Word: airlessly
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...nearly six hours Michael Foale and Anatoly Solovyov walked in space, peering and poking at the shell of the airless Spektr module, looking for holes to plug. They found none. "To our great regret, we have found nothing which could be interpreted as a puncture," said Vladimir Solovyov, chief of Mission Control in Moscow. Though plenty of damage was visible, the ruptures themselves were not apparent...
Last Friday Spektr flickered back to life. In a superbly executed internal space walk, Mir's new commander, Anatoli Solovyev, and his flight engineer, Pavel Vinogradov, floated into the airless lab and installed a new cable system that will provide electricity to Spektr and the rest of the power-thirsty station. "This is a super day," exulted NASA astronaut Michael Foale, who waited out the space walk inside Mir's Soyuz re-entry vehicle, the crew's lifeboat in case they had to abandon ship. "Well done, everybody...
...exactly. Shortly after Solovyev and Vinogradov donned their spacesuits and depressurized an airlock adjacent to Spektr in preparation for opening the airless lab's hatch, Vinogradov's left glove began leaking air. At first the cosmonauts were unconcerned, and a ground controller even joked as Vinogradov struggled to adjust his suit. "Pull it with all your proletarian force," he instructed...
...Kremlin's prestige. So far, though, NASA has no such plan. And for the moment, the Russians have more immediate concerns. Last month's crash poked a hole in the station's Spektr module, forcing the crew to disconnect power cables so they could isolate the now airless Spektr from the rest...
When Foale was first told of the repair scheme, his silence echoed around the world. "Incredible," he finally muttered. Tsibliyev and Lazutkin groused more openly before assenting to a four-hour "internal" space walk in the frigid, airless and possibly contaminated lab. As one stands by, the other will enter with a flashlight to look for the right wires, moving gingerly in the tight quarters to avoid ripping his bulky space suit. Then they will reseal Spektr with a new hatch fitted with cable ports on either side to complete the electrical circuits to Mir. Foale, meanwhile, will be waiting...