Astronauts aboard the international space station plan a series of spacewalks in the next month to pave the way for five assembly missions to the orbital base this year by space shuttles.
The fourth spacewalk will involve removing a stuck antenna from a Russian cargo spacecraft docked at the aft end of the station. Removing the antenna will ensure it can safely undock in early April. The spacewalks will be conducted by Lopez-Alegria and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin using Russian spacesuits from the station's Pirs airlock.
The spacewalkers also plan to hook up power connections that will enable some of NASA's shuttles to draw electricity from the station.
"Every spacewalk has its challenges, and all of these spacewalks are challenging," said NASA's Glenda Laws, who supervised preparations for the outings.
All told, astronauts and cosmonauts plan 23 spacewalks this year to help finish the assembly of the station by 2010, the date established by the White House for the shuttle's retirement.
"There are a lot of activities planned this year. What's important is carrying out the sequence of events as rapidly and effectively as possible," NASA's Kirk Shireman, who chairs the station's mission management team, told reporters Friday.
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