Article Posted on : - Aug 18, 2010

The International Space Station.

WASHINGTON (BNS): NASA astronauts have been successful in installing the new cooling system of the International Space Station (ISS) after undertaking three spacewalk.

Astronauts Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson, during their third and last spacewalk on Monday that lasted for 7 hours and 20 minutes, installed the replacement pump and connected its electric and fluid lines.

“Loop A was repressurised late Monday afternoon and the ammonia pump module was spun up and began running normally. A quick data review of pump performance indicated no problems.

“It is anticipated that the station will be back in its normal configuration for standard operations by Thursday,” NASA said.

The ISS lost half of its cooling system when one of its two cooling pumps shut down on July 31. Serving the US, European and Japanese laboratories, the cooling system was being used to keep electronic equipment from overheating.

The two astronauts had earlier conducted two spacewalks to remove the failed ammonia pump from the station's truss.