SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Spacewalk Underway*

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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html Image above: Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria exiting the Pirs docking compartment (at right) at the beginning of the spacewalk on Feb. 22. Image credit: NASA TV

Coming and going, or at least getting ready to go, haven't been easy for the ISS Progress 23 unpiloted cargo carrier docked at the aft port of the International Space Station's Zvezda service module.

Station Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin and Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria opened the airlock of the Pirs docking compartment at 5:27 a.m. EST on a spacewalk aimed at retracting the balky antenna of the Progress. The antenna did not fully retract before the spacecraft docked Oct. 26. They are also checking navigation systems in preparation for the summer docking of a European cargo craft known as the Automated Transfer Vehicle.

Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin are conducting their increment’s fifth spacewalk – a record for station crews.

+ Read more about the Feb. 22 spacewalk http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/exp14_eva17.html

+ Expedition 14 Mission Status Briefing Materials, Jan. 26, 2007 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/exp14_msb_012607.html + Read more about Expedition 14 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/index.html + Read more about Expedition 15 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/index.html + View crew's daily timelines http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/timelines/index.html