June 9, 2001

 Station residents complete spacewalk; robot arm problem resurfaces

 By Steven Siceloff
 FLORIDA TODAY

 CAPE CANAVERAL - The simplest spacewalk in the young history of space
 station Alpha on Friday marked the final preparations for the arrival of
 new Russian module later this summer.

 Cosmonaut Yury Usachev and astronaut Jim Voss had ventured through the
 spherical segment of the Zvezda module innumerable times during their
 first three months on the outpost.

 Friday, they saw it from inside spacesuits.

 The pair worked inside the confines of the station for less than 20 minutes
 moving a docking mechanism from one port to another. The compartment was
 open to space, requiring the two to wear Russian Orlan spacesuits.

 The mechanism, a 3-foot-diameter hatch, was used in July to connect the
 Russian Zvezda and Zarya modules.

 Usachev, who made six spacewalks aboard the Russian Mir space station,
 performed most of the work with Voss assisting. It was Voss' fourth
 spacewalk, the first inside a Russian spacesuit.

 The Russian suits, whose name means Eagle, are different from their
 American counterparts in that spacewalkers climb into them from the back
 and pull the door closed behind them. NASA's spacesuits reflect
 conventional fashion, with the astronaut putting on a pair of pants first
 and then floating into the shirt section.

 While the spacewalk went better than planned, taking only half the time,
 the station's nagging robot arm troubles continued.

 The computer failure that hobbled the crane's backup power and control
 system reappeared during Thursday night testing, then disappeared again,
 said NASA spokesman James Hartsfield.

 The system's shoulder joint has been a problem since May 17, prompting
 the postponement of the next two shuttle missions.

 Atlantis' mission, scheduled for launch July 7, depends on a working
 station arm to lift an airlock out of the shuttle and install it on the
 station.

 "They're trying to get from station managers whether the arm can support
 the July 7 mission, and I'm not sure they know that yet," Hartsfield said.