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In July 2001, during Space Shuttle Flight 7A, the Joint Airlock was added to the International Space Station (ISS) and utilized in performing the first extravehicular activity (EVA) from the ISS. Unlike previous airlock designs built by the United States or Russia, the Joint Airlock provides the ISS with the unique capability for performing EVAs utilizing either U.S. or Russian spacesuits. This EVA capability is made possible by the use of U.S.- and Russian- manufactured hardware items referred to as Servicing and Performance Checkout Equipment (SPCE) located in both the Joint Airlock's Equipment and Crew Locks. This paper provides a description for each SPCE item along with a summary of the requirements and capabilities provided in support of EVA events from the ISS Joint Airlock.

The International Space Station (ISS) will include a Joint Airlock consisting of an Equipment Lock and Crewlock to be used by both the United States and Russia for conducting extravehicular activities (EVAs). The U.S. EVAs will be performed using the existing Shuttle extravehicular mobility unit (EMU). The Russian EVAs will be performed using the Orlan-M spacesuit. At the NASA/Johnson Space Center, a distributed set of hardware assemblies, referred to as Servicing and Performance Checkout Equipment (SPCE), are under development to support EVAs using either the EMU or Orlan-M spacesuit. This paper provides a description of each SPCE item along with a summary of the requirements and capabilities provided by the SPCE in support of EVA events from the ISS Joint Airlock.

A high degree of in-flight availability of an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) must be assured to allow Extravehicular Activity (EVA) to become a routine operation, to minimize life cycle costs, and to support long duration missions. The ability to maintain an Advanced EMU and other equipment in flight will be of primary importance in achieving these high availability requirements while minimizing onboard spares quantities and resupply costs. This paper presents an analytical assessment of the advantages of in-flight maintainability in providing continued EMU availability for space-based operations by use of modular assemblies and components.