Astronauts taking spacewalk to complete hookup of Canadian firm’s cameras

Two space station astronauts are making a spacewalk to install a pair of cameras developed by a Canadian firm. The Russian astronauts are completing a job left undone last month.

Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy quickly got one of the Canadian-developed cameras installed outside the International Space Station, a task requiring multiple power connections. Everything checked out well, unlike the post-Christmas spacewalk where no data emanated from the cameras.

Click here to watch them courtesy of NASA.

The two men worked so hard — determined to accomplish the job this time — that Russian Mission Control outside Moscow urged them to “get your breath.”

“We’ll force ourselves to rest,” one of the spacewalkers replied in Russian.

The space cameras were developed by Canada’s UrtheCast.

The astronauts had hooked up the Earth-observing cameras during a spacewalk right after Christmas. But ground controllers received no data from the cameras, and the spacewalkers had to haul everything back in.

The problem was traced to indoor cabling and fixed, according to NASA.

This time, after the spacewalkers reattached the high-definition camera to the outside of the Russian portion of the space station, good electrical connectivity was reported between the instrument and Russian Mission Control.

NASA spokesman Rob Navias said Russian flight controllers were pleased with the results.

“The second time a charm for its installation and activation,” Navias said.

Next, Kotov and Ryazanskiy tackled the medium-resolution camera.

Images from the cameras will be distributed by the Vancouver-based UrtheCast (pronounced EARTH-cast). The cameras were launched to the space station last November in a deal between UrtheCast and the Russian Space Agency.

UrtheCast will post near-real-time video on its website and sell images. The company envisions customers wanting video feeds for environmental, agricultural and humanitarian purposes.

The company expects it will take three months to calibrate the cameras, and that the system should be fully operational by summer.

Because of all the camera data trouble during the Dec. 27 spacewalk, which dragged on for eight hours, Kotov and Ryazanskiy had to put off other chores. Those tasks were on Monday’s to-do list.

The four other space station astronauts — two Americans, one Japanese and another Russian — kept tabs on the spacewalk from inside.

Russian flight controllers outside Moscow directed Monday’s 260-mile-high excursion.

With files from The Canadian Press

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