In one stunning shot, Terry Virts
revealed the enormity of the ISS against the blackness of space as his
fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore prepared the station for future 'space
taxis'.'Can you spot the space walker in this picture?' Virts tweeted.
'He's very small compared to the enormous starboard truss of the #ISS'
Virts
also posted a space selfie and commented: 'Mission Accomplished - three
#spacewalks, 800' of cable, four antennas, three laser reflectors, one
greased robotic arm.'
But
not everything went to plan. Dramatically, right before Sunday's
spacewalk, engineers spotted problems with American astronaut Butch
Wilmore's suit.
While it
had functioned perfectly during the first two spacewalks, on Sunday
morning, a pressure sensor briefly malfunctioned before he floated out.
A
mechanical gauge, however, was operating fine. Mission Control told
Wilmore that he would need to pay extra attention to how his suit was
feeling throughout the seven-hour excursion.
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Commander Barry 'Butch' Wilmore is
circled in red. The astronauts completed installing 400 feet of cable
and several antennas associated with the Common Communications for
Visiting Vehicles system known as C2V2
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Terry Virts took a space selfie,
moments after completing the job. He wrote on Twitter: 'Mission
Accomplished - three #spacewalks, 800' of cable, four antennas, three
laser reflectors, one greased robotic arm'
The beautiful shot was taken on Sunday
during a spacewalk in which astronaut's laid cables in preparation for
future space taxis on the ISS. Terry Virts wrote: 'The camera doesn't do
it justice - floating in space, looking down on creation, seeing new
colour shades'
Meanwhile,
Nasa said a small amount of water got into American astronaut Terry
Virts helmet once he was back in the air lock and the chamber was being
repressurised on Wednesday.
They were forced to spend two days analysing his suit after the water leak occurred at the end of an outing earlier this week.
Engineers
concluded it was the result of condensation, and a safe and well
understood circumstance that had occurred several times before with the
same spacesuit.
Virts
was never in danger, according to Nasa, so they cleared his spacesuit
for the last of three spacewalks, Friday, to install cable.
But in 2013, another astronaut nearly drowned because of a flooded helmet.
Italian
astronaut, Luca Parmitano, barely got back into the space station after
a considerable amount of water filled his helmet during a spacewalk.
The
water escaped from his suit's cooling system and Nasa spent months
investigating the mishap, before clearing the way for more spacewalks.
On
Wednesday, the amount of water seepage in Virts' helmet was
significantly smaller and occurred at the end of the spacewalk when
Virts was already inside.
'They're very different occurrences,' said Alex Kanelakos, a spacewalk officer in Mission Control.
The
advance work, involving nearly 800 feet of cable over three spacewalks
was carried out to create new crew capsules commissioned by Nasa.
The
work, done by American astronauts Virts and Wilmore, meant 400 more
feet of power and data cable has been installed, as well as two antennas
installed on Sunday.
A pair of docking ports will fly up later this year, followed by the capsules themselves, with astronauts aboard, in 2017.
Terry Virts
(right) is seen during the third spacewalk outside the International
Space Station Sunday during the six hour, 45 minute outing, in which he
helped set up antennas and communications equipment. The left image
shows Butch Wilmore fixing cables
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Terry Virts wrote on this image: 'Out
on the P3 truss. #AstroButch handing me his cable to install on the new
antenna'. Dramatically, right before Sunday's spacewalk, engineers
spotted problems with American astronaut Butch Wilmore's suit
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Nasa on Friday cleared Virts'
spacesuit, pictured, for the last of three spacewalks to install
cable. Nasa hasn't conducted such a quick succession of spacewalks since
its former shuttle days, and the amount of cable work is unprecedented
The astronauts successfully routed 364 feet on their first two excursions, on February 21 and last Wednesday.
They
carried out complicated work Sunday, yet the astronauts completed their
task an hour early making it a five and a half-hour spacewalk.
They spent 20 hours altogether on three outings.
Neither
Virts nor Wilmore experienced any more suit trouble during their task.
Mission Control joked by radio: 'You guys have done an outstanding job
even for two shuttle pilots.'
The
260-mile (418-kilometre) spacewalk unfolded 50 years to the month of
the world's first spacewalk by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov on March
18, 1965.
Nasa
hasn't conducted such a quick succession of spacewalks since its former
shuttle days, and the amount of cable work is unprecedented.
Even more spacewalks will be needed once new docking ports start arriving in June.
Wilmore is due to return to Earth next week following a five and a half-month mission. Virts is midway through his expedition.
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carried them both up, with Nasa paying for the multimillion dollar tickets.
To
save money and stop being so reliant on the Russian Space Agency, Nasa
has hired Boeing and SpaceX to develop spacecraft capable of
transporting astronauts to the space station.
The two contracts are worth nearly $7 billion. SpaceX already is delivering cargo under a separate agreement with Nasa.
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An astronaut is pictured at the
International Space Station, the spacewalk is the third in eight days
for Nasa, and is the 187th in the history of the space station
A space selfie taken during an earlier
spacewalk on February 25th. Nasa said a small amount of water got into
American astronaut Terry Virts helmet once he was back in the air lock
and the chamber was being repressurised
Terry
Virts gesturing a Vulcan hand salute from orbit as a tribute to US actor
Leonard Nimoy, in space, 27 February 2015. Nimoy, 83, who died on 27
February 2015, played science officer Mr. Spock in the Star Trek series
that served as an inspiration to generations of scientists
In this image from Nasa television
astronaut Terry Virts exits the Quest airlock hatch beginning the third
spacewalk outside the International Space Station early Sunday morning
March 1, 2015
DAIRY MAILY