Two Russian cosmonauts performed a spacewalk Monday at the International Space Station (ISS) to repair a camera left unfinished last month, only a new glitch in the system has arose.
According to the Associated Press, Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy reinstalled successfully two cameras whose purpose is to observe Earth from the ISS. They had malfunctioned after a post-Christmas spacewalk and are once again experiencing a glitch.
The first high-resolution camera installed ran smoothly, but the second was not adequately providing ground control with data. Ryazanskiy said he reinstalled the electrical connections, but the data transfer was still off despite no signs of damage.
"I put everything in place as it used to be, maybe even better," Ryazanskiy told ground control, who requested he leave the connections alone while they troubleshoot the issue. "I think it's much better."
UrtheCast Corp., the maker of the cameras installed on the ISS and the Canadian firm working with Russia to install them, said Tuesday both the high and medium resolution cameras were in working order.
"Contrary to the online broadcast of the installation, the telemetry was received by Mission Control Central near Moscow," UrtheCast said in a press release. "During the installation, we were able to complete all of the intended tests during the spacewalk. At this time, all telemetry received and analyzed is within our expected results."
CEO Scott Larson told CBC News the same, that both cameras are installed and fully operational.
"We're again extremely grateful to Energia and Roscosmos for providing such quick and efficient technical support throughout the camera installation process," he said in the release. "With the cameras now successfully installed and communicating with Mission Control, UrtheCast can now focus on the routine commissioning of the cameras in preparation for the unveiling of our Ultra HD, color video of Earth."
