Four spacewalks planned

HOUSTON, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The crew aboard the International Space Station is preparing for a record four spacewalks during the next month, NASA said Friday.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronauts Mike Lopez-Alegria and Suni Williams were scheduled to begin a 6 1/2-hour spacewalk Jan. 31. The two astronauts were also scheduled to conduct spacewalks Feb. 4, Feb. 8 and Feb. 22, NASA said.

The astronauts will use U.S. spacesuits and the station's Quest airlock for the first three spacewalks. On the fourth spacewalk, Lopez-Alegria and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin will use Russian spacesuits and exit the space station from the Pirs airlock.

NASA said the three U.S. spacewalks will rearrange the station's cooling system, while the Russian spacewalk will free a stuck antenna.

NASA said that as the astronauts have been preparing for their spacewalks, the nitrogen was discharged from a SAFER jetpack. The nitrogen-powered packs enable astronauts to fly back to the station if they become separated from it.

NASA said there was an extra pack on board, so the loss of the jetpack didn't interfere with the upcoming spacewalks.