Spacewalk – Spaceflight Now

Spacewalkers vent coolant lines and mate cables outside space station

March 13, 2021

Struggling with balky electrical connectors, spacewalker Mike Hopkins managed to plug in and secure three of four thick power and data cables Saturday that are needed by a European experiment platform, leaving one cable for additional troubleshooting.

Rubins and Noguchi assemble solar array support fixtures outside space station

March 5, 2021

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Soichi Noguchi, a Japanese astronaut who last walked in space more than 15 years ago, ventured outside the International Space Station Friday and completed assembly of two solar array support fixtures, part of a $100 million power system upgrade.

Astronauts complete spacewalk to prep for station power system upgrades

February 28, 2021

Two astronauts floated outside the International Space Station Sunday for the first in a series of spacewalks to upgrade the lab’s aging solar power system, assembling a support fixture that eventually will hold a new solar blanket.

Spacewalkers upgrade station cameras, complete battery work

February 1, 2021

Astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover floated back outside the International Space Station Monday and completed solar array battery replacement work that began four years ago. They also installed three new video cameras and made preparations for upcoming work to install new roll-out solar blankets to upgrade the lab’s power system.

Balky connectors prevent full activation of European experiment platform

January 27, 2021

Two astronauts working outside the International Space Station Wednesday installed a European Space Agency data relay antenna and connected four of six cables to partially power a new ESA experiment platform. They also removed two solar array handling fixtures to clear the way for a future power system upgrade.

Spacewalkers prep for arrival of new Russian module

November 18, 2020

Two Russian cosmonauts used the International Space Station’s Poisk docking compartment as an airlock for the first time Wednesday in a six-hour 48-minute spacewalk to begin preparing the nearly identical Pirs module for removal next year. A new laboratory module will be parked in its place later.

Spacewalkers prep space station for future upgrades

July 21, 2020

Space station commander Chris Cassidy and Robert Behnken floated back outside Tuesday for their fourth spacewalk in less than a month, completing preparations for future upgrades including the eventual installation of an airlock that will allow commercial experiments to be moved into and out of vacuum as required.

Spacewalkers accomplish another round of space station battery swap outs

July 16, 2020

Now in the home stretch of a complex, multi-year upgrade, two space station astronauts floated outside the lab complex Thursday and pressed ahead with the third of four spacewalks the current crew is carrying out to complete the replacement of aging batteries in the station’s solar power system.

Spacewalkers complete another round of battery replacement work

July 1, 2020

Picking up where they left off last week, two space station astronauts ventured back outside the outpost Wednesday to continue the replacement of aging batteries in the lab’s solar power system. Two more spacewalks later this month should complete the multi-year project.

Cassidy, Behnken begin final series of space station battery upgrades

June 26, 2020

Two astronauts floated outside the International Space Station early Friday for the first of four planned spacewalks to wrap up a complex multi-year job to replace 48 aging batteries in the lab’s solar power system with 24 more powerful lithium-ion units.