A NASA astronaut and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut performed the second spacewalk of the year aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, February 2, 2023, after receiving a "go" signal from mission managers. While the spacewalk preparations were underway, the Expedition 68 crew continued its continuing human research, botany, and physics studies.
The astronauts switched their Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs) or spacesuits on at 8:15 am EST on Thursday and exited at the Quest airlock to kick off their almost seven-hour spacewalk. It was shown live via NASA's YouTube channel.
Second Extravehicular Activity on ISS for the Year
NASA Flight Engineer Nicole Mann and JAXA Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata officially began their spacewalk at 5:15 a.m. EST (5:15 a.m. PST) on Thursday after their EMUs were switched to battery power and exiting the Quest airlock into the vacuum of space and navigated outside the space station's starboard truss structure.
At the end of their spacewalk, which lasted 6 hours and 41 minutes, @Astro_Wakata takes a photo of @AstroDuke.
— NASA (@NASA) February 2, 2023
The astronauts prepared the @Space_Station for new solar arrays that will provide the orbiting laboratory with more power. pic.twitter.com/5qyaxLIZzJ
As per NASA's press release, the two astronauts arrived at the Starboard-4 truss where they finished the modification kit installation job that they started on January 20 in order to prepare the ISS for its next roll-out solar array.
The two astronauts began preparing their spacesuits and components inside Quest on Wednesday. Following that, NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio joined the crew and began assembling spacewalking gear and hardware in preparation for a final procedure review and a discussion with specialists on the ground.
Anna Kikina, a Roscosmos Flight Engineer, also gave the spacewalking astronauts dosimeters, or radiation detectors, to connect to their spacesuits. NASA TV, available on the agency's app and website, also did a live coverage of the spacewalk at 6:45 a.m. on Thursday.
Scientific Experiments Continue on the ISS
Even with the scheduled spacewalks, the experiments aboard the ISS continued. As per the press release, Rubio started his day by helping NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada collect and process blood samples for centrifugation, storage in a scientific freezer, and subsequent analysis. After that, the two split off to configure advanced research apparatus and an ultra-high-quality video camera.
From a Destiny laboratory module research rack, Cassada moved two TangoLab facilities to a Columbus laboratory module research rack. TangoLab cube modules allow for a wide range of space studies, from microbiology to chemistry.
Moreover, Cassada watered tomato plants for the Veg-05 space botany experiment. Rubio deployed the Sphere Camera-1 inside Destiny to test its ultra-high resolution capabilities, which might help future space passengers with vehicle checks and Earth and space observations.
Commander Sergey Prokopyev continued to evaluate a 3-D printer's performance while it was controlled by a computer. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin spent the day filling the ISS Progress 82 resupply ship with garbage and abandoned items before installing air filters within the Zvezda service module.
Lastly, Kikina worked inside the Nauka multifunctional laboratory module testing operations with the European robotic arm after receiving radiation detectors in the morning.
Check out more news and information on Spacewalk in Science Times.
