Two cosmonauts returned to action on Friday (September 2), more than making up for a spacewalk cut short two weeks ago.
Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev easily overcame spacewalk assignments of 7 hours and 47 minutes. International Space Station spacewalk that began at 9:25 a.m. EDT (1325 GMT).
“You have completed more than you set out to do! Very productive,” a Moscow Mission Control representative told the cosmonauts just after they closed the hatch. (The broadcast was in Russian; the interpretation was available in English on NASA Television.)
Working up to an hour, 10 minutes ahead of the timeline, Artemyev and Matveev finished numerous tasks to set up the European robotic arm and finished a breakthrough task to extend the Strela long-jib crane between the Poisk and FGB modules on the orbital complex. . Russian side.
“These booms have a lot of inertia,” commented one of the spacewalkers in the middle of the spread.
In pictures: The most memorable spacewalks in history
Artemyev and Matveev had to Go back to the airlock early on August 17 after one of the Orlan Space suits experienced a problem with the battery. (NASA did not disclose how Roscosmos assessed the problem or decided to proceed with the spacewalks; the spacesuits had no power issues this time.)
The remaining tasks were quickly accomplished on today’s excursion, including setting up a work platform on the Nauka module, setting up a control panel and arm grip “end effector,” and maneuvering some isolations between locations, among other tasks.
In addition to arm extension, a key goal of the spacewalk was achieved when spacewalkers successfully tested a mechanism intended to help the arm grab payloads of more than nine tons in space.
The cosmonauts also had a few moments to enjoy the view of Earth, including witnessing devastating wildfires and smoke over California. “You can see those wildfires. That’s impressive,” commented one of the spacewalkers shortly before 11:20 am EDT (1520 GMT), during the second hour of extravehicular activity.
Related: Satellites watch as Europe dries up in devastating drought
On his previous excursion on August 2. On August 17, lasting 2.5 hours, the duo completed enough work for European controllers to make the first move on the arm on August 1. 24
“This first move involved releasing the payload, a single-pin latch and its adapter for the cosmonaut support tool, from Nauka, moving it to the other side of the module, and then reinstalling it in the original position,” officials said. the European Space Agency. . fixed (opens in a new tab). (Nauka is the Russian module with which the arm launched into space in July 2021.)
The arm moved a payload the size of a small suitcase during the test, but when fully ready it will be able to lift payloads with a mass of almost 9 tons. Controllers plan a more ambitious arms test in mid-September to test brakes, joint movement, force control and camera image quality.
Friday’s spacewalk was the eighth spacewalk for Artemyev and the fourth for Matveev, NASA stated. It was also the eighth on the ISS in 2022 and the 253rd supporting its assembly and maintenance since 1998, according to data from past spacewalks.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in a new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacepointcom (opens in a new tab) either Facebook (opens in a new tab).
