Astronauts are Go for Final Power Upgrade Spacewalk

Astronauts are Go for Final Power Upgrade Spacewalk

Mission managers have given the go for two astronauts to exit the International Space Station on Thursday and install its eighth and final roll-out solar array. The Expedition 75 crew members completed final preparations for the spacewalk and also conducted biotechnology research.

Astronauts Joshua Kutryk of CSA (Canadian Space Agency) and Anil Menon of NASA are ready for their spacewalk scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday. Kutryk and Menon will spend about seven hours in the vacuum of space installing a roll-out solar array on the far end of the starboard truss structure.

Kutryk and Menon will mostly repeat the same installation tasks they conducted during their Oct. 29 spacewalk but on the opposite side of the orbiting lab's truss structure. Kutryk will translate to the starboard truss where he will meet Menon, who will carry the roll-out solar array while attached to the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Menon will then hand the roll-out solar array to Kutryk before detaching himself from the Canadarm2 and heading to the installation worksite. Once there, Kutryk will hand the roll-out solar array back to Menon where the pair will finish the installation job on the starboard truss.

This will complete the augmentation of the space station's power generating capacity from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts that began in June 2021. NASA+ and a variety of other streaming platforms will begin live continuous spacewalk coverage at 7 a.m. on Thursday.

Kutryk and Menon began Wednesday readying their spacewalking tools and staging their spacesuits inside the Quest airlock. Next, the duo reviewed their spacewalk procedures one more time before joining NASA flight engineers Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney and studying the robotic maneuvers necessary to support the spacewalkers. Finally, all four astronauts called down to mission controllers for a standard spacewalk readiness conference.

There was still time for science aboard the orbital outpost with the astronauts exploring microbiology. Kutryk inspected station water samples for microbial growth and photographed the results. Menon swabbed station surfaces for microbes then stowed the samples for incubation and analysis. Watkins also collected bacteria samples from station surfaces that will be analyzed for their resistance to antibiotics. Delaney processed human lung cells to test their ability to grow in microgravity.

The space station's three cosmonauts relaxed for most of their shift on Wednesday setting some time aside for light duty tasks. Station commander Pyotr Dubrov spent a few moments familiarizing himself with Thursday's spacewalk activities. Flight engineer Anna Kikina checked the functionality of payload controller hardware while flight engineer Sergey Teteryatnikov prepared radiation detectors the spacewalkers will wear on their suits Thursday.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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