Astronaut Nicole Mann is pictured during her first spacewalk on Jan. 20, 2023, upgrading the space station’s power generation system.
NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata began a spacewalk at 7:45 a.m. EST, approximately 30 minutes ahead of schedule, to complete the construction of a mounting platform on the 1A power channel that was started during a spacewalk on Jan. 20, relocate and install an articulating portable foot restraint from the P6 truss for future spacewalk tasks, and if time permits, complete cable routing on the 1B power channel.
The installation is part of a series of spacewalks to augment the station’s power channels with new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs). Four iROSAs have been installed so far, and two additional arrays will be mounted to the installed platforms during future spacewalks following their arrival later this year on SpaceX’s 28th commercial resupply services mission for NASA.
Mann, designated extravehicular crew member 1, is wearing a suit with red stripes. Wakata, designated extravehicular crew member 2, is wearing an unmarked suit. The spacewalk is the second for both Mann and Wakata.
Coverage of the spacewalk continues on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
Expedition 68 Flight Engineers (middle left to right) Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio, both from NASA, pose with astronauts (far left and right) Nicole Mann from NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in their Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs), or spacesuits, as they prep for a spacewalk on Jan. 20, 2022.
NASA Television coverage of today’s spacewalk with NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata is now underway and is also available on the NASA app and the agency’s website.
The two Expedition 68 crew members are preparing to exit the International Space Station‘s Quest airlock for a spacewalk expected to begin at about 8:15 a.m. EST and last up to seven hours.
Mann and Wakata will work to complete the construction of a mounting platform on the 1A power channel as part of a planned solar array augmentation on the starboard side of the station’s truss.
The duo will complete the installation of the mounting platform that was started during a spacewalk on Jan. 20, relocate and install an articulating portable foot restraint from the P6 truss for future spacewalk tasks, and if time permits, complete cable routing on the 1B power channel.
The installation is part of a series of spacewalks to augment the station’s power channels with new International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs). Four iROSAs have been installed so far, and two additional arrays will be mounted to the installed platforms during future spacewalks following their arrival later this year on SpaceX’s 28th commercial resupply services mission for NASA.
Mann will serve as extravehicular crew member 1 and will wear a suit with red stripes. Wakata will serve as extravehicular crew member 2 and will wear an unmarked suit. The spacewalk will be the second for both Mann and Wakata.
Astronaut Nicole Mann is pictured in her spacesuit after completing a spacewalk to modify the station’s power generation system on Jan. 20.
Mission managers have given the “go” for two astronauts to exit the International Space Station on Thursday and conduct a seven-hour spacewalk. While the spacewalk preparations were under way, the rest of the Expedition 68 crew kept up its ongoing schedule of human research, botany, and physics experiments.
Flight Engineers Nicole Mann of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will set their Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs), or spacesuits, to battery power at 8:15 a.m. EST on Thursday. After their EMUs are set to battery power, the astronauts’ spacewalk officially begins and they will exit the Quest airlock into the vacuum of space and maneuver to the starboard truss structure. Once they arrive at the Starboard-4 truss, they will complete a modification kit installation job they began on Jan. 20 to prepare the station for its next roll-out solar array.
Mann and Wakata started Wednesday readying their spacesuits and its components inside Quest. Afterward, NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio joined the duo and began organizing spacewalking tools and hardware before a final procedures review and a conference with specialists on the ground. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Anna Kikina also handed the spacewalking astronauts dosimeters, or radiation detectors, to attach to their spacesuits. NASA TV, on the agency’s app and website, will begin its live spacewalk coverage at 6:45 a.m. on Thursday.
Rubio began his day with NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada collecting and processing blood samples for spinning in a centrifuge, stowage in a science freezer, and later analysis. The pair then split up configuring advanced research hardware and an ultra-high resolution video camera. Cassada relocated two TangoLab facilities from a research rack in the Destiny laboratory module to a research rack in the Columbus laboratory module. The TangoLab cube modules enable a variety of space research from microbiology to chemistry. Cassada also watered tomato plants growing for the Veg-05 space botany study. Rubio installed the Sphere Camera-1 inside Destiny to evaluate its ultra-high resolution capabilities that may assist future space travelers with vehicle inspections, as well as Earth and space observations.
Commander Sergey Prokopyev continued testing a 3-D printer checking its performance while being controlled from a computer. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin worked throughout the day packing the ISS Progress 82 resupply ship with trash and discarded gear before replacing air filters inside the Zvezda service module. Kikina, after handing over radiation detectors in the morning, worked inside the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module testing operations with the European robotic arm.
