In a touchy spacewalk, explosive bolt removed

Last update: July 10, 2008 - 11:08 PM

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. - In a daring spacewalk, two space station astronauts cut into the insulation of their descent capsule Thursday and removed an explosive bolt that could have blown off their hands.

Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko managed to safely disconnect the bolt from the Soyuz capsule that will be their ride home this fall. They immediately slid it into a blast-proof container.

"It is in," one of the Russian spacewalkers called out.

"Good. Thank God," someone replied in Russian.

The past two Soyuz descents have been steep, off-course and bone-jarring, and the Russian Space Agency wants to avoid the problem when Volkov and Kononenko fly home in October..

Kononenko used a serrated knife to cut away the insulation surrounding the bolt. It was a messy job, with shreds of the insulation floating every which way.

Next, the astronauts installed devices to eliminate static electricity. Finally, four hours into the spacewalk, Volkov pulled out a socket wrench and removed the 3-inch pyrotechnic bolt, one of 10 used to separate two parts of the module during reentry.

During Soyuz descents this past April and in October 2007, these two sections did not separate properly, leading to so-called ballistic entries that subjected the crews to far higher gravity forces than normal.

Russian engineers suspect some of the explosive bolts did not fire. By disabling the bolts in this suspect location, there should be no mechanical hang-up during the October descent.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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