Astronauts are go for Thursday’s power upgrade spacewalk
Baku, October 29, AZERTAC
Mission managers have given the go for Thursday’s spacewalk to install a new roll-out solar array on the International Space Station’s port-side truss structure, according to NASA.
Expedition 75 flight engineers Anil Menon of NASA and Joshua Kutryk of CSA (Canadian Space Agency) will set their spacesuits to battery power at 8 a.m. EDT signifying the start of their spacewalk for about six hours and 45 minutes of external maintenance. NASA+ begins its live spacewalk coverage at 6:30 a.m.
On Thursday, the spacewalking duo will first unbolt the roll-out solar array from a temporary stowage platform. Next, Menon will carry the roll-out solar array to the truss worksite while riding the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Kutryk will the translate to the port truss worksite while tethered to the orbital outpost and join Menon to complete the installation job. Finally, mission controllers will remotely activate the roll-out solar array to begin generating power.
Menon and Kutryk began their shift on Wednesday finalizing their spacewalk procedure reviews. Afterward, the pair inspected their spacesuits’ life support systems, communications gear, and other components ensuring their readiness for Thursday’s excursion.
After lunchtime, Menon and Kutryk joined NASA flight engineers Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney for a final spacewalk conference with specialists on the ground. Watkins and Delaney also familiarized themselves with lighting conditions and camera locations on the outside of the space station in order to monitor the spacewalkers and operate the Canadarm2. Finally, all four astronauts gathered at the end of their shift for a conference with robotics engineers to discuss Canadarm2 operations planned for the spacewalk.
Roscosmos’ three cosmonauts had a light duty day on Wednesday keeping up their science activities and familiarizing themselves with Thursday’s spacewalk operations. Station commander Pyotr Dubrov uninstalled multi-wavelength Earth photography gear that autonomously captured Pacific and Atlantic Ocean landmarks during the crew’s sleep shift. Flight engineer Sergey Teteryatnikov installed a different set of Earth imagery gear for another overnight session to photograph Pacific islands and South American glaciers, meanwhile, flight engineer Anna Kikina jogged on the Zvezda service module’s treadmill to test her fitness in microgravity.
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