Mir Spacewalk Delayed as Crew Practices

MOSCOW — A pivotal spacewalk scheduled for Wednesday to search for a puncture in the ailing Mir space station will be delayed at least two days to give the Russian-American crew more time to prepare, officials said Friday.

In addition to looking for a hole in the Spektr research module caused by a June collision with a cargo ship, Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovev and NASA astronaut Michael Foale are scheduled to install a valve in Mir’s outer surface to allow the discharge of carbon dioxide that accumulates inside.

“A two- to three-day delay has not much significance, since the space expedition will be a long one and there is no need to be in a hurry,” said Valery Ryumin, Russian coordinator of the Mir-NASA space program. The trip outside is now planned for Friday or Saturday, he said.

While Solovev and Foale have been exercising and studying for the walk, cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov has been trying to restore power to sections of the station shut down after the collision.

As a result of a risky spacewalk into the depressurized Spektr last week, Vinogradov was able to hook up power cables from three solar collectors on the outside of the damaged module. But the crew has been unable to start a motor that positions the panels toward the sun to collect energy, so only minimal electricity is available to the station.

Officials said they still have not decided whether it will be necessary for a cosmonaut to take another spacewalk into the airless module to fix the motor. One option under consideration is to have Solovev and Foale rotate the panels manually to get a better angle toward the sun during their spacewalk next week.

“[Energy is] like money,” said Ryumin, who will soon begin training for his own mission aboard a U.S. space shuttle. “However much you have is not enough.”

Even without being in the optimal position, the solar arrays are providing enough energy to power up parts of the station that were shut down after the collision. This week, the crew restored electricity to the Kristall module, which has the one port where a space shuttle can dock with Mir.

The shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to reach the station in late September to drop off U.S. astronaut David Wolf, deliver equipment for repairing the puncture and bring Foale back to Earth.

Although Russian officials treat it as a certainty, NASA has not given its final approval for Foale to take a walk in space. If he gets the go-ahead, it will be only the second time that a Russian and American have walked in space together. The first was in April, when astronaut Jerry Linenger joined cosmonaut Vasily Tsibliyev on a spacewalk from Mir.

Foale has never walked in space but learned to use a Russian spacesuit and equipment for spacewalks when he was in training as Linenger’s backup.

“Michael is in need of one more training session, while the Russian crew must finalize a lot of daily pursuits,” Ryumin said in explaining the delay.