Joint Airlock

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quest Joint Airlock Module (NASA)

The Quest Joint Airlock module is the primary airlock for the International Space Station, designed to host spacewalks with both the American and Russian spacesuits. Before Quest was attached, Russian spacewalks were required to be done from the Zvezda service module and American spacewalks were only possible when a Space Shuttle was docked.

The Quest airlock consists of two segments, the "Equipment lock" that stores spacesuits and equipment, and the "Crew Lock" from which astronauts can exit into space. It was derived from the Space Shuttle airlock, although it was significantly modified to waste less atmospheric gas when used. It was attached to the starboard side of the Unity during STS-104. It has mountings for four high-pressure gas tanks, two containing oxygen and two containing nitrogen, which provides for atmospheric replenishment to the American side of the space station, most specifically for the gas lost after a hatch opening during a space walk.

Quest was necessary because American suits will not fit through a Russian airlock hatch and have different components, fittings, and connections. The airlock is designed to contain equipment that can work with both types of airlocks, however, it is currently only able to host American spacewalks because the equipment necessary to work with Russian space suits has not been launched yet, which required the Expedition 9 crew to take a circuitous route to a worksite because of problems with the American space suits.

Quest provides an environment where astronauts can "camp out" before a spacewalk in a reduced-nitrogen atmosphere to purge nitrogen from their bloodstream and avoid decompression sickness in the pure-oxygen atmosphere of the spacesuit. In April 2006, Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Expedition 13 flight officer Jeff Williams tested a new method of preparing for spacewalks by "camping out" or spending the night in the Quest airlock. In the chamber the pressure was reduced from the normal 14.7 psi to 10.2 psi. By comparison, the previous method of preparing for spacewalks involved breathing pure oxygen for many hours to purge the body of nitrogen and avoid the bends. Four hours into their sleep period, an error tone prompted mission controllers to cut short the activity; however, the test was still deemed a success.

The airlock and tank systems were built out of aluminum and tested at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama by the Boeing Company.

The airlock is 5.5 meters (18 ft) long, has a diameter of 4 meters (13 ft), weighs 6,064 kg, and encompasses 34 cubic meters of volume. The total cost was $164 million.