Astronauts lose piece of shielding off space station
CAPE CANAVERAL — Spacewalking astronauts lost an important piece of cloth shielding needed for the International Space Station on Thursday when it floated away.
Astronaut Peggy Whitson immediately reported the mishap to Mission Control, which tracked the bundle as it drifted off. NASA said it would be monitored to make sure it doesn’t come back and hit the station.
The shielding protects against micrometeorite debris. It was one of four pieces that Whitson and Shane Kimbrough were installing over the spot left by a relocated docking port. NASA spokesman Dan Huot said the three remaining shields were installed to cover the most vulnerable spots.
It was a disappointing turn of events in a record-setting spacewalk for Whitson, the world’s oldest and most experienced spacewoman. It was the eighth spacewalk of her career, the most ever performed by a woman. There was frustration in her voice as she informed Mission Control.
Huot said it was not immediately clear who let the shield go or how it got away; it’s supposed to be tethered to the station or spacewalker at all times.
Spacewalkers have lost objects before but usually the items are small, like bolts. In 2008, an astronaut lost her entire tool kit during a spacewalk.
Each fabric shield weighs 18 pounds. When unfolded, it is about 2 inches thick and measures about 5 feet by 2 feet, according to NASA. The entire 250-mile-high space station is protected, in some fashion, against possible debris strikes.
The docking port was disconnected during a spacewalk last Friday by Kimbrough, the space station’s commander and a six-time spacewalker. Then flight controllers in Houston moved it to a new and better location Sunday. It will serve as one of two parking spots for commercial crew capsules.
The spacewalkers hooked up vital heater cables to the docking port and removed a cover from the top. Then they turned to the shields, and that’s when one of the folded coverings got away.