Crew Cleans Up After Spacewalk, Studies Biology, Earth Science, and More
Astronaut Anne McClain is pictured near one of the International Space Stationโs main solar arrays during a spacewalk to upgrade the orbital outpostโs power generation system and relocate a communications antenna.
NASA
The Expedition 73 crew members are cleaning up after a spacewalk on Thursday to upgrade power systems on the International Space Station. The lab residents also continued research and maintenance activities aboard the orbital outpost.
NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers are reorganizing the Quest airlock and servicing a pair of spacesuits following their five-hour and 44-minute spacewalk on Thursday. The duo started Friday stowing spacewalking hardware inside Quest where they suited up for their spacewalk the day before. McClain and Ayers then checked their spacesuit water tanks and collected water samples from the tanks for chemical analysis. They were also joined by NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) station Commander Takuya Onishi for a conference with engineers on the ground to review their spacewalking accomplishments.
During their spacewalk, McClain and Ayers installed a modification kit on the space stationโs port side truss structure preparing it for the arrival of a new rollout solar array. Afterward, the spacewalkers relocated a communications antenna, installed a jumper cable, and removed bolts from a micrometeoroid cover completing their excursion in the vacuum of space.
Kim also spent some time on Friday photographing tomato plants growing for a space agricultural study to learn if crops can be cultivated without photosynthesis. Onishi used a specialized 3D microscope obtaining imagery of the behavior of bacteria samples in a liquid to learn how to monitor water quality, detect infectious microorganisms, and keep crews and spacecraft safe.
The three cosmonauts representing the Roscosmos portion of the crew spent time in their segment of the orbiting lab on their contingent of science and upkeep duties.
Three-time space station resident Flight Engineer Sergey Ryzhikov took an opportunity to photograph the effects of a landslide in Brazil as the station orbited above the South American nation. Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritsky downloaded data measuring the vibrations the space station experiences during spacecraft arrivals and departures, as well as other orbital operations, that may help engineers design stronger space structures. Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov checked radiation detectors that McClain and Ayers wore during their spacewalk and cleaned smoke detectors in the Nauka science module.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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