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NASA TV Broadcasts Spacewalk for Solar Array Mods on Friday

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi are scheduled to exit the International Space Station’s Quest airlock Friday for a spacewalk to complete the installation of solar array modification kits, which were started during the Feb. 28 spacewalk in preparation for solar array upgrades.

The pair will set their spacesuits to battery power about 7 a.m. EST tomorrow, signifying the start of their spacewalk, which is expected to last about six and a half hours. NASA will begin its live coverage on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website at 5:30 a.m.

Rubins and fellow NASA astronaut Victor Glover began work to install modification kits on the farthest set of solar rays on the station’s Port-6 truss structure during the recent spacewalk. Noguchi will join Rubins in tomorrow’s spacewalk to complete the installation and configuration of the kits in preparation for new solar arrays. The new solar arrays, which will be delivered to the space station on upcoming SpaceX Dragon cargo missions, are a larger version of the Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) technology and will ultimately increasing the station’s total available power from 160 kilowatts to up to 215 kilowatts.

This will be the 236th spacewalk in support of space station assembly. Rubins will be designated extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1) and wear a spacesuit bearing red stripes. Noguchi will be extravehicular crew member 2 (EV 2), wearing a suit with no stripes.

Rubins arrived at the space station Oct. 14, 2020, aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and Noguchi arrived at the space station in November as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission. This will be the fourth career spacewalk for each astronaut.

Roscosmos Cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov continued work this week to seal a crack  in the service module of the Zvezda compartment aboard the International Space Station. This was part of ongoing work to isolate and fix the source of a slight increase above the standard cabin air leak rate aboard the station teams have been investigating over the last year. The crew is in no danger, and the space station has ample consumables aboard to manage and maintain the nominal environment.

To seal the crack, the crew will drill holes in the tips of the cracks to prevent any potential future growth. The cracks will then be sealed right away with two types of sealing paste. Several more layers of paste will be applied with a reinforcement patch, which will be covered with another layer of sealing paste.

After completing the crack repair work, a series of leak checks will be performed.

The metal pieces, instrument data and photos collected will all be sent back to Earth for further analysis.

Learn more about station activities by following @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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High-Powered Computing, Orbital Plumbing and Spacewalk Preps Today

Preparations are stepping up ahead of Friday’s spacewalk at the International Space Station to continue solar array modifications. The Expedition 64 crew is also studying high-powered space computing while maintaining orbital lab systems.

Flight Engineers Kate Rubins and Soichi Noguchi are getting ready to begin a spacewalk on Friday to finish installing solar array modification kits. The installation work began during a spacewalk on Feb. 28 to ready the station for new, more powerful solar arrays being delivered soon on upcoming SpaceX Dragon cargo missions.

The duo will set their spacesuits to battery power about 7 a.m. EST on Friday officially beginning the fourth spacewalk of the year. They will exit the U.S. Quest airlock and maneuver to the far-left side of the station to their worksite on the Port-6 truss structure. Rubins of NASA and Noguchi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) will spend about six-and-a-half hours wrapping up the modifications and performing get-ahead work if time permits. NASA TV begins its live spacewalk coverage at 5:30 a.m.

As the spacewalk preparations are underway, the rest of the crew is staying focused on a multitude of research work. Ensuring the stable operation of space station systems is also a daily priority.

Space technology is a big topic and scientists want to extend the power of Earth-based data processing to microgravity. Today, NASA Flight Engineer Victor Glover installed the Spaceborne Computer-2 delivered last month aboard the Cygnus space freighter. The new computing device, located in Europe’s Columbus laboratory module, seeks to demonstrate artificial intelligence and high-powered computations on the station rather than downloading scientific data for analysis on Earth.

NASA astronauts Shannon Walker and Michael Hopkins worked on space plumbing tasks on Wednesday. Walker readied cables that will power the station’s new water recycling device, the Brine Processor Assembly. Hopkins worked on fluid transfers and swapped pipes inside the Waste and Hygiene Compartment, the station’s bathroom in the U.S. segment.

Commander Sergey Ryzhikov completed a 24-hour session that recorded his electrical heart signal with a portable electrocardiogram. Flight Engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov repressurized the station’s environment with nitrogen stored inside the docked ISS Progress 77 cargo ship.

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Mark Garcia

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Spacewalk, Science and BEAM Work Keeping Crew Busy

Two astronauts are gearing up for another spacewalk scheduled this Friday to continue maintenance on the outside of the International Space Station. The rest of the Expedition 64 crew set up advanced research hardware and also entered BEAM for cargo activities.

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is readying tools and reviewing procedures for Friday’s spacewalk to continue installing solar array modification kits begun during Sunday’s spacewalk. She was joined by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Soichi Noguchi on Tuesday as he assisted with spacesuit preparations. Flight Engineer Victor Glover partnered with Noguchi for the spacesuit work and collected water samples from the suits for microbial analysis.

Rubins and Noguchi will set their U.S. spacesuits to battery power inside the U.S. Quest airlock around 7 a.m. EST signifying the start of their spacewalk. NASA TV will begin its live coverage of the planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk at 5:30 a.m.

NASA Flight Engineer Shannon Walker checked out radiation and biological gear today. She first deployed an experimental radiation detector to validate its use on future Orion spacecraft carrying crews to the Moon. Next, Walker powered up the Bio-Analyzer for upcoming cellular and molecular analysis work aboard the orbiting lab.

Walker also joined Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins opening up the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, for cargo work. The duo stowed hardware and replaced a wireless sensors inside the commercial module.

Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov focused on Russian science experiments in the station’s Russian segment. Ryzhikov wore a portable electrocardiogram that will record his electrical heart signals for 24 hours. Kud-Sverchkov serviced biology gear that enables investigations of cell cultures exposed to microgravity.

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Mark Garcia

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Spacewalkers Conclude Today’s Spacewalk

NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover concluded their spacewalk at 1:16 p.m. EST, after 7 hours and 4 minutes. In the third spacewalk of the year outside the International Space Station, the two NASA astronauts began work to install modification kits required for upcoming solar array upgrades.

The duo worked near the farthest set of existing solar arrays on the station’s left (port) side, known as P6. Glover built a bracket structure and worked with Rubins to attach the bracket and support struts to the mast canister, the base, of one of the P6 solar arrays, known as 2B. One of the bolts did not fully engage on the first attempt, so Rubins used a power drill to back it out and reseat it, then used a ratchet wrench to tighten the bolt, reaching a safe configuration. The bolt likely will need to be secured further before installing one of the new solar arrays that will be delivered to the space station later this year aboard SpaceX’s 22^nd commercial resupply services mission.

Rubins and Glover then moved to begin identical assembly work for the bracket for the second of the P6 solar array pair, known as 4B. They completed the construction of upper support hardware and secured it to the space station’s exterior structure until work can be completed on the next spacewalk on Friday, March 5.

To ensure a sufficient power supply is maintained for NASA’s exploration technology demonstrations for Artemis and beyond as well as utilization and commercialization, NASA is augmenting six of the eight existing power channels of the space station with new solar arrays. The new solar arrays, a larger version of the Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) technology, will be positioned in front of six of the current arrays, ultimately increasing the station’s total available power from 160 kilowatts to up to 215 kilowatts. The current solar arrays are functioning well but have begun to show signs of degradation, as expected, as they were designed for a 15-year service life.

This was the third career spacewalk for both Rubins and Glover. Rubins has now spent a total of 19 hours and 50 minutes spacewalking. Glover now has spent a total of 19 hours and 20 minutes spacewalking.

Space station crew members have conducted 235 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 61 days, 14 hours, and 11 minutes working outside the station.

During the spacewalk March 5, Rubins and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi will venture outside the orbiting outpost to complete the installation of the 4B array modification kit and are expected to tackle additional work, including the venting of ammonia from the Early Ammonia System.

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

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Norah Moran

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Astronauts Rubins and Glover Begin Spacewalk

NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover have begun their spacewalk outside the International Space Station to begin assembling and installing modification kits required for upcoming solar array upgrades.

The spacewalkers switched their spacesuits to battery power at 6:12 a.m. EST to begin the spacewalk, which is expected to last about six and a half hours.

Watch the spacewalk on NASA TV, the NASA app, and on the agency’s website.

Rubins is extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1), wearing a spacesuit bearing red stripes and using helmet camera #22. Glover is extravehicular crew member 2 (EV 2), wearing the spacesuit without stripes and helmet camera #20.

Rubins and Glover will traverse out the station’s backbone truss structure to the far left (port) side set of solar arrays, the first pair of solar arrays deployed in December 2000 that have been powering the station for more than 20 years. The spacewalkers will work together to construct and begin installing bracket support structures at the base of the current solar arrays that will enable new solar arrays to be installed to augment the space station’s power supply.

This is the 235th spacewalk in support of space station assembly.

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

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Norah Moran

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