Two cosmonauts accomplished the primary in a collection of spacewalks wanted to outfit a newly-added Russian module to the International Space Station.
Expedition 65 flight engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian space company Roscosmos on Friday (Sept. 2) linked energy and information cables for the brand new multipurpose laboratory module (MLM), additionally known as “Nauka” (or “Science” in Russian).
Novitskiy and Dubrov started the seven-hour, 54-minute spacewalk at 10:41 a.m. EDT (1441 GMT) by opening the hatch on the Poisk mini-research module situated adjoining to the Nauka module on the Russian section of the space station. After gathering their instruments, the cosmonauts deployed the Strela telescoping increase, a 46-foot-long (14 meters) operated by hand crane that they used to traverse the station’s Russian modules.
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Retrieving two bundles of 4 cables every, the spacewalkers linked the U.S. working section’s energy provide to a patch panel on Nauka and to an interface panel on the Zarya practical cargo block. The cosmonauts bumped into some problem eradicating protecting finish caps from a number of the cables however had been in a position to get all of them freed and the cables plugged in.
The eight cables tied Nauka into the U.S. solar panel-fed system that gives electrical energy for the complete space station. Electrical checks carried out after the cables had been in place confirmed connection and energy flowing as anticipated.
Novitskiy and Dubrov additionally started the routing of an ethernet cable to Nauka and partially put in a brand new handrail to ease future spacewalks.
Launched on July 21 and autonomously docked to the space station eight days later, the Nauka module will present an expanded space to conduct science, in addition to function a docking port and airlock for Russian spacewalks. The MLM will even home further crew quarters and a rest room for the space station’s residents.
Running barely delayed because of the additional work wanted to free the cable caps, Novitskiy and Dubrov had been instructed by Moscow Mission Control to defer putting in two handrails and three organic science experiments to a later spacewalk. Novitskiy and Dubrov wrapped their work by stowing the Strela increase.
The spacewalk ended at 6:35 p.m. EDT (2235 GMT), because the airlock hatch on the Poisk module was closed.
Friday’s spacewalk was the second for each Novitskiy and Dubrov, who beforehand carried out their first extravehicular exercise (EVA) collectively in June. The two are scheduled to work outdoors the space station once more to proceed the outfitting of Nauka on Thursday (Sept. 9).
Novitskiy, who was designated extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), wore the Russian Orlan spacesuit with pink stripes. Dubrov wore a spacesuit with blue stripes as EV2.
This was the 242nd EVA in help of International Space Station meeting, upkeep and upgrades and the tenth spacewalk outdoors the outpost in 2021.
Robert Pearlman is a Space.com contributing author and the editor of collectSPACE.com, a Space.com companion website and the main space historical past information publication. Follow collectSPACE on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook.
