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Intro music.

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In a true international effort, NASA and the Russian Space Agency combined language, equipment

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and expertise in a spacewalk to repair the International Space Station.

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On June 30th, Expedition 9 crewmembers Commander Gennady Padalka

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and Station Science Officer Mike Finke completed the challenging and complex spacewalk.

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At precisely 5:19pm EDT, the two crewmembers exited the Russian Pirs docking compartment to repair a faulty RPCM,

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or, Remote Power Control Module that shutdown gyroscope #2 back in April of this year.

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The RPCMs are circuit breakers that supply power from the Station's solar arrays to its four gyroscopes.

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The gyroscopes are an important system because they maintain the Station's position in space.

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Without them, the Space Station would have to rely heavily on the craft's steering jets

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and quickly consume the limited fuel supply.

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This unique task required thoughtful cooperation between both the Americans and the Russians

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to choreograph procedures and maintain communications.

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One agreement the two teams came to was the use of hand signals between astronauts in the event of a communications problem.

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It was also the first time Russian Orlon spacesuits were worn while work was performed on the American portion of the Space Station.

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The decision to use the Orlon suits was made after one of the American EMU suits

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developed a cooling problem during equipment inspection.

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Completing the job ahead of schedule, the two spacewalkers were safely back inside the Pirs airlock just before 11 pm, eastern time.

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With the closing of the airlock, the Russian and American teams congratulated each other on their repair of the International Space Station

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and a job well done.

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