Astronauts aboard the International Space Station may need to undertake unscheduled spacewalks later this week after one of the orbiting outpost's ammonia cooling systems broke down, NASA said Sunday.
Officials at the US space agency's mission control in Houston, Texas, "are discussing options to perform two spacewalks later this week to replace the pump module," said NASA.
An attempt to restart the ammonia-fed cooling loops on the ISS prompted the pump module's circuit breaker to trip early Sunday for a second time after it failed Saturday night and was reset.
Two spare pump modules are housed on platforms on the outside of the station, said the agency, adding that all other systems were stable and the six-member crew was not in danger.
According to NASA figures, without thermal controls the ISS's sun-facing side would roast at 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 Celsius), while the outpost's dark side would plunge to some minus 250 degrees Fahrenheit (-157 Celsius).
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook
