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[Groentje-18]

Space station crew to dump trash overboard

• 23:33 19 July 2007
• NewScientist.com news service
• New Scientist Space and Reuters

Two crewmen aboard the International Space Station on Thursday prepared for a spacewalk during which more than 730 kg (1600 pounds) of obsolete gear will be tossed overboard and left to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
Space station commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Clay Anderson were due to begin a 6.5-hour spacewalk on Monday to make room and prepare equipment for the arrival of new research modules built by Europe and Japan.
Their tasks include jettisoning a refrigerator-sized device containing ammonia that was part of the station's first cooling system. NASA upgraded the station's power and cooling systems and no longer needs the 635-kg (1400-pound) tank.
NASA managers initially had planned to return the ammonia tank to Earth on a space shuttle. But with only 14 flights remaining to the outpost before the shuttle fleet is retired in three years, there was no room for the carrier rack needed to transport the device in the shuttle's cargo bay (see Astronauts to pitch unwanted gear off space station)
NASA said ditching the tank was the best option available even though the agency dislikes creating more space junk.
"We agonised over this for a very long time before we came to this decision," said deputy space station programme manager Kirk Shireman.
Anderson also will release a 96-kg (212-pound) camera stand that is taking up needed space on a storage platform. NASA's immediate concern is that the jettisoned objects do not fly back into the station's orbit.
Crash and burn

The discarded equipment is expected to remain in space for at least 300 days before friction from the atmosphere drags them down towards Earth.
The camera stand is expected to burn up completely, but chunks of the ammonia tank as heavy as 17.5 kg (39 pounds) could survive re-entry and fall to Earth.
NASA said that while the debris is most likely to land in an ocean, there is about a 1 in 5000 chance it will hit a populated area.
The agency said tracking radars will follow the objects until they are about two hours away from atmospheric re-entry. Warnings would be issued if the debris seems likely to pose a threat.
Also on Thursday, the shuttle Endeavour astronauts dressed in their bright orange pressurised flight suits and climbed aboard the spaceship for a countdown dress rehearsal ahead of their planned lift-off on 7 August.
NASA managers plan to meet next week to confirm the launch date.
Endeavour's crew, which includes teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan, plans to spend seven to 10 days at the space station, installing a new structural beam, replacing a steering gyroscope and delivering cargo.

Ahum ...

Als er ergens anders nog leven is, maken we ook een goede indruk.

[Derk de Tweede]

Het meeste zal verbranden in de dampkring!
Maar zit daar ook afval tussen van het damestoilet?