Space Station Freedom Airlock Outfitting To Support Extravehicular Activity (EVA)

This paper discusses the design and outfitting of the Space Station Freedom Airlock as developed during the preliminary design phase. It briefly summarizes the evolution of the airlock to the present day two-chamber, inline configuration. A top-level description of the design of the structure and hatches and the major requirements driving their design is included. The primary focus of this paper is a detailed description of the internal and external outfitting of the Airlock with equipment and associated distributed systems necessary to support extravehicular activity (EVA) requirements. Equipment used to reservice the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), provide internal and external umbilical support for the EMU, control the depressurization and repressurization of the Airlock, and provide hyperbaric treatment of crew members, as well as external support equipment utilized during real-time EVA operations, is described. In addition, the supporting distributed system interfaces for this equipment such as the Thermal Control System (TCS), Data Management System (DMS), Communications and Tracking (C&T) System, Electrical Power System (EPS), and the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) are discussed.