HOUSTON, June 7 (UPI) -- Two International Space Station crew members have compiled 11 hours and 2 minutes of spacewalk experience in Russian-made Orlan spacesuits.
The latest spacewalk, a 5-hour, 37-minute event, ended Wednesday. It was the 83rd spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance.
Expedition 15 cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, among other things, completed installation of a remote computer network that will enable commanding of the station's Russian segment from the U.S. segment, if necessary, and installed 12 debris shield panels. The panels, in addition to 11 others installed previously, provide some protection from micro-meteroid strikes.
Nearly 2 1/2 hours into the spacewalk, Russian controllers noticed unusual readings in the Pirs module and asked Yurchikhin to return and verify pressurized oxygen bottles were closed. It was determined a small amount of oxygen was flowing from a spacesuit umbilical that had not fully closed when it was disconnected at the beginning of the spacewalk.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration controllers in Houston said the space station crew was preparing for Sunday's arrival of space shuttle Atlantis, which is to lift off Friday from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
