WORLD : Soviet Cosmonauts Close Faulty Hatch in 3 1/2-Hour Spacewalk
Two Soviet cosmonauts closed a faulty hatch on their orbiting station during a 3 1/2-hour spacewalk today, Soviet television said.
Anatoly Solovyov and Alexander Balandin had been unable to close the hatch--open 1/20th of an inch--when they returned from a seven-hour walk July 18.
Today they managed to force it shut and, once back inside, were able to repressurize the section and take off their spacesuits.
The correspondent showed viewers a photograph of a broken bracket that had apparently caused the problem.
Tass news agency quoted experts at Mission Control as saying it was probably damaged when the hatch was initially opened. Higher pressure inside the air lock caused the door to fly open violently, bending the bracket.
The hatch was on Kvant-2, one of three modules attached to the Mir station. It was not connected to the Soyuz-TM spaceship that brought the two men to Mir in February, and the failure to close it apparently has not affected plans for their return to Earth on Aug. 9.
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