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Spacewalk concludes BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: July 10, 2008 Space station commander Sergei Volkov and flight engineer Oleg Kononenko wrapped up a dramatic six-hour 18-minute spacewalk today, closing the hatch of the Pirs airlock module at 9:06 p.m. and clearing the way for repressurization. Standing by to rejoin them was crewmate Gregory Chamitoff, who rode out the spacewalk inside the Soyuz TMA-12 re-entry vehicle that was the subject of today's EVA. The cosmonauts accomplished the primary objectives of the spacewalk, removing one of two explosive bolts in one of the five connectors holding the Soyuz's propulsion and instrumentation module to its crew cabin. The pyrobolt, safely locked in a blast-proof steel sleeve, was brought into the space station for return to Earth aboard the Soyuz at the end of October. In the two most recent Soyuz re-entries, a problem of some sort prevented the propulsion module from separating cleanly from the crew cabin just before atmospheric entry. Engineers suspect a possible problem with pyrobolts, one or more connectors or both. Today's work will help ensure a more routine module separation in October and give engineers flight hardware to inspect for signs of trouble. "Sergei, I forgot to congratulate you. Now you're a full-blown crew commander," a Russian flight controller joked in a radio call just before the spacewalk ended. "And you gear, you have a handgun, you have a grenade, next time you'll have your own test site. So you're a fully equipped crew commander now." This was the 113th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction began in December 1998, the 14th so far this year and the first for Volkov, 35, and Kononenko, 44. Cumulative space station EVA time now stands at 712 hours and 54 minutes. Another spacewalk is on tap July 15 to carry out more routine station assembly and maintenance tasks.
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VIDEO:
AIRLOCK HATCH CLOSED TO CONCLUDE THE SPACEWALK 