than needing to be grappled with CanadArm2. There are also issues with clearance around some of the open ports, which is why they'll be reconfiguring the station (including moving the Leonardo MPLM Module to another port, and moving the PMA off the Bow Port where the Shuttle used to dock. They space walk they did today was around the PMA (Pressurized Mating Adapter) on the Bow port.