Astronauts Prep for Maintenance Spacewalk Today on NASA TV
(From left) Astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara pose for portraits in spacesuits at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
NASA Television coverage of today’s spacewalk with NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara is now underway and is also available on the NASA app, the space station blog and the agency’s website.
The crew members of Expedition 70 are preparing to exit the International Space Station‘s Quest airlock for a spacewalk expected to begin about 8:05 a.m. EDT and last approximately six-and-a-half hours.
Moghbeli and O’Hara will exit the station’s Quest airlock to remove an electronics box called the Radio Frequency Group from the station’s truss that was temporarily stowed after a faulty communications antenna was replaced in Dec. 2021. They also will replace one of 12 trundle bearing assemblies on a solar alpha rotary joint. The bearings enable the station’s solar arrays to rotate to track the Sun as the station orbits the Earth to collect and store electricity for power generation for station systems.
Moghbeli will serve as extravehicular activity (EVA) crew member 1 and will wear a suit with red stripes. O’Hara will serve as extravehicular crew member 2 and will wear an unmarked suit. U.S. EVA 89 will be the first spacewalk for both crew members.
(From left) Astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara pose for portraits in their spacesuits at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Final preparations are underway as the Expedition 70 crew gets ready for a maintenance spacewalk on Wednesday. Meanwhile, human research and a manufacturing study continued aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday.
Mission managers have given the go for NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara to conduct a near seven-hour spacewalk beginning at 8:05 a.m. EDT Wednesday. The duo will remove radio communications gear and swap hardware that enables the orbiting lab’s solar arrays to track the Sun. NASA TV will begin its spacewalk coverage at 6:30 a.m. on the agency’s app and website.
The duo was joined today by Commander Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) and Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration) for the daylong spacewalk preparations. Moghbeli and O’Hara kicked off the day with standard medical exams as Mogensen assisted the pair during the temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiratory checks. Furukawa gathered with the three astronauts reviewing the spacewalk procedures and calling down to ground specialists for a final readiness conference.
Moghbeli and O’Hara also readied their tools and spacesuits inside the Quest airlock where they will begin tomorrow’s spacewalk. This will be the first spacewalk for both astronauts and the 12th at the space station this year.
The space station’s three cosmonauts stayed focused on their daily schedule of science and maintenance in the Roscosmos segment of the station. The trio also finalized their clean up tasks following last Wednesday’s spacewalk.
Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko attached sensors to himself in the morning for a 24-hour session measuring his cardiac and blood pressure activity. Afterward, he swapped samples inside a 3D printer for a study exploring space manufacturing techniques. Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub opened the hatch between the Poisk module and Progress 84 cargo craft and stowed spacewalk tools he and Kononenko used last week. Flight Engineer Konstantin Borisov handed over radiation detectors the astronauts will wear on their spacesuits on Wednesday then spent the rest of the day on life support and maintenance tasks.
This nighttime view from the space station shows the city lights of the northeastern United States and its major urban areas.
Monday was a busy day for the seven Expedition 70 crew members packed with spacesuit work, microgravity research, and cargo operations. Two astronauts are also due to exit the International Space Station on Wednesday for a maintenance spacewalk.
Two astronauts and a cosmonaut joined each other on Monday afternoon practicing powering up spacesuits and suiting up their spacewalking crewmates inside the Quest airlock. The trio of flight engineers, including Jasmin Moghbeli from NASA, Satoshi Furukawa from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and Nikolai Chub from Roscosmos, activated suit life support and communications components, checked water and oxygen levels, then performed a suit fit check.
Moghbeli and NASA Flight Engineer Loral O’Hara are scheduled to start a spacewalk on Wednesday at 8:05 a.m. EDT for about seven hours of communications and solar array work. The duo will remove an electronics box called the Radio Frequency Group that was part of a communications antenna system. They also will replace one of 12 trundle bearing assemblies on the station’s port solar alpha rotary joint. The bearings enable the station’s solar arrays to track the Sun.
O’Hara took a day off from spacewalk preparations on Monday and focused on space botany and cargo tasks. She first replaced components inside the Plant Habitat facility to prepare for an experiment investigating how tomato plants defend against disease in the weightless environment. Next, she swapped cargo in and out of the Cygnus space freighter. She finally cleaned up cardiac and neuron cell research hardware to make space for an upcoming SpaceX Dragon cargo mission.
ESA (European Space Agency) Commander Andreas Mogensen worked throughout Monday staging gear that will soon be packed inside the visiting Dragon cargo spacecraft. He also readied hardware that will be used during Wednesday’s spacewalk. At the end of the day, he joined Furukawa and practiced Canadarm2 robotic arm maneuvers on a computer to support the spacewalkers.
Veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko began his day wearing a helmet packed with sensors practicing piloting techniques crew members might use on future planetary missions. Afterward, he worked on Roscosmos Progress 85 cargo craft maintenance then practiced a medical emergency with O’Hara and Chub. Chub also worked on a 3D printing experiment testing manufacturing in space to reduce dependency on supplies from Earth.
First-time space flyer and cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov spent an hour on an Earth photography session during the morning. He would then spend the rest of the day on a variety of life support maintenance tasks throughout the station’s Roscosmos segment.
Week Ends with More Spacewalk Preps, Human Research
Three spacesuits are pictured inside the space station’s Quest airlock in preparation for upcoming spacewalks.
Spacewalk preparations and ongoing human research kept the Expedition 70 crew busy at the end of the week. Meanwhile, two cosmonauts continued cleaning up after completing a spacewalk at the International Space Station in the middle of the week.
NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli are scheduled to exit the Quest airlock on Nov. 1 for a six-and-half-hour maintenance spacewalk on the orbital lab. The duo will remove an electronics box called the Radio Frequency Group that was part of a communications antenna system. They also will replace one of 12 trundle bearing assemblies on the station’s port solar alpha rotary joint. The bearings enable the station’s solar arrays to track the Sun.
The duo started Friday morning organizing their spacewalking tools in Quest. In the afternoon, both astronauts tested the functionality of their spacesuit helmets, cameras, and other suit components. Moghbeli also printed checklists to be attached to spacesuit cuffs and verified the power capacity of the spacesuit jetpacks.
O’Hara spent the middle of Friday working with doctors on the ground for the CIPHER human research study. She scanned her arteries for the cardiovascular portion of the investigation that is composed of 14 medical studies. The experiment seeks to observe the psychological and physiological changes crew members will go through while living in space and farther away from Earth.
Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) began his day assisting O’Hara and Moghbeli when they were configuring their spacewalk tools. Afterward, he worked in the Kibo laboratory module setting up airlock hardware. He wrapped up his day replacing avionics gear inside the Destiny laboratory module. Commander Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) cleared his schedule on Friday exercising during the morning and relaxing the rest of the day.
Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub spent Friday on standard post-spacewalk activities. The duo cleaned their Orlan spacesuits and uninstalled their suits’ batteries, lights, and tethers. They also reconfigured the Poisk airlock and called down to Roscosmos mission controllers for a post-spacewalk conference.
Roscosmos Flight Engineer Konstantin Borisov collected air samples from Poisk for analysis then downloaded radiation data collected from sensors on the spacewalkers’ Orlan spacesuits. In the afternoon, he practiced spacecraft and robotic piloting techniques on a computer that may inform how crew members operate on future planetary missions.
Crew Continues Spacewalk Preps Following Date Adjustment
Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko (suit with red stripes) and Nikolai Chub (suit with blue stripes) are pictured during a spacewalk for maintenance on Oct. 25, 2023.
The Expedition 70 crew is gearing up for another spacewalk planned at the beginning of November for maintenance on the outside of the International Space Station. The next United States orbital segment spacewalk now is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 1, to allow the International Space Station crew and flight control team additional time to prepare for the excursion.
NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli will exit the station’s Quest airlock to remove an electronics box called the Radio Frequency Group that was part of a communications antenna system. They also will replace one of 12 trundle bearing assemblies on the station’s port solar alpha rotary joint. The bearings enable the station’s solar arrays to track the Sun. The spacewalk was previously planned for Monday, Oct. 30.
U.S. Spacewalk 89 will be the first for both Moghbeli and O’Hara. Moghbeli will serve as extravehicular activity crew member 1 and will wear a suit with red stripes. O’Hara will serve as extravehicular crew member 2 and will wear an unmarked suit.
O’Hara and Moghbeli worked throughout Thursday checking tools and readying hardware they will take with them outside the Quest airlock for the maintenance spacewalk. The pair was also joined by astronauts Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) and Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) reviewing their spacewalk procedures during the afternoon.
Furukawa had time throughout the day to focus on a variety of science activities including examining microgravity’s effects on astronauts and setting up a biology microscope. The two-time station visitor first took a cognition test measuring how long-term space missions impact a crew member’s brain structure and function. Next, Furukawa prepared a microscope to observe how cells respond to weightlessness. He later scanned the neck, shoulder, and leg veins of Mogensen using the Ultrasound 2 device with assistance from doctors on the ground.
The orbiting lab’s three cosmonauts slept in Thursday following a seven-hour and 41-minute spacewalk the day before. Flight Engineers Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Konstantin Borisov awoke mid-afternoon and conducted post-spacewalk cleanup activities then held a conference with specialists on the ground. Borisov would later collect air samples for analysis and configure life support gear in the Nauka science module.
