MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax-AVN) - The spacewalk to be carried out by Mikhail Tyurin (Russia) and Michael Lopez-Alegria (the U.S.) on Thursday will start with the Golf experiment, the Russian Federal Space Agency press-service said.
According to the agency's official website, Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria, wearing Orlan-M spacesuits, will exit via the Pirs docking module. The 20th spacewalk from the Russian sector of the International Space Station (ISS) will start with the Golf experiment.
Lopez-Alegria is to exit to the outer surface of the Pirs module and take out golf clubs and a golf ball. Tyurin will secure a golf ball mount on the module and strike the ball. The experiment will be taped.
The experiment is an advertisement of one of the sportswear manufacturers. The Russian Mission Control said that the ball would be aimed away from the ISS. Some time later it will deorbit and burn in atmosphere.
In addition to conducting the Golf experiment, the astronauts will also mount a neutron telescope on the Zvezda service module.
According to the Federal Space Agency, one of the crucial objectives consists in inspecting and closing the aerial of the Progress M-58 freighter. The aerial almost interfered with the docking of the cargo spacecraft with the ISS in October. It has to be folded not to cause any problems when the Progress undocks from the ISS.
Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria will dismantle the WAL2 aerial and mount it on the Zvezda module rail.
If astronauts have time, they will replace one of the systems of the Zvezda service module.
The space walk is expected to start at 2:00 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday (2300 GMT on Wednesday) and last for 5 hours and 47 minutes.