the astronauts josh cassada and Frank Rubio performed a spacewalk on Tuesday to upgrade the International Space Station’s (ISS) solar power system. During the seven hours of extravehicular activity, the two prepared the outer side of the orbital laboratory to receive two more new ISS Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSA) solar arrays.
They started the spacewalk at 11:14 Brasilia time. As they prepared to exit the Quest’s airlock, Cassada identified a problem with his spacesuit’s control unit display. After they resolved the situation and left, the astronauts split up to work on different tasks.
Rubio proceeded to prepare the cables for the new iROSA, which should be installed at the end of the month. Meanwhile, Cassada has begun preparations for installing a modification kit, which will require another set of solar arrays. “I was told I was going to do a spacewalk with Frank, but I didn’t see him today,” Cassada joked.
After completing his duties, Rubio joined Cassada to help him with the installation of a necessary structure for the energy channel 1A, of the new iROSA solar panel. They installed hardware shipped from the Cygnus NG-18 cargo ship, dubbed Sally Ride🇧🇷 In addition to the structure, the modification kit had components that Cassada and Rubio assembled, forming a sort of support for the new solar panel.
They were able to lift the frame up, but were unable to position it properly due to the delay in starting the spacewalk, even so they managed to prepare three pieces of mounting hardware for the panels, with only one remaining. The remaining tasks are to be completed in a future spacewalk.
Cassada and Rubio completed the spacewalk at 17:25 Brasilia time, for a total of seven hours and 11 minutes on the outer side of the orbital complex. For both, it was the first spacewalk, also being the ninth carried out this year alone and the 254th for the assembly and maintenance of the spacecraft. International Space Station.
Source: NASA
