Astronauts go on spacewalks for a variety of reasons. According to NASA, a spacewalk is also known as extravehicular activity (EVA) and could happen between five to eight hours, depending on the job. The first spacewalk in history was on March 18, 1965, by Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, which lasted 10 minutes.
Usually, spacewalks were only documented from the spacecraft's camera. But in a rare event, an astrophotographer captured the astronauts last week on their spacewalk from the ground in Germany.
In this handout image provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), NASA astronaut Ronald Garan attached to the robotic arm Canadarm2 moves a failed ammonia pump module from a storage platform on the International Space Station to the cargo bay of the space shuttle Atlantis during a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk July 12, 2011 in space.
Astronauts Restore Radiator, Replace Camera at the ISS
Last week, on March 23, two astronauts went on a spacewalk to complete several maintenance tasks for the International Space Station, Space.com earlier reported.
NASA astronaut Raja Chari and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer spent six hours and 54 minutes restoring the radiator and replacing the camera of the space station while extended equipment was mounted to the floating laboratory.
The EVA began at 8:32 AM EDT as they switched their spacesuits to internal battery power. They were originally scheduled to head off to different worksites, but a problem with Maurer's helmet-mounted video camera caused a delay to the planned activities.
They finished their spacewalk at around 3:26 EDT and both astronauts made their way back to the airlock with the old camera and other tools in tow.
That was the third spacewalk this year and the 248th overall in support of the assembly, maintenance, and upgrade of the space station. Although it was Maurer's first spacewalk, it was Chari's second and now has a total working time of 13 hours and 48 minutes in the vacuum of space.
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Spacewalk Captured From Earth
Astrophotographer Sebastian Voltmer managed to take a picture of the recent spacewalk in action from the ground in his hometown in Sankt Wendel, Germany. In a recent report from Space.com, Voltmer shared that he witnessed the spacewalk shortly after the sunset.
Yesterday I witnessed the #spacewalk shortly after sunset. Here comes a first photo. #ESA #astronaut Matthias Maurer was just "climbing" at this moment.
— Dr. Sebastian Voltmer (@SeVoSpace) March 24, 2022
The rod-shaped structure (Canadarm2) is the robot arm.
Greetings from Matthias Maurers hometown - it was very exciting. #iss pic.twitter.com/39Q7YlG64u
The image clearly shows Maurer climbing at the ISS as well as Chari and the robotic rod-shaped structure called Canadarm2. In a tweet on Sunday, he published the photo after taking a bit more time to analyze it with the help of Philip Smith, a professional photographer.
Update: 2 Spacewalkers Imaged From The Ground
— Dr. Sebastian Voltmer (@SeVoSpace) March 28, 2022
During the #spacewalk of the two astronauts @Astro_Raja and @astro_matthias the International Space Station appeared shortly after sunset in the bright evening sky over Germany. This image of the #ISS was taken on March 23, 2022. pic.twitter.com/xkKJtSoZFc
Voltmer wrote to SpaceWeather.com that he felt like he had just made a once-in-a-lifetime image, noting that it is probably the first ground-based picture of two spacewalkers on the ISS at the same time.
The astrophotographer told Space.com that he was able to capture this unique image thanks to his Celestron 11-inch EdgeHD telescope mounted on a GM2000 HPS and also his ASI290 planetary camera.
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