U.S. astronauts plan 3 spacewalks next week to fix thermoregulation system - Russian source
MOSCOW. Dec 13 (Interfax-AVN) - U.S. astronauts will perform spacewalks next week to repair the thermoregulation system of the U.S. segment of the International Space Station (ISS), a source with the Russian space rocket industry told Interfax-AVN.
"As the U.S. side has been unsuccessful in fixing the malfunction in the thermoregulation system, U.S. astronauts will perform a spacewalk on December 19 to replace the pump unit. Three spacewalks are planned in all," he said.
The other two spacewalks will be performed several days later, he said.
The valve that has gone out of service is located within the pump unit.
In addition, the launch of the U.S. commercial spacecraft Signus to the ISS, originally scheduled for December 19, has been postponed due to the problem, he said.
It was reported earlier that the defect in the said thermoregulation system prompted engaging a backup thermoregulation system and switching off half of the systems in the Japanese module Kibo, the European module Columbus, and the U.S. module Harmony.
