False Alarm Delays Spacewalk

Atlantis crew members Michael Foreman and Randy Bresnik floated outside the International Space Station for a six-hour spacewalk on Saturday after a false alarm disrupted their sleep.

A false depressurization alarm went off shutting down ventilation fans. A new Russian docking module that arrived at the station on November 12, seemed to be the source of the problem.

Foreman and Bresnik were sleeping inside the station's Quest airlock when alarms indicated a rapid depressurization of the station.

It took the crew about an hour to get the fans working again, prompting NASA to cancel the spacewalkers' sleepover. The sleep was intended to purge nitrogen from their bodies to prevent a dangerous condition known as the bends.

Instead, Foreman and Bresnik put on oxygen masks and exercised vigorously on stationary bicycles to rid their bodies of nitrogen before beginning the shortened spacewalk.

NASA is stocking the outpost with equipment in hopes of keeping it operational after the U.S. space agency's shuttles stop flying next year.

During Saturday's spacewalk, Foreman and Bresnik worked to install communications antennas and set up a cargo attachment mechanism to the station's truss.

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