Astronauts face spacewalk to carry out repairs

A MAJOR part of the International Space Station's cooling system suddenly shut down during the weekend, forcing the astronauts to power down equipment and face the likelihood of urgent spacewalking repairs.

Yesterday Nasa managers approved two spacewalks, the first of which would take place later this week.

Two of the Americans on board were already scheduled to conduct a spacewalk on Thursday for routine maintenance, though the repairs would supersede the original chores.

Officials stressed that the six occupants — three Americans and three Russians — were in no danger and that the orbiting complex was in a stable situation. Much of the station is operating on a single string, however, with no safeguard in case of further cooling system failures.

Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson hustled through the equipment shutdown procedures and, with crewmate Douglas Wheelock, installed a jumper cable to keep all the rooms cool.

Flight controllers tried to restart the disabled ammonia pump early yesterday, but the circuit breaker tripped again. No further repair attempts were planned, at least for now.