SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
TAKEN FROM *************** The ARRL Letter Vol. 26, No. 04 January 26, 2007 ***************
* All-ham ISS crew to undertake "unprecedented" spacewalk series: The all-ham crew of the International Space Station will undertake what NASA is calling "an unprecedented series" of four spacewalks during the next few weeks. Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, KE5GTK, and Flight Engineer Suni Williams, KD5PLB, will kick off the spacewalk string January 31 with a six-and-a-half-hour excursion. Subsequent spacewalks are set for February 4 and 8 using US spacesuits. Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, RZ3FT, will conduct the fourth spacewalk later in February using Russian spacesuits. NASA says the US spacewalks will bring on line new portions of the station's cooling system, expanded with components activated during the December space shuttle mission. Among other tasks, Lopez-Alegria and Williams also will assist in the retraction of heat-rejecting radiators on the station's P6 truss, install some external devices to stow cargo and install cabling for a new power transfer system for future shuttle flights. On the fourth spacewalk, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will remove a stuck antenna from the Russian Progress 23 cargo spacecraft to ensure it can safely undock in April. NASA TV http://www.nasa.gov/ntv will cover these events. -- NASA