Ammonia coolant recharge complete; crew has bolt issue
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: May 22, 2011
Astronauts Andrew Feustel and Michael Finke connected a final few ammonia jumpers, completing a path from a storage tank to the International Space Station's outboard left-side solar array. Then, after a successful leak test, Feustel made final connections and threw two valves to begin flowing about five pounds of ammonia to the port six solar array to replace coolant that's been lost due to a slow leak.
The astronauts were on the lookout for leaks, but no obvious problems were reported and the ammonia recharge procedure was completed without incident. Feustel then worked to attach a nitrogen vent tool to the ammonia line to purge any coolant still trapped inside before breaking down the cross-segment jumpers used to get the coolant to the far left end of the station's power truss.
Working in parallel, Fincke gathered tools and began work to remove thermal covers on the left-side solar alpha rotary joint, or SARJ, a massive drive mechanism used to rotate the outboard solar arrays to track the sun. In a critical bit of preventive maintenance, the astronauts plan to use grease guns to lubricate the drive gear to reduce friction and long-term wear and tear.
At least one bolt used to hold a cover in place popped out and floated away as the cover was removed. Flight controllers asked Fincke to hold off removing any additional covers while engineers assessed the issue and what, if anything, to do about a locking washer that appeared to be floating free inside the bolt's housing.
"I was really careful with these bolts and it didn't help me out," Fincke commented. A few minutes later he added, "I can confirm I was super extra careful and I was very surpsied to see it shoot."
Flight controllers joked about having Fincke wave his hands about to gently coax the washer free. But a more serious attempt likely will be made because of the threat a loose washer could pose to the geared solar array drive mechanism.
The covers in question have been removed and replaced before, and engineers suspect some of the lock washers may have been bent slightly, reducing their ability to hold the bolts in place. Flight controllers are re-evaluating how many covers to take off and whether the SARJ drive gear can be lubricated with fewer panels removed.
"Spanky, sorry you're having such a hard time with those bolts, buddy," Feustel radioed, using Fincke's nickname.
"Yeah, man, I was being really careful, too," Fincke replied.
"Yeah, I heard you. Bummer."
"That's all right," Fincke said. "We have a great team. We'll figure it out."
"We'll get photos, we'll lube what we can and we'll put back together what we can," Feustel said.
"Exactly."
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