[ad_1]
NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover took a space walk on Saturday outside the International Space Station to upgrade the laboratory’s communications and cooling systems. The march, which took place about 250 miles above the earth, lasted nearly seven hours.
Struggling with questionable electrical connectors, Hopkins managed to plug in and secure three of the four thick power and data cables needed by a European experimentation platform during a difficult spacewalk, leaving a cable for additional troubleshooting.
Hopkins and his teammate Victor Glover also drained residual ammonia coolant from two jumpers used to maintain the station’s thermal control system, stowing the hoses in different places for future use if needed. One jumper spat out more ammonia ice crystals than expected when he was evacuated into space, but the astronauts said their suits did not appear to be contaminated with flakes that could be brought back to the station.
Floating in Quest’s airlock, Hopkins and Glover began Saturday’s excursion when they switched their spacesuits to battery power at 8:14 a.m. EST, kicking off the 237th spacewalk dedicated to the assembly and maintenance of the station since construction began in 1998.
The first task on the agenda was to safely ventilate the two ammonia jumpers, used to charge coolant into the station’s thermal control system and to help locate leaks. The jumpers were located at the left end of the lab’s solar beam, a segment known as port 6 or P6.
After confirming the absence of ammonia ice crystal contamination, the space walkers stowed a jumper on segment P6 for any future troubleshooting that might be required on this side of the station while the other was mounted on the outside of the airlock for use if needed later on the right side.
“Of course, when it comes to ammonia, extra vigilance is needed due to the fear that if we get ammonia contamination on the suits then we bring them inside the station. , this could represent a potential toxic atmosphere situation for the crew and the station, ”Flight Director Chris Edelen said earlier.
After the ventilation and jumper removal were complete, Glover installed a replacement wireless camera transceiver near the Unity central module while Hopkins worked on the front end of the station where the Columbus lab module from the European Space Agency is attached.
An external experimentation platform known as the Bartolomeo was attached to the front of Columbus earlier, but space walkers had problems completing the electrical connections on a previous outing. Hopkins struggled to complete the job on Saturday, but was ultimately successful with three of the four cables.
NASA Television
Glover replaced a wireless camera transceiver and attached a stiffener to a flexible thermal cover on the outer hatch of the Quest airlock. He complained of unusual irritation that briefly tore his right eye, but said repeated blinking seemed to help.
Hopkins also reconfigured a HAM radio antenna on the European Columbus module which did not function properly after a recent upgrade and the two astronauts began work to route two Ethernet cables that will eventually become part of a Wi-Fi network. extended external.
NASA Television
NASA Television
“Mated! It’s above center,” Hopkins called out as the first malicious connector was plugged in and locked in place. “Good! And the crowd is going wild!”
“Good job, wow, great,” answered Mission Control’s Andreas Mogensen. “Good news.”
“I would say a touchdown, but he played on the wrong side of the ball,” Glover joked, referring to Hopkins’ college football career as a University of Illinois defensive back.
“We did some interceptions every now and then,” Hopkins said.
The Wireless Video System, or WETA, external transceiver assembly that Glover installed is one of three mounted around the exterior of the station. The unit in question failed at the end of last year.
“It’s basically an antenna that receives transmissions from the crewmembers’ helmet cameras,” said Edelen. “We … really appreciate having that in mission control during EVAs so that we can have the crew members’ perspective to see exactly what they’re working on. So we want to … replace it so that we let’s have good coverage. “
All of the major tasks were originally slated for spacewalks earlier this month, but they were postponed after the assembly of two solar panel support luminaires took longer than expected.
The spacewalk ended at 3:01 p.m. for six hours and 47 minutes. The station’s total spacewalk time through 237 excursions now stands at 1,491 hours and 54 minutes, or 62.2 days.
It was Glover’s fourth career spacewalk and Hopkins’ fifth.
[ad_2]
Source link